Newspaper Page Text
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ATHENS, GA 30&0E
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if Sinyard celebration will be April 27
i see page 2A|
Volume 126, No. 15
2 Sections, 16 Pages
Wednesday
April 16,1997
50 Cents
Dogs, rabbits at
Agricenter
The Weimaraner speciali
ty dog show comes to an end
April 16 at the Georgia
National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter.
The dogs will be replaced
April 18-20 with die
National Dwarf Speciality
Rabbit show and the HQHA
Quarter Home show.
Also visiting the fair
grounds this week are mem
bers of the Georgia Good
Sam Spring Samboree
camping organization, April
17-19.
At the Agricenter April
19 will be members of the
Georgia Club Lamb
Producers for a lamb sale.
The State ROTC Drill Team
competition will be held
April 19, and Ponies of
America will host a horse
show April 19-20.
Early in the week, the
Georgia Governmental
Purchasing Conference and
Expo will be held April 21-
23.
Tacos and subs on the
school menu
Here are menus for
Houston County public
schools for this week:
April 16 Taco or
southern chicken with roll,
buttered rice, one vegetable,
two fruits, Jell-O with
whipped topping.
April 17 Submarine
sandwich or sliced turkey
with roll, lettuce, tomato,
pickle, two vegetables, two
fruits, manager’s choice
dessert.
April 18 Pizza or man
ager’s choice, two vegeta
bles, two fruits, baked
dessert.
April 21 Hamburger
or chicken fried steak with
gravy and roll, lettuce,
tomato and pickle, french
fries, one hot vegetable, two
f - Chicken
sandwich or spaghetti with
Texas toast, two vegetables,
lettuce and tomato, one fruit,
cake.
April 23 Com dog or
fish sticks with roll, maca
roni and cheese, one veg
etable, two fruits, Jell-0
with whipped topping.
Temperature control
still a problem
Appropriate temperature
of foods remained a problem
for three Houston County
public kitchens inspected by
the Houston County
Environmental Health spe
cialists during the week of
April 7-11. One other facili
ty had a problem with stor
age of cleaning products.
(See FOOD, Page SA)
1; Tell Us
The Houston Times~
Journal wants to hear from
you. Call (912) 987-1823
during business hours, 8:30
a.m.-5:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday, Fax us any
time at (912) 988-1181.
'Visit our office at 807
Carroll Street in historic
downtown Perry. Reach us
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<>
Houston Tims-Journal
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Fire destroys historic farm barn at Houston Lake
Times-Journal Photo by John Smalley
STILL HOT County firemen continue to pump water onto hot spots after a blaze leveled a historic farm
building at the interesection of Houston Lake Road with Ga. 127. The fire began during the pre-dawn hours
of April 15.
City eyes major voting, tax billing changes
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff^
When the city of Perry holds an
election, city personnel and
resources are use - At
city council was discussing a mea
sure that would change that.
According to city manager Skip
Nalley, a proposal is being looked
Perry Alltel customers to get
vote on local calls to Macon
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Editor
Subscribers to Alltel telephone lines in the
southern Houston County area may soon get to
vote on expanding toll-free service to include
Macon exchanges.
Rep. Larry Walker, D-Perry, announced April
14 that while the community was not included in a
recently passed law which allows for automatic
studies to determine if toll
free zones should be expand
ed, a compromise was reached
for Perry.
“Working with Alltel and
Southern Bell, we reached an
agreement which includes
polling of area subscribers to
determine! if tb# want the
expanded toll-free district,”
Walker said. H *s
Perry customers in recent
years have seen their toll-free
zone grow to include customers in Centerville,
Marshallville and Fort Valley, but not Macon. The
new state law provides for toll-free dialing
between exchanges which are 22 miles apart. The
exchange in Perry is based at tire Alltel office
more than 26 miles from the Bell exchange office
in Macon. XpyS . -
Alltel customers will be polled by the company
Walker recaps recent legislative session, including sl2 billion budget
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Editor
Members of the Georgia Assembly
passed a record sll.B
billion budget during
their recent 40-day ses
sion, but Rep. Larry
Walker, D-Perry, won
ders how the members of
the assembly will contin
ue to handle such mat
ters within the state 40-
day limit law.
