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Foy Evans passes away -4|| mfjf' ! ” FOYS. EVANS Volume 138, Number 22 FRONT PORCH "Where neighbors meet" HHJ history 50 years ago: The 15-year-old Houston County youth accused of murdering a 16- year-old Montezuma boy (see pre vious HHJ histories) is acquitted. The jury deliberates for two hours and 15 minutes before returning the verdict. Of particular note in the testimony is reportedly the fact the Montezuma youth had taken the gun away from the 15-year-old before the shooting occurred. In other news, Centerville (which by the way is 50 years old as of this month) begins setting up operations. To that end, several city officials are sworn in. 30 years ago: A “squabble” - as described by the newspaper report - over a school district rezoning dominates the Houston County Board of Education's regular session. The dispute originates from Greebriar Subdivision residents who argue their children would be better off if they were transferred from the predominately black Elberta Elementary School to Parkwood. The school board ends the squab ble by saying a decision would not be made on any rezoning until the end of the school year. 10 years ago: Perry Police Chief George Potter leads by example. He is shown pictured taking a hit of pep per spray to the face. The picture is taken during training all Perry Police Department members are taking on use of the spray. “All" eventually followed Potter's lead, according to the caption. Also, Houston County Commission Chairman J. Sherrill Stafford announces he will seek another term and Larry Thompson announces his candidacy for the county commission. - Compiled by Don Moncrief Birthdays March 15 Danny Evans March 16 Alex Sapp Ronnie Minter March 17 Trish Nelson March 18 81 Wanda Turpin Brenda Horton Getter Newspaper Contest PERIODICAL 500 JUIRR 4 F|f|f§ •ti m S -* | gill March 15,2008 ■Sr K-vi-Ci; l:{tit's mXx (J(Xviv £K(.d j S : ' 7 () By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Journal Staff Writer Foy Evans, newspaperman, founder of The Warner Robins Daily Sun and former two-term mayor of Warner Robins died Friday morning. His published writing - from coverage of ball games to commentary on national politics and everything in between - covered a span of more than 70 years. He was 88 and had been in fail ing health since December. Visitation will be from 7- 9 p.m. Sunday at McCullough Funeral Home in Warner Robins. The funeral service will be 11 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE Vision 2020 endorses 1 animal shelter By DON MONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor Vision 2020 is either going to be in the doghouse or the BIG DOG depending on how well its latest recommendation is received. “The city, we’ve had a tough time going with this animal shelter,” said Warner Robins Councilman Terry Horton while speaking to his Culverhouse leaving Westfield waßw Bf - ————m—MMßUMi— _ PBl . _ 'lo*.; : mKSBt/SKttr %#■•■:. rIMTWrB mß*"' E *«*<■*% Mr 3 ®j ■ Jigjf ENI/Gary Harmon Westfield softball players Daryl Ann Thompson, Kelsey Gilliam and Mason Moreland stand with girl’s varsity softball coach Rodney Culverhouse, who will be leaving Westfield at the end of the school term. 'lt was more than about softball' By MA TTHEW BROWN Journal Sports Writer Think Westfield fast-pitch softball in the 21st century and think of championships. Think of one region championship after another, and think of two GISA state champion ships. Think also of the man in charge of the Lady Hornet program for when all those years were added to the list of title-winning years at Westfield. That man, Rodney Culverhouse, will take a new direction in his life once this school term is completed. As he and the Culverhouse family make plans for a move to Williamsburg, Va., the coach doesn’t want his sole “legacy” to be about a winning ball team. “I hope it was more of a coach that cared about his players,” said Culverhouse. “That I would do any thing for them, not necessarily relat ing to softball, but to anything in life. “There’s always someone else who’s going to win another (championship). I’m glad we were able to have the suc cess that we did, but I hope it wasn’t at the expense of sacrificing charac ter and the things that will take you "He was as solid as Stone Mountain granite. He was a great Houston Countyian. He always saw the big picture. He was smart and interesting. He always wanted what was best for the county, and he was a great mayor of Warner Robins/' -Larry Walker a.m. Monday at Central Baptist Church. Mayor Donald Walker of Warner Robins ordered the city’s flags lowered to half-mast as a tribute to Evans. “This is hard for me,” Walker Saturday, March 15, 2008 fellow 2020 advisory group mem bers during their regular meeting Wednesday. “I don’t know how much support, and I’m primarily speaking as ‘one’ councilman ... I don’t know how much support I’d get from the mayor and other coun cilmen ... I just want to put this out for discussion. “We’ve run into all kinds of prob "I’m glad we were able to have the success that we did, but I hope it wasn't at the expense of sacrificing character and the things that will take you further in Hfe. Softball is going to end, and lifers going to continue." - Westfield softball coach Rodney Culverhouse further in life. Softball is going to end, and life’s going to continue.” Some of those Lady Hornet players don’t want to think about continuing on without Culverhouse, though they surely will come August. “That’s going to be hard,” said ris ing senior infielder Mason Moreland, with a “wow” added for emphasis. “He was a huge influence on all of us, and we’re going to miss him. He just made us work really hard at practice. He never gave up on us.” “I think you see the attitude that my players have,” said Culverhouse. “The way I try to set my example in front of them.” Culverhouse has lived in Macon all of his life. He admits that he didn’t have a storied or stellar ath letic career himself. said, his voice breaking, “He was one of my advisors, and he helped me lot. He was brilliant - a won derful man.” Gov. Sonny Perdue said, “Foy Evans was the embodiment of a true public servant. From his lems. Everywhere we try to locate it, we get citizens upset, don’t approve of the location. They don’t approve of our hours. They don’t approve of the way we’re putting the animals down. There’s just a lot of prob lems. “Is there any consideration to having one central, county-wide thing?” “I played a little high school ball in Macon,” said Culverhouse. “Through about my 10th grade year. I just enjoyed the game enough that I became a student of baseball so to speak. It was always one of my pas times ... looking it as an outsider looking in. “I don’t know. I’ve just been fortu nate, been blessed.” In 2000, Culverhouse first came to Westfield as B-team softball coach. That was the last season for slow pitch softball in the GISA. He said the varsity head coach in 2000, Leigh Ann (Johnson) Champion, didn’t want to lead the program in fast pitch and suggested that he take over as head coach. “She didn’t feel like she wanted See SOFTBALL, page 4B service in the Navy to his eight years as Mayor of Warner Robins, he always put his nation and his neighbors above himself. As found er of The Daily Sun, his life’s work literally involved every facet of the community. Foy was known and loved across Middle Georgia, and while he will be deeply missed, his legacy will live on.” Larry Walker of Perry, a long time state leader, and fellow-col umnist ,at the Houston Home Journal, said of Evans, “He was as solid as Stone Mountain granite. He was a great Houston Countyian. He always saw the big See EVANS, page lA www.hhjnews.com In other words, not one in Perry, one in Centerville and one in Warner Robins, but one period. And the answer: “100 percent (in favor),” said Centerville Mayor Bubba Edwards. “We’ve got a unified animal con trol ordinance now, ” said Vision 2020 and Houston County Commission See SHELTER,page lA Downtown WR The future is a ’dotted' landscape By DONMONCRIEF Journal Managing Editor It was all about the big picture - both figuratively and literally. Thus explains why at least 100 Houston County resi dents could be seen Tuesday in the halls of the civic center busy placing dots about the size of a dime on a human sized map of Warner Robins hanging on the wall. (Note: It was a Warner Robins exer cise but the word “Houston County” is used because there were some recogniz able faces from Perry noted among the crowd.) There were actually six maps and the same number of workstations. The maps also had an area marked off - bordered in red tape - to annotate areas designated as Warner Robins’ “downtown” and as targets for redevelop ment. The areas extended north to as far as Kings Dr., west to Pleasant Hill, east to the outskirts of Robins Air Force Base and south to Russell Pkwy. The dots in turn were color coded - red, green and blue. Red stood for the worst plac es in Warner Robins. Green stood for the best and blue stood for areas where county residents felt a team from Urban Design Association out of Pittsburgh, Penn., should spend most of their efforts designing/redesign ing. The Urban Design Association team, which was brought in by the local Urban Redevelopment Agency, under the leader ship of Executive Director Gary Lee, was the driver behind the “dot” exercise, as well as providing the meat of the meeting in general. In regard to the dots, UDA asked each attendee to place his or her dots accordingly to the aforementioned col ors. For instance, in the actual exercise, a consider able amount of red dots were placed at the area of First, Second and Third streets, See FUTURE, page lA