Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12,1993 3 SECTIONS—24 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS 123RD YEAR—VOLUME 38
ill
G°°d
morning, Perry
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Deaths
Clara Connell Passmore, Floyd
'Jack' Merritt, Della Edith Stott,
Robbie Lee McCoy, please see
details on page 3A
Celebrating
The Perry Crossroads United
Methodist Church will be cel
ebrating its 25th Anniversary,
and invites the public to join
members of the church in mark
ing their birthday; please see
page 1B
Home cooking
Perry Middle School teacher
Becky Crockett shares her reci
pes designed to produce tasty
meals, designed to help her
diabetic child maintain a bal
anced diet, please see page
2B
Farming's big
Few people realize that farm
ing is a $33-million industry in
Houston County, but it is, ac
cording to Extension Agent
Duren Bell, please see page
4A
Horsting signs
Westfield's star softball player,
April Horsting, has signed *a
softball scholarship with Middle
Georgia College, please see
page 6A
PHS athletic banquet
The Perry Athletic Department
will hold its annual sports ban
quet May 14, please see page
6A
Title winner
Michael Davis won the 400-
meter race at the GISA state
track meet last Saturday,
please see page 6.
INDEX
PEGGY BLEDSOE 48
ROBIN BOOKER 4A
JOYCE COMPTON 8B
CLASSIFIED 7A
CALENDAR EVENTS 8A
Janice kerce __ 2B
DEATH NOTICES " 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 4B
TIM LEWIS 4B
PUBLIC NOTICES 2A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
SPORTS ___ 6A
BRIAN LAWSON 6A
PMS staging
musical, 'Tracks'
this weekend
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
Transport yourself back in time
to the middle 1800 s in the Dakota
Territory. Through in a villain, a
villainess, a little song and dance,
and that's the setting for "Tied to
the Tracks."
Following in the tradition of
most high schools in the area,
Perry Middle School is staging a
musical to be performed on May
14-15 at Perry High School.
Beginning at 7:30 nightly, tickets
are $3 for adults and $2 for stu
dents.
This is the first time the middle
school has taken on a project of
this magnitude, and play directors
Greg Gentry and Wendy Lee admit
it's a lot of hard work.
"The kids have been putting a
lot into this, and we want everyone
to come out and support the kids,"
said Lee. "This has never been done
Please see Play, page 8A
■ The Houston Homeff
Journal
Hospital to offer free health screening during annuai'fail 1
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Staff members of Perry Hospital
are gearing up this week for the 2nd
Annual Health Fair to be held this
Saturday.
From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. in
the parking lot of the Perry K-Mart,
health care professionals will be of
fering free health screenings to the
public.
Among the tests to be offered are
cholesterol screening, blood sugar
and blood pressure testing, vision
screening, pulmonary function tcsl
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An architects rendering of what the Perry Annex would look like if renovated for the purpose
of housing the Houston County Board of Education offices.
Board to Perry: Buy the Annex, or we'll bulldoze it
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Saying that the ball is now in
Perry’s court, members of the
Houston County Board of Educa
tion concluded a special called meet
ing Tuesday morning by offering
local city leaders and citizens essen
tially two weeks to save the Perry
annex from death by bulldozer.
The meeting, a culmination of
months of unofficial discussion and
debate regarding the historical
landmark’s future, was the first face
to face negotiations between the
school board and city.
Essentially, school board mem
bers said that they must have no
less than $1.2 million from Perry
in order to turn their present build
ing over to the city and to, conse
quendy, utilize that money to reno
vate and move into the former Perry
High School building, better
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Michael Drake, Mike Jarrls, David Walker and Don Drummond all took part in the groundbreaking
for Westfield Schools new gymnatorium to be built prior to school starting next fall. (
PERRY, GEORGIA’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FOn COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS CALL 987-1823
Special guide to the Health Fair —PIC
; ng, dietary counseling and carbon
monoxide testing.
An array of information and lit
erature on timely health matters as
well as ambulance tours and finger
printing for children will also be
available free of charge.
According to Perry Hospital
Public Relations Director Marti
Tolleson, health screens are a vital
tool in helping residents stay
known as the Perry Annex.
If the $1.2 million price tag is
not reachable, board members
confirmed that tearing the building
down and expanding the campus of
Perry Middle School is their next
most viable option.
“After much research, we have
found out that our building is worth
$1.2 million and a total renovation
of the Perry Annex will run approx
imately $1.3 million. It just
doesn’t shake out,” School Board
Chairman Zell Blackmon said in de
fending his board’s decision to stick
to their price. “And, as we all
know, things have to shake out
when we you’re trying to balance a
budget that already doesn’t look too
good.
“The trade off is that it would be
kind of nice to have a much larger
campus for Perry Elementary next
year.”
healthy and often identify potential
problems before they become too
serious.
The cholesterol screenings, one
of the most popular tests to be
administered at the upcoming fair,
measure the level of cholesterol in
the body. Too much cholesterol in
the blood has been linked to the
formation of fatty plaques that can
narrow arteries, including those that
supply the heart muscle itself, and
On the opposing side of the
table, Perry Mayor James Worrall,
City Manager Marion Hay and
members of Perry City Council
said that, because of a tight budget,
the city can allot no more than the
$900,000 they have already offered
for the purchase of the present board
of education offices.
