Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2008
Perry small business of the month
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Contributed
The Business Development Committee of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce
announced this week that The Sewing “B’s” is the February 2008 Small Business of
the Month.
EVANS
From page iA
picture,” Walker said. “He
was smart and interesting.
He always wanted what
was best for the county, and
he was a great mayor of
Warner Robins.”
Evans was born Nov. 7,
1919 in Americus, Ga., to
Foy and Daisy Evans. He
grew up during the Great
Depression and his associa
tion with newspaper work
began early. From the time
he was 9, he spent his after
noons on his bicycle, deliv
ering newspapers for the
Americus Times-Recorder,
rain or shine, and helped
support his family after his
father died when he was
13.
While the family had to
struggle to survive finan
cially, Evans later credit
ed his mother with being
determined that her chil
dren complete not only high
school, but also college.
A good student who
showed an early talent for
writing, he earned small
amounts of money paid “by
the column inch” for stories
on sports events for The
Americus Times-Recorder
and The Macon Telegraph
when he was still in high
school.
He graduated from
Americus High School in
1936 and, with a scholar
ship given in exchange
for his producing the col
lege paper, graduated from
Georgia Southwestern
College (then a two-year
college) in 1938.
Following his college
graduation at the age of 19
he worked for The Macon
Telegraph as assistant
sports editor and then as
sports editor. He became
managing editor of The
Fort Lauderdale News in
August 1941. As he recalled
in recent conversations, he
was called about the posi
tion on a Friday, quit his
job at the Telegraph (where
he was succeeded by Joe
Parham) and reported to
work in Fort Lauderdale on
Monday. He recalled recent
ly how happy he was at
age 22 to have a job that
allowed him to work in the
evenings and spend time at
the beach during the day.
However the bombing of
Pearl Harbor in December
1941 changed everything as
it did for so many young
men of his generation.
Evans signed up to serve
his country the day follow
ing the attack. He chose the
U.S. Navy and was called to
duty in January 1942. He
rose from Yeoman Second
Class to Lieutenant. He left
active service in 1946, con
tinuing in the Navy Reserve
for several years, and went
to the University of Georgia
to study law on the GI Bill.
He received his LLB
• degree in 1948 on the GI
Bill, having passed the
Georgia Bar exam before
his graduation.
Despite his aptitude for
law, however, his heart
remained in newspaper
work. In 1949, at the urg
ing of friends who worked
at the Telegraph, he left
his fledgling law practice
in Macon to start a weekly
newspaper that he named
The Warner Robins Sun. It
was a bold move, because,
by his own account, he
knew little about the city,
had no capital and simply
drove down from Macon
and started a newspaper in
a town that already had one
weekly newspaper.
Warner Robins, which
grew by leaps and bounds
later, had a very uncer
tain future at that point,
because the war was over
and the future of Robins
Air Force Base was unclear.
Evans was determined,
however, and commuted
from Macon for sever
al years, putting in long
hours, and covering all the
meetings and news other
than social items himself.
He married Leta Harbuck
in 1952, and she joined him
working at the paper tak
ing over the business opera
tions.
Despite a rocky start, The
Sun became a favorite with
readers and advertisers and
went to twice-weekly publi
cation in 1960.
Evans took The Sun to
daily publication in 1969.
In the third and fourth
year after the paper went
daily, it took first place in
General Excellence in the
Georgia Press Association
competition twice in a row.
Among the many journal
istic honors Evans received
were the Otis Brumby
Award for best columnist
in a weekly newspaper in
Georgia and the School Bell
Award from the Georgia
Education Association.
He served as President
of the Georgia Press
Association, 1973-74, and
also became an active civic
leader in Warner Robins.
He was a founding mem
ber and president of the
Warner Robins Chamber
of Coihmerce for two
terms. He was also named
Outstanding Citizen of
Warner Robins in 1970.
He was a Charter mem
ber and President of the
Warner Robins Optimist
Club, a Shriner and mem
ber of Sigma Chi Fraternity,
a member of Trinity United
Methodist Church and a
Lifetime Member of the Air
Force Association.
In 1972, Evans sold
The Sun, then a thriving,
award-winning daily, to
the Park newspaper com
phone Jmmral
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pany, and retired briefly
to Marshallville. However,
according to his own
account, he quickly grew
restless and missed Warner
Robins, so he returned to
the city to practice law
briefly, and then began
another major series of
accomplishments when he
made a successful bid for
mayor in 1976.
He served as mayor of
Warner Robins for eight
years, running unopposed
for the second term. He did
not seek a third term.
Reflecting on Evan’s
service as mayor, Donald
Walker said that Evans
“left the city in good finan
cial shape - better than
he found it.” He said that
among Evans’ accomplish
ments were several signifi
cant annexations of land,
and the acquisition of the
land along Obsidian Drive
on which the Advanced
Technology Park was devel
oped.
Walker said he was glad
that the city had the oppor
tunity to honor Evans
when the city named its
new industrial park and the
road leading to it in Evans’
honor five years ago.
Foy and Leta Evans had
one son, Danny Evans, who
grew up in the newspaper
business and has continued
as a newspaperman through
Evans Newspapers.
Foy Evans, who never
ceased to be interested in
community issues and state
and national politics, wrote
one of the Houston Home
Journal’s most popular edi
torial page columns from
the time that his son pur
chased the paper in 2001
until health problems made
it difficult for him to use
a keyboard a few months
ago.
