Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30,1992
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Workers tear down the Bel Aire Motel in early January to prepare for the construction of the new
Perry Marketplace. The shopping center, located on Sam Nunn Blvd. was open by the end of 1992.
A look back... a review of 1992
January
• The County E-911 system goes
on-line after almost three years in
development.
• Perry City Council members dis
cussed their dissatisfaction of the
local cable system. Members were
displeased by the high cost of basic
cable service.
• Mayor Jim Worrall has recruited
county help in purchasing the Perry
City Annex. The annex, according
to Worrall, is in need of immediate
repairs. If these repairs are put off,
the building, which was built in the
19205, could suffer irreversible
damage. Worrall and the city want
the building purchased so that it can
become a historical landmark.
• The "Bring One for the Chipper"
program is a success, as 750
Christmas trees are converted into
mulch instead of being sent to the
landfill.
• A tractor-trailer wreck on 1-75 re
quired an 11-hour clean-up opera
tion as members of the Hazardous
Materials Unit of the Houston
County Fire Department worked to
clean up a flammable resin spill.
• Medusa Cement Company has
applied for a permit to burn its own
waste in its cement kiln.
• Local hotel owners voiced their
Deaths
Lafayette W. Beard, Perry;
Norman Edwin Wade, Fort
Valley; Louie Crawford
Fretwell, Vero Beach, Fla.. For
details, please see page SA.
INDEX
AGRICENTER EVENTS 5A
ANGELA CULBRETH 1B
CLASSIFIED 6B
JACKIE COOPER 2B
DEATH NOTICES 5A
EDITORIALS 4A
BRIGETTE HAMILTON 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 3B
LIFESTYLE 1B
SECOND FRONT 3A
ANISSA CLEMONS 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
REMEMBER WHEN ____ 4A
SPORTS 9A
BRIAN LAWSON 10A
PERRY, GEORGIA’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823 I
ff The Houston Homei
Journal
opposition to a proposal to increase
the city's hotel/molel tax.
• The Houston County Board of
Education has approved a plan to
stagger school starting times, be
ginning at the start of the next
school year.
• The Houston County Board of
Health treated 279 people infected
with the HIV virus in 1991 a recent
report showed.
• The city council approved a mea
sure to raise the local hotcl/motel
tax from five percent to six percent.
The city council also adopted a plan
to widen and place a sidewalk on
Perimeter Road.
• Officials say the Perry Welcome
Center will grow more popular in
the future. Several hotel owners
complained that the Welcome
Center has brought very few new
people to Perry.
• A re-districting plan would elimi
nate State Rep. Larry Walker's dis
trict. The U.S. Justice Department
wants to instead develop a majority
black district in Peach and Houston
County.
• Mercer University's Perry Center
has set a new record for enrollment.
• Business representatives met with
the zoning commission to express
their concern that the relocation of
And a look ahead... 1993
By ANISSA CLEMONS
and J.J. COOPER
Staff Writers
With 1993 just around the comer,
the Home Journal asked local
officials to offer their predictions
and the goals for their depaitmcni in
the upcoming year.
The following is their views of
the upcoming year.
City Council:
City Manager Marion Hay
thinks 1992 was an “outstanding”
year and has several projects he’d
like to see accomplished in 1993.
“I’d like to see the bypass
finished, the infrastructure in place,
see a major industry located in
Perry or Houston County with new
job opportunities, complete the
new City Hall and have children
playing in Rozar Park by October
of 1993,” Hay said.
“That’s a big wish list, isn’t
it?”
Hay said 1992 can be called a
success for several reasons. “We got
the North Perry Bypass (contract)
completed. We acquired and
renovated the James Street ballfield.
We finished a CDBG project. We
sold the spec building, and we got a
$lO million shopping center here.”
Hay said the city’s list of 1992
accomplishments goes on, but he’s
_2_SECTIONS—IB PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
The Year In Review:
The first six months
Smith Drive would hamper their
truck transport.
• The Houston County Board of
Education has set long-fbrm objec
tives for the school system. The
objectives have been set to ensure
that all students reach their maxi
mum potential.
February
• A new House rcdistricting plan
would keep Rep. Larry Walker's
district together.
• Perry's Crown Cork and Seal Co.
has announced it will close in the
near future, laying off 150 workers.
• Perry's Pete Rucker will lead the
Hospital Authority.
• Perry Police and GBI officials ar
rested more than 30 people in a
drug sweep.
• Houston County has decided to
switch its long-distance service to
MCI from AT&T.
• Westfield Schools has announced
that Dr. Michael Drake has been
approved as the new headmaster.
• Hotel owners have met with
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" I'd like to see the bypass finished...
complete the new City Hall and have
children playing in Rozar Park by
October of 1993."
City Manager Marlon Hay
looking to accomplish a lot in
1993.
Other projects for 1993 in
clude:
• Establishing a means for
people who want their streets to be
improved to be accomplished
through bonds.
• Developing a recycling pro
gram by July 1993.
• Acquiring a track type loader
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55 nit
Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan speaks from the courthouse steps before the Georgia pri
mary election. Buchanan, a Republican, managed to win the Republican primary in Houston County.
