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MIDWEEK EDITION 250 Perry & Houston County's official Legal Organ | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28,1993 2 SECTIONS—2O PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS 123RD YEAR—VOLUME 34 Perry could lose over SIOO,OOO in industry taxes BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer If Perry attorney Tom Daniel has anything to do with it, existing and future industries in Perry and Hous ton County will no longer pay taxes on much of their inventory. Dubbed “freeport” tax exemp tions, such exemptions were legal ized by a state law enacted in 1976 and gives cities and counties the option of alleviating or reducing the need for local manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and Good mornmg, Perry Deaths Andrew C. Cooley, Macon; Kimberlee Joyce Lands, Perry. For details, please see page 3A. INDEX AGRICENTER EVENTS 11A PEGGY BLEDSOE 2B JOYCE COMPTON 1B CLASSIFIED 6B^ CALENDAR EVENTS 11A JANICE KERCE 3B DEATH NOTICES 3A EDITORIALS 4A BRIGETTE HAMILTON 4A LEGAL NOTICES 3B TIM LEWIS ~ 3B POLICE REPORT 2A REMEMBER WHEN 4A SPORTS 6A Local tag office employees are getting ready By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer Employees in the Perry office of the Houston County Tag Department are planning to have a very busy week as the deadline to purchase tags quickly approaches. Business in the tag office has been steady this week, with people waiting in line around 30 minutes. However, as the deadline looms closer, tag clerks expect the lines and the wait to be longer. "The lines have not been too long yet, but we know things will pick up toward the end of the week," said Tag Supervisor Peggy Patrick. "It looks like we're in (or a very busy week." The deadline for purchasing tags is Monday, May 3 at 5:00 p.m. Ordinarily the deadline would be May 1, but since that day falls on the weekend, the deadline has been extended. Commissioners attend annual convention By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Commissioners recently attended an annual meeting of commissioners in Jekyll Island and came away from the convention with a great deal of insight into how other coun ties handle situations and operations similar to those in Houston County. The annual meeting allows commissioners from across the state to gather for a few days and share information and advice on how various situations are handled by each county. Commissioners are able to choose different seminars to attend during the convention and learn about topics ranging from taxes to healthcare. "This is a very beneficial meet ing for us to attend because we can learn so much from others encoun tering similar problems to ours as well as professionals in various Please see ANNUAL, page 12A PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823 ■ The Houston Home* Journal warehouse operations to pay taxes on any raw materials, goods-in process and/or finished goods destined for out-of-state shipment. The percentage of exemption is left up to individual counties and ci ties and Daniels says that Perry and Houston County are among the minority who have not yet elected 100 percent freeport. At present, the city and county exempts 20 and 40 percent, respectively. According to Daniels the push It* WJI t ngagpHMfeto If Bv V whiffs ** -* ' "??2?3 !*!F^Sb (HHJ photo by Eric Zellarsj Who’s the king? New Hope residents James Dinkins, left, Willie “Slick” Hill, Lee Henry and James Bynum take their daily games of checkers seriously although they admit it’s also fun. The four men have been enjoying the recent weather while the games decide who’s the King of the Hill. i I I lifiitu . JHBb mSI x-l ■WMmm*, * . W$' y y l r K .£ p o it * % S fl|il '' Jim Bisbee, Brian Bowen, Jim Boyd, Dennis Hooper, Erik Lorack, Andy Mathis, Bill O'Neal and A! Pearson are gaining state-wide recognition for their performance of "A Little Tin Box." Perry Players will perform at Ga. Governor's Mansion By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer The Perry Players are taking to the road these days and drumming up quite a bit of publicity for them selves. Performing "A Little Tin Box" from "Fiorello!”, the thespi ans have made a name for them selves and are being invited to share their talent with the rest of the state. As part of Perry's contribution to the Red Carpet Tour a couple of weeks ago, the group wowed the crowd with their musical perfor mance and caught the attention of many dignitaries in attendance. Representatives from Governor Zell Miller's office were even on hand and invited the group to perform at the Governor’s Mansion soon. for 100 percent freeport tax exemp tions locally is urgent, primarily because the area is simply not competitive with other adjoining counties in regards to attracting new or expanding industries. Daniels, as legal representative for several local industries and a professed proponent of economic development, will join a meeting of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce’s Existing Industries Committee Thursday morning at "Originally they invited us to perform on May 8, but there was a scheduling conflict, so we’ll be go ing up there at a later date," said Perry Players President Dennis Hooper. "We were disappointed that, the original date was cancelled, but encouraged that they still want us to perform at another time." Although the Governor's Mansion performance has been can celled, Hooper said the troupe is looking forward to performing in Thomaston soon for the Upson County Arts Association. As the group continues to share its talent, they are also preparing to begin renovations on their new the atre building at 909 Main Street. They are currently in a second set of the chamber for the purpose of planning a strategy of approaching the city and county regarding the freeport issue. “The state preaches over and over that most of your growth comes not only from new industry, but from existing industry,” Daniels