Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
February 25,2004
Volume 135, Number 39
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2003
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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The top 'tater
Sweet potatoes, like
corn, are a food that
Native Americans were
already growing and eat
ing when Europeans
arrived in North America,
and they’ve never gone
out of style.
Food&Style, page 8A
In BRIEF
Stay sought fop
redistricting order
ATLANTA - Georgia’s
attorney general has
asked the U.S. Supreme
Court to stay a federal
appeals court's order
requiring that new leg
islative districts be drawn
in time for this year's
elections.
Last week, three judges
of the 11th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals over
turned redistricting maps
for Georgia's state House
and Senate.
- The Associated Press
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Terry Greer
(Surprise your friends! Let
us know when their birthday
is, and we’ll put their name
in the paper that day. Just
send the name and date at
least a week in advance, and
we’ll do the rest. E-mail to
hhj@evansnewspapers.com, or
mail them to us at the
address inside. No phone
calls, please. Many happy
returns!)
Area DEATHS
Mary Elizabeth Buff
Elmer O. Hawver
Kenneth C. Thompson Sr.
OBITS, page 6A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED ... .14A
COMICS 13A
CROSSWORD ...13A
FOOD&STYLE ... .8A
OBITUARIES 6A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . .2A,
3A, 7A
TV LISTINGS ... ,13A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Rebuilding Together honors founder
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HHJ/Heather Fasciocco
Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker (front, left) and Rebuilding Together with
Christmas in April of Warner Robins President Jerome Stephens (front, right) shovel
dirt covering a newly planted Ginkgo biloba tree in honor of the organization’s founder
Richard Rider. Rider was described by Walker as a “man with a plan," who through tire
less efforts, afforded low-income citizens with a warm, safe and dry place to live.
A life
saving
choiee
Weather radio
can be smart
investment
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
HOUSTON COUNTY - It
is night and you are sound
asleep.
Outside, the air is muggy
and still.
Flashes of lightning can
be seen in the distance.
Soon, the lightning draws
closer and rumbles of thun
der can be heard.
Weather forecasters take
note of a storm in your area,
and decide to send out an
alert after realizing there is
tornado activity about.
Beside your bed an alarm
sounds and you begin to
hear a computerized voice
telling you to take cover,
fast! A tornado warning has
been issued for your town.
You scramble from bed,
wake the rest of your family
and huddle together in a
designated space in your
home.
Within just a few minutes,
the world around you
shakes and a roaring sound
fills your ears.
When it is over, you and
your family emerge, shaken
but otherwise all right, to
see devastation ... the roof
ripped off your home, a tree
across your child’s bed,
where minutes before he lay
sleeping.
Your lives have just been
saved by an investment in a
small radio designed to alert
the public to impending
severe weather. ,
• • •
With the time of year
approaching that brings
with it severe weather situa
tions in our area, Houston
Emergency Management
Director Jimmy Williams
urges citizens to consider
purchasing a weather radio.
There are several types of
See RADIOS, page 16A
www.hhjnews.com
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A search helicopter equipped with heat-detection devices is part of the search exercise.
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Warner Robins Police Chief Brett Evans listens to his cell
phone during the training exercise.
Ginkgo tree planted for Rider;
Walker accepts service award
By Heather Fasciocco
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Breaking ground held a new
meaning for those celebrat
ing the life and contribu
tions of Rebuilding Together
with Christmas in April of
Warner Robins founder,
Richard Rider, who held a
degree in forestry and was
said to have a fondness
toward wildlife and nature.
“Rick Rider worked effort
lessly until he left us,” said
Rebuilding Together board
member Bill Douglas.
Douglas noted that up until
his last days, Rider came to
each house site and helped
with the work, even while
being under the assistance
of crutches.
“He was the spark plug
for the organization,”
Douglas said.
Over 20 Rebuilding
Together volunteers, city
'Find the bad guys'
WR Special Tactics and Response
team hosts tracking exercise
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
WARNER ROBINS - One
of three suspects who fled
from police during a simu
lated training session
Monday for police honing
their tracking skills was
glad to be captured, said
Capt. John Clay, training
officer for Warner Robins
Police Department and an
organizer of the afternoon’s
activities.
“He got caught in a briar
patch,” Clay said.
About 35 law enforcement
personnel put in several
hours of classroom instruc
tion before being turned
loose to be a part of the
training session hosted by
the Warner Robins Special
Tactics and Response
(STAR) team.
There, they were present
ed a scenario and told to
“find the bad guys." The bad
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employees and the nonprof
it’s board members were
present at a Monday tree
planting ceremony in
Rider’s honor. The Chinese
foliage, a Ginkgo biloba, was
chosen to sit in front of City
Hall because of its tradition
al significance to Georgia
and the golden leaves that
emerge during the fall,
Douglas said.
Douglas also said those
familiar with the University
of Georgia campus in
Athens might recall the tree
as a part of the college’s
landscaping - aligning the
campus’s inner perimeter.
Also to commemorate the
memory of Rider,
Rebuilding Together pre
sented Warner Robins
Mayor Donald Walker with
the first of the annual Rick
Rider community service
awards. The award
See RIDER, page 16A
HHJ/Emily Johnstone
guys were actually role play
ers from the police depart
ment who had volunteered
to give the trainees a run for
their money through a thick
wooded area off Foy Evans
Drive.
The scenario involved an
armed robbery incident dur
ing which the perpetrators
carjacked a motorist and
later fled into the woods
after exchanging gunfire
with police.
While one team worked to
get the “victim” under con
trol and get some informa
tion from her, other teams
pulled on their tactical gear,
called for tracking dogs and
a helicopter equipped with
heat-seeking devices, and
went in after the trio.
Clay said the first suspect
was found within an hour,
the other two within a cou
ple of hours.
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