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ns 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