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Volume 128, No. 3 2 Section* 18 Paces Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 50 Ceuta tfyHPP I The |T Crossroai lOL/ This Week No Perry city election necessary this fall There will be no need for a city election come Nov. 2 in Perry. Only the three incumbents are running: Charles F. Lewis. Bobby E. Glover, and James L. Moore. Perry Mayor Jim Wor rall said. 'There is no need for an election. There is no opposition. This proves the people of Perry must be satisfied with the city govern ment or someone else would have run. "The city contracts with the county to hold the election. The amount of money the city will save will be considerable between $5,000 and $7,000," said Worrall. Lewis, Glover, and Moore are long-time members of the City Council. Lunches for Houston County Schools Milk is served with every meal. Breakfast features fresh fruit or fruit juice; cereal and toast are a daily break fast choice. Lunches offer a variety of fruits and vegetables daily. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are always on the menu. Sept. 23- Nachos w/ cheese/beef or sub sandwich or pizza. Chocolate chip cookie. Sept. 24- Steak nuggets w/roll or barbe cue on bun or Pizza. Jell- O Cookie. Sept. 27- Chicken nuggets w/roll or hot ham and cheese or baked potato w/toppings. Rice Krispy Treats. Sept. 28- Taco or fish nuggets or sandwich or pizza. Cinnamon Roll. Sept. 29- Hamburger or Manager’s Choice or baked potato w/top pings. Shortcake w/fruit topping. Sept. 30- Submarine sandwich or southern chicken w/roll or nacho munchable. Manager's Choice dessert. Arts grant funds are available in County Applications are now' available for the 1999- 2000 Grassroots Arts Program, administered by the Georgia Council for the Arts. This pro gram, now in its seventh year, allocates state money to arts program ming in every county in Georgia. Any non-profit organization with an innovative outreach arts program can apply. Some $3,623 has been (See FOOD, Page SA) Contact: A the ' Home Journal Contact the Houston Home Journal: Voice (912) 987-1823 Fax '*’l2) 988-1181 email ..homt-juiti>u>u.nct Mail PO. Drawer M, Perry, 31069 Street 807 Carroll St., Perry, 31069 Savannah thanks Despite some complaints con cerning the way costal residents were treated in Perry last week, one Chatham County resident has good things to say. See page 4/ Houston Home Journal Official Legal Organ for Houston County, the City of Perry and the State of Georgia * Home Journal Photo by Charlotte Perkins RAIN. RAIN. UONT GO AWAY! Three year old Miranda Little is enjoying the rainy weather as are many Hous ton County fhrm#s. Plans ftSr construction of post office announced By Torey Jolley Home Journal Staff \Vill we or won’t we get a new post office? That is the question many Perryans have asked about the long-delayed post office construction along Macon Road. According to Nancy Bar bee Ross, communication specialist for the US Postal Sendee, “The contractor has now been approved for site development and we expect him to get immedi ately to work on the site development." Ross said, "The postal sendee requires site devel opment plans and con struction plans be approved by the postal ser vice prior to development. The site development is approved and the plans are expected to be approved by the end of September." The delay in the con struction was due to the contractor’s failure to sub mit the plans for approval. The contractor is Glen Clark. He owns Postal Service LLC. Clark became owner of the property where the post office is being constructed when the original owner. Bison Development, went bankrupt. According to Ross, Clark obtained the property “last March or April when the bank auctioned off the prop erty." “It was completely out of our hands," Ross said. With the delay, the building plans have changed. According to n 1 j U l. Ross, "The new building will be bigger than the orig inal plans. It will be approximately the same The Old Reliable, Serving Houston County Since Dec. 17, 1870 building as in Cairo. We are excited for the citizens of Perry " Bill Chapman. State Director for Sen. Max Cle land, said, “Senator Cle land and his office are dis appointed in the delay of construction. However, it is now on track." "We are planning to be here in about a year for the grand opening and ribbon cutting,” said Chapman. Chapman commented mat lack of communica tion was a significant prob lem. "However," he said, “We are pleased with the meet ing today." lie said Cleland and his office will continue monitoring the situation along with Perry Mayor Jim Worrall. and Rep.Larry* Walker" Ross agreed. “The postal service will keep an extremely close watch over this project, as will the cit izens of Perry." Vb' : :; r \ Bill Chapman. Nancy Barbee Ross, Perry Coun cilman James Moore view the site of the proposed post office. On the road again Westfield heads to Sherwood qq /qq r.rriPCTo oon.TrrT II po mpTW l TRRAPY 9CA CJTMFWP no 7AFRP ft* see pages 8 - 10/ Savannah mayor apologizes’ to evacuees for treatment they received in Perry Police Chief Potter asks, What does he know? He wasnt here!