Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
December 31, 2004
Volume 135, Number 256
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
y ~' • a
She'll still
be visitin'
HHJ lifestyle writer
Joan Dorsett is bringing
her newspaper career to
an end.
Lifestyle, page 11A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Dec. 31
Haley Brianna Crofutt
Lorraine Pratt
Mark Snay
Jan. 1
Nancy Branscom
Danny Burdeshaw
Helen Cleland
Jan 2
Debbie Brown
Bryce Patton
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Jan. 1
Sam and Angie Minter
(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
A. L. “Pat” Cartledge
Thomas Emory Clements
Kum Coleman
Francis Peter Niebauer
Janet Cone Pace
Mary Jo Wright
Obi's, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 7B
COMICS 8A
CROSSWORD .. . .8A
LIFESTYLE 9A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . .13A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 8A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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ATHENS GA 30602-GGG2
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Serving Houston County Since 1870
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9 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry ; c// > of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Walker divvies up war chest
■**
HHJ Charlotte Perkins
Larry Walker relaxes in his office while he explains the
difficult decision-making process he went through in
determining how to distribute campaign funds he
accrued over his 32 years in the state legislature.
GOP agenda moves to front as session nears
By DICK PETTYS
AP Political Writer
ATLANTA - Welcome to a new era
in the Georgia Legislature where
the focus will turn to strengthening
traditional families, increasing per
sonal responsibility, reducing gov
ernment, and cutting taxes.
If it sounds like a Republican
agenda, there’s a reason.
Republicans have taken over the
statehouse after 130 years of
Democratic domination. When the
new legislative session opens Jan.
10, Republicans will be running the
show.
The House is the most recent
Audit
of tax
office
ongoing
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY The audit of
the Tax Commissioner’s
Office is under way.
The Houston County
Board of Commissioners
appointed the firm of Butler,
Williams & Wyche “to close
out the books of Ms.
(Juanita) Mason,” said
Commissioner Tom
McMichael.
The audit, according to
the auditor’s proposal, is “to
obtain reasonable assurance
rather than absolute assur
ance about whether the
financial statements are
See AUDIT, page 7A
www.hhjnews.com
chamber to fall under new political
management, and Republican con
trol there will usher in the era of the
litmus test for legislation.
Speaker-to-be Glenn Richardson,
a Paulding County attorney, put it
this way in a speech given soon after
the November elections, which gave
his party majority control of both
legislative chambers for the first
time since Reconstruction:
“We will ask: will it reduce the size
of government; will it strengthen
our traditional family structure; will
it reduce the tax burden for our cit
izens, or will it increase personal
responsibility? Unless proposed leg
Perryan to cheer at Gator Bowl
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submitted
Perry High School varsity cheerleader Bethany Conner will be a performer
Saturday at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. She was invited to participate by
the Bowl Games of America after attending the Fellowship of Christian
Cheerleaders camp in Orlando, Fla., in June.
Perry Rotary Club’s Big Indian Creek Project,
churches, schools are major recipients
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - For the past 32 years, Larry
Walker has spent the first week in January
getting, his law practice in order so that he
could head for Atlanta. This January, how
ever, the veteran lawmaker and former
Democratic Majority Leader will be staying
in Perry.
Having chosen not to run again, Walker
held a press conference Thursday morning
to explain how he has disbursed $102,000
from a campaign war chest built up over the
years.
The checks are already in the mail to
recipients as wide-ranging as the Perry
High School FFA chapter, and the
University of Georgia School of Law. $5,000
will go to the St. James Building Fund, and
another $5,000 to the Perry public library
for books. Walker, who explained that he
made the decisions in conceit with his two
campaign managers, Foster Rhodes and
Chuck Byrd, even donated money to replace
the tables being used by the Uptown Perry
Partnership’s Saturday farmers market.
The biggest single donation, $25,000, is
going to the Perry Rotary Club for the Big
Indian Creek Project.
Walker said that, for the time being, he
does not intend to make further disburse
ments, although he will probably do so at
some future point. Approximately $78,000
remains in the fund, some of which will
need to be used on filing and storage
charges for his archives, most of which will
be given to the Richard Russell Center at
the University of Georgia.
Dressed casually, Walker relaxed in a
rocking chair as he talked to the press about
plans for the future, his most immediate
plan being to drive down to Quitman with
See WALKER, page 7A
islation answers yes to one of these
questions, it will face a difficult
course.”
That points to what will be most
different when Republicans take
power from Democrats. The parties
have sharply different views of the
role of government.
“For us, government is not the
instrument of change. Our role is to
make sure that the private sector
can function as efficiently as possi
ble to address the needs of society.
That’s what we’re going to try to
do,” said Rep. Jerry Keen of St.
Simons Island, the incoming
Republican majority leader.
TWO SECTIONS • 22 PAGES
Walker Campaign Fund
Disbursement List
la. Perry High School FFA Chapter $2,500
lb. Perry High School Football Program $2,500
lc. Perry High School Media Center $2,500
2a. The Westfield Schools Football Program $2,500
2b. The Westfield Schools Girls Basketball Program
$2,500
2c. The Westfield Schools Music Program $2,500
3 Middle Georgia Technical College Foundation
$5,000
4. Macon State College Foundation $5,000
5. University of Georgia School of Law $5,000
6. Mercer Law School $3,000
7. Georgia Tech Foundation $3,000
8. Fullington Academy Learning Center $3,000
9. St. James C.M.E. Building Fund $5,000
10. Museum of Aviation $3,000
11. Golden Rule, Inc. $2,000
12. Perry Kiwanis Club Scholarship Fund $5,000
13. First Love Ministries $2,000
14. Salvation Army Safe House Building Fund
$5,000
15. Perry Library (for books) $5,000
16. Hospice of Houston County Serenity Gate
SI,OOO
17. Henderson Volunteer Fire Department SI,OOO
18. Henderson Baptist Church SI,OOO
19. Grovania Methodist Church SI,OOO
20. Word of Deliverance (Genesis House) SI,OOO
21. Perry Rotary Club (Big Indian Creek Project)
$25,000
22. Houston County Young Farmers $2,000
23. Perry Downtown Development Authority
(Fountain Fund) $2,000
24. Uptown Perry Partnership (Tables for Farmers
Market) S2OOO
TOTAL: $102,000
Republican Senate leaders, who
have had two years to settle into
their legislative management posi
tions, view legislation through much
the same lens.
“We try to look at issues as our
founding fathers did - limiting gov
ernment as much as possible and
protecting societal foundations,”
said Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah,
the ranking Republican in the
chamber.
A ranking Democrat, Rep. Dußose
Porter of Dublin, said Republicans
soon will discover that being in
charge of government is not as easy
See SESSION, page 7A
Chase
ends in
injury,
charges
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
CRAWFORD COUNTY -
A Butler woman is in a
Macon hospital after being
injured in a wreck in
Crawford County.
Cassandra Susan
Albritton, 21, of Butler faces
numerous charges from
Oglethorpe police including
aggravated assault on police
officer, fleeing and attempt
ing to elude police officers,
reckless driving and driving
on a revoked license. The
chase that began in
Oglethorpe and went
through Perry and Fort
Valley before ending in a
See CHASE, page 7A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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