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Award-Winning
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Volume 131. Number 101
TUESDAY, 1
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UG 59/40 / jjrf»
Partly cloudy skies in the morning
will give way to cloudy skies during
the.
Wod 58/46 /N*
12/18
Overcast. Highs in the upper 50s
and lows in the mid 40s.
Thu 64/49 Z~V,,
12/19
Cloudy. Highs in the mid 60s and
lows in the upper 40s,
Perry Parade
2002
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Alvalyn Pope, Grand
Marshal of the 2002 Perry
Christmas Parade, waves
to'the crowd. Hundreds of
people lined the streets of
Perry Thursday evening
for a nighttime Christmas
parade. Float winners
included: lst-New Life,
2nd-First Baptist Church
Hayneville for church
groups; 1 st-Cystic
Fibrosis, 2nd-Exchange
Club of Perry for clubs;
lst-Perry Head Start, 2nd-
Morningside Elementary
School for schools; Ist-
ALLTEL, 2nd-Georgia
National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter for industry
and business.
See more on Page 9A
Inside
OPINION PG.4A
CLASSIFIED ...PG.6B
COMICS PG. 5B
BUSINESS PG. 6A
NEWS BRIEFS . .PG. 2A
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Photo by Charlotte Perkins
Santa Claus was honored by the Centerville Fire Department
Saturday night for 20 years of appearances at the depart
ment's annual Christmas party. The plaque was presented by
Shannon Sharpless to u Santa’s Helper * retired firefighter
Terrf Stafford. f 1 .’
Roberts found gutty ol RaffieM shooting
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
A Houston County Jury took about two hours
to make a decision on Thursday, convicting
Michael Tyrone Roberts on two counts of felony
murder, attempted armed robbery and aggravat
ed assault.
Superior Court Judge George Nunn sentenced
the 22-year-old Miami native to life in prison, in
accordance with Georgia law for a murder con
viction.
Roberts was charged with the Jan. 18, 2002,
shooting death of a young Warner Robins man,
Jamie Raffield. According to witnesses at the
trial, Raffield, who was in a car driven by Jason
Mills, also of Warner Robins, had purchased $lO
of marijuana from Kenshaun Taylor in the Oak
Terrace apartment parking lot, and reportedly
had a large roll of cash, which the drug-seller
saw.
Raffield and Mills left the parking lot with a
passenger, Kenny “Blackbird” Womack, bound
for a local convenience store, and then returned
to let Womack out. At that point, as he was talk
ing to Taylor through the partially-open window
of the car, Raffield was shot.
Testimony indicated that Taylor and Roberts
had discussed taking Raffield’s money. However,
Taylor said that his only plan was to “snatch”
the money and run. The prosecution’s con
Higuera speaks to entire community
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Photo by Luci Joulllan
Yessica Higuera and John Sillers of Houston County Habitat for
Humanity.
“Houston County's Legal Organ Since 1870”
\ isil ns on Hie web at www.hiHistonlurniejournal.eom
Detcinlu i 17, 2002
Bands to play at Bowls
From Staff Reports
The New Year will start out
with plenty of excitement for
some Houston County young peo
ple, as two local high school bands
play during halftime for college
football bowl games.
Perry High School’s “Pride of
the Crossroads” Marching Band
will play for the Orange Bowl in
Miami, and Houston County
High’s “Black and Silver
Brigade” will perform at the
Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, dur
ing the halftime of a game
between the University of
Georgia Bulldogs and Florida
State University.
The band members have been
working hard since last spring to
raise funds for their trips.
About 170 members of the
HCHS band will be taking the
trip to New Orleans, according to
Wally Shaw, band director. Shaw
said that the students were very
excited about the Georgia
Bulldogs’ Dec. 7 win over
Arkansas, which meant that the
Bulldogs would go to the Sugar
Bowl.
By Luci Joullian
Staff Writer
Dr. David Harvey, a Warner
Robins pediatrician, was pre
sented with a Lifetime Service
Award Thursday evening dur
ing a meeting of the Phoenix
tention was that Roberts became “impatient,”
pulled a loaded gun out of Taylor’s back pocket
and shot Raffield in the shoulder.
• Despite the violence of the crime, no money
was taken. Mills, who was driving the car, drove
off immediately to get his friend to the hospital.
Raffield, who was 22, died a few hours later of
injuries to his heart and lung from multiple frag
ments of a hollow bullet.
According to Burke, “Eyewitnesses at the
scene and statements given by the two perpetra
tors led to the arrest of both Michael Roberts and
Kenshaun Taylor.”
Taylor’s trial in September resulted in a mis
trial, because jurors could not reach an agree
ment on his guilt or innocence. He pled guilty
last week to lesser charges of attempted robbery,
possession of marijuana with intent to distrib
ute, and possession of a firearm during a crime.
