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MIDWEEK EDITION 250 Perry & Houston County's official Legal Organ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1994 Annual meeting! Chamber members gather to review year, honor two women BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Two distinguished Perry women walked away with top awatds during the Perry Area Chamber of Com merce’s 38th Annual Meeting held last night at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter. With an audience of approxi mately 300 people, Trudie Warren and Jeanette Arrington were pre sented the local chamber’s 1993 Seabie Hickson Community Ser vice Award and the Volunteer of the Year Award, respectively. In presenting the prestigious Seabie Hickson Award, annual meeting chairwoman Pat Buice cited Mrs. Warren’s many tireless efforts aimed at making Perry a bet ter place to live. “The Seabie Hickson Commu nity Service Award was created to honor a person or organization which has contributed selflessly to the betterment of our community,” Buice told those gathered. “Tonight’s recipient-an active member of various community and civic organizations who has exhib ited total involvement in our com munity-is no doubt such a person.” In addition to serving the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce in many capacities, including that of president in 1992, Mrs. Warren is also a former “Chamber Member of the Year" and is the founder of the organization’s now annual Teacher County requests fee hike for traffic fines By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The Houston County Emergency Management Agency is one step closer to anew source of funding for communications equipment. In their Jan. 4 meeting, the Houston County Board of Com missioners heard from Bob Turner who told the commissioners about a law in Florida that allowed the state's emergency management agencies to collect a fee from fines and bonds to provide for communi cation equipment. He asked the commission at that meeting to ask the Houston County legislative del egation for legislation allowing Georgia counties to impose the fees Florida imposes. The commission agreed that the proposal was a good idea, sending Turner back to prepare a letter to the legislative delegation requesting the change in Georgia law. How much? Local resident receives S7BO water bill from city By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK Managing Editor Everyond complains about paying bills, but imagine opening your monthly water bill and reading that you owe S7BO to the City of Perry. Most would call it a nightmare, but for Larry Hamby this experi ence was real. Hamby's residence on Tucker Road used just under S7BO worth of city water in January due to a busted pipe in his yard irrigation system. Although Hamby won't be pay ing his usual water rate (around $35 a month), the city has agreed to reduce his bill by $260 and charge him only $520. Since Hamby lives outside the city limits he pays one and a half times the city water rate. City Council agreed to drop that rate this month and charge him regular city rates. ftk-JSS -Yx mm a I wrfo. v Bnß mLBk j B & fl fTr i^r ‘ HL (HHJ photo by Brenda Thompson) Front row, l-r, Award winners Jeanette Arrington arid Trudie Warren, outgoing chamber board member Pat Buice, and outgoing chamber president Jimmy Falrcloth (back row, left) were among those honored during the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting last night. Joining them in the photo are: new president John Sundquist and executive director Peggie Williams. Appreciation Reception. Other organizations Mrs. Warren has been involved with through the years include the Perry Beautifica tion Committee, the Houston County Leadership Advisory Committee, the Perry Chapter of the Houston County Cancer Soci ety, the Salvation Army Board and the Perry Business Women’s Club, a club for which she was selected "Member of the Year” in 1975. She is presently serving out a two year term on the Perry Conven tion and Visitor’s Bureau as an appointee for the City of Perry and was actually the first employee In their regular meeting Monday, Jan. 24, the commissioners ap proved a letter to the legislative del egation asking for the new law. The proposed law would allow counties to impose a surcharge of $12.50 on traffic offenses. The money would go to a fund to purchase, maintain and staff communication equip ment. The commissioners also consid ered abandoning Rocky Ford Road in South Houston County. Rocky Ford Road extends just over a half-mile from Highway 26 to Henderson Spring Road. Rocky -V 1 \ ' ' k'.}' ~ P W ' '' : ■• r c— HI BdAM jJRIfe ST . Sweatshirt boosters Employees of the Houston County Board of Education came to work Friday, Jan. 21, in sweatshirts bearing the mascot of ail four county high schools. Modeling the sweatshirts are board employees (kneeling, l-r) Willie Mae Green, Nancy Talley, Charlene Rackley, Denice McClarnon, Loretta Greene, Donna Allen (standing) Brenda Williams, Barbara Studstill, Renee Forbes, Madge Wirtes, Shelly Faulk, Lowell Russell, Yvette Singletary, Amy Callahan, Shawn Wilson, Carmen Williams, Sh eryl Greene and Mary Scott. PERRY. GEORGIA'S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS, CALL 987-1323 ■ The Houston Home# Journal The proposed law would allow counties to impose a surcharge of $12.50 on traffic offenses. The money would be used to purchase , maintain E-911 equipment. 2 SECTIONS—I 4 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS hired when the Flint Electric Membership Cooperative opened its Perry office in May 1966. Having risen up through the ranks, Mrs. Warren was also Flint’s “Employee of the Year” in 1981 and currently holds the distinctive position of section manager for the Perry area. She and her husband, James, re side in Perry and have two daugh ters, Melanie Warren and Marilyn Kennedy. They are also the proud grandparents of a two year old granddaughter, Lauren Kennedy. They are members of Perry First Baptist Church, The sixteenth recipient of the Ford Road is located to the east of Interstate 75 and to the west of Elko. ABS Farms, which owns land on both sides of the the road re quested the county close the road so that it could install a center pivot irrigation center on the property. "This road is not used by the school bus, mail carrier and has very little other traffic," wrote Lamar Bowen, manager of ABS Farms, in