Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
December 17, 2004
Volume 135, Number 247
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
In BRIEF
Missing girl
returns home
WARNER ROBINS - A
girl who went missing
Wednesday, resulting in a
daylong search involving
police and the Georgia
State Patrol helicopter,
returned home that
night.
The 15-year-old
returned to her Terry
Kay Circle home at 9:56
p.m.
She was reported miss
ing Wednesday morning.
Also participating in
the search were authori
ties from the Centerville
and Warner Robins police
departments, and the
Houston County Sheriffs
Department.
- From staff reports
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Dec. 17
Jessica Beal
Thomas Gibson
Ruby Jackson
Robin Loudin
Dec. 18
Cindy B. Gambill
Ann Grier
Brandi Gunkle
Mylissa Horn
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Dec. 18
Betty and Cullen Talton
(not the sheriff)
(Surprise your friends! Let us
know when their birthday or
anniversary is, and we’ll put their
names 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
Miriam Hodges Hobson
James Loy
Lydia Mae Murphy
Gladys M. Pacosa
Obits, page 3A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD ... .4B
LIFESTYLE 7A
OBITUARIES 3A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . .10A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
7*
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Man Library
UNfV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 3G6G2-GGG2
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
Killer's mother sentenced to prison
Byron woman to do time for hiding son who shot young man to death
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - J. Deborah Zammit was
sentenced Wednesday to two and
one-half years in state prison for
Far from home for the holidays
Family coping while citizen
soldier mom serves in Iraq
By JON SUGGS
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - For Yvonne
Sanders, it’s nearly a regu
lar day. Regular by the stan
dards of the past few
months, anyway.
As the afternoon rolls on,
her attention is split
between two primary tasks,
keeping an eye on her 18-
month-old grandson,
Kayvon, and preparing
something to eat for this lit
tle one and his two older sib
lings, who will be arriving
home from school shortly.
But today she is also
entertaining guests, Flo
Norris, Joy Albright and her
granddaughter, Stephanie
Bozeman, who are here to
present Sanders and her
grandchildren with a holi
day fruit basket.
Normal enCTCTgh? —
Almost.
The basket is from the
American Legion Post #24
Ladies Auxiliary, and this
family has been chosen
because Sanders’ daughter,
Sgt. Rickie Spivey of the
U.S. Army, is far from home
Authority to sell land, renovate hospital
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - The Hospital
Authority of Houston
County has decided to sell
property it owns near Ga. 96
and Houston Lake Road in
Warner Robins.
The 54-acre tract of land
Girl'S message could
save a puppy's life
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Lifestyle Editor
KATHLEEN - Puppies
aren’t supposed to die from
being bathed, but that’s
what happened to Rusty.
A tiny, fluffy creature,
part Pomeranian and part
Chihuahua, Rusty was
given to 11-year-old
Victoria Lippert by a fami
ly that came to the ARK in
the Park event in early
November.
“They told us that he
didn’t have any fleas
because they had bathed
him in Pine-Sol,” Victoria’s
mother, Wendy says.
The puppy died just
three and a half weeks
after that, despite the best
efforts of the Lippert fami
ly, who are true animal
lovers, and the care and
skill of their veterinarian,
Dr. Vernard Hodges of
Critter Fixers.
First, Rusty had repeat
helping her son.
Zammit was found guilty of help
ing her son, Thomas Hardison flee
Houston County. According to
Houston Circuit Assistant District
this holiday season, serving
her country in Mosul, Iraq.
There, she drives a fuel
truck on re-supply runs.
Here, the family waits and
worries and misses her.
Kayvon toddles around
the living room, which is
gaily decorated for the holi
days with a bright tree and a
snow village in front of the
room’s big front window.
There are other holiday
touches here and there, such
as a floral arrangement
above an old portrait of
Spivey, then a private first
class, in uniform holding her
oldest son, Christopher, not
much older then than
Kayvon is now.
The boy in that picture is
a far cry from the tall 17-
year-old who comes through
the door a few minutes later,
his sister, 10-year-old
Trevonnah, in tow.
Christopher is a senior at
Perry High School. It is also
his first year there.
Adjusting to a new school
is a little tough, he said, but
toughest is having his moth
er away. Although he’s used
See FAR, page 5A
was purchased for the hospi
tal to be able to expand or
perhaps build a new hospi
tal.
Also, the authority voted
during Wednesday’s meet
ing to move ahead with ren
ovating the Houston
Medical Center site on
Watson Boulevard, rather
ed digestive upsets, then
bleeding. Then surgery
revealed that his stomach
lining was eaten away and
there was nothing that
could be done to save him.
Then he died.
Victoria, a bright and
sensitive middle-schooler,
cried and cried, but once
she dried her eyes, she
wanted to make sure that
some good came from the
puppy’s unnecessary suf
fering.
So here’s what Victoria
wants everybody to know.
Puppies should not be
bathed with anything but
the mildest shampoos.
The likelihood, she
knows now, is that Rusty
swallowed some of the
strong household cleaner
in the water he was bathed
in.
According to Hodges,
puppies shouldn’t even be
See PETS, page 9A
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HHJ Jon Suggs
Beneath a picture of U.S. Army Sgt. Rickie Spivey, members of her family - mother,
Yvonne Sanders, and children, Christopher, Kayvon and Trevonnah - accept a holiday
fruit basket from the American Legion Post #24 Ladies Auxiliary presented by
Stephanie Bozeman and her grandmother, Joy Albright.
than to build new on land
the authority owns along
U.S. 41.
Earlier this year, the
Hospital Authority pur
chased 139 acres of land
located approximately 200
yards north of the new
Russell Parkway extension
on U.S. 41.
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HHJ, Charlotte Perkins
Victoria Lippert, left, has an important message about
puppy care that she wants to share with others. She is
shown with her sister Katelyn and Katelyn Lippert and
two of the family’s dogs, Teddy and Wagner.
Attorney James Balli, after
Hardison murdered Jacob Hardy at
a Houston Lake Road Enmark,
Zammit drove her son to a hotel in
Macon, where “she brought him
Authority member Ed
Dyson made the motion to
keep the present Watson
Boulevard site in operation,
saying there has been a lot
of time spent on the site,
and it should be renovated
and the hospital should
remain there.
Dyson then made a
TWO SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
girls” - and eventually concealed
him at a location in Taylor County.
Zammit, 46, of Byron, was also
sentenced to an additional seven
See MOTHER, page 5 A
motion to sell the Warner
Robins property near Ga.
96.
“It’s too small for the kind
of growth we will have,” he
said. “We should sell it and
keep the land located on
(U.S.) 41 for future options.”
In January 2005, Central
See AUTHORITY, page 5A
U.S. vs.
Witt: a
capital
case
Double murder
case referred for
death penalty trial
Special to the HHJ
ROBINS AIR FORCE
BASE - A Robins airman
charged for the on-base
killings of an airman and his
wife will be on trial for his
life when the case goes to
court next year.
Late Tuesday, Maj. Gen.
Mike Collings, Warner
Robins Air Logistics Center
commander, referred the
case of U.S. vs. Witt to a gen
eral court-martial as a
See WITT, page 9A
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