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Home Journal Opinions
PERRY, HOUSTON COUNTY, GA. 31069, THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1970
We want to urge our readers to vote
in favor of the proposed bond issue
for a new library here.
Perry City Council has called the
special referendum to vote on the
bond issue of $150,000 for August 25.
Perry needs a new library. We need
a modern facility with adequate space.
The library, which is now located in
cramped quarters in the basement of
the courthouse, is one of the finest of
its size in the state. The County Com
missioners have already stated that
they need the additional room in the
We don’t think the Houston County
Commissioners treated Perry fairly in
action they took last week to grant
ths Perry Area Chamber of Commerce
$1,250 for the promotion of our com
munity on television.
Officials of the Perry Chamber ap
peared before the Commissioners and
asked that they assist financially in
the Miss Central Georgia Pageant in
the amount of $3,000. The Commis
sioners gave Perry $1,250 and they
said the figure was based on popula
tion of Perry and Warner Robins. The
Commissioners granted $5,000 recent
ly to Warner Robins to promote that
City on both Macon television stations.
We have no axe to grind with War
ner Robins. We’re glad they’re aggres
sive enough to promote their city. We
think it Shows good community inter
est and pride. We just don’t think it
was right for the Commissioners to
base the giving of funds on what they
called population.
Welcome To Systems Structures
We want to offer a hearty welcome
to System Structures Limited, Inc., to
the community of Perry.
Officials of the Macon based com
pany announced last week their plans
to construct a modular home manu
facturing plant here on U. S. 41 south.
The new plant will begin operation in
October with 36 employees.
We are impressed with the manage
ment of Systems Structures and we
I ke the things they have said about
Fix-Up For Television Cameras
The color TV cameras will roll in
Perry this Saturday. A crew from
WMAZ-TV in Macon will arrive here
early in the morning to begin shoot
ing commercials for the live colorcast
of the Miss Central Georgia Pageant
to be televised on August 22.
All the commercials on the telecast,
which is being sponsored by the Perry
Area Chamber of Commerce and pro
duced and directed by the Perry Jay-
Know The Meaning Os Peace Symbol
A popular fad with young people is
the “peace symbol”. It is seen every
where, but few people know its origin
or meaning. One of the nation’s most
sophisticated magazines, the New
Yorker, has some interesting things to
say about it. It is most popular with
protesters, draft card burners and flow
er children. It is worn also by many
thousands of unsuspecting youth.
They wear the emblem as a necklace,
stamp it on sweatshirts, draw it on
notebook covers, even carve it on trees
and scrawl it on restroom walls.
The New Yorker says the emblem
was adopted by various youth organi
zations on direct orders from the Com
munist Party. This, says the publica
tion, is part of a long range propagan
da campaign of the Communists to en
courage youth to express contempt for
adults, for authority, and for the ideals
that built the United States.
The symbol is old, but it has never
been associated with peace, according
to the magazine. It actually is an an
cient sign of evil known as the broken
cross, sometimes called the "crucified
cross”. It is the Christian Cross per
Vote For A New Library
Perry Deserves A Fair Share
basement for other offices and that
the library must be moved.
We hope the voters of Periy will
vote in favor of this very worthwhile
bond issue. City Council and the Coun
ty Commissioners have shown much
interest in the future of Perry’s library
and now the time is coming on Aug.
25, for the people of Perry to show
their interest in the future of their
library.
We whole heartedly endorse the
proposed project for a new library.
—B. B.
We wish the Commissioners would
have given the money on the basis of
the merit of the live TV colorcast that
will originate from Perry on August
22. The pageant here will rank right
along with the Miss Georgia Pageant
in excellence. Hundreds of thousands
of Georgians will view the telecast all
over the state because of the WMAZ
hook-up on cable TV around the state.
The show is outstanding and Perry
and this area will be highlighted on
all the commercial spots.
We want to thank the Commission
ers for the $1,250, anyway. We just
think it is a shame they didn’t con
sider the merits of the upcoming pro
gram about Perry. ... We hope in
the future the Commissioners don’t
get the words population and VOTES
mixed up. . . . And we hope this case
is no indication of things to come in
the future. . , . We think Perry de
serves its fair share. ... No more. No
less.
—B. B.
Perry. They are determined to be good
citizens and their outlook for the fu
ture of the plant here and for Perry
is one of high optimism.
We in Perry are always pleased to
welcome new industry into our com
munity ... no matter how big or
small. Perry is the industrial center of
Houston County and we are proud of
that fact.
Welcome, new neighbors.
cees, will highlight community life,
business and industry in Perry.
We want to urge everyone to clean
up and fix up whatever needs repair
ing. We think the City of Perry is one
of the cleanest and loveliest anywhere,
but some places can use a little clean
ing up before the cameras get here
Saturday. Let’s put on our best face
for the color cameras. Smile, you’re
‘ on TV.