request ing the road be closed. Mike Long, county attorney, said the only obligation the county had before closing the road was no- Seabie Hickson Award having been selected by the chamber’s annual meeting committee from a list of nominees, Mss. Warren’s name will now be added to a very illustrious list of former award recipients such as Larry Walker, Wendell Whipple, Barbara Calhoun, Tom Daniel, Draper Watson, J.M. “Buddy” Tolleson, Jr., Lewis Meeks, James Pleydell-Bouverie, Kathy Caldwell, Father Michael O’Keeffe and Bobby Arcos. As the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award and selected by last year’s chamber president Please see CHAMBER, page 8A tifying the property owners that lived along the road. He added that the only property owner off the road was ABS Farms. Several of the commissioners had questions about whether the county could be required to come back in the future and re-acquire the road in the future if houses are built in the area. However, Long said the county would have no responsibil ity for the road once the road was abandoned. "As far as we are concerned,” said Commissioner Larry Sneli grove, "that road no longer exists (if the county abandons the road)." "I don’t have a problem with closing the road," said Commis sioner H. Jay Walker. He said that people who used the road should be given a say in whether or not the road was closed, suggesting that the county hold a public hearing on the Please see COUNTY, page 8A Iperry, ga. Perry man has been charged in burglaries By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK Managing Editor Although only 14 percent of all burglaries in the nation are solved, Perry Police have "hopefully ended the rash of recent burglaries" in this area Chief Frank Simons said, due to the Saturday arrest of Perry resi dent Jim Kent Chambley. Local residents who witnessed Chambley, of 108 E Ashley Drive, attempting to enter a home in their neighborhood gave local police a description which helped break the case for local police. Once identified, "we found he’d pawned large amounts of jewelry at different places," according to Captain Steve Heaton. Detectives Mike Pheil and Bill Phelps recov ered some of the jewelry Chambley pawned and those pieces were iden Monday fire claims newcomer's home By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK Managing Editor The residence of Cheryl Bickford was partially burned due to a home fire which occurred Monday, Jan. 24. According to Perry Fire Chief Gary Hamlin, local fire fighters ar rived at Crossroads Trailer Park, Lot 64, at approximately 4:25 p.m. Monday afternoon and doused the fire which originated in the living room of Bickford's mobile home. Hamlin said the department re ceived the call from E—9ll at 4:22 p.m. and the local department "got the fire out very soon, but we stayed there with her until 7:30 p.m. or so helping her salvage items from the bedrooms. "Being new to the community, Flu epidemic 'moderate' in Perry according to officials By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The bite of winter's cold temper atures has been compounded for many area residents by the misery of the cold and flu season. For Perry, the winter onslaught by virus has been "moderate," said Linda Easterly, director of nursing for Perry Hospital. "We haven't had the bad outbreak other hospitals have had," she said. Easterly said the year opened with a lot of flu cases. However, she said the number of cases in re cent weeks has decreased. In addition to the flu, many peo ple are also getting pneumonia. "The flu weakens the body's resis tance to fight off other illness," said Easterly, who added that developing pneumonia was rare, but that it could happen, especially among the elderly. However, that illness that many have felt might not be the flu, said Bill Carter, director of physical health at the Houston County Health Department "It’s very diffi cult to detect the difference bkween the flu and severe winter illness from all sources," he said. Carter added that the primary dif ference between the flu and other winter viruses was severity. He said that other winter viruses would have someone thinking about stay ing home or going to work. "You wake up and say 'should,'" said Carter. "There's no question (with the flu) that you won't go.” It's too late for flu shots at this time of year, said Carter. "We don't have the vaccine,” he said. "It prob ably wouldn't be of any value.” He notkl that it took the vaccine two three weeks to take effect 124TH U [ titled by victims. Currently Chambley has been linked to nine residential burglaries. Five of those were in Perry, two were in the county and two were in the Montezuma-Oglethorpe area. Heaton said that before the investi gation is completed, Chambley may be charged with more burglar ies. Chambley is being charged with criminal attempt to commit bur glary, several counts of burglary, theft by taking and theft by receiv ing stolen property. He is being held without bond. "A conservative estimate (as to a monetary amount on items stolen) would be $20,000. That Figure does not include the items stolen in the county," Heaton said. she didn't know many people. We helped her and a dance group she's joined came out and helped." Bickford and her three-year-old daughter, Breanne, were not home when the fire occurred. Hamlin said that although the contents of Bickford's living room and kitchen were destroyed that most of the furniture and clothes in the trailer's two bedrooms was saved. Hamlin added that the cause of the fire is not yet known. "We're still investigating the cause of the fire. We don't know yet because there is no heat source (in the living room) where the fire originated," he said. Avoiding the flu at this time of year is difficult. "There's not a whole lot that you can do (to avoid the flu)," said Carter. He said that things that people needed to do to avoid the flu were things people were "prone to not doing." Flu travels in crowds, said Carter. "The more people gathered Please see FLU, page 8A ■ ■ "i • *■ **, .; 4k Good morning, Perry The community’s sympathy is ex tended to the families of those who recently died. They include: Ludie Smith Grant, Rosweli: Van Buren Shipes, Hawkinsville. For more in formation please see Page 3A. JQYQECQMP.ION. __4A BETH JONES IB DEATHNOTICES 3A CLASSIFIED SB EDITORIALS 4A LEGAL NOTICES IB LOCAL CALENDAR 2A BILL.QYEBIQN fiA NEWS OF RECORD BA VETO ROLEY 4A