Newspaper Page Text
A message from
Pauline Lewis
Lifestyles editor shares
thoughts on the new year.
see page 4
Volume 126,
No. 52
1 Section,
12 Pages
Wednesday,
Dec. 51, 1997
50 t ents
At the
Crossroads
This Week
Closed for the New
Year's observance
The City of Perry
Administrative offices will be
closed New Year's Das But
will reopen on Jan 2nd
The Bank of Perry,
Nationsßank Crossroads Bank,
and CB&T will be closed on
New Year's Day, only
All Houston County
Administratise offices will be
close on New Year’s Das. also
The Houston Times-
Journal ssill be closed all day
on Jan I. but will reopen to
regular business hours on
Friday Jan 2.
Middle School PTO
meeting about gangs
Perry Middle School
Announced recently that it
will be conducting a PTO
meeting on Jan 21 at 7 p m at
the Perry High auditorium
A program concerning
gangs in the school systems
will be presented by the
Columbus Gang Task Force.
Cereal and toast on
school menu
Here are breakfast and
lunch menus for Houston
Counts public schools for this
week:
Jan 5 Breakfast:
Manager's choice or cereal
and toast, fruit or fruit juice.
Lunch: Hamburger or chicken
Iried steak with gravy and roll,
lettuce, tomato and pickle,
french fries, one vegetables,
two fruits.
Jan 6 Steak biscuit or
cereal and toast, fresh fruit or
fruit juice Lunch: Chicken
sandwich or spaghetti with
Texas toast, two vegetables,
lettuce and tomato, one fruit,
cake.
Jan 7 Breakfast pi//a or
cereal and toast, fruit or fruit
juice. Lunch Com dog or chili
or soup with sandwich, maca
roni and cheese, one veg
etable. two fruits. Jell-O with
whipped topping
Food temperature
remains problem
Houston County
Environmental Health
Department inspectors report
ed two of the three restaurants
inspected last week had dis
crepancies concerning the
temperature control of foods.
At Smoothie King. 2195-D
Watson Central. Warner
Robins, no discrepancies were
reported. The score was 99
At Holiday Inn Green
Derby Restaurant. 700 Valley
Drive, perry, there was a prob
lem with temperature control.
The score was 80.
At Shoney’s. 1406 Sam
Nunn Blvd.. Perry, there was a
problem with temperature
control of food The score was
79.
pm
Houston It
Contact
the Times-
Journal
Contact the Houston Times
loumal
Voice (912) 987-1823
Fax <912)988 1181
email net
Mail PO Drawer M.
Perry, M 069
Street 807 Carroll St.,
Perry, 31069
Houston Times-Journal
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Private prison concept getting attention
By RICK JOHNSTONE
For the Times-Journal
Members of the two-county regional iail
authority are try ing to decide whether pri
vati/ing the venture would be the best way
to go when it comes to operating a new
facility
Representatives from Houston and
Pulaski counties met Jan 29 m Warnet
Robins to hear two proposals from private
providers of jail management
Houston County commission chairman J
Sherrill Stafford said rieht now the author)
Chick-fil-A
founder to
speak in Perry
By t'HAI) LEWIS
Times-Journal Staff
The Perry Area Chamber of
Commerce announced their spe
cial guest speaker tor their 42nd
Annual Meeting Dec 1 9 S
Truett Cathy, founder and chair
man of Chick-111-A. Ins . will get
the sWtNfcttftajrffl' fbe Jan 20
event scheduled to begin at 7
p m at the Georgia National
Fairgrounds A: Agricenter s
(icorgia Living Center
“It's a gieat honor to have him
as our guest.' said Chamber
President and CFO Hay ley
Greene He s such a great moti
vational speaker
Cathy came to tame as the lead
man of the third largest quick ser
vice chicken restaurant in the
nation. He started Chick-fil-A in
1946 when he and his brother
opened an Atlanta diner know as
the Dwarf Grill, later renamed the
Dwarf House
Today, he has more than 725
restaurants in 35 states, as well as
sites in South Africa and Canada
Under his control. Chick-fil-A
(See CHAMBER. Page 5l
Courthouse relocation top 1997 news story
Church fire y plant closings among top stories affecting Houston Countians during 1997
By Jj JOHNSON
Times-Journal Kditor
The pending relocation of the Houston
County Courthouse to Perry Parkway is the
biggest news story in Houston Counts for
1997,
That's the opinion of members of the
Times-Journal news staff who reviewed
major news stories during the year
Relocating the courthouse from down
town Perry to the Perry Parkway was one of
several major stones affecting the county
during 1997.
