Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1991
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Deaths
Albert Berdais, Port Charlotte,
Fla.; Lilly Furr Campbell, Fort
Valley; Derrick Alonza Harris
Sr., Atlanta; Jerry L. Ratteree,
Macon; Roscoe Sutton,
Valdosta; Joe Leonard
Richardson, Decatur. Details
on page 3A.
Looking ahead
to Friday night
Both the Westfield Hornets and
the Perry Panthers travel out of
town for games Friday night.
To see how the Hornets stack
up against Stratford and how
the Panthers stack up against
Lamar County, see page 6A.
Morningside parents
form PTA
it's been a while since
Morningside Elementary
School had enough grades to
support a PTA. But that
changed last week. See page
3A.
INDEX
MICHELLE BALLARD 1B
PEGGY BLEDSOE 1B
CALENDAR 9A
CLASSIFIED 8B
DEATH NOTICES 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
ENTERTAINMENT 10A
JIM KERCE 4A
LEGAL NOTICES M
TIM LEWIS 4B
LIFESTYLE 1£
POLICE REPORT 2A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
CARL SOLTIS 8A
SPORTS 8A
TODD YOCUM 4A
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987-1823 "
2nd graders interface
with computer lessons
By TERESSA ULIN
Staff Writer
Second-grade students in Perry
schools will have the opportunity
this year to use a computer as a
means of learning to express them
selves in their reading and writing.
Houston County Schools are pi
loting The Multimedia Express in
second-grade classrooms to see if
children can learn to become more
creative with the aid of a computer.
“We are really excited to put
technology in the hands of second
graders,” said Gerald Boyd,
coordinator of language arts for
Houston County Schools.
The Express makes creative use
of music, animations, digital im
ages and gaming to interest children
in expressing their thoughts.
The students can work at their
own pace independently and in
small interactive groups. The
teacher is free to go to each com
puter station and give individualized
attention.
“The stations will do three
things,” Boyd said. “It will tell the
children a story, it will let the child
record his own story and it will
keep a log that lets others con
tribute to a story.”
PERRY GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870—FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
■ The Houston Home!
Journal
State cuts lead Board to raise tax
By TERESSA ULIN
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Education announced its intent to
keep quality education a priority by
not allowing the cuts from state
funding to affect the fiscal year
1991-92 budget.
In a 6-1 decision, the board voted
an increase in the millage rate from
12 to 13 mills to provide for the
nearly $1 million cut from state
funding. Board member Hubert
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Perry Players present whimsical ‘whodunit’
The cast of the Perry Players production of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
includes, front left, David Spencer, Lu Mellin, Kellie Bowen, Carol Strandburg and
Bill Andrews. Also, back left, Scott Smith, Bridget Boyd, Ricky Christie, Gale
Weems and Michael Kinsley. The play runs at 8:15 p.m. Thursday through Saturday
and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Perry High School Auditorium. Advance tickets are on
sale at the Perry Bookstore for $7. Tickets at the door are SB. This production
features an elaborate set with a hand-made “piano” and nine 10-foot-tall
bookcases, three of which move.
Airport Authority member resigns over action
By EMERY WARNOCK
Staff Writer
The Perry-Fort Valley Airport
Authority decided 5-1 Monday to
compensate Register Aviation for
losses from a fuel system lease and
then ended the lease in favor of a
lease that meets Federal Aviation
Administration regulations.
Authority member Carl Hammock
of Perry resigned his position after
the vote.
“The action taken was
irresponsible,” Hammock said. “I
don’t want to be a part of it.”
The programs played will vary
depending on the concept taught,
said Dianne Reeves, consultant for
Knowledge Engineering, supplier of
The Express.
Reeves led an advising session
for second-grade teachers and school
officials to discuss the uses of the
system.
“If, for example, we play the
‘Nature and Animals’ program
teaching about butterflies, there
might be light and happy music ac
companying it,” Reeves said.
“If we are teaching about divorce
in ‘Family and Feelings,’ the music
and images may be more somber to
reflect the seriousness.”
Boyd said the programs, taught
on a Macintosh system, are very
user friendly, and the students
should be able to master the
programs easily.
Getting children to use computers
as a natural extension of their learn
ing allows them to learn material
compatible with current trends.
“We can take thematic units, sub
jects we would normally teach in
the second grade, integrate it with
the computers and teach children to
think more imaginatively,” Boyd
said.
2 SECTIONS—IB PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
Hutcherson voiced the dissenting
opinion.
“The children cannot be hostages
to the state,” said board member
Zell Blackmon.
“The people will respond with
dollars if we present the need.”
The state legislature reduced fund
ing for Houston County schools by
2.5 percent, or $998,648.
Dr. Harold Chapman,
Superintendent of Schools, pre
sented the Board a list of proposed
The Authority had leased fuel
services from Register while a fuel
farm was constructed at the airport.
It was finished in April.
The previous fueling system was
too close to the runway, and the
FAA had threatened to stop funding
for the airport if the pumps were
not moved.
