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Kindergarteners sign rolls at school By ANDREA SELLERS Staff Writer Five-year-olds all over Perry will go to bed dreaming about the start of kindergarten in the fall. The reason is that many of these children were registered Tuesday for fall kindergarten classes. Registration took place at Tucker, King's Chapel, Perry and Bonaire Elementary schools from 9 am until 6:30 pm. Every child that came through was registered and tested. The test, the Bracken Test of Basic Concepts, is not a pass or fail test, according to Dr. Bill Adams, the Coordinator of Elementary Education. f The Houston Home f Journal AN AWARD-WINNING PARK NEWSPAPER © 1990 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4,1990 120TH year, no. 26 «42 pages, a sections plus sales circulars ♦ perry & Houston countts legal organ MIDWEEK EDITION - 25$ School board picks pension fund depository By ANDREA SELLERS Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Education took the final step to solving the deferred compensation crisis at a called meeting on Mon day. The board passed a motion that would add two carriers, to the one they are now using, to replace First Federal Savings and Loan. The board withdrew their funds from First Federal when rules gov erning the bank were changed dur ing the savings and loan bail out. John Grundcn, a representative of The Jonathan, a corporation that gives investment advice, gave the final proposal to the board. His advice was to go with Pru dential. Prudential will guarantee 100 percent of the deposits in a deferred compensation account at 8.75 per cent. After some discussion, board member Skip Talbert made a mo tion to add two carriers, Hartford and Prudential, to insure the em ployees have a choice. Hartford will guarantee 100 percent of all deposits made at an interest rate of 8.75 percent as well. Hubert Hutcherson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. The motion added Hartford and Prudential to the carrier the board was already using, VALIC (Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company). Grunden said that the most im portant quality a company could have was stability. "The stability of the carrier and the percentage of deposits guaran teed were the most important things," said Grundcn. "The differences between the two Please see PENSION, Page 6A Airport authority not happy with field's manager By TOREY JOLLEY Staff Writer The Pcrry-Fl. Valley Airport Authority met Monday night at the Perry Airport for its monthly meeting and authority members again expressed dissatisfaction with the field's manager. When the board was told that Lynn Register, manager of the facility, had not left a manager's report again, board member Carl Hammock said, "Register is never around when he is needed and something needs to be done about it." Tony Selier commented, "We have discussed it before and we'll discuss it again." "We need to get to the bottom of this," said Hammock. He suggested "maybe a new airport manager could be the answer." The board also discussed the upcoming April Fly-In. Perry's Danny Evans, chairman for the event, said, "Everything seems to be coming together." Pleasa see AIRPORT, Page 6A "The test is a guage of what they know before they get to kindergarten," said Adams. "I want to reassure the parents that the future education of any student is not dependent on this test," he added. The test is very simple and basic. The child will be shown three or four colors and asked to pick out red or blue. Children will also be asked to identify letter and numbers. The test takes ten or twelve minutes. "Most kids will do real well,” said Adams. "But the test will allow us to pick up on some problems early if Journal color by Jan Hampton Round and round it goes One of the many attractions during the Dogwood Festival is the Ferris Wheel at the Georgia Amusement Carnival on Washington Street. The carnival will be there from 5 until 10 pm every night through Friday. ! '* fit. ""*•«#»*- Larry Thomson Thomson says he'll seek office Larry Thomson, 46, 2045 Northside Rd., has announced he will seek the county commis sioner's seat being vacated by Gene Harrington. Harrington resigned as county commissioner last week to run for the stale senate seat now held by Sen. Ed Barker, D-Wamer Robins. Barker is retiring after an 18 year stint in sta'e government. A local businessman, Thomson is a graduate of Perry High School. Please see RACE, Page 3A there are any," he added. As of 6 pm on Tuesday, the first day of registration, most schools reported that they had registered a fair amount of students. Perry Elementary had registered more than 25 students. Tucker El ementary had registered over 20. Kings Chapel Elementary had 15 registered at 1 pm on Tuesday but were expected to have the approxi mately the same numbers as the other schools. Registration and testing will take RIGHT: Nancy Whlddon, left, registers her daughter, Ashley, who is shy and hiding. County hears plea for more money as McConnell says court running past budget By TOREY JOLLEY Staff Writer The Houston County Commissioners began their meeting on Tuesday with a correction of the last meeting's minutes. The minutes stated the minimum wage was increasing to $3.65 an hour but was corrected to reflect the actual $3.80 an hour rate. The county commissioners heard Tommy Stalnaker, public works director, present a recommendation from Tom Pound, water department director, concerning a computerized meter reading system and a computer upgrade. Stalnaker said Pound is convinced if the water system had a new computer system and equipment, which would cost approximately $21,000, the county would not have "such a large bad debt on water bills." In Pound's proposal, the upgrade could