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5, GA 30602 5
Page 3A
Houston Times-Joumat
1 Section, 10 Pages
Inside I
Today |
Calendar 5A
Church News 3A
Classifieds 9A
Death Notices 2A
Editorials 4A
Outdoors 8A
Sports 7A
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Six qualify
for open
county seat
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
When qualifying ended noon Fri
day, six people-three Democrats
and three Republicans-were entered
in the race for Post 2 of the Hous
ton County Commission.
The post, which pays an annual
salary of approximately $5,000, is
being vacated by incumbent Archie
Thompson of Kathleen. Thompson,
current vice chairman of the com
mission, announced his intent to
not seek re-election for a second
term a few weeks ago.
Joining the race for Thompson’s
Please see QUAUFYING, page 3A
Downtown area
merchant will
close up shop
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Maffett’s Casual Shop, one of
Perry’s only ladies’ clothing stores
and an anchor in downtown Perry
for the past 12 years, has announced „
its intent to shut down operations
here.
A major “going out of business
sale” will begin sometime next
week, with the store closing for
good in the next month or so. A
“closing notice” advertisement giv
ing additional details appears in to
day’s Houston Times-Journal.
“Right now, we don’t have an
exact date for closing. It really de
pends on how the sale goes,” said
Jack Maffett, owner of the Maffetts’
chain which also has stores in
Warner Robins, Fort Valley, Mon
tezuma and Americus. “We will
continue until the people stop com
ing. It could be as long as eight
weeks or it could be sooner. It just
Please see CLOSING, page 3A
Simons continues to receive support for WAVE program
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Perry Police Chief Frank Si
mons’ final pitch to area govern
ments for support of a proposed vi
olence education program turned
into a grand slam at the Tuesday
night meeting of the Houston
County Commissioners.
By unanimously agreeing to
award the proposed Weapons and
Violence Education (WAVE) pro
gram with the requested $13,750,
the commission became the fourth
and last governmental body in the
county approached by Simons to
pledge their support
The county’s award matches
pledges already made by the city
councils of both Perry and Warner
Robins as well as the Houston
County Board of Education.
“You can’t listen to the radio
anymore without hearing of some
one getting shot or stabbed in some
of our larger, neighboring areas,
such as Macon, and more and more
of these crimes are being committed
BOE offered land to build a new
By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK
Editor
The Houston County Board of
Education has been offered three
parcels of land in Perry in an effort
to secure a new school south of
Highway 96.
Tom Whitten, spokesman for the
group of concerned citizens, an
nounced the offer at a press confer
: '•* Jk | % I l c-
If you think this line’s 10ng...
If you think this line at Perry’s branch of the county tag office Is long, just Imagine what It’s going to be like on Monday as that’s the
final day to purchase your 1994 Houston County vehicle tags. This photo was taken Thursday afternoon when average waits were
anywhere from one to two hours.
Increase of rabies cases in county continues
By PAULINE LEWIS
Staff Writer
The number of rabies incidents in
Houston County continues to
climb with the majority of inci
dents reported occurring south of
Highway 96.
During the four and one half
months in 1994, 97 cases have
been reported in Houston County
compared to previous years in
which total cases did not exceed 75.
Since December, 1993, nine pairs
of pet dogs have fought and killed
or fed on raccoons. Of these, four
by youth” Chief Simons said in
stating his case before commission
members Tuesday. “Our goal is to
keep Houston County from getting
in that shape and I feel that this
program can help us reach that
goal.”
In addition to the support from
area governments, Simons, who
has helped spearhead the program,
says he has also applied for a
$82,432 grant through the state’s
Criminal Justice Coordinating
Council.
If awarded, this grant, coupled
with the $55,000 pledged by the
four local governmental bodies,
will make up the approximately
$136,500 needed to fund the total
program for one year. Whether or
not the grant is awarded will be
announced on June 15.
After one year is up, Simons
says that the program’s success and
value will be closely reviewed and
additional grants may be applied for
if continuation is desired.
WAVE, according to Sunons is
Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia
ence Thursday, April 28 at which
time he said the owners of the
properties would prefer to remain
anonymous.
Each parcel is a 20-25 acre tract,
has (or will have) utilities in place
and is convenient to services, such
as police, fire and health. The cost
to school board and taxpayers would
be nothing Whitten stated.
