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Houston Times-Journal folume 124 No. 60 3 erry, Ga his week 2 Sections, 16 Pages In today's issue... le community's sympathy is ided to the families of those recently died. They Je:Lula Mae Davis and Hester n Smith. For more informa >lease see Page 2A. od Assistance Houston County residents suffered losses due to re floods may be eligible for stance, it was announced sday. The Houston County artment of Family and Chil \ Services will be at Heri ( Hall of the Georgia Na al Fairgrounds today ugh Friday from 8 a.m.-6 . (8 a.m.-3 p.m. on Satur to distribute food stamps, ziduals will have to meet me eligibility guidelines to ify. o Lay Approved , proposed congeneration t at Frito Lay’s Kathleen ty has passed the first step, ting approval from the rgia Public Service Com >ion (PSC). Page 3A. yers Get SI,OOO he Perry Players are one » closer to their fund-rais goal after Kroger donated >OO fortheater renovations le Main St. location. Page jcare Exceeds Goal ducare celebrates its first • in Perry with record num ;, attracting 4,453 persons Hasses. Page 88. rary Gets Truck e Houston County Library :em is sporting new wheels week after board mem ; approved the purchase 1994 GMC Sonoma. Li y spokesperson Judyt Jen says the library had J the same van for 10 s. Page 3A. liams Gets Position ;rry Parks and Recreation a new voice, with Melba ams taking over the ex ive secretary position at local department. Page I SIMPSON 4A ARIES 2A iIHED MB RIALS M ■ NOTICES ffc6B ■ CALENDAR SB [§ 6JLA n i3B ISS YOUR PAPER? IOPE NOT, BUT IF SO CALL 987-1823 VE $8 per year - the rack price of Times-Journal by ng home delivery! DW JUST $lB Per year-call 987-1823 TODAY Work' 1 Kerce rejoins newspaper as editor & GM James B. "Jim" Kerce, a reporter, editor and pub lisher, whose career spans 32 years in newspapers, has returned to The Houston Times-Journal as edi tor and general manager. The announcement was made Monday by Bob Tribble, owner of Trib Publications (the Times- Journal's parent company) and Danny Evans, part owner of the newspaper. He replaces Brigette Loudermilk, who is pursuing other interests. In his dual role as editor and general manager, Kerce will be responsible for the day-to-day opera tion of the newspaper. Prior to leaving the paper for a five-month period, after The Houston Home Journal merged with The Perry Times, Kerce had been editor and and general manager of the Home Journal for 13 years. From March 1994 until late this month, he had been managing editor of The Daily Sun, Warner Robins. "Coming back to the Journal is like returning home," Kerce said of the appointment. "Perry is an ■'ißlKh ' ,l ßb AH. ... wSEBBwSr - JHj , f JpHfek m . - ’ J g . # - WKnSSBtBU' Perry Mayor James Worrall received the first check from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to cover costs Incurred during the recent floods. The check was for $1,525, which Perry City Manager Janice Williams said was a rough estimate of five percent of the damage suffered by the city In the flood. Williams said Perry would receive more money from GEMA In the future. Shown with Worrall Is Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker, who received a check for $256,000. Earlier, the county received a check for $511,000 for disaster relief. Times-Journal lowers subscription cost; announces plan to end weekend edition In a move designed to better serve readers and advertisers in the Perry community, the Houston Times- Journal will revert to weekly publi cation with the Aug. 3, 1994 issue. At the same time, the paper will lower subscription rates by 28 per cent. The Saturday, July 30, 1994 issue will be the newspaper's final weekend edition. The decision to discontinue the Saturday edition of the newspaper was announced by Jim Kerce, editor and general manager of the Times-Journal earlier this week. "When the weekend edition was introduced a number of years ago, I believed local news events and ad vertising needs warranted expansion of the Home Journal to twice weekly," Kerce said. "However; while the edition did Identity of washed out caskets sought By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The city of Perry is looking for family members or others who might know the identity of persons buried in at least four graves beside Big Indian Creek in the Evergreen Cemetery on Main Street. While none of the graves were washed open, Perry City Manager Janice Williams said a lot of the dirt and sand covering the graves were washed away during the recent flooding. "They are very much in Panthers Gear Up Page 7 A Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia allow us to bring certain news to our readers on a more timely basis, overall we realized we could publish a stronger community newspaper by presenting complete Perry cov erage in one weekly edition," he said. Kerce also pointed out that current features published in the Saturday edition will be carried in the Wednesday newspaper. "In addi tion," he added, "we will be adding some features to the paper and ex panding local coverage in the near future." Citing the rich newspaper heritage Perry has enjoyed for over a cen tury, Kerce said the Times-Journal staff is determined to uphold the standards of community journalism excellence that has earned the news danger of (washing away in the fu ture)," she said. The graves are in an old section of the cemetery, dating back to the 1920 s or earlier, said Williams. The city’s search for family members and names is hampered by the fact that few records were kept on the people buried in the cemetery in the early history of the cemetery. Several years ago, said Williams, the city identified the obvious graves in the section, and put crosses on the graves. For News And Subscriptions Call 912-987 1B?3 Wednesday, July 27, 1994 exceptionally fine community and, to me, the her itage of first-class community journalism it has en joyed for over 124 years is special." "During my 13 years' association with the paper, I grew to appreciate the quality of life in Perry. Also, I became deeply committed to providing Perry with the type of top-quality, hometown newspaper readers have enjoyed for over a century." "That commitment will continue," he said. In commenting on Kerce's return to the Journal, Tribble said: "Jim has a wealth of knowledge about the Perry community from his long association with the newspaper. I believe concern for the com munity and newspaper will be an asset to readers and advertisers. Co-owner Danny Evans said he is "glad to have Jim back on the