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The Houston Home Journal
Serving The People In Georgia’s Heartland Since 1870
109TH YEAR NO. 47 PHONE 987-1823 PERRY, HOUSTON COUNTY, GA., 31069 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4. 1980 PRICE 20 CENTS TWO SECTIONS, 26 PAGES
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To Retire After 41 Years
David Perdue
A Giant In Houston
Co. Public Schools
Thursday, Dec. 4 has
been proclaimed David
A. Perdue Day in the City
of Perry, as a tribute to
Perdue’s 42 years of
service in public
education, 20 of which he
served as Houston County
Schools Superintendent.
Perdue will retire when
incoming Superintendent
Matthew Arthur takes
office Jan. 1, 1981.
The proclamation,
signed by Perry Mayor
Barbara Calhoun, states
that David A. Perdue Day
is proclaimed in ap
preciation for Perdue’s
“outstanding work ac
complished in promoting
a sound educational
program for the youth of
Perry during his tenure”
as superintendent.
The proclamation cites
Perdue as being “one of
the outstanding
superintendents in the
history, of the Houston
County Schools,” as well
as “one of the out
standing educators in the
/mfk TL I
Perry’s MVP
Rodney Norwood, Perry High School senior,
was named Most Valuable Player at the
Panther Football Awards Banquet held Nov. 24
at the Perry High Cafeteria. Rodney also
received trophies for Defensive lineman and
Captain's Award.
United States of
America.”
Bonaire, entered Mercer
University in 1934 as a
pre-med student.
“Getting into teaching
was the last thing on my
mind,” he said.
After he graduated
from Mercer with
Bachelors degrees in
chemistry and biology,he
was offered a teaching
position in Chester, Ga.,
at a salary of S2O a week.
He took the job, he said,
because of the salary;
any other job he took
would offer him only
$12.50 a week.
After teaching at
Chester for four years,
Perdue was drafted into
the Army Air Corps,
where he served as a
communications spec
ialist during World
War II from 1942 until
1946. He became prin
cipal of Bonaire High
School in September 1946.
When the school burned
two years later, Perdue
returned to Mercer to
receive his Master’s
degree.
After a brief stint as a
biology teacher at Lanier
High School in Macon,
Perdue served as
assistant principal and
coach at Warner Robins
High School for two
years, beginning in the
fall of 1949.
On July 1, 1951, Perdue
was recalled to active
duty with the U.S. Air
Force in Thule,
Greenland. He was
released in 1953, as a
colonel.
That September,
Perdue started work as
principal of the new
Lindsay Elementary
School. In 1956, he
became principal at
Warner Robins High
School.
Perdue took office as
Houston County Schools
Superintendent January
1, 1961, after defeating
incumbent Lewis Tabor
in the March election.
During his tenure as
superintendent, Perdue
has seen the Houston
County school system
grow from a $1 million
operation with 287
teachers to an almost $25
million operation with 850
teachers, or 1400 total
employees.
Perdue said the biggest
influx of students came in
the 60’s, when many
military bases were
being closed and Robins
Air Force Base took the
overflow of military
personnel.
He said he has been
involved in about S3O
million worth of school
construction in Houston
County during his time as
superintendent. The
latest building to be built,
he said, was the Houston
Vocational School in 1975.
In looking back over his
tenure, Perdue
remembers specifically
the time Warner Robins
High School burned in
1966. “That was the
greatest disaster that
occurred during my
career,” he said. The
Christmas Season Arrives
In Perry This Weekend
Perryans will kick off
the Christmas season this
weekend with the annual
Christmas at the
Crossroads festivities
Saturday and Sunday.
The activities will
begin Saturday morning,
Dec. 6, with a one mile
and a 10,000 meter road
race through Perry’s
downtown and residential
area.
Registration for the
race is at 8:15 at the
Chamber of Commerce
building on Washington
Street. Entry fee is $5 per
person, and the proceeds
will go to the Chamber’s
building fund.
