Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
July 25, 2003
Volume 134, Number 131
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2003
Better Newspaper
Contest
INSIDE TODAY
Miss WR pageant
contestants inside
There are 17 contestants
vying for the title of Miss
Warner Robins and $5,000 in
scholarships.
Story and photos, page 7A
IN BRIEF
Museum raises
over $155,000
WARNER ROBINS The
2003 Museum of Aviation
Foundation Auction is being
hailed as the largest ever,
raising over $155,000 during
this year’s event, according
to spokesperson June Lowe.
The auction and raffle held
last Saturday evening at the
Museum of Aviation in
Warner Robins was attended
by over 1,000 people who
gathered at the Century of
Flight Hangar to check out
great food, auctions items
and try for a chance at win
ning several large prizes.
“It was a wonderful
event,” Lowe said.
About 29 caterers and
restaurants were on hand
with free food for the crowds
that packed the hangar for
the event.
Joseph Black of Kathleen
won a choice of a new vehicle
from five auto dealers or
$20,000; Zack Jones of
Warner Robins won a trip to
a Hilton Head Island, S.C.,
resort; and Hazel Gleaton of
Perry won a 27-inch Sony TV
Organizers said about
1,650 tickets were sold.
Lee Roy and Natalie
Claxton headed up the auc
tion committee and sold
$15,000 in raffle tickets
alone.
Chairman for the auction,
Rick Drury, said this event
was a tribute to the “out
standing community volun
teers that support the muse
um all year long.”
Emily Johnstone
AREA DEATHS
Hazel Cantrell Ballew
James L. Thompson
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CELEBRATIONS . . .8A
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD .. . .4B
LIFESTYLE 7A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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MAIN LIBRARY UNIVERSrY CF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602
3-DIGF 3C6
Serving Houston County Since 1870
Base to lose more than 300 Jobs
From staff reports
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE - The
base will cut more than 300 military and
civilian positions as part of restructuring
mandated by the Air Force.
Robins will lose 152 military positions,
173 civilians and 56 “drill authoriza
tions” - which are part-time Air
National Guard or Air Force Reserve
positions.
“We are postured to reduced the
(Warner Robins Air Logistics) Center’s
additional fiscal year 2004 numbers
through attrition and other appropriate
means,” said 78th Civilian Personnel
Policeman to be honored for taking bullet
Perry police sergeant didn’t
know he’d been shot right away
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
PERRY - It was a midsum
mer’s evening, humid with the
sound of cicadas and an occa
sional barking dog flowing
through the hazy air.
Other than that, it was, like
most nights in town during that
summer of ‘7B, quiet and sleepy.
But the quiet for one neigh
borhood and the local police
department was about to be
shattered.
Ray Jackson was a 28-year
old man who had been serving
with the local police department
for five years.
As he drove about town,
patrolling with the window
down so he could listen for any
sounds of disturbance on his
beat and catch the coolness of a
breeze on his face, Jackson mar
veled again about how he loved
this job.
About 3:30 a.m. a call came
into the police department
about a disturbance at a resi
dence off Sam Nunn Boulevard.
As Jackson drove along the
narrow streets to the trailer -
where fellow police officer Dan
Bray was trying to keep tem
pers from getting any hotter
between a husband and wife -
he searched for a place to park
his patrol vehicle.
The husband was mad
because his wife came in late.
Their young son stood nearby
listening as his parents yelled
and the police officers tried to
keep them apart.
Jackson joined Bray in trying
Hundreds attend Perdue's education summit
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HHJ/Luci Joulllan
Sandra O’Neal, a former principal of Houston County High
School who served on the Education Summit’s panel discus
sion, talks with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
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Houston County ; city of Perry ; city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Division Chief Michael O’Hara. “We do
not anticipate the need for a reduction in
forces.”
The loss is part of an Air Force-wide
reduction that involves a decrease of
2,261 military and 2,962 civilian mem
bers, approximately 1 percent of the
total force.
American Federation of Government
of Employees Local 987 President
Donald Thompson said the cuts were
anticipated. The union represents over
2,500 civilian federal employees from the
base’s over 25,000 civilian, contractors
to calm the two down.
The young woman, Judy,
yelled she would kill her hus
band.
She got a gun and pointed it
in his direction.
Jackson stepped in front of
her, an instinctive reaction to
protect not only the husband,
but also his partner and the lit
tle boy.
He told her, “Judy, you don’t
want to do that.”
He reached up with his right
hand to take the gun away.
A shot fired.
He retrieved the gun and the
woman was taken to jail.
After a while, when things
settled down, Jackson returned
to his duties.
He helped get a group of
schoolchildren on their way as
they left for a field trip.
Then he went back to the sta
tion to talk to Detective Lou
Dekmar (now police chief for
the City of LaGrange) about the
domestic disturbance that had
happened earlier.
