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Volume 127, No. 27 2 Sections, 14 Pages Wednesday, July 8, 1998 50 Cents At the Crossroads This Week Chamber to host forum for candidates July 22 On July 22. the Perry Area Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with their Good Morning Perry Breakfast, will host a forum for candidates running for Houston County Commission Chairman. Both Democrat Sherrill Stafford and Republican Ned Sanders will participate and answer questions from the member ship at the 7:30 a.m. program, which will be held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter Roquemore Conference Center. There arc several critical issues that face our country this election year and this forum will provide an opportunity to find out where the candidates stand on issues that affect Perry and Houston County. The Good Morning Perry Breakfast, provided free of charge to all members of the Chamber, is held every other month and it features programs of interest to the Perry business community. All attendees are encouraged to RSVP to the Chamber of Commerce by July 20. 1998 at 987- or by facsimile at 988- Car wash to support Belles softball trip to Dixie World Series Last week, the Perry Ochlahatchec girls all-star softball team won the State Belles Championship. With that victory, they have quali fied for the Dixie World Scries in Lawrenceville, Va. To help defray the cost of traveling to the World Series, the team is sponsoring a car wash on July 11 at Advance Auto Parts in Perry starting at 9 a m. Local restaurant scores Some of the restaurants inspected by the Houston County Environmental Health Department were found out of compliance with rules con cerning the appropriate tem perature for foods. Cox Concession/Dcluxe Trailer, 401 Larry Walker Parkway, Perry. 85. problems with temperature control of foods or food sources, prob lems with storage of cleaning products/toxic materials Cox Concession/Mulli- Purpose Bldg. Trailer #6401, Georgia Agricenter, Perry, 82, problems with temperature control of foods or food sources Cox Concession /Shcep/Swine #l, 401 Larry (See FOOD, Page SA) Houston Contact the Times- Journal Contact the Houston Times- Journal: Voice (912) 987-1823 Fax (912) 988-1181 email .jjedit@hom.net Mail P.O. Drawer M, Perry. 31069 Street 807 Carroll St., Perry, 31069 juston I vsOiuuy aupermiendant and see what he has in store for local schools See Page 3A Houston Times-Journal Competition heats up for cable service By EMILY JOHNSTONE Times-Journal Snn The picture of who will pro vide local cable television access is a little less in focus today. During a recent Perry City Council workshop, representa tives of two cable companies made their pitches to provide cable service to the city of Perry service area. Bill Mitchell, president of Peachstatc Cable, the company presently serving the Perry area, } jf ff > MIDNIGHT BLAZE -- (Pictured above) Firefighters arrived to this scene July 6 as two Perry businesses suffered fire damage as a result By EMILY JOHNSTONE Times-Journal Staff Fire almost consumed a Hicks Drive business July 6 and did destroy a Gaines Drive residence July I. Houston County Fire Department Chief Jimmy Williams said the late night fire July 6 which he termed "suspicious" caused damage to Classic Limousines, a mechanic shop and vehicle salvage business at 134 Hicks Drive. When firefighters arrived, they found the building engulfed in flames. Residents of nearby neighborhoods could see the flames, Williams said. "Some items inside the building such as tools, was salvageable." Williams said. Many items, including vehicles stored in the building, were lost to the fire. Early on, there was a threat of the fire spread ing because of sparks igniting grassy areas around the building. Those flames were quickly extin guished, Williams said, and the grass fires did not occur. "If that had happened, it would have been an even worse situation." he added. Firefighters from several county stations, along with some from the Perry Fire Department, spent several hours on the scene. They battled the blaze Prison bed shortage creating cost for local taxpayers By CHARLOTTE PERKINS TIMES-jQt'RNAL STAFF Most law-abiding citizens would like to see criminals behind bars, serving out their full sen tences, and that’s a sentiment that Houston County District Attorney Kelley Burke fully agrees with. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a free jail or prison sen tence, and it’s the taxpayer who covers the cost. In Houston County, where insufficient jail space makes it necessary to spend thousands each month on housing inmates in jails in other counties, the county government is faced with the Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia Perry all-stars beat Monroe County all-stars in tournament See Page 3B sought to extend the current fran chise agreement. Mitchell wants the city to extend that franchise another 10-15 years. The present agreement expires within the next two years, he said. Larry Angel, general manager of James Cable Partners. L.P.. told council the Eatonton-based com pany would like a franchise for the Perry market Angel said CommuniComm Services, a part of the James Cable Partners, pro vides cable connections for mid- Tims Journal photo by Emily Johnstone of this blaze. (Below, right) The building on Hicks Drive was still smoldering the next morning. Authorities are investigating the fire. 1 —: — through intense heat. The county Special Operations and Rescue team came to the scene to provide additional manpower. At least one firefighter received oxygen treat ment during the time. Investigators with the local and state fire Marshall s office are seeking the cause of the fire. Williams said. Meanwhile, authorities are also seeking the cause of a blaze which destroyed the home of a Perry family of seven July 1 along Gaines Drive. Perry Police Detective Drew Dodson said the