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J' jt< tHlp jMmtsttftt plome Jmtrwal Legal Organ For Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia 500 Volume 121) Number 17 QA T6wn CtietW INSIDE THIS WEEK Perdue seeks re-election IllillP; * •• / > x \ :: ' c ‘ Jllllll j< /I Incumbent Sen. Sonny Perdue Sen. Sonny Perdue (R- Bonaire) has announced that he will seek his sixth term in the Georgia Senate, and will face a challenge from a politi cal newcomer who has entered the race as a Democrat. Warner Robins realtor and contractor, Miller J. Heath, Jr., qualified on Monday in At lanta to run for the senate post ....See Page 3A Perryan to attend nationwide conference “Fm going to listen in the spirit of oneness and Chris tian love and dialogue, but there are core doctrines or principles of our faith that I will not compromise.” David Mills is a Boft-spoken man, a good listener and a professional administrator, experienced in helping people work together. He’s also a man who knows where he stands, and next week in Cleveland, Ohio, he’ll have his work cut out for him • •MM«****(*»*« See Page 10A qualify for state The Georgia Independent School Association tennis championships will be de cided this week at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton as Tiftarea Academy welcomes qualifiers from the four GISA regions See Page 2B The Best We’ve all heard the expres sion, “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” Simply stated, laughter makes us feel good and is good for us. Research has shown that after a good laugh, your blood pressure and heart rate drop, the im mune system function is im proved and endorphins, your body’s own natural tranquil izers, See Page 7B Index OPINION PAGE 4A CLASSIFIED.... PAGE 6C Lifestyles PAGE 6A SPORTS PAGEIB LEGALS PAGE 1C NEWS BRIEFS..PAGE 2A Honored See Page 9A 11 |g JM A Photo by Charlotte Perkin* Ready to run - Rep. Larry Walker (center) has announced that he will seek another term in the state legislature. With him are Foster Rhodes (left) and Chuck Byrd (right) who co-chaired a fund-raiser and show of support for Walker which was held last week at the Houston Lake Country Club. Houston Board of Education announces funding plan By Lanorris Fleming Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Education lias announced that in hopes of dispelling myths about the scheduled raising of the property and sales taxes they are presenting a financing plan that will support the proposed $l6O million project. The facilities need study found that 615 new classrooms are re quired to meet the growing popu lation needs over the next 10 years. The facilities plan is still in the development stage, but many have asked how the expansion plan would be financed. The plan calls for new schools, classroom additions, renovations, land, technology and construction ad ministration. The total cost would be offset by state funds of $14.2 million, resulting in a net cost to local citizens of $146.3 million, accord ing to the proposed financial plan. These funds could be gener ated by a 10-year extension of the special purpose local option sales taxi SPLOST) of one per cent, according to school officials. The benefit of extending the SPLOST is three-fold, according to the plan. First, property taxes would not increase; second, there would be no increase of the sales taxlit would be an exten sion of the current one percent sales tax citizens already pay); and third, everyone who shops in Houston County would help pay for the facilities. Once the plan is finalized and the costs are adjusted accord ingly, taxpayers would be asked to approve an extension of the SPLOST and the issuance of bonds. Based on the current plan which calls for $146.3 million, Relay 2000 to be biggest ever By Charlotte Perkins Staff Writer Over 20 local churches, schools, clubs and businesses will participate in the 2000 Re lay for Life, which will be held at Rozar Park on April 28 and 29. According to event’s plan ners, this is the largest number ever to participate. Those participating in the round-the-clock walkathon will be Houston Lake Baptist WUMt ■ Thursday, April 27, 2000 citizens would be asked to ex tend the SPLOST for five addi tional years and to approve $74 million in bonds. The bonds would pay for initial projects. The SPLOST funds would gen erate approximately SB3 mil lion, with sl3 million ear marked to pay bonds interest and the remainder used to pay for projects as revenue is re ceived. Around September 2006. tax payers would again be asked to extend the one percent sales tax for another five years. This rev enue would be used to pay off the $74 million in bonds. If the SPLOST extension were not ap proved in 2006, a property tax increase would be inevitable. The Facilities Needs debate, which began in September 1999 as a study in how to facilitate long-term growth in the Hous ton County School System, is still going on very strong. In the April 24 work session of the Board of Education the mem bers discussed the problems brought out in the first forum which was held at Northside High School on April 13. “I was very disappointed at the participation,” said Board member Fred Wilson. One of the problems that was expressed by those who did at tend the forum was with the last referendum passed and the re sults. “Why should we trust you with this money if you aren’t ac countable for the $34 million we gave last time,” said Perry resi dent Robbin Jackson. According to Charles Holloway, superintendent of schools, and other board mem bers, there will be a published, listing of the last referendums projects and their costs on the HCBOE web site for those indi Church, Perry United Method ist Church, Rehoboth Baptist Church, Andrew United Method ist Church, Perry Primary School, Perry Middle School, Kings Chapel Elementary School, Momingside Elementary School, Perry