Newspaper Page Text
Sports
Baseball stinks,
but rec dept,
does well in
other areas
Recently, several parents have
raised some serious concerns about
the state of youth baseball and soft
ball at the Perry Recreation De
partment.
I've listened to their concerns on
two different occasions. And, there
are, without doubt, some deep trou
bles in the Parks and Recreation
Department, as far as baseball and
softball are concerned. Troubles
such as . ..
. . . umpires and officials not
knowing the rulebook. It is one
thing for an ump not to call a con
sistent strike zone. After all, if the
Major League in professional base
ball has that problem, than you can
easily expect youth leagues and
other such leagues to have that
problem. That is not at stake here.
What is at issue here is umpires
not knowing the rule book as far as
number of players a team can start
with, the ground rules of a particu
lar park, the size and weights of
bats, the rule on when a inning
could start when the time limit is
drawing near, etc.
It really does not give coaches
confidence when the umpire comes
out before a game and asks a coach
about what rules are going to be
followed. The umpire is supposed
to know those rules.
Then there is the scorekeeper.
Under Perry Parks and Recreation
rules, the scorekeeper is a third offi
cial, and has a voice in the decision
when a call is protested (and,
judgement calls, balls, strikes,
outs, are not normally subject to
protest). However, many of the
scorekcepers can barely keep a
book. And, many of the parents
complained that the scorekcepers
were easily distracted from the
game.
Also, there was not a rule book
at the location of the games. Any
protests, then, could not be squared
with a hard copy of the rules.
. . . lack of accountability for
equipment. Coaches told of being
given equipment for their teams,
and not be required to sign for the
equipment. This is a problem wait
ing to happen. The Parks and
Recreation Department is depending
on the honesty, and memory, of
their coaches.
A coach could easily say that he
had not received a certain amount of
equipment, or could substitute infe
rior equipment, keeping the city's
equipment for himself. A coach
could misplace a piece of little used
equipment, forgetting that be had
the equipment. A sign-out slip
would show that he had received the
equipment.
. . . bad equipment. Complaints
abounded from parents and coaches
that many of the players had to play
with uniform pants that were too
small, too large, or too patched.
The most serious complaint came
from girls softball, with parents and
coaches saying those players did not
have enough batting helmets. No
Please see Roley, page 7A
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‘ PATTERSON *X
CHIROPRACTIC CENTER
1304 Macon Road • Perry, Georgia • 987-7555
Evans purchases Cordele Motor Speedway
Makes plans to move Motorsports Weekly operations from Perry to Cordele
3y HARVEY SIMPSON
Special to the HTJ
Perry businessman Danny Evans has completed the pur
chase of the Cordele speedway, purchasing the track from Ben
Sumner Sr.
Both Evans, who immediately changed the track's name to
Cordele Motor Speedway, and Sumner declined to reveal the
amount of the saJe. The facility is in its 11th year of opera
tion. Evans becomes the third owner of the track. Sumner pur
chased the track from owner-builder Johnny Cape in 1986.
Evans is no stranger to racing, owning, building, driving
and racing several cars at local tracks. He also owns and Dub
Williams takes over as executive
secretary at Perry Parks and Rec
By VETO F. ROLEY
Sports Editor
Perry Parks and Recreation has a new voice, with
Melba Williams taking over the executive secretary
position at the recreation department held by Karen
Nikitopoulos
Nikitopoulos left the recreation department in June
for a similar position with the Cotton Commission.
Williams, whose husband, Jack, was transferred by the
military from South Carolina to Robins Air Force
Base, was the office manager for five years at Union
Camp’s facility at Sumter, S.C.
Despite coming from an multi-person office
environment in South Carolina, Williams said there
were a lot of similarities between the position she held
with Union Camp and the position she holds with the
recreation department. At Union Camp, Williams was
in managed the office, was responsible for payroll,
personnel and computer hardware and software
operations.
"It's exciting and fun," said Williams of her first few
weeks on the job. "It doesn't seem like work. It's
different from making a product because we are offering
a service, we are offering things for kids."
Williams has several hobbies, including playing the
Kovac wins
top honors
in publicity
tourney
Pat Kovac took first place
honors in the Perry Horseshoe
Pitchers Club Publicity tournament
held at the horseshoe pitching pits
at the Georgia Agricenter Saturday.
John Rackley and Jerome
Kennedy took second and third re
spectively. Perkins Jenkins, Davis
Cosey and Wofford Synard also
made it to the championship round.