Vets offer discount on rabies vaccine
Due to the serious problem of ra
bies in the county, area veterinari
ans have joined together to fight ra
bies by offering to provide low-cost
rabies vaccinations for all cats and
dogs for a limited time.
During the week of May 2-7, the
raccoons tested positive for rabies
and the other four were not avail
able for testing.
a program very similar in set-up to
the existing D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program cur
rently being taught in Houston
County elementary schools.
However, where D.A.R.E.
focuses on the fifth grade and drug
education, WAVE will be targeted
at eighth graders and will contain
curriculum on weapons and
violence.
Trained officers or “resource
officers” will go into every eighth
grade classroom in the county to
teach a 12 to 15-week course with
topics to be covered including re
spect for other humans, other gen
ders and life in general; the finality
of death; responsibility for actions;
gun safety; juvenile law and the ju
venile and adult court systems; die
fictional aspects of television
violence; and acceptable conflict
resolution, just to name a few.
In further describing the
program, Simons also added that
the WAVE resource officers, all of
Please see WA VE, page 3A
For News And Subscriptions Call 912-987-1823
Sports
Page 7A
. Ifv ***&
The purpose for the offer is to se
cure a much needed new school, ac
cording to Whitten who also said
the school does not necessarily have
to be a middle school, which is
what Whitten's group originally
sought to acquire south of Highway
96.
The school board is currently
planning to build two new middle
following veterinary offices in
Perry are providing rabies vaccines
for $8: Perry Animal Hospital, 633
Courtney Hodges Blvd. (987-2415)
and Smith Animal Hospital, 2032
N. Hwy. 341 (987-1514).
Please see VACCINES, page 3A
Since April 1993, there have been
12 wild animal contacts with 22
pets. Of these, five raccoons tested
Perry Police Chief Frank Simons makes a plea for support from the Houston County Commissioners
for a proposed weapons and violence education prog tarn. In stating his case, the local police chief
showed county board members an array of guns which have been taken from local youth.
Classified
Page 9A
schools in the north end of the
county. The Feagin Mill site is a
20 acre tract and utilities are nearby
and the Ferguson property in
Bonaire contains a 20 acre tract and
a 15 acre tract with according to
Whitten and "to my knowledge no
utilities in place".
Whitten said the land offer stems
from a March 24 meeting in which
positive for rabies, two foxes tested
positive for rabies, four raccoons
were not tested and one raccoon
tested negative. By comparison,
from April 1992 to April 1993,
there was one positive raccoon;
from April 1991 to April 1992,
there was one positive raccoon.
Four persons have been treated by
Houston Medical Center and three
treated by Base Hospital with anti
rabies vaccine since April 1, 1993.
By comparison, from April 1992 to
Please see RABIES, page 3A
school
Superintendent Tony Hinnant and
concerned citizens discussed the
need for a new middle school in the
south end of the county.
Whitten said Hinnant asked to the
group to put together a better plan
than the school board's and identify
a location.
"Obviously the price is right.
Please see OFFER, page 3A
Authority
plans '94
budget
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
The Houston County Develop
ment Authority released a 1994-95
working budget calling for
$162,300 in spending during their
regular meeting Tuesday, April 28.
Tee Tolleson, treasurer for the
authority, stressed that the budget
was a very preliminary working
draft. "If any of the numbers (in the
working budget) match with the fi
nal budget, then it is purely coinci
dental," he said.
Tolleson said the working draft
was to give authority members
something to work with.
The proposed budget shows a
large increase in the amount of
salaries, up nearly $30,000. How
ever, Tolleson noted the authority
was without an executive director
for six months last year, after Dick
Ulm resigned and before Tim
Martin was hired.
Houston County will also be
taking part in Operation Legacy, a
series of events planned by the state
to capitalize on the 1996 Olympic
Games in Atlanta, said Martin, ex
ecutive director for the authority.
Foreign businessmen would be
invited into the state by state devel
opment officials, and shown around
the state. State officials will follow
up the visits by giving tickets to
the Olympics to the businessmen
who are most likely to invest in the
state.
"They are targeting countries and
industry clusters," said Martin. He
added that he expects for Houston
County to "be included on many of
those visits."
The county will also be visited
by officials from East Germany
May 10. The visit is in response to
a visit made by the Middle Georgia
Regional Development Center.
After a presentation by Houston
County, Martin said the East Ger
man officials will visit the Air Mu
seum in Warner Robins and Frito-
Lay.
In other business before the au-
Please see BUDGET, page 3A
