Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
January 27, 2005
Volume 135, Number 274
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
In BRIEF
GOP seeks to
abolish property
tax statewide
ATLANTA
Republican leaders in the
Georgia House will again
push for an abolishment
of all state property taxes,
replacing them with a
higher state sales tax to
pay for education.
The idea has been
pushed before, but never
successfully. New
Republican leaders in the
state House say it’s time
for a fresh effort to per
suade lawmakers and
educators that schools
would be better paid for
by raising the sales tax by
3 percent statewide.
House Republican
Leader Jerry Keen of St.
Simons sponsored a reso
lution Wednesday for a
constitutional amend
ment banning ad valorem
taxes by 2008, except to
retire existing debt. He
said a study committee
would tour the state
explaining the idea to the
public before lawmakers
vote on the matter, possi
bly next year.
Keen said school fund
ing shouldn’t be tied to
local property values
because it creates
See TAX, page 10A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Denise Burdeshaw
Garnet Burgin
Kenneth Rich
Grady Shaw
Bettye Warren
(Surprise your friends! Let us
know when their birthday or
anniversary is, and well 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 DEATH
Bert Eugene Bowen
Obit, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 4B
COMICS 7 A
CROSSWORD ... .7A
ENTERTAINMENT .8A
OBITUARY 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT ... .5A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .2A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 7A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
T
Georgia Newspaper Project
Man Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30502-00C2
S-GfGtF 3G6
Serving Houston County Since 1870
( Y irCtmsttm
CLlhe .jjmmral
LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY \
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
r - -- mm —r — tt q r
i'Ali j
w
K 7; I ’ M'"’; I SI I
W&m*mm I
sys m:
}*, - fc ,X r X m *- ■. j
JB7 •* ’ . ;Bp?7
- —7*bBBBEBI
Gov. Sonny Perdue (center) and First Lady Mary Perdue (left) greet attendees at Tuesday’s Legislative Luncheon
in Atlanta.
Locals lunch with lawmakers
Story and photos by
Timothy Graham
ATLANTA - The Perry
and Warner Robins area
chambers of commerce host
ed area legislators at a
luncheon Tuesday.
The purpose of the lunch
eon was for the two sides to
gain information from each
other prior to the current
legislative session, but the
session had to be cut short
as the legislators were
forced to leave early to
attend an important vote.
Among the local officials
in attendance were Warner
Robins Mayor Donald
Walker, Perry Mayor James
Worrall, Centerville Mayor
Ronnie Brand, former Perry
City Councilman Charles
Lewis, Warner Robins City
Councilman Steve Smith,
Houston County
Commission Chairman Neil
Sanders, and Houston
County Commissioners Tom
McMichael and Larry
Thomson.
“I am delighted to be here
and see some home folks,”
said Gov. Sonny Perdue. “I
regret not being able to see
the hometown as much as I
\yould like. I just want to say
that making Georgia better
begins with people like you.
I am proud to tell people
that I am from Houston
See LUNCHEON, page 3A
Man sentenced fop fatal 2003 shooting
Whittle to serve 24 months probation for accidentally killing local woman
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - Michael Shannon
Whittle, 27, received 24 months pro
bation in a plea bargain Tuesday, as
he was to go to trial for the April 6,
2003, shooting death of Amanda
Ranae Catlett, 24.
According to Chief Assistant
District Attorney Katherine
Lumsden, Whittle had been indicted
on felony involuntary manslaughter
Chambliss: Military needs its own Intel general
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Sen. Saxby
Chambliss voted last month to
establish a Director of National
Intelligence, but he maintained
then, as he does now, that the
position has a mqjor design flaw.
Although military intelligence
would make up the majority of
www.hhjnews.com
iII I ! , i i J
Ilf iWMt
. BB
Bp M| ■ ; ' W
m ABU*.
if j§/ 'i §&*; ' X
Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker (right) chats with state Rep. Larry O’Neal, R-
Warner Robins, during Tuesday’s Legislative Luncheon.
and misdemeanor reckless conduct
in the shooting. Lumsden said both
sides had been discussing a plea
agreement, and finally came to
terms on Tuesday.
Whittle pleaded guilty to misde
meanor involuntary manslaughter
and misdemeanor reckless conduct,
with sentences of 12 months each.
He is also required to complete a 90-
day inpatient drug rehab session.
If he leaves treatment before the
what ends up on the new direc
tor’s desk, the new director
almost certainly will be a civil
ian.
Thus, Chambliss is again
pushing legislation to make the
eight military intelligence
organizations report directly to
a four-star general at the
Pentagon, who then would
end of the 90 days, Lumsden said, he
has to serve the rest of the sentence
in jail.
“I do think drug treatment is war
ranted as the circumstances are
now,” Lumsden said. “As far as the
night of the incident, I can’t say if
drugs were involved.”
Whittle’s attorney, Michael Moore
said that beside the 24 months pro
bation, Whittle will have also “have
to pay a $250 fine and will not be
report to the Director of
National Intelligence. Although
he’s getting some resistance
from those fearful it could
diminish the yet-unnamed
director’s clout, Chambliss
insists the opposite would hap
pen.
“It would just alleviate a lot of
the headaches that the DNI is
THREE SECTIONS • 22 PAGES
allowed to have any (guns) during
that time.”
Moore called the shooting “was a
terrible accident, a terrible tragedy. ”
He said Whittle agreed to the plea
and the 90-day treatment program
because “he needed some closure.”
Whittle has contended all along
that the shooting was an accident,
Lumsden said.
“Whittle kept a loaded .45 caliber
See SENTENCE, page 10A
probably going to have,” said
Chambliss, R-Ga. “If you’ve got
somebody sitting in that posi
tion who doesn’t have military
experience, he’s not going to
understand what those agencies
do in detail. If he does have mil
itary experience, chances are he
doesn’t know what the civilian
See CHAMBLISS, page 10A
an Evans Family Newspaper
50c
mm.
Sunday
alcohol
sales
rejected
Centerville
council won’t
put it to vote
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
CENTERVILLE - The
Centerville City Council
quashed a proposed referen
dum Tuesday on whether
alcohol sales should be per
mitted in restaurants.
If approved by the voters,
the measure would only
have benefited two restau
rants, Danielle’s New
Orleans Bistro and
O’Charley’s,
In discussing the proposal,
City Manager John Harley
said lifting the prohibition
of Sunday sales would bring
business into the city.
Councilman Cameron
Andrews strongly opposed
the proposal.
“If this is a way to solicit
money for tax funds I
believe it will fail,” he said.
“I also feel if it will hold
down property taxes as a
reason, it is a poor excuse.”
Council members Sherod
Wilson and Randall Wright
voted in favor of the referen
dum, and Cameron Andrews
and Bob Smith voted
against. Mayor Ronnie
Brand voted against, to
break the tie.
After the vote, Wilson said
he’s not so much for it.
“The revenue source
would allow for two busi
nesses that can take advan
tage of it,” he said. “Many
people leave Houston
County to go to Macon to
purchase alcohol. We’re just
trying to help local business
es in the area.”
Andrews later said he
feels this will make it to the
voters soon.
Also at the meeting:
• Nichols Cauley and
Associates presented the
See C’VILLE, page 10A
ft jHh]
CHAMBLISS