Newspaper Page Text
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Journal
Volume 129 Number 50 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Two Sections, 28 Pages
holiday
Start the Holiday with a
Shopping Spree with your
local downtown
merchants.
See Page 2A
•Holiday Homes: Are you
putting a special effort into
decorating your home this
year? Whether you’re plan
ning to turn on hundreds of
lights or to put your creativ
ity into beautiful traditional
decorations, please let us
know. See the form inside
this week’s paper.
• • •
Ongoing events:
•Free Family fun. Friday
and Saturday nights through
Christmas. Stop by to see the
real live Santa and the daz
zling Christmas light display
at 1316 Smoak Avenue. Leroy
Bennett, first place winner in
last year’s Houston Home
Journal Christmas Lights
contest, has been working for
weeks on his annual display of
lights.
• • •
•Lights along the Lake -
View more than 20,000 lights
reflecting on Hunnicut Lake -
a free display created by Jack
and Katherine Hunnicut. The
display is open to the public
through December 31. The
site can be reached From Hwy.
49 between Marshallville and
Fort Valley. Take Doles Road
for about 2.8 miles to a dirt
road indicated by a lighted ar
row. Go approximately one
mile further. Turn right at
bottom of hill, before bridge.
• • •
•American Camellia So
ciety Festival of Trees: Fes
tively decorated trees sur
round the Annabelle Lundy
Fetterman courtyard during
the month of December while
thousands of camellia blooms
bring nature’s holiday gift to
visitors to the gardens. Tues
days- Saturdays , 10:00 a.m. -
4:30 p.m. Sundays, 1:00 p.m. -
4:30 p.m. American Camellia
Society at Massee Lane Gar
dens, between Marshallville
and Fort Valley on GA Hwy.
49; $5.00. For more infor
mation call (478) 967-2358
• • •
Thurs., December 7
• 6:30 p.m. - Perry Middle
School Drama Club presents
“A Christmas Carol” in the
school cafeteria. $3.50 in ad
vance $5 at door.
• 7 p.m. The Warner Rob
ins Children’s Theater’s holi
day double-header: “The
Littlest Angel” and “The
Christmas Corrall.”
At the Warner Robins Little
Theater on South Pleasant
Hill Drive. $6 for adults. $5 for
children. Make reservations
by calling 218-2644 or 329-
8805.
Continued on Page 3A
Index
OPINION PAGE4A
CLASSIFIED...PAGE 118
LIFESTYLES.... PAGE 1B
SPORTS PAGE 9A
LEGALS PAGE 6B
NEWS BRIEFS..PAGE 2A
Concert
See Page 5B
School bus
hit by car
By Lanorris Askew
Staff Writer
A Byron woman was arrested for
DUI and other offenses by Perry
Police after hitting a Houston
County school bus on December 5.
Cheryl Bryant, 39, of Byron the
driver of a 1978 Oldsmobile Delta
88, struck an occupied school bus
carrying six children aged 5- 7
years old while traveling on
Marshallville Highway 127. Ac
cording to Captain William Phelps
of the Perry Police Department
the accident occurred at approxi
mately 3:53 p.m.
“There were no injuries re
ported at the time of the acci
dent,” he said.
According to police reports
Bryant was 3 times over the legal
state blood alcohol limit. She was
charged with driving under the
influence, failure to yield after
Airport Authority
back together
and making plans
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
With a promise of SIOO,OOO in
funds from the Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation, mem
bers of the Perry-I louston County
Airport Authority spent most of
their December meeting discuss
ing priorities for use of the funds.
Chairman David Morgan told
the group that their original plan
to use the funds to pay off their
debt for building the new hangar
would not meet the requirements
of D.O.T. officials. A variety of
other options were discussed, in
cluding developing a master plan
and layout survey for the airport,
removing trees, building a perim
eter fence, installing security
lighting and other possibilities.
Formal applications for the funds
must be made before April, 2001.
The Authority also discussed
plans for acquiring 40 acres of
land between the airport and
Walton Road. This land was re
cently the center of a hot contro
versy. A Perry City Council vote
to annex and rezone the land,
owned by Jimmy Paul and Toni
Smith, over the opposition of the
Authority, led to the resignations
of Morgan and Authority Member
Ralph Dorsett last month.
However, following discussions
with city officials, who have
pledged to purchase the land so
that it will not be used for resi
dential development, Morgan and
Dorsett are back on board.
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Photo by Charlotte Perkin*
Christmas cake - Members of the Perry-Houston County Airport
Authority enjoyed an impromptu party after their December
meeting, cutting into a decorated Christmas cake. Shown here
from left are Airport Manager John Houser, Michael Froehlich,
Tony Sellier, Authority Chairman David Morgan, David Wayne,
Councilman Charles Lewis, Commissioner Jay Walker and Berry
Seagraves.
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Houston County’s Newspaper Since 1870
stopping and leaving the scene
of an accident.