The mile race begins at
9 a.m., and the 10,000
meter run begins at 9:30
a.m. Participants will be
divided into age groups;
people of all ages are
welcome to participate.
Trophies will be
presented to the top male
and female finishers in
the 10,000 meter run. T
shirts will be given to all
finishers in both runs.
The Christmas at the
Crossroads parade will
begin at 6 p.m. Saturday
school was rebuilt on the
same site.
The biggest challenge
Perdue faced in his
career as superintendent
was the integration of the
schools in the late 60’s, he
said. “People were
scared to death;
everybody was on edge,”
he said.
The integration process
went smoothly, he said,
because of “planning and
cooperation between the
people, teachers and the
Board of Education." He
continued that during the
70’s the county main
tained “a very calm
atmosphere as far as
minority and non
minority races were
concerned.”
Perdue said he is proud
that the Houston County
school system is among
the top systems in the
Southeast. His motto, he
said, has always been “to
provide something for
every child.” He believes
the effort has been made
possible, because the
board has always had “a
positive attitude that it
will be done.”
He added, though, that
the school system is not
perfect. “There is plenty
of work to be done, plenty
of improvements to be
made,” he said.
He sees the biggest
problem facing his
successor as financing
the system. But he
described the financing
problem as a challenge,
and said that Arthur
“loves a challenge. I
think they (Arthur and
the board) will be able to
work out of it real fine.”
Perdue has seen many
educational trends come
and go in the past years --
new math, tran
sformational grammar,
team teaching, open
classrooms, to name a
few. The trend now, he
said, is toward per
formance - based
education. “I’m for it; it
helps to eliminate social
promotions and make
sure that each student is
(Continued Page 2-A)
at Perry High School on
North Avenue. It will
progress down North
Avenue until it hits
Macon Road, where the
parade will turn right and
continue through town on
Carroll Avenue.
The parade will include
more than fifteen hand
made and commercial
floats, as well as five
bands, including the
Perry High and Perry
Junior High bands.
Mayo Wins Re-election
To Perry City Council
By Angels Martin
Thomas Mayo, Perry
City Council Post 5 in
cumbent, experienced a
landslide victory over
challengers Joe Posey
and Robbin Jackson in
Tuesday’s election.
With 31 percent of
Perry’s 4313 eligible
voters turning out for thd
election, Mayo received
658 votes to Posey’s 365
votes and Jackson’s 322
votes. Mayo received 48.9
percent of the votes;
S#t. humph
In Maneuvers
Sergeant James
Rumph, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Jeff Rumph of
Perry participated in
“Certain Rampart”, a
field training exercise
held in the center of
Bavaria, West Germany,
in September.
“Certain Rampart”,
the second largest in the
1980 series of NATO’s
Autumn Forge
manuevers, involved
over 41,000 troops from
West Germany, Canada
and Denmark, including
12,000 personnel from the
U.S. Army Europe’s Ist
Armored Division.
The purpose of the
exercise was to give
allied military units the
opportunity to train
together in realistic
tactical environment.
Council Undecided
About Beverage Sales
The Perry City Council
decided Monday to
postpone a decision as to
whether to change a city
ordinance prohibiting'the
sale of beer and wine to
go before 8 a.m., to allow
sale of such beverages
beginning at 7 a.m.
At the request of
representatives from
various convenience
stores in the city, the
Council will consider the
ordinance change after
City Attorney Larry
Walker examines the
state law relative to the
sale of heer and wine.
Walker said Monday he
will find out exactly what
the state law is; city
ordinances, he said,
cannot be more lenient
than state law, but they
can be more strict.
The Council was unable
to determine how long the
present ordinance has
been in effect, but Walker
said “it’s been like this at
least 10 years.”
The decision about the
ordinance change will be
made at the next Council
meeting Dec. 16 at 6:30.
Adding to the color will be
antique cars, Robins Air
Force Base color guards,
shriners and fire trucks.
