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Volume 125, No. 10
Wednesday
March 8, 1995
50 Cents
At the
Crossroads
this week
Restaurants pass
health test
Houston County Health
Department officials inspect
ed several public eating
facilities in the county during
the past week. All but one of
the restaurants passed the
inspection.
One restaurant. Chicken
Palace of 626 Courtney
Hodges Blvd. in Perry, was
found out of compliance
with storage of cleaning
products and materials. This
problem was solved before
the inspector left the premis
es. The restaurant scored 72.
Other scores included:
Brown Box Sandwich
Shop and Soul Food. 1601
Moody Road. Warner
Robins, 100.
Houston Medical
Center/Dietetic, 1601
Watson Blvd.. Warner
Robins. 96.
Huddle House, 215
Russell Parkway, Warner
Robins. 100.
Krystal, 1415 Sam Nunn
Blvd.. Perry, 87.
Silver Dollar Saloon, 103
Hodges Blvd.. Perry. 100.
Skipper John's, 1210
Macon Road, Perry, 85.
Commodities to
be given away
Jim Brophy, executive
director of the Middle
Georgia Community Action
Agency Inc., has announced
that USDA surplus com
modities will be given away
March 15, beginning at 8:30
a.m. at the Perry National
Guard Armory on Macon
Street.
For information, contact
the Perry Neighborhood
Service Center at 987-3503.
Blood needed
The American Red Cross
bloodmobile will make three
stops in Houston County this
week. The bloodmobile will
be at Robins Air Force Base
March 10 from noon-4 p.m.
at three iocations.
The bloodmobile will visit
Warner Robins High School
March 14 from 9 a.m.-l p.m.
and Northside High School
March 15 from 9 a.m.-l p.m.
AARP plans sale
Members of the Perry
chapter of the American
Association for Retired
Persons will host a flea mar
ket-yard sale April 1 at the
Stanley Furniture parking lot.
Donated items for the sale are
solicited.
For information, call Don
Norris at 987-2901 or Walt
Rembisz at 987-1908.
Tell Us
The Houston Times-
Journal wants to hear from
you. Call (912) 987-1823 dur
ing business hours, 8:30 a.m.-
5:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday. Fax us anytime at
(912) 988-1181. Visit our
office at 807 Carroll Street in
historic downtown Perry.
Springtime comes to Houston County soon
At home in Houston County
Guide to gardening, home improvement inside today
Houston Times-Journal
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Calhoun hears pitch to buy county hospitals
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
The Hospital Authority of Houston County
apparently will not get to hear what one major
health care provider would pay the county for
Perry Hospital and Houston Medical Center in
Warner Robins.
The new chairman of the authority, Barbara
Calhoun, and County Commission Chairman
J. Sherrill Stafford met with Gary Bell, repre
senting Health Management Associates of
Naples, Fla., on March l and heard about
HMA's interest in buying both hospitals.
According to a news release from Mary
Jane Kinnas, director of marketing for
Houston Healthcare Complex, “As Authority
Chairman, Mrs. Calhoun extended a courtesy
to the Houston County Board of
Commissioners by attending this meeting and
listening to the presentation by Health
Management regarding an offer for purchase.
However, at the close of the meeting, the
Brown opens
Perry gallery
By PAULINE LEWIS
Society Editor
Renowned artist Butler Brown
is now a Perry businessman, hav
ing recently moved his artist’s stu
dio gallery' from Centerville to the
Mildred Evans Warren home at
Northside Drive and Ball streets.
He also has a studio gallery in
Hawkinsville
Brown became a national name
when then President Jimmy Carter
announced on television that
Rosalynn Carter had given him
Butler Brown paintings for his
Christmas gift.
An avalanche of telephone calls
followed and “Life hasn’t been the
same since then,” Brown said.
At Carter’s insistence with
Random House, the publisher of
his book of poems, “Always a
Reckoning,” he selected Brown
over Random House artists to
paint the cover for the book.
Brown hopes to get Carter to come
for an autograph session.
Brown’s first big one-man show
was in 1972 at the Ann Tutt
Museum. Tutt invited then-gover
nor Carter.
He accepted her invitation and
came to her museum one night
after hours, with two state patrol
men, to see Brown’s paintings.
Brown soon placed a selected
painting on loan to Carter for the
governor's office.
