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| GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT 109* I U. GA. MAIN LIBRARY ! ATHENS, GA 30602 C Page 3A I Houston Times-Journal Volume 124 - No. 33 1 Section, 10 Pages I Inside I Today | Calendar 5A Church News 3A Classifieds 8A Death Notices 2A Editorials 4A Outdoors 7A Sports 6A 'Jail birds' raise money for MDA By PAULINE LEWIS Staff Writer Mary Ann Coskery, District Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), announced this week that over $8,300 is expected to be raised for MDA from a fund raising drive held Tuesday, April 19 at Holiday Inn in Perry. During a lock-up, each"jailed" person agreed to try to raise SSOO bail within the time allocated for the "lock-up’’ by calling their families, friends, work associates and anyone else they could find near a phone. Money raised will stay will benefit patients in the local area. Some of the services it will help provide are regular medical clinics at Warm Springs, Ga., wheelchairs, Please see Lock-up, page 3A Around town briefly... Hospital celebrates 25th anniversary A Celebration on the Grounds will be held Saturday, April 23 to celebrate Perry Hospital's 25th an niversary. The fun begins at 1:30 p.m. and will feature activities for kids, re freshments, tours, musical enter tainment and much more. The public is invited to celebrate 25 years of caring and healing with the hospital staff and employees. Perry FOL announces dates for book sale The Friends of the Library is sponsoring an “Old Book Sale” Thursday through Saturday, May 5- 7. To be held at the Perry Library, located at the comer of Washington and Northside streets, hours of the event are as follows: •May 5-From noon until 6 p.m.; •May 6-From 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.; and •May 7-From 9 a.m. until noon. All proceeds will benefit the Perry Librarv. Look-A-Like Contest will benefit HODAC Houston Drug Action Council (HODAC) will hold a Pet/Owner Look-A-Like Contest Saturday, April 23. The fund raiser will be held at the Houston Mall from 1-3 p.m. Besides Perry Mayor Pro Tem Charles Lewis, other judges include J. Sherrill Stafford, Houston County Commission Chairman; Centerville Mayor Matt Keene, Dick Walden, president of the Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce; Henrietta Mclntyre, act ing mayor of Warner Robins; Mike Maze, weatherman for WMAZ Channel 13; and Eric and Mark, Q -106 radio morning team. All proceeds raise are to benefit HODAC's Rape Crisis Program of Houston county. Shaping up! i Hinnant pleased with progress made on annex renovation BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Though they probably won’t be moving in this November as origi nally projected, Houston County School Superintendent Tony Hin- nant is visibly pleased with the progress being made in renovation efforts at the old Perry Annex. He’s also visibly pleased with the fact that a recent turn of events should save the local school board more than a half a million dollars in their efforts to turn the landmark Main Street building into their school system’s new home offices. According to Hinnant, the school board put the job out for bids in January. But, when the re sults came in a couple of months ago, none were found acceptable and local school officials had to go back to the drawing board. “We were anticipating $1.2 mil lion, but the lowest bid we received was $1.5 million,” Hinnant said this week while visiting his organization’s future offices. “We just couldn’t do that and started working on Plan B.” Plan B, according to Hinnant, was to first get permission from the City of Perryr-purchasers of the present board offices on Washing ton Street, to allow the school board to remain in their old offices longer than they had initially anticipated. After getting that permission, they then contacted State Rep. Larry Walker to see if the prison crew which had been charged with doing the early preparatory work could stay on a little longer and do more of the actual renovation project. “Turns out, they’re going to be able to do it all and hopefully we’ll be moving in next April or before,” Hinnant said, smiling. “By doing it this way and utilizing free labor, we’ll be saving as much as 45 per cent off of the lowest bid price. That gives us less money to raise and less debt to worry about.” At present, the inmate construc tion crew assigned to the project is 17 workmen strong. They currently work four days a week, but will Exchange Club donates funds to WAVE program BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer With help from the Perry Ex change Club, Perry Police Chief Frank Simons came SI,OOO closer to riding his new WAVE (Weapons and Violence Education) program into the classrooms of Houston County. Local Exchangites presented the check to Simons during their regu lar club meeting Thursday afternoon in Perry. The donation was a surprise and came after the local police chief had updated the club on the proposed WAVE program, a program de signed to reduce the incidents of firearm and weapon violence among Houston County youth. “We are seeing more and more serious acts of violence being committed by youthful offenders; kids as young as 12, 13 and 14- years-old,” Simons said Thursday. “Right here in Perry, it’s happen ing. And, unlike residents in many larger towns, we aren’t used to it. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t want to get used to it. We’re hop ing the WAVE program will help stop the violence before it gets any worse.” At present, Simons says that the biggest obstacle to getting the pro gram off the grounds is, of course, funding. I Sports | Page 6A I Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia ' Mrll Jj ■ Ja| Ji 4SS Hr . .SB "■■W Mm ' I ' iUSSk Houston County School Superintendent Tony Hinnant and secretary, Sharon Riley, were visibly pleased this week after checking on the progress of the Perry Annex renovation project. soon be adding a fifth work day and seven more workmen. All those assigned to the crew 1 are skilled construction workers, electricians, plumbers and roofers whom are currently serving time in state prisons. The crew working in Perry come here from Reidsville and are being housed, with the cooperation of the Houston County Commissioners, at the local county jail. The inmates are closely