High School, the Bank of Perry, CB&T Bank, Perry Hospital, the City of Perry, the Perry Kiwanis Club, the Bo som Buddies Cancer Support Group, the Creekwood Neighbor This is fun See Page 10A viduals who want to know where this money was used. Holloway said that the people are not realty listening to what the board is trying to do now, they are still thinking about what was done in the past. According to a consensus of board members this publishing of the past referendums accom- See BOE On Page 3A v*' ' i JR •*? ■ l&k l v * nnm m M f|jE a, Photo by Emily John»ton«* Authorities from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office begin their investigation of an accident that seriously injured a 10-year-old child April 21. According to Sgt. M.J. Stokes, Eric York drove into the path of a 1979 Bonneville traveling on Country Drive. York was operating a Honda Zl5O. He was not wearing a helmet, said Stokes. The driver of the car, 38-year-old Jimmy Hickey, attempted to avoid hitting the child, added the sergeant. “There were six feet of skid marks made prior to impact,” said Stokes. While Hickey was charged with driving with a suspended license, he was not charged in connection with the accident. hood Watch, Kroger, Northrop Grumman, Fairfield Inn-Perry, and the Posey/Sandefur family. Rachel English and Ben Jones, WMAZ television personalities will return to emcee the event and to judge the campsite and costume competitions. The Relay will begin at 7 p.m., Friday night, with cancer sur vivors taking the first walk. A three-year old cancer survivor will be among those in the spot I No funding for downtown Courthouse By Charlotte Perkins and Emily Johnstone HHJ Staff An anticipated shortfall in funding for Houston County’s new courthouse and jail con struction project will more than likely mean that no special local option sales tax (5.P.L.0.5.T.) money is available for renova tion of the old courthouse in downtown Perry. The renovation of the old courthouse building at an esti mated $2 million - while a ma jor selling point during the cam paign for the S.P.L.O.S.T. - was not written specifically into the wording of the referendum ques tion. County Commission Chair man J. Sherrill Stafford said in an interview on Tuesday that the Commissioners will be talking with Perry leaders and will prob ably need “to reevaluate the best use of the building in downtown Perry.” The expected shortfall will also probably force the Commission ers to borrow money or dip into the county’s reserve fund of $8.9 million to come up with as much as $3 million to fund the comple tion of the new facilities. According to Stafford, the ar chitects for the project have re cently estimated the combined cost for the new courthouse and jail at $47,100,000, or $3.100,000 more than the fixed amount of $44,000,000 to be raised by the S.P.L.O.S.T. voters approved two years ago. light. Luminaries will be lighted at 9 p.m. in memory of those who have died of cancer and in honor of cancer survivors. Lu minaries may be paid for at the Relay. Carol Hayes is this year’s chair, with Holly Sargent serv ing as co-chair. Sponsors are Northrop Grumman, Houston Healthcare Complex,Kroger, the City of Perry and the Geor gia National Fairgrounds. Throe Sections 30 Pages Stafford said that although the exact cost of the construction projects would not be known un til bids come in (probably late this year), “it’s a safe assumption that the cost will be more than $44 million.” Stafford attributed the in crease in the anticipated cost of the project to increased construc tion costs, and said that the Board of Commissioners had sought professional guidance in establishing the original esti mate and had even added a 10 percent contingency fund, but costs were still likely to exceed the amount voters approved for the S.P.L.O.S.T. Stafford also noted that jail construction costs had been trimmed by reducing the num ber of “beds” - or spaces for in mates - from 600 to 508. “When they got to costing out the 600 bed jail, we found we couldn’t afford it,” Stafford said, “but the support functions will be built so that modules can be added in the future if we need more room.” Meanwhile, Perry officials re acted to the news that there mav be no funding for renovation of the existing courthouse. See Courthouse Page 5A Police hot on trail By Emily Johnstone News Editor Perry police tracked down an Atlanta man April 20 who, dur ing visits to four stores and res taurants on Sam Nunn Boule vard, left a succession of bath room fires. Nineteen-year-old Christo pher L. Stephens has been charged with four counts of first, degree arson, according to Perry Police Lt. Heath Dykes. Stephens, who Dykes de scribed as a transient, made his first stop of the morning at the Conoco station at 1501 Sam Nunn Blvd. He allegedly entered the store, asked the clerk for a couple of dollars, then pro ceeded to the bathroom where he supposedly set a trash can on fire by igniting paper towels in the container, said Dykes. After Stephens left the store, the clerk noticed a burning smell and found the blazing trash can, said the investigator. From that location, Stephens allegedly made his way to the BP Station, Burger King and Captain D’s, where similar in cidents occurred, said Dykes. A lookout was placed on the subject. “At Captain D’s it was pretty much the same method of opera tion,” he said. “People eating in the restaurant saw the smoke and alerted others.” That restaurant was to be Stephens’ last stop before the Perry jail, however. Dykes said he spotted Stephens heading in the direc tion of the Amoco station soon after. Detective Ken Ezell was called to place the suspect into custody. “I’m glad we caught up with him when we did, before he could do any more damage,” commented Fire Chief Gary Hamlin. The fire department re sponded to several of the calls, he said.