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Houston Times-Journal Volume 124 No. 50 2 Sections,l6 Pages I Inside I Today | Calendar -3A Classifieds 4B Death Notices 2A Editorials 4A Lifestyles ....IB Sports 7A Rack Rates Will Be $52/yr Buy a Subscription For $25 + tax & Save $25.75 School board approves bond issue for schools By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Education approved a $12.4 million bond issue for constructing two new middle schools north of High way 96 in a called meeting Thurs day night The bonds, which will be paid back over 20 years, will be issued through the Houston County School Buildings Authority, a body specially created to handle the loan agreement. The bond issue will not have to be approved by voters since it will take the form of a intergov ernmental loan, and is not tied to a specific millage rate for repayment Although the loan will not be repaid through designated tax monies, the "full faith and credit" of the school district will back the bonds. As reported previously, the board will build two new middle schools, one on Feagin Mill Road and an other in Bonaire, off Highway 96. The schools should house 800-850 students each. Houston County School Super intendent Tony Hinnant and board chairman Zell Blackmon have said in the past that the two locations would enable the school system to relieve all five middle schools in the county, which are either at ca pacity or over capacity. The bonds, which are rated AAA, will have an average interest rate of 5.9 percent Until 2008, the board will repay the bonds at approximately $850,000 a year, making the board's total debt service payment $1.89 million. The board will pay off current debts in 2008. When the board pays off current debts in 2008, the debt service on the two new middle schools will increase to $1.89 million, with the final payments Sept 1, 2014. The bids for the two new schools will be sent out in early July, 1994, and opened in late July, early August. Blackmon said that construction on the two new schools should be started within 30 days of the bids being awarded. The schools are scheduled to open in the 1995-96 school year. While Perry will not receive a Please see BOE, page 6A Incidents involving gunfire reported to local police dept. Shots fired into motel room early Sunday BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Perry police are looking for a gunman who fired three shots through a window of a room at the Red Gable Inn here early Sunday morning. According to police reports, the incident occurred at approximately 5:15 a.m. and was reported by an occupant of the room, Eugene Ge orge of Fort Valley. George nor the other occupant of Page 6B City Manager seeks early retirement By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK Editor Perry Mayor James E. Worrall announced Monday that City Manager Marion Hay has requested an early retirement. Worrall continued by saying the council was looking into an ar rangement which would allow Hay to retire, but the council must fol low strict regulations set by the state. He also said the city would not be able to finalize such an arrangement until December of this year. "He deserves it (the early retire ment). During the 17 years he's worked for the City of Perry he's secured millions of dollars in grants," Worrall stated. Hay was hired as the city clerk/treasurer in March 1977. He began his position of city manager in July 1985. Hay has not commented as to why he's seeking the early retirement, but it could have something to do ' * „ ■*< pi jl NfWP^P 4 i - i 1 HH Fun at Vacation Bible School! Throughout the county, churches are either holding or gearing up for their annual vacation bible school programs. In the photo above, some youngsters enjoy a game of “London Bridges” during playtime at Perry United Methodist Church’s annual school which kicked off Monday and continues through this Friday. No injuries occurred during any of the incidents. the room saw the gunman and nei ther was injured during the incident. Damage to the motel, which is located at 1006 St. Patrick’s Drive in Perry, was limited to the plate glass window through which the perpetrator fired the weapon as well as some interior walls of the room. Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia By BRIGETTE LOUDERMILK Editor At their regular meeting Tuesday, June 21, Perry City Council ac cepted a request from Marion Hay that he be reassigned from city manager to consultant for the city effective immediately. Councilman James Moore read the motion which stated Hay's reas signment "was in the best interest of the city". Moore also proposed that Finance with the series of closed Perry City Council meetings held over the past two weeks. According to Worrall the meetings were closed since discussion cen tered around personnel matters, but he also said that the city department heads were called in to one of the -VST Xl-1* ' - 1 No firth motives have been established in the incident and it is believed that the gunman did not know the occupants of the room into which he fired. The case is still under investiga tion, according to Capt. Steve Heaton of the Perry Police Depart ment. Sports Page 7A Hay to stay with city as a consultant Director Janice Williams replace Hay on an interim basis as city manager. Council passed both motions unanimously. Hay will continue to work on several projects and grants currently underway at Perry City Hall. While working for the city, he will con tinue to be paid at his