Newspaper Page Text
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EDITION
250
P®rryA Houston County's
Official Legal Organ
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1994
Journal, Times to merge
Purchase of The Perry Times and
the Houston Home Journal by
Houston Publications Inc., a newly
formed Georgia owned corporation,
was announced late Tuesday. The
sale was effective February 1,1994
Owners of the corporation are
Daniel F. Evans, Julie B. Evans and
Robert E. Tribble, president of Trib
Publications Inc.
Good
morning, Perry
The community's sympathy is ex
tended to the families of those who
recently died. They include:Mary
L. Mcßenge, Perry; Gwen E.
Sullivan, Macon; Edmond Williams
Sr., Warner Robins; Giles Howell
Webb Jr., Perry. For more infor
mation please see Page 2A.
JOYCE COMPTON 4A
BETH JONES IB
DEATH NOTICES 2A
CLASSIFIED SB
EDITORIALS M
LEGAL NOTICES 3fi
LOCAL CALENDAR 5A
BILL OVERTON 6A
VETOROLEY 4A
City and county
set solid plans
for local airport
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
After weeks of meeting, the
Houston County Board of Commis
sioners and Perry City Council de
cided on the new arrangement of the
airport authority Monday night, Feb.
7.
With the departure of Fort Valley
and Peach County, the name of the
airport authority will be changed
from the Perry-Fort Valley Airport
Authority to the Perry-Houston
County Airport Authority. The au
thority will be given the power to
change the name of the airport, with
consent on anew name given by the
Perry City Council and the Houston
County Board of Commissioners.
Houston County and Perry agreed
to an authority composed of seven
members. The chairman of the
county commission or his designate
and the mayor of Perry or his desig
nate will be permanent members.
Perry and Houston County will ap
point two additional members.
The seventh member will be ap
pointed on a rotating basis between
Perry and Houston County, with
Perry making the first appointment.
Terms on the authority will be for
two years each.
Some members of the authority,
the city council and the county
commission wanted the new author
ity drawn in a way to allow mem
bers on the authority from outside
the county, enabling the authority to
retain the expertise of current mem
bers living in Peach County. Mem
bers of the new authority, however,
will be required to reside in Houston
County, lire authority will be given
the power to add ex-officio members,
who will not have voting power,
from outside the county. The city
council and the county commission
would be given the right to review
the appointment of ex-officio mem
bers.
The city and the county will share
equally in the cost of running the
airport. The budget for the airport
will be drawn up by the authority
Please see AIRPORT, page SA
he Houston Homeff
Journal
The Perry Times was founded in
1985 by Daniel F. Evans. The
Times has been the only home
owned and operated newspaper in
Houston County for the past nine
years. The Houston Home Journal
is now in its 124th year of
publication and has been owned by
out of state corporations for the past
15 years.
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Marjorie Wells, owner and operator of Wells Florist In Perry, Is busy this week getting ready for
her busiest day of the year, Valentine’s Day. Sweethearts, take heed, the big day Is this coming
Monday.
For florists, Monday will be
their busiest day of the year
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
With Cupid drawing back his
bow in preparation for Monday’s
Valentine celebration, florists
throughout the city are bracing
themselves for what has become
their busiest day of the year.
“I’ve already ordered 1,000 red
roses to be delivered this weekend
and I’m sure I’ll have to order
more,” said Marjorie Wells, owner
and operator of Well’s Florist in
Perry. “Especially if it is anything
like last year when I had to order
500 or so extra roses in addition to
my initial order of 1,000. I’ve been
in business here for going on 34
years and it just seems like
Valentine’s Day is getting bigger
and bigger.’’
And, as the holiday becomes
bigger and bigger, florists like
Wells are having to start earlier and
earlier in their preparations.
Valentine's Day luncheon will celebrate heart health
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
A different kind of heart will be
celebrated this Valentine's Day at a
special luncheon.
A Heart Smart Luncheon is being
held at the Houston County Ag
Building on Carroll Street from
noon until 1 p.m. next Monday.
PERRY, GEORGIA’S HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1870-FQR COVERAGE OF YOUR EVENTS CALL 987-1823
2 SECTIONS—I 4 PAGES, PLUS SALES CIRCULARS
In addition to their ownership of
The Perry Times , Danny and Julie
Evans are owners and publishers of
Motorsports Weekly, a regional
newspaper covering short track
racing in six southeastern states,
and Evans Motorsports Inc.,
manufacturer of race cars for short
track racing.
They are members of Perry
“We started getting ready for this
at least two weeks ago,” she said,
smiling and gesturing to a towering
stack of boxes and a sea of red rib
bon bows. “Those boxes are filled
with hundreds of vases and those
bows come in all shapes and sizes.
I hired a lady to come in this week
just to sit and tie bows and, later,
I’ll have a girl in here just to blow
up balloons. All total, we’ll
probably have 10 people in here
helping out and it’ll take everybody
to get it all done.”
As for prices, Wells said that,
although she really won’t know for
sure until her first shipment of
roses is delivered on Friday, she
expects them to be in the same ball
park as last year when a dozen of
the long-stemmed beauties sold for
between $45 and $55 in Perry. The
prices, q f course, depend upon what
the wholesaler is charging, the
Those attending will receive a
meal "where everything served will
be heart healthy" according to
County Home Economist Peggy
Bledsoe.
"Lunch will be served from noon
until 1 p.m. and then we're going
to hold an activity to help our
United Methodist Church and live
in Perry.
Danny Evans said that he and his
wife Julie "are thrilled to be
associated with Bob Tribble, a long
time family friend, in our new
publishing endeavor. We are happy
to have him bring his years of
experience and expertise to the
local newspaper scene.”
supply and demand and even the
geographic location of where they
are purchased.
