Houston times-journal. (Perry, Ga.) 1994-1999, September 11, 1996, Image 4

Houston times-journal., September 11, 1996, Page Page 4A, Image 4

About Houston times-journal. (Perry, Ga.) 1994-1999 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1996)

Page of 19

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (3.7 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 19

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextViewpoints Our Views Do vote Sept. 17 All Houston County voting precinct loca tions will be open 12 hours Sept. 17 to allow registered voters to decide whether to sell $34.5 million in bonds to build new schools, add wings and renovate many Houston County public schools. The bond referendum will cause a proper ty tax increase estimated at about two mills per year or about SSO dollars per $50,000 in value. If voters pass the issue, they may get a chance to change the method of payment later. Georgians will vote Nov. 6 whether or not to allow counties to collect an additional penny sales tax to pay for school construc tion. Should that measure pass statewide, Board of Education leaders expect to ask county voters to approve a local referendum on that matter during March 1997. We encourage all registered voters to study the issue involved, make a decision of support or opposition and go to the polls. Give the Houston County Board of Education a strong message concerning how they are to handle growth in our schools dur ing coming years. Whether for or against the measure, please vote Sept. 17. Making some progress After years of planning and preparation, including time spent raising the funding nec essary, members of the Perry-Houston County Airport Authority are about to realize some of their dreams. Already, they are offering better service to customers through Bay Creek Aviation. They are also welcoming visitors to the present terminal building which has been spruced up and cleaned up. Within less than two months, they will begin welcoming air visitors to our commu nity through their new, Williamsburg-style terminal which is nearing completion. This building will provide a comfortable, attractive gateway for flyers coming here. It will give visitors a much better impression of the community. This building, which was acquired in part through a SIOO,OOO grant which Rep. Larry Walker fought to obtain, is just part of a modernization plan which Authority mem bers are finalizing. Still to come are new T hangars for aircraft stored at the airport, new taxiways which will provide safer access to hangars, and other physical improvements to compliment the recently installed naviga tional aids. The Perry-Houston County Airport is gaining new customers frequently. There are more aircraft based at the airport than ever before and interest in development of the facility is high. Authority members continue to work with a potential industry which wants a new location. They believe the Perry-Houston County Airport would be that ideal site. We commend the Authority members for obtaining as much financial support as they have through grants and other sources. They have spent wisely and the airport has become a much better facility for their efforts. As they move to the next phases of their plan and begin to generate more income from hangar rentals, the airport will move closer to becoming a self-sustaining facility. That’s good news for everyone. Building of beauty We commend the Houston County Board of Education for deciding to rehabilitate the old Perry Consolidated School into their new offices. The updating of the building is beautiful, and leaves a solid impression that Houston Countians respect their elders the the build ings they left to us. Thanks, school board, for preserving a beautiful piece of county history. Houston Times -Journal P.O. Drawer M • 807 Carroll St. • Perry, Ga. 31069 (912)987-1823 -(912)988-1181 (fax) e mail jjedit@hom.net Bob TVibble President Jj Johnson Editor and General Manager John Smalley. Advertising Sales News: Emily Johnstone. Pauline Lewis, Rick Johnstone: Sports: Phil Clark: Classified Getting to the bottom line about the bond issue Elsewhere on this page today we present a final assortment of opinions concerning the school bond referen dum to be held Sept. 17. By the time we gather again, the voting will be over, and the decision of whether to go into debt $34.5 million to build three new schools, expand with wings at five others, and do exten sive remodeling to another dozen Houston County schools will be known. For the sake of the children. I hope the decision is yes. Cutting through all the other issues which have been brought up concerning the bond issue is the bottom line our children, our most precious resource, need better physical facilities in which to learn. We have in Houston County one of the best school systems in the state. We ~THE HAHUT GALLERY Help Wanted: Houston County Schools desire silent partner(s). s34+ million un secured investment required. Partner(s) must be willing to remain behind scene and stay in background, so wheels of school can go ‘round and ‘round. Reply expected September 17th. 73Y+1. FOR FOR JAILS, HOUSTMIO. (c } AMfM '96 ornKMiTY Writer charges officials want in pockets Editor: It seems as though every elected official in Houston County has a plan to get their hands in the pockets of the citizens of our