Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
October 8, 2003
Volume 134, Number 184
Award-Winning
Newspaper
Better Newspaper VaUE5)»>7
Contest
jlnside TODAY
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Perry looking to
surprise Southwest
Panthers head coach
Chuck Conley is in head
scratching mode.
He hasn’t quite figured
out Southwest, whom the
Panthers will host Friday
at 8 p.m.
“Pm really at a loss,” he
said. “I wish I had a bet
ter answer than that but I
don’t.”
Sports, page 1B
In BRIEF
One dead alter
Houston wreck
HOUSTON COUNTY -
One person is dead after a
two-vehicle head-on colli
sion on Smithville
Church Road Monday
night.
The wreck involving a
Land Rover and a pickup
truck happened about
10:30 p.m.
Houston County Fire
Chief Jimmy Williams
said one person traveling
in the Land Rover was
ejected from the vehicle
and pinned under the
pickup truck.
The driver of the pick
up truck had to be extri
cated from his vehicle,
Williams said.
Another person was
also injured.
Names were not avail
able at press time.
- Emily Johnstone
Area DEATHS
None were reported for
today’s HHJ.
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD 4B
LIFESTYLE 8A
OBITUARIES . .NONE
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . . ,7A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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Georgia Newspaper Project
MAIN LIBRARY UGA
ATHENS GA 30602
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Serving Houston County Since 1870
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Williams named top firefighter
Fire chief didn’t know assistant had nominated him for state award
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy
Williams has been named top fire offi
cial of the state by the office of John
Oxendine, state insurance and safety
fire commissioner.
Williams’ administrative assistant
Renee Wright nominated him for the
yearly award.
He learned the news while in Atlanta
Friday to attend the swearing-in of
Houston County Sheriff Cullen Talton
to a state appointment.
“I was shocked!” said Williams, who
said he was not aware Wright had sub
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HHJ Charlotte Perkins
ABOVE: Double vision: At nightfall on Monday night, the glittering lights of the gateway to the Reithoffer
midway at the Georgia National Fair are reflected in the lake and the rain-slicked pavement.
RIGHT: Rain, rain, go away! Those first few days of the Georgia National Fair were too good to last, and
umbrellas were everywhere on Monday night, as rainy weather began.
First Lady speaks out against abortion
Mary Perdue talks
to Right to Life
about foster care,
child protection
By Charlotte Perkins
HHJ Lifestyle Editor
PERRY - Gov. Sonny
Perdue was at the Georgia
National Fair on Monday
night, but not to make any
speeches. Instead, he was
enjoying the midway rides
with his granddaughters,
while his wife and daughter
took their stands on a sub
ject close to their hearts.
Speaking in the Miller-
Murphy-Howard Building at
a Georgia Right to Life rally
to raise funds for a mid-state
television commercial cam
paign, First Lady Mary
Perdue made her position on
abortion clear.
“Life is sacred,” she said,
“It is not an accident, not a
mistake, ever. The impor
tance of life begins with con
ception and continues until
natural death.”
She called the 1973 U.S.
Supreme Court decision
(Roe v. Wade) affirming the
right of women to terminate
pregnancy as a private deci
sion, “a huge mistake.”
“When Roe v. Wade was
passed,” she said, “we didn’t
have the technology to hear
a baby’s heart beat, or to see
www.hhjnews.com
mitted his name.
Williams started in the fire service as
a volunteer while working at a local
grocery store.
In 1986, he became chief for the
Elberta fire station.
He was later appointed deputy direc
tor for Houston County Emergency
Management Agency in 1989.
In 1994, he was hired as the first
full-time chief of the county fire
department and director of county
EMA.
In the nomination form, Wright
wrote about her boss’s extensive.work
with the county fire department,
including his efforts during the 1994
Rainy night at the Georgia National Fair
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HHJ/ Charlotte Perkins
Leigh Brett of Houston County (left), vice president of the Middle Georgia Chapter of
Right to Life, speaks at the Right to Life rally at the Georgia National Fair with her
mother, First Lady Mary Perdue (center), and Anne Thompson of Covenant Care
Services.
and count the fingers and
toes. Maybe we had an
excuse then. We have no
excuse now.”
She also said that “we
have sold our young people
short.”
“We told them to just say
no to drugs,” the soft-spo
ken grandmother said, “and
then we told them to prac
tice safe sex. There’s no
such thing as safe sex out
side of a monogamous mar
riage.”
Perdue, whose daughter,
flood.
“Shortly after his job began, Chief
Williams had the opportunity to show
that giving him the job as EMA direc
tor was the best decision the Houston
County Board of Commissioners has
ever made by overseeing the flood of
’94,” Wright wrote. “During this time,
Chief Williams was able to bring the
cities of Centerville, Warner Robins,
Perry, and the county together to work
as one team during this time.”
Today, he oversees eight fire stations
throughout the county, three of which
have full-time personnel on weekdays.
Some of the committees he serves on
See WILLIAMS, page 6A
Leigh Brett, is vice presi
dent of the newly-formed
Middle Georgia chapter of
Georgia Right to Life, also
talked about her foster par
enting experiences with
Covenant Care Services, a
See PERDUE, page 6A
TWO SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
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WR stores
punished
or selling
alcohol
By Heather Fasciocco
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - With
the hope of reducing alcohol
sales to minors, city council
members unanimously sus
pended six Warner Robins
convenience stores, and
levied a hefty fine.
All six businesses were
deemed in violation of a first
offense of selling alcohol to
an underage, undercover
law enforcement officer.
Council members imposed
a 15-day suspension and a
$250 fine for each of the fol
lowing stores:
Fastop - 750 Russell
Parkway
Mini-Food Stores Inc. -
750 N. Houston Road
Mini-Food Stores Inc. -
100 Russell Parkway
Quick Stop 21 - 2601
Moody Road
Lo-Lo No. 1 - 701 N.
Houston Road
Dhanraj Inc. - 5458 N.
Davis Drive
Councilman Terry Horton
urged the council to fine the
stores after finding the
See COUNCIL, page 6A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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JIMMY WILLIAMS