Newspaper Page Text
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2001
Better Newspaper
Contests
Volume 132, Number 3
TUESDAY
Local Weather
ue 56/30 /M k
1/14
Mostly sunny skies. High 56F.
Winds NW at sto 10 mph.
Wed 57/27 /g
Plenty of sun. Highs in the upper
50s and lows in the upper 20s.
55/32 / C...
1/16
Considerable cloudiness. Highs in
the mid 50s and lows in the low
30s.
Another choice?
iII^II^3^SIEBSSSSSISGIII
With the controversy
over Georgia’s flag contin
uing, Sen. George Hooks
has entered the battle,
offering a third option: the
1902 flag that was based
on the Confederate Stars
and Bars.
See CHARLOTTE PERKINS,
Page 44
A loss lor
Warner Robins
Bob Steele, former
Warner Robins council
man, church and civic
leader, will be remem
bered as a good friend and
a man who brought
encouragement to people
of all ages.
See TRIBUTE, Page 2A
Panthers lose
top player
Perry boys basketball
head coach Brett Hardy
was preparing for the
Panthers’ contest against
West Laurens when news
came he would have to
play the game and the
remainder of the season
without his most talented
player.
See TAYLOR, Page B 1
Inside
OPINION PG.4A
CLASSIFIED ...PG. 5B
COMICS PG. 4B
BUSINESS PG. 6A
NEWS BRIEFS . .PG. 2A
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Vltalker pulls out of battle for Speaker of the House
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
After weeks of behind-the
scenes meetings and scrambling
for votes, the battle between
Perry’s Larry Walker and
Eastman’s Terry Coleman for
the post of speaker of the
Georgia House of
Representatives came to an
abrupt end Monday morning.
Walker, with the backing of
then-Governor-Elect Sonny
Perdue, had sought a bipartisan
\ 1 ■ i « ■ & ******
I ..—,,
Photos by Emily Johnstone
Houston County Sheriff’s Investigator Sgt. Jon Holland, left, and County Fire Investigator Bill
Smith at the scene of an apparent arson at Bonaire United Methodist Church. The back of the
original sanctuary was scorched.
Deputy saves one church trom blaze
By Emily Johnstone
Associate Editor
Someone set fire to two
churches in Houston
County Saturday night.
Luckily, both attempts
failed to cause extensive
damage, said Houston
County Fire Investigator
Bill Smith as he carried out j
his investigation Sunday.
Now, the State Fire
Marshal’s Office is offering
SIO,OOO in reward monies for information lead
ing to the arrest and conviction of the person(s)
who set the fires, said Smith.
A Houston County sheriffs deputy, Chris
Parrish, was on special patrol duty in the area of
Piney Grove Baptist Church - which is located at
the intersection of Woodard and Old Perry Road
- about 10 p.m. Saturday when he spotted flames
shooting from the church window.
Parrish stopped his vehicle and was able to
School board lacing major choices
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
PERRY - The Houston
County Board of Education is
starting the year with two new
members, two others who have
served less than a year, and the
possibility of a major changing
of the guard.
Today’s meeting will be a
crucial one for the board, which
will select a chairman and vice
chairman for 2003, and decide
whether to renew the contract
of Superintendent of Schools
Charles Holloway.
The board will hold a work
session at 10 a.m. and their reg
ular meeting at 1 p.m., with
both meetings in the auditori
um of the Board of Education
office building in Perry. The
meetings are open to the public.
Board discussion of Holloway’s
contract, as a personnel issue,
w “Houston County's Legal Organ Sinc& 1870 ”
coalition victory, but when the
necessary votes could not be
obtained, he withdrew his name
from consideration.
Walker said at the outset of
his unprecedented coalition bid
that he would not ask his sup
porters to make their votes pub
lic unless a victory was secure.
He announced his decision to
pull out of the contest at a press
conference just before the House
came to order. Gov. Perdue
reportedly released House
Republicans from a pledge to
James O. Miller
will be in closed session, but any
vote will be taken in public.
Holloway confirmed Friday
that he has asked for an exten
sion of his contract and would
like to stay, but said, “It’s up to
them.”
Skip Dawkins of Perry,
regional Alltel manager, has
served as chairman for the past
year. Fred Wilson of Warner
Robins, a Robins Air Force Base
employee, is also expected to be
nominated for the post.
The two newest members,
Griff Clements and Jim Boswell
- both of whom were sworn in
last week - have indicated they
believe major changes are ahead
in the way the board operates
and its relationship with the
community.
“I think it’s time for a
change,” Clements said. “The
board is going to be a lot more
Visit us on the web (it www.lwustoiilwmcjounial.com
January 14, 2003
vote for Walker, and they subse
quently nominated Republican
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland.
Coleman, who has served as
chairman of the Appropriations
Committee, will succeed Georgia
political legend Tom Murphy,
who held the speaker’s post for
over 40 years before being
defeated in his home district in
November.
Coleman was elected by a vote
of 109-70.
