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Award-Winning Better Newspaper Contests \ oitimc 132, Number 2 THURSDAY Local Weather S“ 65raa 4^ Renty of sun. Higtfis in the mid 60s and lows in the upper 30s. 1/10 A —** Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the low 30s. Sat 56/29 £% 1/11 Partial sunshine. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the upper 20s. Sun 54/30 jLi 1/12 ■ Considerable doudiness. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 30s. Mon 55H/-34 1/13 W Occasional showers. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the mid 30s. Gambill loins stall —■ Rex Gambill Daniel F. Evans, President of Evans Newspapers, Inc. announced he has hired Rex Gambill to take over the duties of managing editor of The Houston Home Journal. As managing editor, Gambill will head up all news and edi torial operations for The Houston Home Journal and publications produced by The Journal. Gambill, a native of Warner Robins, was previously Houston & Peach bureau chief for The Macon Telegraph. As bureau chief, he was responsi ble for The Telegraph’s news coverage in Houston, Peach, Pulaski and Dooly counties. See GAMBILL on Page 5A Inside OPINION PG.4A CLASSIFIED ...PG.7C LEGALS PG. 4B COMICS .......PG. 6C LIFESTYLE ... .PG. 1C NEWS BRIEFS . .PG. 2A PM 8 55108 000014 Periodical tiiliifiaiifiiilfiaiiilillafnl + 3-Digit 306 Georgia Newspaper Project Main Library Jeannie Ledford Main library Uga Athens Ga 30602 (Tf* If |( mt pur mu Journal to go daily Daniel F. Evans, President of Evans Newspapers Inc., has announced The Houston Home Journal, Houston County’s 132- year-old legal organ, will begin publishing five editions a week beginning Feb. 3. Evans, a long-time entre prenuer in the newspaper busi ness, said the paper will be pub lished Monday through Friday. At present, The Houston Home Journal is published twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Evans has a long relationship with The Journal. In 1994, he combined his weekly, The Perry Times, with The Houston Home Journal to walker and Coleman down to the wire By Charlotte Perkins Staff Writer Rep. Larry Walker is in the political fight of his life, and one thing,is clear. Whichever way things go Monday morning when the Georgia House *•§{*- Representatives chooses a SW cessor to former speaker Top Murphy, Walker will he relieved- just to havtejte* behind-the-scenes political maneuvering at an end. The vote for a new speaker of the House will be held just after 10 a.m. on the opening day of Georgia’s 2003 General Assembly. Walker, a lifelong Perryan, and Coleman, who is from Eastman, are both Democrats. Coleman has the nomination of the Democratic caucus and Walker, in alliance with Republican governor-elect Jail delays costing SIOO.OOO per month By Charlotte Perkins Staff Writer The dedication of the Houston County Judicial Complex has been held and the new courthouse is fully occu- pied, but the punch list of items still to be com pleted or corrected at the new jail goes on for 12 pages: “Two wall cracks j noted in hallway...” “J-14 toilet con tinuously runs...” “Shower floor is delaminat ing...” The indi vid u a 1 gjfflg J . jftg&BL CJi . items may seem minor, but the cost to the taxpayers of Houston County is major. Not having the new jail open means that the county is continuing to pay Dooly County and other counties room and board for up to 200 inmates a month, send ing up to SIOO,OOO per month out of the county. Sheriff Cullen Talton, who has been waiting for years for the new facility, said Tuesday that he’s been promised that the work will be finished by “Houston County’s Legal Organ Since 1870” create The Houston Times- Journal. Newspaper businessman Bob Tribble later purchased Evans’ shares and took over operation of The Houston Times-Journal. In 1999, Evans began publi cation of the weekly The Town Crier. One year later, he purchased The Journal from Tribble and dropped publication of The Town Crier. Since then, the newspaper has expanded its coverage, reaching into all parts of the county to provide quality com munity news. Last year, the publication began pubishing twice a week, Sonny Perdue, is attempting to build a bipartisan coalition of support. To capture the speak er’s gavel, Walker must com bine a block vote of the Republican minority with at least 19 Democrats. * “It’s going pretty good,” Walker said earlier this week from his office in Atlanta, “but it’s not a done deal.” a Walker said on Sunday that he had “some 15 or 16 written commitments,”] from Democratic representatives to go v#ith the 7j2 Republicans already in his damp, and that the “scrambling” for votes is continuing. “I’ll be so glad when it’s over,” Walker said. He has described the battle as an “emotional rollercoast er,” but also recently told a See WALKER on Page 5A Jan. 16, which is the date that Commissioner Larry Thomson, Public Works Director Tommy Stalnaker and other expect to meet with Turner Construction to go over the punch list one Sheriff Cullen Talton tial completion. According to county admin istrator Steve Engle, the county commissioners budgeted $450,000 for boarding inmates outside of the county, and wound up spending $620,000, coming in $170,000 over budg