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I tnose who fought Writer shares comments which were 1 made during Memorial Day program at luocal cemetery. see page 4A for more details. \ Volume 127, No. 18 2 Sections, 14 Pages Wednesday, June 3, 1998 50 Cents At the Crossroads This Week Accident claims life At press time, authorities were investigating the cause of a fatal accident that claimed the life of a 32-year-old female. The accident occurred along Larry Walker Parkway near the Agricenter about 3 p.m. June 2. According to a hospital spokesperson, two others involved in the accident were being treated at the local facility. The Georgia State Patrol spe cial accident team was called in for the investigation. Fishing rodeo for kids at Rozar Park June 13 The annual fishing rodeo for kids will be held at Rozar Park June 13. Fishing in the pond stocked with catfish, bass and bream will begin at 10 a.m. The Perry Recreation Department will host a free lunch, and there will be a raffle. All young people 16 and under are eligible to join the fun. Shipes gets scholarship Kristen Shipes, a graduating senior at Perry High School, has been awarded a Foundation Scholarship* from Gordon College. This information was inadvertently left out of last week's PHS Honors Day listing. Health department checks restaurants Here are results of the Environmental Health Department inspections of local restaurants during recent days. Locations where discrepancies were found must take immediate action to meet the standards. Locations reporting discrepan cies included” Dairy Queen, 353 Gen. Courtney Hodges Blvd., Perry, 91, problems with storage of cleaning products Happy Store #433, 517 N. Perry Parkway, Perry, 77, prob lems with temperature control of foods Hong Kong Express, 2706-I Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 71, problems with food handling techniques, problems with tem perature control of foods McDonald’s, 1414 Sam Nunn Blvd., Perry, 88, problems with temperature control of foods Nu Way Weiners, 1762 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 83, problems with temperature control of foods Subway, 1807 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 87, problems with temperature control of foods No discrepancies were report ed at these locations: Baskin Robbins/Perry, 1424 Sam Nunn Blvd, Perry, 94 Casa Maria, 1855 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 91 Dominos Pizza, 1113 Washington St„ Perry, 94 Dominos Pizza, 1431 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 100 Houston Medical Center/ Dietetic, 1601 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 95 J&B Catering, 214 Windsor Drive, Warner Robins, 100 Jin Jin Chinese Restaurant, 1309-D S. Main St., Perry, 94 Krystal, 747 Russell Parkway,, Warner Robins, 95 Moose Lodge Lounge, 417 Nelson Drive, Warner Robins, 97 Substation 11, 1738 Watson Blvd., Warner Robins, 90 Houston Times-Journal Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia Commissioners nix office move of DA Burke By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Times-Joirnal Staff The District Attorney’s staff may be working in cramped conditions, but any move will have to wait until the new county courthouse is ready for occupancy. That decision was made dur ing the June 2 Houston County County Commission meeting when the Commissioners voted iWRn PPIP gg Mrjdjjpjs ■ ' : y ' I *%" r‘ *■< jfflHH '^m&£%T~ Roper: Houston Lake Dam to be complete by June 13 By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Nearly four years after it was destroyed by the flood of 1994, the new, $2.5 million Houston Lake dam is almost complete. That news will come as no surprise to passersby on Houston Lake Road, who have been watching Mossy Creek water flowing through the spillway at the new dam for the last week and a half. According to Buddy Roper, project manager, the gates to the new dam were first opened on Memorial Day. At the beginning of the dam construction. ■,.,..i,AA, a1 1.r,. ’ ... J,.,....,. DAMAGED The glass product warehouse at PPG Industries suffered extensive damage last week after an I-beam supporting the roof was struck during a warehouse operation. An Tna-Jounttl Pheio by Ourioit? Prrluiu MOSSY CREEK WATER FLOWS OVER NEW DAM AT HOUSTON LAKE Project Manager Buddy Roper said Houston Lake to be full by July 4 Sen itt‘4 'Houston ( ninth Shut* l>i*t I IJI7O , cj q| q| , * First family of Perry Sports I One family in Perry has produced ft four winners of the Eric Staples I award for outstanding athletics | at Perry High. out the details on page 6A. unanimously to deny D.A. Kelly Burke's request to lease the former Coffee Cup building in downtown Perry. Commissioner Tom McMi chael said everyone was in agreement Burke’s offices were too small. However he cited the costs of moving the department’s computers and the additional costs of rent and parking as workers diverted Mossy Creek into a man-made channel. The dam is now handling the flow of water from the creek, and the channel, no longer in use, is being excavated and packed with clay. Once the remaining work is completed the gates will be shut down again so that the lake can begin to fill up. The filling process that is expected to take up to two weeks. “If it all works out right, the people living around the lake should have a nice Fourth of July, with water in the lake,” Roper said. There have been some delays in completion of the project due to excessive rain, but the dam construction project is now scheduled to be completed by June 13. area of the roof about the size of a football field caved in after the beam broke. