Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Volume 128. No. 3 i 2 Sections 16 Pages Wednesday, Aug. 11, 199 50 Cents k Georgia National FaiJl The Crossroa lyJ/ y This niocak !sniK ' frccK /fl\ ox Major catfish operation headedfar Dooly County Georgia Global Aquacul ture (GGA) has announced plans to open corporate offices in Unadilla, with the goal of starting a catfish farming cooperative which will provide catfish for two processing plants in Dooly County. Based on the response of ag-lenders, farmers and the surrounding communi ties. GGA, a privately held corporation, is anticipating the construction an equip ment manufacturing facili ty, a feed mill and two pro cessing plants. According to a news release issued by the com pany, the first of process ing plants would be located near Pinehurst, with con struction beginning this fall and completion by the summer of 2000. The plant would be capable of processing 125,000 pounds of catfish per day. The company needs the backing of Geor gia farmers interested in maintaining commercial catfish ponds. The initial release of grower contracts will be for a minimum of 40 water acres. Council meetings move The City of Perry has amended the City Ordi nance 2-26 to change the regular meeting time. Future city council meet ings will be held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 6 p.m. in the municipal building and at such other times and places as the council may designate. Lunch menus far public schools Milk is served with every meal. Breakfast fea tures fresh fruit or fruit juice; cereal and toast are a daily breakfast choice. Lunches offer a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. PBJ sandwiches are always on the menu. sausage biscuit. Lunch: nachos w/ cheese and beef or sausage dog or pizza. Chocolate cake w/ white icing. Aug. 13 Breakfast: manager's choice. Lunch: steak nuggets w/roll or barbecue on bun or pizza. Banana pudding. Aug. 16 Breakfast: french toast sticks w/ syrup. Lunch: chicken nuggets w/roll or manag er’s choice or baked potato w/hot toppings. Million Dollar cookie. Aug. 17 Breakfast: sausage biscuit. Lunch: taco or fish nuggets or sandwich or pizza. Pineap- (See POOD, Page SA) Houston Contact: the Home Journal Contact the Houston Home Journal: Voice (912) 987-1823 Fax (9>'n 988-1181 :mail homejrnt'’ lOidillwt Viail PO. Drawer M, Perry, 31069 Street 807 Carroll St., Perry, 31069 " s ton Home Journal Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia Just what is House Bill 489? Two-year-old law changing Georgia government Pkom Statt Reports Under the terms of House Bill 489, the city and county governments of every county in Geor gia must prepare and submit a “service delivery strategy" to the Depart ment of Community Affairs in order to be eli gible for state grant fund ing and state permits. The first deadline for this plan to be submitted, reviewed and approved was July 1, 1999. An extension, taken by 80 or more Georgia counties, including Houston Coun ty, sets a new deadline at On the job again ... I - ■■ |PPj^ - —- I iti l iWWIMU ll ftPNMWWu<ii"»ii 11 'I,. 1,1 iwf iiii nnr v l jp*■ BACK TO WORK Teachers in the Houston County public school system returned to work Aug. 9. Most, like these teachers at Perry High School board increases out-of-county tuition By Torey Jolley Houston Home Journal Members of the Houston County School Board voted Aug. 10 to increase the out of county tuition rate for the com ing year. The new tuition rate for teachers and other employees who bring their children to attend school in Houston County will be $1,399. This is an increase of $245 from the fee last year of $1,154. The Board received news the teacher multi-media worksta tions are to be delivered by mid August and will be installed into the classrooms according to a weekly schedule. It is expected approximately 120 teacher work stations will be delivered each week and the entire delivery to be completed by mid-December. The Board began the process of forming a foundation for the City wrangles with cost of health insurance for employees By Torey Jolley Hoy. JouwtAL Staff Insurance was the name of the game during the Aug. 9 called meeting of the Perry City Council. With a Sept. 1 dead line fast approaching, the City Council had to make a decision of resigning with the current company or looking at other alternatives to the rising costs of insurance. According to Brenda King, financial officer for the city of Perry, the city's high insurance claims have increased. From September of 1998 to Aug. 5, 1999, the claims have totaled $445,000. King noted the city is $82,000 over the limit and "still have three months to go." Councilman James Moore said, “For the last two years, the self-insuring company has lost money on us." Interim City Clerk George The Old Reliable. Serving Houston County Since Dts. 17» ISTO October 31. The plan needs to be submitted ahead of that date so that DCA officials will have time to review and approve it. In April Houston County’s written strategy was in draft form, ready for approval by the City Councils of Perry .Cen terville and Warner Robins and the Houston County Commission, when Mayor Donald Walker of Warner Robins said that he would not sign the plan until it See LAW, Page 5A purpose of supporting public education in Houston County. This board will serve as a vehi cle to accept endowments and contributions from individuals, families, corporations, and other organizations. To begin the process of filing as a foundation, a name was needed. The Board approved the name The Heritage Foun dation. Some leaders have expressed a hope this type of foundation can reduce or elim inate school sales projects. Other School Board busi ness included changes to the policy EBH which deals with use of school facilities. The changes involve the School Board’s "... rights to provide all concessions at any event or function on Houston County School District proper ty. The superintendent shall implement procedures to ‘Part of the problem is the cost of health care in Perry.’ George Potter, interim city elerfe. Potter said, “Part of the prob lem is the cost of health care in Perry." He continued, “Administra tive Solutions, Inc. claims it is cheapef to go to Macon’s Coli seum Hospital than Perry Hos pital for surgery." Moore agreed with Potter saying. "Some of our doctors are higher than the usual and custftmary charges of other doctors." The Council approved resigning with Administrative Solutions, Inc. Administrative Solutions. Inc. is a third party administrator, and Baltimore Progress made during 489 talks Three cities, county agree on four points to discuss again By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Horn Journal Staff Despite argumentation and sidetrack ing, County and city elected officials took a few small steps toward a resolution of the ongoing H 8489 controversy on Tuesday night. At a county-wide meeting they agreed, under the guidance of a professional facili tator, on four main points: 1) to have county and city attorneys to work on researching some key issues, such as whether special tax districts can be set up within the county, and what impact an H 8489 agreement would have on the county’s tax cap; 2) to determine how much "wiggle room" the county has between current expendi tures and the tax cap; 3) to name committees which will meet School, gathered in large groups to watch a school opening program through the system television equipment. See story, page 3A arrange for scheduling of a school or school organization to provide all food and drink concessions at any event or function on school grounds, unless the lessee has obtained prior approval from the Hous ton County Board of Educa tion." Other Houston County School actions were: • establish safety policy on playground equipment, • establish McConnell-Tal bert Stadium Authority, • approval of change orders for Matthew Arthur Elementary involving floor preparation, water main and kitchen equipment, • approval of a new kinder garten report card which meets the Georgia Kindergarten Assessment Program. • and approval of elementary soccer fields for practice by the Central Georgia Soccer Associ ation. Life is the re-insurance compa ny. The city of Perry is a partial self-funded plan. The full premium for a fami ly is $610.99 per month and for an individual the cost monthly is $220.11. The employee would pay only 25 percent of the cost. That means an employee with a family would only pay $152.74 per month and an individual employee would only pay $55.02 per month. “I think the changes will be a good deal." said King, noting the usual S2O office co-pay will be deleted. Other changes will be in the deductible: SSOO for individual and $750 for a family. Out of pocket expenses will be $2,000 maximum for an individual and $4,000 maximum for a family. There will be no change in the dental program. Houston Home Journal Photo by Torey Jolley right away to begin trying to hammer out compromises on library funding and E-911 funding. 4) to meet again on August 25, with the continuing help of facilitator Alan Reddish, Associate Director of the Carl Vinson Insti tute of Government. With a looming state deadline and Warn er Robins leaders still presenting lists of demands, however, it remains to be seen if those steps will be too little too late. Mike Gleaton, representing the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, told the group of elected officials that the sanctions to be imposed on counties not meeting the H 8489 deadline are “very real" and will effect cities and counties immediately in terms of loss of grant funding and permits. See PROGRESS. Pale 5A Water woes strike south Houston area Homeowners claim irrigation ca using wells to go dry By CHARLOTTE PERKINS There isn't a good time for a well to run dry, but for Fran Sinyard the timing couldn’t be worse. A busy mom with two children about to titaiaubaek to school, her only source of water right now is a hose hooked up to the water sup ply at the nearby home of a family member, and she doesn’t know how long she can depend on that. Dorothy Jones, who lives near the Sinyards in south Houston County is still getting water from her 220-foot deep well, but she is worried about senior citizens in the area who may be dealing with dry wells or low water pressure. Nancy St. John still has water, but said, “Its muddy and the pressure is low. We re trying to conserve every way we can." Glen Duckworth just wanted enough water to take a shower Tuesday morning when he got home from working a long night shift. The water wasn’t there. Mike Burkett heard in the middle of the day from his wife, who called him at work to tell him that his neighbor’s well had gone dry. In the meantime, the center pivot irrigation system at nearby ABS Farms is spraying out water over acres of cotton, and the Sinyards and their neighbors say they’re convinced that the steady drain from ABS' deep wells is the main cause for the loss of their only water supply. “We’ve lived here 13 years and we never had a problem with our well until ABS started the irri gation five years ago." Fran Sinyard said. Mike Burkett says that the pivot is running nonstop. Despite several calls on Aug. 10, no spokesman for ABS was available for comment, but an official from the Water Resource Man agement Program at the Georgia Environmental Protection Division said he had received a num ber of calls from the area, and began later in the day to refer the callers to the Home Journal. Bill Frechette of EPD said he could not be sure whether or not the problem faced by the south Houston Countians was caused by ABS’ irrigation. He singled out the dry weather as the biggest problem, but conceded that large amounts of water drawn through a deep well could lower the water level so that shallower wells would dry up. “It’s potentially possible," he said. Frechette said that ABS has 10 well permits for 12-inch wells up to 380 feet in depth, which allow them to pump more than 1,200 gallons of water a minute through each well 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. He pointed out that EPD does not govern domestic wells such as those used by the fami lies in the area, and can not take any action to limit any permit-holder’s water use. Frechette said that similar problems regard ing use of ground water have come up across the state specifically in Worth, Tift, Baker. Mitchell and Miller counties. Meanwhile, weather forecasters offer little hope of solid relief for dry fields and yards in Houston County. The NOAA official forecast calls for widely scattered afternoon showers Aug. 11 with a high of 95-100 degrees. The chance of rain is 20 per cent. 1 Thursday will b# mostly sunny and hot with highs in the upper 90s to 100 degrees. See PROGRESS, Page 5A