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Viewpoints
Our views
Worthy cause
Perry Hospital, the community owned
medical facility which serves southern
Houston County and surrounding
communities, is in need of financial help.
This help is not for additional tax dollars or
increased patient fees. In stead, this money is
needed to address specific needs for the
pediatric program.
The pediatric program workers say they
need toys and other items for children who are
patients at the hospital. They also need funds
to help with the case management program for
newborns. This program assists high risk
mothers and their newborns.
To solve those needs, the Joy of Life
Association, working with the hospital, will
stage a “Jailhouse Rock for Perry Hospital”
program Aug. 17. Local volunteers will be
“jailed” for a brief period of time to raise
money for this worthwhile cause.
The volunteers will be lodged briefly in the
lobby of the new Ramada Inn Limited off Sam
Nunn Boulevard. They will make phone calls
to businesses and their friends in the
community to raise “bail” for the pediatric
program.
We encourage readers to select a jailbird or
two and call Thursday to help post bail with a
donation to the hospital pediatric program.
Among the volunteers are Robert Brown,
Craig Oplinger, William Jackson, Jill Kinnas,
Larry Harvey, Walter Lewis, Trudie Warren,
Nancy Whiddon, Skipper Green and Tony
Shelley.
Others are Otis Stocks, Gene Browning,
Larry Bennett, Jerome Bloodworth, Marcus
Tripp, Van Rowell, Bobby Pennington, Joe
Gayle, Terry Harrell, Kelvin Moran, Kelvin
Kahtava, Jimmy Faircloth, Gary Hamlin,
Henry Giles, Lorrie Ragain, Tom Dominey,
Gay Barrett and Elizabeth Flowers.
Also raising funds will be Ross Tolleson,
Julie Whitehead, Tommy Carrier, Don Troup,
Bill Mitchell, Hugh Sharp, Jj Johnson, Danny
Evans, Ben Smith, Jim Daniel, Joe Weiss,
JoAnn Shipes, Tony Romandski, Pat Kelly,
Joanne Wells, Herschel Lawhorn, Lisa West,
David Collins, Betty Gocken and Nelwin
Moore.
Other jailbirds for the cause are Pam Pierce,
Violet Strong, Craig Mac Elroy, Amanda
Reagan, Hal Clower, Ron Curl, Cheryl
Hamby, Steve Wiley, Ann Butterworth, Roe
Arrington, John Wilson, Lynn Moss, Horace
Woodruff, Sandy Kusuda, Jamie Stone, Kathy
Harold. Doug McManus, Bunny Gray, Cissy
Black and Carolyn Bryant.
Cemetery needs funds
Editor:
Although there were only 20 homes in Perry in
1826; the Methodist congregation was organizing
and the first church building was completed in 1827
in what is now Evergreen
Cemetery. Following the
custom of the day, the
land around the church
was used as a burying
ground.
Early records of the
Baptist Church show the
congregation was
organized in the Methodist Church on March 31,
1838, and held meetings there until their sanctuary
was completed in June of that year.
The Perry Presbyterian Church was organized in
the Methodist Church on April 25, 1847, and held
meetings in the Baptist church until their sanctuary
was completed and dedicated in September 1849.
This spirit of brotherliness and fraternity continues
among the people of this town.
Although there are no records to substantiate this,
it is thought that the second building of the Perry
Methodist Church was erected in 1846 at the present
location. Shortly thereafter, the city of Perry
assumed the management and care of Evergreen
Cemetery.
Over the past 150 years, there has been much
destruction; flower pots broken beyond repair,
memorial markers and other concrete items broken
and on the ground. The repair, if possible, and the
removal, otherwise, has been much more than could
have ever been anticipated.
A fund has been established to augment city
(See LETTERS, Page SA)
Houston Tines-Journal
P.O; Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069
(912) 987-1823 • (912) 988-1181 (fax)
Bob fribble President
Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager
Sherri Wengler Advertising Manager
News: Emily Johnstone, Pauline Lewis; Sports: Phil Clark; Advertising
sales: Rick Johnstone; Composition and Classified: Lynn Wright; Circulation
and Photography: Eric Zellars; Bookkeeping: Sue Sapp.
Letters to
the Editor
P.O. Drawer M
Perry, Ga. 31069
Page 4A
Mantle’s accountability demands better
Micky Mantle is dead. Mantle, the
childhood hero of many folks my age,
lost his final at bat Sunday when
cancer claimed his life.
Mantle was, when I was growing up
during the 19505, the icon of the
century. A member of the famous New
York Yankees, he was everything
Michael Jordan is today. He was the
hero, he was the person to look up to,
the person to take command and win a
game.
