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4A THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, SATURDAY MAY 27, 1989 f m The Houston Home a Journal The Houston Home Journal OFFICIAL ORGAN, CITY OF PERRY AND HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, SINCE 1870 PUBLISHED EACH WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY MORNING 807 CARROLL ST„ P.O. DRAWER M, PERRY, GA. 31069 TELEPHONE: (912) 987-1823 The Houston Home Journal (USPS 252-780) is published biweekly lor $lB per year by the Houston Home Journal, Inc,, 807 Carroll St,, Perry, Ga. 31069, Second Class Postage paid at Perry, Ga, POSTMASTER: Send address change lo The Houston Home Journal, P O. Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069, ROY H. PARK, President 4 Chairman of the Board, Park Newspapers JAMES B. KERCE Editor & General Manager DAVID VON ALMEN RALPH MORRIS Advertising Manager Managing Editor I Opinion 1 A fitting honor for Dr. Hendrick In selecting the late Dr. A.G. Hendrick for its presti gious 1989 Community Service award, the Perry Rotary Club is bestowing another high honor on "one of the most valuable citizens to ever live in Houston County." Prior to his death in 1986 at the age of 85, "Doc" Hen drick was a familiar sight on city streets, as he took daily walks, or visited patients at the hospital. Even as his health began to fail in later years, "Doc" insisted on vis iting his patients—although he had to be driven around town by someone else. His devoted wife Mildred recently said all A.G. Hen drick wanted to be was "a good country doctor, available when needed." In over four decades of practice in Perry, he certainly achieved that goal. Plus, many others. His dedication to the community led him to become an active leader who served on the county health department board for 35 years. He was also active in church, club and community activities. As a Kiwanis Club member he was named "Man of the Year", served as president and received the club's international "Distinguished Member Award." Dr. Hendrick proudest achievement was a fund to help needy students gain a college education. That legacy lives today through a Kiwanis scholarship fund he established for local youngsters. His contributions were also recognized by the Houston County Commission. Shortly before his retirement in 1984, the commission issued a proclamation naming him "one of the most valuable citizens ever to live in Houston County." Now, nearly three years after his death, it is fitting that Dr. A.G . Hendrick will again be honored for his tireless efforts as "a good country doctor" and community leader. Recreation study a good step A positive step toward providing Perry residents with "something the city really lacks" was taken this week when mayor and council decided to look into possibly forming a city recreation program. To help assess local recreational needs, council is ask ing Douglas, Ga's., recreation director to make a presentation on the feasibility of starting a rec program in Perry. Included in the presentation will be activities for children and adults. After the "facts and figures" are presented to council, a decision will be made on forming a Perry Recreation Department. We hope the study will produce positive results and the city will move ahead with developing a recreation pro gram. Although it may lead to an increase in taxes to fund a program and hire its director, a city recreation depart ment would reap vast benefits in terms of local quality of life for all Perry residents. Mayor Jim Worrall summed up the need for a Perry Recreation Department when he told council he gets fre quent comments about how great the city is, but that it doesn't have a good recreation program. Perhaps, we soon will. Drive carefully during holiday Experts with the Georgia State Patrol have issued some grim statistics for this Memorial Day holiday weekend. There will be 1,736 accidents, 742 injuries and 16 people will die on state roads Saturday, Sunday and Monday, according to a forecast issued by the depart ment's Accident Reporting Unit. We do not want you to be one of those involved in an accident, injured or killed this weekend. So please, if you plan to be on the road this weekend, buckle up, drive defensively, pay attention to road and traffic conditions and —above all—let someone else drive if you plan to drink. Enjoy you holiday, but PLEASE be careful. Georgia's #1 Newspaper for General Excellence Better Newspaper Contest To subscribe, call 987-1823 I PERRY. GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS. CALL 987-1823 ]( I Perry Scrapbook w ife 1 .JSSHtS? |V> I m;w^SS^^ : 4 : ‘ W f ImpWHI KSjHL H'lOSton Ty e ?p4 . f7B|V '1 K SBPBfr fmL^jr*SSßl f jBI '*.. JW K|m *«| B Imm;. ■-- %^pp^« | Ip I teaßf* . f ■LHiB^^ v P,. t r H> 1 | The old E. L Woodruff station This photo, taken in the late 19205, shows the old E. L. Woodruff Filling Station located at 1115 Ball Street. In the photo are Mrs. E. L. Woodruff, Floyd F. Woodruff and Truitt W. Woodruff, the grandmother, uncle