supervised at all times. The Perry Annex, the original home of Perry High School, will give the Houston County Board of Education more than 28,000 square feet under roof, a gain of nearly 10,000 square feet over their present All total, he says he expects the program to run approximately $136,500 and, to date, has received pledged support from the Perry City Council, the Houston County Commission, the Houston County Board of Education and the Warner Robins City Council. Additionally, a grant for $82,430 has been applied for through the state’s Criminal Justice Coordinat ing Council. If the necessary monies are raised, target date for start-up is this September. In describing the proposed program, Simons says WAVE is a combination of what he see as the best of various programs already being utilized throughout the nation. Although it is a unique program to Houston County, it’s premise is very similar to the “D.A.R.E.” (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program cur rently taught in Houston County. However, while D.A.R.E. is aimed at fifth graders, the WAVE program will be aimed at eighth graders, as it is around the age of puberty which violence problems seem to start occurring, according to .omens. Ideally, Simons says that the program will employ trained offi t er« in :»<> in'o v very eighth grade cfv.sroorn in <} county to teach For News And Subscriptions Call 912-987-1823 Saturday, April 23, 1994 Washington Street facilities. This gain will provide them much-needed space and will allow them to con solidate their Perry and Warner Robins offices here, Hinnant says. In addition to school board of fices, other highlights of the reno vated facility will include a restored, early 1900 s class room and the Se nator Sam Nunn Library. As for the old board of education offices, when vacated, the City of Perry will turn that facility into their new city hall. At the same time, the present city hall--also located on Washington, right next door to the school board-will be converted into a public safety complex. *4 *»cha*op ciot or pf * • - ■l# V *.••**• ■ MM KW ... ... " ' * *** 1 * tHi i | ill I Perry Police Chief Frank Simons (left) gratefully accepts a fi,ooo aonauon rrom local Exchange Club President Dwayne Yoder. The club’s donation Is In support of a new program entitled WAVE - Weapon and Violence Education. Simons Is hoping to take the program to the classroom this fail. weapon and violence education dur ing a 12-week course. Primary aims of the program will be to teach children to assume responsibility for their actions and ihink about any consequences their actions may have. “They need to undcrsfrvd nothing comes free: they - l0 Classified & Page 8A 1 Center to reap profits from the sale of city land BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer In an effort to raise some much needed money, Perry City Council voted this week to put six parcels of land on the auction block. All proceeds will be applied to ward the costs of the new commu nity and recreation center being constructed at Rozar Park, council members said during their regularly scheduled meeting at city hall Tues day night “Because of our commitment to the community center, members of council have determined that we need the money much more than we need the property right now,” City Manager Marion Hay said, explain ing that more than $140,000 is still needed to finish paying off the cen City council appoints three to airport board By PAULINE LEWIS Staff Writer Determined to move forward with plans for the local airport, Perry City Council approved its ap pointments to the Perry-Houston County Airport Authority during its regular meeting Tuesday, April 19. Serving on behalf of the City of Perry on the authority will be Dana Dixon, Ralph Dorsett and John Houser. Houston County Commissioners will are expected to announce two appointments to the authority dur ing their regular meeting next week. The city and county will rotate the number of appointments each makes to the authority with Perry appointing three members the first year. Besides the five appointments by the two groups, one elected offi cial from the city and one from the county will serve on the authority. Also covered on the agenda was the filing of an application of a grant to defray personnel costs of consider wuai u will cost them should they take a certain action,” Simons told Exchange Club mem bers. Additionally, Simons said, the WAVE pt-'cnm will attempt to teach the c hikin '! about aspect, the value of itatr- ifi fife, no processes '-*! the in* ■■’•mo ,«:J Tr.jl! eouriS, the Perry, Georgia -25 Cents ter’s debt “Additionally, we will be need ing funds to furnish the building and to take care of any necessary changes or unforeseen problems which may occur before we get it open later this year or early next year.” Hay added that the local council had been discussing the sale of cer tain property for several months and that all land to be sold is property that the city has acquired either through tax sales or direct purchase. All total, the sale, which will be conducted in the coming weeks by the process of silent bid, will in clude several lots and more than 22 acres which have been valued by the Please see For sale, pagelOA the Weapons and Violence Education (W.A.V.E.), the anti violence program proposed by Perry Police Chief Frank Simons that will be implemented in eighth grade classrooms across the county. Council also approved an amend ment to the Perry Land Development Ordinance regarding "Banners" which will allow the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter to display banners wel coming groups scheduling popular and repeat events at the state facil ity. The approval came after a second reading of the amendment to the or dinance and a request from Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Fay Tripp the amendment be approved. In other business: •The recommendation relative to the approval of a Local Project Agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation re garding the relocation of utilities Please see COUNCIL, page 2A finality ot death, comma resolution and guns and gun safety. Simons also added that the program will also involve the employment of several “resource officers". These officers will be true police officers whose near will be the Please see WAVE, oage 3A