Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
| WEDNESDAY, June 24,1992
L.
Deaths
Mattie S. Sheriff Easley, S.C.;
Caleb Miles Cotton, Byron;
James Wilton Hinson, Macon;
Mary Webb Felder, Cordele.
For details, please see page
3A.
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
City recycling efforts
expanding
Although too costly to thor
oughly upgrade, the City’s re
cycling efforts are progressing.
The story is on pagel2A.
Nancy Thomason
retires
Morningside media specialist
says farewell to a job she de
scribes as very rewarding. The
story is on page 6A.
Hospital wins
softball tourney
The Perry Hospital softball
team claimed first in a tourna
ment of seven area hospitals
this weekend. For details
please see page BA.
INDEX
AGRiCENTEREVENTS 5A
PEGGY BLEDSOE 1B
CALENDAR 5A
CLASSIFIED 10A
EDITORIALS 4A
ENTERTAINMENT 6A
HOME & GARDEN 2B
GUEST COLUMN 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 5B
LIFESTYLE 1B
BRIAN LAWSON 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
SPORTS 7A
COSBY WOODRUFF 7A
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Red Cross
continues
blood drive
Following the successful blood
drive at Perry Hospital Monday, the
American Red Cross will be hold
ing two more blood drives in the
Perry area in the coming week.
Northrop in Perry will be the
site of a blood drive Thursday from
9-1 p.m. for Northrop employees
only. Sam Register, executive
director of the Houston County
branch of the Red Cross said the
blood drive at Northrop is closed to
the public for security reasons.
Register said participation of the
Northrop employees is extremely
important to help offset the
summer blood slump. On Monday
June 29 a blood drive will be held
at the Sandy Valley Baptist Church
off Houston Lake Road from 3:30-
7:30 p.m.
Please see DRIVE, page 11A
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870--FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
■ The Houston Home!
Journal
BOE reluctantly adopts '93 budget
By KELLIE ROWDEN
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Education approved the 1993 fiscal
year school budget. The originally
proposed $67.3 million budget was
passed with the only addition being
a S1 (X),000 contingency fund for
buying portable classroom build
ings for the system’s middle
schools.
The board approved the budget in
a 7-0 vote despite earlier disagree
ments between board members
about salary increases for non-ccrti
(HHJ photo by Amy McDaniel)
Cooling Off!
Casey Gibson, front, and Ricky Grisenthwaite enjoy a refreshing swim at Meadowdale
Learning Center on Houston Lake Road. The rising temperatures have assured us all
that summer has finally arrived.
Branch named UW chairman
By EMERY WARNOCK
Staff Writer
United Way of Central Georgia
announced its campaign chaiimen
for Houston County for the 1992-
1993 year.
Brian Branch, loan officer for
Bank South in Perry, and John
Mclntyre, store manager for Belk-
Mathews in Warner Robins, will
lead community volunteers in an ef
fort to raise money for vital local
services during the annual fall cam
Gun crimes on the rise here
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
The Perry Police Department re
ported there has been an increase in
the number of handgun-related
disturbances during the first half of
1992 over the same period in recent
years.
While no official statistics have
been compiled, Perry Police Chief
Frank Simons said the finding is
based on the reading of officer re
ports.
"Based on a simple review of the
reports there appears to be a greater
incident of weapons being involved
in disturbances. Our officers are
2 SECTIONS—2O PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
fied personnel.
At the June 9 regular board
meeting, board member Zell
Blackmon requested information re
garding administrative salaries and
positions. Blackmon had felt that
the budget was 100 focused on
salary increases while it was ne
glectful of maintenance needs.
This “bare bones” budget in
cludes a three percent salary increase
for teachers and administrators and a
two and a half percent increase for
non-ccrtificd personnel.
paign.
Branch and Mclntyre were ap
pointed by the board of trustees for
a one year service.
According to Betsey Bell, director
of public relations for United Way
of Central Georgia, United Way is
an independent, autonomous, lo
cally governed organization that co
ordinates volunteer efforts to raise
money for many community needs.
Bell added the organization allo
cates contributed dollars to “the
having to deal with handguns and
weapons with greater frequency,"
Simons said.
There have been three handgun
related arrests in Perry in the last
two weeks, including one shooting.
"Our officers are keenly aware of
the situation based on the calls that
they handle. In the past, the guns
our officers would encounter would
be low-quality small caliber
weapons. Now we're seeing guns
of better quality with a higher cal
iber. This requires our officers to
be more alert when responding to a
disturbance," Simons said.
Georgia law does not allow the
Despite the detailed information
provided, the vote was unanimous.
Blackmon felt that there wasn’t
enough time to really sit down and
analyze the material within the few
days they had access to it.