Taylor was sentenced to 20 years, and must
serve at least ten years in prison.
Det. Chris Rooks of the Warner Robins Police
Department was the lead detective in the case.
Detectives Scott McSwain and David Rice also
played key roles in the investigation.
The defendant was represented by Jeff Grube
of Warner Robins, who contended that it was
Kenshaun Taylor, not Roberts, who actually
pulled the trigger. No weapon was ever found in
the case, but See RAFFIELD on Page 8A
By Luci Joullian
Staff Writer
Yessica Higuera is making a
difference in her community,
although it’s only been her
home for little more than a year.
Originally from Mexico,
Higuera moved to Warner
Robins with her husband,
Philippe, who is in the military.
“I had my work, my family, my
friends in Mexico; everything
changed when I met him,” says
Higuera of her husband.
Higuera didn’t let the move dis
courage her, though, and, upon
her arrival in America, immedi
ately started taking English
classes at Middle Georgia Tech.
Through her involvement in a
student speech competition, she
met John J. Sillers, executive
Harvey receives Lifetime award
Houston County High’s 250-
member band had been chosen
last spring to march in the
Orange Bowl Parade. Shaw said
that band members had a major
disappointment when the parade
was canceled just a week after the
invitation was received. However,
they subsequently received the
invitation to play at the Sugar
Bowl, and having Georgia play in
the Sugar Bowl has made the
whole experience more exciting.
The Black and Silver Brigade
will play during pre-game cere
monies as well as at halftime.
Shaw said that they are already
rehearsing for the program,
which will include a medley of
patriotic songs before the game,
and a tribute to the Louisiana
heritage at half time. For the
Louisiana tribute, which will
include the “La Marseillaise” (the
French national anthem), “Hello
Dolly,” “Old Man River” and
other tunes, the band will join 20
other high schools bands, the Red
Coat Band and the Marching
Chiefs.
Perry High School’s Pride of
Community Service Board at
the Phoenix Center campus on
Highway 96.
Houston County Board of
Commissioners Chairman Ned
Sanders presented the award to
a surprised Dr. Harvey whose
wife Charlotte looked on.
The award was presented to
recognize Harvey’s 30 cumula
tive years of volunteer service
|h
Photo by Luci Joullian
Dr. David Harvey, right, receives a Lifetime Service Award from
Commissioner Ned Sanders.
director of the Houston County
affiliate of Habitat for
Humanity (HFH). Habitat for
Humanity International is a
nonprofit, nondenominational
Christian housing organization,
which builds affordable housing
for those in need.
Through his friendship with
Higuera, Sillers saw a special
opportunity for the bilingual
woman to utilize an untapped
resource in the community. Says
Higuera, “my position here is to
help Hispanic people. Here in
Houston County we have built
22 houses, but only one has an
Hispanic owner.”
Sillers and Higuera also per
form Hispanic outreach in affili
ation with the Peach and Bibb
County chapters of Habitat.
Two Sections • 24 Pajjcs
the Crossroads Marching Band
was chosen in March 2002 to play
in the Orange Bowl at halftime.
They will be playing, along with
fourteen other bands. All the
bands will accompany four
celebrity acts including Shaggy,
She Daisy, Default and the Latin
Grammy winners, Jaunes, Olga
and Tanon.
Perry’s band was asked to sub
mit a tape because of their excel
lent reputation and past perform
ances says Band Director Kenyon
Carter. Perry’s band has per
formed at a Chicago Christmas
Parade and was featured in the
movie, “Remember the Titans.”
About 75 members of the 120-
member band will be making the
trip which is costing about
$50,000 for transportation, hotel
and food costs. Each band mem
ber making the trip was required
to raise about S7OO through a
variety of fund raisers.
Band members and those
accompanying them will leave on
December 30 and return on
January 3 from Miami and the
Orange Bowl.
to Houston County as chair of
the Board of Health and chair of
the Phoenix Community
Service Board, which oversees
public mental health services
for Houston, Crawford and
Peach counties.
Harvey also served as chief of
staff for the Warner Robins
Medical Center from 2000 to
2002.
Through her volunteer public
relations position, which she
has held for two months, she
aims “to invite the Hispanic
people to participate in nonprof
it work.”
Last week, Houston County
HFH celebrated the dedication
of a new house in Warner
Robins, built for a single mother
with four children. It is plan
ning a building project for mid-
January for a couple with four
children. The Houston branch,
which has been in existence for
11 years, has already plotted out
its goals for the next few years.
It plans to organize the building
of four houses next year and five
houses in 2004. Higuera empha
sizes the need for publicizing
See HABITAT on Page BA