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m InsicH ■uuE Volume 125-No. 3 16 Pages WEON ESDAY, JANUARY 18,1995 50 CENTS Perry, Ga. This Week In Sympathy Thomas Edwin Sandefur Sr. Josephine Bryant B. Smith J. Lamar Johnson Worthie Mae Petty Annie M. Watkins Frances Skupas Svoboda Seepage A 2 Don't forget! Players preparing Special to the T-J The mountains of Austria are about to come alive again with the Perry Players’ production of The Sound of Music. More than 100 individuals were at auditions and a cast of 40 was selected according to Perry Players spokesman Donna James. Kim Hilliard Sharpe of Ma con will play Maria, Dave Gallo way of Perry will play Captain Von Trapp, and Natalie Barfield, also of Macon, will play the Mother Abbess. The Vcm Trapp children are played by Brett Copeland, Maggie Carre 11, Nodi Goodman, Ashley Hewitt, Meghan Kyle, Stephen Matin and Megan Strandburg. Sheila Clopton of Warner Robins will play Elsa Schraeder and Allen Burrell will be Max Detweiler, said James. The Sound of Music opens Feb. 22 and runs Feb. 23-25, and March 1-4 at 8 pm. Shows Feb. 26 and March 5 will be at 2:30 p.m. Reservations are required and will be accepted beginning Feb. 20 at 987-5354. Umpires needed Officials with the Perry Jun ior League are in need of umpires for the baseball season. Persons interested can call 987-5896 or 987-1711. Post office begins task of relocating By LARRY HITCHCOCK News Editor The Perry Post Office will have a new address in the not-too-distant fu ture. The Atlanta headquarters for the U.S. Postal Service has called for pro posals from persons owning property in Perry who would have approximately 3.2 acres for sale. The site should be within the city limits of Perry and should have dimen sions of approximately 310 feet-by -430 feet Deadline for submitting proposals in Jan. 31, Gloria Byers of the Atlanta Postal Service said. “We haven’t even begun to con sider building plans yet,” Byers said. “Right now we are concentrating on getting a location. Once we have con trol on a site, then we will call for proposals from contractors. Once tire building is complete, we will lease the facility from the builder.” The Perry Post Office has been at its present location at the coiner of Carroll and Meeting streets since 1960, ac cording to Bruce Woodard, supervisor of customer services. “We’ve outgrown the facility,” Woodard said. “We only have seven parking spaces for our customers in a aty with apopulation of 15,000. There ire 1,261 post office boxes and our obby is much too small.” Postmaster Butch Kirkley heads a staff of 22 employees in the Perry facil ity- {HP Houston Times- Jouml Perry 76, Peach 74 Panthers win in overtime A 6 Official Legal Organ for Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia New Perry City Manager begins duties By LARRY HITCHCOCK News Editor Phil Clark, Perry’s new city manager, is a firm believer in the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix iL” “My main focus is to continue what’s being done,” Clark said in an interview Friday in his office at City Hall. “I don’t plan on any big changes. We have an excellent staff and political structure here. Things are running smoothly, which is a big advantage over some cities.” Clark’s first day on the job was Jan. 10. “I pretty much hit the ground running,” Clark said. “I worked on the agenda for the city council meeting and on getting a run down from Janice Williams (the interim city manager).” Clark, whqwasasalesrepresentativefor an office Remembering a fallen leader P*. •i t.vSw- ’*t ••• . :■. ■•• ."fsaP-J- .■ " ■ ■ :•••••••>• J'%- r Jf \ «. ‘ MB * \ IN MEMORY Services Sunday and Monday paid tribute to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A program at Piney Grove Baptist Church Sunday included (above) music by the St. James Connection Choir of Perry. The Rev. Wilburn of St. James C.M.E. Church (lower left) pauses in prayer during services. Marchers pass through the city of Perry Monday (lower right) from Oldfield Baptist Church to St. James where a program was held. ■ Perry Chamber members to celebrate 40th birthday By Jj JOHNSON Times-Joumal editor Members of the Perry Area Cham ber of Commerce will celebrate 40 years of service to the community by the chamber this week. The celebration will come during the 39th annual meeting of the cham ber Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Roquemore Convention Center at the Georgia Na tional Fairgrounds and Agricenter. Chief Justice Willis Hunt of the Georgia Supreme Court will be the speaker for the occasion. Among the activities of the evening will be presen tation of several awards for outstand ing community service and the instal lation of Rusty Wood as the new chair man of the organization. Chamber President Peggie H. Wil liams said about 250 persons are ex pected to attend the event, the first the chamber has held in the newly-opened Roquemore center. Hunt, a native of Houston County, has been chief justice of the state su preme court for about 10 months. He was a justice in the court for several years after having served as a superior #1 1§ H] mm J&£ ! f •‘vr.' court judge in the Houston Superior Court for many years. Hunt recendy gave a state of the court speech to members of the Geor gia General Assembly. The speechmay be Hunt's only speech of that nature to the legislature because he is a nominee for a federal j udgeship in northern Geor gia. Two years ago, Hunt kept chamber members well entertained while he in troduced his good friend, U.S. Sam Nunn, D-Ga„ to the chamber meeting. Williams said the meeting would include a celebration of 40 years of service to the community by the cham ber. Several past presidents are ex pected to be on hand and some of the original members of the chamber, still represented among the membership, will be recognized. Perry Mayor Jim Worrall has de clared Thursday as Perry Area Cham ber of Commerce Day in the city "in recognition of all the many accom plishments of the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce and for making the City of Perry a better community in which to live and work." Happy birthday Perry Chamber Salute on 40th birthday of group B4, B 5 supply firm in Hays, Kan., before accepting the Perry post, sees his job as a low-profile one. “As any city manager should do, I’ll stay in the background and help the mayor and council get work done,” he said. “I’ll assist the mayor and council with several projects that are on the drawing board now the new city hall and remodeling die present city hall into new headquarters for the police department,” Clark said. “I’ll be working with the department