“For example,” Wells concluded.
“I heard that roses are going for
anywhere from $75 to SIOO per
dozen in Atlanta this year.”
Across town, florists at Perry
Florist and the Daisy Patch Florist
and Gift Shoppe echoed Marjorie
Wells’ sentiments, saying that they
too have been preparing for weeks.
“We placed our order for Valen
tine’s flowers a month ago,” said
Benita Gay, a designer at Perry
Florist. “And, we’ve been tying
bows, wrapping wires and spraying
baskets all week. By Monday,
where we usually only have one de
livery driver, we’ll have four or
five, and, where we usually only
have two people working in the
shop, we’ll have six or seven.”
Please see FLORISTS, page 8A
guests determine their individual
risks of attaining heart related
problems," Bledsoe added.
All seats are reserved and 30 ladies
are expected to attend. Bledsoe added
the tables will be decorated to
coincide with Valentine's Day. The
Please see LUNCH, page 8A
PERRY, GA.
Locally owned
and operated
Evans pointed out that "it has
been evident for a long time that
Perryans would be best served if the
two newspapers servicing this area
could be combined under one
ownership."
He said that recent sale of The
Houston Home Journal to
American Publishing Cos. in West
Frankfort, 111., by Park Newspapers
Education board
says no to anew
school in Perry
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Perry community leaders appeared
before the Houston County Board of
Education Tuesday, Feb. 8, request
ing anew middle school for the
Perry area.
John Sundquist, chairman of the
Perry Area Chamber of Commerce,
told the school board there were four
reasons for the request: the over
crowded situation at Perry Middle
School, the age of Perry Middle
School, potential growth in South
Houston County and transportation
costs involved in bussing students
from South Houston County north.
The school board did decide to
build two new middle schools Tues
day. However, neither school will be
built in the Perry area. One school
will be built on Feagin Mill Road,
with the other school going on the
Local schools to receive
state funds for technology
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
Houston County schools and li
braries stand to be on the receiving
end of over $1.4 million in new
technology if Zell Miller's proposed
budget is passed by the Legislature.
Houston County schools will
receive $339,700 for new comput
ers, $472,500 for technology for
media centers with each school's
media center receiving $17,500,
$70,000 for a model technological
project at Perry Middle School,
$17,500 for technological im
provements in each of the three li
braries in Houston County, and
$500,000 for Middle Georgia Tech
nical Institute equipment.
In the Macon area, only Bibb
County with $1.7 million is bud
geted for more funds than Houston
On the blotter...
Police wrap up drug investigation
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
Perry Police arrested eight local
residents last week on drug charges.
According to Perry Police Captain
Steve Heaton, Detective Mike Pheil
secured several warrants after a dnm
investigation that spanned several
weeks. Heaton said that although
eight individuals were taken into
custody there are still some war
rants outstanding and more arrests
Monday night shooting reported
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Managing Editor
"We don't know for sure if the
two are linked, but there's an ap
pearance they may be. We're still
investigating that," Perry Police
Chief Frank Simons said yesterday
concerning a shooing that occured
at approximately 10:30 p.m.
Monday night, Feb. 7.
According to Simons, Michael
Frank Stephens, 42, of 1502
Canterbury Court, was in his car in
the Oldfield area discussing what
"appears to be narcotics related."
Simons said the Stephens and the
124TH YEAR—VOLUME 12
made this move possible. "It was
through Bob Tribble's efforts that
purchase of The Home Journal by
our new corporation was possible,"
Evans said.
Evans said that by combining The
Perry Times and Houston Home
Journal the readers, advertisers and
the entire Perry community will be
Please see MERGE, page 8A
Ferguson property off Highway 96
near Bonaire.
"There are no plans for anew
middle school in Perry," said Zell
Blackmon, chairman of the school
board after the meeting. "I know
Perry Middle School is an old build
ing; but, we have lots of old build
ings. We have to put the schools
were the population is. We can't put
in a school and hope for growth."
However, Blackmon said Perry
Middle School would get anew
wing for the 1995-96 school year,
which should help alleviate some of
the overcrowding.
Blackmon added that the locations
chosen by the school board should
reduce overcrowding in all the middle
schools. The new middle schools
will draw students from the northern
area of the Perry Middle School
zone.
County. "This is what is proposed
by the governor," said State Repre
sentative Larry Walker. ’’We can
not be sure it will be funded this
way."
Walker added that he "would
work with his colleagues" to see
that "most of it (budgeted money)
comes back to Houston County."
"In society, such as it is today,
everybody needs to be computer lit
erate," said Tony Hinnant, Houston
County school superintendent.
"More and more jobs require the use
of computers. High school gradu
ates have to have knowledge in the
general use of computers."
Hinnant said the school system
was trying to make computers ac
cessible to every student. He said
Please see SCHOOLS, page 8A
are expected.
Heaton also said that when some
of the warrants were served, those
arrested for selling cocaine were
also charged with possession of co
caine. Some individuals received
more than one count of selling co
caine. One individual was arrested
for being a party to the crime of
selling cocaine.
Those arrested include:
Please see POLICE, page 8A
male outside his vehicle began a
verbal argument and the pedestrian
fired a shot from a gun into
Stephens' vehicle. Stephens was
not injured by the shot
Police are still waiting to question
the victim of a similar shooting
that occured Wednesday, Feb. 2 at
approximately 2 a.m.
According to John Layton Smith,
28, of 1311 Parkway Drive, he was
shot in the neck and back when a
man pulled his car up beside
Smith's at the intersection of WJF.
Ragin Drive and Courtney Hodges
Please see SHOOTING, page 8A