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Volume 125 No. 2
14 Pages, 2 Sections
WEDNESDAY,JANUARY 11,1995
50 CENTS
Perry, Ga.
This Week
Sympathy
Marianne Kidd
Leroy Alford
See obituaries, page A-2.
Don't forget!
SCLC election
is Thursday
Members of the Houston
County branch of the Southern
Christian Leadership Confer
ence will meet Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.
at the Warner Robins C.M.E.
Church, 200 Coleman Blvd., for
the purpose of electing officers.
All members are asked to par
ticipate.
Young Farmers
plan hog show
Members of the Houston
County Young Fanners Asso
ciation will host the 19th annual
Houston County Market Hog
Show Feb. 18 at the Georgia
National Fairgrounds and Agri
center.
According to advisor Tun
Lewis, this year's show will fea
ture approximately 68 FFA and
4-H members ranging from 9-
19 years of age showing about
100 bogs.
Toe would-be exhibitors pur
chased their hogs during De
cember. Lewis said participants
leant about nutrition and health,
showmanship, swine breeds, and
personal responsibility regard
ing finances.
Tbs public is invited to at
tend the show which will begin
at 1 p.m. An auction immedi
ately following the show will
allow local businesses and indi
viduals to bid on their favorite
hog.
For additional informauon,
contact Lewis at Perry High
School at 988-6312.
Celebration of
King's Birthday
will be Jan. 16
From Staff Reports
Houston County residents will have
at least two opportunities to participate
in organized activities marking the
birthday of the late Dr. Matin Luther
King Jr. on Jan. 16.
A Freedom March will be held that
day, beginning at 10 ajn. at the Old
field Baptist Church off Houston Lake
Boulevard in Perry. Marchers will
gather at 9:30 a.m. for the event.
The march route will proceed west
from Oldfield across Swift Street to
Houston Lake Drive to Main Street
near the Eastgate Shopping Center.
The route continues west to the Hous
ton County Courthouse.
From that point, participants will
continue west toGen. Courtney Hodges
Boulevard and then north along W.F.
Ragin Drive to near St. James C.M.E.
Church for an outdoor ceremony.
Organizers say the service will be
held at New Hope Baptist Church, less
than ablocknorth on W F. Ragin Drive,
if weather is unsatisfactory.
For additional information contact
the Rev. John Mclntosh at 988-3152.
Members of the Pineygrove Mission
ary Baptist Church, the Si James Con
nection Choir and the Houston County
Community Choir will host a celebration
at the Pineygrove church near Kathleen at
6pm r an. 15.
Falcon blanket
Adopted patient gets blanket A 6
Houston Times-Journal
Council eyes downtown parking changes
Business owners, employees couldn't park on some downtown streets
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
Owners of businesses located on
several streets around the Houston
County Courthouse in downtown Perry
and their employees may soon find
themselves paying big fines. The fines
will come if they park on the street near
their workplace.
The Perry City Council approved
on first reading Jan. 3 an addition to
the city code which will prohibit park
ing on certain portions of five down
town streets by business owners and
their employees. Violators face a SSO
fine.
Council will discuss the matter again
Jan. 17 at 6:30 pjn. at the Perry City
Hall.
All the streets covered by the ordi
nance change now have two-hour park
ing limits for the general public. City
Attorney David Walker told The Times-
Jourrnl that business owners and em
ployees would not be allowed those
two hours.
“Business owners and their employ
ees can not park on the streets covered
by the ordinance, even for the two
Officially closed for repairs
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Tlrnot-Journal Photo by Eric Zollart
WORK HAS BEGUN As the sign indicates, U.S. 41 between Perry and Warner Robins is closed
for repairs at the Mossy Creek bridge. The bridge supports, weakened by the July 5 floods, are being
replaced. The road will be closed for several months. Persons headed north can detour by Houston
Lake Road.
School board to make itself more accessible to public
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
The Houston County Board of Edu
cation took the first step toward mak
ing itself more accessible to the public
Tuesday.
The board, following a suggestion
from member Hubert Hutcherson that
the panel work to improve its public
image, heard a parent, Randi Head, ask
the board to consider meeting at night
so more parents could attend.
After approving ameeting schedule
which continues the regular meetings
on the second Tuesday of each month
at 1 p.m. in the board office, the board
then approved a motion by Shirley
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia
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hours allowed the general public,”
Walker said.
The area covered by the ordinance
change is in the courthouse area.
The ordinance does have exemp
tions for parking on the streets next to
the courthouse. The sides of the streets
next to the courthouse square are ex
empt from the ordinance and from the
two-hour parking limit.
The ordinance change reads:
“No person employed by, or oper
ating a business or profession upon
any of the streets outlines by Sec. 18-
37 above where on-street parking is
controlled, shall park a privately
owned or company owned vehicle in
said controlled parking spaces for
the purpose of using such space as a
substitute for an off-street parking
lot, by leaving or storing such ve
hicle in such controlled on-street
parking space while the owner or
operator performs his duties at his
regular place of employment. The
provisions of this paragraph shall be
effective between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Saturday of each
week except on those days desig
Lowery that set the group’s work ses
sion on the Monday night before each
board meeting.
The work sessions will rotate around
the schools in Houston County, start
ing with Bonaire Elementary on Feb.
14. The first hour, from6:3o-7:30p.m„
will be devoted to hearing from par
ents. After the public input portion, the
board will conduct its regular work
session from 7:30 p.m. until approxi
mately 9:30 p.m.
The April meeting, however, will
beheldonaThursday—April6—and
the work session will revert, for one
month, back to the 10 a.m. before the
board’s 1 p.m. meeting. The change
Sokinas is winner
She takes Georgia Tech award A 5
nated as official holidays of the city.”