Dekmar was attempting to
piece together exactly what hap
pened that night.
Jackson sat in a chair in the
detective’s office and the two
began talking about the case.
They knew a shot had been
fired from the gun the woman
held, but the bullet had not
been found.
That is because the bullet was
lodged in Jackson’s body.
When Jackson got up from
the chair to leave the detective’s
office, Dekmar was shocked to
LEGAL ORGAN FOR
www.hhjnews.com
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HHJ Emily Johnstone
Perry Sgt. Ray Jackson points to the place he was shot in 1978 while trying to shield his partner
and others from gunfire during a domestic dispute. Plans are to honor Jackson with a medal in
the near future for his action to shield others from the gunshot.
see a pool of blood in the seat of
the chair where the officer had
just been sitting.
“Ray, I think you’ve been
shot!” Dekmar said.
Jackson turned around and
saw the blood in the seat.
He and Dekmar hurriedly
began removing his uniform
and gear and, sure enough,
found Jackson’s T-shirt slowly
turning crimson red with blood
coming from his right armpit.
By Luci Joullian
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Over 800 teachers,
school administrators and par
ents came to an education sum
mit at the Georgia National
Fairgrounds and Agricenter to
provide Gov. Sonny Perdue with
feedback about Georgia’s school
systems and educational
processes.
It’s feedback the governor has
actively solicited since he began
his term.
Perdue previously hosted a
series of electronic feedback ses
sions with educators, parents,
students and business leaders
at the Governor’s Mansion.
“This sets the stage for what
we can accomplish in the years
to come,” Perdue said to the
crowd. “This summit continues
a process of listening to the
frustrations of teachers. We
wanted a cross-section of educa
tors to come and participate
today.”
Kathy Cox, State
Superintendent of Schools, con
curred with Perdue.
“We knew we had to gather
people at the ground level who
are actually working with our
and military members.
“We would lose members because of
these cuts,” he said. “Robins has already
accounted for 125 of the air logistics cen
ter’s civilian reductions through attri
tion in fiscal year 2003.”
Among those affected will be the
Warner Robins ALC for work force
reshaping, and foreign military sales and
special programs for program adjust
ments.
One of the largest reductions will stem
from the Secretary of the Air Force’s
blending the Georgia Air National
The bullet had just missed the
officer’s bulletproof vest and
pierced under his arm.
Jackson said he believes the
adrenaline pumping through
his body during and after the
incident is probably what kept
him going without realizing he
had been hit.
As he looked at his blood
soaked T-shirt, he began think
ing about his beloved wife, Tiny.
Dekmar hurried him to a
children,” she said. “I feel like
we are discussing things with
people who are grounded in the
realities of what actually takes
place in our schools.”
The summit’s roster of speak
ers and attendees read like a
who’s who of Georgia educa
tion. Cox and Wanda Barrs,
chairwoman of the state Board
of Education, were both speak
ers. Other attendees included
state school board members and
various politicians, including
Rep. Larry O’Neal and Sen.
Ross Tolleson, among others.
The morning of the summit
was filled with lectures by edu
cational leaders such as Cox; Dr.
Eugene W Hickok, undersecre
tary of education and a princi
pal adviser to U.S. Secretary of
Education Rod Paige, who dis
cussed the No Child Left
Behind Act, a nationwide edu
cation reform law; Kati
Haycock, director of the
Educational Trust, who dis
cussed narrowing the academic
performance gap between white
and minority students; and
Michael Feinberg, co-founder of
KIPP Academy.
The underlying themes of all
TWO SECTIONS • 18 PAGES
Guard with active duty within the 116th
Air Control Wing. The wing resulted
from last year’s merger between active
duty 93rd Air Control Wing members
combined with the Georgia Air National
Guard’s 116th Bomb Wing.
Among those Robins missions gaining
positions include the 19th Air Refueling
Group, which will gain 15 authorizations
due to crew ratio increases for the KC
-135, and the Warner Robins Air Logistics
Center, which will add 34 civilian posi
tions. Other missions will gain seven
military and five civilian authorizations.
nearby car and called for anoth
er detective, Mike Pheil, to go to
the Jackson’s residence and tell
Tiny Jackson her husband was
being carried to a local hospital.
When he got to the door, Tiny
Jackson was told the sort of
news every police officer’s wife
dreads.
She raced to the hospital to
find her husband being exam
ined by a doctor who later told
See JACKSON, page 5A
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WANDA BARRS
the morning’s lectures were
helping teachers to innovate
and brainstorm new education
al techniques, while providing
educators with continuing edu
cation. Attendees were encour
aged use “data driven decision
making” in their everyday
teaching, including constantly
evaluating everything from
standardized test scores to
See SUMMIT, page 54
an Evans Family Newspaper
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