Newspaper Page Text
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1993
Good
morning, Perry
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Deaths
Inez O'Banion Finlayson, Wil
lie Lee,Duhart, Robert Green,
Joseph E. Jackson Sr., Joe H.
Walker, Earnest Alan Payne,
please see details on page 2A
All smiles
The class of 2000 was all smiles
at Tucker Elementary June 3,
as that school graduated its
fifth graders, please see page
2A
Helping businesses
The Perry Area Chamber of
Commerce is doing its part to
ensure the success of local
eusinesses by sponsoring
3usiness Development Week.
For an update on the week's
events, please see page 2A
Stand-out signs
A former Perry High baseball
stand-out has signed with
LaGrange College. For stats
and the background on the ris
ing pitcher, please see page
10A
It's your money!
Wouldn't you like to know how
the City of Perry is spending
your money? For a complete
budget analysis, please see
page 7A
Watching schools
Parents and professionals have
formed a group to take notes
on the strengths, needs and
weaknesses of county schools,
please see page 2B
Congratulations
... To Jill Laney King and Erich
Gustav Zammet on their re
cent marriage, For their wed
ding write up and other social
news, please see page 4B
Celebrating 100 years
Family members visit Perry to
help M innie Elia Gray celebrate
her 100th birthday, please see
page 4A
INDEX
ROBIN BOOKER 4A
JOYCE COMPTON 8A
CLASSIFIED 11A
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2A
JANICE KERCE 218
DEATH NOTICES 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 4B
PUBLIC RECORD NOTICES 6A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
Thousands
attend rally
to save base
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
The mid-state proved Tuesday
that it was willing to take the heat
for its base.
When it came down to the wire
concerning the fate of Robins Air
Force Base, a crowd of several
thousand turned out for a Save-Our-
Base Rally and stood in the hot sun
for almost two hours to support the
base.
The rally was held to show Base
Realignment and Closure
Commission Chairman James
Courter that Central Georgia wants
and needs its base, an effort that did
not go unnoticed by Courter.
Following the chairman's tour of
P,lease see BRAC, page 12A
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
■ The Houston Homei
Journal
BOE: We want to give Annex away
... But school chief says deal better be quick and on our terms
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
Chairman of the Board of
Education Zell Blackmon went on
the record at Tuesday's board meet
ing to tell the City of Perry a deci
sion needs to be made on the Perry
Annex, and the decision needs to be
made now.
Blackmon said prior to his mak
ing the statements at the meeting,
the board has spent the past year at
tempting to deal with the problems
facing them with the Perry Annex.
He further explained that the board
necessarily discussed the issue pri
marily in executive session in an
effort to find a viable solution to
the problem.
"We have been working for a
year to solve this problem, but the
If
.jJ* f ,
Peach Pickin’ Time!
, (HHJ photo by Eric Zellars)
It's that time of year again in the mid-state when the peaches are ripening on the trees as fast
as the workers can pick them. Adela Maurico looks on as Silverstre Perez of Florida unloads one
of the approximate 300 buckets of peaches he will pick each day.
Schools will save money with benefits package
* _ ... _ ... . <./. 1 . . ' . I !_ 1 f .nnnontinnr iKn O/'Kaal 1C
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Education approved a $72,698„433
budget at their meeting Tuesday,
with a reserve fund of $166,231 un
til the mid-term adjustments come
through.
Two of the main areas of discus
sion concerning the budget were the
additions of an Employees Benefits
*• B j|fe n
38RS ssjwsf' .•a:: 1 :*" " .
Ml'i-v mmSkS
iff WIMKm
Perry Area Chamber of Commerce members and representatives join Small Business
Administration and Small Business Development Center representatives at a special ribbon
cutting ceremony marking the kick-off of Business Development Week and the opening of this
Mobile Small Business Assistance Center in Perry. Pictured above are: Ken Harrell, Jimmy
Faircloth, Peggie H. Williams, Larry Cromer, Skip Dawkins, Louis Tedders, Archie Thompson, Jay
Walker, Ron Reeves and Paula Hill. See related stories on page 2A.
2 SECTIONS—IB PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
bottom line is that we can't carry
this burden any longer," he said.
"We want to save the Annex, and
we are open to suggestions, but in
good conscience, we cannot con
tinue to spend the taxpayer's money
to keep up the Annex when we
cannot use the building."
Blackmon said last year the
board was advised that the Annex
would require more extensive up
keep than the board could afford. At
that time, the board began to seek
alternatives to preserve the facility,
and on Sept. 16, 1992, the City of
Perry was offered the deed to the
building for sl. The board requested
that if the city accepted the offer
that they ensure the property would
be maintained and that the school
board would have approval of the
Package and the re-allocation of
funds that would have gone to ren
ovate Thomas Elementary School
in Warner Robins. The benefits for
employees were approved, but ren
ovations for Thomas were not
The Employees Benefits Package
was requested by teachers instead of
getting a four percent increase in
their local salary schedule. The total
cost for the raises across the board
The city rejected the offer, so the
same offer was made to the county.
The county also rejected the offer,
but indicated there may be interest
in the building at a later date. *
"For a year we have tried to give
this building away to whomever
could afford to maintain it,"
Blackmon said. "Our last option is
to level the building and use the
property to expand Perry
Elementary's playground. However,
if anyone has a suggestion or wants
to take the offer we made the city
and county, we would like to hear
from them."
