Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1993
Good
morning, Perry
HOME JOURNAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Deaths
Mattie L. Parker Hamsley,
Pauline B. Hill, Charles Kalil
Shaheen, Jr., please see de
tails on page 3A
Robins support
Perry came on strong with sup
port for Robins Air Force Base,
donating more than $30,000 to
the RAFB 21st Century Part
nership. For a list of donors,
please see page 3A
Business profile
W.D. Sullivan and Company
has become one of Perry's well
known businesses through
years of growth and change,
please see page 6A
'Sliver' misses mark
Despite having all the neces
sary ingredients forbeing a top
grade movie, Jackie Cooper
review doesn't give the movie
"Sliver"\ high marks, please
see page 6A
Kids get degrees
Several Perry and area resi
dents were among the 465 stu
dents who received degrees
recently from Macon College,
please see page 6A
Who's in Ist place?
As the season winds down, we
take a look at the Ochlahatchee
baseball and softball standings,
please see page 1B
Jr. golfers to play
Several local Jr. golfers wil
lepresent middle Georgia in
state tournament competition,
please see page 1B
INDEX
AGRICENTER EVENTS 3A
BRIAN LAWSON IB
CALENDAR 3A
CLASSIFIED 4B
DEATH NOTICES ~ 3A
EDITORIALS 4A
PERRY SCRAPBOOK 4A
POLICE REPORT 2A
JIM SHIPLEY 4A
STREET TALK 4A
BRENDA THOMPSON 4A
JOHN TRUSSELL 2B
BOBBY TUGGLE 2B
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45
Sex-ed books
to be studied
this summer
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
School may be out for the ma
jority of the students attending
Houston County Schools, but the
learning is just beginning for many
of those students' parents.
Parents, concerned citizens,
community leaders and educators are
all part of a community council
formed to review any materials that
may be used to teach sex education
objectives in the county school sys
tem. Formed in response to the
state's newly mandated sex ed cur
riculum, the council will spend this
week checking out any materials
Please see Sex ed, page 5A
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When it comes to fathers, Benjamin Smith, Jr. says his own father, Ben Smith, Sr. is the
greatest on earth. Also pictured is Sadie, one of the Smith family's many pets.
Little Ben Smith Jr. knows what he
wants... to be just like his father!
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Tcn-ycar-old Benjamin Smilh,
Jr. has a role model.
And, it’s not a big name sports
star or famous actor.
It’s his dad.
No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
“He’s the greatest guy on earth,”
Benjamin said beaming. “I want to
be just like him.”
But, to be like Ben Smith, Sr.,
little Benjamin has his work cut
out for him.
Not only will he have to go to
veterinary school and join his father
in the family’s local veterinary
practice, but he’ll also have to learn
to be a coach, a teacher, a husband
and a role model for his own son.
He’ll have to learn io organize
his time so that he can work more
than a typical 40-hour week and
still find time to not only coach lit
tle league, but spend afternoons and
weekends tossing a softball around,
taking his family to the country or
up to the lake for a weekend of fun
in the sun.
He’ll have to always be on his
p’s and q’s and be ready to drop
whatever he’s doing in order to an
swer the questions of a curious
child, to take his own offspring to
the museum or to sit down at the
kitchen table for a short homework
tutoring session.
In short, he’ll have to be the
“ultimate dad.”
Quite a tall order, but one Ben
jamin is eagerly working on.
Asa matter of fact, he’s already
spent the first two weeks of his
summer vacation working alongside
his dad at Smilh Animal Hospital,
a family practice started by his
grandfather, Felix Smith, Sr. and
PERRY, GEORGIA’S ‘HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FOR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
f The Houston Homeff
Journal
2 SECTIONS—IO PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
Just like dad!
handed down to both his dad and his
uncle, Felix Smilh, Jr.
A native of Perry, Ben Sr. mar
ried his childhood sweetheart,
Leslie, in 1980 while she was still
in law school and he was in vet
school, both at the University of
Georgia in Athens. Leslie is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom
Thomson of Perry.
Returning to Perry in 1985, Ben
went into practice with his now
semi-retired father. Leslie began
practicing law, but took off a few
years when their daughter, Jenny,
was born six years ago. She has
just opened her own law practice
here in May.
When asked why he prefers a ca
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Mike McKay, public Information director, and Dick Kistler, plant
manager, explained Medusa Cement company's response to recent
changes in policy bylM Environmental Protection Agency.
reer in veterinary medicine instead
of law, Benjamin is quick to an
swer.
“It’s like I told my mom this
morning, there arc already enough
lawyers in the world,” the boy said
with a sheepish grin. “But, we need
more veterinarians, because there
arc so many animals sick and so
few vets.
“Plus, dad learns so many things
when he’s working. He knows ev
erything. 1 want to be just like him
and I want my own kids to be like
him, 100. I’ll leach them to be vets;
it runs in the family.”
Like father, like son.
So what docs little Benjamin
Please see Smith, page 5A
PERRY, GA.