(See BROWN, Page SA)
Walker believes changes to
discipline law will help teachers
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
Teachers, principals and other school personnel
may not get all they want out of the Fiscal Year 1996
state budget, but a bill awaiting Senate action may
save them money in the long run if it becomes law.
The measure, authored by State House Speaker
Larry Walker, D-Perry, would protect teachers, school
bus drivers and other authority figures in the educa
tional environment from civil liability when disciplin
ing students, unless the disciplinary action is found to
be wanton and excessive.
It has been passed by the House.
“Discipline in the classroom is being chilled by the
threat of lawsuits,” Walker said. “This bill will protect
teachers and ensure that school boards hold hearings
to determine if their actions are proper.”
Walker’s bill would also force school boards to hire
an attorney to defend the teacher in the event of a law
suit. It also provides for the recovery of court and
other costs if the lawsuit is deemed frivolous.
“This is a strong measure,” Walker said. “I think it
will go a long way toward restoring discipline in our
classrooms.”
Walker said he was “very proud of the bill.”
“Discipline is out of control in some schools,” the
Speaker said. “I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories
from teachers.
“In one instance, one teacher told me she placed her
hand on a child’s shoulder to quieten him down in the
hall and the child told her to ‘Keep your hands oil me
or my daddy will sue you'.”
Walker said his hill had support from every educa
tion organization in the state.
Health Management representative was
informed by Mrs. Calhoun on behalf of the
Authority that the hospitals, Houston Medical
Center and Perry Hospital, as well as Houston
Healthcare Complex, were not and are not for
sale. Since this meeting, which was held
March 1, 1995, no discussion with this repre
sentative or Health Management has taken
place.”
Kinnas told the Times-Joumal that no dol
lar amount was mentioned by the HMA repre
sentative.
“It was my understanding that she
(Calhoun) would take our proposal to the
entire (authority) board,” Bell told the Times-
Journal Tuesday afternoon.
“I asked her to tell the board about our pro
posal so I could come back and make a for
mal, verbal presentation to the board,” Bell
said.
“We are very interested in the area,” Bell
said. “I would like to have the opportunity to
U IS
Times-Joumal Photo by Pauline Lewis
INSPECTING HIS WORK Artist Butler Brown inspects his
paintings on display at his recently-opened Perry gallery.
“The only opposition I’ve heard about is from the
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union),” he said.
Turning to the state budget, Walker said he felt
“pretty good” about the budget as passed by the House
last week.
“Of course, the Senate will make some changes and
then it will go to a conference committee,” Walker
said.
The budget approved by the House included $3 mil
lion for construction at the Agricenter and $2 million
in planning funds for the center.
The appropriations bill also includes SIOO,OOO for
improvements at the Perry airport; $160,000 for the
Aviation Hall of Fame; and $40,000 to set up a com
puter internet among Perry’s elementary, middle and
high schools.
There is also $5 million to complete Russell
Parkway from Warner Robins to Interstate 75.
Walker has ntroduced a bill that would make it pos
sible for the Houston County Commission to receive
ad valorem taxes on hangers at the airport despite the
fact that the hangers are located in Peach County.
“Houston County supports the airport financially,
while Peach County does not,” Walker said. “It is not
fair for Peach County to receive tax funds from the air
port without supporting it when it comes time to spend
those tax dollars."
Another Walker bill clarifies the powers and duties
of city managers.
“It makes it clear that a city manager serves at the
discretion of the mayor and city council and states that
the city manager can not hire and fire anyone He can
(See WALKER, Page SA)
tell the board about what we would provide
the community in terms of services and bene
fits, as well as how much we would be willing
to pay for the facilities.”
Bell said he did “mention an amount, a
very significant amount” to Calhoun and
Stafford during their meeting.
“It was not a written, definite offer, because
we would have to take a closer look at the
operation there,” Bell said, “but it was a sig
nificant amount.
“All I asked was that they start the process
by taking my request to the entire board so I
could come back and make a formal presenta
tion, with a definite dollar amount,” Bell said.
Bell said that if the authority decided it
wanted to hear what the HMA proposal was,
the board could contact other health care com
panies and listen to them as well, without
making any commitment.
‘That way the board could get an idea what the
complex was worth on today’s market,” Bell said.
Traffic stop nets
SIOO,OOO in cocaine
From Staff Reports
It began as a routine traffic stop
and ended with two out-of-state
mend facing drug charges.
Mid-State Drug Task Force
Officer Lt. M. Fennell stopped a
1984 Buick on 1-75 just north of
Perry March 2.
