Newspaper Page Text
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CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
Volume 127, No. 4
3 Sections, 28 Pages
Wednesday
Jan. 29, 1997
50 Cents
At the j
Crossroads |
Young Fanners to
meet this week
Members of the Georgia
Young Farmers
Association will meet at
the Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter
Jan. 31-Feb. 1. Also sched
uled during the coming
week is the Heart of
Georgia Gun and Knife
Show, Feb. 1-2, and the
Rehoboth Association Wild
Game Cookoff, set for Feb.
6.
Buy a card catalogue
Remember going to the
library and admiring the
warm hardwood card cata
logues and wishing to own
one?. Card catalogues are
now available to the public
from the Houston County
Public Library system.
Bids are being taken
through Feb. 28 for used
card catalogues.
Contact Vivian Fuller at
987-3050 or visit any
Houston County Public
Library for more informa
tion.
• '• yr;*''
Want a tree?
In conjunction with
National Arbor Day Feb. 21,
the City of Perry and the
Perry Beautification
Commission will give away
free trees. Dogwoods, saw
tooth oaks and crape myrtles
are the species which will be
offered.
Distribution of these trees
will take place at 10 a.m.
Feb. 21 at City Hall and will
continue until supplies are
exhausted, a spokesman for
the City Recreation depart
ment said.
Turkey and veggies on
the school lunch menu
Students in Houston
County public schools will
have these choices this
week:
Jan. 29 Tacos or sliced
turkey with roll or bun, two
hot vegetables, two fruits,
gelatin with whipped top
ping.
Jan. 30 Submarine
sandwich or Southern chick
en with roll or bun, lettuce,
tomato, pickle, two hot veg
etables, two fruits, banana
pudding.
Jan. 31 Pizza or man
ager’s choice, one hot veg
etable, one cold vegetable,
two fruits, baked dessert.
Feb. 3 Hamburger or
chicken fried steak with
gravy and roll, lettuce,
tomato, pickle, french fries,
one hot vegetable, two
fruits.
Feb. 4 Chicken sand
wich or spaghetti with Texas
toast, two vegetables, lettuce
and tomato, one fruit, cake.
Feb. 5 Com dog or
fish sticks or nuggets with
roll, macaroni and cheese,
one vegetable, two fruits,
gelatin with whipped top
ping.
Most restaurants clear
health inspection
Most restaurants checked
during the past two weeks
by representatives of the
Houston County
Environmental Health
(See FOOD, Page SA)
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Houston Times-Journal
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Perry Council discusses making city grow
Panel looks at annexation as way to increase tax base , buys $400,000 aerial fire truck
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
“What does it take to crank this up and get
our city growing?” was the question asked of
Perry city council members by local resident
E.L. Lewis during council’s regular session
Jan. 21.
Lewis told council he is concerned about
Perry’s growth rate after noticing the rapid way
other cities, such as Warner Robins, are “grow
ing tremendously.”
Councilman Hervia Ingram said he thinks it
seems as if some areas are not growing, but
“when people who have been here look back
10 years you can see we have grown.”
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Times-Journal Photo by Erk ZoHars
DEDICATION A group of Momingside Elementary students gathered to pay tribute to Monica Allen by dedicate a
book entitled "Amazing Grace" in her honor to the school's media center. Pictured along with her parents, Willie and
Felicia Vance, are: Tammy Folds, teacher, Ashley Hatcher, Joslin Linder, Bethany Anderson, Kasey Zell, Brandon
Whitney, Moreemi Davis, DJ. Aaron, Drew Cannon and Charkeen Robinson.
Students, community keep alive memory of 10-year-old Monica Allen
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
£-~yen-year-old Monica Allen struggled for
J breath as she lay in her bed Dec. 31,
C/ 1996.
Monica had suffered a long bout with cancer
since early 1995.
As her mother, Felicia Vance, who spent
many, many hours by her daughter’s side dur
ing her illness, looked at her little one, she
knew Monica did not have much longer to live.
On this day, though, Monica was concerned
about her beloved pastor, John Scott, who had
recently undergone heart surgery.
v “Mom, please go to Elder Scott’s house and
find out how he’s doing so I’ll know,” asked
Monica.
Felicia found someone to sit with Monica,
then did as her daughter asked. She returned to
report that Scott was doing OK. This bit of
news made Monica smile and sigh, “Good.”
Monica’s breathing worsened and Felicia
Burke claims progress made in prosecution backlog
By RICK JOHNSTONE
For the Times-Journal
Houston County District Attorney Kelly
Burke campaigned on a need to do away
with a backlog of cases and move cases
more swiftly to justice.
As his first month on the job nears com
pletion, Burke says some headway is being
made in doing just that.
“I had originally thought it would take 18
months to accomplish, but I am now revising
that to one year,” the prosecutor said Jan. 28.
Burke said about 60 cases have been
knocked off the Houston Superior Court
trial calendar this month, many of them
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Earlier in the evening during council’s work
session, councilman Bobby Glover expressed
some of the same concerns as Lewis.
“I think we need to do some aggressive
things to bring other property into the city
instead of squeezing the population in the city
now dry,” said Glover, referring to annexation.
“I think it is time to do just that,” agreed
Mayor Jim Worrall.
