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All Now On Tuesdays
. County Commission
Alters Meeting Time
The Houston County
Commissioners have changed
their meeting times, at least
half of them anyway. Up to
now they were accustomed to
meeting on the first and third
Tuesday for day meetings.
And the board met on the
second and fourth Monday
nights.
On a motion by Steve Byrd,
the Board will now meet on
Tuesday nights every second
and fourth week, instead of on
Monday nights. This move is
effective in July. The com
missioners explained they
were switching to Monday
nights to “keep from con
fusing county residents”.
SB4 In One Month
Flint EMC Explains
Bonaire Well Bills
Flint Electric officials
Tuesday explained probable
reasons for several ab
normally high electric bills at
the Bonaire well house
belonging to the Houston
County water system. Flint
Executive Andy Borders,
along with employee Ted
Griffin, showed the com
missioners charts of kilowatt
hours used during various
months by the water system.
The furor was caused by a
series of “high” electric bills
at the well house. For five
months, May through Sep
tember, 1973, the well houses
bill was the minimum of $3.00.
Alter it doubled to $6.01 in
October, 1973, it really
skyrocketed. In November
the bill was $46.07; in
December $81.76; in January
•of this year, $84.25; in
February $66.08; and in
ft**************************^^
| All In Perry
Houston Has Had Three
Courthouses In Its 153 Years I
(EDITORS NOTE: The
following article is a history of
the Houston County Cour
,K)ouse. With the controversy
now surrounding a legal suit
allegedly proposed to return
ALL county offices to the
courthouse, the Home Journal
felt that this history was a
timely subject.)
Houston County has had
three courthouse buildings
during the 153 years of its
existence. It is thought that all
three buildings were located
on the same lot where the pre
sent courthouse stands. This
property is known as the town
square and is Lot No. 49 in the
Tenth Land District of
Houston County.
The order for the building of
the first courthouse is in the
minutes of the Inferior Court
of Houston County in Book A,
Page 9, dated first Monday in
September, 1823. It reads as
follows:
“Ordered that Lot No. 49 in
the tenth district be the place
on which the county cour
thouse be built and that Joel
Walker be and he is hereby
appointed to survey and lay
out said lots on said No. 49 and
ijst said place be called
Wattsville under the
superintendency of this
court.”
The following judges signed
this order: Howell Cobb,
William Haddock, Solomon
Simpson, David Wellons and
H.W. Raley.
In 1824, the county seat of
Houston County was changed
In other action, those fire
station bids for Henderson’s
proposed fire station still had
not been sent out as of late
Tuesday afternoon. Repor
tedly, minimum specifications
are being worked up, although
Commission Clerk Sonny
Watson said that he had been
told that metal building
companies had no general
standard size specifications.
The commission is obviously
considering a metal building,
instead of the brick-masonry
construction proposed by the
county fire commission.
At a special meeting
Tuesday night between the
county commission and the
March $47.53!
Inside the concrete block
building are the following
electrical devices - three 5,000
watt heaters; one 250 watt
heater, and five 200 watt
lightbulbs. And Water System
Chief Lamar Brown said that
his men told him the house
was never used for more than
a few minutes at a time, two or
three times a month. The well
house is used to store some
equipment.
Flint employee Griffin
produced figures showing that
in December, 1973, the well
house used 3,409 kilowatt
hours of electricity. The meter
on the house is read once each
month, at the beginning of the
following month. So a January
I reading would cover
December usage.
Flint executive Andy
from Wattsville to Perry by
the judges of the Inferior
Court. Perry was in
corporated as a town by an act
of the Georgia legislature on
Nov. 25, ' 1824, which
established the town's limits
as one-half mile from the
center of the public square.
On March 25, 1830, the
minutes of the Inferior Court
state that Henry W. Raley,
sheriff, was ordered to be
superintendent of the cour
thouse and courthouse square
of the county of Houston and
that he proceed to plant trees
and grass on the grounds.
The first courthouse was a
two-story frame structure
built in 1824-25. This wooden
building was used until June,
1856, when a two-story brick
building, erected on the town
square, was occupied by
county officers, A complete
description of this building is
found in the minutes of the
inferior Court of that year.
The second courthouse
building cost $13,000.00 which
was paid in three in
stallments, as follows:
$4,000.00 in 1856, $4,000,00 in
1857 and $5,000.00 in 1858.
Present Building
This $13,000 brick structure
served the county for 92 years
as the courthouse. It was
razed by the county in Oc
tober, 1948, because its walls
and foundation were crum
bling and it was necessary to
clear the site for a new
building.
Work on the present cour-
Warner Robins City Council,
county fire protection was
discussed, with one proposal
being for Warner Robins fire
trucks to provide fire
protection for a five mile
radius around the city,
through a contract with the
city. Rural residents living in
those areas would obstensibly
be taxes for the “special”
proposed fire services.
According to Commissioner
Alton Tucker, the $28,000 fire
truck ordered for the Elberta
fire station may be diverted to
use at Henderson. This
proposal hinged upon suc
cessful negotiations with the
City of Warner Robins to
provide fire protection for the
Borders theorized that the
three 5,000 watt heaters were
probably in heavy use during
January. He said that all of
the electricity using in
struments in the well house
added up to 16,250 watts - so in
a 15 minute time period if all
were in use, 16.25 kilowatts
would be used. Using Borders’
figures, fifty-two hours of
electricity use per month
would result in the 3,409
kilowatt hours used in
December.
