Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
February 26, 2004
Volume 135, Number 40
Award-Winning
Newspaper
Better Newspaper
House stow to
redraw maps,
GOP complains
ATLANTA (AP) -
Another hiccup in the
Georgia House’s move to
adopt new political dis
trict maps has the GOP
complaining that ruling
Democrats are trying to
delay a court-ordered
overhaul of the district
lines.
Federal judges have
ordered Georgia to redo
its state House and
Senate maps, saying
Democrats unfairly tried
to pack Republican voters
into small districts to
decrease the numbers
they could send to the
Legislature.
The Senate, now con
trolled by Republicans,
has already redone its dis
trict lines. But House
Democrats again delayed
a committee vote on its
new map Wednesday
morning, leaving
Republicans complaining
that they may miss the
March 1 deadline
imposed by the court.
“They just don’t have
the votes to pass that
piece of trash,” said
House Republican Leader
Glenn Richardson, saying
the Democrats’ proposed
map is a little better than
the old one, but not
much.
Wilma Gay
(Surprise your friends! Let
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mail them to us at the
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Wade McCoy
Lee Williams
Obits, page 2A
CLASSIFIED ... .12A
CLUB NEWS 5A
COMICS 11A
CROSSWORD ...11A
ENTERTAINMENT .6A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .5A
TV LISTINGS 11A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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Ptxrtographtc Services
200 DW BROOKS DR
ATHENS GA 30602-5016
3-DIGIT 306
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
New hospital for Houston?
Hospital Authority options 150-acre tract on U.S. 41 for future expansion
Church to give
out tree tickets
Westside Baptist Church has bought
four Friday showings of ‘Passion’
From staff reports
CENTERVILLE - A
Houston County church has
bought out four Friday
showings of “The Passion of
the Christ” - and plans to
give away the tickets to non
churchgoers. '
The film, which deals with
the last day of Jesus, and his
crucifixion, was directed by
Mel Gibson and became con
troversial even before its
Ash Wednesday release
because of concerns that it
might arouse anti-Semitism.
Reviews across the country
generally call it powerful in
its spiritual message, but
very sadistic and brutal. It
has an R rating for violence
and is not recommended for
young children.
Dr. Mike Holloway, pastor
of Westside Baptist Church
in north Houston County,
which has bought 1,000 tick
Jones honored lor service to Perry bank
By Luci Joullian
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Virginia Jones
has seen The Bank of Perry
undergo many changes since
she started working there
50 years ago - two bank
locations, a name change
and five different company
presidents.
The Fort Valley native is
the only Bank of Perry
employee to have been with
the company that long, and
Jones continues to work
there on a part-time basis.
She began working at the
bank in 1954, when it was
known as Perry Loan &
Savings, as a teller and was
later elected to be an officer
with the title of assistant
cashier.
Jones was honored this
week during an anniversary
celebration held at the Bank
of Perry.
“It isn’t often that a 50-
year celebration for any
thing can be made,” said
www.hhjnews.com
HHJ/Beverly Ellis
ets and is giving them away
on Friday, said he and others
in the church are hoping
that seeing the movie will
heighten spiritual aware
ness and lead people to
think about the hope offered
through Christianity. He
has viewed the movie with
other ministers and found it
very moving, as did others
viewing it with him.
“Some were crying,” he
says, “We were stunned.”
He agrees that the movie
has much violence directed
toward Christ, but also says
that it is a historically accu
rate description of crucifix
ion “which,” he notes, “was
brutal and awful,” and that
the film is true to the
prophecies in the book of
Isaiah and the gospel
accounts.
As to charges of
See WESTSIDE, page 3A
bank President Kelly Hillis.
“We are delighted to honor
Virginia on this occasion
and are extremely proud
that she has chosen our
company to spend her
career with. While this rec
ognizes her 50th anniver
sary, it is not her retirement.
She is still the first one here
every day. Her dedication to
The Bank of Perry is
unmatched.”
Bank Chairman Lewis
Meeks commented on the
changes that the bank has
seen during Jones’ tenure.
“Perhaps she said it best
in 1977, when she said ‘To
realize the changes that
have accrued since I first
started working here 23
years ago - all I can Bay is
you’ve come a long way,
baby.’”
Meeks went on to praise
Jones’ strong work ethic
and read one of her favorite
quotes - “Duty makes us do
things well, but love makes
us do them beautifully."
By Jon Suggs
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - In planning for
its future, the Hospital
Authority of Houston
County is looking at land
rich in past.
On Wednesday, the
authority announced it has
purchased a 120-day option
for $50,000 on the 150-acre
Dorsett family farm on U.S.
41, approximately 200 yards
north of the new Russell
Parkway extension.
The purchase is part of a
new master facilities plan
ning project the authority is
developing with the assis
tance of the KLMK Group, a
national healthcare facilities
management firm based in
Richmond, Va.
With growth rapidly
spreading across Houston
County, now is the time to
prepare for future eventual
ities, authority spokes
woman Mary Jane Kinnas
said.
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Jim Cavaziel in “The Passion of the Christ."
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Perry Mayor Jim Worrall presents Virginia Jones with a
proclamation for SO years of service at The Bank of Perry.
Ift kind of like the decision to add on
to your house or Just buy a trigger,
new house/
- Houston Healthcare spokeswoman Mary Jane Kinnas
“We will have to make a
decision to renovate the
existing two hospitals we
have now or whether it
might be more cost-effective
to just build a new center,”
Kinnas said. “It’s kind of
like the decision to add on to
your house or just buy a big
ger, new house.”
This is not the first time
the authority has pursued
land for future develop
ment. The authority already
owns another, smaller (55-
acre) parcel of land.
“Several years ago the
authority made a wise deci
sion to invest in property
near Highway 96 and
Houston Lake Road to posi
tion itself for future oppor-
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8 ”*55 108*0 0001**4
TWO SECTIONS • 22 PAGES
tunities such as an expan
sion of services or even to
construct a new hospital,”
said Houston Healthcare
CEO Frank Aaron.
“However, as we began
working with KLMK, we
determined ... it may not be
an ideal site because of the
limited acreage and some
what limited access. At that
point we began looking at
other tracts of land in the
125- to 150-acre range in
this proximity.”
This search led to the
Dorsett farm.
“The acreage is what we
will need if we decide to con
struct a new hospital, and
the site has excellent access
See LAND, page 3A
WRPD
to adopt
missing
chilli
program
By Emily Johnstone
HHJ Associate Editor
WARNER ROBINS - The
Warner Robins Police
Department is initiating a
program that will enable cit
izens to help find missing
children or elderly persons
with just a call.
Warner Robins Police
Chief Brett Evans has
announced that the depart
ment will soon be adopting
the A Child is Missing pro-
gram,
designed to
help find
missing
children or
elderly who
have wan
dered.
The pro
gram is
operated
through a
Florida-based non-profit
organization started in 1997
to help with searches for
missing children.
Evans explained the pro
gram starts working as soon
as an officer calls a toll-free
number and provides need
ed information to A Child is
Missing.
Within minutes, a thou
sand phone calls go out to
homes and businesses in the
vicinity of where the miss
ing person was last seen,
with a recorded message.
Citizens are asked to look
out their back door or in
their yard to see if they
might spot the child or any
thing suspicious, Evans
said.
The department has
received training materials
from the organization, said
Capt. Brenda Parks
Mathern.
Sm MISSING, page 3A
EVANS