Newspaper Page Text
Letter writers argue about
future of bond issue !
See page 4A
Volume 126, No. 37
2 Sections, 18 Pages
Wednesday
Sept. 11, 1996
50 Cents
At the
Crossroads
this week
Agricenter hosting
travel rally this week
Members of the Holiday
Ramblers travel association
will hold a rally at the
Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter
Sept. 11-14.
Also at the Agricenter
this week is the Georgia
Quarter Horse Association
futurity Sept. 13-15.
A quarter horse sale will
be held Sept. 14 in conjunc
tion with the futurity.
Spaghetti on menu
These are the menus for
public school students in
Houston County this week:
Sept. 11 Com dog or
spaghetti with Texas toast,
one hot vegetable, one cold
vegetable, two fruits and
cake.
Sept. 12 Nachos with
beef and cheese or barbeque
sandwich, one hot veg
etable, one cold vegetable,
two fruits,’cookie.
Sept. 13 Steak nuggets
with roll or manager’s
choice, one hot vegetable,
one cold vegetable, two
fruits, manager’s choice
dessert.
Sept. 16 Chicken
nuggets with roll or hot ham
and cheese sandwich, one
hot vegetable, one cold veg
etable, two fruits.
Sept. 17 Hot dog or
hamburger steak with gravy
and roll, french fries, rice,
one hot vegetable, two
fruits.
Sept. 18 Taco or sliced
turkey with roll or bun, two
hot vegetables, two fruits,
gelatin with whipped top
ping.
School cafeterias
receive inspection
Several Houston County
public schools were among
the kitchens inspected by the
Houston County
Environmental Health
Department this week.
Inspectors report a score
and any problems with four
major areas of inspection
including employee hygiene
matters, temperature control
of foods, equipment prob
lems and storage of cleaning
products.
Discrepancies are
addressed while the health
inspector remains on the
premises.
Among those facilities
inspected with a major dis
crepancy was Bonaire
Elementary School, Elm
Street in Bonaire, where the
score was 92. There was a
problem with equipment.
At Kings Chapel
Elementary School, 460
Arena Road, Perry, inspec
tors reported problems with
temperature control of foods
and equipment. The score
was 85.
At Lindsey Elementary
School, 81 Tabor Drive,
Warner Robins, inspectors
found a problem with tem
perature control of foods.
The score was 87.
At Northside High
School, Green Street,
Warner Robins, there was a
problem with temperature
control of foods. The score
was 90.
At Publix Super Market
(See REPORT, Page SA)
Houston Times-Journal
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Time to vote
County voters to decide future of $34.5 million
in school bonds during Sept. 17 voting
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Editor
Houston County voters go to the polls Sept. 17
to determine the fate of a request by the Houston
County Board of Education to sell more than $34
million in bonds to Finance new schools, additions
to schools and renovations to several schools.
School Supcrintendeni Tony Hinnant believes
voting will be heavy. Voters face a simple question
as to whether they will approve the sale of bonds
which will be paid for by property owners.
Hinnant said the bond referendum will not
solve all the problems the rapidly growing county
school system faces, but it will help. The system
had 19, 949 students as of Sept. 10, and Hinnant
expects the enrollment to climb past the 20,000
mark within days.
Many of those students are housed in portable
classrooms. The county owns 209 such units.
' y " jll .
PRAISE FOR FAVORITE SON Houston County School Superintendent Tony Hinnant
(left), former county teacher Aurelia Evans (second from left), and State Rep. Larry Walker
(right) stand and salute U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn during a dedication service Sept. 8 at the former
Perry Consolidated School. Nunn was among the last graduates at the building when it was
known as Perry High School. Additional pictures are on page 38.
Nunn helps dedicate
museum in his honor at
restored school building
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Editor
More than a thousand Houston
Countians gathered in front of the
old Perry Consolidated School
Sept. 8 to honor one of their own.