and father of Horace G. Woodruff of Woodruff's Auto Sales in Perry. Horace's grandfather and grandmother ran the Crown gasoline station for many years, followed Electric current lights nearby towns Fifty years ago: May 25, 1939 -- Electric current was turned on the lines serving Bonaire, Wcll ston and Kathleen communities at 2 p.m. Friday. These three communities and homes north of Perry arc part of the 250 miles of rural electric lines energized in Peach and Houston counties by the Taylor County Electric Member ship Corporation of the Rural Electric Administration. Construc tion work on lines south of Perry is going forward rapidly. • Houston County Superior Court came to a close Wednesday after disposing of a number of criminal cases and continuing several until the next term of court. • The Robert D. Collins Post of the American Le gion elected the following officers at the May meeting: C. E. Andrew, commander; J. M. Tollcson, vice commander; Hollis Kczar, second vice commander; Eby Holtzclaw, adjutant; Max Moore, financial of ficer. C.C. Pierce is the retiring commander. • Colonel Courtney H. Hodges and Mrs. Hodges of Fort Bcnning, Ga., were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Hodges and Mrs. J. H. Hodges for die weekend. • Advertisement: "It looks more business-like: A part of your per sonal appearance is your hair. If your hair is kept neatly clipped, people will have a higher respect for you, and realize you are busi ness-like in other matters. Come in and let us serve you. Have your hair cut every week! City Barber Shop, T. R. Summers, Propl'r. Forty years ago: May 26, 1949 - Houston County's Board of Education came in for high praise from Stale Auditor B. E. Thrasher Jr. last week. The slate official awarded the county a gold star for proper budgeting and con Stately magnolias grace Perry yards My grandmother loved these graceful Southern trees. She placed the sweet-smelling blossoms in the rooms to perfume the house. She's gone, but her special trees remain. And right now, they're covered with large, snowy petals. Her trees arc the magnificent magnolias the most splendid or namental tree in the world. These symbols of the Old South grace many yards and lawns in Perry and present a living witness to a tradition worth keeping. Many people are unaware how lucky we arc to have these stately trees with their lustrous, leathery leaves growing in our re gion. The natural range of the South ern magnolia is a strip of land about 100 miles wide that extends from North Carolina through Geor gia, Alabama and northern Florida, along the Gulf Coast to eastern Texas. Perry viewpoint Local editorials and columns on events in Perry & S. Houston ) 3 ""~T. . ■ '..:;'{ .■!... ■:■:■! : >:;.:-?;,■:;;•;; 1 ■ ; : : . . , ~~ j f A Remember when? A lookback atthe people and events which shaped Perry. This column is com-i piled from past Houston Home Journal issues. v —— scrvalion of school funds. • Macon Voiturc 1145 of the Society of the 40 and 8 will hold a Memorial ser vice at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the Perry Methodist Church to honor their comrades who have died during the last 12 months. Members of the American Legion in 21 posts within a 50-milc radius of Perry arc invited to attend the service. • Perry Kiwanians on Tuesday heard Hamilton Holt of Macon discuss the methods of establishing and operating a cemetery. Mr. Holt, who is head of Clark Memorials, was here to confer with the city council and Kiwanis Club commit tee regarding a new cemetery for Perry. Only three more lots arc un sold in Evergreen Cemetery here. • J. E. Adams, operator of Houston Lake, said this week that there is no foundation to rumors that the lake has been condemned. The rumors were spread that the lake waters were condemned due to sewage pol lution. • Advice: Before mounting a ladder, be sure it is secure and set our from the wall a safe distance. Thirty years ago: May 28, 1959 - The addition of about Ralph Morris HHJ Managing Editor V■ : - - That land strip runs through Perry, and it's the main reason why the trees a r c so tall and beautiful here. I spent many evenings as a child crawling around and hooting under the dark-green canopy of the magnolias. The trees, with their darling creamy-white blossoms, were a wonderful mystery to me by Horace's uncle and father. The station was located where Badcock Home Furnishing Center is today. After he left the station, Horace's dad Truitt farmed for a number of years, operated the old Perry Bus Lines and worked as a salesman for Union Motors here. If you have an old or historic photo, share it with our readers in "Perry Scrapbook.” seven classrooms at Perry High School to take care of the increas ing enrollment will be made possi ble through a grant of $256,416 to the Houston County Board of Edu cation by the federal government. Schools Supt. Lewis Tabor said in excess of SIOO,OOO will be used for the addition. The remaining money will go for other additions to be de cided by the county board. • Mayor