Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
July 19-21, 2003
Volume 134, Number 127
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2003
Better Newspaper
Contest
INSIDE TODAY
1
South, North split
All-Star games
Thursday’s winners won
the final North-South All-
Star game.
Story and photos, page 1B
IN BRIEF
Construction slated
for 1-75,1-475
ATLANTA - Georgia DOT
contractors will be perform
ing construction on both 1-75
and 1-475 in the Macon area
this weekend. Lanes will be
closed on both interstates at
various times from Friday to
Monday morning.
On 1-75 north of Macon,
crews will be making bridge
repairs at two sites. One lane
will be closed in each direc
tion at both work sites from
Friday at 9 p.m. to Monday
morning at 5 a.m. The
bridges are located between
Macon and the 1-475 junc
tion.
On 1-475 south of Macon,
crews were scheduled to per
form concrete rehabilitation
on Friday and Saturday
nights. The rehab project
will require closing the
entrance from 1-75 North to
1-475 North both nights. The
work is slated to start at 11
p.m. and go to 6 a.m. the
next morning. Motorists
attempting to use 1-475 will
be directed to stay north on
1-75.
- From staff reports
AREA DEATH
Lillie R Womack
Obit, page 6A
COMICS 4B
CLASSIFIED 5B
CROSSWORD 4B
LIFESTYLE 8A
OBITUARY 6A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . . .5A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
M1.11,.,.11,'1l 1.11.1..1
1 *
Geoigia Newspaper Project
MAIN LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602
3-D IGF 306
Serving Houston County Since 1870
Tolleson may be cut out
Perry Republican may inherit Perdue’s redistricting problem
By Jon Suggs
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - When Ross Tolleson
won Sonny Perdue’s old 18th
District Senate seat in the 2002
election, the first-time politi
cian might have inherited more
than territory. He may well
have been left with the
Democrats’ revenge against the
party-switching Perdue.
If a gerrymandered 2001 map
goes into effect, the new 18th
will look very different.
What’s more: Tolleson won’t
even live in it.
In 2001, when Georgia’s
Democrat-led House and
Senate were called upon to
reapportion the state’s popula
tion into legislative districts
based on the 2000 Census infor
mation, they took the opportu
nity to make broad partisan
brush strokes across the map.
Just prior to the special reap
portionment session during
that summer, Perdue told The
Home Journal he would seek
higher office if his district were
“chewed up, sliced up and diced
up.”
See TOLLESON, page 3A
Perdue still fighting partisan mapping
~ ’wVV" I
' L SSL
If m
Mr iM '
WjSßk S'
jpiMk ;
' NS
" inraK m
IL* ■ IwMj 1
HHJ/Jon Suggs
Gov. Sonny Perdue mimics drawing a map Tuesday while dis
cussing redistricting. A 2001 map that cut the then-senator out
of his district spurred his decision to run for higher office.
Starting from scratch
Principals for Houston’s two new schools getting ready
By Luci Joullian
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Although Houston
County’s newest schools - Lake
Joy Elementary and Perdue
Primary - won’t open until Aug.
8, their principals have been
diligently preparing for their
openings for a very long time.
The school’s move-in dates
have been delayed, so Linda
Horne, principal of Perdue
Primary, and Melanie Loggins,
principal of Lake Joy
Elementary, along with much of
their staff, have set up a
makeshift office in a room at
the back of the Board of
Education office in Perry.
“We just want to make sure
that we get in that building and
get it ready for our children,
and the time for that is dwin
dling quickly,” said Horne, who,
until recently, could only navi
gate the mud at her school’s
(lUje
Houston County ; city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
WWW. HOUSTONHOMEJOURNA L. COM
State Keapportionment Office
A close view of the 2001 Georgia Senate District: Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, lives on Evergreen
Street, which falls within the 14th District. Tolleson currently represents the 18th, which is not
pictured on this map (the darker area is a third District - the 16th). The full Houston County map
will be available on the new The Home Journal Web site this weekend.
'We've had many late nights and many
weekends, but It's all coming together.'
- Melanie Loggins, principal of Lake Joy Elementary School
front door by four-wheel drive
truck.