heads to build a team which will provide the citizens of Perry a good city government. We’ll be working to estab lish a sound budget that will give the people the services they want,” he said. Clark is a former executive director of the Oconee Regional Development Center. He was also director of the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Times-Journal Photos by Eric Zsllars The Perry Area Chamber of Commerce Williams said Wood would take over the chairmanship of the organiza tion from John Sundquist, who will become immediate past chairman and continue to serve on the chamber board of directors. Among the items which Sundquist is expected to mention inhischairman's report are the 18 ribbon cuttings and two ground breakings which the cham ber helped sponsor during 1994. Williams said Sundquist also will probably point to the 47 new chamber members gained during the past year and the graduation of 16 people from the Leadership Perry program as sig (See BIRTHDAY, Page AS)J Department and planning and zoning administrator for the city of Roswell. “My previous experience in planning and zoning has given me an excellent background in all areas of government. Planning and zoning works closely with city governments. It helped me understand the politi cal process ” Clark said. Clark doesn’t see annexation as a way to improve the city, “unless the people want it and the city can afford to expand services to include the area that wants to be annexed.” He sees the Georgia Agricenter as a boost to the city. “It is having a tremendous positive impact on Perry and should continue to add a great deal to the city’s stature as the years go by,” Clark said. Clark believes the city should continue to do (See MANAGER, Page A 5) No date set for opening of new community center Council sets rules for use, plans $200,000 loan to complete work By LARRY HITCHCOCK News Editor No official date has yet been set for the opening of the new Perry Commu nity Center at Rozar Park, but the city council has approved rules and regula tions which will govern the operation of the center. “We’re waiting for the parking lot to be paved before we have the grand opening,” new City Manager Phil Clark said. “We don’t want to have people walking through mud to get to the new facility.” While it won ’ t de lay the center open ing, the city is looking for any dona tions from citizens or businesses to help reduce the amount of money the city will have to borrow to complete the project. “We are looking for any help in the way of landscaping, furnishing, equip ment or woik on the ball fields,” Coun cilman Buddy Roper said. The council authorized the mayor and city manager to borrow up to $200,000 in tax anticipation or short term notes to complete work on the center. The Older American Council re quested a lease on part of the facility and the council tentatively approved the lease at its last meeting. Subject to objections by OAC Regional Director Linda Hampton, the lease would grant the OAC exclusive use of the back rooms of the center Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The city would be able to use the rooms for other senior citizens activities at other times. Woods sets major goals for 1995 chamber year By Jj JOHNSON Times-Journal Editor When Rusty Wood assumes the chairmanship of the Perry Area Cham ber of Commerce during the annual meeting of the organization Jan. 19, he will immediately begin to work on two major goals for the 1995 chamber year. "Our most important task this year has to do with support of the 21st Century Partnership and keeping Rob ins Air Force Base off the Base Re alignment and Closure Commission final list," Wood said earlier this week. "While most of the work has been done in preparation of the B RAC study, and while Maj. Gen. William P. Hallin, commander of the Air Logistics Cen ter, feels good about the situation, we must be prepared to do whatever is needed," Wood said. He said he was pleased that Perryan Tom Daniel has agreed to head both the local effort and the Middle Georgia Military Affairs Committee. "This is a big job and I'm glad he has .agreed to do this for us," Wood said of Daniel, a formerpresident of the cham ber. Features Classified ~..88 L. Hitchcock ..A4 Legals B 6 Editorials A 4 Potpourri B 1 Obituaries A 2 Sports A 6 Phil Clark A 6 PHIL CLARK New City Manager The Tease agreement also calls for joint use of the kitchen and crafts room during the day, with the schedule to be coordinated by the city recreation de partment and the OAC. The operating hours of the center are to be from 9 ajn.-lOpm. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays. Sunday afternoons will be available by prior arrangement with the recreation department If the facilities is rented for special events, such as family reunions or ban - quets, it must be vacated by 11 p.m. on the day of the event The community room or gymna sium will not be available for decorat ing before 5 p.m. on the day the facili ties are rented unless extra time is ap proved by the recreation director, ac cording to the rules. All decorations or special equip ment must be approved by the recre ation department Where the decora tions are to be placed and how they will be attached must also be approved. At the conclusion of the event rent ers must clean up the facility, including the removal of all decorations and materials used in attaching the decora tions. When kitchen facilities are used, all dishes and cooking utensils which be long to the community center must be washed and stored immediately after they are used. If traffic control is needed for any event it will be the responsibility of the renter to arrange for and provide the (See RECREATION, Page A 5) The second of Woods' two major goals has to do with economic devel opment. Woods praised the chamber fra - working with governments in the county to drop the tax on inventory, making the county more competitive for industries. Woods said that during recent years, state officials have reminded local lead ers Houston County and its three mu nicipal governments were among the only governments along 1-75 which collected inventory taxes. Woods said that with the institution of Freeport, and the new focus on the Perry Allied Small Business Park, he expected the park to be filled within five years, But those aren't the only goals Woods will be focusing on this year. He is excited about the 18 persons enrolled in the Leadership Perry class. The group held a two-day retreat at Mcßae this past weekend, and both Woods and Perry Area Chamber Presi dent Peggie H. Williams believe the group got off to a good start. (See WOODS, Page AS)