“This was a hazard to aircraft,”
said Authority member and Services
and Management Committee
chairman of the Authority Tony
Sellier. “We had to remove the
pumps for the FAA to allow any
Lights Out
A Georgia Power worker replaces light bulbs on traffic lights at the intersection of
Jernigan and Carroll Streets In Perry Tuesday. The city is still making an effort to
synchronize the lights with others in the downtown area. The lights along Jernigan Street
have been out of operation throughout the week.
cuts in the event the board made the
decision to reduce the budget rather
than increase the millage rate.
“I was prepared to cut the bud
get,” Chapman said after the meet
ing. He told Board members, “I
can’t tell you that this is not going
to hurt, because it will.”
The Board members, having
worked with Chapman through the
initial budget process earlier this
summer, agreed with the superin
tendent that the quality of education
other projects.”
During construction of the fuel
farm, Register rented trucks to
provide fuel. These were services
covered under the lease. Register
also sold the fuel from the trucks.
But Register claims to have lost
money on fuel sales during the
lease, and requested compensation
during the Monday meeting.
The Authority agreed to pay
Register an additional $8,603.90 for
the lease. Hammock cast the
dissenting vote.
“This is tax money on the fuel.
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would suffer if the budget were cut
further.
“We need to keep the budget as it
is,” Blackmon said. “We worked
hard on a bones bare budget. You
(Chapman) came to us with the
budget and we agonized over it. We
were not excessive over it.”
Members of the Board said they
knew tax dollars would be reduced
from previous years and made ac
commodations to the budget in the
first approved draft.
Perry teams
get games
minus W.R.
By TODD YOCUM
Staff Writer
The Perry Recreation Commis
sion approved measures Tuesday
that will attempt to give the Perry
recreation leagues self-sustaining
schedules.
Ben Hamrick, Perry recreation
director, said that has attempted to
schedule teams for the fall football
season with programs in Fort Val
ley and Hawkinsville but has had
some problems.
“In light of the differences in the
programs, I recommend that we
combine the age groups,” he said.
Hamrick said that 144 have
signed up for the football program.
He suggested two different age
groups, as opposed to four. The 5-
and 6-year-old age group would
combined with the 7- and 8-year-old
group. The 9- and 10-year-old group
would be combined with the 11-
and 12-year-old group.
The commission agreed with the
The Authority didn’t know that
Register Aviation was going to ask
for payment, but the Authority
agreed to pay it anyway. All that
was understood was a rental truck
fee,” Hammock said.
Authority members said they were
surprised by Hammock’s reaction.
“I am sorry that he felt he needed
to resign,” Sellier said. “He is
needed and has worked well and
hard. I commend him for his past
work.”
Authority chairman Judy Hall
said, “I really regret seeing him do
121 ST7l^^^MME73|
“We were way ahead of the state.
We knew we were going to have to
trim the budget,” Blackmon said.
“We have done our best to provide
quality education in the most effi
cient manner possible.”
Board member John Adams noted
the importance of funding to pro
vide quality education.
“There is a theory to stack ’em in
deep and educate ’em cheap,” Adams
said. “I just don’t think that’s pos
sible.”
proposal but directed Hamrick to
look into other alternatives.
Other suggested alternatives in
clude different combinations of age
groups and possibly including
teams from Robins Air Force Base
in scheduling.
Hamrick said that this would be
for this fall only. Following this
year he said that the entire program
would be re-thought.
“This is just for this year. We
hope to have a lot more kids next
year,” commission member Bob
Malone said.
The soccer league will have no
problem with scheduling. Hamrick
made the recommendation that
Perry teams play with Robins Air
Force Base teams.
The commission agreed and
passed the motion unanimously.
Problems with scheduling
games came about after the Warner
Robins Recreation Department re-
Please see TEAMS, page 10A
this. He has been a valuable pan of
the Authority.
“It came as a surprise and we had
no warning. We couldn’t convince
him. It was a matter of presenting
the facts.”
The new lease between Register
and the Authority calls for Register
to provide fuel to the Authority’s
new fuel farm.
In other action, the Authority:
• Decided to set up a booth at the
Georgia National Fair. The cost
will be about S3OO.
Northrop
out for blood
By TODD YOCUM
Staff Writer
The Northrop plant in Perry
now has enough employees to hold
an in-house blood drive to benefit
the American Red Cross, Plant
Manger Art Grady said.
The closed blood dive was held
at the Northrop plant Monday with
the help of nurses from the Hous
ton Medical Complex.
According to Wayne Ragin, a
Northrop spokesman, this is the
first time the Perry plant has con
ducted such a drive.
“These drives are big in our
other plants in California.
He also said that Grady is firm
in supporting blood drives.
Participants in the Monday drive
consisted of plant employees and
their families.
“We strongly encourage our em
ployees to participate in the blood
drives,” he said.
He also said he was pleased with
the new system of donor pledge
cards that were filled out prior to
the drive.
Grady said that about 40 people
signed up by using the pledge cards.
He said that he was pleased that
the plant could now operate a drive
in-house.
Please see BLOOD, page 10A