Also featured will be
various local dignitaries,
majorettes, cheer
leaders, Scout
groups, skaters,
unicyclists and motor
cyclists. This year’s
grand marshal will be
Perry Mayor Barbara
Calhoun. And to complete
the picture, Santa Claus
A ' 1
Thomas Mayo
Posey, 27.1 percent; and
Jackson, 23.9 percent.
Mayo said Tuesday
night that the large
percentage of votes
“makes me feel good; to
me it shows that I must
have been doing
something right for the
past two years.” He
continued, “I just want to
continue to serve the
people; that’s my whole
purpose for being on
Council.”
Mayo said he ap-
Pvt. Askew At
Camp Lajeune
Marine Pvt. Kelvin N.
Askew, son of Henry and
Viola Askew of Perry,
has reported for duty
with 2nd Marine Division,
Camp Lejeune, N.C.
He joined the Marine
Corps in June 1980.
The quick store
representatives also
requested that the
present ordinance be
changed to allow the sale
ill N
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Westfield’s MVP
Westfield student Cater Pierce receives the Most Valuable Player
Award from coach Marvin Arrington.
will ride in the parade.
After the parade, the
action will move to the
Courthouse square,
where everyone may
witness the lighting of the
Christmas tree. Santa
will still be present, to
give candy to the
children. Chamber of
Commerce represen
tatives remind local
residents that his year no
ornaments will be put on
the tree other than lights.
preciated the confidence
Perryans have shown in
him by giving him their
votes. “Os course, it’ll be
up to the mayor what
committees I serve on
come January, but I want
to do my best and try to
represent the entire
town,” he said.
Posey said he was
disappinted at the out
(Continued Page 2-A)
County Holidays
May Decrease
By Michele Bryan
A possible cut in the
number of paid holidays
for county employeees
was the major topic of
discussion at the County
Commissioners meeting,
Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 10
a.m.
Charles Cloniger,
personnel director,
reported that state
employees have 13 paid
holidays, Robins Air
Force Base has nine, the
City of Warner Robins
has 10 and Houston
County employees has 15.
The extra 2 days for
Houston County em
ployees are actually
negotiable days, usually
taken Christmas eve,
New Years eve, the eve of
Thanksgiving or an extra
of beer and wine to go on
Thanksgiving and
Christmas. No vote was
taken about this request
(Continued Page 2-A)
Sunday’s activities will
feature an open house of
the downtown banks and
stores, with something
special at each location.
The businesses will be
open from 2 until 4:30
p.m. Sunday, with
exhibits, refreshments,
sales or entertainment
for visitors.
Some of the open house
activities include a doll
display at the Bank of
Perry, a doll house
display at the Chamber of
Commerce, an art exhibit
by Barbara Keel at
Tuggle and Mosteller
Insurance, puppet shows
at the Bank of Perry and
an opportunity to be
photographed with Santa
at Georgia Federal.
At 4:30 Sunday af
ternoon, the Candlelight
service will begin on the
Courthouse lawn. In the
event of rain, it will be at
the First Baptist Church.
The service will feature
speaker Dr. Bobby Johns,
from the Ingleside
Baptist Church in Macon.
A candlelighting
program will conclude
the service.
day after these holidays.
The days however, can be
given off or not given off
depending on when the
holidays are and what the
board decides.
The commission
agreed that there are an
(Continued Page 2-A)
Miss Bickley
To Perform
A Perry girl, Paula
Bickley, is performing
with the Georgia South
western College chorus’
annual Christmas
program.
Miss Bickley, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
James Bickley of Perry,
is a student at the College
in Americus.
The chorus is
presenting “Sing We Now
Os Christmas”, Harry
Simeone’s collage of
traditional holiday music
especially arranged for
chorus with dual piano
accompaniment.
The program was
presented Tuesday and
Wednesday and will be
offered again Sunday,
December 7 at 3 p.m. The
performances are open to
the public at no charge.