Horne and Loggins also have
to deal with still-uncertain
enrollment numbers. Although
they have working figures, the
number of students that could
register over the next few weeks
is still uncertain.
“There are very few women
who can share a room like this
and still stay friends like the
two of us can,” said Horne of
the “office,” which is filled with
a variety of the files and other
paperwork needed to get a new
school off the ground.
But the two principals insist
LEGAL ORGAN FOR
Governor determined to take
the politics out of redistricting
By Charlotte Perkins
HHJ Staff Writer
ATLANTA - Back in the sum
mer of 2001, Republican state
Sen. Sonny Perdue issued a
political warning - promising
the state’s Democratic leader
ship that if they “sliced and
diced” his Senate district in the
redistricting process, he would
run for higher office.
Shortly after that, in a special
session, the Democratic majori
ty approved a map that changed
the 18th District from a coher
ent cluster of three counties
(including all of Houston
County) to a gerrymandered
linkage of precincts from nine
different counties running, as
Perdue put it, “from Kathleen
to Covington.”
They also cut his Bonaire
home out of the district by a dis
tance of about 1,000 yards.
Perdue subsequently
that they aren’t stressed. Both
have had long careers in educa
tion, and after years of dealing
with children, they have a way
of controlling the chaos.
Horne began her teaching
career in her hometown of
Fitzgerald, and then taught
overseas in Okinawa, Japan, for
three years before moving to
San Antonio, Texas. In Houston
County, she has taught at Kings
Chapel Elementary, and was a
counselor at that school and at
Shirley Hills Elementary before
becoming instructional coordi
nator at Perry Elementary and
Quail Run Elementary.
See PRINCIPALS, page 6A
announced that he would run
for governor on the Republican
ticket, and the rest is Georgia
history.
“It was a political message
that backfired,” Gov. Sonny
Perdue said in an interview in
his Atlanta office earlier this
week.
The subject of the “slice and
dice” map is hardly closed,
though.
The map that sparked
Perdue’s decision to run for
governor has not yet gone into
effect, because of a federal dis
trict court ruling in April 2002,
that it diluted black voting
strength in three districts.
While the lengthy process of
appealing that decision before
the U.S. Supreme Court got
under way, the General
Assembly hurriedly approved
an interim n ap, which was in
See PERDUE, page 2A
a % Y, ! ■%’. .jpg. 1 , . .jsmML.- .
Tm \. sfiSSsL -‘V/ kdm WXKMMm
IKbv \ *il|| v
HHJ Luci Joullian
Melanie Loggins (left) and Linda Home, surrounded by files, in
their temporary office.
TWO SECTIONS • 18 PAGES
Moore
facing
political
choices
From staff reports
WARNER ROBINS - One
of the casualties of the 2002
Republican sweep in
Georgia was Michael Moore,
the Houston County
Democrat who won a special
election in January 2002, to
complete Sonny Perdue’s
unexpired term as state sen
ator from the 18th District.
Moore subsequently lost
to Republican Ross
Tolleson, but has made it
clear that he expects to toss
his hat back into the ring at
some point.
Moore said on Friday
morning that he expects the
Democrats to regain control
in the next state election
(November 2004), and said
of the Republicans,
“They’re learning that it’s
easy to make promises and a
lot harder to govern.”
Regarding the likely
imposition of the 2001 “slice
and dice” map, Moore called
it a bad deal for Houston
County, saying “We’ve got
ten the worst of the worst.”
He said that he does not
live in the 18th District,
which would rule out run
ning again for that post, but
that he lives in the 14th
District and owns property
in the 16th.
Regarding the 14th,
Moore praised the incum
bent Sen. George Hooks (D-
Americus), calling him a
“master of the state budget”
and suggesting that Hooks
is likely to be back in power
after another election as
chairman of the powerful
appropriations committee.
“I believe in his ability,”
Moore said of Hooks. “He’s
an outstanding senator.”
Moore did not rule out
moving in order to run in
the 16th District, but said
that he was still considering
his options and could seek a
higher office.
an Evans Family Newspaper
50«
- Iliß ■