Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
January 7, 2005
Volume 135, Number 260
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Calling all Muggles:
time for trivia
Plenty of kids (and
grownups, too) are eager
ly awaiting the sixth book
in the bestselling “Harry
Potter” series.
So, to help them bide
their time, the Nola
Brantley Library in
Warner Robins is hosting
a “Harry Potter Trivia
Night” on Wednesday.
Family&Faith, page 7A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Jan. 7
Janet Hurt
Tamea Matthews
Geraldine Norwood
Jan. 8
Mickie Clerkley
Jack Southerland
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Jan. 7
James and Deborah
Kitchens
(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
None were reported for
today’s edition.
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD ... .4B
LIFESTYLE 7A
OBITUARY ....NONE
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .6B
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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9 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Leeds' Perry deal may fall through
Building products company sent back to drawing board with plans to build in industrial park
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - The
Houston County Development
Authority and the city of Perry have
rejected requested changes by Leeds
Building Products in the contract
for the purchase of 20 acres in the
Perry Industrial Park.
Conference
center
moving
along
By JON SUGGS
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - A
study commissioned to find
need for a conference center
found some, and now discus
sion of the project moves
along.
The core group interested
in bringing the center to the
city met Wednesday to
review the results of the
study conducted by Finnell
Consulting, and talk about
where to go from here.
The group met at the
Flint Enecgitts-Building on
Ga. 96, and Jimmy Autry,
Flint’s vice president of
member services and acting
coordinator of the group, led
discussion of the study
results.
Foremost among the find
ings is the conclusion that
Warner Robins is “some
what underserved” in this
marketplace.
Based on a survey of local
business leaders, the study
found there is sufficient
demand present to support
a mid-sized conference cen
ter.
Autry emphasized that
this would not be a conven
tion center, but something
smaller.
The center would not
compete with the Georgia
National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter, or convention
facilities in Macon.
Rather, it would focus on
small business and social
gatherings.
The study suggests a
43,000-square-foot confer
ence center would be about
right.
A center like that could
handle the average event
size of 120 people expected.
Most events would have less
than 50.
If built properly, the
See CENTER, page 3A
New House friendly to Perdue, but no rubber stamp
By DICK PETTYS
AP Political Writer
ATLANTA - Gov. Sonny Perdue
will have allies in top positions
when the new Republican-led
House is sworn in this year, none
more powerful than House
Speaker-to-be Glenn Richardson.
But the switch from a Democrat
controlled House to majority
Republican won’t mean an auto
matic “yes” vote for everything
Perdue proposes, said Richardson,
a 44-year-old lawyer from subur
ban Paulding County.
“We’re not here to be a rubber
stamp for the governor, nor are we
here to be a roadblock to the gover
www.hhjnews.com
The sale price was $6,500 an acre
for the 20 acres, or $130,000 split
50/50 between the authority and the
city. The contract has a 12-month
building requirement or the site
reverted to the authority and the
city at the purchase price.
Houston County Development
Authority Executive Director
Local leadership at Centerville eatery
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HHJ Timothy (iraham
Curtis Flournoy stands at the counter of his Chick-fil-A store inside the Galleria Mall in Centerville.
Perryan runs Chick-fil-A
At 24, Curtis Flournoy is owner-operator of Galleria restaurant
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
CENTERVILLE - At an age when
most young people are still trying to
figure out ways of extorting money
out of their parents, a Perry man has
already bought his first business.
Curtis Flournoy, 24, is the owner
operator of the Chick-fil-A franchise
inside the Galleria Mall.
“I like the thrill of the risk of being
in business,” Flournoy said. “You real
ly test your abilities in trying to get
people to come into your business.
There are a lot of other food outlets
here in the mall, so you have to give
people a reason to come to yours.”
Flournoy is the son of Curtis Sr. and
Martha Flournoy of Perry. He has one
brother, Hugh, who is a student at
Middle Georgia Technical College.
Flournoy graduated from Perry High
in 1998 and from Georgia College and
nor,” he said. “We’re going to listen
to him. We’re going to try and sup
port him. When it becomes neces
sary, we’re going to tell him ‘no’ if
we have to.”
Already the nominee of his party
to become speaker, Richardson
needs only the formality of a vote
by the full House this month to
begin wielding the gavel. That is
assured because Republicans will
control 99 of the 180 House seats.
As Speaker, Richardson may
prove to have more in common
with Tom Murphy, the Democratic
House Speaker from 1974 through
2002, than with Rep. Terry
Coleman, the Democrat he is
Morgan Law said Leeds requested
changes, including an extension of
the building requirement to 24
months. The change did not specify
whether it applied to starting or
completing of the building, Law
noted.
Perry Mayor Jim Worrall said the
city rejected the changes on
State University in Milledgeville in
2003.
Flournoy worked in his first Chick
fil-A in Perry at the age of 16. He later
worked at one in Milledgeville while
in college. He came to like where he
was working.
“I saw the influence the two owner
operators I worked for had over their
employees,” said Flournoy. “They
related well to the employees and
seemed to have a good influence on
them. I enjoyed that.”
When Flournoy got to thinking
about what to do with his life, the
choice seemed to be an easy one.
“They have given me the opportuni
ty to be in business for myself,”
Flournoy said. “However, if I choose
to get out of the business they will buy
the franchise back from me for the
same amount I paid for it. It is more
like an investment than anything
replacing and who has held the job
only for the last two years.
Murphy’s temper was well
known and served to keep poten
tially unruly House members in
check. Richardson also has a tem
per.
“I’m a roller-coaster kind of per
son,” he said in a recent interview.
“I can get angry at you quickly. But
I think there’s a blessing and a
curse in that. You may read it that
I’m quick to anger. But I’m quick
to forget, too. I get angry quickly
and I can get over it quickly.”
Bom Jan. 12, 1960, Richardson
grew up in Douglas County where
his parents owned a local country
an Evans Family Newspaper
TWO SECTIONS • 14 PAGES
Tuesday.
“We don’t want to give them the
authority to subdivide the land,” he
said, citing another of the requested
changes.
Worrall also noted the company
has been sold since the deal was
signed.
See LEEDS, page 3A
else.”
When Flournoy decided to invest in
Chick-fil-A, he worked for a year as an
interim manager at stores in Florida
and Pennsylvania while the company
sized up his talent for leadership.
Flournoy took over the local store in
November 2004.
He does not feel that his relative
youth is a hindrance to him; in fact, he
thinks it gives him a*n edge.
“I feel that I bring a better energy
level to the job due to my age,” said
Flournoy. “I see things differently
than someone older might. I try to get
to know each of my employees person
ally and try to know where they are
coming from.”
Chick-fil-A is one of the few fast
food companies that closes its doors
on Sunday and Flournoy likes the
idea.
See FLOURNOY, page 3A
store. An initial foray into politics
proved a disappointment when he
lost an elementary school battle fjpr
student council president.
Elected to the Legislature in .
1996, he was named Perdue’s floor
leader in 2003 and chosen House
minority leader for the 2004 ses
sion. With Perdue, he helped
orchestrate the Republican victory
in November that swept
Democrats from power.
“I have a competitive spirit about
me that needs to be fulfilled,” he
said. “I like to win.”
And not just at politics. For years
he’s coached Little League base
ball.
See RICHARDSON, page 3A
50c
Hill,
