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TUESDAY January 13,2004 Volume 135, Number 8 Award-Winning Newspaper 2003 Better Newspaper Contest Inside TODAY A productive Perry weekend Both of Perry’s basket ball teams enjoyed suc cessful weekends. After sweeping Region 4-AAA opponent West Laurens Friday on the road, the Panthers and Lady Panthers duplicat ed the feat Saturday at home against Mary Persons. Sports, page 11A Later THIS WEEK Horse listener' visits Perry It isn’t magic. It isn’t trickery. There is no clearer way to see the power of kindness than to see Monty Roberts, acclaimed “horse whisper er,” at work. Coming this week in The HHJ I ROBERTS Area DEATHS Emma Grace Crane Richard M. Lashley Florence C. Linehan Betty Jean O’Hearn Obits, page 2A INDEX BUSINESS 8A CLASSIFIED 14A COMICS 10A CROSSWORD ...10A OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 4A SCHOOL NEWS .. ,7A TV LISTINGS ... .10A WEATHER 2A PERIODICAL Itlllllllillfllllltllllllllllilllllltltlllllllllllll 9 Photographic Services 200 D W BROOKS DR ATHENS GA 30602-5016 3-DIGIT 306 Serving Houston County Since 1870 (xJt |f pCcrustet 3Some |f (Lttje LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville Houston loaders share goals for 2004 From staff reports Holding onto Robins Air Force Base, improving traf fic flow and communications within the community rank high on the “wish lists” of Houston County’s leaders as 2004 gets under way. Ned Sanders, Houston County Commission Chairman, said that he con siders the goal of keeping Robins Air Force Base was “overarching,” and listed three other priorities for the year ahead. “I want to improve orderly growth and development Carpenter to push one zoning plan Superintendent will present three plans to board today By Luci Joullian HHJ Staff Writer PERRY - Houston County Schools Superintendent Danny Carpenter announced Monday that he will recommend a zoning plan for the county’s middle and high schools to the Board of Education at its meeting today. The school system’s zon ing committee, made up of school and parent represen tatives, originally came up with three plans, which were presented at four pub lic forums last year. “We received a tremen dous amount of public input, and the board, my staff and I listened careful ly,” said the superintendent. “Every effort has been made to accommodate people’s concerns whenever possible. It is impossible, however, to not move people and still accomplish alleviating over crowding.” Today, Carpenter will present three plans to the board for a final vote, but only one of them, known as “Plan One,” is one of the original three plans. Another plan, known as “Feeder System,” allows for students from all of the county’s middle schools to attend the same high school with the same group of peers. The plan Carpenter will recommend, known as “Forum Changes” or “Superintendent’s Plan,” is based on input from the public forums and consider ation of proximity and traf fic flows. Carpenter said he supports the plan because it moves only 938 students, as opposed to up to 2,264 who would be affected under other plans and, Carpenter noted, most of those stu dents being moved are from over-capacity schools including Bonaire Middle, Feagin Mill Middle and Houston County High schools. Under this plan, all students who currently attend Northside and Warner Robins High schools will continue to attend those schools. All three zoning plans are available for See PLANS, page 8A See for yourself All three plans can be examined on the school board's Web site, www.hcbe.net www.hhjnews.com and the relationship between the urban, sub urban and rural areas in Houston County,” he said. “I think that’s crucial, and SANDERS would include zoning com patibility, meeting the infra structure needs, and work ing on roads, water, and storm drainage, as well as beautification and develop ment, and the removal of derelict and abandoned HIGH SCHOOLS FORUM CHANGES LEGEND HOUSTON COUNTY HS NORTHSIDE HS PERRY HS r ~\\ WARNER ROBINS HS MIDDLE SCHOOLS FORUM CHANGES LEGEND BONAIRE ( ' | 'EAGIN MILL NORTHSIDE EgSl PERRY HUNTINGTON THOMSON WARNER ROBINS i?xE,x wmsfiifc rW**^\ ji 1 r j Sgj§|BT * i«*. p^j|~f ’fTgayjfi^f\ o\^ nl v Xf "1- »W : ' "feiiX • v l \\jwQr " -/ V ** ) BBOn 1 Jv I m t"~*fj f I rJ] y»» I * # / V. ! I * M { I • * 7 jCN ■ - «-*'■•' X. ,L : / vjjjK. ' / i /TV "sl / Y l H / **!.- lx \ Vj * rr \ «4 / ..--'V x structures. “Secondly, I want to make Houston County govern ment more effective and effi cient,” he said, “and meet the needs of our citizens while staying well below the tax cap.” He gave better communi cations as his third goal, say ing that he wanted to see “a more informative and responsive” government. Danny Carpenter, superintendent of the Houston County School System said, “During 2004, our system will continue to V-l /'I • ||jj| jig 11| ||y —\ i( ‘ rifted K—i -fejRJ / % f-v i j r*rtiu wVrtf) ‘ it if '* \ • ;•?' ejs *\( V strive to deliver quality edu cation. We will work to maintain or exceed our students’ excellent achieve ments and CARPENTER test scores. The hiring and retention of quality profes sionals will be a priority, with our goal being to hire the best people to fill teacher and leadership vacancies to prepare for the 2004-05 school year. One of an Evans Family Newspaper 50c Will 8 ”5 5108*00001*" 4 ONE SECTION • 16 PAGES the most critical and press ing needs that will be addressed in 2004 is to secure property for future growth to benefit the system for many years to come. On Jan. 13,1 will have a recom mendation for the board on zoning which would become effective for the new school year in August. I will contin ue to promote honest and open dialogue and communi cation and will focus on pro viding good customer serv ice at all of our schools and the central office. As a sys tem, we will be committed to See WISH, page SA