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WEEKEND EDITION 250 Perry & Houston County's official Legal Organ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1993 Deaths Myrtle Hudson Blackstone, Perry; Rosa Mae Bateman, Perry; James Leroy Boswell, Perry. For details, please see page 3A. INDEX AGRICENTER EVENTS 6A ROBIN BOOKER 4A CALENDAR 6A CLASSIFIED 4B_ DEATH NOTICES 3A EDITORIALS 4A PERRY SCRAPBOOK 4A POLICE REPORT 2A SPORTS IB JIM SHIPLEY • 4A STREET TALK 4A JOHN TRUSSELL 2B BOBBY TUGGLE 2B BRIAN LAWSON 1B WOODS 'N WATER 2B Educators voice support for whole language method By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer As parents and concerned citizens continue to voice their apprehen sion about the whole-language ap proach to teaching language arts in Houston County, many educators continue to voice their support of the program. The whole-language approach endorses anew method of teaching reading and writing in elementary grades. While the methods em ployed in the past taught many Hospital authority approves '94 budget By ANISSA CLEMONS Staff Writer Houston County Hospital Au thority members voted 8-1 Wednesday to approve a $66.3 million budget for fiscal 1994 which includes an eight percent increase for most patient services and a four percent merit pay increase for Houston Healthcare Complex employees. Dr. Dan Stewart, chief of the medical staff for Perry Hospital, said he couldn’t vote for the in crease because it sent the wrong message to the public. He also said the amount of money alotted in the budget for the contingency fund was too low. Mr. Pete Rucker, chairman of the authority, said a lot of thought and careful study went into preparing the budget since September. “We’re not blessing this budget in a two minute session,” he said. The authority projects total pa tient revenue for the Healthcare Complex, which includes Houston Medical Center, Perry Hospital, lo cal ambulance services and Houston Heart Institute, will be more than S9B million. However, more than S3O million has been reserved to cover bad debt, indigent care, Medi care and Medicaid costs. In other business: •The authority approved Jim Peak, administrator of Perry Hospi tal, be able to negotiate and spend no more than $7,983 on renova tions for the Perry Medical Office. •The authority approved the re newal of Perry Hospital’s radiology contracL •The authority approved a write off of more than $727,000 for the month of January for bad debts and indigent care. PHS band styles new uniforms By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer The Pride of the Crossroads, Perry High School’s Marching Band, will be stepping a little higher these days as they sport their new tuxedo-style band uniforms. After working for more than a year to raise the funds to purchase new uniforms, Band Director Rick Searle said the hard work has paid off in a big way. “The students are really excited about having new uniforms, and we think they look really nice,” Searle said. The Band Boosters and the band members worked together to raise the money through concession sales and fund-raisers such as car washes. Additionally, several local busi nesses contributed to the fund-rais ing. “We had tremendous support from the community, and we couldn’t have done it without them,” Searle said. “We appreciate everyone’s support so much.” The band is looking ahead to sending 10 of its musicians to the district honor competition, which Please see STYLES, page 7A skills in isolation, including phon ics, the whole-language approach teaches reading and writing skills, including phonics, in a variety of ways throughout the use of real lit erature. Opponents of the plan are con cerned that students are not getting adequate instruction in the area of phonics, whereas proponents of the approach advocate the integrated ap proach to teaching all language arts skills. An example of the differ ■pi-; If ; s ' P f : V Susie Greer, contributions chairman for the Balvaunuca Club of Perry, accepts a $550 donation from Talan Pritchard, financial advisor for PPG. The contribution will be used to help finance the Dogwood Ball. PPG donates SSOO to 1993 Dogwood Ball By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer As the Dogwood Festival looms closer and closer for Perry, local businesses are doing their part to make the festival a success. Pitts burg Paint and Glass Industries, one of Perry’s largest employers, is making three donations to support Dogwood events and challenges other businesses to do the same. Talan Pritchard, financial advisor PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823 f The Houston Homef Journal 2 SECTIONS—I 2 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS K 2 pJ| A MB 188 A HBBBf |B| BB JftAyjAK T. 