The next paragraph sets the fine
for conviction, guilty plea or nolo
contendere plea to a violation of the
ordinance at SSO, plus court costs.
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Area shaded gray would be off-limits for downtown business
owners and their employees. The only area downtown were owners
and workers could park would be the spaces facing Houston
County Courthouse.
was suggested because the second Tue
sday, April 11, would fall during spring
break. To hold the work session the
night before would conflict with many
mid-week church services on Wednes
day night, so the board agreed to hold
the work session at 10 am.
Skip Talbert was elected chairman
for the coming year, succeeding Zell
Blackmon, who did not seek re-elec
tion to the board. Shirley Lowery was
elected vice chairman.
Science instruction took up much of
the meeting.
Robert Sipe told the board that sci
ence is being looked at closely at the
local, state and federal levels. He said
The streets, orportions thereof, cov
ered by the ordinance include Jemigan,
Ball, Washington, Carroll and Main
streets. (See accompanying map for
which street portions are part of the
Parking proposal
draws mixed response
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
Downtown businesses appear di
vided on the proposed changes in
Perry’s parking ordinance.
The dividing line seems to fall
between those businesses classed as
retail merchants and those considered
service or professional.
Nancy Jackson, owner of the Sug
arplum Tree children’s clothing store
at 917 Carroll St., strongly supports the
ordinance.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. ‘‘l
congratulate the city council for going
ahead and doing it.
“It’s tough when merchants and their
employees park in the street. How do
they think their customers can get to
their stores?
“Our employees park behind the
building. They are told if they park on
the street, they’re fired,” Jackson said.
“We don’t have enough parking places
for downtown as it is. We can do some
thing about employers and employees
parking on the street.
“My 80-year-old mother parks in
the city parking lot (north of Com
merce Street) when she comes to town,”
Jackson said.
On the other side of the issue, Julie
Whitehead, manager of Tran South Fi
nancial at 923 Carroll St, said retail
merchants should urge the city to find
a solution to the problem, rather than
penalize the people who work in the
downtown area
‘My business has 700 customers
who park on the street to do business
here and they don’t have problems
finding parking spaces,” Whitehead
said. “If my customers don’t have prob
lems, others shouldn’t have, either.
“There are downtown businesses
which have visitors who park on the
street tying up parking spaces who do
nothing but sit in the business for hours
on end,” Whitehead said.
“I’m a taxpayer just like any other
county resident and I feel like I should
the school system had just received a
set of federal guidelines on science
instruction and he would be issuing
suggestions for science curriculum to
the schools soon.
He also told the board about a
$225,000 grant from the James L.
Knight Foundation that Mercer Uni
versity received last week to help
strengthen Houston County school sys
tem science and math programs.
The grant program, called “Excel
lence in Education,” is an effort to
foster community-wide initiatives to
improve the quality of public school
education and enhance professional
development programs for teachers.
Index to Features
Classified ...,6B J. Compton ....A4
Deaths A 2 Sports A 6
Phil Clark A 6 Church B 3
Legals B 3 Potpourri B 1
Hitchcock.... 4A Remember A 4
parking ban zone
There was some discussion among
members of the council about includ
ing some city holidays in the ordinance
change, since not all downtown busi
nesses closed on all city holidays. Coun
cil tabled that discussion until the Jan.
17 meeting.
A second ordinance change, one
which could affect anyone who parks
in the two-hour zones, is part of the
council's action.
Parking enforcement officers
mark with a piece of chalk the tires of
vehicles to determine the length of
time a car is parked in a parking
space.
The proposed ordinance would
make it unlawful for anyone to “tamper
with, erase, conceal or attempt to con
ceal any marks placed on the vehicle,
or tire thereof, by a police officer or
parking enforcement personnel of the
city for the purpose of measuring the
time the parking space was occupied
by that vehicle.”
Violation of the ordinance will
be punishable by a minimum $25
fine.
be able to park anywhere I want,” she
said.
“The retail merchants are looking at
the problem, not the solution,”
Whitehead said.
“The city should approach owners
of the few available vacant lots in the
downtown area and make them a rea
sonable offer for the property. There’s
one small lot that’s posted for custom
ers of a downtown business that is
empty most of the day. It could hold 12-
15 cars,” Whitehead said.
The paved lot beside the old theater,
at the southwest comer of Ball and
Commerce streets, was another possi
bility mentioned by Whitehead.
Ford Wilson, manager of Ist
Franklin Financial across from the
courthouse at 811 Carroll Sl, was one
service-oriented businessman who fa
vored the idea.
(See RESPONSE, Page SA)
Chamber to Hold
Annual Meeting
From Staff Reports
Members of he Perry Area Chamber
of Commerce will hold their annual
meeting Jan. 19.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the
Roquemore Conference Center at the
Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter. Dinner will be included.
Guest speaker will be Chief Justice
Willis Hunt of the Georgia Supreme
Court.
Hunt, a native of Houston County,
was a superior court judge in tire local
judicial circuit for several years before
being named to the Georgia Supreme
Court.
He was elevated to the chief justice:
position about 12 months ago.
Call 987-1234 fix tickets and reser
vations.
Mercer will work with Houston
County middle school math and sci
ence teachers during the course of the
three-year grant to evaluate and im
prove their math and science curricula.
Representatives from the university
will work with teachers both in and out
of the classrooms.
Mercer was one of eight colleges
that received a total of more than $2
million in grants.
The board also heard from B.G.
Smith, regional coordinator for the
Georgia Youth Science and Technol
ogy Center at the Museum of Aviation
(See SCHOOLS, page 2A)