current salary. Perry Mayor James E. Worrall stated after the meeting that Hay meetings to discuss the future of city government in Perry. Although he said it is "too early to speculate to the form we'd like to go to," Worrall did say "it's timd to change the direction of management” at City Hall. The council has consulted with Juveniles charged with firing shots BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer Perry police have turned three local teenagers over.to Houston County’s juvenile authorities fol lowing two separate incidents in which someone in the group fired shots first in a residential area and later in the parking lot of a local grocery store. According to Capt. Steve Heaton of the Perry Police Department, the local department first received a re Classified Page 4B will will work as a consultant through December since that is ear liest time the city will be able to work out an acceptable early retire ment package for Hay. For the six months, Hay will make roughly $29,000 as a consultant. During the motion, Moore re sponded to the many rumors that have spread through town as to why Hay was leaving City Hall: "Let it be understood that this ac- Pleasa see HAY, page 6A the department heads and asked then opinions on the subject. "Some (of the suggestions) were good, some were bad. But, no one was in favor of going away from a city manager form of government," Worrall stated. He also said that the department heads and councilmen County proposes $20.5 million budget for new fiscal year BY BRENDA THOMPSON Staff Writer From the looks of it, Houston County Commissioners will be proposing a budget of approxi mately $20.5 million for the com ing fiscal year which begins July 1. “We are now in the final stages of preparation of our 1994-1995 fiscal year budget and will be going over it and fine tuning it over the next week,” said Commission Chairman Sherrill Stafford. “A pub lic hearing will then be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 28, for the pur pose of hearing written and oral comments from the public concern ing what is proposed. Formal adop tion is scheduled for our regular meeting on Tuesday morning, July 5.” If approved, the new budget represents an increase of $2.6 million over the $17.9 million utilized during the 1993-1994 fiscal year which ends June 30. Stafford added that there are sev eral factors responsible for the in crease, one of the largest being the county’s agreement to underwrite $1 million for the construction of two new buildings for the Houston County Health Department According to Stafford, although the Houston County Health De partment is a state-operated facility which is governed by the Houston County Health Board, a separate and independent board, the county is re sponsible for providing space and equipment from which they can op erate. I At present, two of the depart ment’s major facilities—Child and Adolescent Services and Pheonix Industries, a service through which port from a resident on Smoak Av enue in Perry on Monday, June 13, that a group of five black male ju veniles had fired a gun in the area. No one was injured, but the bullet was said to have struck the side of a house. Upon receiving the report, police began searching for the group of youngsters. One officer wound up driving through the Piggly Wiggly Parking Lot on Main Street when a lady flagged him down and said that ■ 1 - Perry, Georgia - 90 Cents (jft Marlon Hay will have more input into the orga nization of Perry City Hall and city government in the future. Tuesday evening Hay stated that he has enjoyed working with the city and that he will stay on as a consultant for several ongoing projects. mentally disadvantaged workers do jobs under a federal government contract-are renting buildings in Warner Robins. The two new build ings, which are to be constructed on Highway 96 in Houston County, will house these two services. “It just makes good sense to take that money and actually pay off a building rather than to simply pay rent month to month,” Stafford said, adding that once the new buildings are completed, the de partment will pay the county what they would normally pay their indi vidual landlords in rent. The de partment should have the county to tally paid back for the buildings in 12 to 15 years. Stafford also added that the new buildings are currently on the draw ing board and that actual work is expected to begin in about 90 days. Completion is expected to come be fore die end of the year. Other highlights or changes in the upcoming fiscal year budget in clude: •SIOO,OOO for the boarding of prisoners outside of Houston County. Because of the growing number of prisoners and lack of space within Houston County, this budget item is being increased by $40,000 from last year’s budget. •$198,941 for the Houston County Board of Elections. This represents a significant increase from last year’s budget of $145,132 and is necessary, according to Stafford, because not only is this an election year, but the county now has 24 voting precincts instead of the 17 of past years. Please see COUNTY, page 6A she had been shot at and then pointed to a group of boys on bicy cle. The witness then left the scene while officers began their pursuit of the young perpetrators. Although there were five youths reportedly involved in the crimes, only three were apprehended by Perry police and later turned over to the Houston County Sheriff’s Department and its juvenile authorities. Later that day, they Please see JUVENILES, page 6A