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MIDWEEK EDITION 25C Perry & Houston County's official Legal Organ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1993 Parents will have say in sex ed courses By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Amid the demand for better edu cation concerning topics such as teen pregnancy, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, the state of Georgia has approved anew health and physical education curriculum to be used throughout the state's school systems. What this new cur riculum means to Houston County remains to be seen, but according to Good morning, Perry Deaths Melissa Beth Buttram, Warner Robins; Irene Lane, Perry; Henry Thomas, Perry; James Pratt Bacon, Moultrie; Daniel L. Jolley, Texas; Garland W. Sumner, Ocilla. For details, please see page 6A. INDEX AGRICENTER EVENTS 6A PEGGY BLEDSOE 1B CLASSIFIED 5B CALENDAR EVENTS 6A JACKIE COOPER 6B DEATH NOTICES 6A EDITORIALS 4A BRIGETTE HAMILTON 4A LEGAL NOTICES 3B TIM LEWIS IB POLICE REPORT 2A REMEMBER WHEN 4A SPORTS 8A BRIAN LAWSON 8A RAFB begins PALS program to ensure relations By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer While the relationship between Robins Air Force Base and sur rounding communities has always been a good one, base officials are going the extra mile to ensure the continuation of that good relation ship. Maj. Gen. William P. Hallin has implemented anew program, Partners in Logistics, to help the base maintain a strong bond with community leaders. The PALS program pairs community leaders from throughout Middle Georgia with leaders from various base or ganizations. "It is a tremendous honor to have been chosen to participate in this program," said Debbie Hart of WPGA in Perry. "This is an oppor tunity to directly involve the com munity in the base operations and give people a better understanding of what goes on at the base." The PALS program was created to make the leaders of neighboring communities more a part of the center's operations. The leaders will serve as counterparts to comman ders or directors of a base organiza tion for one year. "The base has a tremendous im pact on our community, and while we all know the base is out there, we don't really know much about what actually takes place there on a daily basis," said Arthur Loewen, a Metropolitan Life Insurance repre sentative from Perry. "This pro gram will help community leaders stay abreast of base operations and enable us to keep our communities more informed about the base and its role in our communities." During the year the partners are together, PALS members will be participating in a variety of base events, including commander's calls, center events, meetings and office functions. Coordinator of Health, Drug and Physical Education Frankie Ross, a great deal of change is on the hori zon. A main provision in the new curriculum mandates the involve ment of non-teaching parents on committees designed to establish guidelines for the implementation of the new curriculum. Several new objectives, including an emphasis mmgm - HWHuani JSaBL - gjL jfel f' l T IS ; . -7T 1 v’ 4 !77 .v /• r 1 * ||| ■' ■ft i . \\i dm *A Jm Hifl PW f jx/j Jj f• y # f JunUft BN? * * fik t . K /ijl w is e ■: { ffltr l v^ lr /A i -rHimi In ' A mB -r Wr 1 Is' 4|r i £- E */' t _f* JT m%l. '' WsaVw .s%ra^^Hß(P^RHog£m!j9lraraMt'fi[OK^HKjtaj r i &fcA JgjHHBBpS. jm. jj*t '* f |BB§^s|Hß^pEjv.. B .aJ (HHJ photo by Eric Zellars) Jennifer Gayle Nunn, center, was crowned Miss Westfield 1993 in the March 19 pageant held at the school. Also pictured are second runner-up Heather Jo Wilder, left, and first runner-up Chalese Alayne Lassiter, right. Thirteen girls vied for the title, with five girls being named finalists. Nunn is crowned Miss Westfield By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Featuring a Western theme and a night filled with music, the Miss Westfield 1993 Pageant was a rous ing success March 19 with Jennifer Gayle Nunn being crowned Miss Westfield. Nunn took top honors by win ning the talent and interview por Kiwanis Club celebrates 55 years By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Celebrating 55 years of tradition and influence in Perry, about 100 former and present Kiwanis Club members met last night to high light the club's past accomplish ments. Started in 1938, the Perry Kiwanis Club has been an influen tial fixture in Houston County for many years. The club has produced from its membership 10 city may ors, state representatives and sena tors and an U.S. senator. Highlights of the night included a historical slide show by Charles Shelton and the presentation of congratulatory letters to charter member Francis Nunn from President Bill Clinton, Senator Sam Nunn and the Georgia House of Representatives for being the only charter member still active in the club. Kiwanis President Harry Small challenged the club to continue its precedence of making a difference in Perry and producing leaders for the community and state. "The past 55 years have been great, and we can look ahead to the next 55 years being even bigger and better for the club," he said. PERRY, GEORGIA’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870--FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823 ■ The Houston Home* Journal 2 SECTIONS—I 6 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS "...there are so many new objectives ...we have to determine how the teachers can ef fectively address these issues." -Frankie Ross, coordinator of Health, Drug and Physical Education. on abstinence, have been added to the current curriculum, which will require educators to re-evaluate the tions of the pageant. First runner up was Chalese Alayne Lassiter and second runner-up was Heather Jo Wilder. Holly Ann Hartley and Ann Elizabeth Brannen were also among the top five finalists. A large crowd turned out for the 14th annual pageant to cheer on their favorite contestants. While the ||| ||| I if * 1 1 ite j 1 B if f i;* t- Jf ;$f 9 ,,i * M w r 9 Jfwi 3 if, r < „ ) • Jraf - M >ll & l&aEl &.K | Francis Nunn, right, was honored at the Kiwanis Club's Charter