Bryant posted bond on the
charges during the evening.
According to Police Chief
George Potter who informed
city council members of the ac
cident during his department
report at the December 5 City
Council meeting, due to past
concerns, school zones had re
cently been constructed in the
area and speed limit signs had
been posted.
According to Phelps, the next
step in this process is for a hear
ing date to be set for Bryant.
During this hearing she will en
ter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
If she pleads guilty she will be
sentenced by the judge. If she
pleads not guilty a court date will
be set and she will be judged by
a jury.
Mayor Jim Worrall, who was
present at Monday night’s meet
ing, praised the group for their
efforts and said that the Airport
Authority was one of the most
conscientous agencies working
on behalf of the city.
“I’m really pleased and de
lighted that the team is staying
together in 2001,” the mayor
said.
John Houser, Airport Man
ager, said that with the city’s
plan to acquire the land, the air
port is “in the best shape we’ve
been in to get some industry in
here.”
Plans were made to finalize
the hiring of new engineering
firm. Authority members have
interviewed several firms in re
cent weeks.
The group also approved a
plan to restructure payments on
their bank note for the hangar
construction, and approved a
request by Fixed Base Operator
Stacy Willis to adjust his liabil
ity insurance requirements so
that he could have a wider range
of choices of insurance providers.
The Authority members re
viewed the recent “Wings over
Georgia” event held on Veteran’s
Day weekend, and noted that
Cox Concessions, which pro
vided festival food for the event
had given S9OO of their profits
back to the Authority. Plans are
underway to hold the air show
annually.
Tom
See Page 2B
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Water rates to be equalized
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
Should living outside the city
limits mean that you automati
cally pay more for the same wa
ter service that city residents
receive? The state government
doesn’t think so, and local juris
dictions are complying.
For the 100 or so Perry water
customers who live outside the
city limits, relief will be more
than pocket change. Currently,
according to City Manager Lee
Gilmour, water customers living
within the city’s boundaries are
paying a base charge of $6 per
month,plus $1.82 per 1000 gal
lons used, while customers liv
ing beyond the city limits are
paying $9 per month, plus $2.73
per 1000 gallons.
The issue of unequal rates was
discussed last week in a meeting
Westfield names new headmaster
By Lanorris Askew
Staff Writer
He’s still busily ringing the
bells that signal class changes and
going about his daily routine as
upper school principal, but soon
Dr. Mike Franklin will have much
bigger fish to fry. On December
3,2000, he received the news that
after a narrowing to six remain
ing applicants he had been se
lected to fill the soon to be vacant
position of Headmaster at
1
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Here’s the church;
here’s the steeple
The new sanctuary at Perry Presbyterian Church has been
completed and in use for several months - but it wasn’t quite
complete until last week when the steeple was finally put into
place. As church members and wide-eyed little boys like two
year old Cole Brannen watched, crane operators carefully raised
the belfry, the copper steeple, and the belfry roof and put them in
place. Still to be added are white pillars and the cross at the very
top. For more photos see Page BC.
of city officials with County Com
mission Chairman Ned Sanders.
The meeting was part of the on
going process of developing a
county-city Service Delivery
Strategy.
The Perry City Council dis
cussed this issue at their Tues
day night meeting and will vote
on the matter within the next
two months, following comple
tion of a county-wide schedule
for the change, Gilmour said,
adding that because of the small
number of out-of-city customers,
no compensatory rate increase
for city dwellers is planned.
Water services, along with
sewer, gas and solid waste services
are considered “enterprise funds”
by the state, which requires that
these services be managed sepa
rately of a city’s budget - as busi
Westfield Schools.
Although Franklin received
the news a little earlier, he
stated that the rest of the school
heard the announcement early
Monday morning when Ross
Tolleson, chairman of the Board
of Trustees, called a faculty
meeting.
“It was a really affirming time
for me,” he said. “The faculty
reacted so warmly and congratu
lations are still coming in.”
: GEORGIA M
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Photos by Charlotte Perkins
nesses in their own right. Thus,
the fact that a customer does not
pay city property taxes does not,
in itself, justify an additional
charge. Additional charges can
only be justified if there is an ad
ditional cost to the city for pro
viding service to a specific area.
All three cities agreed in the first
version of the Service Delivery
Strategy submitted to the state
that the higher rates for resi
dents outside their city limits
were “arbitrary” and would be
changed.
Centerville, with 40 percent of
its water-sewer customers out
side its city limits, is making
plans to adjust the rates over a
period of six years to arrive at
equalization. Warner Robins will
also equalize its rates, but offi
cials there are still working on
details.
In his fourth year at Westfield,
Franklin has moved up the lad
der of success quite quickly.
“When I came here in 1996, I
took the position of director of
curriculum,” he said
After only three years on the
job he moved into the position of
upper school principal when the
position became vacant. That
was last December.
Continued on Page 2A
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