Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
offical Legal Organ
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23,1991
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Deaths
Georgia Mae Woodard,
James Franklin Carr and
Willie Walker. For a complete
listing, please see page 3A.
Have a good day
... SSG. Arthur J. Lester, Perry.
For a message and pictures
from your family, plus a list of
those businesses sponsoring
your free subscription, please
see BA.
Get ready for Tintypes'!
The Perry Players are
gearing up for another one
of their fantastic
productions. 'Tintypes' is a
production the entire family
is sure to enjoy. For a story
and a photo, please see
page 7A.
Some Perry leaders will
journey to California
Perry city and civic leaders
will soon be traveling to
California to throw out the
Perry welcome mat for
Northrop employees. For a
story, please see 3A.
Westfield student
nominated to academy
Mark Eaton has been
nominated for the Air Force
Academy. For a photo and
story, please see page 7A.
INDEX - -
MARKBLUMEN 1B
CALENDAR 3A
CLASSIFIED 6B
DEATH NOTICES 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
SPORTS IB
SHERIFF'S REPORT 2A
JIM SHIPLEY 4A
WE SALUTE 5A
JOHN TRUSSEL 2B
BOBBY TUGGLE 3B
TV WEEK 1C
ALAN WILLIS 5A
WOODS 'N WATER 3B
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987-1823
Severe weather has
wrought many deaths
By MIKE PRINCIPATO
Staff Writer
Commissioners signed a formal
proclamation, Tuesday, February
19th, officially designating the last
week of the month "Severe Weather
Awareness Week."
During the past 13-yoars,
approximately 71 Houston County
residents have died as the result of
severe weather.
Commissioner unanimously
supported the proclamation, which
"urges all...citizens to join in this
effort to become more aware of se
vere weather safety measures.."
The proclamation was signed by
the Mayors of Perry, Centerville,
and Warner Robins and by Com
mission Chairman Shcrill Stafford.
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
I The Houston Home!
Journal
Rezoning ruckus gets hot, lively
Plan would reduce Bonaire's student population by 200
By ALAN WILLIS
Staff Writer
Superintendent of Houston
County Schools Dr. Harold
Chapman told the lively crowd
gathered at Kings Chapel El
ementary School Thursday night
"what we're here to talk to you
about is a proposal."
Chapman said that the Board of
Education, represented by Eddie
Causey, Billy Edenfield and Zell
Blackmon, would decide the new
zones for Houston County's
Resolution
questions
base's logic
Why should base
dump in the river?
By MIKE PRINCIPATO
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Health unanimously passed a reso
lution questioning the logic of al
lowing Robins Air Force Base to
dump its treated waste into the Oc
mulgee River.
The resolution fell short of con
demning the building of a proposed
pipeline that would bypass Horse
Creek and allow the base to send its
treated waste directly to the River.
However, Health officials ques
tioned the procedure since "it would
allow transferring toxic materials
directly to the river, relocating
rather than reducing those wastes."
"Are we absolutely positive that
we are doing all that we can to pro
tect our citizens and our environ
ment from potential hazards of
toxic waste materials and contami
nated ground water at RAFB,” the
the resolution questioned.
According to Health Board
Chairman Dr. David Harvey, Board
members are not convinced there is
not a better way for the base to ad
dress the problem.
Harvey said it was his belief that
two- million gallons of water per
day would be pumped from the
aquifer by the base in addition to
normal withdrawals.
According to Harvey, the added
withdrawal would be used to fur
ther dilute toxic waste levels.
Health Board officials are ques
tioning the impact such added
withdrawal would have on water
quality standards and questioning
the impact the pipeline would have
on area wildlife.
"Could the resources required for
the proposed pipeline across the wet
Please see BOARD, Page 8A
In other areas of business, com
missioners voted not to renew the
county's vegetation management
contract -saving the county an es
timated $35,500.
Under the contract, herbicides
would be used to control grass
along Houston County’s public
roads.
Alter brief discussion, a motion
to renew the contract quickly be
came locked in tie vote. Stafford
broke the deadlock with a tic-break
ing no vote.
According to Commissioner
Charles Stewart, spraying along
county road sides and gutters was a
more cost effective means of con
trolling foliage.
Please see COMMISSION, Page 8A
3 SECTIONS—3O PAGES. PLUS SALES CIRCULAR
Elementary schools at the March 12
meeting.
"We understand that zoning is a
touchy subject," said Chapman,
who noted it would be much more
popular never to re-zone, but it
would also be impossible.
The re-zoning of the elementary
schools is the result of changing
Perry's school configuration to a k
-5, 6-8, 9-12 arrangement. Perry
faces zoning changes, but the
meeting at Kings Chapel dealt
mostly with zoning changes be
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Future Business Leaders Competition
Students competing from Perry High school in Hawkinsville on February 9 were Jennifer Brooks,
April Huff, Ginger Rackley, Lori Sutton, Sandy Johnson, Stephanie Leonard, and Melanie Bowers.
