Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

| i. tlllje pUntsiim Void mo 12?) Nuinlioi 20 o Tt&m Crier 11 INSIDE THIS WEEK Georgia Scholars Recognized Eight Houston County se niors with outstanding aca demic and community accom plishments were recognized on May 22 at the annual Geor gia Scholars Reception. The Georgia scholar recipient must be a graduating high school senior who exhibits ex cellence in all phases of school life, community activities and the home. This year’s recipi ents were from Houston County High School, Perry High School, Warner Robins High School and Westfield School. .Page 3A Home suffers damage following lightning strike A home located on Juniper Road suffered damage follow ing an apparent lightning strike May 22, according to Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy Williams. Williams said volunteers from Stations 1 and 6 and Air One responded to the scene about 2:30 a.m ..Page 10A PHS soccer star continues career Eric Bassler, who has let tered in three sports in three years at Perry High School, chose to continue into the col lege arena with soccer as he signed papers with Andrew College May 18. Bassler also lettered in cross country and tennis at Perry- High School after moving here his sophomore year Page IB Memorial Day Reflections As we approach Memorial Day weekend, we should step back from the usual fes tivities associated with the kick-off of the summer sea son and reflect on the service that many Americans have given our nation to make and keep us free. Freedom does not come without a price. We some times take for granted the many liberties we enjoy in America, liberties that have all been earned through the ultimate sacrifice of so many members of our armed forces .Page SB Index OPINION PAGE4A CLASSIFIED.... PAGE 7C LIFESTYLES....PAGE 6A SPORTS PAGEIB LEGALS PAGE 1C NEWS BRIEFS..PAGE 2A 100th See Page 7A Legal Organ For Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia H '’■ v ' '3My/~ v '< Lgilifl |.. Ml Rk hiimmaii inii .y* MB ' z \-WKtit MIML im v ® ?• ■ W» ■KTXv i * Wik «ML-8. i £9 1 ./ .a * c ‘ ' j•. H m f :I d. • ~;.A bEb M Photo by Emily Johnstonr Perry Mayor Jim Worrall lights the flame for the Special Olympic Torch as it travels through town May 24. The Torch was brought into town by runners who are law enforement personnel from Pulaski State Prison. It was corned to Warner Robins by Perry officers. Its final destination will be the Special Olympic games held in Atlanta this weekend. Holding the Torch is Monica Lazeres. Work underway on city FYOI budget By Emily Johnstone News Editor A slight increase in city ad va lorem tax and a $4 per month increase in sanitation bills are a possibility for Perry residents if council OKs certain measures included in the City’s FY2OOI budget. Overall preliminary budget figures come in at about sls million. According to City Manager Lee Gilmour, monies required for the General Fund budget should be near the present 14.29 mills col lected. However, per a State mandate, Perry will begin collecting mon ies for capital projects through a special district tax on all non vacant parcels within the city limits. These monies will be used for improvements such as street re surfacing and recreation needs, said Gilmour. One project that could be funded through such monies is an extension for Jemigan Street, he added. That would provide an alternate route for truck traffic from the southern end of Jernigan Street to Larry Walker “Survivors Never Quit” I s i— Photo by Emily Johnston* Members of a special county fire department rescue team pull Joe Stinson to safety during a session held in Warner Robins May 20. The session was part of a course used by New York city firefighters to train in rescue of victims and of trapped fellow firefighters conducted by Houston County Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Register. Fourteen people completed the course, said Register, that was held at the former Ashley Arms Apartments. Special emphasis was placed on rescue from multiple-story structures. Motto for the training session was "Survivors Never Quit." Thursday, May 25, 2000 Parkway. Estimated cost for that project is set at about $2 million. An increase in sanitation bills is a probability, said Gilmour, because of the rising costs of pro viding the service. Perry is currently contracted with Sullivan Environmental Services for that company to provide household garbage pickup. Projected dollar amount for the upcoming fiscal year con tract with that company is about $396,000. One way to lower that four dollar amount increase by a couple of dollars would be for residents to have their house hold trash picked up once a week instead of the current twice per week pickup, said the city man ager. Meanwhile, the city police de partment comes in with the highest projected budget for the upcoming year, with a request of $2,450,548. Recommendation from the city manager is set at $2,106,400. That includes some cuts to requests for additional vehicles and surveillance equip ment, among other items. T-Ball See Page 1B The department presently is set to receive at least five new vehicles and a full time code en forcement officer. Some new budgeted items in clude $42,400 for the Downtown