Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8,1992
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Bank of Perry
sponsors car wash
The Bank of Perry is sponsor
ing a benefit car wash for bank
employee Deborah Law's 14
year old son Donnie. The story
is on page SA.
Lightning strikes
home in Perry
Perry firefighters responded to
a call Friday to extinguish a
burning attic that had been
struck by fire during a rain
storm. The story is on page
3A.
Perry High fall
sports schedules
announced
The 1992 softball and footbal
schedules have been an
nounced and are listed on page
18.
INDEX -
AGRICENTER EVENTS 5A
KELLIE ROWDEN 4A
CALENDAR 5A
CLASSIFIED 4B
DEATH NOTICES 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
PERRY SCRAPBOOK 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
SPORTS 1B
JIM SHIPLEY 4A
STREET TALK 4A
JOHN TRUSSELL 2B
BOBBY TUGGLE 2B
COSBY WOODRUFF 1B
WOODS 'N WATER 2B
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Register
students for
school early
By KELLIE ROWDEN
Staff Writer
In preparation for the upcoming
school year, students are busy buy
ing note books, pencils and clothes.
One important thing they may be
overlooking, however, is to register
for school itself.
All the Perry area schools are
encouraging students, especially if
they are new or are entering kinder
garten, to register as early as possi
ble.
“All of these students should go
ahead and do this early. It will
make it easier on us and them. It
will be a great benefit so they can
get off to a good start,” Paul
Hartman, principal at Tucker
Elementary said.
Please see EARLY, page 8A
f The Houston Home!
Journal
Rains uncover backyard well
-till, §”
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
Wilson and Una Martin received
a surprise when they returned home
from having dinner in Macon
Thursday night. A 25 foot deep
well that had been covered by a
concrete slab for at least 30 years
was dislodged by the heavy rainfall
causing it to swallow an azelia
plant, break a water line and in the
ensuing confusion send a plumber
scrambling for safety.
"I can't describe it. It was so
frightening," Una Martin said.
"It was scary. It looked like
someone dropped a bomb in our
yard," Wilson Martin added.
After pulling into their driveway
around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, the
Martins noticed water spraying in
from an area immediately adjacent
to their house. Upon closer inspec
tion they realized the ground had
shifted and a two foot indentation
had been created by the dislodging
of the concrete slab.
"We called a plumber to cap the
water line, and while he was stand
ing on the slab working it gave
way and he had to jump off or he
would have fallen down the well,"
Una Wilson said.
Mayor Jim Worrall came out to
inspect the site before 8 a.m., and
city workers filled in the hole with
dirt later in the day.
"The city has a policy of taking
immediate action and filling any old
wells that are discovered. The old
wells tire a safety hazard. Over the
years, as the city went to a munici
pal water system, people would fill
in their old wells with dirt, garbage
Election officials expect
low turnout for run-offs
By EMERY WARNOCK
Staff Writer
With only three days away until
the Aug. 11 Georgia primary
runoff, voter turnout in Houston
County is expected to be less than
20 percent of its registered voters.
“Four years ago there wee two
local races, county commission and
board of education, and the voter
turnout in that runoff was 20 per
cent. Without any local races this
year, it’s going to be lower,” Lisa
Grantham, deputy registrar, said.
“In the Democratic congressional
runoff, it will only affect those
people who are residents of the sec
ond district. This also predicts why
fewer people will come out,”
Grantham said.
For the Democratic runoff, people
will be able to vote for two candi
dates.
In a special primary runoff state
wide, people will get to choose ei
ther incumbent A1 Scott or David
Poythress for the position of Labor
Commissioner. The winner of that
race will run against Republican
Bill Flaherty in the Nov. 3 general
election.
Candidates running in the general
primary runoff for the second con
gressional district are incumbent
Charles Hatcher of Baker County
and Sanford Bishop, a Georgia State
Senator from Columbus.
State-wide, people voting on the
Republican ticket will get to
PERRY, GEORGIA’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
2 SECTIONS—I 2 PAGES. PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
( HHJ photo by Amy McDaniel)
Before and after photos of the 25 foot deep well that
was revealed during heavy rains Thursday at the home of
Wilson Martin on 906 Washington Avenue. Martin came
home early Thursday evening and discovered the hole.
City workers filled in the well with dirt Friday morning
to prevent it from becoming a safety hazard.
and other materials. When those
materials deteriorate or in this case
when heavy rain softens the ground
and uncovers the well we have to
take immediate action," City Man
ager Marion Hay said.
