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M »l At the [3o^ Crossroads This Week Time for registration in Head Start program FVrry Head Start is accepting appli cations for three and four year olds for the 1999-2000 school year. Children must be three or four years old by Sept. 1,1999, to meet eligibility requirements. The program is located at 601 Hillcrest Avenue in Perry. For more information, please call 988-4256. Barbecue planned at Kings Chapel School The Kings Chapel Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization will host a community barbecue on March 25. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Take-out or eat-in plates will be served with homemade barbecue, cole slaw, pickles, chips, bread and cake for 15. Tickets are available from Cindy Collier at the school office, at Rainbow's End Draft Store or bv calling Sue Walton at 987-8692. Perry Recreation Easter Egg Hunt is April 3 The Perry Recreation Department will hold an Easter Egg Hum at 10 a.m., Apr. 3, in the picnic area of Rozar Park. Children ages 3-5 may participate. At 11 a.m. the same day, a special program, “Easter Magic is in the Air” will be held for children ages six to 10 years old at the pavilion at Rozar Park. For more information on these pro grams, call 988-2860. Meeting held for Red Cross volunteers The American Red Cross will hold a training class for blood drive volunteers at the Houston County Agricultural Building, Carroll Street, Perry, on March 12 from 10 a.m. to noon. Volunteers arc needed for registration, labeling and serving refreshments at blood drives. For more information, call Louise Sturgis at 987-3723 or Pennv LaDuc, 929-4064 Volunteers needed to help abused children Rainbow House in Warner Robins needs volunteers for its Court Appointed Special Advocates program. Volunteers work to help insure a safe, permanent home for abused or neglect ed children. The public is invited to an open house March 18, at 6 p.m. at Rainbow House, 108 Elmwood St., Warner Robins. To register and for more information, please call 923-5923. Defensive Driving Course offered by City A defensive driving course will be given April 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Perry Community Center in Rozar Park. The course fee is $25. The classes will be taught by certified instructor Lori Fox. Upon completion of the course, a certificate will be awarded which is rec ognized by most insurance companies for a period of three years. Pre-registration is required. Please call 988-2860 for details. Revival begins March 15 A community revival will begin on March 15. Praise and worship will start each night at 7:30 p.m The revival loca tion is North Houston Road in Warner Robins next door to the Zeb’s Zip In. This community revival will be outside under the big gospel tent for 100 days and will host over 30 pastors and churches. The event is open to the pub lic. Oak Level annual day set Members of the Oak Level Baptist Church in Kathleen will celebrate Annual Day at the church beginning 6 p.m. March 14. The Rev. Keith Anderson will be the guest along with the Greater Union Baptist Church of Perry. The regular worship service will begin 11 a.m. and the Sunday School will begin 9:45 a.m. Aglow meets March 20 Members of the Women's Aglow Fellowship will meet at the Crossroads United Methodist Church at 1600 Main St., at 10 a.m. March 20. “We welcome Joyce Fisher as she leads us in praise and worship” said Diane McDowell. Following the meeting will be a time of prayer and personal ministry. Refreshments will be served. Game dinner coming The ninth annual Wild Game Dinner sponsored by churches of the Rehoboth Baptist Association will be March 128 at 6 p.m. at the Reeves Arena of the C'-'rgia National Fairgrounds and Agricentei ... ?..... According to spokesperson Patsy Dorman, the meal will be served buffet style. Breaking with a past tradition, no covered dishes will be accepted this year. (See BRIEF, Page 3A) r~z g37F~“ JDHrVM . Wt. 'Wbp '?? ■'?•■' 'o'" UNIVERbII' ’.i" CA GlßftA AT fNr BGt HLNNEBERGER ft HS, Gft 30fe0 . Houston rimes -Journal What am I bid? Utah bank puts possible Perry Post Office site up for auction Bv CHARLOTTE PERKINS and STACIE VU Times-lournal Staff After a delay of more than 15 months, Perry’s post office building project is up against a major new obstacle. There may not e'-:i be a site to build it on after March 23. The Salt Lake City financial institution which owns the 4.21 acre post office site at 1400 Macon Road has made arrangements to have the land sold at auction on that date. Zion Bank, which foreclosed on Bison Development, the construction firm origi nally in charge of the project, has now hired Rene’ Bates Auctioneers to sell the land. The complex saga of a construction pro ject which seems to permanently snarled in red tape, began when Bison, which won the contract to build the 14,000 sq. ft. post office, ran into financial difficulties soon after beginning preliminary construction work in late 1997. Workers walked off the site at that point, leaving partial excavations, large pipes and other construction debris on the empty lot, —— ■■■» " ' 11 ' ' ,■ i '*■ 'in Timcs Journal Photo by Stacie Vu CROWD OF PARENTS LISTEN TO POTENTIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS Thi«f Hearing Was Held At Perdue Elementary School School attendance zone hearings draw large crowds By Stacie M. Vu Times-lournal Staff The Houston County Board of Education held a meeting March 5, at Perdue Elementary School regarding issues of rezoning the school attendance dis trict. Parents from around the county expressed their concerns and opinions to the Board Members. Matt Arthur Elementary School and Eagle Springs Elementary School will open in the fall, prompting the rezoning of the school district. Matt Arthur Elementary is located at the intersection of Moody Road and Ga. 127, and Eagle Springs Elementary is located along US 41 North in Warner Robins. Most parents were there to express concerns over how far their kids would travel to new schools, when most can see their present school from their home. Keith Watson of Warner Robins has watched his neighborhood be rezoned four times since 1990 and asked the Board, “When is this going to stop?” The Board of Education is getting help from the Regional Development Center in Macon to come up with a plan so that they will not have to rezone so often. The RDC completed a demographic study, which includes information such as student sex, age, race and grade. The study also includes a projected number of students anticipated for die 2000-2001 school year. Houston County Schools Superintendent Charles Holloway said, “We've got to create facilities and use them to the fullest. We want our children to come to school ready to learn.” According to Beth