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k-THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY. JULY 8, 1992
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Fun with reading
Klndergartners through second graders involved with Perry’s Public Library Summer reading
club have fun while Becky Yeatman leads the children in an acted out version of “The Little
Engine that Could” by Watty Piper. The group meets every Tuesday and Wednesday an 10 a.m.
City, from lA—
the park to other industries. The
sale of the building has been a
long-time goal, we are happy to
have reached it," Hay said.
In other business:
•The council gave approval for
preliminary repair and inspection
work to be done on the deep water
well at the water treatment plant on
341 North. The well has been out
of service since late May when a
top bearing on the well went bad.
The first stage of the repair work
will be to send a video camera down
the well to assess the damage. Wa
ter Superintendent Danny Walker
said estimates on the cost of the re
pairs will be dictated by what the
camera reveals.
"Worst case scenario for the re
pair work will be S3O-35,000, but
I think it should be significantly
less," Walker said.
The council approved the prelim
inary estimate for the repair work at
$5,600. The work will be done by
Greene’s Water Wells who installed
and has done all previous work on
the well.
•In a pre-council meeting
Peachstate Cable General Manager
Billy Mitchell briefed the council
on changes Peachstate will be mak
ing on converter boxes, shifting
TNT and BET from tier 2 to tier 1
on the cable package.
Mitchell told the council,"We
appreciated the input that we re
ceived from the city about ways
that we could improve our service.
Revisions benefit workers and employers
Georgia employers and workers
will both benefit under major revi
sions to the state's workers' compen
sation system that take effect this
month.
"This new law is designed to help
reduce the cost of workers' compen
sation insurariceforbusincsses, while
providing increased benefits for in
jured workers," Bert Fridlin, state
director of the National Freedom of
Independent Business (NFIB), said.
The legislation was the culmina
tion of efforts by the Joint Workers’
Compensation Task Force, created
by the General Assembly, and the
Georgia Coalition for Workers'
Compensation Reform, comprised of
more than 50 business groups, in
cluding NFIB.
According to Fridlin, provisions of
the new law that should reduce the
overall cost of the WC system are:
• "Change of Condition"- establish
ing time periods for an injured worker
to move from total disability benefits
to partial benefits when released to
work with restrictionsfi.e., lightduty);
• placing a 400-week cap on tempo
rary total benefitsfornon-catastrophic
injuries;
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announces the association of
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for the practice of
Ramify Medicine
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Wednesday, July 1,1992
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‘Unaditta, Georgia
Call 627-3263 for appointment
These changes are all positive re
sponses to concerns that were raised
by you gentlemen and our sub
scribers. As long as we continue
the dialogue I am confident we will
be able to work together well and
provide the city with excellent ser
vice.”
Mitchell explained that two let
ters will be sent to customers over
the next 10 days informing them of
the changes.
•The city approved an $8,500
computer system upgrade for the
Gas Department. Keck and Wood
Co., who have been involved with
Parks,
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tunity to help us in the process,” he
said.
Barrett has been the director since
December of 1990.
He is a native of Perry and a 1965
graduate of Georgia Southern Col
lege with a Bachelor’s degree in
Recreation and also a Master’s de
gree from Georgia Southern Uni
versity.
Barrett has worked for DNR since
1970, having served in a variety of
key positions including both deputy
commissioner for programs and
commissioner. He also formerly
served as director of recreation for
Statesboro.
He and his wife, Carol, live in At
lanta and have a daughter and son.
• reducing WC benefits when em
ployer-paid disability benefits arc
provided;
• employee "Bill of Rights" under
WC law to reduce attorney involve
ment in WC claims;
• eliminating mandatory rehabilita
tion except in catastrophic injury
cases, and
• prohibiting attorneys from adver
tising for referral purposes only.
"For so long, the whole world of
workers' comp, and its associated
costs and charges have been a mys
tery to many small business owners.
They only knew they paid expensive
insurance premiums," Fridlin said.
"This new law should give employ
ers more opportunity to manage their
insurance costs."
Among the new provisions are:
• requiring insurers to notify the
business of a proposed settlement in
a case;
• requiring insurers to provide a three
year "experience modification"
worksheet for employers to verify
the information used to set their WC
premiums;
• the insurance commissioner will
establish, within the assigned risk
the city since the inception of their
computer system, was awarded the
contract.
"They know our system, are
thoroughly familiar with it and they
will foot the bill for a lot of the
programming services they will be
providing," Councilman Ralph
Gentry said.
•The council also approved a
dance hall license for the lounge at
the Comfort Inn.
•The city received back 5871.26
in funds that were not spent during
drainage improvement work on
Elaine Street.
County,
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tough on those involved. Ninety
eight percent of what the budget in
volves is required by law. There is
not much other spending going
on,” he said.
In other action, commissioners:
•Approved the signing of a resolu
tion urging support for limiting un
funded state mandates on cities and
counties. A copy of the resolution
will be sent to Gov. Zell Miller.
•Approved the appointment of
Martha Martin as the new executive
secretary for die commissioners.
•Approved a resolution in agree
ment for operations, maintenance
and management services with Op
erations Management International
(OMI).
pool, separate categories for em
ployers with no WC loss experience,
employers with low premiums and
no WC loss experience, and em
ployers with poor loss experience;
• employers will be able to recover
compensation from a third party that
caused the injury to the worker, but
only if worker is completely com
pensated or has not taken legal action
within a year from the date of the
injury, and
• requiring insurers to consider re
covery of compensation from third
parties when WC premiums arc re
vised.
