Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, August 19,1992
Deaths
Edna Perdue, Bonaire; Julia
Mae McGhee, Fort Valley;
Warren Jackson, Philadelphia.
For details, please see page
3A.
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
It's school time!
Kids, teachers and parents are
getting ready forthe new school
year and we have provided a
special section with important
information such as the current
up-to-date bus schedules as
well as the schools' schedules
for the upcoming year.
ACS auction a
success
Results and highlights of the
American Cancer Society
aurction held recently prove
Perryans will donate cash for a
good cause. The story is on
page 6A.
INDEX
AGRICENTER EVENTS 3A
PEGGY BLEDSOE IB
CALENDAR 3A
CLASSIFIED 10A
EDITORIALS 4A
ENTERTAINMENT 9A
HOME & GARDEN 2B
KELLIE ROWDEN 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 4B
LIFESTYLE 1B
GUEST COLUMN 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
SPORTS 7A
COSBY WOODRUFF 7A
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911 center may not be grounded properly
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
The 911 committee heard a posi
tive description from Houston
County Coroner Danny Galpin on
the county emergency medical ser
vices corqing on-line with 911 and
received a report from Director Lee
Stripling describing a possible
problem with the grounding of the
911 center in Warner Robins at
their meeting Monday.
The concern over the center's not
being properly grounded stems from
lightning damage that affected five
dispatcher terminals approximately
six weeks ago.
"We know the lightning didn't
come from the electric lines or the
telephone lines and we are checking
our own cables as a precaution. We
don't know that the building is im
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
v The Houston Home*
Journal
Police are searching for
Perry business owner
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
The Perry Police Department has
issued two warrants for Donna Col
lie, former proprietor of Deep
South Antiques, charging her with
theft by deception and theft by con
version .
Collie was previously arrested
by the Perry Police Department
July 16 and charged with two
counts of theft by deception after
she allegedly used a false social se
curity number to obtain credit from
two Perry businesses, a local jew
eler and a furniture store. Collie
filed for Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
Protection under a different social
security number than the number
given when she obtained credit
from the Perry merchants. The final
decision on the status of Collie's
bankruptcy will be sometime in
September according to court
records.
Perry Police Captain Jim Hardy
described Collie's alleged activities
i fiK:. „
(HHJ photo by Amy McDaniel)
Getting ready!
Bertie Riner, front, Ashley Remeta, left, Shirley Arrington and Pat Law, first grade
teachers at Perry Elementary, help each other get ready for the first day of school
this Friday. Check out the special back-to-school section in this edition for
information on bus routes, school phone numbers and more.
properly grounded but we want to
explore every avenue to avoid a re
currence of the problem. We will
meet with the architect next Tues
day to discuss the problem,"
Stripling said.
Stripling gave the committee a
estimate indicating the damage to
the five consoles and the central
call processing unit will cost ap
proximately $33,393. Dispatchers
were able to use temporary remotes,
radios and walkie talkies to con
tinue to dispatch immediately after
the damage occurred.
County Commissioner Larry
Snellgrove commented on the
lightning report.
"Before we pay any money I
think we need to ask why the archi
tect and the electrician were unable
3 SECTIONS—22 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
prompting the warrants.
"The theft by conversion is due
to allegations that Donna Collie
took approximately $1,600 worth
of antiques on consignment from
the complaintant. She then sold a
number of the antiques and did not
pay the complainant for the mer
chandise. When the complaintant
learned Deep South Antiques was
closing she went to the store to col
lect her antiques and found some of
her merchandise was gone. The
theft by deception relates to a trailer
taken from Southeastern Trailer
Sales.
Wendell Kersey, the company's
manager, called Perry police Mon
day morning and reported the trailer
stolen.
"She agreed to buy the trailer in
July and just paid for the tag and
taxes. On the bill of sale it said it
had to be paid off in 30 days. We
figured she would pay for it eventu
ally. My wife got a hold of her and
she promised she would get over
to do the job the first time. The ar
chitect knew he was designing a
911 center, if it were a converted
building that would be different. If *
the building is not grounded cor
rectly he is responsible. The elec
trician, and now it sounds like the
architect, did not do the job," he
said.
Galpin was responsible for
overseeing the 911 transition to the
EMS crews.
"We are having no major
problems and it’s moving right
along. All the equipment is
operational and the staffs are getting
familiar with the new equipment.
We have two EMS crews in Warner
Robins, one in Perry ahd what is
called a day truck which provides
patient transport and other services
here and talk to us but she never
did. After repeated calls that went
unanswered and after sending a letter
finding a post office box that had
been closed, we decided to call the
police. 1 called the police. That
afternoon she called me and said,
'My truck has broken could you
come pick up the trailer at exit 45?’
I went out there and the trailer
looked brand new," Kersey said.
