Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
January 19, 2005
Volume 135, Number 268
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
4 *
You can make
tlramisu at home
Hearth&Home, page 6A
In BRIEF
Kiwanis talent
show coming up
PERRY - The Perry
Kiwanis Talent Showcase
will be held Saturday,
Jan. 29, in the Periy High
School Auditorium.
Contestants in all
grades will compete at 7
p.m.
Trophies and cash
awards will be given to
winners in three classes.
Tryouts will be this
Thursday from 4-4:30
p.m. for grades 1-6, and
4:30 to 6 p.m. for grades
7-12.
The dress rehearsal will
be Thursday, Jan. 27,
from 4-4:30 p.m. for
grades 1-6 and 4:30-6
p.m. for grades 7-12.
This annual event is
sponsored by the Kiwanis
Club of Perry.
For more information
and applications call
Nancy Whiddon at Perry
High School, 988-6304.
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Roger Laster
Donald Edward Walker
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Tony and Paula Clark
Area DEATHS
David ( F. McDonald
Dollie Kate Pool Newberry
Edna Thomas Perkins
Frank V Stolarski
Obits, page 5A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD ... .4B
HEARTH&HOME . .6A
MARATHON 6B
OBITUARIES 5A
OPINION 4A
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
Grime up in WR, but so is population
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Overall, crime
is up slightly in the city for 2004.
According to Uniform Crime Reports
for 2004, there were 3,759 Part 1
crimes in Warner Robins, compared to
3,733 in 2003 and 3,396 in 2002. Chief
Brett Evans said the increase in crime
wasn’t unexpected.
“Nationally crime has increased over
the past two years,” Evans said. “It’s a
variable rate that climbs and drops
when you look at over a long period of
time.”
He also attributed the increase in
crime to the increase in the city’s pop
ulation.
“If the population increases by 10
percent and crime goes up 10 percent,”
Evans said, “then crime rate does not
Want
some
Moe's?
Southwesterivstyle
eatery set to open
next week in WR
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Warner Robins is just a few
days away from getting its
first Moe’s Southwest Grill,
and fans of good southwest
ern food can’t wait for that
day to get here.
Jeff Sewell and Ray
Yarbrough are partners in
the Moe’s restaurant in
Macon and they chose
Warner Robins as their first
expansion site. The two
hope to open additional
restaurants in Macon and
Griffin in 2006.
“We feel it is a great
opportunity,” Sewell said.
“We have a great location,
and we can’t wait for the
See MOE’S, page 3A
Kushinka’s first days busy
New Houston
tax commish
working on
online offerings
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Busy.
Mark Kushinka’s first
days as Houston County’s
tax commissioner have been
busy.
“I haven’t even had a
chance to unpack,”
Kushinka said, from his
office lined with empty
shelves and full boxes.
“I’ll have to come in on
the weekend and set up the
office.”
Probate Court Judge
Janice Spires swore in him
and other elected constitu
tional officers on Dec. 28.
Kushinka travels back
and forth between the
Perry and Warner Robins
offices all day, he said.
Things have been going
smoothly for customers as
the office reopened on Jan.
3, after being closed since
Dec. 21. Juanita Mason, the
previous tax commissioner,
closed the office to complete
a state-mandated audit and
www.hhjnews.com
really increase,” per capita.
Homicide, robbery, larceny and
motor vehicle theft were all down in
2004, Evans noted, compared to 2003.
There was one less homicide in 2004,
with four compared to five in 2003.
“That’s a strange one for us,” Evans
said. “You really can’t tell.”
Rape, aggravated assault, burglary
and arson were all up in 2004 over
2003. Rapes reached a five-year high
with 25 in 2004. There were 16 in
2003, 12 in 2002, 18 in 2001 and 24 in
2000.
Burglaries have continued to
increase each year from the 646 in
2000 to the 809 in 2004. “That’s the
one that really concerns me,” Evans
said.
Robberies dropped, Evans noted, to
72 in 2004 from 79 in 2003. The 72
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Ray Yarbrough is one of the co-owners of the new Moe’s Southwest Grill. The restaurant will open soon in Warner
Robins. Yarbrough was hard at work last week getting the restaurant ready to open.
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submitted
Present for Mark Kushinka’s swearing-in were (from left) Judge Janice Spires, Tax
Commissioner Mark Kushinka, his daughter Jordan, 9, wife Julie, son Kaleb, 4,
daughter Kelli, 13, and son Marc, 15.
to close out her books.
Kushinka credited the
staff for the smooth transi
tion.
“I couldn’t ask for a bet
ter crew,” he said.
He said everyone who
worked for Mason was
offered a job. His opponent
in the election and Mason’s
chief deputy, Judy Kluge,
has taken a job in the coun
ty Tax Assessors Office.
“I offered her a job to
stay,” Kushinka said. “Her
daughter just put in her
resignation.”
A past employee who had
15 years experience in the
Tax Commissioner’s Office,
Marianna Slappy, was
offered and accepted a posi
tion to fill the vacant senior
tax/tag clerk.
Kushinka is working to
fulfill campaign promises to
get things online.
“Car tags will go online
first, in April or May” he
said. “People can mail it
‘now or bring it to the office.
I want to give them a third
robberies are the lowest in the past
five years with a high of 98 in 2001, 76
in 2002 and 79 in 2000.
Aggravated assault was up to 160 in
2004 from the 140 in 2003 and 125 in
2002. The 160 incidents are below the
five-year high of 175 in 2000.
Motor vehicle theft has dropped, the
chief said, to 171 in 2004 from 184 in
2003. It had increased each year from
157 in 2001 to 184 in 2003 after drop
ping from the five-year high of 200 in
2000.
Larceny is the single largest category
of serious crime in the city with 2,504
incidents in 2004. That number is
down, Evans said, from 2,572 in 2003,
which was the five-year high.
Arson was also up to 14 in 2004 from
12 in 2003 and nine in 2002. The five
year high was 22 incidents in 2001.
choice.”
Kushinka said the state
has the programs already. It
is just a matter of filling out
the paperwork.
“It takes 60 days to
process the pre-bills,” he
explained, so the first bills
that have the option of
going online would be April
or May.
He plans to do the same
with property taxes.
“The state has the final
approval,” he said.
TWO SECTIONS *l4 PAGES
K S 1
.. Wf n I
BRETT EVANS
1,655
new
homes
in'o4
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
There were 1,655 permits
for new single-family homes
issued in all of Houston
County in 2004.
For the year, Warner
Robins issued 918 permits
for single-family dwellings,
Centerville issued 152 per
mits, Perry issued 123 per
mits and there were 462 in
the rest of the county.
For the year, Warner
Robins issued 41 permits for
manufactured homes,
Centerville issued six per
mits, Perry issued four per
mits and there were 88 in
the rest of the county.
Warner Robins was the
only jurisdiction to have any
permits issued for apart
ments for the entire year,
See PERMITS, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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