Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
July 9, 2003
Volume 134, number 119
Council grants Hart's early retirement
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DAN HART
Wanted: People who love
kids and don't need money
Resource team at Houston DFCS is looking
(all the time) for a few good parents
Coming into Care: Part 6
By Charlotte Perkins
HHJ Lifestyle Editor
Anybody can become a par
ent. Becoming a foster parent
isn’t that simple.
At a recent parenting class for
a new group of foster parents
seeking certification, Deborah
Strange, director of Houston
County DFCS, put it this way:
“For me to approve you I
would have to be comfortable
leaving my own children with
you. I’d ask myself, ‘ls this a
home I’d want my kids to be
in?”’
And what’s the pay? Really,
there isn’t any pay at all.
There’s a reimbursement that
now ranges from $12.75 per day
for caring for a baby to $14.25
per day for caring for an adoles
cent. Additionally, SIOO to S3OO
annually is provided for pur
COMING
INTO
CARE .
r •
Tomorrow:
Who cares for the caregiver?
Can Georgia’s foster care
program continue to survive
as a volunteer effort?
(Georgia Newspaper Project
I *AiN LIBRARY UNIVERSTTY OF GEORGIA
/ CTHENS GA 30602
HoustonHomeJournal. com
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Stone rails against mayor’s handling of embattled police chief’s departure
By Heather Fasciocco
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Police
Chief Dan Hart was one of two
city employees approved for
early retirement in Monday
night’s city council meeting.
Mayor Donald Walker said
that Hart had requested to be
placed on administration leave
two weeks ago, and Walker
granted the request.
The council approved Hart’s
severance package with a 6-1
vote, with councilman Matt
Stone voting against.
Hart will serve as a consult
ant for the police department
chasing clothing for the chil
dren - again depending on age.
But Kimberly King and Joyce
Handy are still out there look
ing for foster and adoptive par
ents - and finding them, too.
King and Handy, the foster
care resource team for DFCS,
have learned to reach out any
way they can - with billboards,
banners, displays, at church
and club meetings, festivals and
parades.
“At any given time, a family
might open their hearts and
their home to a foster child,”
King says. “All we want is for
them to call us to get informa
tion before they decide.”
As for the money, she says,
“We don’t emphasize financial
gain. The per diem is there to
provide support for the child’s
needs, but children’s needs are
infinite, and there’s no amount
of money that can pay for pro
tection, love, growth and devel
opment.”
Once a parent makes that
Bringing up Baby (on a budget)
It may surprise you to learn just how much it costs to raise a small child
From staff reports
Foster parents are expected to have
their own furnishings and equipment
when they care for a baby, and also to use
their per diem reimbursement to cover
the costs of food, diapers, formula and
whatever clothing the baby needs. For
readers who haven’t taken care of a baby
in recent years, HHJ writers Judy Hall
and Charlotte Perkins went on a “shop
ping” trip.
Here are some basics and what they
cost at Wal-Mart these days. The prices
given are for the least expensive items,
unless otherwise noted. This is not
intended to be a complete list of what fos
ter parents would need, but a sampler of
prices.
Portable crib (doubles as playpen) -
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Houston County’s legal organ since 1870
during the next nine months
and will receive $50,000 for his
services. As a consultant he will
travel to an upcoming police
chiefs’ conference this year. He
will also receive $45,000 in
retirement pay and a letter of
recommendation.
“This is a good deal for him,”
Walker said. “He will leave with
a good reputation.”
Councilman Matt Stone spoke
out on Hart’s treatment, saying
the chief was asked to resign
and comparing Walker’s tactics
to those of Saddam Hussein.
“As city councilmen, we have
a sacred duty to stand for what
call, the process is just begin
ning.
To become a foster parent,
you start by filling out a
detailed application, and if you
happen to have any criminal
activity in your background,
you might as well not take the
trouble to apply, because
there’ll be a background check
on you and the other adults in
your home.
You’ll be asked about your
finances, too, because DFCS
wants to be sure that you have
enough money to meet your
own family’s needs before you
take on responsibility for a fos
ter child. Families on public
assistance or receiving food
stamps are not eligible to be fos
ter parents.
Once potential foster parents
have passed the initial screen
ings, they take a 30-hour course
in parenting, led by King and
Handy.
This course, called MAPP (for
See FOSTER, page 10A
$59.64
High chair (molded plastic) - $39.73
- $58.73
Portable baby stroller - $19.72
Safety gate (for toddlers) - $9.88
Diaper bag - $12.96
Car seats - $26.88 - $54.84 (and up)
Potty chair (molded plastic) - $17.96
Baby bottles - $5.67 for three Evenflo
(Parent would need six at least)
Bottle brushes - $2.96
Spill-proof cup - $3.96
Disposable diapers - There is a wide
range of prices depending on the size of
the diaper and the brand. Huggies are
$10.56 for 60 diapers for a 12-18 lb. baby.