First and second place winners going to state competition will be Kamini Patel, Becky Cotton and
Sabrilna Boyd.
County has big plans for future
By ALAN WILLIS
Staff Writer
"Houston County is, for the
most part, light years ahead of most
other communities," according to
Dick Ulm. Ulm, the director of the
Houston County Development Au
thority, shared those thoughts with
the Perry Area Chamber of Com
merce at its Wednesday morning
meeting.
Along with being ahead already.
County Commission Chairman
Sherrill Stafford said "we are plan
ning for the year 2000 and beyond."
The major item of business be
fore the Chamber's board is the hir
ing of the new Executive Vice
President, a necessary move for
planning for the future.
According to Draper Watson, the
Chamber is looking at alternative
financing plans in order to be able
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Whitney Christy is giving Wilbur, her pig, a bath and beauty treatment for today's junior hog
show and auction at the Ag center. Please see story on page BA.
tween Bonaire Elementary and
Kings Chapel Elementary.
The Changes would reduce
Bonaire Elementary's enrollment by
200 students, while keeping Kings
Chapel's the same. Bonaire, a
school built for 550 students, now
has 13 portable classrooms is run
ning more than 300 students over
capacity.
However, the parents of the po
tentially re-zoned students want
their children to remain at Bonaire.
One parent, who pointed out that
The chamber also passed
a resolution requesting
the city council to levy a
one half mill tax
to hire a top quality Executive. The
board has already asked the City
Countil to guarantee the salary. In
additiOT, the Chamber discussed the
possibility of using some revenues
from the hotel/motel tax, using
private funding, or using revenues
form a one-half mill property tax
levied through the Perry Industrial
Authority.
PERRY, GA.
306
GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
U. GA MAIN LIBRARY
ATHENS GA 30602
121 ST YEAR—VOLUME 1611
the zoning changes would put one
child at Rumble and another child at
Kings Chapel, 13 miles from their
home while Bonaire is only 3 miles
away, said "financially, we can t go
back and forth."
Parents called the bussing situa
tion atrocious and said that chang
ing zones would reduce their prop
erty values. "Our property taxes are
not affected... our resale value is,"
said one parent.
While one parent suggested the
Board add more portable class-
Tom Daniel, who is head of the
search committee to find the new
Executive, presented the job re
quirements and qualifications to the
board.
"The person who does this is go
ing to be a leader," said Daniel
The Chamber also passed a reso
lution requesting City Council to
levy the one-half mill tax, a move
Council can do without referendum.
According to Watson, the tax
would allow the Chamber to "tap
resources" in the business commu
nity that they have not yet been
able to use. Watson believes mem
bership dues are as high as they can
go-
In support of the idea, Daniel said
'T strongly believe ever single per
son in Perry benefits."
rooms, Chapman noted that "we
cannot add on to Bonaire." He cited
several reasons, including that "the
drain fields are at capacity."
Chapman agreed that the problem
has "been a long time coming."
When pressed by parents who
thought the zones were only
temporary, Chapman said "these are
permanent zones." He did say,
however, that with the growth in
the county, the potential to need to
re-zone high growth areas could
Please see ZONING, Page 8A
Times are a'
changing in
area schools
Perry parents are
accepting change
By ALAN WILLIS
Staff Writer
While hundreds of Bonaire resi
dents were vocalizing their opinions
on the elementary school zoning
proposal at Kings Chapel, Perry
residents were having their say at
Perry Elementary.
The entire structure of Perry's
schools is being change and that,
according to School Board member
Hubert Hutcherson, raised "a lot of
questions."
Hutcherson, along with Shirley
Lowery and John Adams represented
the school board at the Perry meet
ing.
"I didn't detect any real opposi
tion," said Hutcherson.
Lowery noted "the parents were
accepting of change." She said that
while there were some concerns,
"we didn’t have anyone who didn't
feel like they could live with it [the
proposal]."
He said that many questions re
volved around the availability of
programs at different schools.
Hutcherson explained "we have
universal curriculum guides in all
schools."
One issue that caused some ques
tions, aside from the zoning itself,
was the instigating of a pilot pro
gram at Morningside called
Continuous Success.
While it caused questions, and
needed to be explained, Hutcherson
said "the parents met that very fa
vorably."
Lowery noted that while parents
do not like change "children have a
hard time with changes too." She
added "people don't think the board
takes that into consideration, but
we do."
Perry's real
estate market
near collapse
By ALAN WILLIS
Staff Writer
"My purpose is to jolt you,"
said Donny Free, a Perry realtor.
According to Free, the Perry real
estate market all but collapsed in
the last quarter of 1990. In addi
tion, he noted that most of the
schools in Houston County, one
of the prime concerns of anyone
moving here, are north of High
way 96.
In addition, "It affects everyone
if you don't have people to buy
houses."
One of Free's major concerns is
a lack of space in Perry and utili
ties services. "Where in Perry
Please see FREE, Page 8A