Night celebration last night. Pictured are Georgia Kiwanis Gov. Jim Pilcher, left, and Kiwanis President Harry Small. Bobby Tuggle, organizer of the night's events, said looking back on the past 55 years of the club shows just what a force the Kiwanis Club has been in Perry. "If you look back through the teaching of health courses. "This curriculum addresses many of the parents' concerns, but there 13 contestants wowed the crowd with their talent presentations, Kim Hilliard, Jackie Cooper, Cathy Coleman and the Westfield Chorus also provided entertainment throughout the evening. Judges for the festivities were Sandy Scaggs, Tom Scaggs and Kim Hilliard. years, the Kiwanis Club has had a great deal of political influence, not only in Perry, but throughout the state as well," said Bobby Tuggle. "Our clubs have produced a great Please see KIWANIS, page 10A PERRY, GA. A Park Community Newspaper—©l993 are so many new objectives con cerning AIDS and teen pregnancy and related topics that we have to determine how the teachers can ef fectively address these issues," said Ross. Although Ross does not have the curriculum in hand as yet, she requested a list of involved parents from each school's principal and is working toward forming the re Dogwood Festival will be bigger and better than ever By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Despite rumors floating around town, The Dogwood Festival is alive and well, with a bigger and better festival than ever scheduled this year. Peggie Williams, executive vice president of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce, said the festival promises to be a big suc cess this year. As the festival grows, however, the cost of produc ing a quality festival also grows. With the help of the community and local businesses, the festival can continue to grow and become a part of Perry's heritage "It cost a lot of money to put these events on, and if there is no sponsor for an event, the chamber picks up the tab," said Williams. "If we can get more donations from the community and chamber mem bers, we may be able to break even or perhaps have funds left over to use as seed money for next year’s festival." Williams said one of the cham Crockett is excited about new position By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer This June Dave Crockett will close one door in his life and step through another. It is a journey he anticipates with excitement, but also one he knows will be full of adjustment and change. Crockett, assistant principal at Perry High School, has been tagged as the new principal at Kings Chapel Elementary beginning next year. The Kings Chapel position became open when current Principal Kim Schoening was named as the county’s new elementary school principal next year. Although he has been involved in high school education for a number of years, Crockett began his teaching career at Perry Elementary School and looks for ward to dealing with younger stu dents again. "I'm very excited about this op portunity to work with the younger children again," he said. "Sometimes the younger students have a lot more enthusiasm and are more eager to leam, so I look for ward to being in that environment again." Crockett is happy to get the op portunity to serve as principal Life without parole sentencing passes Ga. Senate March 16 Governor Zell Miller has won passage of anew exact sentencing tool that means what it says: life without parole. His legislation to establish life without parole as a sentencing alternative won final passage in the Senate on March 16. For the first time, Georgia judges and juries will be able to sentence someone to life in prison with no chance for parole. "We all know that life impris onment doesn’t really mean life in prison," Governor Miller said. "The average amount of time spent by defendants who are serving life 123RD YEAR—VOLUME 24| quired committees. Each committee is to be comprised of parents, edu cators, representatives of the health care field, and a male and female high school student. "I am tentatively planning to ward having three separate commit tees with five parents, three teach ers, health care representatives and the high school students," Ross Please see SAY, page 10A ber's goals is to make the festival more self-supporting by encourag ing more community-wide respon sibility in holding the festival. "This is a win/win situation when we make money because it goes right back into the commu nity," she said. "We are just trying to spread the help across the board so the same businesses won't con tinue to be hit up for donations." Williams said the festival will continue to get better each year the community becomes more involved in the sponsorship of the activities. While a lot of donations have been received to help with this year's fes tival, Williams said even more support will be necessary in the fu ture to ensure a quality festival. "We certainly appreciate all the support we have for this festival, but we hope to get more involve ment next year,” she said. "The bet ter our festival, the larger our draw will be, which ultimately means more money coming back into the community." fiPJSn ’'Jal ' s \r Dave Crockett within the Houston County School System. A long-time resident of Perry, Crockett anticipates working with many students who may be the children of former students. "Perry is a great place to live and teach, and I'm really glad to get this type of opportunity here," he said. "Once I get to Kings Chapel, I'll just add my spice and flavor to an already excellent program, and we'll see what the future holds." terms is only 11 to 13 years. Justice demands better than this; victims and their families deserve better than this. That is why I sponsored legislation to create life with parole so when criminals are sentenced to jail, they will stay there and not be let back out to prey on society." To utilize this sentence, the judge or jury would be required to find at least one aggravating circumstance such as the crime being the second or subsequent capital offense, a felony murder or a particularly atro- Please see PASSES, page 10A