Newspaper Page Text
The Houston Home Journal
VOL. 104 NO. 37
No Bids Taken
County Mum About
State Court Plans
By Joe Hiett
Henry Corsini, architect for
the proposed State Court
building for Houston County,
Tuesday night unveiled a color
artists’ rendition of the
building at the Houston
County Commission meeting.
Corsini was successful in
obtaining payment of $33,600
for a portion of his work in
Bloodmobile Set
The Bloodmobile will be in Perry next Wed
nesday, Sept. 18, at the County Agriculture
Building during the hours of 10:30 A.M. and 3:30
P.M,
Perry’s quota under the Red Cross blood bank
program is 100 pints. All those eligible to give
blood are urged to take a few minutes next
Wednesday and give a pint.
Goodroe Named Perry
Realtor Os The Year
*
Richard T. Goodroe, of
Goodroe Realty Company in
Perry, has been selected as
Realtor of the Year by a
committee of local Realtors.
He will be presented an im
pressive plaque, and enter the
contest for the Realtor of the
Year in the State of Georgia.
Being a firm believer that a
Realtor is a professional
governed by ethics involved in
a trade governed by
organization, he is the local
board president, and initiated
a local board of directors and
reorganized the standing
committees.
He is a member of the Perry
First Baptist Church, and
dedicated to the growth and
development of young people.
He was recently re-elected to
.the position of Superintendent
the Junior Department,
which he has held for nine
years. He sponsors and
coaches a Little League team.
He was elected Commissioner
of Little League Baseball last
year.
Goodroe has held many
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Perry Group Will Fight County Seat Move
There are indications in the Perry area this
week that a group of concerned citizens will form
an organization to fight the current move un
derway in Warner Robins to have the county seat
moved from Perry to Warner Robins
ill Robins Mayor Ed Bryant has been campaigning
vigorously for the past six weeks to get voters in
his city to sign petitions to call a special election
on moving the county seat. Bryant has said his
actions were prompted when a group of five Perry
businessmen filed a suit here last month to
determine the legality of the County Com
missioners, Sheriff and the State Court operating
outside of the county seat of Perry. Bryant has
also told Robins residents that the suit is designed
to take away certain county services from the
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Perry And Houston County's Independent Newspaper With An Independent Voice
rendering architectural
drawings of the building.
The Warner Robins meeting
was the scene of the discussion i
between Corsini and the
Commission about his
payment and the building
itself. Corsini recalled that he
had presented to the board on
May 20 his first bill for the
.Stale Court drawings. That
bill listed as approximate cost
$1.4 million for constructing
offices in the Perry Board of
Realtors in addition to
currently being President. He
has served as vice president,
1973, Professional Ethics
Chairman, 1973, Chairman of
Insurance and Political
Committee, 1974, and is
presently active in all Realtor
related projects.
He has attended quarterly
conferences of the Georgia
Richard Goodroe
PERRY, HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, THURS., SEPTEMBER 12, 1974
the facility. The Commission
had questioned Corsini’s
assumption that the building
would cost $1,400,000.
Corsini reminded the board
that he had originally sub
mitted a plan that would have
cost $2,800,000, and was told by
the Commission to chop the
costs in half. Corsini then
resubmitted the $1,400,000
plan, which was approved on
April 22 by the Commission on
an unanimous vole.
The $33,600 that Corsini
requested was for the
“schematic design phase,
design development phase,
and construction documents
phase.” Previous payments
had totaled $29,400 to Cor
sini's firm. He is under con
tract at a six percent fee to
serve as architect for the State
Court building, scheduled to
be constructed at the south
western tip of Warner Robins.
Association of Realtors. He is
a Georgia Institute Graduate,
and has attended courses at
Athens, Georgia, of the CCIM
Chapter. He is now serving on
theG.A.R. Board of Directors,
1974-75. He attended NIRB
designate CCIM clinic in
Chicago, 111., May, 1974, and
completed Course B in July,
1973, Course C, August, 1973,
and Course D, October, 1973.
He also completed FLB
Course 1, March of 1973.
He has served on the Perry
City Council 1965-69, and has
served as Chairman of
Planning and Zoning. Goodroe
has been instrumental in
adopting building codes and
board of appeals. He is
Chairman of the Downtown
Merchants Committee, a
Director of the Perry Area of
Commerce, an active member
of the Masonic Lodge, A1
Shirah Temple and Perry
Shrine Club.
Richard resides in Her
mitage Acres out on 341, with
his wife Martha, and four
children.
people of Warner Robins. Perry Mayor James
McKinley has stated, along with a number of
other Perry leaders, that the suit is not intended to
take away services by the county in Warner
Robins.
Petitions to call the special election are now
circulating heavily in Warner Robins and Bryant
will set up a tent today (Thursday) at the polling
place for a special run-off election for city council
in Robins so that voters can sign the petitions.
The Home Journal has learned this week that a
group of Perryans are organizing to take steps
towards presenting the other side of the question
of moving the county seat. It has been estimated
that it could cost the county as must as sls million
to move the county seat.
One local leader, who did not want to be iden
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Commissioner Alton Tucker
asked Corsini what would
happen it the cost of the
building proved to be less than
$1,400,000.