Collie has been the subject of a
number of complaints from local
merchants according to Hardy.
"We have received a number of
complaints about her. Some obvi
ously are are civil cases, primarily
bad checks. 1 am told there were
others who were victims. If they
make a report we will follow up on
it. 1 handed the first case over to
the district attorney today and now
that case is up to the courts. We
arc very interested in her where
abouts if anyone has information
they should contact the Perry Police
Department." Hardy said.
from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. If the three
crews in Warner Robins are all
dispatched we will move the Perry
ambulance up to the corner of
Moody and Highway 96 to serve a
more central area. We would do the
same thing if Perry's ambulances
are all being used," Galpin said.
Stripling replied to a question
from Perry Mayor Jim Worrall by
explaining the effectiveness of si
lent 911 calls.
"I pulled a week's worth of silent
calls to see how the system was
working. We had 13 silent calls.
Seven of those were domestic dis
putes where we dispatched a patrol
car and one was an EMS call. We
have had three or four instances
where after receiving an
Please see 911, page 5A
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Robbin Jackson reads from a petition calling for a review of
Perry Police Officer John Hardage’s employment status.
Citizens upset over the
return of police officer
Perry City Council is
presented a petition
during meeting
By BRIAN LAWSON
Staff Writer
Several citi/.ens had business be
fore the Perry City Council at their
regular meeting Tuesday night dis
cussing subjects ranging from a pe
tition opposing the return of police
officer John Hardage to displeasure
with the administration of men's
recreation softball.
Robbin Jackson, president of the
Perry NAACP presented the coun
cil with over 60 signatures asking
for the mayor, city council and
police chief to reconsider the
decision to return Hardage to duty
after his administrative suspension
following the Anthony Hill shoot
ing.
Jackson asked Police Chief
Frank Simons if Hardage was going
to be working the streets following
his week in school that reportedly
ended Tuesday.
"He will not be on the streets
patrolling tomorrow," Simons said.
"What about the day after or the
day after that?" Jackson asked.
"I can't predict the long term fu
ture but as far as the short term he
will not be out in the street imme
Commission approves
$760,000 land purchase
By KELLIE ROWDEN
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Commissions voted unanimously
to approve the contract for the land
acquisition to re-locate Middle
Georgia Tech onto a 200 acre site
located off of Highway 96.
The campus will be located on a
73 acre parcel of land behind
Houston County High School and
the Flint Electric building. It will
have entrances accessing both
Highway 96 and Houston Lake
Road.
The 200 acres were purchased for
the price of $3,800 per acre. The
board also approved to allow the
engineering assessment of the land
to begin. The assessment will be
performed by R.J. Wood and
Company and is estimated to take
about six weeks.
“Everything leads to believe that
the engineering aspect of the prop
erly will be okay, but if it isn’t the
purchase will not occur,” Commis
sioner Chairman Sherrill Stafford
said.
The commission also unani
mously voted to allow Tommy
122ND YEAR—VOLUME 67 |
nN in i in iN .l.. *
diatcly," Simons replied.
Jackson summed up his position
on the subject following the meet
ing.
"We are against the officer being
allowed back on the force after the
shooting. We will wait to sec what
the city does and says. Then we'll
go from there," he said.
A public hearing on the subject
of re-zoning the Genesis House, a
proposed home for homeless men,
was cancelled after die church spon
soring the house withdrew dieir re
quest for re-zoning.
The letter was sent by Percy
Skinner, administrator for Greater
Word of Deliverance Church.
Skinner wrote the church was with
drawing its request for a property
re-zoning to allow for the Genesis
House to exist at the present time.
City Building Inspector Bill
Chambless said the home's owner,
Lill Smith, appeared to have reser
vations about the effects of chang
ing the property from a strictly res
idential to commercially zoned area.
Other citizens with business be
fore the city included Ricky Prater
who expressed frustration about the
city's softball program.
"We've had several run ins with
Ben Hamrick about softball. We're
not having a fall league in Perry so
Please see UPSET, page 9A
Stalnakcr of the public works de
partment to seek a part-time or
temporary employee during the
time that two full-time employees
are absent due to sick leave.
A group of concerned citizens
from Sctticrs Landing in Warner
Robins approached the board with
requests to address the drainage
problems being faced by the resi
dents of this subdivision.
According to Ken Askew, a resi
dent, the drainage ditch at Leisure
Lake in the back of the houses
floods every time there is the
slightest rainfall.
Other problems that could be
created by this are the possibility of
a child drowning in the ditch and
the breeding ground it creates for
mosquitos.
“We can’t hardly go outside at
night to do anything,” Askew in
formed the board.
The board agreed to have engi
neers go out to the sight and take a
look at the situation. One represen
tative from the board and a resident
will be present during the
Please see LAND, page 9A