After becoming suspicious, he
called for a drug dog to be brought
to the scene.
According to reports, dje dog
alerted officers to the passenger side
of the vehicle where they found sev
eral round bundles wrapped in duct
tape in the dash behind the glove
compartment.
Alabama firm seeks to
operate local airport
By LARRY HITCHCOCK
News Editor
After hearing that the Perry
Airport does not meet the needs of
the community’s major industries,
the Perry-Houston County Airport
Authority wrestled Monday night
with a proposal from an Alabama
firm that might solve those prob
lems.
Rusty Wood, chairman of the
Perry Area Chamber of Commerce,
told the authority that PPG,
Northrop-Grumman and other
industries spoke up about the lack
of facilities at the airport.
“The Existing Industries
Committee of the chamber would
like to see a professional airport
company run the airport,” Wood
said.
“Our major companies which fly
people to Perry have their pilots
County upholds decision
on subdivision drainage
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Special to the T-J
Houston County commissioners
agreed during their regular meeting
Tuesday to uphold a policy they
passed last December requiring a
surveyor or professional engineer
who designs a subdivision to certify
on the plat certain criteria that would
guarantee certain drainage problems
would not be brought about by the
subdivision design.
Some local surveyors who
attended the meeting voiced their
concerns over the policy.
“The letter we received says that
all development will have an
increased runoff rate of one per
cent... or an increased volume of one
percent and it doesn’t allow us any
leeway,” said Robert Story.
He said some subdivisions would
require more than one percent and
he thinks most of the drainage prob
lems being felt by residents in some
of the county's subdivisions are
Index
Classified B 7
Church B 8
Editorials A 4
Legals B 3
Home of the Georgia National
Fair and Agricenter
Bell said he was not told by Calhoun that
the facilities were not for sale. “I was of the
understanding that she would ask the entire
board,” he said.
Bell agreed with the news release on one
point he has not heard from Calhoun or
Stafford since the meeting.
“The people of Houston County should be
assured that the Hospital Authority is in full
agreement to continue operating all facilities
of the Houston Healthcare Complex, includ
ing Houston Medical Center and Perry
Hospital, without any change of ownership,”
Dr. Skip McDannald, chief executive officer
of Houston Healthcare Complex, said, accord
ing to the news release.
“Our organization, including both hospitals
will continue to be governed and operated by
the Houston County Hospital Authority, as a
public, non-profit medical provider with a
commitment of providing quality health care
services to our community,” he said.
Bernard Ellis Morgan, age 23, of
Clarksville, Tenn., and Byron
Antonio Trice, age 23, of Miami,
Fla., were taken into custody and
transported to the Houston County
jail in Perry.
A search of the vehicle netted a
little over six pounds of suspected
cocaine, said Houston County nar
cotics investigator Wayne Franklin.
Street value would be around
SIOO,OOO. 4
"This is the largest quantity of
cocaine we’ve found recently in
Houston County,” he said.
No bond has been set for the pair.
drop the passengers off here and
then the planes have to fly on to
Macon to /efuel,” Wood said,
“Other small communities with
major corporate airplanes also pro
vide some type of transportation for
the pilots to use while their passen
gers are conducting business.”
Phoenix Aviation, an Alabama
based airport management compa
ny, presented a fixed base operator
proposal to the authority and the
panel went over it almost line-by
line with some sections drawing
considerable objections.
Authority Member Dana
Dickson said Phoenix Aviation
requested that the authority allow it
to operate the airport for 18 months
without paying the authority any
rent; that the authority pay all utili
(See AIRPORT, Page SA)
being caused by improper construc
tion. “What we’re seeing is the
design is probably the least of our
problems. We feel like it’s the con
struction and the county doesn’t
have the manpower to look out for
all the construction that is going
on.”
Both Story and Houston County
Commission Chairman J. Sherrill
Stafford agree this could meaan an
increase in cost.
“This letter creates a burden on
developers which means it’s going
to increase the cost of the subdivi
sion development, it’s going to
increase the cost to the homeowner,”
said Story.
According to Stafford, “If we go
from a design which is now a 10-
year plan to a 25-year plan, this
means there will be larger pipes put
in the streets... this will end up with
a cost going to the ultimate buyer of
(See COUNTY, Page SA)
Obituaries A 2
Potpourri B 1
Sports A 7
Woods and Water... A 8
4
JL
