Newspaper Page Text
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■( In B m I In I j ■!
MIDWEEK
EDITION
250
Perry & Houston County's
official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22,1993
Report on consolidation presented
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
Would it be better to have one
governing body for Houston
County and its three cities?
Would it be better to have one law
enforcement agency in the county
instead of a Sheriffs Department,
Perry, Warner Robins and
Centerville police departments?
Consolidation of cities and ser
vices in Houston County and its ci
ties has been discussed at length by
officials on state and local levels.
In an effort to assess governmen
tal services in the county, Senator
Sonny Perdue presented Resolution
250 which passed the state legisla
ture and created the Houston
County Efficiency Governmental
morning, Perry
Home Journal
HIGHLIGHTS
In Sympathy
The community’s sympathy is
extended to the families of
those who recently died. They
include Dorothea V. Bennett,
Perry; Morgan Whiters, St.,
Paul Minn.; Ethel Robinson,
Warner Robins; Maude B.
McGhee, Elko. For more infor
mation, please see page 2A
Merry Christmas!
The staff of The Houston Home
Journal wishes everyone a joy
ous and safe holiday season!
Due to the holidays, The Hous
ton Home Journal office will be
closed Thursday and Friday,
Dec. 23-24 and Friday, Dec.
31. There will be no Christmas
edition of The Houston Home
Journal Saturday. Dec. 25.
Also, all city and county gov
ernment office will be closed
Christmas Eve, Friday, Dec.
24. Be sure to get tc the banks
early Friday.
Coats for Kids
Perry Fire Chief Gary Hamlin
announced this week that the
fire department is the local
drop-off site for the Coats for
Kids program.
The department at City Hall
encourages the community to
donate a child's coat for the
annual campaign.
INDEX
JOYCE COMPTON 4A
JAN KERCE 2B
PEGGY BLEDSOE IB^
VETO F. ROLEY 4A
DEATH NOTICES 2A
CLASSIFIED 10A
EDITORIALS 4A
LEGAL NOTICES 4B
LETTERS TO SANTA 8A
BILL OVERTON 6A
REMEMBER WHEN 4A
SPORTS 6A
NEWS OF RECORD 5A
Services Commission.
The 14-member commission
completed their report Dec. 1,
1993. The report studied four op
tions for consolidation, analyzed
services performed by the cities and
county and presented recommenda
tions.
The four options studied that
could contribute to governmental
efficiency include total governmen
tal consolidation, Norlh/South gov
ernmental consolidation, annexation
and consolidation of services.
Services assessed include public
water and sewer, planning and zon
ing, law enforcement, public
works, fire department, solid
wastc/rccycling and recreation.
Special
gift!
Perry seventh
grader saves his
nephew's life
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Joe Camp gave his five-year-old
nephew a very special Christmas
present this year.
He saved his life.
A 13-year-old seventh grader at
Perry Middle School, Joe and his
nephew, five year old Kenneth
Camp, were sitting at the breakfast
table a couple of weeks ago when
the younger Camp started choking
on a jelly biscuit.
“I looked up from my bowl of
cereal and his tongue was hanging
out and his face was turning blue. I
didn’t have time to think. I just got
up, turned him and around and did
the Heimlich Maneuver on him. I
wasn’t totally sure I was doing it
right, but it worked,” Joe said in an
interview this week. “Now, every
one is calling me a hero. It sort of
embarrasses me, but it makes me
feel good, too.”
According to Joe, although he
had heard about the Heimlich Ma
neuver a few years ago when his dad
had been called upon to help a
choking friend at work, it wasn’t
until earlier this year in his health
class at school that he actually
learned the technique.
Renovations to annex will
begin at first of new year
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
The Houston County Board of
Education will move one step
closer to occupying the Perry An
nex with initial demolition and
roofing work starting after the first
of the year, said Houston County
School Superintendent Tony Hin
nant and officials with the Georgia
Department of Corrections.
Starting in the first two weeks
of January, an inmate mobile con
struction crew will begin demoli
tion and roof work in preparation
for the restoration of the Annex,
said Joe Kennedy, who is with the
Georgia Department of Corrections.
Leland McCall, an official with
the Georgia Department of Correc
tions, said the inmate work crews
should save the board a "lot of
money." He added the only expense
to the board is housing the inmates
in the Houston County Correc
tional Institute, with the labor pro
vided at no cost.
Hinnant said that using prison
PERRY, GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1823
a The Houston Home!
Journal
2 SECTIONS—I 6 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
Leaders discuss consolidation report
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
Since studying the recently re
leased assessment of government
services in Perry, the county and
other cities in the county, officials
from each government and area state
legislators sat down together
Friday, Dec. 17 with members of
the commission and discussed the
report.
Although no recommendations
were made to consolidate cities and
the county into one or even two
governmental bodies, it was rec
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(HHJ photo by Brenda Thompson)
Kenneth Camp already received the best Christmas
present, his life, from his uncle, 13-year-old Joe Camp.
Not surprising to anyone, he celebrity at his school,
aced the class and has, since his In addition to his principal an
heroic act, become somewhat of a Please see CAMP, page 5A
labor would save the board
"somewhere between SBO,OOO
-
"The supervisor and the labor
performed are provided by the De
partment of Corrections as a ser
vice," said McCall.
Kennedy said that the crews were
selected from inmates who had the
skills needed for a particular project.
When the Annex restoration is
complete, the board will move from
its offices on Washington Street to
the Annex, which is located next to
Perry Elementary on Main Street.
The City of Perry has purchased
the current Board of Education
building, planning to turn it into a
city hall annex. The present city
hall, located next to the present
Board of Education building, will
become a public safety and services
building.
