Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
July 24, 2003
Volume 134, Number 130
Award-Winning
Better Newspaper
Contest
INSIDE TODAY
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NHS holds annual
Ironman contest
Northside High School is
ending its summer condi
tioning program in the same
way they’ve done for nine
years running - with the
Ironman competition, a con
test designed to showcase
players’ strength and
endurance.
Story and photos, page 1B
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Locals to be in world
horseshoe competition
Five members of Perry’s
Horseshoe Pitchers League
will compete in the
Horseshoe World
Championships Aug. 4-16 in
Eau Claire, Wis.
Story and photos, page 1B
AREA DEATH
William T. “Bill” Cole
Obit, page 2A
INDEX
COMICS 4B
CLASSIFIED 5B
CROSSWORD 4B
ENTERTAINMENT .8A
LIFESTYLE 10A
OBITUARY 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . . .7A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
1 *
Georgia Newspaper Project
MAIN LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
Athens ga 30602
3-DiGFT 306
Serving Houston County Since 1870
(7m ( Tf i Houston Marne
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR
Houston County, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Houston doc charged with murder
Spurgeon Green Jr. arrested by Wayne Co. authorities
By Emily Johnstone
and Jon Suggs
HHJ Staff Writers
PERRY - A Perry doctor has
been charged with murder of a
Wayne County resident.
Dr. Spurgeon Green Jr. was
arrested at his Main Street
office around noon Tuesday by
Wayne County sheriffs
deputies.
He is charged in connection
with the death of David
Barbari, 41, of Jesup, who died
April 25, according to Wayne
County Sheriff David E. Herrin.
“Investigators allege that
Green prescribed narcotic drugs
to David Barbari not in the
usual course of his professional
practice and not for legitimate
medical purposes,” Herrin said
in a news release.
Green was indicted by a
Wayne County grand jury for
felony murder in April.
The indictment, filed Monday
in that county’s Superior Court,
stated that Green allegedly
caused Barbari’s death “irre
spective of malice” by prescrib-
667 acres rezoned to lure business to Perry
Unnamed major distribution center considering south Houston County site
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
WARNER ROBINS - With an eye
toward luring a major distribution cen
ter to Perry that is projected would
employ several hundred people, a rezon
ing request was given the go-ahead dur
ing a meeting of the Houston County
Planning and Zoning Board this week.
Genealogical Society helps
members navigate the past
By Luci Joullian
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - “We
have a missing link in our
Taylors.”
“He is my daddy’s first cousin
once removed.”
“Are you any relation to the
Vaughns of Bibb County?”
Members of The Central
Georgia Genealogical Society
(CGGS) love discussing all
aspects of familial history and
research at their monthly meet
ings. If, like many people,
you’ve thought about research
ing your family tree but were
frustrated with the limited
amount of information you
could find on your ancestors,
you might want to check out
this club.
Want to know what kind of
car your grandfather drove, or
when your mother’s family first
came to America, or if your
great-uncle Bob was unem
ployed during the Depression?
CGGS just might be able to
help.
CGGS serves over 27 coun
ties, but its reach extends far
beyond the borders of Middle
Georgia. Society president
Sherrie Nelson says that
although the club, which was
founded in 1978, mostly con
sists of people from this area, it
has members from around the
country and even a member in
Australia. What brings all these
members together is the desire
to research their family histo
ries - which all have some con
nection to central Georgia.
Marsha Meyer, who is on the
club’s board of directors, said
she became a member of the
’He does not have admitting privileges
at either Houston Medical Center
or Perry Hospital.'
- Mary Jane Kinnas, Houston Healthcare Complex spokeswoman
ing a lethal combination of
methadone, diazepam, nor
diazepam and meprobamate
“knowing that David Barbari
was an abuser of controlled sub
stances, not acting in the usual
course of his professional prac
tice and not prescribing or
ordering said controlled sub
stances for a legitimate medical
purpose....”
A local pharmacist described
the effects these medications
would have.
“Any two of those could result
in acute liver failure or narcotic
overdose,” said Warner Robins
pharmacist David Voltz.
He explained that these
drugs, which work on the same
systems, have more than a
cumulative effect when com
bined.
Houston County Development
Authority Executive Director Morgan
Law said the request to rezone 667 acres
of property owned by American Real
Estate Investment Co. from agricultural
to manufacturing status is part of an
ongoing effort to persuade the company,
which wishes to remain anonymous at
present, to locate in Perry.
“This shows the company the commu
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HHJ Luci Joullian
The 2003 officers for the Central Georgia Genealogical Society
are (front row) Marsha Meyer, director 2002-2003; Addie Howell,
corresponding secretary; Sherrie Nelson, president; Georgette
Lipford, recording secretary; (second row) Millard Simmons,
treasurer; Glenn Heck, director 2002-2003; and Rudy Dennis,
2nd vice president. Not pictured: Joyce Green, director 2002-
2003; John Buzhardt Jr., director 2002-2003; and Linda Douglas,
director 2002-2003.
’ *potllghtln«
1 111 ily £r Houston County Clubs
m and Organisations
society in 1995 after trying to
conduct ancestral research on
her own. Being a member has
pointed her in the right direc
tion as far as conducting
research online, in libraries and
courthouses. Helen Hudson,
who is the editor of the society’s
quarterly newsletter, joined in
1987 and likes networking with
fellow members to pick up
www.hhjnews.com
“The old saying is, ‘one plus
one might add up to more than
two,”’ he said. “They would
potentiate the effects of one
another.”
Following Green’s arrest, Don
Kicklighter, a detective with the
Wayne County Sheriffs Office,
and other law enforcement offi
cials with his office, the state
medical examiner’s office and
the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation, spent several
hours searching the doctor’s
offices.
Kicklighter said they obtained
a search warrant earlier from a
Houston County judge.
Meanwhile, Houston County
investigators with the sheriffs
department said they are still
conducting an ongoing investi
gation of Green.
See GREEN, page 3A
research pointers. Hudson’s col
orful family history was defi
nitely worth researching, she
said. Her great-grandfather,
Wiley Leverett - namesake of
Warner Robins’ Leverett Road -
fathered 18 children by three
different wives, the first two
being sisters.
New members of the society,
be they genealogical greenhorns
or seasoned researchers, receive
a packet of information to get
them started in their quest.
Members can also glean tips
from the society’s quarterly
newsletter, receive updates on
local and national genealogy
See CLUBS, page 3A
nity is proactive in trying to remove a
hurdle” they might encounter if the
Perry site is chosen, Ltfto HSUF"***
The company that Law describes as
retail has narrowed their search down to
three locations - Perry, Bibb and
McDonough.
They are looking at about a 50-100
acre site near U.S. 341, he said.
This is part of the property purchased
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SPURGEON GREEN JR.
Educators assemble in Perry
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HHJ,Luci Joullian
State School Superintendent Kathy Cox speaks
Wednesday to a crowd of over 900 statewide school
administrators and educators at the Education Summit
held yesterday at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter in Perry. Gov. Sonny Perdue also spoke at the
summit, which included several education-related semi
nars, panel discussions and workshops.
See Friday’s Houston Home Journal for full coverage of the event.
THREE SECTIONS • 26 PAGES
by American Real Estate Investment Co.
in 1997 when that group acquired prop
erty in the Perry area that included the
former Northrop Grumman building.
It also includes land near the intersec
tions of West Perry Parkway, U.S. 341
and Airport Road.
American Real Estate Investment Co.
spokesperson Ronald Robinson said his
See P&Z, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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