“Sometimes I wonder
if we just wouldn’t go to
Atlanta, pass a budget
and come home,” Walker told members of
the Perry Rotary Club April 14.
He said the only way the state limit of 40
Rembering a coach
columnist Tribble recalls playing for Herb
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lafc; m M See page 4A
at that would allow Houston
County to conduct elections for
the city of Perry.
“This issue has been discussed
by council in the past,” he said. “It
is a little bit redundant to do our
own elections. The eouhty can do
a much better job.
“The volunteer base is broader
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Dawkins
Walker
to determine if they support a specific rate
increase. Local Alltel manager Skip Dawkins said
the rate increase could be as much as $lO but he
suspects it will be much less.
When Alltel customers approved local service
to Fort Valley and Marshallville about a year ago,
the increase was about 50 cents per month (or res
idential customers, Dawkins said.
The amount of the increase will be based on the
volume of calls placed from Perry to Macon with
in the study period. Dawkins said the more calls
placed during the study period, the lower the rate
will be per customer.
While the paperwork is not yet in place for the
survey, Dawkins expects it will take place within
a few months. A majority vote will rule. If enough
customers vote for the proposal, it will be applied
to all accounts. There are about 11,000 lines in the
Perry exchange, Dawkins said.
Should customers approve the matter, the rate
would increase by the amount approved and local
customers would be able to call Macon exchanges
without a long distance charge.
Walker said he solidly supports the matter. ‘Text
Valley can call Macon, Warner Robins and Jones
County can call Macon, all without long distance, but
we can’t
“Macon is the economic center of middle
Georgia. We need that toll-free dialing to continue
to compete economically,” Walker said.
days for the annual sessions of the General
Assembly could be changed would be by a
constitutional amendment, something he
doesn’t expect would be approved by vot
ers.
“We’ll just have to learn to work
smarter,” Walker said of the annual funding
issue which he has seen grow from less than
$2 billion per year during the early 1970s to
its present amount.
Among the items included in the spend
ing package for fiscal year 1998, which
begins July 1, 1997, are funds for 6 percent
pay raises for University System instructors
and state public school teachers. State
employees will receive a 4 percent raise.
Walker said the latest raises for teachers,
the third consecutive 6-percent raise, bring
state teachers to 26th in the nation in aver-
in the county for recruitment of
poll workers,” he added! “And,
they (county) have more experi
ence in administering national and
statewide elections that may or
may not include the city.”
Nalley said he doesn’t believe
(See CITY, Page SA)
age pay, and places the state just one year
away from a 1996 promise to bring teacher
salaries to the national average.
Additional funds are appropriated for
pre-kindergarten classrooms and for expan
sion of the HOPE scholarship package.
Walker has concerns about the future of
HOPE, the lottery-funded scholarship pro
gram.
“If people ever slow down in their sup
port of the lottery, I don’t know what we
will do, because a lot of people have gotten
used to that help with their college tuition,”
Walker told the Rotarians.
The expansion this year extends benefits
to an estimated 100 Youth Development
Center students who earn B averages while
attending YDC schools. These schools are a
public school district, and meet require
Top Ten for sports j|
I f ’ ' I Fans need t 0 do the r ‘9 ht thing
J See page 6A
Pre-dawn Tuesday fire levels building used
for Country Club equipment storage
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
“All responding units, go into
defensive mode... totally
engulfed., we’re gonna have to let
it go.”
Those words were part of a
radio transmission to county fire
fighters as they headed toward the
scene of a fire at a large wooden
building used for storage by
Houston Lake Country Club at
about 1:15 a.m. April 15.