* By Torey Jolley Home Journal State The City of Perry may not have gotten a drop of rain from Hurricane Floyd but it blew in trouble for the city and a lot of hot air from one Savannah official. Last week, about 3,500 evacuees from Savannah were sent to Perry to wait out the hurricane. They appeared well-received at both the Georgia National Fairgrounds Agricenter and the Rozar Park shel ters. However, a dozen or more of recently released inmates from the Chatham County Detention Center were also on the buses sent to Perry for safety. According to Perry Police Chief George Potter, “We had a lot of things happen we normally don’t have and that would have to be attributed to the criminal element. We haven’t seen people like this in Perry in quite a while. ’’Jails are always over crowded. Chatham County took advantage of the hur ricane to gain some relief from their overcrowded conditions," Potter specu lated. ’They did not let anyone know. If they had informed us, we could have taken steps to control the situa tion better,” said Potter. The Chatham jail has a capacity of 1,224 and cur rently has 1,370 inmates. Chatham County Deten tion Center jail administra tor Gary Blake said the inmates who were released served time for misde meanors, such as disorder ly conduct and public inde cency. Savannah City Manager Robert Brown told The Savannah Morning News Sept. 16 that Mayor Floyd Adams, in hopes of calming the situation between the ♦ Red Cross identifies problems at evacuee shelter By Torey Jolley Home Journal Staff According to a report from Sam Register. Execu tive Director of the Ameri can Red Cross, concerning the shelter at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, there were eight identifiable problems in the planned support of the evacuation during Hurri cane Floyd last week. The American Red Cross report stated its job was “to provide safe, secure, dry. shelter for Hurricane Floyd evacuees at the strategical ly located Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricen ter.” Darby Morgan. Director of Disaster Services of Houston/Middle Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross, agreed, “We went above and beyond the call of duty. We sheltered; we fed; we cared for them. We did all we could do" The Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter site was initially planned to Library to close The Perry Public library will close for a week. Find out why and when in Joan Dorsetfs Just Visitin column Seepage 7 a two communities, would speak with Perry’s Mayor Jim Worrall “to offer the city’s apologies for any inconveniences caused by the evacuees." He added, “We do intend to continue to communi cate with the Perry commu nity." Red Cross leaders meet with Council; discuss controversy with Savannah By Torey Jolley Home Journal Staff The savannah insults Perry saga took center stage at the Perry City Council meeting Sept. 21. Houston Middle Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross Executive Director Sam Register told the city council, “There is a lot of negative things being said about Perry, Chief Potter, and about the efforts made during the hurricane evacuation operation. “I want to officially thank the city of Perry and the other agencies, organizations, and people who devoted their -lime anyd energy to the hurricane evacuation operation," Register said. “I especially, want to single out Chief Potter for his efforts. He was outstanding," Register said. Register explained his report on the operation. “Our job was to provide safe, secure, dry shelter for the Hurricane Floyd evacuees. We did." Register mentioned the various groups and people who worked tirelessly during the operation. “In my 10 years as Executive Director of the Houston Middle Georgia Chapter, I have never seen a more outstanding coordinated effort. We are grateful for all the support." Darby Morgan, the chapter’s Director of Disaster Services , said, “I have never seen a better run oper ation. This was a well-oiled machine. When asked to help, Perry, Warner Robins, and Houston County helped." Morgan said there were several incidents during the operation. There were some people at the shelter screaming to slaughter the Red Cross. We tried our best, but some people just could not be happy. ’ Morgan said it was a shame Savannah officials refused to acknowledge the efforts the city of Perry, and especially Potter, put forth. “When we tried to give food and water to them for the return trip, the men on board the buses screamed they didn't want that; they wanted beer instead," said Morgan, adding. “Our workers' lives were threatened. I was personally threaten five times. See COUNCIL, Page 2A support an evacuation of 12,000 base residents from Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. However, the mission quickly changed to a civilian shelter which served 5,000 evacuees at the peak and 9.000 cumu lative. Morgan said, “It is apples and oranges comparison. We are the designated shel ter for Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. We were supposed to open and organize the shelter for the expected 12,000 military. We understood they would be bringing their own sup plies - food, cots, and tents. “At some point our mis sion changed,” Morgan said. “We took in civilians and they did not have any emergency supplies with them. They didn't have blankets, towels, cots, or food. We still did all we could do. Our Achilles heel was cots and blankets. Morgan described the massive movement of costal Georgia residents inland to However, according to The Savannah Morning News of Sept. 21, Adams has decided against apolo gizing to the city of Perry and, instead, has apolo gized to the evacuees. “We will request an inde pendent investigation by See SAVANNAH, Page 5A escape the fury of Hurri cane Floyd as, “the largest evacuation in United States history. We had no way to be prepared. People expect ed to he taken care of. We did a goad job. What hurt us is being inundated with so many people without notice - especially 4:30 in the morning. However, we were there. We did every thing by the book. 1 sleep well at night." said Morgan. Register wrote in the report the Agricenter site was “the largest shelter in Georgia." It used three large buildings, 20,000 square feet each. “The arena chairs were comfortable, but cots and blankets were not available so our clients slept on con crete floors.," Register’s report indicated. Morgan said, “In addition the buildings used at the Agricenter, we set up the Rozar Park shelter for the really sick." See EVACUATE. Page 2A