Stanley E. Smith Jr. said Tuesday he estimates the population of Perry now is between 5,800 to 6,000 and the growth continues. He said Perry's growth has been sub stantial and solid, and that we have become "basically a residential town." • A group of 15 high-rank ing officials of Scars, Roebuck and Company visited Perry Manufacturing Co. here Tuesday as they made a lour of Southern plants in which Sears has an interest. The Perry plant makes tailored bedspread ensembles, draperies and curtains. It employs 140 people and has an an nual payroll of S42O,(KX). The plant produces 2,000 bedspreads a day. Twenty years ago: May 29, 1969 Tharpc Memorial Baptist Church members will occupy their new $60,000 sanctuary for the first lime Sunday morning, Rev. Con ned Pirkle, pastor, announced this week. The red-brick structure, with white trim, has been constructed next to the present church building on U.S. 41 six miles south of Perry. • The Most Rev. Gerald L. Frey, bishop of Savannah, will dedicate the new St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Perry at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 1. The church will scat 175 persons and was built at a cost of $60,000. Forty-five Catholic families in the immediate Perry area make up the parish. • Continued on Back Page then, just as they arc today. I wondered how the trees could pul out such large, sweet-smelling blossoms. My grandmother's trees were covered with these fragrant jewels. Later in life, when I was in col lege in south Alabama, I lived up stairs in an old Victorian house for a couple of years. A tremendous magnolia tree was just outside my bedroom window. I remember watching, day by day in late spring, this fine tree send forth a bounty of flowers. It was a marvelous experience and one that I will always treasure in my memory. Even now, in Perry, whenever I gel the chance and no one really is looking - I closely admire the magnolias and touch the flowers that soon will be gone. I suppose it's a mystical thing for me, a bridge across time from the Old South to the New. The best of Bobby - f \ , *> ♦ OUT ON A BRANCH < ■■ —■> (Editor's Note: "The Best of Bobby" is a regular feature on The Houston Home Jour nal's Saturday editorial page. The columns which appear here were written by former HHJ editor Bobby Branch during the 15 years he ran the paper. Branch was a popular personality and civic leaner in Perry. We believe these old columns will spark memories for local "old timers" and will provide newcomers an insight into recent Perry history. People Just Don't Care Anymore! Thursday, June 13, 1969 - (NOTE: A few week-ends ago my family and 1 were headed to South Georgia on a trip when we came upon an accident in Pulaski County, near Hawkinsvillc. We we were the first to arrive and found the concern of most passing motorists almost un believable. They had no concern.) You lop a hill and not more than 300 yards away you see an accident that has happened maybe 5 seconds before. There arc no other cars coming in cither direction. You pull to the side of the road near where the two autos have collided and you run to the green Ford in the middle of the highway to sec if anyone is injured. The driver, a middle aged woman, is crying hysterically and she has cuts and bruises on her legs. Another elderly woman in the front is also cut and bruised on her legs and she’s making no sounds, Just looking straight ahead at the old model Chevrolet they had hit from behind. The driver of the Chevrolet, a teen-age boy, is out in the highway walking around. He seems uninjured but in a daze. "I didn’t mean to hit him, I didn't mean to hit him at all," the woman driver says emotionally. I try to get them out of the car but they insist on staying there. Some people in a house across the road say they have called the Sheriff but he’s not in his office. I tell them to call the State Patrol in Perry, and I shout the phone num ber to them. They say they will call the Patrol, but it lakes them a few minutes, for some reason or other to do so. I again ask the women in the car to go out and sit on the side of the road until more help arrives. There is a teenage girl in the back scat of the car with two women and she is now crying as she realizes what has happened. The cuts on the legs of the women arc now bleeding. I'm getting worried about them now because their wrecked car is almost in the middle of busy U. S. 341 highway. A car approaches, slows down and goes around the wrecked car. The driver, a middle aged man, just looks at the scene with a quick glance and goes on. Another car approaches and the driver docs the same thing. The driver of the next car that comes by shoots the window down as he passes and asks arc there any seri ous injuries. He hardly wails for an answer as he pushes his accelerator to the floor and leaves the scene. All this time I'm talking to these shook-up women and trying to comfort them and I'm amazed dial people don't stop to of fer their help. I can't believe, all the cars Continued on Back Page