Mantle was not without his flaws,
but he was still a hero because he gave
so much of himself to his game,
baseball. He entertained us, he
provided excitement in our lives.
In those days, baseball was played
more during the day than during the
night, the World Series was played the
first week of October under sunny,
warm skies, and the Yankees wore pin
stripes.
Frequently, teams would leave
spring training in Florida and travel in
pairs back North for opening day. One
particular spring, the Yankees traveled
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Fringe area study offers city a guide
Several weeks ago the Houston
Times-Journal reported on a Fringe
Area Study which had been prepared
for the city of Perry by Jordan, Jones
and Goulding, a planning and
engineering firm based out of Athens.
The report resulted from a City
Council work session where the Perry
Planning Commission presented and
favorably recommended the study for
Council’s approval.
As part of Jordan, Jones and
Goulding’s contract, once Council had
accepted the final draft, a public
meeting would be held to formally
present the study’s findings to
government officials as well as the
general public. This meeting has been
scheduled for Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. at the
Rozar Park Community Center, OAC
Room.
City Manager Phil Clark recently
invited Gary Bishop from the CB & T
Bank to give a motivational speech to
the city’s department heads.
Early in his speech Gary quoted
that “we don’t plan to fail, we fail to
plan.” He went on to say that “a plan
that is not written down all too often
becomes only a wish.”
As I listened to Gary's message I
began to correlate it with the city
officials’ decision in having the Fringe
Area Study performed. In addition to
Kow to send the Houston Times-Journal a letter
The Times-Journal welcomes letters
from readers. All letters must be signed,
and preference is given to letters about
subjects of local interest. Rarely, if ever,
are mass-mailed letters or electronically
duplicated copies of letters published.
Letters can be mailed to the Times-
Our Policies
Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of
Our Views reflect the position of the Houston Times-Jqprnal. Signed columns
and letters on this page (and elsewhere in this newspaper) reflect the opinions of
the writers and not necessarily those of this newspaper.
Signed letters to the editor are welcomed. Please limit letters to 300 words and
include addresses and a telephone number for verification purposes. No letters
will be published without verification. Letters should be sent to P.O. Drawer M,
Perry, Ga., 31069, or brought to the newspaper office at 807 Carroll St., Perry.
Our liability for an error will not exceed the cost of space occupied by the
error.
We cannot be responsible for the return of pictures or materials unless a
stamped, return address envelope is included.
Our Goal
The Houston Times-Journal is published proudly for the citizens of Houston
- Wednesday, Aug. 16,1995
Jj
Johnson
Editor
back north with the Philadelphia
Phillies.
All of the famous 50s Yankees were
along when the two teams stopped at
Meadowbrook Park in Greenville,
S.C., the home of the Greenville
Spinners minor league baseball team.
In those days, there were no baseball
teams in the South, television exposure
was limited to the Dizzy Dean Game of
the Week on CBS each Saturday
afternoon, and fans followed the games
through the daily newspapers and with
their transistor radios.
The trip to the game is one of the
highlights of my life, and stands as the
pinnacle of father-son activities which
I experienced with my Dad. He got us
tickets and off to the game we went.
William
Chambless
Building inspector,
City of Perry
becoming more than just a wish the
study will serve as an effective
planning tool to be used in the city’s
growth strategy for years to come.
What does the study do? First it is
an inventory of existing conditions,
such as existing land use, land
limitations (wetlands, aquifers, and so
forth), transportation systems, public
utilities, public safety, and public
works.
Second is a recommendation for the
establishment of a defined area known
as the “Perry Fringe Area” which
would consist of all the territory within
a one mile extension of the city limit
boundaries.
In addition, a memorandum of
agreement between Perry City Council
and the Houston County
Commissioners would be executed as
part of the fringe area. This agreement
would allow Perry to make
recommendations to the County prior
to any action on land use issues and
Journal at P.O. Drawer M, Perry, 31069,
or brought to the paper office at 807
Carroll St. in downtown Perry.
Letters can also be faxed to (912)
988-1181 or sent via E-mail on the
internet to Timesjrnl@aol.com. All
letters must be signed and include a
We positioned ourselves where a
guard suggested and when the Yankees
got off their bus to enter the locker
room area, I was ready with my
autograph book.
Yes, I got Mantle’s signature. I also
collected the signatures of several
other important Yankees of that era. In
those days, ball players freely signed
autograph books and spoke to fans as
if they were important to the game.
