Newspaper Page Text
Fight over insurance claim
Columnist Charlotte Perkins
describes her battles with a mb ■ m
compar
repairei
Volume 127,
No. 34
2 Sections,
14 Pages
Wednesday,
Aug. 26, 1998
50 Cents
At the
Crossroads
This Week
Miss Crossroads
Pageant is Sept. 26
The Miss Crossroads of
Georgia Pageants, sponsored
by the Perry High
Cheerleaders, will be held
Sept. 26 at Perry High
School.
The Tiny (K 4 and K 5).
Little (Ist and 2nd grade) and
Junior Miss (3rd through sth
grade) pageants will be held
at 2 p.m. and the Pretcen (6th
and 7th grade). Teen (Bth
through 10th grade) and Miss
(1 Ith grade through age 23)
pageants will be held at 7
p.m.
Applications are available
at Belle Ritz in Warner
Robins. Sharing Elegance in
Henderson. Perry Area
Chamber of Commerce and
Perry High School.
Call 988-1556 or 987-1960
for more information
Deadline is Sept 21.
Busy weekend planned
at Agricenter
Several activities are
planned for this weekend at
the Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter.
The Farm Credit Lamb
Classic Show is planned tor
Aug. 28-29.
The Cathedrals will present
a gospel music concert Aug.
29.
The Peach State Paint
Horse Club will have a show
Aug. 29-30.
Also set for the weekend is
the Heart of Georgia Gun and
Knife Show.
Corn dogs on school
lunch menus
Here are this week's ele
mentary school menus:
All meals are served with
milk Breakfast includes fresh
fruit or fruit juice each day.
Lunches include two hot veg
etables and four to six cold
fruit and vegetable choices
daily.
Aug. 26: Lunch. Com dog.
grilled cheese sandwich with
fruit yogurt, or PBJ sandwich,
or baked potato with hot top
pings, pineapple upside-down
cake.
Aug. 27: Breakfast.
Pancake with syrup or cereal
and toast; Lunch. Nachos
with cheese and beef, pizza.
PBJ sandwich or sub sand
wich. gingerbread with lemon
sauce.
Aug 28: Breakfast.
Manager's choice or cereal
and toast; Lunch: Steak
nuggets with roll, BARBE
CUE on bun or PBJ sand
wich. banana pudding.
(See FOOD. Page SA)
Houston!
Contact
the Times-
Journal
Contact the Houston Timcs-
Journal
Voice (912) 987-1823
Fax (912) 988-1181
email timesjmtp hom net
Mail P.O. Drawer M.
Perry. 31069
Street 807 Carroll St.,
Perry. 31069
Houston Tim- Journol
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Houston Lake water level not one height fits all
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Times—Jowhai Start
One thing is certain about the
Houston Lake water level prob
lem: there's not likely to be a
solution that suits everybody.
According to Houston County
administrator Steve Engle, he and
county officials planned a meet
ing on Aug. 25 with people who
own property around the lake.
From that meeting, leaders
hope to identify the best course of
action concerning the recently
replaced Houston Lake Dam
Apparently the lake is not going
I
I f J||
Special photo
ADOPT-A-BLOCK Kim Ceja, Perry Pizza Hut manager, shows off anew sign out
side her restaurant. The Keep Perry Beautiful committee now has two groups committed
to litter reduction on Perry streets. The Idaka Club is picking up litter along Park Avenue.
Pizza Hut employees are picking up litter along Perimeter Road near Sam Nunn
Boulevard.
Annual PraiSing is Aug.
30 at Perry High School
From Staft Reports , .
The annual Perry PraiSing will be held August 30, with six locai
church choirs participating. The event, sponsored by the Perry
Ministerial Association, begins at 6 p.m. in the Perry High School
Auditorium.
An offering will be collected, with proceeds going to the Perry
Ministerial Association Fund for Transient Benevolence Needs.
The 1998 PraiSing will be hosted by the Rev. John Davis, Music
Director of the Houston Lake Baptist Church. Choirs from the fol
lowing six local churches will be featured in the evening’s pro
gram:
Perry Presbyterian Church, Robert Touchton, Director;
Rehoboth Baptist Church. Bill Warder, Director; Perry United
Methodist Church, Wally Shaw. Director; Houston Lake Baptist
Church. John Davis, Director; Crossroads United Methodist
Church. Bruce Fisher, Director; Perry First Baptist Church. Kevin
Sherer. Cornerstone Baptist Church, Director, substituting for Ron
Moore, Minister of Music.
'
Possible Cagle poultry processing plant has positives and negatives
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Joiirnal'Staff
It appears leathers may fly before a con
crete decision is made about a proposal that
would put a chicken processing plant in the
former Hcileman Brewery building located
in Kathleen.
While some local leaders have decided
yea or nay, and some are still undecided, it
seems some people in neighboring Pulaski
County are concerned about the negative
impact such a facility could have on the
area.
"What puz/les me is why would
Houston County be chasing a low income
type industry,” said Pulaski County’s sole
commissioner John Henry Anderson Aug.
25.
Anderson said among many of his con
Road Trip
Hornets split four games in
season-opening softball -
tournament at Bellville
See page 6A ,
z t
to fill to the same level as it did
before the July 5, 1994 flood
wiped out the old dam.
Meanwhile, Jeff Powers, chief
architect for the recently-complet
ed dam. said he is waiting to hear
what the County Commissioners
want.
County engineer Tommy
Stalnaker said based on a survey
of high water marks on old docks
around the water's edge, the lake
is 17 to 18 inches lower than it
was prior to the 1994 flood.
Water has recently backed up
in Houston Lake behind the
cents about having a Cagle company pro
cessing plant locate in Houston County is
the possibility of having several hundred
people hired, then eventually let go.