—B. B.
verted. with the crossbars broken
down to signify Satan’s contempt for
Christian principles.
So. young people, wear it if you
must. Draw it, stitch it into your cloth
ing. But be sure you know' what it
really means. Do not be so naive as
to follow the crowd without thinking
for yourself. The pirate flag cross
bones and skull is now almost a play
thing because it represents no threat
to our security. Perhaps the same can
be said for the Nazi swastika. But the
so-called “Peace Symbol” is an enemy
flag of godless tradition, cleverly foist
ed on the unsuspecting.
—Baptist Courier.
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A Happening In Perry
I: J /
While the invansion of the Pop Fes
tival, the big “Happening” as the long
hairs call it, was going on at Byron, a
completely different kind of “Happen
ing” was getting off to a good start
in Perry among its young people.
The hippies and others among what
is called the hooked generation give a
two-finger salute meaning “peace.”
This different youth group gives a
three-finger salute meaning “God is
Love.”
It started in Asbury College in Ke:>-
tacky back on February 3 of this year.
That night a television reporter on the
evening news told viewers to put down
their newspapers and listen and watch
the scene he had filmed earlier that
day. “In my 34 years of newscasting,”
he said, “I’ve never seen anything like
it. And I still can’t believe it.”
What had happened that day was
that the little college community of
Wilmore, Kentucky, had been invaded
—by the Holy Spirit. All academic
and administrative work stopped and
classes were suspended. Asbury Col
lege’s auditorium was crowded with
penitent students on their knees; one
by one, after prayer, they stood and
testified of God’s deliverance and of
His presence. One student expressed
the situation when she declared, “I sit
in the middle of a contemporary Pent
ecost.”
Townspeople joined in, and before
the week was over hundreds of “pil
grims” from across the nation had
joined those on the campus. From dis
tant points information was sought,
from other colleges, other towns, from
a Senator’s office. Before the end of
June over 70 schools had been effect
ed. including Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
Teams from Asbury spread out to
share the love they had found when
they experienced the love of Jesus in
their own hearts. Revivals sprang up
in churches, and spread to whole
towns; city halls and hotels are opened
lo meetings.
People around Perry were expect
ing the Pop Festival, because it had
been a source of newspaper and tele
vision publicity for weeks before it
actually started. They had no idea that
something bigger and better would ar
rive almost simultaneously, but quiet
ly and, at first, almost unnoticed.
The First Baptist Church in Perry
had supposedly secured a youth di
rector for its customary summer pro
gram but something happened so
that the person who was to take the
job could not come and someone else
SUPPORT PERRY
had to be found. A young lady named
Miss Carole Proctor came to Perry in
stead. An accident, a coincidence, the
fact that this young lady was involved
in one of these spontaneous revivals
at her school? With God there are no
mistakes, no accidents, no coincid
ences, and this past week saw a spon
taneous revival break out among the
young people in Perry First Baptist
Church.
They led their own services on a
night-to-night basis, discussing the Bi
ble, giving testimonies, praying for
themselves and for their families,
friends, and everyone else who didn’t
know the love of Jesus as they had
found it. Meetings sometimes lasted
far into the night, and parents, at first
reluctantly and then joyfully, came to
support the young generation who had
found something solid on which to get
“hooked.” For they say they have
found their “thing,” that they are
“hooked on the love of Jesus,” and in
contrast to their contemporaries who
are hooked on drugs and sex they
want to do something constructive to
help the adults to build a better world.
While the hippies are completely
self-absorbed, copping-out on life and
its responsibilities, dull-eyed from
drugs, these young people are bright
eyed, alert, filled with zest of living
and of having a purpose in life. I saw
a young man, after kneeling in pray
er, stand and apologize for leaving
early. “There is a young lady who
means very much to me,” he said,
“and I feel led by the Spirit to go and
tell her what I have found and share
it with her.” At the moment, other
teams were out visiting their friends;
people came from other churches, for
the Holy Spirit has no denominational
barrier.
“I am a Methodist, but I found God’s
love here in a Baptist church,” a young
lady smiled radiantly. “I wasn’t sure
what to do about it, but I prayed and
the Spirit is leading me to go back and
share what I have found in my own
church and try to spread it there.”
The main opposition to these young
people has come from some adults in
the churches—staid, unbending, who
don’t like the monotony of their week
ly religious rites disturbed. These are
the same people who condemn the
hippies, the freaks, the militants. Now
they would even condemn these tender
young friends of Jesus Christ.
But, then, that’s what the Scribes
and Pharisees did to Jesus Christ,
didn’t they?
