Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
October 4-6, 2003
Volume 134, Number 182
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2003
Better Newspaper
Contest
|lnside TODAY
ft %
■p. -fig ■■ „
Wednesday night
'battery charging'
A fixture of Southern
life for generations past,
Wednesday night prayer
meetings have gradually
changed with the times,
offering a range of activi
ties for all ages.
So if you haven’t been
in a while, and you’ve
been wondering about all
those cars in the parking
lot, we present a
Wednesday night report
from one Houston County
church.
Spiritual Living, page 6A
—» "fjßf'
HoCo Bears fall to
Westside 'Notes
Friday night football
action saw Houston
County High lose at home
to Westside.
Sports, page 1B
Warren R. Black
Evelyn Kennon Chapman
Janet Marie DeFore
Martin H. Foley
David M. Giles
CMSgt. Gregory A. Kebil
Gladys R Snow
Jerry T. Wilson
Obits, page 3A
CLASSIFIED 6B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD 4B
OBITUARIES 3A
OPINION 4A,5A
SCHOOL MENUS . .5B
SHELTER PETS . . ,5B
SPIRITUAL LIVING 6A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
liillilliiiilliilliiiiilillilml
1 *
GecfyiS Newspaper Project
MAIN LIBRARY UGA
ATHENS GA 30602
#t" /*. /■*/■■*
O-UIVjl i
Serving Houston County Since 1870
vEhe djnurnal
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Walker, Carter unveil statue
Carter’s book
inspired Perry
monument to
tenant farmer
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
PERRY - Accommodating
changing times while cling
ing to unchanging principles
is one thing former U.S.
President Jimmy Carter
said he hopes the bronze
Mule and Tenant Farmer
statue he, along with Ga.
Rep. Larry Walker, unveiled
during opening ceremonies
for the 14th Annual Georgia
National Fair.
A collective breath of
“oohs” and handclapping
arose from the crowd of sev
eral hundred people gath
ered to watch the unveiling
of the statue situated in
front of the new Miller-
Murphy-Howard conference
center.
Just a few hands in the
audience shot up when
Carter asked how many peo
ple had ever plowed behind
a mule.
The former president,
who has also served as gov
ernor of Georgia, held lis
teners entranced as a cool
See STATUE, see page 10A
Farms honored at Fair opening
By Jon Suggs
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Seventeen of
Georgia’s oldest farms were
honored at the Georgia
National Fair Friday, and
one of Georgia’s most well
known farmers was in atten
dance to congratulate them.
Former President Jimmy
Carter was the keynote
speaker as 16 farms were
honored with the 2003
Georgia Centennial Family
Farm Award and one
received the Centennial
Heritage Farm Award.
Carter called his visit to
the ceremony a “special
treat” and appeared happy
to be in a room full of hered
itary farmers, as he himself
is.
Carter recalled growing
up on his family’s farm -
founded in 1833 - in the
small community of Archery
near the small town of
Plains in Sumter County.
Some of his fondest mem
ories are of life there, he
said. He recalled pulling
peanuts, salting them and
selling them - his first job.
“My experience has been
out of the land and out of
the farm,” he said.
He has never strayed far
from his roots, which is com
mon in the South, he said.
“We not only love our
Clark, Jackson convicted of felony murder
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
A Houston County jury convicted
two men of felony murder, armed
robbery and burglary Thursday.
Kenny Leshawn Jackson and
Tellis Lamar Clark were found
guilty by a jury that deliberated
about two hours after hearing clos
ing arguments that morning.
Clark was also found guilty of
aggravated assault and being a felon
in possession of a Firearm.
Houston County Assistant
District Attorney Gerald Henderson
asked jurors to remember the last
three minutes of murder victim
Tamarcus Jordan’s life during their
w w w. hhjnews. com
w I |
Pm jfc; J®
HHJ Charlotte Perkins
The Atlanta man who posed for the tenant farmer sculpture poses again, this time with former President Jimmy
Carter and Rep. Larry Walker.
£f • v&
Jjt A*. & '
W i
% If
J|^^r
HHJ Jon Suggs
Former President Jimmy Carter congratulates Kate Kezar, whose family farm was
one of 16 honored as centennial farms Friday.
land, but we stay close to it,”
he said.
And that’s one of the
things he loves about
Georgia.
“I am so proud of this
state, and I am very proud of
agriculture, and I think it’s
deliberations.
Jordan was killed Jan. 6 when
Clark and Cesar Geronimo Sessions,
the triggerman, entered Jordan’s
residence on Suzanne Drive and
robbed Jordan.
During the incident, Clark went
into a bedroom where Jordan’s girl
friend was just getting out of a
shower and dragged her into the
room where Jordan could see her
with a gun pointed at her head.
Jordan fought to get past Sessions
and help her even after he had been
shot and wounded, Henderson told
the jury.
He struck Clark and allowed the
woman to escape.
Jurors were visibly moved when
one of the most time-hon
ored and traditional experi
ences anyone can have,”
Carter said.
Carter said he was grate
ful to be a Georgian,. a
farmer and to be with these
honorees this day.
Henderson recounted how Sessions
then shot Jordan two more times,
one bullet to the spine, the other to
the head.
Prosecutors said an autopsy
showed the last bullet to the head
was what killed Jordan.
Sessions was sentenced to a life
sentence earlier this year after
entering a guilty plea.
Jackson’s attorney, Fred Graham,
spoke to the jury about what he
called the lack of evidence presented
by the prosecution during the trial.
He also pointed out that Jackson
was not in the residence during the
time of the incident.
However, prosecutors contended
that Jackson helped plan the rob-
Among those honorees
was Martin Moseley, who
owns the Moseley-Crawford
Place near Byrori.
“My great-grandfather
bought it in 1897 and it’s
been passed down,” Martin
See FARMS, page 10A
an Evans Family Newspaper
TWO SECTIONS • 18 PAGES
Slate vows
to help
Blue Bird
workers
Fort Valley bus
manufacturer
to lay off up
to 450 workers
From wire, staff reports
FORT VALLEY - The
state Department of
Labor pledged Friday to
provide assistance to hun
dreds of workers expected
to lose their jobs at Blue
Bird Corporation.
Blue Bird, one of the
world’s largest bus manu
facturers, is laying off up
to 450 workers at its two
Fort Valley plants, compa
ny officials announced
late Thursday.
Human resources direc
tor Rick Hudson said
about 100 of the Fort
Valley layoffs will be at
the company’s
Wanderlodge recreational
vehicle plant, with the
rest at Blue Bird’s bus
making facility.
See BLUE BIRD, page 10A
bery, was one of the getaway drivers
and provided the pistol that was
used to kill Jordan.
“The complete and thorough'
investigation of Detective Sgt. Chris
Rooks and Detective Brad Mules
made the prosecution of this case
possible,” said Assistant District
Attorney George Hartwig.
“Hopefully, this verdict will bring
some sense of closure to the Jordan
family.”
Houston County Superior Court
Judge George Nunn presided over
the trial.
Prosecutors expect the last co
defendant, Cassandra Jackson, to be
brought to trial in the near future.
50c
Ilf IRHI