In mid-November, after
Murphy’s defeat and the elec
- iBKMm
Bill Woodson <
noticed scorch marks several feet high at the the
back of the original church building, located
across the road from a county fire station on
Church Street.
The building is over 100 years old and is now
used for Sunday School classes.
The flames went out before spreading inside
the building, Smith said.
Investigators said Sunday they believe the two
incidents are See CHURCHES on Page 9A
accessible, more open to public
opinion.”
Regarding Holloway’s con
tract, Clements was outspoken
on the issue, as he has been in
the past.
“I have no idea how it’s going
to go,” he said, “but I’m going
to vote no.”
Clements said that he expect
ed the board to revisit the con
troversial dress code put into
effect last fall, and he thinks the
board should take another look
at the construction manage
ment (CM) approach to school
and classroom building.
Clements has supported tradi
tional bidding in the past, when
CM estimates have come in over
budget.
Boswell also thinks the CM
approach should be reconsid
ered “at the appropriate time.”
See BOARD on Page 9A
extinguish the blaze,
apparently set by knocking
a hole in a piece of plywood
covering a broken window.
Fire and sheriffs inves
tigators soon arrived on
the scene and declared the
incident arson.
Sunday morning, the
Rev. Bill Woodson of
I Bonaire United Methodist
Church was preparing for
Sunday services when he
tion of Sonny Perdue as gover
nor, Walker withdrew his name
from consideration for the nom
ination of the Democratic cau
cus, saying he would remain
loyal to the Democratic Party,
but could not, for reasons of long
friendship and local ties, be an
obstructionist to Perdue’s pro
posals.
He subsequently announced
that he would seek the speaker
ship in a coalition bid with
Perdue’s support, and the 72
votes of the Republican minori
Sonny sworn in!
From Staff Reports
On Monday afternoon, Sonny Perdue of Bonaire was sworn in
as governor of Georgia, with thousands of his friends and sup
porters from Houston County in attendance.
Taking part in the ceremony at Philips Arena in Atlanta were
the Rev. Charlie Simpson, a longtime friend of the governor; the
Rev. Jim Perdue, son of the governor; and Paula Smith, a singer
and church leader in Atlanta.
Music was provided by the 125-member choir and orchestra of
Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins, which is the home
church of the governor and First Lady Mary Perdue.
Perdue, who was born in Perry and has lived most of his life
in Bonaire, served as state senator from the 18th District until
he resigned in late 2001 to campaign for the state’s top office.
For full coverage of the Inaugural festivities and photographs
of Houston Countians attending the events in Atlanta, see The
Houston Home Journal on Thursday.
Hard bidding pays off
W*' i“ : ''' •.
again for school board
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
PERRY - A return to conven
tional bidding procedures has
paid off a second time for the
Houston County Board of
Education and the taxpayers.
Bids for construction of the
Perry High School multi-pur
pose building were opened
Thursday with the low bid com
ing in substantially below the
estimate given in mid-
November by the project’s des
ignated construction manager,
Parrish Construction Group of
Perry.
Hospice cares lor Houston
By Luci Joullian
Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - “We
want people to know what
Hospice is all about,” said Jane
Liebscher, director of market
ing for Hospice of Houston
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Jane Liebscher
Two Sections • 16 Pages
ty-
While Coleman and Walker
appeared to be running neck
and-neck on obtaining the
required 18 Democratic votes,
Walker said on Monday morn
ing that his decision was made
on Sunday when he could only
be sure of 15 votes from
Democrats.
Walker said at his press con
ference that he was not interest
ed in running for U.S. Senator
and that he was “ready to do
other things.”
SOA Construction of Perry,
with a low bid of $895,000, was
the only one of nine bidders to
come in below the $911,000
price tag put on the project
when it was approved as part of
the facilities plan approved by
voters in the 2001 sales tax ref
erendum.
The next lowest bidder was
Parrish with $948,000. Others
ranged upward from $956,000
to sl.l million. The final deci
sion will be made by the Board
of Education at its meeting
today.
See BIDDING on Page 7A
County.
One of the common miscon
ceptions people have about the
non-profit organization is that
it only deals with cancer
patients, she said. In fact,
Liebscher said cancer patients
make up about only 50 per
cent of Hospice’s patient
base.
Hospice’s primary goal is
to provide care to patients
who have been diagnosed
with a terminal disease and
have less than six months
to live. The focus is on alle
viating the patients’ pain
and making the most of
their remaining time.
“We are interested in
enhancing the quality of
their lives,” Liebscher said.
Patients are usually
referred to Hospice by doc
tors, nurses or social work
ers. Liebscher stressed the
importance of early refer
ral. She said patients and
their families should con
sider Hospice when their
treatment goals change
from cure to comfort-care.
“If we can begin right at
diagnosis, we can be of
much more help,”
Liebscher said.
Hospice of Houston
County is now helping
more patients than ever.
From inauspicious begin
nings the branch was
See HOSPICE on Page 9A