Borders suggested that the
three 5,000 watt heaters be
disconnected, since they were
of no apparent use. Com
missioner Charles Carter
agreed, and also suggested
removing all but one of the 200
watt lightbulbs. After this,
Commissioner Alton Tucker
moved to pay the bill, which
was $209.45 to Flint Electric.
thouse was begun in
November, 1948, by the
contractor, S.J. Curry
Company of Albany, Georgia,
E. Oren Smith of Columbus,
Georgia, was the architect.
On March 1, 1950, the
present building was com
pleted and occupied by the
county officers and agencies.
The building was dedicated
with appropriate exercises in
May, 1950.
The present 24 year old
courthouse, built at a cost of
$325,000.00, was financed
without a bond issue, or loan,
or federal aid. The com
missioners added an ad
ditional five mill levy to the
tax digest in 1945 for the
purpose of financing the
building of a new courthouse.
Thus, these fiscal agents of the
county were able to pay cash
for the present courthouse.
The board of county com
missioners who made the
plans and let the contract for
the building was composed of
J, Alva Davis, chairman; T.L.
Warren, vice chairman;
Wyatt D. Kersey, Warren B
Hodge and Claude Watson.
Since 1950, the county has
erected a county building at
Warner Robins and several
buildings in Perry for county
agencies.
The county also completed
the basement of the cour
thouse for office purposes in
the 1950’s at an estimated cost
of $50,000 or more. The
building was also air
conditioned in 1958.
Elberta area
County Warden Allen Stone
reported that the “voting
house” at the Kathleen voting
precinct was being repaired.
Stone cleared up an apparent
misunderstanding when he
said that no voting machines
were ever exposed to rain.
Stone and Commissioner
Charles Carter inspected the
voting storage site and as a
result a new roof is being
placed, and needed repairs to
the building's floors and walls
are being made.
A mobile hardship zoning
variance for 45 days was
approved Tuesday morning by
the County Commission. The
hardship application stemmed
from a misunderstanding over
once proposed rezoning of
Birdsong Acres, a mobile
home community just off Lake
Joy Road on Cardinal Drive.
Area residents had opposed a
general rezoning of the entire
area, apparently because they
were unsure of the rezoning's
implications.
Then several weeks ago a
group of the mobile home
owners asked commission to
rezone their properties to
conform with property in the
area rezoned, owned by John
Lamberth. The commission
told the landowners to go
through normal channels,
which required an application
to the county planning and
zoning commission.
This stand left one resident
in “hot water” and in danger
of being farced to move. So the
resident applied for a hard
ship temporary zoning
variance to keep his trailer in
place until the general
rezoning could be approved.
Tuesday morning the hard
ship application was ap
proved. Then an hour later the
general rezoning was ap
proved. Now presumably
everybody is happy in the
mobile home community.
• * **
r “ /'"s X
Courthouse
Built In 1950
Three new Houston County lawyers were sworn
in Tuesday afternoon by Clerk of Superior Court
Tommie Hunt, and were then welcomed to the bar
by Judge of Superior Court Willis Hunt. Pictured,
left to right, are: David Moore, Jim Daly, and
Greg Leonard, the trio of New barristers, with
Judge Hunt.
David Moore is associated with the firm of
Walker, Clarke, McConnell, and Richardson of
Perry and Warner Robins. Daly will associate
Against Vince Moyer
Sonny Watson To Run
For Robins State Post
Houston County Com
mission Clerk Roy H. “Sonny”
Watson was granted a leave of
absence Tuesday afternoon by
the commissioners, in order to
allow Watson to run for the
State Representative post in
Warner Robins now held by
Vince Moyer. Watson will
oppose Moyer in the August 13
Democratic primary.
Commissioner Charles
Carter moved to grant Watson
a leave of absence from July
19 through August 14, to allow
him campaigning time
The present Houston County Courthouse in
Perry was built in 1950 and was completed in
March of that year. It houses the Superior Court,
Ordinary’s offices, Tax Commission, and “sub
sidiary” offices of other county departments. It is
against Moyer. He was
seconded by Dr. V.W. McEver
and the vote was unanimous.
Watson has been County
Commission Clerk for
seventeen years. His father,
R. Herman Watson, was State
Representative from 1956 until
his death in 1962.
Watson is married (wife’s
name Jeanne) and they have
one daughter, Cindy, 16. The
Watsons live at 200 Forest Hill
Drive in Warner Robins.
Watson commented
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL THURS., JUNE 6, 1974,
with Marvin Morrow. Greg Leonard will join the
firm of Nunn, Geiger, Buice, Rampey and
Harrington.
All three of the new lawyer i graduated from
Mercer University Law School last quarter and
passed the bar examination. The State Bar
Association has confirmed their appointment to
the legal profession. Judge Paul Armitage of
Perry, Judge of the State Court, is president of the
Houston County Bar Association.
Tuesday afternoon at the
Commission meeting that he
“was going to take a wait and
see attitude” about
possibilities of retaining his
County Clerk’s position if
elected. Previously two
Commissioners had expressed
reservations about Watson
remaining as County Clerk if
elected to the Stale
Representative post.
Watson staled, “1 feel with
my 17 years experience with
the county government, that I
the subject of increasing debate, as a group of
Perryans has reportedly set up a $6,000 bank
account to finance a legal suit to have county
offices ALL moved back to Perry, the county seat
of Houston County.
PAGE 3-A
have obtained some insight
into the needs of 'the people of
Houston County. 1 would like
the opportunity to try to fill
some of these needs by ser
ving them in the State
Legislature.”
Watson is considered a
strong candidate, for Moyer’s
office. Moyer has reportedly
angered various sections of
Ihe Warner Robins electorate,
particularly women voters,
with his stand on the Women's
rights bill.