U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.,
celebrated his 58th birthday by
participating in the dedication of
the restored building as the
Houston County Board of
Education offices.
The building, completed as
Perry Consolidated School during
1924, was completely gutted and
renovated last year to serve as the
school offices.
Included in the building is a
one-room old school museum and
a large museum housing memora
bilia from Nunn’s career.
Nunn told the crowd gathered
in the parking lot in front of the
school that he and many others
owed much of what they were to
the teachers who worked with
them at the school.
He recalled that when his moth
er walked him to the school for the
first time on his sixth birthday in
1944, he became involved with an
extended family of persons who
helped him.
“This building is a repository of
memories,” Nunn declared. “It is
here that we learned many of the
lessons of life.
I Local prep football squads
fall to non-region rivals
See page 6A
“We worked with dedicated
teachers and leaders such as Eric
P. Staples, who was our principal
and coach,” Nunn said.
Reading a list of his teachers.
Nunn said, “These teachers
breathed life into this building.
They stood for something in life.”
He called the building a bridge
linking the memories of the past
with the leaders for the future.
Nunn said he hoped the exhibit
he sponsored would enable young
people to leam more about gov
ernment and their country.
Included in the exhibit, in addition
to Nunn memorabilia, is an inter
active video presentation which
allows participants to become part
of the governing process.
Recalling a recent motion pic
ture, Mr. Holland's Opus, Nunn
said the old school building was
much like Holland in that it had
been used by thousands of young
people as the location of their edu
cation and training for life.
Tony Hinnant recalled that the
school board at one time wanted to
tear down the building because of
the dilapidated stage it had reached.
He said the offer by the city of
Perry to purchase the former
board offices adjacent to city hall
on Washington Street resulted in
the two-year renovation effort at
the old building.
Serving Houston County for more than 125 years
“We are 209 classrooms short today,’ - Hinnant
said Sept. 10. “The bond issue will provide funds
to construct about 200 new classrooms, so it will
bring us even,” he said.
Board members elected to have the referendum
now even though there is a statewide referendum
Nov. 6 which could change the way school bonds
are financed.
That constitutional amendment would give
counties authority to have special purpose location
option sales taxes for school construction.
Hinnant has said that should the constitutional
amendment pass, the School Board would likely
ask for a SPLOT referendum during March 1997.
Calculations based on recent years indicate the
single cent of local sales tax would generate
almost sll million per year, thus enabling the
school system to pay for the bond issue in less
than four years.
Hinnant praised Larry Walker,
state representative from Perry, for
his efforts in the renovation.
Walker arranged for labor through
the Georgia Department of
Corrections which allowed for a
lower cost.
Former building principal and
current mayor of Perry Jim
Worrall recalled that he offered to
support Hinnant during the 1992
school superintendent’s race after
he agreed to preserve the school
building.
Worrall. who started to work at
the building as a teacher in 1952,
said he was very attached to the
building. He praised school board
leaders who worked to preserve
the structure.
During the program, persons
who attended the school were rec
ognized by decades of attendance.
All former teachers, administra
tors and staff were also recog
nized.
Walker introduced Nunn and
said he hopes some day that Nunn
will become a candidate for presi
dent.
He recalled some of Nunn’s
accomplishments and praised him
for his work for the midstate area
as well as the rest of the United
Slates.
Tours of the facility completed
the program.
Times- Journal Photo by Eric Zellars
Mini IJ - GA - MAIN LIBRARY SACK 038 n
nijjl ATHENS, GA 30602 ■■
rally
See page 4B I
State claims county
owes $35,000 more
state tax from 1995
Revenue Department says funds to pay
for old digest assessment deviation
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
The State Department of
Revenue has informed Houston
County officials that the county
owes $35,292 in additional state
tax.
That was announced at the
Houston County Commission
meeting Sept. 10.