"It was enjoyable," said PHPC
president Kennedy. "We were a lit
tle disappointed that we didn't have
as much participation from non
club members that we anticipated."
Over all, 15 pitchers showed up to
throw horseshoes.
People interested in the PHPC
should call Kennedy (987-3759),
Jenkins (987-3123) or Ann Synard
(987-3359).
The PHPC will host the Georgia
State Singles Championship Sept.
3 at the Agricenter.
Local football practice starts Aug. 1
Both Westfield and Perry foot
ball teams will start fall practice on
Monday, Aug. 1.
Panther head coach John
Stephens said that his players
should report to the ficldhouse
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Michael Froehllch pitches
a shoe at the PHPC Pub
licity Tournament Satur
day.
around 5 p.m. The Panthers plan to
be on the field at 5:30 p.m.
Hornet head coach Ronnie Jones
will start the defense of the
G.I.S.A. runner-up trophy at 5
Please see Football, page 7A
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piano, cross-stitch and painting. She said she was
looking forward to the completion of the community
center, which will include an arts and crafts room. "My
husband and I like working with kids," she said.
"I hope that I can bring something to this job," said
Williams, "and do my part to make a difference.”
Setting in a desk that looks across to where the
community center is being built, Williams said that
she was excited about the prospects of moving into the
new community center.
"It's a great opportunity to be involved in the start
of something," said Williams. "It gives you a sense of
ownership. I've been watching the bricks go up. They
seem to be making good progress."
Williams has one child, a two-and-a-half year old
daughter named Brittany. "I can't wait to get her in
volved in some of the programs here when she is old
enough," she said.
"It's a good change," said Williams of her new job.
"I'm really looking forward to it.
"The people have really been friendly. I really like
Perry. The city of Perry impressed us. When we first
came here, we saw that it was a clean, neat looking
town. Downtown is a place you can go after 5 p.m.
and not worry."
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lishes Motorsports Weekly.
"My wife (Julie) and I spent so much time at the various
tacks around that it evolved into our decision to buy this one,"
Evans said.
"Cordele is one of the finest facilities anywhere, and with
us wanting to make racing our main business, we decided on
this track. It has always had a good car count and a loyal fan
base. And, we want to continue that by putting on a good
show each week."
Evans said the track was renamed in order to reflect the
change in ownership as well as to call attention to where the
Sign up for
fall sports at
Park and Rec
The Perry Recreation Depart
ment announced today the registra
tion dates for the Fall youth pro
grams.
Registration begins Monday,
July 18, for football, Cheerleading
and soccer. Football and Cheerlead
ing will be for children age 5-12,
while soccer will be for children age
5-16. Registration will continue
until August 19, or until the teams
are filled.
Soccer will be affiliated this year
with the Georgia Youth Soccer As
sociation, and there is a mandatory
$11.50 per player state registration
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Houston Times-Journal
Page 6A
Wednesday, July 27,1994 "Houston Times-Journal
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Melba Williams Is the new secretary at the Perry HarKs
and Recreation Department. She replaces Karen Niki
topoulos.
2323 HIGHWAY 127 PERRY GA
track was located.
Evans plans to move his weekly racing newspaper opera
tions to Cordele, and may eventually make his home there as
well. He said he envisioned no immediate changes in the oper
ation of the track.
"We're going to try and provide drivers as good a racing sur
face as possible while staying with the same format the Sum
ners had been using," said Evans.
"We're just real happy to be locating in Cordele," said
Evans. "We're in it for the long haul as we plan to be here as a
contributing member of the community.”
Park & Recreation Fall Registration Fees
< * s
Football - City: S2B (1 Child) $56 (2+ Children)
County: $42 (1 Child) SB4 (2+Children)
Cheerleading -
City: $8 <1 Child) sl6 (2+ Children)
County: sl2 (1 Child) $24 (2+ Children)
Soccer: City: sl3 + 11.50 (1 Child)
$26 + 11.50 (2+ Children)
County: $19.50 + 11.50 (1 Child)
$39 + 11.50 (2+ Children)
fee in addition to the regular regis
tration fee. Information will be
provided about soccer at the time of
registration.
The age control date for football
and cheerleading is the age prior to
Sept. 1 of the current year. For soc-
cer, the age control date is the age
prior to Aug. 1 of the current year.
Individuals registering for the
first time with the Perry Recreation
Department need to bring a copy of
their birth certificate to keep on
file.