Other major events included the arson of
Oak Grove Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church, the threat of closure at Northrop,
the closing at PPG. and the failure of a new
post office construction project.
1. Courthouse moving Houston
County Commissioners spent much of the
year studying a response to a direct court
order to provide a bigger courthouse A
study by Macon architect Trey Wood
resulted in three options, including remod
eling and enlarging the present courthouse,
moving to a new location at the Perry
Parkway, or having two locations.
Members of the Perry Chamber recom
mended the Perry Parkway option, and
after meeting with city leaders to assure
them the downtown location would be
remodeled and kept occupied, commission
ers voted to move to the Perry Parkway
site A search for architects as begun
2. Oak Grove huras Three Perryans
were involved with the burning of the
church, located off Sewell Road between
Pcrrv and Elko in February When thev
pfUftT
I ■ *
•icjM S 3 a I
tv is gathering information Another meet
ing is planned lor Jan 16 at the annex build
ing m Warner Robins to decide whether or
not to go the privatization route
It (privatization* is intriguing because it
keeps you from having to come up with the
initial outlay he s.nd
Among options it the decision is made to
hire one of the outside companies is lor the
counties to build the jail and then turn to
privatization said Stafford
The chairman said it the decision is
made not to privatize then the issue of
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Timai journal Photo by Emily Johnston*
RECOGNITION Perry Mayor Jim Worrall (left)
presents long-time Perry City Councilman Hervia
Ingram with a proclamation which honors Ingram,
who has served District 1, Post 1 for many years.
Ingram elected to leave city politics at the end of his
current term, which expires Dec. 31. He received the
recognition from his fellow council members for his
service to the city. Story, page 2, comment page 4.
went to trial during early December, they
entered negotiated pleas after the first day
of testimony and are awaiting sentencing
Meanwhile, church members have received
some donations and hope to rebuild the
church on another piece of property next
year
3. Northrop future Early in the year,
employees at Northrop-Grumman • ceived
notice their jobs were threatened After
some intense negotiations by local officials.
Northrop decided not to close the plant, and
eventually not to relocate it to Macon.
With local help, the property was sold to
an investment firm which plans to develop
an industrial park at that location.
Meanwhile. Northrop was sold to
Lockheed-Martin late in the year
4. PPG Closing Employees at PPG
may not be as lucky. After the company
spent more than SI7 million during the first
three months of 1997 remodeling the plant,
the firm decided to close the plant and gave
employees notice about two weeks before
Christmas The plant will have some
employees for up to 11 more months.
5. New Perry Post Office The Postal
Service released a contract to Bison
Company of Arkansas to develop property
at I4(K) Macon Road for a post office Work
began, then stopped as Bison ran into finan
cial difficulties. Eater, the property was
foreclosed and the lending institution ended
up with the property. As the year closed,
negotiations continued between the Postal
Service and the Zion National Bank con
cerning the luiurv of the property and the
post office. _
Serving Houston County Since Pec. 17, 1870
Thomas watching wins
Perry Panthers run record
to 10-0 with wins over .
Cedar Shoals, Washington-
Wilkes
See page 6
■Bfxi
■ @
funding a new jail will have to be included
in the SPI.OST (Special Local Option Sales
Taxi referendum planned tor March 17.
1998.
In order to meet timing requirements, a
decision needs to be reached by
Commissioners by their Feb 3 meeting
according to Stafford.