They have actually budgeted for
$1.2 million for a much-needed new
city hall, but at least $300,000 of
that is earmarked for the actual con
versions of the board office into a
practicable city hall and the current
city hall into a much-needed public
safety and services complex.
The city, like the school board,
says it can do no more financially.
By the same token, however, most
city leaders and many of their con
stituents cringe at the thought of
losing yet another historical land
mark in Perry.
PERRY, GA.
can sometimes result in a heart
attack.
By catching high cholesterol
levels early, Perry Hospital labora
tory professionals hope to help res
idents head off potentially serious
problems. Registered dieticians will
also be available to provide infor
mation on reducing cholesterol in
the daily diet.
For those that have wondered
about asthma or emphysema, the
Perry Hospital respiratory care
department will be on hand to
measure lung volumes and flow
rates by using pulmonary function
Grant would help
schools prepare
youths for future
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
The Houston County School
System has applied for and appears
to be in line to receive a SIOO,OOO
Next Generation grant to be used in
staff development, evaluation of in
structional programs and the in
creased use of technology in
schools.
The school system applied for
the grant last week and has made
the first scries of cuts in getting the
grant. Assistant Superintendent
Mary Mantiply told the school
board Tuesday that word should
come from the state board offices
next week as to whether or not the
county will get the funds.
"The purpose of this type grant
is to ensure that our schools are
“When you run the figures, there
is a $400,000 difference between
what you want and what we want,”
City Manager Marion Hay said.
“And, somehow $400,000 doesn’t
seem like much when you’re
.looking at preserving the historical
landmark in which many of our
great forefathers were educated.”
At that point in the meeting,
someone suggested the possibility
of acquiring some historical preser
vation funds from the government
or a private historical society to
make up the $300,000 difference in
what the city is willing to pay and
the school board is willing to ac
cept. The school board,
furthermore, slated that its members
would be glad to work with the city
any way they could during their ef
forts to raise such funds by allow
ing more time and possibly even
setting up some sort of payment
Dream of new W’field facility
begins with groundbreaking
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
A year ago the movers and shak
ers at Westfield Schools began
working toward making the dream
of having a new gymnasium and
auditorium a reality. Friday after
noon the first step of reaching that
goal came true as ground was bro
ken for construction of the new
building.
Westfield has long been in need
of a structure that would serve as
both a physical education building
as well as performance hall for
school productions. For many years
the school has been forced to
schedule all their events and indoor
sports practices and games in the
school gym. The addition of the
"gymnatorium" will mean a sense
of new freedom for the school as
they will have adequate space for.
the first time in many yearns. %
"This is an important day for
Westfield," said Headmaster Dr.
Michael Drake at the groundbreak-
tests. In addition to emphysema and
asthma, these lest also aid
physicians in diagnosing other
restrictive and obstructive breathing
disorders.
Additionally, groups such as the
Houston County Emergency
Management Service, the Houston
County Health Department and the
American Lung Association will
offer free blood pressure, vision and
carbon monoxide screenings.
For more information, a special
Health Fair tab is included in this
issue of The Houston Home
Journal.
providing adequate education for our
students in the 21st century," said
Mantiply. "We are doing a good
job, but this grant will enable us to
do an even better job."
In other business the board dis
cussed a pilot program currently in
place that uses a latch-key program
for Lindsey Elementary and Tucker
Elementary. The program provides
childcare for students up to the fifth
grade after school from 3 p.m. until
6 p.m. The board agreed to continue
the pilot program next year and de
termine its effectiveness after the
pilot run.
Test results from all schools*,
were also discussed, with no signify
icant changes appearing in any test
ing results for Houston County
schools in the past school year.
plan.
“Although this may sound weak,
we want to do everything we can to
help you. We are not a school board
that drags its feet and the fact that
we have drug our feet on this matter
proves that we want to come up
with a workable solution,” Black
mon told those present. “We can
give you two weeks to allow you
time to make contacts and shake
some money trees.
We won’t go out with bulldozers
tomorrow.”
Mayor Worrall, who says that he
has had previous conversations with
U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, one of the
most famous graduates of the
school, indicated that both Nunn
and his wife, Colleen, have shown
great interest in preserving the
school. In fact, he told those
Please see Annex, page 7A
ing ceremony. "We said we would
get this done before the end of the
year, and thanks to the efforts of a
great number of people, here we arc
today."
Construction of the building
will begin immediately. If all goes
well with the construction, Drake
hopes the building will be ready for
use when school begins next fall.
The building will have 1,000 scal
ing spaces when used as an audito
rium and 700 spaces when used as a
gymnasium.
"Westfield has needed this type
structure since the basketball pro
gram expanded," said Drake. "We
currently have seven teams using
that gym for practice and perfor
mance space, which just isn't ac
ceptable."'
Drake explained that the current
gym will still be the primary per
formance arena for sports events,
but the new structure will save lime
and energy when a stage is needed
for a performance.