'IK, . nr MOT K WIWHI? H m tm M Bab Imi- bB *'jBBB lUB| BbP JP * WBir wfatifk fIHV J|> IB| ii| ■ 'fc jb WKjK bi aH i|B Vi a! jßft BBb BB WBI M BB AaaH—l f B BB aJk-' a mimsi—' (HHJ photo by Eric Zellars) Perry High School's Marching Band try on the new tuxedo-style uniforms they worked a whole year raising funds to buy. ences in the approaches would be the old approach would teach chil dren to read first and then write. The new approach maintains that read ing and writing can happen simul taneously. Additionally, the old approach teaches phonics as an isolated skill, and the new approach incorporates phonics instruction throughout the entire curriculum. It is the lack of isolated phonics instruction that has parents most concerned about this at PPG, said the company is donat ing $550 to the Balvaunuca Club to help sponsor the fifth annual Dog wood Ball. Additionally, the com pany will donate SI,OOO to co sponsor the 5K race and S2OO for general festival expenditures. The Dogwood Ball, scheduled for April 3 at the Georgia Living Cen ter of the Georgia Agricenter, will Please see DONATES, page 7A language arts curriculum. “I am shocked that parents think we areuot teaching phonics,” said Debbie*Meck, first-grade teacher at Centerville Elementary. “We teach phonics all day long, from the first day of school until the last We just don’t -do. it using workbooks and worksheets the way we once did.” Meek has been a teacher in the Houston County School System for the past 13 years and has used the whole-language approach for the VOCA students will attend competition By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Melissa Holby and Benita Durham are two Perry High School students looking ahead to the fu ture. Holby, a senior, and Durham, a junior, are both members of the school’s Vocational Opportunities Clubs of America (VOCA) and are headed for district competition with their club’s projects. It is a compe tition they are taking seriously. Holby is representing the club in the community project division. For the past nine years the VOCA group has chosen as their commu nity project to visit the New Perry Nursing Home and provide cards for Final list of DOD facility sites to be released in early March By ANISSA CLEMONS Staff Writer Houston County Development Authority expects to know if Hous ton-Bibb County will be chosen as a site on the “final list” of the De partment of Defense’s Finance Cen ter project, which will be made public in less than two weeks. Houston County Development Authority Executive Director Dick Ulm told authority members Thursday Senators Sam Nunn and Roy Rowland should know who made the final list by March 9 or 10. Ulm said Nunn will meet with the secretary of the Department of Defense next week to give him a letter of endorsement by area legislators and himself. “Senator Nunn said we’ve done all we can do,” Ulm said. If the DOD chooses Middle Ge orgia as the site and decides a 7,000-employee finance center is needed, Bibb County will receive the center. If a 4,000-employee fl PERRY, GA. | A Park Community Newsna* . .n i a 1 /QQ SO u -. i5 APF PP P out GEORGIA NEVfSPAPEK y . ga MAIN ATHENS G A past two years. She said she fully supports the program because of the difference she has seen in her stu dents. “My students love to read and write now, and this is in the first grade,” she said. “I had one little boy this week who actually wrote a 19-page story that he created him self. Before, my students never wrote this early.” Houston County is currently in its second year of using the whole- Hii w - Jfld : : '|hk Melissa Holby,left, and Benita Durham are Perry High's VOCA students headed to district competition in March. its residents during holidays. Holby said the project pays off for the stu dents as well as the nursing home nance center is needed, Houston County will be chosen. Congress will have to approve the budget for the center next September; therefore, if the Middle Georgia area is chosen for the site, the budget still has to be approved, according to Ulm. Authority could give Perry control of airport By ANISSA CLEMONS Staff Writer Perry City Councilman Charles Lewis says he expects the issue of dropping Ft. Valley and Peach County from the Airport Authority which would give control to Perry, will be discussed at the Airport Au thority meeting Monday nighL “We may not make any deci sions, but it will be talked about,” Lewis said. “We’re not going to let 123RD YEAR—VOLUME 17 language approach. The literature used in this curriculum is published by Houghton Mifflin and is termed “The Literature Experience.” Meek said the literature-based curriculum exposes her students to a variety of books and not just the basal reader. “My students want to read every thing in my room now, and they are excited about it,” she said. “My goal is to produce life-long readers, and I believe that’s what we’re do- Pleasee see SUPPORT, page 7A patients. “There are more than 100 pa- Please see VOCA, page 7A Some of the sites being consid ered by the DOD have had base closings. Ulm said he gathered in formation explaining Robins Air Force Base has lost about 4,000 employees through the last six year and expect to lose another 1,000. Please see SITES, page 7A it die.” Lewis said at an Economic De velopment Commission meeting Ft. Valley had made no financial contribution to the airport this year. He said Peach County had made a $4,200 contribution this year, which is considerably less than Perry’s $8,201. Lewis also said Houston County contributed Please see AIRPORT, page 7A