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TUESDAY
July 22, 2003
Volume 134, Number 128
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2003
Better Newspaper
Contest
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Visit our new home
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Journal’s new Web site is
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www.hhjnews.com.
While some features of the
site are not currently active,
we wanted to go ahead and
get it going.
We want your feedback on
the site. E-mail us at
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- The editors
IN BRIEF
Feagin Mill Road
Intersection closed
WARNER ROBINS -
Workers have closed a por
tion of Feagin Mill Road at
its intersection with
Houston Lake Road.
According to the Georgia
Department of
Transportation, the western
portion of the intersection of
Feagin Mill and Houston
Lake roads will be closed for
the next three weeks.
That affects an area from
Houston Lake to Lake Joy
Road.
Traffic will be routed along
Ga. 96 to Lake Joy Road dur
ing the next three weeks as
workers realign the intersec
tion as part of the ongoing
Houston Lake Road widen
ing project.
“By closing this section of
Feagin Mill Road to traffic,
this realignment work can be
accomplished within a three
week time span. If done
under traffic, this work could
take up to three months to
complete,” said DOT
Communications Officer
Dorothy Daniel.
- Emily Johnstone
AREA DEATHS
Delma R. “Buck” Coleman
Sr.
Lois Scarborough Hall
DeLoach
Joshua Kristapher Fite
Lorene Hobbs
David R “Dave” Hulbert
Altus Ray Mitchell
James Clayborn Mooring Sr.
David Joseph Nemeth
Arlene Whittaker
Obits, page 7A
INDEX
BUSINESS 6A
COMICS 5B
CLASSIFIED 6B
CROSSWORD 5B
OBITUARIES 7A
OPINION 4A
TV LISTINGS 5B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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MAIN LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
A T HENS GA 30602
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Serving Houston County Since 1870
Couple found dead along Interstate
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
HOUSTON COUNTY - The bodies of
an elderly Florida couple who had been
dead for several days were found along
Interstate 75 south of Perry Friday.
A worker mowing along the shoulder
of the northbound side near the 127 mile
marker told Georgia State Patrol troop
ers and the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation he spotted a wrecked 1985
Chevrolet from his mower and discov
ered the two occupants’ lifeless bodies
still inside the vehicle when he took a
Museum holds annual raffle, auction
Raffle winner
got one of five
vehicles or
$20,000 cash
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
WARNER ROBINS
Hundreds of people turned out
for the annual Museum of
Aviation Auction held at the
Century of Flight Hangar
Saturday evening.
Lines of attendees gathered
at tables ladencd with food pro
vided by local restaurants and
caterers.
A silent auction and raffle,
along with a live auction gave
the crowds plenty bT beautiful
items to choose from.
Raffle tickets were sold for
SSO and gave purchasers a
chance to win one of five vehi
cles or $20,000.
The yearly event is held to
raise monies for the museum.
Local businessman and mili
tary supporter Eddie Wiggins
called the turnout “incredible.”
“It is amazing how people
have responded,” he said dur
ing the event.
Wiggins said he believes the
See MUSEUM, page 3A
Road check
held for slain
mother of 4
Sobriety checkpoint a
team effort to stop DU Is
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
WARNER ROBINS - If you traveled
along Ga. 247 near Elberta Road Friday
evening, you probably were one of many
who reached for their driver’s licenses to
show an officer as you moved through a
road check conducted by the Middle
Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network.
What you may not have realized was that
the officers working the road check were
doing so with the determination to do their
part in getting drunk drivers off the road
with a certain young mother in mind.
This special sobriety checkpoint was ded
icated in memory of a Houston County
woman, Debra Harris, a mother of four,
who was killed by a drunk driver on Ga. 247
last year, said Houston County Sheriffs
Sgt. Mike Stokes.
Before the road check, conducted by over
40 law enforcement personnel from a num
ber of local agencies, Debra Harris’ family
was presented a plaque in her memory by
Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton and
members of MGTEN during a ceremony at
the Flint Energies building on Ga. 96.
“I can’t begin to express in words what
this means ... it means so much to us,” said
Harris’ mother Mary after the presenta
tion.
Also on hand were Harris’ four children
who were left without a mother following
See CHECKPOINT, page 3A
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Houston County ; city of Perry ; city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
closer look.
GSP Sgt. Kathy Henderson said Lew
E. Forbes, 69, and his wife, Hedwig, 61,
of St. Petersburg, Fla., apparently died
as the result of an accident that caused
their car to leave the interstate and come
to rest just off the shoulder of the road,
hidden from view by foliage.
“In the wintertime, the car probably
would have been spotted” soon after the
accident, she said Saturday.
But because of the growth, the car was
hidden from view for several days.
The GBI was called to assist with the
investigation.
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Sgt. Andrew Allen of the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety watches vehicles travel
through a sobriety checkpoint held on Ga. 247 near Elberta Road Friday night. The
road check was dedicated to the memory of Debra Harris, a young mother who police
say was killed by a drunk driver on Ga. 247 last year.
LEGAL ORGAN FOR
WWW. HHJ NEWS. COM
Henderson said there does not appear
to be any foul play involved.
The vehicle was moved to a nearby
county fire station where the bodies
were extricated Friday, Henderson said.
The bodies were then sent to the GBI
crime lab in Atlanta to determine cause
of death. Henderson said investigators
determined the couple died of injuries
sustained in the crash, she said.
Henderson said a neighbor of the cou
ple said they left home headed to
Tennessee for a visit with friends July
12.
TWO SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
Henderson speculated that the acci
dent occurred sometime that day or the
next, a Sunday.
She is awaiting results from a medical
examiner as to how long the couple had
been dead.
Also found in the wreckage was the
couple’s dog.
“They were traveling with their pet
dog,” Henderson said.
When the roof and doors were removed
during the extrication process, the little
Benji-like dog, also deceased, was curled
in its mistress’s lap as if asleep, she said.
VA hospital
budget to
be released
The Associated Press
DUBLIN - Budget con
straints at a Dublin Veterans
Affairs hospital got officials
fighting to preserve services to
Georgia veterans.
The Capital Asset
Realignment for Enhanced
Services Commission, or
CARES, has spent several
months examining the coun
try’s VA health care services to
see which services can be scaled
back or expanded. The commis
sion is expected to release its
recommendations on the Carl
Vinson VA Medical Center on
August 1.
Rumors of cutbacks con
cerned Sen. Zell Miller, who
tried to sway hospital officials
by writing the secretary of
Veterans Affairs last week.
“Even though I understand
the VA’s budget dilemma, limit
ing the commitment to our vet
erans come at great expense,”
Miller wrote in a July 14 letter
to VA Secretary Anthony
Principi. “It is my hope that
Congress and the
Administration can work
together to find another solu
tion that adequately addresses
(the) VA’s health care budget
concerns, without closing a
greatly needed facility.”
Officials at the hospital and
some with the commission say
See VA, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
500
HHJ Judy Hall