Corsini replied that he was
willing to adjust his payment,
in that event, so that he ob
tained six percent of what the
building cost. The Com
missioners are withholding 25
percent of Corsini’s fee until
bids are taken on the building.
Commissioner Steve Byrd
observed, “It seems to me
that his bill is stipulated in the
contract.” The bill was
presented last week, but the
Commissioners tabled
payment until the situation
could be discussed with
Corsini.
Byrd then moved to pay the
$33,600. He was seconded by
Charles Carter. The vote was
unanimous.
Corsini asked, “Do y’all
know if this thing is going to lie
pul out on bids pretty soon?”
He received no answer.
In answer to a question
posed by the HHJ, Corsini said
that if the building was con
structed, and proved to cost
more than $1.4 million, he
“would be willing to accept his
contract fee”. The contract
reads $1.4 million as cost, so
evidently Corsini will not
request additional fees if the
cost goes up.
The Slate Court building is
in jeopardy of never being
constructed if a civil suit
against Houston County by
live Ferryans is successful.
The suit contends that the
State Court should be operated
in Ferry, the county seat of
Houston County.
The Commissioners are
understandably reluctant to
make any decisions that might
affect the court case. But it is
general knowledge that the
current State Court building,
on Manor Court in Warner
Robins (one block off Watson
Boulevard) is a “firetrap”
and in desperate need of
replacement.
The current State Court is a
remodeled former church
building, and is considered far
too small lor its use. Corsini’s
plans for the new Court consist
of 38,000 total feet, which
includes Sheriff’s Department
olfices, and Juvenile
Cont. on page 3-A
t WS '* **V 18821
State Court Plans Studied
Three Houston County officials look over a color
artist’s representation of the new State Court
building, scheduled to be constructed in Warner
Robins for $1,400,000. Left to right are: County
At Southside School
County Schools Faced
With Teacher Shortage
The Houston County public
school system continues to
have difficulty in securing
enough teachers for Southside
Elementary School, located
nine miles south of Ferry on
Elko Road. Personnel director
Joe Williamson Tuesday told
the Board of Education at
their meeting in Perry, that
“there just aren’t enough
prospects in Perry to fill the
staff”.
Prospective Warner Robins
teachers, according to
Williamson, dislike the
thought of having to drive over
twenty-live miles each way
every day to teach school.
Williamson said he was
tified, said, “It looks as though we will have to buy
advertisements in the news media in the Warner
Robins area to get the true picture of this con
troversy presented. Not one time have I read a
story about how much it will cost the county to
move the county seat and never have I heard
Mayor Bryant state the true facts in this matter.
We don’t want to take county services away from
the people of Warner Robins; we just want to see
the county government operating within the
Georgia Constitution.”
The petitions in Warner Robins must carry
about 9,700 names of registered voters and then
must be presented to the Ordinary Clinton K.
Watson to check all the signatures against the
official county voters list. If the petitions are
legitimate, the Ordinary would then call a special
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continuing to try to find
qualified teachers for the
elementary school. At
present, as of September 10,
Southside Elementary has
lour leaching positions open.
Other vacancies as of
September 10 in the Perry
area are: Perry Elementary
one, Perry Annex -two, and
Tucker - one. Perry Junior
High also had one position
unfilled. The other schools in
Perry: Perry High, Kings
Chapel Elementary, and New
Hope were all fully staffed.
In other hoard action, the
school board decided to
authorize the Georgia In
surance Adjustment Bureau
to analyze the system’s
28 PAGES
Commissioner V .W. McEver, Commissioner
Steve Byrd, and Commission Clerk Sonny Watson.
Architect Henry Corsini appeared before the
Commission Tuesday night with the artwork.
properly insurance to
determine how much “un
derinsured" are the system’s
buildings. Assistant
superintendent in charge of
finances Seabie Hickson told
the Board that Iwo years ago,
the system’s buildings were
insured for $17.50 per square
foot.
But Hickson said that ar
chitects had told him that the
buildings could not be
replaced for $17.50 per square
foot, (As an example, the
Houston County Commission's
proposed State Court building
in Warner Robins is estimated
to cost at least S3O per square
foot.)
election and two-thirds of those voting in the
election would have to vote in favor
of moving the county seat. If the second step was
successful, the Georgia House of Representatives
would then have to pass a bill in favor of moving
the county seat. If a vote is called and the voters
go in favor of keeping the county seat in Perry,
there could not be another vote for five years.
Many observers believe it is almost impossible
to get enough voters in Houston County to vote in
favor of moving the county seat. However, most
agree the matter will probably come to a vote
sometime this year.
In the long history of Georgia, there has never
been a county seat moved from one city to another
by virtue of a vote of the citizens.
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Hickson said that in the
event of a fire, the system
could have to withstand a
severe financial loss. School
Superintendent David Perdue,
in response to a question posed
by Hoard Member Glenn
Heck, estimated that the
system owned over a million
square feet of buildings.
Perdue said the system, even
at current insured rates, has
$16,000,000 in buildings and
contents.
The property insurance
anniversary date is November
21. School board member
Hugh Bragell suggested a
yearly update in coverage,
saying that “building costs go
up ten percent a year.”