Burris, spokesperson for the Houston County Board of Education, this is taking place at a time when the number of children attending public schools and the opening of new schools is on the rise. Burris said, “It is anticipated that primarily elemen Sri \ mi; I Joust on ( omit \ Suite Him I 111 (I 1 HE DIQ C3T*Cn - Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia and although elected officials at the city, state and even federal levels have made steady efforts to get the project moving since then, there has been no progress. In addition to the future of the site being uncertain, there is also no contract for con struction of the building. According to Nancy Ross, a spokesper son for the U.S. Postal Service, the real problem is that Zion Bank has turned a deaf ear to the Postal Service’s requests for cooperation. “After Bison defaulted,” Ross said, “We all started scrambling. At one point Ron Fauconniere (a Perry developer) was going to take it over, but he couldn’t come up with the financing. “ At least one other firm reached the negotiating stages with the Postal Service, but this arrangement also fell through, and in the meantime, problems continued jvith communication with the bank, Ross said. “We’ve tried all this time to get the bank to give us an option, and they have not responded. They could recoup their loss by (See AUCTION, Page 3A) tary school students and some middle school students will be effected by the rezoning. High school students should not be effected.” Approximately 1,100 to 1,200 students will be effected. Approximately 600 parents showed up at the meet ing to express concerns from how far children will be bused to school to students at school losing friend ships and bonds with teachers that will be transferred. Many of the parents at the meeting chose where they live after looking at the schools that their children would be attending. Many parents expressed concern about the bonds and friendships that wifi be lost in the shuffle. The next meeting for parents to express their con cerns will be March 11 at the Board Office in Perry. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. and parents are urged to arrive early to look at all of the overlay maps and to sign in to express concerns with the Board members. Zones will be finalized at a Board Work Session March 23, at 6:30, which is open to the public. The zones will be adopted at the regular meeting of the Board on April 20 at 1 p.m. at the Board of Education office in Perry, which is also open to the public. Plans for the old Perry Middle School were dis cussed at the March 9 meeting of the Board of ' Education. Classes for certified staff of the Houston County Board of Education will take place from June 10 to Aug. 7. Middle Georgia Technical Institute will offer training in classes such as intermediate level classes for Windows 98, Power Point, and the Internet. Many certified teachers and some outside consultants will offer literacy training on how to incorporate liter acy into all content areas will also be taught. The technology training will be deuvered using training materials developed by MGT. Many different materials will be used to teach the literacy and site based professional development. r Take a ride with the Cheeks Find out how this Perry couple took on an unusual appearance at a garden show See page 7A I mi *1 '"i it * <ii i . J wl | [ —— *JdwA ?. I..wanaSu tn~******* MtmiN * Times-Journal Photo by Stacie Vu UP FOR BIDS - This sign, announcing a March 23 auction, was placed on the property on which at last one company has planned to build a new Perry post office. New emergency warning sirens to be tested March 31 By STACIE M. VU Times-lournal Staff The City of Perry Fire Department will test the new Tornado Siren System on March 31, at noon. The system is capable of making six separate warning sounds and each warning sound will be sounded during the test. Citizens are urged to pay atten tion to the test. The location of the four sirens are Sam Nunn at Hampton Court, Tucker Road at Moreland Avenue, Country Club Road, and Kellwood Drive. After the initial test, the City Fire Department will conduct an audible test on the fourth Wednesday of each month, weather permitting. During the monthly tests, citizens will hear a tone that is similar to the old siren system. “Citizens are familiar with that sound,” stated Perry Fire Chief Gary Hamlin. During an actual warning the system will make two blasts that will last three minutes each. Hamlin urges citizens to “take cover, do not go outside and do not call 911.” Hamlin also urges House OKs funds fdr local projects By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Times-lournal Staff On March 8, the Georgia House of Representatives approved a $13.3 budget with funding for several local projects. According to Rep. Larry Walker, funding he successfully sponsored includes $25,000 for Genesis House, a Perry ‘ facility for homeless men; $25,000 for the Houston Arts Alliance, $50,000 for a Salvation Army “safe house” to be opened in Houston County for battered and abused women, and $90,000 in operating funds for the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base. Walker said that this year’s budget was a “difficult one 4, but citizens to take a battery powered radio with them so that they will be able to hear further instruc tions on what to do during the Warning. A tornado w r atch means torna does are expected to develop. Keep a battery-powered radio or television set nearby and listen for the latest weather reports, even if the sky is blue. Tornadoes develop very rapidly. A tornado warning means a tornado has actually been sighted or indicated by weather radar. These are generated by analysis of Doppler radar and through wit ness accounts from the public, other government agencies, and by trained spotters. People should keep a battery-powered radio or television nearby and listen for further advisories. If severe weather is confirmed by the National Weather Service, E-911 receives a weather warn ing, E-911 informs the Fire Department, the decision to acti vate the system will be based on where the weather is in Houston County and how bad it is. All of this takes place in a matter of sec onds. that he expected that all of the funding for the local projects will receive final approval. The budget will now go to the Georgia Senate and will then be reviewed by a conference com mittee from both chambers. Walker said he also plans to secure some substantial addition al funds for the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, but declined to give details until plans are firm. Walker noted also that Rep. Pam Bohannon, R-Warner Robins, had two projects funded in the budget: $25,000 for a Senior Center and another $25,000 for the Centerville Fire Department.