The building was engulfed by
the time firefighters arrived on the
scene, said Houston County Fire
Chief Jimmy Williams.
And, the cause of the blaze that
destroyed the building, which has
been recognized by many as being
of great historical value, is under
investigation.
This is the second time in the
past three weeks firefighters have
been called to a blaze at the loca
tion along south Houston Lake
Road at the intersection of Ga. 127
and Sandefur Road.
The first fire caused “very min
imal damage,” according to the
chief.
The April 15 fire, however,
destroyed not only thousands of
dollars of equipment and
groundskeeping items warehoused
by the.,country club, but also
destroyed a treasured landmark,
according to one local resident.
“Past research I have done indi
cated the building was built in
1867,” said David Cranshaw, who
lives nearby along Sandefur Road.
“It supposedly was a packing shed
then. It has been used in the past as
an old farm building and was one
of the most elegant bams around.”
Northrop agreement formalized,
450 jobs saved for Perryans
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
Northrop Grumman officials
announced April 9 they will keep
the Perry plant open under a lease
agreement that will go into effect
following the sale of the local
plant to American Real Estate
Investment Company.
The proposed sale is expected
to take place within a couple of
months and will enable the 450
employees at the Georgia
Production Center of Northrop
Grumman to continue working at
the present location.
Earlier talk of moving the
workforce to another location in
Macon came to a halt once this
proposal with American Real
Estate Investment came together.
Northrop sought to sell the
building, citing the expense of
maintaining the Department of
Defense secure building for manu
facturing commercial aircraft
doors.
.JL
Home of the Georgia National
Fair and Agricenter
The bam was built about
1867 and had local historical
significance.
Cranshaw said the flames from
the fire “lit the sky” as he and oth
ers sadly watched the building’s
destruction.
“It was a landmark. And, it’s
location was used a lot to give
people from Warner Robins direc
tions of how to get to Perry,” said
Cranshaw.
The proposed widening of
Houston Lake Road had recently
stirred some controversy sur
rounding the structure because
plans indicated the aged building
would have to be removed to
accommodate the project. Many
claimed the structure should be
protected because of historical sig
nificance and value.
For several hours the morning
of the blaze, fire and law enforce
ment personnel rerouted all traffic
in the area.
Williams said there were fertiliz
ers and chemicals stored in the build
ing, along with a 250-gallon fuel
tank which gave bystanders a scare
when it exploded during the fire.
The chief said it appears the fire
began on the north end of the
building.
Just hours earlier, county fire
fighters had responded to a roof
fire at Frito-Lay located along Ga.
247 S.
According to Williams, a fire
began inside an exhaust vent hood
and radiated heat to the roof, caus
ing about $50,000 of damage to
the plant’s roof system.
The plant was originally
designed for manufacture of a
missile which was cancelled two
years ago by DoD.
Rep. Saxby Chambliss, who
attended the meeting, said the big
“winners in this deal are 450 fam
ilies.”
American Real Estate, with
home offices in Eatonton, will
lease back up to half of the more
than 700,000 square foot plant to
Northrop Grumman.
Reports indicate the selling
price of the facility will come in at
about sl6 million.
The Houston County
Development Authority agreed to
issue sl2 million in industrial rev
enue bonds immediately and to
commit an additional S3B million
in bonds.
American Real Estate officials
said they plan to develop an indus
trial park at the location off
Thompson road and will actively
seek new tenants.
ments for state education requirements, for
mer Houston County Juvenile Court Judge
Herb Wells said.
On the other side are persons wanting to
see home school students eligible for HOPE
scholarships. Walker said a committee is
now studying how to make that possible,
and he expects the home schooled scholar
ship awards will eventually be based on
scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Walker was actively involved in legisla
tion talks about improved driving under the
influence penalties. Walker said for years
legislators have improved and tightened the
law to prohibit dnink driving. This year,
new regulations concerning first time DUI
offenders receiving mandatory jail time.
(See WALKER, Page SA)