A letter from the Department of
Revenue to County Tax
Commissioner Juanita Mason
says because "the overall average
assessment level of your 1995 tax
digest is 35.49 percent, which
deviates substantially from the
proper assessment ratio of 40 per
cent" the $35,292 is being
assessed against the county gov
erning authority.
"This ties in closely with our
re-evaluations," commented com
mission chairman J. Sherrill
Stafford.
State law requires county tax
assessors to maintain a tax evalua
tion which charges property own
ers 40 percent of the fair market
value.
When tax digests get very far
away from that figure, the state
requires a new evaluation like the
one Houston County completed
this spring.
"The property values were too
low in 1995 for assessments. That
is the reason for the fines," said
tax assessor Richard Goodroe.
His office has been working on
reassessing property in Houston
County for the past 2'h years.
Goodroe said because this was
done 'in-house' the county saw
savings of some $400,000.
The County Commission may
ask for an appeal of the fine. That
appeal must be filed before Sept.
22, Stafford said.
Commissioner Larry
Snellgrove said he does "have a
problem with this."
t don t Know wtiat recourse we
have with this," he added.
The matter has been tabled
pending county attorney Mike
Long looking further into the situ
ation.
Perry Middle to seek
School of Excellence status
By RICK JOHNSTONE
For the Times-Journal
One school in Perry is in. with
another among the finalists as the
system's nominees in the Schools
of Excellence competition.
School superintendent Tony
Hinnant informed the Houston
County Board of Education at the
Sept. 10 meeting in Perry that
Perry Middle School has received
the nod to represent the county in
the district-wide competition that
recognizes one outstanding school
each year.
"This is a much coveted award
and speaks highly of the teachers,
parents, students and all connect
ed with the school," said board
member Skip Dawkins, who rep
resents the south end of the coun
ty-
He said much time and eflort
had to be spent by everyone at the
school to become eligible for the
designation.
"Although the facility is not the
greatest, the altitude of the teach
ers, parents and students is still
A
The Georgia National Fair
is Oct. 4-13
A letter from the
Department of Revenue to
County Tax Commissioner
Juanita Mason says
because "the overall aver
age assessment level of
your 1995 tax digest is
35.49 percent, which devi
ates substantially from the
proper assessment ratio of
40 percent" the $35,292 is
being assessed against the
county governing authori
ty.
Long said the matter will be
discussed again at the next county
commission meeting scheduled
for Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Annex
in Warner Robins.
Also during the meeting, com
missioners decided it would be
more feasible to relocate utility
lines along the route of the pro
posed Houston Lake Road widen
ing project than to redesign the
route in such a way as to go
around those lines.
The project, slated to begin
construction in the year 1998,
would provide a four-lane road
from Warner Robins to Perry.
"The cost of right-of-way and
other things associated with that
would not be worth it to avoid the
gas line," said Stafford.
Total projected cost to relocate
from an area around Russell
Parkway to Bear Branch Road is
estimated at $3.2 million.
Total projected cost for the
construction project comes in at
about sls million.
The expensive part of the pro
ject for the county is the relocation
of a natural gas transmission line
which provides service to Perry,
Hawkinsville and Cochran. The
line parallels the road for most of
itic louie Horn Wainci Rollins to
Perry.
Stale Department of
Transportation funds do not pro
vide for utility relocation or
rights-of-way acquisition.
there," said Dawkins.
Principal Bobby Pennington
said the teachers deserve a large
portion of the credit. He said that
group stays educationally sound in
their efforts.
"We try to stay positive in all
that we do." said Pennington.
"That causes people to do good
things."
Pennington said that being
nominated for the honor is nice,
but what he really wants is a
repeat of 1989, when Perry
Middle won the district recogni
tion.
On the elementary school level,
Momingside is among the three
schools in the running to represent
Houston County in the process.
Hinnant said the nominees are
in the process of completing all
the paperwork necessary for con
sideration.
A decision on the various cat
egories should be forthcoming
in the next couple of months.
(See EXCELLENCE, Page 8A)