Formula - Least expensive brand is
$22.84 for enough powdered formula to
make 48 eight-ounce bottles. Would last
is right,” Stone said. “The way
Chief Hart was removed from
office was wrong. No one who
has worked and served with one
business *or government for
nearly 30 years should be
ordered to clean out his office
within three days of being told
to retire. Especially someone
like our chief, who assumed
such a heavy responsibility at a
time of crisis and scandal.”
Stone went on to criticize the
atmosphere he said Hart’s
treatment had created among
city employees.
“A man’s livelihood has been
destroyed,” he said. “The vast
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HHJ Charlotte Perkins
While most children in foster homes are eventually reunited
with their birth families, some can be permanently adopted.
Houston County foster mother Estoria West of Warner Robins is
shown here with Michiah, the 2-year-old daughter she and her
husband, Patrick, have adopted. If you live in Houston County
and want to learn more about becoming a foster parent or
about the foster-to-adopt program call Kimberly King at 988-
7541 or Joyce Handy at 988-7544.
Nothing beats
Grandma's cooking
Warner Robins business
woman and volunteer Carolyn
Watson loves cookbooks, and
she’s lost track of how many
she has. She has sharpened her
gourmet cooking skills at cook
ing classes too, but when it
comes to cooking for her family
and friends, she’s likely to give
top priority to the dishes she
knows are their favorites.
Story and photos, page BA
majority of our employees are
terrified. If the mayor can sack
an employee of 30 years - a
department head no less - how
much more easily can he get rid
of a four-, nine-, or 17-year
employee?”
Stone said Walker’s Feb. 19
memorandum sent to city
employees demanding that they
notify the mayor’s office before
speaking with the media would
jeopardize their First
Amendment right to free
speech.
Walker retorted during the
meeting: “Employees need to
clear it with the mayor’s office
one to two weeks depending on age and
appetite of the baby.
Baby food - Four ounce jars of baby
food range from 40 cents to 60 cents each.
Juice is $1.94 for four 4-ounce jars. Baby
cereal is $1.28 for 8 ounces.
Undershirts - 4-pack for $8.40
“Onesies” (shirt-pants combina
tion) - $9.84 for 5-pack
Baby blankets - $9.84-$ 12.84
Receiving blankets - $3.96 for set of
two.
“Dress up” outfit s (short pants
and top for boy, dress for girl) - $9.94
and up
Shoes (wide range) - Least expensive
are about $5.94.
Baby shampoo (Johnson’s) - $2.87
Desitin (for diaper rash) - $3.47
Inside
COMICS 4B
CLASSIFIED 5B
CLUB NEWS 3A
CRIMESTOPPERS . . .7A
CROSSWORD 4B
LIFESTYLE 8A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS 6A
TV LISTINGS 4B
TWO SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
when talking about city busi
ness, (to) protect themselves
and the city.”
Other councilmen expressed
mixed emotions when asked to
comment on the situation.
“I won’t defend nor neglect
Chief Hart,” Council member
Dean Cowart said. “This is one
more issue we will go through
with.”
Council member Ray Golden
said, “All those police chiefs who
have served have left the office
honorably, and left with not
nearly as much noise as there is
tonight.”
See COUNCIL, page 10A
Board
mulls
search
firm
BOE members
consider
options for
search for new
superintendent
By Luci Jouilian
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - With Schools
Superintendent Dr. Charles
Holloway’s impending depar
ture at the end of the month,
Houston County’s Board of
Education must find his
replacement - and they may
need some help.
Although the board was
expected to appoint an interim
superintendent today, it has a
long road ahead in finding a
permanent one. Chairman Fred
Wilson has previously said that
a superintendent search could
take up to six months.
At a Monday night work ses
sion, board member Skip
Dawkins mentioned that the
board should take advantage of
a service such as that provided
by the Georgia School Boards
Association (GSBA), which
functions as a sort of education
al headhunter - soliciting
resumes, doing background
checks, conducting interviews
and choosing finalists for school
board superintendent positions
based on criteria submitted by
the school boards.
GSBA says it has “assisted
more school systems with
superintendent searches than
any other single entity in
Georgia.”
After GSBA narrowed the
search, the school board would
interview the finalists and
choose from among them.
Board member Pamela
Greenway said that before
choosing GSBA, the board
See SEARCH, page 10A
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