Development Authority and $5,800 for the 21st Century Part nership. The Perry-Houston County Airport is recommended to re ceive $49,200. Perry city council members will be discussing the proposed budget during a work session set for June 6 at city hall. That meet ing is open to the public. Copies of the proposed budget are available at city hall for pub lic inspection. For more information, call 988- 2736. Honoring the Vets From Staff Reports Local Memorial Day ceremony organizers are looking for a large turnout at the May 29 service set to be held at Perry Memorial Gardens. The program, scheduled to be gin at 11 a.m., will include a number of items to honor those who gave their lives in the ser vice of their country. A large tent will be set up to accommodate the expected crowd. The program will be hosted by emcee Johnny Barton, CMSGT Retired, with Perry High School JROTC students posting colors. Hayley Greene will sing the Star Spangled Banner. Dr. David Carter is on the agenda to open the service with prayer. Guest speaker for the program will be Rachel Coggins, chaplain with the Army Reserves. She is founder of “Rachel’s Well”, a speaking/writing minis try for women. Taps will be played by Justin Waters of the Perry High School band. Horace Woodruff will close the service in prayer and Christie Drawdy will sing America the Beautiful. Perry Memorial Gardens is lo cated on 41 North near Thomp son Road. Thomson, Sanders in the race for county chair By Charlotte Perkins Staff Writer At press time, with only two hours left until the deadline to sign up for the race, there were two candidates for Houston County’s top elected position. Larry Thomson of Perry and Ned Sanders of Warner Robins, both Republicans, will be on the July 18 ballot to fill the unex pired term of the late County Commission Chairman Sherrill Stafford, who died on May 9. “I feel like I can do the job,” Thomson said in an interview on Tuesday. “I see the county’s needs and I would carry on in the tradition of Sherrill Stafford, in a peacemaking role. I think that together we can build a better Houston County - and that in cludes all of the cities, too.” Sanders cited the adverse im pact of county’s rapid growth and the necessity of keeping up with infrastructure needs such as highway building as a key issue for his campaign. “The extension of Russell Parkway is critical,” he said, “and we need accelerated help with the four laning of South Houston Lake Road, Highway 96 Bit k W:«H3Bys9i mm I s t?.- Valedictorians and salutatorians from Perry High and Westfield senior classes are: Back Row: Brad Barfield and Daniel Davis of Westfield. Front: LaShonda Watts and Karen Lord of Perry High School. Its Graduation Time By Lanorria Fleming Staff Writer Commencement exercises for Perry’s two senior high schools will take place on the evening of May 26. The end of the school year is only days away. The se niors have already said their goodbyes to their lockers and desks, paid any commitments and are now ready for that last parade of school spirit. Parents, friends and other loved ones will be be very atten tive as that little girl or boy they watched grow into a woman or man accepts the ticket into a bright future, the high school diploma. The first graduation ceremony will be held on the campus of The Westfield Schools in the recently built gymnatorium. Westfield’s class of 2000 has 36 graduating seniors, 23 of whom will be graduating with honors. Speak ers for the evening will be class Cat in hat See Page 11A Three Sections, 30 Pages and Hwv. 127.” Thomson, who has vacated his post on the Board of Commis sioners to seek the chairman ship, is a developer and contrac tor who served on the county Planning and Zoning Board and Board of Elections before win ning his first term on the County Commission in 1998. As a Com missioner he has chaired the transportation, planning and zoning, library and water de partment committees. Like Sanders, Thomson sees transportation as the county’s biggest challenge, but notes that such long-awaited projects as the extension of Russell Parkway and the widening of Houston Lake Road are now getting un derway. “It’s just a slow process,” he noted. Both candidates are avowed fiscal conservatives who believe that Houston County’s budget should stay within the limita tions set by the legally-estab lished tax cap. Sanders, a retired Air Force veteran and civil engineer, was Continued on Page SA valedictorian Daniel Davis and salutatorian Brad Barfield. The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. “This has been a wonderful class to work with ,” said Head master Dr. Michael Drake, “They are great athletes and very involved in extra curricular activities but most importantly, they work very hard at doing things the right way. These at tributes will take them far in the future and make them suc cesses.” The second of the two events, Perry High School’s commence ment exercise, will take place at 8 p.m in the Georgia Agricenter with a graduating class of 235. Thirty-five of these students are honor graduates. This year’s graduation address will be deliv ered by the Perry High School class of 2000’s valedictorian LaShonda Watts. Special speaker will be salutatorian Continued on Page SA 500