county. They are openly assisted in these schemes by the local newspapers and shoppers’ guides in this area. These people say they want to take our money and use it for the schools and a new jail and a new courthouse. We need to take a look at all of these legalized theft scams. Today, we will take a look at the school scheme. The Houston County Board of Education has managed to get a special election scheduled for Sept. 17 to get a $34.5 million bond issue put on the ballot. If the voters are gullible and naive enough to pass this bond issue, the properly la* of all citizens will be raised to pay for it. The millage rate will be raised approximately 1.3 mills. Remember, the tax assessors recent ly raised the taxable value of the majority of the properties in Houston County by an outrageous amount. This means that the property owners will take a double hit if this bond issue is passed. This also means you are putting your money in the hands of the same school superintendent, Tony Hinnant, and school board members who have squandered so much of our money in recent years. This is also the same school board which intends to appoint Mr. hinnant to another term as superintendent. Remember, the people don't get to elect the superintendent any more. The board members intend to appoint Hinnant before the two newly elected members take office. Our newly-elect ed officials will not have any vote in this matter. The two members who were voted out of office will take their vote. This is just one more example of the Ads: Brandy Meeks Composition: Chad Lewis; Circulation and Photography: Eric Zellars; Bookkeeping: Our Policies Unsigned editorials appearing in larger type on this page under the label of Our Views reflect the position of the Houston Times Journal- 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 Letters are not published with out verification. Letters should be sent to PO 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 submitted materials unless a stamped, return address envelope is included. Page 4A Wed., July 17, 1996 Jj Johnson Editor have good teachers, good administra tors. and the scores to prove these peo ple are doing their jobs. What we don’t have is space for more students. During the first five months of this year. Houston County added 700 students to the system. Enrollment has now reached 20,000. making this one of the top eight school systems in Georgia in terms of size. Yet, students in 209 of our class rooms meet each day in portable build ings located in the front yards, back lack of integrity and credibility of our board members. I do not intend to trust them with any more of my money. I just took a tour of the new Board of Education building in Perry. This building cost more than a million dol lars of taxpayer money. It is quite a place. There are not any students in this building. However, there is plenty ol expensive molding and inlaid wooden flooring in the building. Of course the Supet iiilendciil’s office lias inlaid wooden flooring. You can do this kind of renovation when money is no object. Some public officials think money is never an object when it is taxpayers’ money. They could have used that money to do some of the school main tenance they say is needed now. Since that money is gone forever, we should think about turning it back into a school for the kids. This is just one example of the wasteful and questionable decisions made by the School Board during recent years. Do you remember Thomas Elementary on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins? They put a lot of money into it to renovate it and then practically gave it away. It is now being used as a private school. That is one more public neighborhood school that is gone from our city unnecessari ly. That school was desperately needed in that neighborhood. It is just one more example of the School Board abandoning Warner Robins. I don’t understand how any citizen could consider voting to pass a Letters to r the Editor P.O. Drawer M - Perry, Ga. 31069 Houston rates-Journal yards and even the parking lots of our public schools. They walk through the rain and under the broiling sun to their classrooms. Many of these portable buildings are not even equipped with plumbing. Yet we have the audacity to argue about whether or not money should have been spent on a new administra tion building and the renovation of a very attractive, and still functional building.' We have the audacity to ponder whether or not our school board lead ers should be trusted with this amount of money, whether or not they have squandered our resources by not repairing the buildings sooner. We have the audacity to announce that we won’t vote for a property tax increase for a variety of reasons, includ * _l~— bond issue as long as this Board and Superintendent are in office. If they all resign, that is a different story. Until then, I intend to vote no. Gerald M. Reed Warner Robins. Thanks for torch support To the Citizens of Perry, Ga.: On July 12, Perry had the privilege of hosting the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay presented by Coca-Cola. We would like to send a heartfelt thanks to the citizens of Perry for your support and enthusiasm during this once-in-a lifetime event. It’s difficult to fully express the feeling of seeing so many of my neighbors come out to share in the excitement of Torch Relay. The