Councilman Ralph Gentry asked building
official Steve Howard to look into implement
ing procedures that would begin annexation.
Howard pointed out to council that it takes
large expenditures of funds to provide the
infrastructure needed in any expansion of the
phoned her husband, Willie, who works with
the Georgia Forestry Commission.
“Babe, you’ve got to come home,” she told
him.
He hurried home to find his wife talking to
Monica.
“Baby, listen to Momma. Right now you’re
in darkness but as soon as you step over into
the light, you’ll see Jesus,” said Felicia.
Willie and Felicia both told Monica how
much they loved her.
A bright smile lit her face and then “it was
like she went away,” recalled Willie.
The funeral held for Monica at Momingside
Elementary school gymnasium had about 600
people packed in to bid the little girl good-bye.
Instead of flowers, Monica had asked for
balloons. She loved balloons because they do
not die like flowers, said her mom.
The gymnasium had balloons floating
everywhere.
After the burial service, the thin balloons
stopping short of a jury trial.
“I personally had 20 Habitual violator
cases put on the docket, with 19 of them
being pleaded out,” he said. That partly
resulted from not making deals with viola
tors, he added.
In the upcoming month there are expect
ed to be about 100 cases on the court calen
dar, according to Burke
As for the size of the backlog he faced
upon starting the job, Burke explained there
are two ways to look at it.
“There were between 5,000 and 6,000
case warrants,” he said, “but some individu
als might have several warrants.” He said
city limits.
“We can do a lot of things with annexation,”
said Howard. “We have to show that we can get
water and sewer into these areas.”
One expenditure approved during the regu
lar meeting was a lease supplement agreement
for the purchase of anew fire truck.
Council adopted a resolution authorizing
City Manager Skip Nalley and the Mayor to
enter into an agreement through Georgia
Municipal Association’s Direct Leasing
Program in order to purchase a Pierce Quantum
75-foot. Aerial Firetruck at a price of $388,633
at an interest rate of 5.55 percent per year for
seven years.
were let go, but the family decided to keep the
larger balloons. As the small balloons were cut
loose, one of the larger ones got in the way and
its string was accidentally cut.
It floated away, too.
Sometime later the Vances pulled into the
driveway of the grandparent’s home located on
the other side of town from the cemetery.
They could not believe their eyes.
There, caught in the branches of a tree in the
yard was the balloon that accidentally got
away. And in the sky beside the balloon shone
a bright star.
“We sat in the driveway looking at that. It
was so beautiful and bright. Even though the
wind was blowing hard, the balloon stayed in
the tree,” said Felicia.
At around 10 p.m. the family went inside.
After a few minutes someone suggested taking
one last look at the balloon and star.
(See MONICA, Page SA)
that would translate to about 1,500 cases
that needed to be cleared up.
The district attorney said his goal is to
give each of the assistants in the office a
caseload of no more than 50 active cases,
with the least amount currently handled by
each of the group at around 300.
There are two openings for assistant
D.A.’s in Houston County. The second
opening just came about with the resigna
tion of Michael Moore.
Burke said he hates to lose Moore but he
understands the reasoning.
“Typically this office gets young people
just out of law school,” said Burke. “It’s a
2
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I W
ON THE LOOKOUT -
Perry Police have released
this computerized drawina
of the suspect in the armed
robbery of Wendy's Jan.
26.
Armed man holds
up Wendy’s early
Sunday morning
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
Perry police have issued a
lookout for an armed robber who
posed as an employee of
Wendy’s restaurant to gain entry
into the facility during the morn
ing of Jan. 26.
According to Capt. Bill
Phelps, a subject dressed in full
Wendy’s employee regalia
motioned for entry into the
restaurant around 7 a.m.
When the door was opened,
the subject pulled a knife and
held it to an employee’s throat
and demanded money, he said.
The employee opened the safe
and the robber made off with an
undetermined amount of cash,
said Phelps.
Witnesses described the sus
pect as a 5-foot, 10-inches tall
black male weighing between
150-200 pounds.
No one was hurt in the inci
dent, said Phelps, who added that
the investigation is continuing.
A string of burglaries involv
ing area businesses continues to
grow in number.
Over the weekend, two more
businesses were burglarized.
Electronic equipment was
reported taken from the Houston
Times-Journal located at 807
Carroll St. Jan. 25.
The perpetrator(s) apparently
gained entrance after tossing a
brick through a window in the
rear of the building.
Someone gained entry into
The Oil Lamp Restaurant located
at the intersection of Courtney
Hodges Boulevard and Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive by knock
ing a hole in the rear of that
building, according to reports.
Several hundred dollars worth
of items were taken in that inci
dent, the report indicated.
Another burglary, this time at
a residence located along Bess
Street, resulted in household
items being taken, according to a
police report.
good place to start and the pay is not bad, but
after 3-4 years they (assistants) make a deci
sion,” with many going into private law prac
tice where the pay is normally larger, he said.
“I am going to get together with the
county commission to see about making it a
bit more attractive keep assistants,” said
Burke.
He would like to see a good mix of vet
erans and young lawyers working in the
office. “You could have a couple of experi
enced prosecutors to handle murder cases
and that type of thing, with the younger
prosecutors with passion and fire to deal
with the more routine cases.”
-J*.
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