et. Mark Alles, the project man ager for Turner Construction, said on Monday that his compa ny received a certificate of sub- See DELAY on Page 54 Visit us on the well at www.lioiistonhoineioiirnal.com January 9, 2003 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “I look forward to carrying on the tradition of fine newspaper coverage the Evans family has been offering the citizens of Houston County for decades,” said Evans. “We welcome our readers to share their news with us as we bring comprehensive, interest ing, and provocative coverage to this area,” he added. Here’s what folks around Houston County said about the decision: “I think it’s fantastic! I think the community as a whole is growing fast enough to warrant a daily newspaper. It gives us the opportunity to keep the public better informed and pro vide a needed service to the community.” f: m whk; liSSJill Photo by Charlotte Perkins Houston Lake has been lowered by approximately three feet since Jan. 1 to give home and prop erty owners a chance to do maintenance work on their docks. The procedure has exposed the banks of the lake to the winter weather, and is also expected to reduce the growth of algae. According to County Public Works Director Tommy Stalnaker, the man-made lake will be returned to its normal level by Jan. 21. Recreation commission: County should help pay more time and make sure that everything is competed and correct ed before turning over the final pay ment to the construction management firm. The cost of housing prisoners in outside facil ities sky rocketed last year, even as the new 143,850- square-foot jail was near ing substan- By Emily Johnstone News Editor While they might not have agreed on every thing Tuesday night, members of the Perry Recreation Commission and most of the city council did agree to seek Houston County’s help in funding recreation and to begin a search for a new director for Perry’s recreation program. For the past six months, members of the recre ation commission, at the request of city council, have been meeting and discussing ideas to improve recreation. Tuesday night, PRC member Daryl Albritton told the council that hiring a new director is at the top of their list of recommendations. “We need a leader to give us direction and help us fine-tune the program,” he said. Albritton said past directors never seemed to take an active part in the administrative role of seeking grant monies or other avenues of funding to help ease the growing cost of providing recre ation. Since Houston County dropped their financial assistance in the 1990 s to help municipalities with recreation funding, the City of Perry has struggled to provide the service, according to city officials. “The county a few years ago pretty much dropped the rec ball on the City,” said long-time PRC member Danny Redmond. Redmond, along with his peers, said it may be Perry Mayor Jim Worrall “I think it is great because we’ll have a local paper that’s going to focus on local news. With the ownership and staff of The Houston Home Journal, I don’t see anything but good things happening for the paper.” Tommy Stalnaker Houston County Director of Public Works “More power to you!” Houston County Commission Vice-Chair Larry Thomson “I think it’s fantastic. It will mean more coverage for the north end of the county.” Houston County Commissioner Tom McMichael time to meet with county commissioners and try to persuade them to once again offer financial assistance to the recreation program. City council member James Moore said, “We have sat down with county commissioners in the past and they turned us down.” However, he said there is a new group in now and it “couldn’t hurt to try again.” Recreation Commission member Dr. Brian Burnham said he wonders if county residents who use city recreation programs understand their fees are higher because the county govern ment does not contribute to city recreation. “We just assume we have just as much right to come in and enjoy Perry recreation,” he said. However, Councilman Billy Jerles said he is concerned that if recreation monies come from county taxes, that would mean Perry residents would be paying twice once through city taxes, once through their county property tax bills. Jerles has voiced support of privatization of the recreation department in the past. However, recreation commission members said they do not feel comfortable with going that route. And Councilwoman Phyllis Bynum-Grace said she opposes any type of privatization of the recre ation because it would “not benefit everyone.” Wednesday morning, Perry City Manager Lee See RECREATION on Page 94 SK I hrec Sections • 30 Pages “I am delighted to hear that. I’ve really come to enjoy your paper. It’s a very high-quality paper with a mission to bring local news to the people of Houston County, and it’s much needed.” Rep. Larry O’Neal “That’s super! I just hope that The Home Journal will contin ue the same level of detailed reporting and continue to give the whole scope of stories.” Solicitor General Rob Tawse “1 just heard that about 20 minutes ago. Speculation has been rampant as to the future of media coverage. I think it will generate a lot of public interest and public involvement.” See DAILY on Page SA