After meetings with the city, the
board attempted to reach an agree
ment whereby the city would pur
chase the present board facilities and
would have been $270,000.
The price of providing the em
ployees with enhanced benefits is
approximately $223,000 for a full
year. However, the program cannot
be implemented until January of
1994, so the cost for the new bene
fits the first year would be
$111,500.
The new benefits provide each
employee with life insurance equiv
newspaper since 1870
the board would renovate the Annex
to be used as their new office facili
ties. The present board offices were
appraised at $1.2 million, and the
required renovations on the Annex
were estimated at $1.3 million.
However, city officials told the
board they only had $900,000 and
asked if the other $300,000 could
be raised and paid out over the next
three fiscal years.
"The city asked if we would
work with them and let them make
up that difference over three fiscal
years, and we were willing to stick
our necks out and do that,"
Blackmon said.
Additionally, Blackmon said the
contention that the city had given
the board the property and the build
ing was false, and that the past
Authority frustrated
as Peach, Ft. Valley
drop airport funding
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
The Perry-Fort Valley Airport is
on the horizon of some major
changes-including a change in
ownership.
During their monthly meeting
Monday evening, the local Airport
Authority voted to offer "Houston
County and the City of Perry sole
possession of the airport as well as
the authority to govern it.
Additionally, the group voted to
request that Perry annex them into
its city limits and rejected a letter of
resignation from a fellow Authority
member.
All of last night’s actions came
on the heels of a special meeting
held last month for the primary
purpose of finding out which of the
four governmental bodies responsi
ble for the local airport’s funding
actually intended to live up to their
obligations. Representatives from
the cities of Perry and Fort Valley
as well as the counties of Peach and
Houston were present at last
month’s meeting and were later sent
letters of official requests for the
airport’s annual operating budget as
well as for a special localizer
alent to one times their annual
salary, compared with the standard
SIO,OOO under the current program.
Had the teachers preferred the raise,
it would have meant an increase in
salary of about $lO per month,
with about $6 of that being take
home pay.
The Thomas Elementary situa
tion has been under consideration
for some time by the board because
Local contributions mount
in save the base fund drive
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
Donations continue to pour into
the Perry Chamber of Commerce
Military Affairs Committee as local
residents and business owners do
their part to show support for
Robins Air Force Base.
Although the originally set goal
of $250,000 for the RAFB 21st
Century Partnership has been
reached, potential donors are en
couraged to keep giving to support
the fight to keep RAFB up and
running for many years to come.
Since late last week, donations
have been accepted from the
following persons or businesses:
Mr. and Mrs. R. Brown, Mrs,
Hugh Lawson, Mr. and Mrs. P.
LeVan, Trudie Warren, James
Pleydell-Bouverie, Wayne Lowery,
123RD YEAR—VOLUME 46
deeds to the land indicate the city
turned the property over when the
General Assembly abolished certain
school districts in the early 1900s.
At that time, the building had not
yet been erected on the property.
At this point, however, Mayor
James Worrall has asked the Board
of Education to extend making any
decision on the fate of the Annex
for at least 30 days. The board has
agreed to grant that extension, but
Blackmon warned that a decision
must be made soon.
"Unless there is some sort of
definitive solution to this, we have
to move forward in the best interest
of the taxpayer's money," he said.
"We simply cannot afford to delay a
decision any longer."
improvement project.
Thus far, the City of Perry has
pledged their pro-rata share of
$27,555 in response to both
requests and Houston County has
given $14,000-plus for their share
of the localizer project. The
county’s share of the operating
budget has not been officially acted
on.
Fort Valley has refused to re
spond in any manner, despite re
peated attempts and letters from Au
thority members, and Peach County
has officially requested to be re
lieved of all obligations and rights
to the area’s airport, according to
Ken Thomas, Authority chairman.
“Due to Peach County’s request
and a lack of response and funding
from Fort Valley, we (the Author
ity) have voted to write three let
ters,” Thomas said following Mon
day evening’s eventful meeting. “In
one letter, we’re asking the City of
Perry to annex the airport into the
city limits and, in letters two and
three, we are requesting that Hous
ton County and Perry take over the
airport totally.”
“In all honesty, we are very,
Please see Airport, page 12A
of renovations the school is need
ing. The board determined that it
would be less expensive to build a
new elementary school for the 1994
school year rather than spend
money to renovate Thomas. The
vole Tuesday gave approval for
board officials to proceed with plans
to build the new elementary school,
with the site for that school to be
determined at a later dale.
Gary Bishop, Marion Hay, Dorry
Watson, Jim Sexton, Carolyn
Chester, Jerry Whitney, Carolyn
Hagan, T.R. Tollcson, Sr., Eddie
Wilson, John Crowe, Beavers and
Moore Insurance Agency,
Chambliss, Sheppard, Rowland &
Baxter, The Houston Home
Journal, Hulbert, Daniel &
Lawson, Perry Brake & Muffler,
Perry Pawn Shop, Rainbow's End
and The Mandarin House.
Earlier donations include those
made by Jack Davis, Jimmy
Faircloth, William Jerlcs, Arthur
Locwen, Mr. and Mrs. Dca Maly,
Lewis Meeks, W.J. Sexton, Mell.
S. Tolleson, M.S. Tolleson, Jr.,
Peggie Williams, Jim Sexton,
Chris Murman, M.S. Tolleson,
James Peak, Tom Gilmer, Larry
Please see Donors, page 12A