“If we got the budget earlier,
we’d have time to look at the in
formation better and deal with these
delays earlier,” Blackmon said.
The budget is traditionally ap
proved at the June board meeting
and becomes official in July.
“I’m uncomfortable with this
most pressing areas of services.”
Branch said he will be responsible
for contacting businesses in the
Perry area and South Houston
County.
“In the next few weeks, we will
start the process of calling busi
nesses. We will also make key calls
to corporate sponsors and larger
businesses,” Branch said.
The volunteer campaign actually
begins the first week in September
Please see BRANCH, page 11A
purchase of a handgun by anyone
under 21 years of age.
The shooting that took place in
Perry on June 11 was charged to a
20 year old.
"There is a market for guns
without the gun shops being in
volved. There is simply too much
ready accessibility for a person who
wants to get a handgun illegally.
We're seeing disputes between
young people that used to be setUcd
with fists and wrestling matches
now escalate into gunfire. There is
no logical reason for it and it's a
problem," Simons said.
Please see GUN, page 11A
PERRY,GA.
budget and will have to be
addressed later,” Blackmon said.
Superintendent Harold Chapman
was quick to point out that tra
ditional procedures for presenting
the budget were being followed and
there should be enough time for the
board to vote properly.
“I’m continuing the trend and am
not doing anything that we didn’t
already do before,” Chapman said.
The financial information pre
sented to die board dispelled any no
tion that Houston County schools
911 is six months old
with kinks to work out
By BRIAN LAWSON
Stall Writer
The county 911 emergency sys
tem is nearing its six month an
niversary and the mid-term grade
from the Perry police and lire chiefs
is generally favorable though each
department has experienced
problems with the system.
The 911 service went on-line
December 30, 1991. Officials, both
in Perry and at the 911 center, point
to die complexity of the system and
the relatively short amount of time
the system has been on line as the
primary explanation for the prob
lems that have been encountered.
Areas of concern cited by both
the Perry fire and police depart
ments include dispatches that arc
difficult to make out, the sending of
a message intended for one depart
ment that is received by the other,
some problems with connecting the
right tone to fire lighters pagers and
complaints related to one dispatcher
being asked to handle bodt depart
ments.
Perry Police Chief Frank Si
mons said, "Certainly we support
911. It's a great concept and an
advantage for our citizens and
public safety agencies. We want
to do everything we can to make
the 911 system function as
smoothly as we can, and I am in
contact with Lee Stripling on a
consistent basis. There has
b’ Jlr - * -
■aw ■'^a^'^’
The jockey statue, which used to be black, has
welcomed travellers to Perry for 40 years.
Police investigate theft of
familiar Perry landmark
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
The familiar cast iron figure that
has stood in die garden of the New
Perry Hotel for 40 years was stolen
from the hotel grounds sometime
over the weekend according to Perry
Police Detective Steve Heaton.
The police were called Monday
afternoon after the theft was
discovered by New Perry Hotel
owner Harold Green.
R R R
arc overloaded with school
administrators.
Comparing Houston County
which has an approximate enroll
ment of 16,064, to the the
Cherokee County system, that has
the enrollment of 15,950, Houston
County has the student to
administrator ratio of 595 to one.
Cherokee County has the ratio of
532 students to one administrator.
Although Chapman sees the sys
tem growing by 150 students every
Please see BUDGET, page 11A
continuously been a problem
associated with the dispatch
function and part of that is
equipment compatibility."
Perry Fire Chief Gary Hamlin
said the 911 system provides him
with the luxury of a dispatcher
without having to lose a fire fighter
to fill the role.
"It's a plus for me. We haven't
had a dispatcher in the past so it's
like gelling an extra man. 1 don't
have to leave somebody behind to
gel necessary minimum informa
tion. Now the dispatcher can use
the pagers and we can be cn route.
We have had some problems with
equipment and some human errors
but that's part of it being new and
different. 1 realize there will be
problems and you handle them the
best way you can. We've got a
new base budgeted for the year and
that should help," Hamlin said.
Lee Stripling, 911 director, said
he is aware of the the problems that
have been experienced by the Perry
officials and that steps have
already been taken to address the
concerns.
"We have simplified the dis
patcher's role in regard to Perry.
We have had a dispatcher for each
department for approximately two
months in response to a request by
Chief Simons. As to the muffled
dispatches, that goes back to some
Please see KINKS, page 11A
Heaton said he has been told the
statue had been taken several years
ago in a school prank but it was
eventually recovered. The police
will interview people from the area
to determine if there were any
witnesses.
"If it was a prank, then it will
likely turn up. Most of the work
we can do on it, will probably have
to be done once the figure is
Please se THEFT, page 11A