Pcachstatc Cable in an attempt to
resolve complaints about service.
• The round-up of 30 drug dealers
may have slowed the drug traffic in
Perry, but it will not stop it, police
chief Frank Simons said.
• A new billboard near Thompson
Road has greatly increased traffic at
the Perry Welcome Center.
• Two Agriccnlcr employees have
alleged that they were sexually ha
rassed by Wilson Sparks, director of
the Agriccnter.
• The Georgia House of
Representatives has approved a plan
that would keep Perry's district in
tact.
• The Ag. Authority has discussed
complaints that the Agriccnter is
not being used for its proper pur
pose. Horse industry reps feel that
the Agriccnter is too costly for or
dinary horse shows.
• Perry's City Council has been
critical of the Houston County
Development Authority and its
Director Dick Ulm. The council
to be used in the landfill and pur
chase additional land next to the dry
bash landfill.
•Paving, curbing and guttering
of Jeanne Street and Elko Road in
concert with the CDBG.
•Improving James Sheet water
problem in cooperation with county
funding. The city has budgeted
SIIB,OOO for this project.
•Constructing an exit from
Broad Sheet to Cambridge Road.
•Installing Thompson Road in
tersection lighting when the bypass
is completed.
• Completing the West Perry
Bypass from intersection of
Thompson Road to Highway 341
and intersection of Highway 341 to
Indushial Park.
•Making improvements on
Airport Road.
•Extending Ball Sheet to the
Golden Isles Parkway via a railroad
right of way, and getting the state
to build a Highway 341 and 41
connector.
•Providing an inventory and
distribution system at the city bam.
• Adopting a bypass road gas
line.
• Starting a road from the In
dustrial Park to Marshallville Road.
• Relocating North Perry By
pass
• Completing annual gas leak
I A Park Community Newsoaoer—©l992 I
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GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
Li. 6A MAIN LIBRARY
ATHENS GA 30602
feels the Authority has not done
enough to promote Perry’s expan
sion.
• . Despite two recent fights,
Houston County school buses are
safe, superintendent Dr. Harold
Chapman said.
• In a sign of the struggling econ
omy, Houston County has seen a
sharp increase in the number of
welfare claims.
• Perry Welcome Center Director
Fay Riddles is serving on the
Georgia Olympic Marketing Task
Force.
• Perry has gotten its first new fire
truck since 1972. As a result, in
surance rates are expected to drop.
March
• Presidential candidate Pat
Buchanan made a last minute stop
in Perry three days before the state
primary. Over 250 listened to
Buchanan's speech on the court
house steps.
• Buchanan pulled a surprise upset
of President George Bush in
Houston County as he won almost
52 percent of the vote. Bill Clinton
also won Houston County with
65.4 percent of the vote. Paul
Tsongas finished a distant second.
• The Perry High School band
earned a superior rating.
survey.
• Calhodizc old gas lines
• Completing Crcekwood by
July.
• Acquiring land on the Golden
Isles Parkway from the Agriccnter
authority to construct a softball
complex.
• Amending comprehensive
land developments to include open
park space.
• Completing waste water lab
expansion at sewer plant
• Completing Fannie Gresham
Branch sewer line.
• Investigating the need for a
sewer system evaluation survey
after Fannie Gresham sewer line re
placement.
•Developing consistent build
ing codes for the city and county
governments.
• Reviewing and adopting new
utility and storm water specifica
tions.
• Determining the feasibility of
and the cost to prepare a fringe area
study.
•Continuing aggressive efforts
to eliminate unsafe housing
•Reviewing the zoning map for
consistency of growth patterns
• Completing house numbers
and street names.
122ND YEAR—VOLUME l6j
• A county fireman has been ar
rested and charged with six counts
of arson. He was arrested after a fire
destroyed the Grovania United
Methodist Church.
• The County Agriculture
Extension Service building is slated
for a facelift later this year.
• The Perry Planning and Zoning
Commission has rejected an appli
cation that would have allowed a
halfway house for alcoholic
women.
• The Kiwanis Club inducted its
first women members when Judy
Golden, Marsha Haley and Barbara
Jones were officially inducted as
new members.
• Sarah Blount was named Miss
Dogwood for 1992.
• Perry and the Department of
Transportation have agreed to resur
face parts of Clinton, Main, Poplar
and Rogers streets.
• T. Wilson Sparks, the executive
director for the Agricenter, was re
moved from his post. Speculation
is that he was removed as part of a
settlement from charges that he
sexually harassed two employees.
• The Hayncville Water Plant re
cently opened. The plant promises
to bring cleaner water to the
Please see REVIEW, page 11A
domehow or another I want to put to
gether a growth strategies plan that
will help us address the continuing
problems growth has caused"
County Commission Chairman
Sherrill Stafford
County Commission:
The biggest problem that
Houston County will have to deal
with in the upcoming year is
growth, County Commission
Chairman Sherrill Stafford said.
"We've got a couple of things
we really need to address," Stafford
said. "Somehow or another I want
to put together a growth strategies
plan that will help us address the
Please see LOOK, page 3A