cut down on misreads, improve cash flow with daily place again on Saturday, April 7 from 9-12. If you have not already registerd your child, you will need several things. Parents need to bring immunization forms, and eye, ear and dental forms. There will be health department pcrsonel there to test children not having eye, ear and dental tests. The parent also needs to bring a Please see SIGN-UP, Page 6A SLook inside today's Home Journal for your copy of The Dogwood Jot .. .your official welt and guide to the i weekend finale of Dogwood Festive.. billings, speed up readings, send final bills out faster and generate refund checks weekly. The commissioners agreed Tom Pound and John Wingfield should study the feasibility of upgrading the current system and present it to the commissioners at a future meeting. The question of additional funds for the Superior Court brought several concerns forward. Judge L.A. McConnell Jr. has requested an additional $35,000 for projected expenses during the remainder of the fiscal year. This amount is in addition to the non budgeted expenses that have already been expended. Juror expenses were budgeted at $70,000 for the fiscal year. McConnell requested an additional $16,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year. Bailiffs and witnesses expenses were budgeted at $ll,OO, and currently total $17,186. McConnell *'lJSm UHH| W',‘ ‘ '^■O^HHh -•iN* -. p /4 mw gK™ > * V T t.. /MyL IWI 'll id y'" ■ -*fits *>’ * ■ w \\l- (i l I JaLa .** •* Httb. TWm'& | ft] ■« ■ I City: we'll build on our own land Council also wrangles over level of support for convention bureau By JAN HAMPTON Staff Writer The city of Perry will move ahead with plans to build a recre ation complex on a 20 acre tract of city properly. Citing the need for a "recreation master plan" Councilman Buddy Roper urged the council Tuesday to make building a recreation complex "a number one" priority. "We've got grant money that is silting in the bank that we're going to lose if we don't take some type of action," Roper said." We've got to get going." Roper told the council he thinks the complex should be built on city owned land. "I know we planned to build the complex at Rozier Park," he said. "But how do we know the county can deed us that property? Would you build your house on my prop erty? That's what it comes down to. We have no assurance if the county decides to pull out of the recreation program this property will be ours." Roper suggested a 20 acre tract of land on Highway 341 be used for the complex. However, Councilman Bobby Glover blasted Roper's recommen dation saying "back door politick ing" had played its part in the recreation issue. "The reason we haven't gone any further with our recreation plans is because we've done some back door politicking. If Perry had been to gether, the county commission would have already moved on the 1 requested $10,186 for the remainder i : of the fiscal year. Special Legal Services were ( i budgeted $20,000 and have already t 1 cost $33,349. McConnell requested c ; $23,349 to finished out the fiscal i i year. \ Charles Cloniger, clerk for the Houston County commissioners, ( ; suggested since the public defender’s 1 I office has received a $15,000 grant s for indigent services that the j ; commission take SIO,OOO of the grant and apply it to the $23,349 being requested. Jay Walker, chairman of the county commissioners, said the | public defender's office "would not be happy with that." Commissioner Samuel Buzzell | voiced concern on the apparent ( over-spending in the Superior Court, and other commissioners ( voiced opinions against applying the grant money to the additional fund requests. The commission voted to table issue," he said. City manager Marion Hay said an architectural line drawing of the recreation complex has been com pleted. "According to the plans we have drawn up, the complex will cost SIIO,OOO just for the floor and shell to be constructed,” he said. "We have $25,000 in state grant money that we have not used. We’ve had to ask for an extension to keep it and if we don't use it soon we will lose it,” Councilman Ralph Gentry said. "We have 20 acres of city land that we will never have to face a legal problem over. I say let's go with it." Roper's plan gained approval by a 3-2 margin. Councilmen Glover and Moore cast the minority votes. A resolution to contribute 80 percent of the city's motel/hotel occupancy tax to the proposed area convention and visitors center passed unanimously after long dis cussion by the council. The city receives a five cent oc cupancy tax from each rented hotel or motel room. Four cents will be contributed to the convention and visitors center's operating fund. "The convention and visitors center is approaching area banks for funding," Councilman Hervia In gram said. "What they need is a resolution from us giving them a guaranteed sum." "I'm not sold on this resolu tion,"Gentry said. "Will this be in- Please see CITY, Page 6A the issue until later in the month. John Trussell, chief probation officer, presented a petition to the board requesting the county adopt a county-wide no smoking policy in all county buildings and public meetings. The petition slated the employees of the county find ttheir health is endangered by cigarette smoking, and asked the board ban all smoking in public buildings. It also slated smoking in public places in Georgia is prohibited by law under code section 16-12-2. Buzzell then joked," Before the board decides, I want one more." The question of allocating space for smokers was discussed and the board decided to table that issue, 100, until the next meeting. In other business, the commissioners accepted the nomination of Linda Adams for the recreation department assistant _ Please see COUNTY, Page 6A