Family members include
his wife, Darlene Evans and
grandson, Steff; son, Danny
(Julie) Evans and grand
children Foy and Audrey
of Perry; stepdaughter, Lisa
(Keith) Newton and chil
dren, Chance and Courtney;
step-daughter, Gina (Harry)
Lucas of Warner Robins;
stepson, Steffan McGlamry,
and their children, Christie,
Saybra, Steffan, Jr., and
Trey of Centerville; and two
sisters, Gloria Sutherland
of Augusta, and Lois White
of Belvidere, N.C., and their
children.
SHELTER
From page iA
Chairman Ned Sanders, add
ing that he had just given a
talk to Leadership Warner
Robins where he praised the
intergovernmental coopera
tion it took to reach that, as
well as the intergovernmen
tal cooperation he’d noted in
regard to road improvements/
projects. “But I was unable
to use a unified animal con
trol facility as an example,”
he said. “(But) this could be
another example of unified
intergovernmental coopera
tion, reduction of duplica
tion of taxation expenses to
citizens, efficiency of govern
ment (et cetera) if it will
be jointly funded, jointly
staffed.”
Perry Mayor Jim Worrall
didn’t exactly meet the sug
gestion with open arms
- especially in lieu of the
fact the City of Perry has
been busy (even, like Warner
Robins, has already gotten
an architect) raising funds to
build a new shelter to replace
FUTURE
From page iA
as well as around Tabor and
Ignico drives. Plenty of green
ones could be seen placed
in the area of the Macon
State College Warner Robins
campus and North Davis
Drive where it meets Watson
Blvd. Blue ones speckled in
a great number around the
area where the library, rec
reation department and the
civic center itself reside.
In addition to the dot exer
cise, county residents were
also asked to provide feed
back - it written down on
large sheets of paper also
taped to the wall.
It was in the form of three
questions: 1) What are the
weaknesses of downtown
Warner Robins; 2) What are
the strengths of downtown
Warner Robins and 3) What
is your vision for the future of
downtown Warner Robins.
In other words said
UDA Vice President Paul
Ostergaard: “When you
think of downtown Warner
Robins 20 years from now,
what would you want it to
be like.”
A sampling of what was
written down in the “things
right” column included:
Churches (pretty much every
one in the area had at least
one mention), Macon State
College, Lindsey Elementary
and Warner Robins High
schools. Things listed as
being wrong ran the gamut
of the traffic flow on Watson
Blvd., needing to be updated
to Commercial Circle being
outdated to too many drugs.
Walking areas, sidewalks,
a conference center (this was
noted written at all six sta
tions) and a transportation
system were just some of
the items designated as resi
dents’ vision of what they’d
like to see in the future.
The culmination of all of
these efforts - the dots, the
questions answered on paper
- are the most critical part
of their planning process,”
Ostergaard said.
“I can’t tell you how
important this study is,” he
said. “It helps up to learn
your downtown. We find that
residents are able to help
us pinpoint things in greater
detail. We can record all this
information.
“We need to get your input
and your ideas. That is the
essence of Phase I.
the old one, and at the same
location - but he did warm
up to it. Or rather indicated
he wouldn’t stand in opposi
tion in the end.
First, he reminded the
group of a letter he had writ
ten sometime back - and had
just come across the other
day as fate would have it
- proposing one for the south
end of the county and one for
the north.
The problem, he said, is
“When you’re talking about
the south end of the county,
you’re talking about a long
way south. You pick up a dog
or a cat at Henderson and
carry it all the way say to 96
(for example) ... Yeah, they’d
be willing to talk.”
Edwards added that there
are some things that are just
cost-effective. Having an
animal shelter here and an
animal shelter there and an
shelter there, he said, is not.
“The fact of the matter is
I think we should have been
looking at this a long, long
time ago.”
Worrall reminded him they
did to which Edwards added:
“Phase II will be in April,”
he continued. “We will come
back and prepare design
ideas right her in Warner
Robins. We will involve as
many people as possible.
Then we will have another
public meeting where we wall
present the ideas.
“We want to see what you
like and what you dislike.
What other ideas are there
and what have we missed?
This is a way of getting your
reaction to specific design
ideas.”
In Phase 111 (no timeline
was mentioned), he said,
they will begin to prepare
the final plan. As far as fund
ing it all, Ostergaard said it
was typically a combination
of public and private dollars
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Perry, GA
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
“We should have ‘solved’ it a
long, long time ago.”
In response to that, Worrall
said his suggestion was to
“get it on the drawing board
as fast as we can and let that
be the only topic of conversa
tion on the agenda.”
The final decision then
was Sanders directed Vision
2020 administrator Jake Cox
to draft a generic resolution
from the Vision 2020 group
recommending one county
wide animal shelter. That in
turn is to be passed onto each
of the city council’s for their
determination, whether they
would support or not.
If there is favorable
response, Sanders said, a
special called meeting will
then be held. Sanders also
added he would present it as
an agenda item to the county
commissioners, and in fact it
is being listed as an agenda
item for Tuesday’s meeting.
“Just to get it started,” he
said. “If I (we) can’t get it
started, then we’re just spin
ning our wheels.” (Edwards
made note: “I have five votes
(in favor) right now.”)
but couldn’t add anymore
specifics at this time.
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