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident, officials said. factors in the decision not to grant Burke’s request, which was made last month Commis sioner Jim Carter said, “We don’t Tima-journal Photos by Eric Zdlars , G± C* /"% 4 Long time to study I One Perryan took five years to I complete his GED program. Now, I he hopes to continue his educa- I tion. Get the details on page 18. \ ■ , v - . . < have money in contingency (for the additional cost),’’ and pointed out that other county offices were dealing with the same overcrowding problems while waiting for the new cour thouse to be built. Burke responded to news of the denied request by saying. “It’s disappointing not to be able to offer the additional ser vices we could offer. It ham Burke Work on 4-lane Houston Lake Road 13 months away By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Times- Journal Stait The Georgia Dept. of Transportation's four-laning of Houston Lake Road is definitely on the drawing-boards now, but it’s still a long way off, with the first part of the ambitious project not likely to begin until sometime after July, 1999. When completed, the widening and reconstruction of the road will extend from Bear Branch Road (just south of Houston Lake Country Club) to Richard Russell Parkway in Warner Robins —a distance of 9.6 miles. The new road would have a 20- foot raised median with left turn lanes at locations selected by the D.O.T. As currently proposed, the first part of the project from Ga. 96 to Russell Parkway would include a short relocation in the Tucker Road vicinity to prevent displacement of homes in that community. The estimated cost for that part of the project to the state would be $8.6 million according to Hank Ashmon, a spokesman for the D O T. who was part of the team answering questions at a recent public hearing on the road-widening. The second phase would be the four-laning from Ga. 96 to Bear Branch Road, a project which will include a realignment of the danger ous intersection at Houston Lake Road and Ga. 127 The total cost will be $8.9. Additional costs will be borne by Glass warehouse roof caves in at PPG By EMILY JOHNSTONE Times-Jouknal Staff It did not all fall down the night of May 27 at the Perry PPG Industries plant, but a portion of the roof of that facility did. According to plant human resources director Russ Lawrence, Perry fire personnel were called to the plant after an I-beam which lends support to the roof of the warehouse area was hit and broken by a boom truck in operation. “About 10 p.m. a boom truck hit the I-beam in the warehouse area,” said Lawrence. “That took out a sec tion of the roof.” An area of roof about 80' x 300’ caved in, he added. There were no injuries, said Lawrence. The driver of the boom truck avoided injury by remaining in the steel cage of the truck. “That cage saved him,’ said Lawrence. Lawrence praised the emergency response team in place at the plant, t Home of the Georgia National Fair and Agricenter strings our operation." He added that it was “not practical” to think that an office such as his can stay in the same space given the rapid growth of Houston County. In response to a question about future housing for his department in the new court house, Burke said, “They also told you that would be ready next week, right?” local tax payers since nghts-of-way must be purchased from property owners for the road widening, which will average 14 feet on either side of the road. There are more than 200 parcels of land along the the road way. County Commission Chairman J. Sherrill Stafford said at the June 2 Commission meeting that a substan tial amount of the right of way land needed for that stage of the project has been donated to the county, and that setback requirements in recent years have also helped in reducing the cost of acquiring rights-of-way for the road widening. Stafford added that he expected the county’s costs for the first part of the project to be budgeted over two fiscal years. The City of Warner Robins will pay for the acquisition of rights of way within its limits, and the City of Perry will have costs as well, related to the relocation of nat ural gas lines which run parallel to the right of way. School graduations are this weekend By EMILY JOHNSTONE Timks-Jouknal STAFF This weekend will be full of pomp and circumstance in Perry as area seniors toss their caps and high school careers behind On June 5 at 8 p.m. at the Georgia (See GRADS, Page SA) as they, along with local firefighters began cutting off water and gas after leaks were found with both utilities. Electricity was also cut to parts of the building until it was deemed safe to switch the power back on. Plant manager Henry Goode said a local contractor has been hired to remove the fallen portion of the roof. “We estimate the removal to take about two weeks,” said Goode. There is surprisingly a small amount of product that has been lost because of the cave-in, he added. “Where the beams came down uniformly, the boxes helped support them and protected some of the prod uct,” said Goode. The facility has for the past sever al years manufactured glass products, mainly in a research mode. Earlier, corporate officials said the plant, also known as Works 18, will cease operations in August. The May 27 accident has not caused any disruptions in the work schedule, said Goode.