family includes five children, one a l()-year-old handicapped female. Children range in ages from 12 down. Persons who would like information on help ing the family can contact Dodson at 988-2821. additional cost of underwriting the housing costs of inmates who are already sentenced in Superior Court and are the responsibility of the state. According to Burke, sentenced inmates frequently spend months being housed by Houston County before there is room for them in the state prison system. The state does contribute to the cost of incarceration of these inmates, but the state fee per night s2O -- is far less than the aver age of $35 per night charged for housing in most county jails. According to Jennifer Sarginson, a spokesperson for the ® "SH* Mtwf state communi ties including Cochran and Hawkinsville. "We just completed building a state-of-the-art system and are looking to expand our ser vice area," Angel said. MITCHELL Perry Mayor Jim Worrall said Department of Corrections, agrees that there’s a problem not just in Houston County, but statewide, and says that the D.O.C. is working on solutions to its shortage of beds for prisoners. As of June 26, Sarginson said, 3309 sentenced prisoners were waiting in county jails to be picked up by the state and trans ferred to state prisons. “Sentenced inmates are the county’s responsibility until 15 days after the sentencing package reaches us,” Sarginson added. “After that DOC pays S2O per day to house the prisoners, and that’s an amount that was determined by Catch up on all the local news with Joan Dorsett's Potpourri column See Page IB he believes Mitchell and the Peachstate Company are "doing a great job providing quality cable service to the city of Perry," it is the obligation of Council to look at other options. "This is something we will look at during an upcoming work session," Worrall said. He added that although he has not always felt Mitchell's firm did a satisfac tory job, he has changed his mind recently. "He has done a good job of Officials say that Perry has plenty of water for now Bv EMILY JOHNSTONE Times-Joiknai. Staff Perry residents are using lots of water this summer, according to City Water Superintendent Danny Walker. Right now, there are no short ages or water use restrictions. Normal Perry average daily con sumption is about 1.35 million gallons per day. Walker said Responding to the heat. Perry residents used almost 3 million gallons per day, beginning about two weeks ago. Walker said. "We have an adequate water supply so people should not worry." Walker said. Although some nearby water systems have placed restrictions on water use, Perry officials do not foresee that happening. Houston County officials asked county residents to voluntarily comply to even-odd outside water consumption last week. Houston County Commission Chairman J. Sherrill Stafford said July 7 he wants residents to "use common sense" with water usage County approves budget for FY '99 By EMILY JOHNSTONE Times-Journal Staff County employees will get a cost-of-living raise this year, but there's no word on how that will affect county property taxes. The two percent cost-of-living pay increase is part of what Chairman J. Sherrill Stafford termed an "austere" budget for the new fiscal year. Commissioners adopted the the legislature. Several counties have asked for more than that, but it hasn’t been granted.” State currently has 37,204 prison beds for inmates, and is increasing that capacity 12 per cent —up to 41,758 beds —in the next year through three different strategies. The lion’s share of the cost is being borne by Georgia taxpay ers, with construction currently going on at seven prisons to add a total of 1,728 beds for the coming year. These additions are at Macon County Prison, Augusta Slate Medical Prison, Smith State Prison, Autry and Hancock State /jlEr - ** jjf JL Home of the Georgia National lair and Agricenter improving the quality of cable lor city residents," Worrall said. In the past, there has been some dis agreement concerning the fran chise arrangement. The subject of Mitchell's request for renewal may be on the July 21 Perry City Council meet ing agenda A copy of the proposed agree ment is available for public inspection at city hall. 1207 Washington St. Under Hie even-odd system, residents with even number street addresses use outside water on even-numbered calen dar days and odd-number resi dents water on the other days Under the even-odd system residents with even number street addresses use outside water on even-numbered calendar days Odd-numbered street address res idents use outside water on odd numbered calendar tftys Much of the state has been under drought conditions due to the lack of rainfall and high tem peratures during recent months. Forecasters are watching a small tropical depression in the Caribbean area. They believe it will move into the Florida area within the next few days and provide some relief to areas experiencing wildfires. Locally, forecasters predict scattered afternoon thunderstorms with highs near 100 degrees and lows in the 70s during the next several days. budget during their July 6 meet ing in Perry. The budget, which began July 1. includes slightly more than $26 million for the general fund. Another $lO million is earmarked for the Jail and Courthouse Fund budget. Money in that account will come from the one-cent local option sales tax collection which (See BUDGET, Page SA) Prisons as well as Pulaski and Washington. The corrections budget for fis cal ycarl999 is $747.8 million. Of that, a total of $26.5 million was appropriated to cover the continu ing costs of the new bed space, Sarginson said. One 750 bed privately-owned and operated prison will open in Charlton County in August, two more are slated to open next year - one in Coffee County, the other in Wheeler. These are to be pri vately owned and operated. But. of course, the state will pay a cost per inmate.