Hinnant said the work had to be
completed by November, 1994,
which is when the city will occupy
the present Board of Education
Perry Mayor Jim Worrall and
Houston County Commission
Chairman Sherrill Stafford were ap
pointed to head a committee to dis
cuss consolidation of water and
sewer services.
Warner Robins City Councilman
Bill Douglas and Centerville Mayor
Matt Keene were appointed to head
Please see DISCUSS, page 5A
ommended that further study be per
formed on the consolidation of
some services.
According to the report,
building.
McCall said work would begin
on Jan. 3, when the supervisor
would go to the Annex to be orien
tated to the work that needed to be
done. The prison work crew would
arrive in Houston County as space
in the Houston County Correc
tional Institute became available, he
artrlpH
McCall said the initial crew
would be in the "demolition mode,"
stripping old plastic and wood ve
neers from the existing walls. He
added that the crews would be care
ful to protect the framework in the
Annex building. The crews will
also "salvage all the wood products
in the corridors they can," said Mc-
Call..
Another crew would "renovate
and do repairs to the existing roof,"
said McCall. The crew will also add
storage space in the attic.
McCall said the work should
take a little over six weeks to fin
ish.
PE RR Y, GA.
Your hometown
newspaper since 1870
"Consolidation of governments can
result in more efficient delivery of
services, but may not be achievable
in Houston County. Although the
four existing governments in the
county work well together, resi
dents in different areas often dis
agree on local priorities and differ in
their ability to pay for services.
"... consolidation of services may
be a more practical approach to
Houston County's needs."
Services the commission recom
mended be considered for consolida
tion were water and sewer services,
planning and zoning, law enforce
ment (including jails and animal
control), public works and fire pro
tection.
The commission is headed by
Three arrested for
Dec. 16 burglary
Newly established burglary detail a
proactive approach to holiday crimes
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
Perry police have arrested and
charged three teenage males with
the December 16 burglary of
Edwards-Harper Cos. Inc.
One of those arrested, Trellis
Savalas Harris, 17, of Warner
Robins, has also been charged with
the April 24 and April 26 burglaries
which also occurred at Edwards-
Harper.
Besides Harris, Deago J. Smith,
18, of Warner Robins, has been
charged with burglary, and Deiallo
Teron Stringer, 19, of Macon, has
been charged as an accessory. Both
of these charges stem from the Dec.
16 burglary.
Perry Police Captain Steve
Heaton said an additional arrest has
been made in the April 26 burglary.
Courtney Wayne Marshall, 18, of
919A Jeannie St., Perry has been
arrested and charged for die burglary
along with Harris.
Heaton said the downtown
clothing store was burglarized at
approximately 1:19 a.m. Thursday
morning. The burglars broke the
front window of the store and
several articles in the display
window were taken.
"The only reason we caught
them so soon afterwards was
because we had a burglary detail
out," Heaton said, adding the three
males were arrested in Centerville
before 2 a.m.
With nine burglaries in October
and nine in November (a
combination of commercial and
residential burglaries), the local
police department is taking a
Chief of Henderson-Elko
Fire Department resigns
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Saying it was time to move on,
Henderson-Elko Fire Chief Wendell
Kersey surprised the Houston
County Board of Commissioners
by resigning his post effective Feb.
1, 1994.
"It's time for someone else to do
it and take it,” said Kersey, who has
been with the volunteer fire depart
ment since May, 1973.
In his resignation letter, Kersey
said that he was concerned with au
thority being taken away from the
rural, volunteer fire chiefs and
vested in the Houston County
Emergency Management Agency.
He wrote that the final factor in his
deciding to resign was a letter from
the county commission Nov. 24
123RD YEAR—VOLUME 102
Homer Childs. Appointed by the
City of Perry was Bill Chambless.
Area legislators appointed the fol
lowing members from Perry and
South Houston County: Walter
Lewis, Ed Beckham, James
McKinley, Ronald Wayne Ragin
and Karen Small.
Copies of the public report can be
obtained at any city or county gov
ernment office or by any member of
the commission.
Due to the commission's recom
mendations, a more detailed report
is planned to be completed, includ
ing a cost analysis, in May or June,
1994 although the creation of a
commission to prepare the report
has not been established.
"proactive approach" by
establishing a burglary detail
according to Heaton.
He added that additional officers
are out solely to check buildings
and notice late-night traffic. The
three charged with the burglary were
spotted by an officer and stopped for
a minor violation according to
Heaton. When it was discovered
minutes later that Edwards-Harper
had been burglarized, Perry police
put out a call on the vehicle the
males were travelling in.
Sixteen minutes after the call
was put out, the males were in
custody with the stolen articles of
clothing.
This is not the only burglary
solved due to the establishment of
the burglary detail. On Dec. 9, a
male was charged with a residential
burglary. Soon after police received
the burglary report, Kenneth
Hammock, 29, of 1138 Lovely
Lane, Perry was arrested and charged
with burglary after police found a
VCR stolen from the residence in
Hammock's possession shortly after
the theft occurred.
Police are beefing up security
during the holiday season because
"many people like to shop 'after
hours'," Heaton said.
"Traditionally, the Christmas
season has an increase in burglaries
and thefts. Business and
homeowners, as well as shoppers,
need to pay more attend to their
property and securing their
property," Perry Police Chief Frank
Simons said.
"relieving the fire staff of any deci
sions."
"We have no input into what is
going on," said Kersey after the
meeting was over.
Kersey also wrote that he
thought there was an effort to get
the old fire chiefs to resign their
positions.
Kersey said after the meeting
that the volunteer departments had
been promised many things by the
county, but had not received those
things, making the departments feel
"ignored." He added that it was hard
to motivate volunteers when they
felt ignored.
"I'm feed up with the system,"
said Kersey, who added that he had
tried to change the system. "If you
Please see COUNTY, page SA