The Yankees played one whale of a
game that afternoon, pounding the
Phillies 20-1. Whitey Ford thrilled the
crowd by pitching eight innings of near
perfect ball before Rhine Duren. then a
near-rookie blazing fastball pitcher,
loaded the bases on walks to allow
Philadelphia a run in the final inning
Mantle pleased his fans with a
towering home run and sent all of us
home believing all was well with the
world.
Mantle played for the fun of it. He
finally managed to reach SIOO,OOO per
year, an unbelievably small sum of
money when related to today's
A f%J
development proposals.
This process would give Perry a
more pro-active role in potential high
impact issues adjacent to its current
boundaries. However, this process
would not give Perry actual control.
Third, the study discusses
annexation methods as provided by
Georgia State Law. It recommends
policies and sets priorities for future
annexation considerations.
The ability for the City of Perry to
provide services effectively and to
generate revenues to pay for those
services is a major consideration in
any decision process for annexing
specific parcels of land The study
provides various methods to analyze
service delivery versus revenues to aid
in such a process.
In closing, the recommendations
contained in the study serve as a
guideline to the city of Perry regarding
both short term and long term goals.
Through this and other planning
processes your elected officials are
better able to view the future of this
city, confront the obstacles as they
arise and provide the decisions and
direction to secure and to maintain the
quality of life that we enjoy.
(William H. Chambless Jr. is the
building official for the city of Perry.)
telephone number for verification
purposes. Names are not withheld
except in cases of extreme danger.
The Times-Journal reserves the right
to reject any letter because of content,
including items which could libel
another reader.
Houston Times-Journal
and adjoining counties by Houston Publications lnc„ Perry, Ga. Our goal is to
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readers, are proud of. We will reach this goal through hard work, teamwork,
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Member of Georgia Press Association and National Newspaper Association.
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press, or of the right ol the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
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31069. ISSN: 1075-1874.
athletes.
A perfect hero? No, but heroes have
feet just like the rest of us either
made of clay or with an Achilles’ heel
which allows for some failure in life.
But he was big. Bigger than life,
even when he admitted publicly earlier
this year that he wasn’t a perfect role
model.
Speaking during a July press
conference about his recent liver
transplant and his years of drinking
and hard living, Mantle said, “God
gave me the ability to play baseball.
God gave me everything. For the kids
out there ... don’t be like me.”
In each of us there is a God-given
taient and ability of some sort. For
some, it is marvelous athletic ability
such as what Mantle had. He will
remain a hero for me forever.
We must learn from Mantle’s
suffering and become more
accountable for our talents. His plea is
a demand and a challenge to us.
Godspeed, Mickey Mantle. We’ll
miss you.
Recycling
Bill Hafley
City of Perry
Hazardous
waste at home
This is a subject we have heard a lot
about and it is likely we will hear a lot
more household hazardous waste.
The Georgia Department of Natural
Resources is getting concerned about
the growing quantities of this type of
materials in homes all over the state.
They have even set up a study group to
research ways to decrease the
generation of household hazardous
waste.
Maybe a statewide program will be
promoted for the purpose of educating
the public and recommending the use
of alternative products.
But for now, we all have some
hazardous materials lying around the
house and for the most part, don’t
know what to do with them, maybe we
aren’t really sure what is considered
hazardous and what isn’t.
Well for starters, the left over things
in the following categories are
considered to be hazardous: paints and
all other liquids associated with
covering and treating wood and metal.
Things like thinners, furniture
strippers, preservatives and stains fall
in this category.
Then there are the wide variety of
pesticides, fungicides, insecticides,
herbicides and even rat poison and flea
collars. Your house will contain some
hazardous stuff if you have dry cell
batteries, oven cleaner, toilet cleaner,
photo chemicals, disinfectant, drain
cleaners, rug and upholstery cleaners,
floor polish, bleach, mothballs, pool
chemicals or ammonia sitting around.
So now that you have it what do
you do with what is left over? There
are a lot of don’t dos. Don’t put
hazardous waste in the garbage, in a
septic tank, down the toilet, on the
ground or in a neighborhood ditch.
But there are some can dos too. The
first thing is to use up all of the
product for the purpose for which it
was intended. This eliminates most of
the problems.
When it comes to left over paint,
you can let the liquid in latex paint
evaporate and then mix cal litter with
the remainder. Once solidified, such
paint will be accepted at the landfill.
Oil based paint, varnish and the like
are not so welcome. They should be
kept in the container they ,came in,
sealed and stored away from where
children can reach. In some cases, you
can donate paint products to little
theater groups, scout troops or
organizations which might be able to
make use of it.
For some household hazardous
wastes, there just isn’t a disposal
method now available in the state of
(See RECYCLE, page SA)
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