Fridlin said the new law also pro
vides increased benefits for workers:
• increasing the maximum weekly
benefit for temporary total disability
from $225 to $250;
• increasing the maximum weekly
benefit for temporary partial disabil
ity from $l5O to $175, and
• increasing maximum death benefit
from $60,000 to SIOO,OOO.
"The new law also contained some
changes that will take some time to
determine how they will impact the
system," Fridlin noted. Among those
highlights:
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Hafley is city’s environmentalist
By EMERY WARNOCK
Staff Writer
“We need more use of recycled
products to generate an incentive to
avoid raw materials,” Bill Hafley,
landfill coordinator for the City of
Perry said.
Serving as the city’s first landfill
coordinator since 1989, Hafley has
been involved with civic efforts to
keep the community a clean one.
He explained that the recycling
programs in Perry were formed out
of an extension of the “Keep Amer
ica Beautiful” program of the Perry
Clean Community Commission.
Hafley was an appointed volunteer
of that committee in 1978. He also
served as chairman of the commit
tee.
“The solid waste problem was the
reason why we started recycling,”
Hafley said. “We are now doing 40
tons of recycling a year,” he added.
The slogan of recycling he says is
“Recycling is voluntary but very
helpful.”
There are 25 pick-up points in
Perry that collect newspapers,
empty corrugated and cardboard
boxes.
Those sites include dumpsters
across from the Sing store at the
corner of Main Street and Houston
Lake Drive and other sites across
town.
The Happy Hour Workshop then
picks up the recyclable material and
transports it to their facility in
Warner Robins which is used to
fund the school for mentally re
tarded persons.
Also recycled are aluminum cans
and glass bottles. These items can
be taken to Wright’s Recycling on
Bess Street and others across town.
“In the future, we hope to have
more available places for dumping
the recyclable material in Perry,”
Hafley said.
“We also have gotten good corpo
rate support including PPG and
Northrop,” he said.
Hafley explained that even though
Happy Hour picks up recyclable in
Warner Robins, Perry and Ft. Val
ley, there is no more money for the
school to increase its services.
“We will continue to work with
Happy Hour,” but he explained the
city probably will have to work
with other industries in the future
for the simple reason that recycling
is still very expensive.
“Another aspect of recycling is
yard waste,” he said.
Where the paper products arc 40
percent of the recycled material in
Perry, yard waste is only 17 percent
of the total amount of recycled ma
terial.
• a new definition of catastrophic
injury to cover spinal cord injuries,
burns, blindness and other injuries
where the employee also qualifies for
social security disability income
benefits;
• the employer will have access to
employee medical records related to
the claim;
• the employer must include a phy
sician practicing orthopedic surgery
on the required panel of physicians,
limit industrial clinics to no more
than two, and include a minority
physician on the panel if feasible;
• requires annual disclosure of in
surers' costs related to WC, and
• limits claimants attorney's fees to
25 percent of the settlement or weekly
benefit payments.
"The cost of workers' compensa
tion insurance is a critical problem
for small-business owners. Hope
fully, these new changes and proce
dures will help stablize and control
these costs and permit small business
to do what it does best - create jobs,”
Fridlin said.
With nearly 11,000 members, NFIB
is Georgia's largest small business
advocacy organization.
Bill Hafley has been Perry’s landfill coordinator since 1989.
In addition, he remains the city’s top advocate on recycling.
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Salute I
“Perry has a good relationship
with Medusa Cement Company.
We bring tires that they use in their
kilns,” Halley said.
“This is one good legitimate dis
posal of waste without burying the
material,” he said.
Hafley explained the various type
of material that can be recycled are
tires, car batteries, aluminum cans,
newspapers, corrugated cardboard,
mixed paper, glass, while goods,
steel, glass, grass and leaf compost,
wood chip mulch and motor oil.
He further explained that a curb
side program would be a good sys
tem where people could drop off
multiple items of waste products.
Dr. Michael N. Brady
Internal Medicine
Dr. Robert M. Ritchea
Internal Medicine
Announce
THE OPENING OF THEIR OFFICES
July 6, 1992
at 555 N. Camellia Blvd.
in Fort Valley
(adjacent to the hospital)
912-825-5599 I
NOW ACCEPTING APPOINTMENTS
Announcing the Office Opening of
Samuel E. Palmer, M.D.
Family Practice
• Certified by the American Board of Family Practice
• Specializing in Family Practice
• Medical degree from University of Florida in Gainesville
• Completed residency at Medical Center of Central Georgia in
Macon.
• Appointments preferred.
• Medicare and Medicaid patients accepted
• Office Hours:
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Monday - Friday
1115 Momingside Drive
Perry, Georgia
n(912) 987-4555
Member of Perry Hospital Medical Staff J
“Although we’re still considering
a drop-off, we would need some
body there to make sure you keep it
clean,” he said.
“Right now there is no money in
the budget to do this. So we have
to hold off on recycling special
products,” he said.
“Recycling isn’t cheap... it costs
money.”
“At the present time, many paper
products are more expensive to re
cycle than virgin paper. The federal
government subsidizes the mining
of raw materials but doesn’t subsi
dize recycles,” Hafley said.
Hafley also said that most recy
cling is done through state grants.
“There is zero budget for recycling
in Georgia. This is one of the few
states that doesn’t provide any
money for recycling. What we’re
going to do, we arc going to do on
our own,” he said.
For more information about recy
cling in Perry contact Hafley at
987-1911.