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Iri^id © M 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 Vhg|»f iff • ] ; pi. I If I * f firrar .1 wmSKmm >sed 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 V"" 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. I <J> X 5 o o * 5 5 J i§ i / | £ f / LmHMnM I- - T COMMERCE STREET liT- CARROLL S I REE 1 I I MAI . 4 STREET §■ I 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)