City threatens
to refuse dues
to 911 system
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
Perry City Manager Marion Hay
served notice to the Houston
County 911 Committee Thursday
that unless the system reduces its
financial requirement of participat
ing cities, Perry may be forced to
pull out of the program.
"1 am telling you that if things
stay as they are, the City of Perry
is going to be priced out of the
program," Hay said. "You don't
want that to happen, though, so
something needs to be done."
Hay's reference to the financial
problems stems from the currcni
money woes the system has. With
a 51.24 million operating budget,
911 has a larger budget than the ci
ties and county can afford to sup
port. Perry has been asked to con
tribute almost 574,000 to the pro
gram, almost double what was bud
get by the city earlier this summer.
"We have already approved our
budget for the next year, and we ap
propriated a certain amount for the
911 program, based on what we
were told to expect," Hay said. "We
simply cannot afford to pay in the
amount we have been asked to
pay."
Although the Houston County
911 System may be in a state of
crisis concerning finances and
morale, the 911 Committee voted
Thursday morning to make changes
that will hopefully reverse the wave
of difficulties the system is cur
rently riding.
County Commissioner Larry
Sncllgrove made the same recom
mendations to the 911 committee
about the system that he made to
the Board of Commissioners at
their Tuesday meeting. Sncllgrove
was charged by the commission ear
lier this month to evaluate the 911
system and detail any changes that
may be necessary.
Sncllgrovc's 13 points of rec
ommendation were wcll-rcccivcd by
the 911 committee, although there
was some disagreement with his
suggestion to rc-align the commit
tee with appointed members, rather
than maintaining the currcni com
mittee of elected officials.
"My concern is that if we re
move elected officials from the
committee and replace them with
appointed members, then you run
into the problem of appointed
committee members being respon
sible for determining how to spend
the taxpayers money," said
Centerville Mayor Malt Keane.
Because other committee mem
bers expressed similar concerns, a
consensus was reached to keep the
current committee intact but form a
subcommittee made up of represen-
Medusa looks at its future,
following EPA permit delay
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
More than a year after making
the first steps toward applying for a
permit to bum hazardous waste as a
fuel. Medusa Cement's Clinchfield
Plant recently took a hard blow
from The Environmental Protection
Agency that indicates a longer wait
is ahead for the company.
On May 18, Carol Browner of
EPA announced that there were go
ing to be major policy changes
with regards to the permitting pro
cess for burning hazardous waste.
Browner indicated that for the next
18 months, the EPA would concern
itself primarily with those opera
tions that were already burning haz
ardous waste, with little considera
tion given to those companies cur-
123RD YEAR—VOLUME 49
lalives of each agency served by the
911 system. The subcommittee
will meet monthly and will handle
the operational and technical aspects
of the 911 program.
The other recommendations
made by Sncllgrove included:
•There must be a more active
role taken by the committee con
cerning the day-to-day operations to
ensure policies and procedures are
carried out equally to all employees.
•In hiring anew director, a man
ager with strong managerial skills
must be found. The new director
must understand budgets, motiva
tion of employees, inventory con
trol, purchasing procedures and the
mission of the program.
•One auto will be removed from
use of program with full considera
tion given as to whether or not the
911 director needs an automobile.
•There should be a complete au
\ dit of all 911 monies, including an
inventory of all equipment prior to
the hiring of the new director.
•There will be an open door pol
icy for all agencies that 911 dis
patches for in order to promote bet
ter working conditions among all
parties.
•The purchasing policies and
procedures will be clearly explained
to the new director and will be ad
hered to without exception.
•There should be a consolidation
of jobs in the administration area to
the effect that there will be no as
sistant director or coordinator. This
move will save S77,()()0.
The 911 committee will meet
again on June 24 to go over the
proposed 911 budget for the next
year and fully detail the responsibil
ities of the new subcommittee.
Board ponders
budget, Kathleen
voting location
By ROBIN BOOKER
Staff Writer
The Houston County
Commissioners will have a called
meeting Tuesday, June 22 at 7 p.m.
at the Houston County Annex on
Cordcr Road in Warner Robins. The
meeting has been called for the pur
poses of hearing the proposed bud
get for the coming fiscal year.
In addition to announcing the
called meeting at their regularly
scheduled meeting June 15, the
commissioners also voted to pro
ceed with plans to purchase anew
building and property to be used as
Kathleen's voting precinct.
In previous years Kathleen rcsi-
Please see County, page 5A
rently seeking permits.
Although there have been no fur
ther communications from the
EPA, Medusa management feels
this announcement signals more de
lays in their application process, de
lays that will have an economic
impact on the plant in the future.
At a press conference Thursday
night. Plant Manager Dick Kistler
and Public Information Director
Mike McKay addressed this setback
by admitting the delay was a prob
lem, but the. application process
would continue.
"We received communication
from the Georgia EPD last week
that they were proceeding with our
application and would continue to
do so until they reached a point
Please see Medusa, page 5A