Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY
December 19, 2004
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Volume 135, Number 248
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Balvaunuca hosts
tour of homes
The Perry Balvaunuca
Club held its annual ben
efit Holiday Traditions
Home Tour on Sunday
afternoon, with five beau
tifully decorated homes
on the tour.
The tour included the
homes of Argene and
Sandy Claxton, Steve and
Nancy Green, Winbon
and Judy Golden, Tim
and Jan McCord, and
Gene and Kathy Waites as
well as a Houston Springs
model home.
Lifestyle page 1C
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Dec. 19
Parish Gainous
Shelly House
Dovie Moss
(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
Dorothy Y. Davis
Sarah Durham
Lydia Mae Murphy
Blanche Roth
Mabeth Hall Thomas
Kenneth West (Spike)
Obits, page 3A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 5C
CROSSWORD ....5C
LIFESTYLE 1C
OBITUARIES 3A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . . .7B
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 5C
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHtzNS GA 30602-0002
3-DIGfT 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
EMC forced to raise rates, for now
Flint flummoxed as skyrocketing nationwide fuel costs impact power industry
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Flint EMC members can
expect to pay a little more starting
next month.
Although customers were prom
ised flat rates through 2012 at
Flint’s annual meeting in October,
Cox: GOP
can't
have me
The Associated Press
ATLANTA - Secretary of
State Cathy Cox, whom
many expect to run for gov
ernor in 2006, says she will
make a decision by the end
of the year on whether she
will run.
But if she does run, it will
not be as a Republican, she
said.
Cox, a Democrat, said she
was recently approached by
Republicans trying to per
suade her to run for lieu
tenant governor on a ticket
with Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Cox said she was flattered
but will not switch parties.
“I think got a mes
sage that resonates with
Democrats and
Republicans,” she said.
Cox would not identify the
Republicans who
approached her but said
they appeared to be messen
gers for Perdue.
“I just think it’s fascinat
ing how much they want me
out of that (governor’s)
See COX, page 6A
County tax office to be closed until 2005
Closure will allow transition as Mark Kushinka takes over as tax commissioner
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - The Houston County
Tax Commissioner’s office will be
closed, starting Tuesday, for the
transition of the new administra
tion.
The office will reopen Jan. 3,
2005.
Property tax is due by Dec. 20.
“You will not be charged a late fee
21 CP gives briefing
on BRAC process
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - In a
briefing this week, 21st
Century Partnership con
sultant Ron Smith and
Executive Director Ron
Carbon updated the group
on recent activities and a
trip to Washington, D.C.
Smith said by the end of
January, the Department of
Defense will have a pretty
good idea of which bases will
remain open in the upcom
ing round of base realign
ment and closure (BRAC).
BRAC is a federal process in
which the number of U.S.
military installations will be
reduced, according to
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, by as much as 24
www.hhjnews.com
rising coal, natural gas and oil costs
have forced the company to impose a
fuel cost adjustment. Fuel cost
adjustments have been a part of
Flint’s rate structure for more than
20 years and are used to cover costs
when fluctuating fuel costs result in
fluctuating electricity costs.
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HHJ/Teresa D. Southern
Mike Frost of Richard Moore Construction makes sliding closet doors for
Stephenisha Askew’s room. She is the beneficiary of Rebuilding Together with
Christmas in April’s latest effort - making her home wheelchair accessible.
for tag renewals during this time,”
from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2, 2005, said
retiring Tax Commissioner Juanita
Mason.
Mason, who has served as tax
commissioner since 1987, and
worked in the office for 43 years,
said the time would be used to audit
all accounts before they are trans
ferred over to the new administra
tion.
Related article,
page 6A
percent.
BRAC commission
appointees won’t be nomi
nated until February and
the DOD isn’t scheduled to
recommend closures to the
commission until May.
Congress is scheduled to
make a decision on the list
in November, with imple
mentation of the decisions
from 2006 to 2011. Eddie
Wiggins said Smith laid out
the plan to them two and
one-half years ago - “a
dadgum comprehensive
plan. We’re ready.”
See 21CP, page 6A
Joe B. Cade, Flint’s president and
chief executive officer, said the com
pany’s last fuel cost adjustment was
in 1995.
“We decided to use this method
instead of imposing the costs perma
nently,” Cade said. Beginning with
billings on Jan. 3, 2005, Flint will
“It’s a regular thing,” Mason said,
“a standard practice.”
Mason will be succeeded by Mark
Kushinka, who was elected in the
Aug. 10 run-off. Kushinka, who
works in the Tax Assessor’s office,
defeated Judy Kluge, Mason’s chief
deputy clerk. Mason also endorsed
Kluge in the race for her replace
ment.
Kushinka said that he has been
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HHJ Kay Lightner
“Christmas has come once again to the 21st Century Partnership,” joked Neil Suggs,
(center, back row) who, along with Houston County Commissioner Tom McMichael
(left) and Mark Byrd (right), accepted a $20,000 check from Sun Trust Bank. Making the
presentation were, (front row, from left) Area Manger Helen Starling, Middle Georgia
Bank President Mardie Herndon, and Linda Shingler-Dupree of Sun Trust Mortgage.
Herndon said, “It’s the right thing to do for the community. We are a good corporate
citizen. ”
THREE SECTIONS • 22 PAGES
add a charge of $0.00475 per kilo
watt-hour to every member’s bill. A
member who uses 1,000 kilowatt
hours of electricity would pay an
additional $4.75 per month.
The average Flint customer uses
about 1,300 kilowatt hours each
See FLINT, page 7A
Labor
of
love
Volunteers
making local
family’s home
wheelchair
accessible
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Father, mother and daugh
ter sit laughing around the
kitchen table, despite the
noise in the background.
The reason for the noise is
Rebuilding Together with
Christmas in April, whose
volunteers are making 13-
year-old Stephenisha
Askew’s Christmas a little
more special than the last
by making her everyday life
easier.
Stephenisha was diag
nosed with a curvature in
her spine and was admitted
See CHRISTMAS, page 6A
talking to a number of the workers
in Mason’s office.
“A lot of them want to work,” he
sais. “Hopefully during that time,
I’ll go down there and talk to the
employees.”
Any tags due while the office is
closed may be mailed or brought by
the office on Jan. 3.
“That first day will be a busy one
at the office,” Kushinka said.
an Evans Family Newspaper
50 c