team." Citing Kerce's past experi ence, Evans said: "now we can continue the level of journalistic excellence Perry has enjoyed in past years." Kerce's experience includes news reporting, editing and management positions in daily and weekly paper scores of awards. Among those were first place for general excellence in the Georgia Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest two years in a row. In announcing the move to once weekly publication, Kerce said the price for local, home delivery of the paper will drop to $lB per year. The Times-Journal currently charges $25 for local delivery. Rack rates will remain at $.50 at this time. The weekend edition had been published by The Houston Home Journal for over eight years. Prior to that date, the newspaper had been a weekly for over 116 years, except for a short time in the late 19705. The Home Journal and The Perry Times were merged earlier this year to form the Houston Times- Journal. Williams said that no coffins were washed away when Big Indian Creek flooded, adding that most of the coffins in the section affected were pine coffins, with the coffins probably being disintegrated by now. Williams said the bodies in the graves will be relocated to higher ground within Evergreen Cemetery. At its meeting Tuesday, July 19, the Perry City Council indicated its desire to have a ceremony when the bodies were moved. Mayos Celebrate Page 3B >3Br W \ |p> 'jMt Mi* N '- . B Yi JAMES B. ’JIM' KERCE veteran newsman rejoins newspaper Perry will seek more funds for flood damage By JIM MY, .SIMPSON Staff Writer A top city official said this week that despite only a portion of flood funds being received, the city remains optomistic that additional monies are just around the comer. A Disaster Survey Report is presently being conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that will estimate the cost of road and bride damage. Once the report is completed, city officials say they will then talk with federal officials to see how far apart the two sides may be. “The disaster report has approximate cost estimates, and that’s what (federal workers) will base their monetary report on,” said interim City Manager Janice Williams. “Once their figure is determined, they will then present it for our approval.” Officials from the federal team first visited last Monday to assess the damage with city officials while taking a tour of the city. Members then returned Thursday to provide further input. Any areas approved for repairs by FEMA are eligible for up to 75 percent reimbursement. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) has the option to pick up the remaining 25 percent. Williams said that while an excat overall cost of damage still has yet to be totaled, work still remains to be done at various city sites. For the first time in more than two weeks, the Valley Drive bridge was opened to traffic, however a backup city water plant is still in need of repairs. “The bridge looks real good,” Williams said. “We haven’t had any other problems since (it was repaired).” The water treatment plant, however, may be another story. “It’s still in need of parts to get the system going again, but it is a back-up system, so it is not essential right now,” Williams continued. The main plant, located just off of Highway 341, continues to operate without any problems, said the city manager. That’s evident when looking at a recent July billing printout. That report showed city residents to have used some 49,416,300 gallons of water in a 30-day period. By comparison, city residents demanded only 35,566,800 gallons of water the previous month. “Thai’s because most people had Parry, Georgia - 50 Cents newspapers over a 32-year span, beginning in 1962. The son of a newspaper editor, Ben L. "Red” Kerce, he has worked in Atlanta, Tallahassee, Fla., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Harrodsburg, Ky., before coming to Perry in 1981. Kerce had held positions as a reporter, features edi tor, photo editor, state news editor, page one editor and assistant managing editor on daily newspapers before moving into newspaper management in the weekly field in 1978. During his career, he has won numerous awards for journalistic excellence, including state and national awards for writing, layout and photography. While he was at the Home Journal from 1981-'94, the pa per won over 60 press association awards, including the coveted General Excellence award back-to-back in 1988 and 1989. The Georgia Press Association’s General Excellence award honors papers judged to be the "best of the best" in state journalism each year. No other publisher and newspaper in the association’s Please see Kerce page 5A to go back to watering their lawns,” said one city employee. Williams said a recent check from both Georgia and Federal Emergency Management Agencies, for $1,525 was just “a figure off the top of their head” for repairs. “That check was just to let the city know that, ‘Hey, we are standing behind you all the way’,” said Williams. That check is basically already spent once in hand, according to an earlier report from Williams, who said city road crews were forced to start and complete the Valley Drive bridge project. Several additional projects are still on the drawing board, said the city manager, mainly the shoulders of several roads that have yet to be repaired. Concern voiced over rebuilding dam at Lake Joy By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer Residents around Lake Joy Dam have raised concerns about Houston County rebuilding a dam they contend is privately owned. "If the county can fix one private problem, then it should fix some of ours," said Edwin Garrett, who lives near Lake Joy. "(Lake Joy) has caused all kinds of problems from backing up." However, Mike Long, attorney for Houston County, said the county did own Lake Joy Dam, since it served as the roadbed for Lake Joy Road. Long said the county owned the road at least through "prescription." "The public use of a road or prop erty for a 20 year period of time” makes any property or road county property, he said. "The road has been there a long, long time. "The county owns the road, and maintains the road," said Long. "(Lake Joy Road) is a public road. It is a county highway." Tommy Stalnaker, director of Public Works for Houston County, said the county repaired Lake Joy Dam since it was the roadbed of a county road. "The entire dam did not buckle,’’ he added, noting that only a few places were damaged by flood waters. Repair work on Lake Joy Dam cost the county $150,000, said Stalnaker.