Bobby
Branch
4 ■
(Note: The following column was written by
Perry Area Chamber of Commerce President Tom
Daniel and published in this month’s Chamber
newspaper, The Pacesetter. The column deals with
a timely and important subject and if Tom will per
mit, I am re-pr.nting the column in this space.)
There is one thing that every community desir
ing to expand its industrial growth must have in
order to attract desirable industry to its area and
that is some type of industrial park. We in Perry
have recognized the need for an industrial park
for a long time and on numerous occasions have
been told by the experts at Georgia Tech and else
where this was the one most important thing miss
ing in the Perry area. The basic reason for the need
of an industrial park is so industry can be quoted
a land price they can count on without feeling they
have been gouged by a price far beyond the present
day market value. Industry has shown time and
time again it is not out looking for a steal in
property but it just wishes to be treated like any
other person trying to buy land. Second, an indus
trial park will provide the necessary utilities and
transportation routes that are required by heavy in
dustry.
We have recently embarked on a program in
coordination with the City of Perry, the Middle
Georgia Area Planning Commission, and the Coast
al Plains Planning Commission which we hope will
enable our area to get the necessary resources
needed to enable us to purchase a large tract of
land and develop it into a complete industrial park
with the utilities and transportation routes neces
sary.
It is anticipated that the industrial park, when
developed, will be located on a site that will fit
with the overall plan of growth and development
of our community as proposed by the local plan
ning and zoning commission in coordination with
the Middle Georgia Area Planning Commission and
the local county and city governments.
If our community is going to continue to grow
and yet retain the vestiges of a small town atmos
phere that we have long enjoyed, it is necessary
that planning be done and each expansion be made
m an orderly fashion according to well thought-out
plans so that we do not end up with a hodgepodge
community. 6 F 6
.. our , th °ughts and ideas are greatly needed by
the local planning commission and governing bod
ies. Make your ideas known and help Perry grow
m the direction most advantageous to all.
Dear Mr. Branch:
Surely most residents of
Perry were sickened by the
picture of two little child
ren playing in the drainage
from the “bathhouse” at the
Pop Festival. However, you
could have topped that right
here in Perry a few months
ago.
As a result of the heavy
rains of late March, sanitary
sewer manholes on Forest
Avenue, US 341 South, and
perhaps in other parts of
the city, overflowed for a
bout two days. This over
flow, well fortified with hu
man waste, covered streets,
lawns, drives, and walks. At
the junction of Elizabeth
Avenue and Forest Avenue
small children washed their
hands in the open manhole
like it was some lovely
mountain spring. Larger
children threw sticks and
stones into the mess to see
it splash. School children
disembarking from the bus,
dropped their books into the
filth, scooped them up, and
went merrily on their way
home. Adults raced up and
down the street, splashing
the polluted fluid all over
their cars, as well as every
thing else in range. On one
occasion this included me.
This is not the first time
this has happened. In 1966
the manholes in this area of
town overflowed twice. In
the meantime, a new sub-di
vision and a hospital have
been added to the load that
“Perry’s Hometown, Community Newspaper
For The Past 100 Years”
The Houston Home Journal
BOBBY BRANCH President-Editor-Publisher
MAXINE THOMPSON Associate Editor
BOBBY HOLLIS Advertising Manager
WOFFORD SINYARD Production Manager
Published Every Thursday By
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, INC.
G. OGDEN PERSONS, Vice President
LEWIS M. MEEKS, Secretary-Treasurer
Entered at the Perry, Georgia Post Office, 31069
As Second Class Mail Matter
the sewer serving our area
inust accomodate. In the
meantime, this city has spent
thousands on an airport, in
cluding shrubbery I’m told,
thousands more on a gas
line to the brewery, and
quite a bundle promoting
Perry as a wonderful place
to live. How much to cor
rect this malfunction of our
sewer system? I don’t know.
Maybe some of you who read
this can get the answer.
Two months ago my wife
and I were told that the
city was in touch with a com
pany that had a gadget that
could locate the problem and
correct it. The city officials
were just waiting for their
engineer to tell them it was
trfe thing to do. Interesting
ly, this fellow has been the
city’s engineer through most,
if not all, of the time that
this problem has existed.
I sincerely believe that the
fouled-up sewer system in
Perry is a serious health haz
ard. If they are given the
facts, I believe the physi
cians in Perry will concur.
What will it take to get act
ion from Mayor and Coun
cil? Beats me. My wife and
I tried, and except for a few
days when we refused to pay
a portion of our utility bill,
we have been well ignored.
Maybe a picture on Page 1
of the HJ would help. Mr.
Editor, the next time it hap
pens, I won’t chase the kids
away. I will just call for
you and your camera.
PERRY F. DOMINY
924 Forest Avenue