Commissioners plan to ask voters to
fund a new courthouse and renovations for
the existing courthouse in downtown Perry
A superior court judge ordered the county
to make changes to the courthouse
Courthouse, jail and
sales tax on Stafford’s
mind as ’9B approaches
By EMII.Y JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
A new courthouse, a new jail
and improving roads There is no
iloubi about it. those were the top
issues ot 1997 tor the Houston
C(*uniy" Commissioners, said
Commission J Sherrill Stafford
during a recent interview
Discussion of how to sell the
public on a one penny special
local option sales lax is ongoing
among commissioners, he added
The penny lax is proposed to
go toward funding such projects
as the new mandated courthouse,
a regional jail and the widening of
Houston Lake Road
The sls million regional jail
could be scratched Irom that list,
however, said Stafford, if a deci
sion is made to privatize that
I acility
Cost for the courthouse is pro
jected to he about s2l million,
including renovations at the pre
sent facility located along Carroll
Street
Commissioners made the deci
sion to locate the new courthouse
6. Trendline closes More than 225
workers at Trendline (formerly Kellwood)
got bad news in February about their job
futures By late March, the plant was
closed Just days before the end of the year,
a development firm purchased the property
but did not announce plans for the building
7. Medusa to remodel Plans were
announced by the Medusa Corp. to spend
about $56 million remodeling and improv
ing facilities at the Clinchfield plant The
company will do most of the work for com
pletion by the year 2000
8. Houston Lake Dam After design
work was completed, the county commis
sion accepted bids and awarded a $2.5 mil
lion contract for the replacement dam
Work began during the summer and is on
track for completion in the spring of 1998.
The dam will replace a historic dam
swept away during the July 5. 1994 flood
ing.
9. More sales tax Members of the
Houston County Board of Education asked
local voters to approve a single penny addi
tional local sales tax The money would pay
for a $34 million bond issue voters had
approved during September 1996.
Voters approved the measure during
March The money provided funding for
several construction projects including a
new Perry Middle School and remodeling
at several local schools.
Iti. New Superintendent Members
of the Board of Education held several ses
sions to allow public input concerning what
parents wanted in a school superintendent
After studying the responses, the Board
Watch Night 1
Some area churches
announce plans for New
Year’s Eve services
See page 8
Stafford said the decision on whether or
not to privatize will have no bearing on
where the new jail will be constructed
We still plan to build it beside the new
courthouse. " which is planned to go some
where along the Perry Parkway
Houston County 's expense tor construc
tion of a jail would be between sl6 million
and S2O million, said the chairman He
explained that is based on population, with
Houston County having 82 percent of the
(Set JAIL. Page 5)
"The new dam is sched
uled to be finished in April.
This will
Jf
. ’
along the Perry Parkway at an as
yet undetermined site
The widening ot Houston Lake
Road from Ru'sell Parkway to
the Perry city limits would allevi
ate some ot the traffic problems
on that stretch ot road, said
(See STAFFORD, Page 5)
dratted a new job description. Present
Superintendent Tony Hinnant did not qual
ify because of a new advanced degree
requirement. The School Board has
launched a search lor a new >upenntcndent
to have on hand by June 30. 1998. when
Hmnant's contract expires
11. Jail changes Responding to a
court order. Houston County
Commissioners continued to study plans
for a regional iail at Perry. During the tall.
Dooly County withdrew from the three
county plan, leaving Houston and Pulaski.
12. Magistrate Court changes New
Houston County Chief Magistrate Judge
David Pierce asked I .»r a new location for
the court near Ga 96 and Houston Lake
Road Bids were taken, the price was too
high, and negotiations reduced the cost
some
Despite some interest in the community
in keeping all courts in one building.
Commissioners were set to vote Jan. 6.
1998, for the new $1 4 million structure at
Ga. 96
13. Perry City Hall relocates After
completing plans for the redesign. Perry
City Council look bids and awarded a
S2SO.(HK) contract to remodel the former
Board of Education offices along
Washington Street into Perry City Hall
Work was completed and offices were
moved shortly before Christmas. An open
house w ill be held later
14. City Elections Perry Mayor Jim
Worrall. along with counciimcn Ralph
(See YEAR. Page 5)
|
Home of the Georgia
National lair and
Agrit enter
bring
about
f closure
to what
hap
pened
four years
ago."
J. Sherrill
Stafford
aK.
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