energy that everyone displayed as the torch traveled past our homes and business es was unlike anything we’ve seen before in our community. The spirit of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games was truly alive in Perry! As your local Coca-Cola bottler, we would also like to thank the local Olympic task force for the planning and coordination of all activities relat ing to this auspicious occasion. This dedicated group had the responsibility of making the celebration a memorable occasion for years to come, and we personally believe they fulfilled this responsibility tenfold. Thank you again for your support and participation in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay presented by Coca-Cola. Michael A. Nichols, Sales Manager Warner Robins Coca-Cola Dominey gains support Editor: Perry certainly has a recreation director with exceptional qualifica tions for his difficult job. It’s sad that (See LETTERS, Page 8A) Our Goal The Houston Ttmes-Journal is published proudly for the citizens of Houston and adjoin ing counties by Houston Publications Inc., Perry, Ga. Our goal is to produce quality, prof itable. community-oriented newspapers that you, our readers, are proud of. We will reach this goal through hard work, teamwork, loyalty and a strong dedication toward printing the truth. Member of Georgia Press Association and National Newspaper Association. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of griev ances ” Your right to read this newspaper is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Houston Times-Journal (USPS 000471) is published weekly for $21.00 per year by Houston Publications Inc., 807 Carroll Street, Perry, Ga., 31069. Periodicals Class Postage paid at Perry, Ga. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Houston Times-Journal, P.O. Drawer M, Perry, Ga. 31069. ISSN: 1075-1874. ing that we’re waiting to see if Georgians approve as a whole a Nov. 6 referendum to give local counties the right to approve a one-percent local option sales tax for school construction. We have the audacity to ask our children to continue to sit in over crowded classrooms, to be packed into buildings which do not have clean restrooms, which do not have adequate lighting, which were last painted 17 years ago. We have lots of reasons not to vote for the school bonds. But we have more than 20,000 good reasons to vote for the bonds, for remodeled and repaired schools, for expanded schools and for three new schools, including a new middle school for Perry. The question is, do we have the for titude to pay the bill for growth? Billy Jerles Perry City Council Response to the charges levied This is in response to a recent letter written by Tom Dominey, Perry Recreation Director. Mr. Dominey has never discussed with me my position on Perry’s recre ation program, nor has he been pre sent when I discussed recreation dur ing meetings when quotes attributable to me were published. He has written a letter to the editor which contains incorrect information about my recreation program position and my personal life. I believe that a city government has an obligation to provide services to its citizens in the most cost efficient manner possible. Municipal govern ments are formed to provide essential services such as police and fire pro tection, garbage and sanitation, main tenance of streets, public property and facilities, and deliver water, gas and sewer services. These are the core “essential func tions” our city government was creat ed to perform. Other vital areas of an effective city government are regula tory and developmental in nature. We cannot have a successful and growing city without managing and encourag ing our economic development. A city’s recreation program is also vital to the health and happiness of its citizens. However, a recreation pro gram should not be the proverbial tail that wags the dog. In tight budget times such as these, I cannot support expansion of a recre ation program when the other areas of our government function need addi tional funding. When families run into tight finan cial times, they usually cut back on the extras they enjoy. Vacations are not taken, or if taken, are taken at a lesser cost; that boat might have to wait a year, they might put off a trip to Six Flags or whatever is considered non-essential or “luxury” in every individual’s scheme of life. I believe the same logic every family uses should hold true for our government. The city’s budget for recreation is approximately $400,000. Of that $400,000 budget for recreation, approximately $200,000 is spent on salary and benefits for city employees. It is my understanding from the recreation director that 30 percent of the participants in the recreation pro gram are not city residents. On a per participant basis, $120,000 is spent on labor costs and facilities costs for non residents who make no tax contribu tion to fund the programs. Non-residents to pay an additional registration fee, but this added regis tration fee does not come close to making up the cost differential. I believe that we can deliver the same recreation service at a reduced cost. The Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia reports that a majority of cities use an organizational structure which operates recreational programs through a recreation and parks policy board (See RESPONSE, Page SA)