“They are some of the lowest paid jobs
in America,” said Anderson. And. such
facilities usually have a high turnover rate,
he added.
Another concern being expressed is the
possible construction of additional chicken
houses in the area that would support the
plant.
“If you get a siring of them in Houston
County, you could kiss Warner Robins
growth goodbye,” he added.
Anderson pointed to recent comments
made in The Atlanta Constitution that slat
ed working in a poultry plant as one of the
most dangerous jobs in America, with full
Sen nr* JJuu-hn! Count* SJficfc D.ec. 17 18/0
replacement dam which was com
pleted earlier this summer.
Stalnaker also pointed out that
the shallower water over the old
stumps in the lake bed may make
it hazardous for boating.
Engle, who estimated the
change as 16 to 17 inches lower
than the lake before the flood,
said raising the water to the old
ievei would make it too high for
the public access area boat ramp
and boat dock Engle said the
water level is at the proper height
for the public access area now
A public access area near the
Tucker students part
of ‘great adventure’
Remodeling of elementary school continues
By EMILY JOHNSTONE
Times-Journal Staff
“It’s like Christmas! We keep getting
new things!”
Tucker Elementary School Principal
John Gordon does not seem to mind work
ing amid the sound of ffhoVafTfth "Because
those sounds mean major improvements for
the facility.
The renovation project is being paid for
by monies collected through a special
penny sales tax. Gordon said the first phase
of the project is almost complete.
Workers began tearing out walls for the
project near the end of the 1997-98 school
year, worked through the summer, and are
still working on the project that, according
to Gordon, will effect half the school.
About 15.0(10 square feet of the building
is getting refurbishing, he said. The renova
tion of eight classrooms is complete.
The size of the facility’s media center
will be doubled upon completion.
Extensive work has also been done with
Southern Houston could benefit
from mutual aid fire contract
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Times-Journai Staff _____
Houston County Commissioners have approved a
mutual aid agreement which will provide greater fire
protection in the southern end of the county.
The agreement, approved at the Aug 18 meeting,
is between the Houston County Fire and Rescue
Department and the Dooly County State Prison Fire
Department.
The fire departments will automatically send one
pumper truck to each call, and will provide more
help if needed. Both parlies in the agreement release
each other from liabilities.
According to Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy
Williams, the agreement will benefit the Henderson
and Elko areas..
“This adds to the firefighting strength of Station
#4 and Station #5 Williams said, noting that the
time plant workers at or near the federal
poverty level.
Anderson said he believes working to
attract more jobs in the high-tech sector ol
industry would be more beneficial to the
area.
Doug Cagle, chairman of the company
board of directors, said during a telephone
interview that the company is still in the
process of studying the feasibility of locat
ing such a plant in Houston County.
Cagle said he believes the area would
provide workers with a “good work ethic.”
Initially, the plant would hire about 500
people, he said, with later growth expected
Houston County Development Authority
Executive Director Tim Martin said he
could foresee the facility having as many as
a couple thousand employees in the luture
She's Back
Nutrition columnist Kellogg Patton is
back from her recent trip to a major
swimming meet. Get her thoughts on
the effort.
See page 1B
dam came as part of the agree
ment for the county to use federal
emergency funds to rebuild the
dam. Plans for that area were
included in the new dam plans
Engle said that while the water
is too shallow for the docks of
some property owners, other
owners particularly those who
have built docks since the 1994
flood don’t have any problem.
Engle said the county govern
ment is seeking information now
to identify an elevation that will
work for the majority.
Powers said, “The old structure
prison fire department has good equipment.
Under the terms of the agreement, the prison fire
departmenl will respond automatically to all fires
within a five-mile radius of the prison location,
which is near the Dooly-Houston county line off
County Line Road, about a mile east of Elko Road.
The county fire stations also have agreed to
respond to any calls from the prison location,
although Williams said that such calls are nol likely.
Commissioner Tom McMichael, who introduced
the measure, and Williams both credit citizen
Stewart Bloodworth with pushing for the mutual aid
agreement to provide better fire protection in south
Houston County.
In other business at the Aug. 18 meeting, the
Commissioners:
(See COUNTY, Page SA)
was very inefficient,” and that
much more water passes through
the new dam. He said develop
ment around the lake bed, and the
run-off have both changed. Thus,
he said, the current dam had to be
built to meet the stale’s safe dam
requirements.
However, he noted that there
were several options for raising
the water level, and that the next
step taken by the engineers for the
project will depend on where the
Commissioners want the water
level.
the school lunchroom and kitchen.
“The dining hall is now complete and
students are eating there,” said Gordon.
“The kitchen area is still being worked on
The students are eating meals being pre
pared at Momingside Elementary.”
Gordon said he has high hopes that much
of the present work will be complete by the
end of September
Meanwhile, students and teachers are
continuing classes, some by holding
instruction in rooms located in the gym,
some in portable classrooms.
“The kids think it is a great adventure.”
said Gordon
One thing that is different about the
school schedule this year is that students
who walk or ride a bike home arc being dis
missed at 2:50 p.m., he said. "This is at a
time before the first buses come into the
area.”
Children picked up by adults driving
vehicles are dismissed at 3:10 p.m., said
Gordon.
and. he believes there are enough unem
ployed in the area to fill that need.
“A few years ago we had a survey done
that shows we have the numbers," said
Martin.
If Cagle decides to place a processing
facility at the former brewery site, some
serious retrofitting would need to take
place, added Martin.
“One thing that would have to be done to
meet USDA inspection is to install a stain
less steel ceiling," he said.
Martin said that while he has heard con
cerns voiced about having odors from
chicken houses, he believes that strides
made by the chicken industry to improve
ventilation and reduce odors and other
(See CHICKEN, Page SA)
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