told members of local chamber dur ing their monthly board meeting last week. “And we have some in this county that may choose an other economically feasible location consultations with an architect to determine the best use of the space in the building and are still raising money to pay off the building. "I flip-flop from being ecstatic at how much money we've raised and being discouraged at how far we still have to go," said Hooper. "We’ve never had a place to call our own, so we are really looking for ward to getting in this building." Hooper also said the outside recognition from other areas has caused more Perry people to take notice of the group’s hard work. "Many times people here don't realize what they hgve, and when others recognize our how hard we are working, it's a validation that Please see PERFORM, page 12A if things keep happening to them freeport may make a difference in whether or not they stay.” While city and county leaders say they agree that a 100 percent freeport tax exemption is a valid topic of discussion, it may be easier said than done. The fact is the oper ating budgets of both governments would suffer substantially; Perry to the tune of more than $103,000 and the county to the tunc of more than $216,500. RAFB on closure list, officials say no need for alarm By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer The Associated Press announced yesterday that Robins Air Force Base has been put on a list of bases under consideration for closure, ac cording to a statement by Chairman of the Base-closing Commission James A. Courter. Houston County Commission Chairman Sherrill Stafford spoke with representatives of Senator Sam Nunn and Rep. Roy Rowland's of- Hospital, HHJ will put out tab for health fair By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer They say that an ounce of pre vention is worth a pound of cure. The staff at Perry Hospital is taking that saying to heart and working toward providing Perry with a health fair stressing the prevention of illnesses. In preparation for the Health Fair to be held May 15, the hospital is providing a special tab in the May P&Z trying to stimulate more residential growth BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Saying that residential building is suffering in Perry, members of the local planning and zoning commission are focusing this week on new regulations and provisions which they hope will stimulate growth in the area. One such provision, anew zon ing classification that will allow a cluster development option, neared finalization Monday evening during a regularly scheduled meeting of the commission. The cluster development provisions are the first of several proposed land ordinance amendments designed to stimulate residential development growth. “In recognition of the need for increased residential development flexibility in Perry, we are propos ing to revise the city’s land devel opment ordinance to include cluster development provisions,” Perry Building Inspector Bill Chambless said during the meeting. “It is our hope that these proposed amend ments will provide significant in centives for developers considering Perryan addresses commission By ROBIN BOOKER Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Commissioners heard a request from Perry resident Ray Shipes concerning putting a weight limit sign to be posted on Sparrow Street. Shipes requested the weight limit sign due the poor road bed that extends to Raven Avenue. According to Shipes, the road is in poor condition partly due to a tractor trailer being driven over the road and parked in the Sparrow Road neighborhood. Shipes told commissioners the truck not only damages the road but is also an eye- With already tight budgets, both would have to make the loss of rev enue up somewhere, leaders say. “I think we all agree that reduc ing or eliminating freeport tax is a good thing,” Houston County Commission Chairman Sherrill Stafford said Tuesday. “The ques tion is whether or not we could fea sibly do it with the loss of rev enues. . .Houston County is already so tight in terms of budget that ev- Please see LOSE, page 12A fices yesterday concerning the an nouncement and was told there was no real cause for alarm. "This whole thing got started when a member of the commission made the statement that perhaps other bases should be under consid eration to be closed and he used Robins as an example," said Stafford. "We have been told not to Please see ALARM, page 12A 12 edition of The Houston Home Journal. The tab will include arti cles written by hospital physicians and information on the various events to be held at the fair. "The hospital offers the fair as a free service to the community be cause we feel it is our responsibil ity to provide this service,” said Please see TAB, page 12A Perry for future growth.” A cluster development is a resi dential subdivision within which individual lot sizes have been re duced to permit the creation of common open space for the resi dents of the subdivision and is a Please see GROWTH, page 12A All zoning petitions have been put on hold BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Residents with re-zoning and variance requests could be waiting up to 60 days before any action is taken by the Perry Planning and Zoning Commission. Members of the Perry City Council placed a complete morato rium on all re-zoning petitions dur ing their regularly scheduled meet ing last week. The moratorium will remain in effect for all re-zoning matters until anew ordinance Please see HOLD, page 12A sore to the neighborhood and fre quently causes noise disturbances in the area. The board decided to table mak ing any decision on the issue until Commissioner Calvin Maye can get more information on the sub ject In other business the board: •Tabled a discussion on re-clas sification of the position formerly held by Lt. Jane Chapman from grade 20 to grade 11, Office Manager. This change will save the county $6,800 in salaries.