"I've known the mayor a long
choose one of two candidates for die
United States Senate position. Can
didates running are Bob Barr and
Paul Covcrdcll.
One of those senatorial candidates
will face Democratic incumbent
Wyche Fowler Nov. 3.
Republican candidates running for
the second congressional district
scat are Jim Dudley and Thomas H.
McGinley.
The winner of the Republican
congressional race will face the
Democratic contender Nov. 3 in the
general election.
Candidates running in the non-par
tisan primary runoff for Judge,
Court of Appeals of Georgia, will
be G. Alan Blackburn and incum
bent John W. Sognier. Both Re
publicans and Democrats can partic
ipate in this race.
All 16 Houston County precincts
will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
and tabulation will be held at the
Board of Elections office in Perry.
Each of the four precincts which
used the experimental voting sys
tem for the July 21 primary will
use those forms again.
The Henderson precinct is the
only one in thp southern part of the
county to use the new system.
People who registered by June 22
for the July 21 primary are also eli
gible to vote in the runoff.
“We do expect the general election
Nov. 3 to be much bigger voter
turnout,” Grantham said.
"It’s the closest we've ever
come to having a pool,"
Wilson Martin laughed.
i ;
:
time. The city really responded in a
hurry and we appreciate it. We've
been in this house 30 years and
we've never had any problems with
a well. I've been mowing the grass
and my wife has been gardening
Please see WELL, pSge 6A
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(HHJ photo by Amy McDaniel)
Camp Can Do carnival
Matt Kutay, left, Cindy Harbuck, Rosemary Rodgers, Dwayne Mobley and Mark Dent
from Lisa Libby's class took time after lunch Wednesday to play kick ball.
jjUjWGA.
A ban on big
book bags in
the schools?
Middle school principals feel the
ban will make our schools safer
By KELLIE ROWDEN
Staff Writer
Middle school students in
Houston County will be experienc
ing a bit of a change this upcoming
school year. No longer will large
back packs and book bags be al
lowed in the halls of middle
schools. They will have to be re
placed by smaller, more compact
book bags that can fit easily into
school lockers. The size will
depend on die size of each particular
schools lockers.
The principals of the county
middle schools agreed during a vote
at the executive section of the June
Board of Education meeting. The
purpose is to keep safety levels
high within the schools.
The new rule concerning the
bags suites that students’ book bags
must be placed in their locker and
Attempts to study
consolidated fire
services dissolve
By EMERY WARNOCK
Staff Writer
Houston County officials decided
Thursday morning that efforts to
“beef up” fire protection would have
to be made by the county commis
sioners. Any commitment to up
grade would result in a possible tax
increase.
An ad hoc fire committee, which
was formed two months ago, de
cided to disband because officials
felt county-wide lire protection
needs an insurance level appraisal
before consolidation or city-con
tracted services can be decided.
Officials further agreed personnel
is too low in the unincorporated ar
eas for the county protection level
to increase.
“I hope there is some way we
could come to a consolidated ef
fort,” Commissioner Larry Sncll
grove said.
122 NP YEAR —VOLUME 64 I
arc noi to he removed until after
school. The book bags must be
small enough to fit into the
students lockers.
Bob Pennington, principal at
Perry Middle School, states that
this new rule will allow for better
safety in two ways.
“This will reduce problems in
the halls that big bags can produce
and will also give us better control
over what’s in the bags,”
Pennington said. “All kinds of con
traband can be brought into
schools. Then you have the issue
of access. If they can’t carry it
around with them, there is no ac
cess.”
Pennington said the principals
had first toyed with the idea of
banning book bags all together, but
Please see BAN, page 6A
“We got valuable ideas from this
committee, but the ball’s back in
our court. With the direction we
have to go, the committee served a
useful purpose,” Snellgrove said.
“I know there are a lot of people
that arc against this (consolidation).
Maybe we’ve gotten into to a turf
war where there is double taxation
lor services,” he added.
Bob Smith, director of Houston
County Emergency Management
Agency, said, “The county had a
fire commission previously, but,”
he added, “it got to a point where it
was a frustrated effort.”
“Maybe we are a little pre-mature
addressing unincorporated areas. We
have not been asked to enhance
what we already have. We are in a
position of. re-evaluating,” Smith
said.
Please see STUDY, page 6A