Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
February 11, 2005
Volume 135, Number 285
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Ins *de TODAY
iV 'sK «
Central Baptist
moves this Sunday
The congregation of
Central Baptist Church
will leave its location on
Watson Boulevard and
move into its brand new
church this Sunday.
The new 90,000-square
foot, three-story facility is
located on a 155-acre site
at intersection of Lake
Joy Road and Russell
Parkway. The first wor
ship service in the new
building will begin at
10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Family&Faith, page 6A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Dhara Patel
Feb.ll
Brooklyn Barrett
Michael Paul Dowd
Judy Hall
Cynthia Harden
Angela O’Neal
Makayla Grace Powell
Anne Wilson
Feb. 12
Belinda Campbell
Hannah Folsom
Ann Parker
Carlynn Simmons
(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
Dovie M. Griffin
W. W. “Bill” Strickland
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD 4B
FAMILY&FAITH .. .6A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT 5A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .6B
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
7*
Georgia Newspaper Project
Main Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-DIGIT 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
USAF chief: Military to 'revisit' C-130J cuts
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A top
Air Force official told sena
tors Thursday that the
Pentagon was reconsidering
cuts to the Georgia-made C
-130J Hercules because of
new information about the
costs of such a reduction.
“I’m not sure at the time
that we did these calcula
tions at the end of December
that we were fully informed
the Mm
FTD names WR
florist’s shop one
of best in nation
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
Warner Robins is home to one of
the best florists in the nation.
FTD has named Forget-Me-Not
Florist, 120 Hospital Drive, as one of
its Top 100 Members for the third
year in a row. To put it in perspec
tive: Forget-Me-Not was in competi
tion with more than 18,000 other
FTD florists in North America.
“It’s a bigTi'onor,” said owner Stan
Tydings. “I am very proud that FTD
has named my shop one of the top
100 in the nation. Over the last
three years we have really worked
hard at driving our sales with great
products and floral arrangements
by FTD, and an unwavering com
mitment to customer service.
“This award proves that our dedi
cation and commitment to deliver
ing an excellent product as well as to
the happiness and satisfaction of
our customers has paid off,” he said.
For FTD florists, the appointment
into Top Membership ranking is
based on various membership quali
fications, including monthly wire
clearings, purchases of product and
business support. FTD ranks Top
Members in various groupings of
100, 250, and 1,000 annually.
Tydings said that he has an edge
being located in a military town.
“We have a lot of people here who
have relatives who live out of town,
so we have a big volume of wire
sales and the award is based on vol
ume generated,” Tydings said.
He noted that he has a lot of help
behind the scenes.
“Our courteous staff does make it
easier for people to order flowers,”
he said. “People seem to appreciate
that personal touch as opposed to
buying over the Internet.”
Although his shop does have a
Web site, Tydings said Internet
sales do not make up a big percent
age of his sales.
“The Internet has not affected our
sales much,” he said. “We do get
some business from it, but it has not
affected us much either negatively
or positively.”
Tydings also said that the trend of
Goodwill has million-dollar day
Local agency hopes to raise $1.5 million by July to get matching contribution
ByRAYUGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
MACON - Goodwill
Industries of Middle Georgia
received more than $1 million in
donations recently, and needs
another $1.5 million by July.
Goodwill received grants of
$700,000 from the U.S.
Department of Health and
www.hhjnews.com
about the costs of canceling
the program,” Air Force
chief of staff John Jumper
told the Senate Armed
Services Committee. “Those
costs will be probably more
than we anticipated.”
Jumper said a report due
at the end of March would
likely give the Pentagon
more information about the
costs. “I fully believe we’ll
revisit this decision here in
the months to come,” he
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Stan Tydings has seen his florist shop named one of the top 100 FTD
florists in the country for the third year in a row.
asking for charitable donations
instead of flowers at funerals has
not hurt his business either.
“That has been going on for years,
but we have not noticed it hurting
our sales,” he said.
Tidings noted it. was a bit ironic
that the American Cancer Society
was one of the first organization to
start that and he is a two-time past
president of the Houston County
branch of the ACS.
Tydings said that while cut flow
ers have been popular for
Human Services, $325,000 from
the Peyton Anderson
Foundation, #nd $50,000 from
Georgia Power on Friday at its
recent “Wine, Cheese, Jazz & A
Million Dollars” event at the
Goodwill Career & Conference
Center on Eisenhower Parkway.
Bobby Polito from the U.S.
Department of Health and
said.
Jumper’s announcement
is a major victory for
Georgia lawmakers who
have been lobbying against
the proposed reductions in
the cargo plane and F/A-22
Raptor, also made by
Lockheed Martin’s Marietta
plant.
Georgia Republicans
Saxby Chambliss and
Johnny Isakson were among
20 senators who met with
Valentine’s Day in the past, the tra
ditional favorite of roses seems to
being gaining steam.
“Valentine’s Day is our biggest
single day of the year,” he said.
“Other holidays such as Mother’s
Day or Christmas you see business
spread out over several days, but on
Valentine’s Day they have to be
there on that one day.”
Tydings said' he has ten trucks
hired to make deliveries on Monday
and his shop will be open regular
See TYDINGS, page 3A
Human Services said the grant
was part of President Bush’s
support for faith-based initia
tives - “to empower those
who’ve been here for years,” he
said, “those who used to walk
the streets at 3 a.m. to help peo
ple.”
Polito said he’s been one of
those working on drug pro-
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld on Tuesday when
Rumsfeld indicated both
might be spared.
“It was quite clear that
we’re moving in the right
direction,” Isakson told the
Marietta Daily Journal.
The 2006 fiscal year
defense budget submitted to
Congress on Monday would
reduce the number of F/A
--22 Raptors ordered by the
military from 268 to 170,
grams in New York City and in
Wisconsin. He said the funding
is “so they can knock on doors
not for funds, but to help fami
lies.”
Polito also said he has family
in the area.
“I got here early and visited
with my 93-year-old
See GOODWILL, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
50c
jmm.
TWO SECTIONS *l4 PAGES
ending the program after
2008 and would stop produc
tion of the C-130J entirely
by the end of 2006.
But with Rumsfeld’s sup
port, Isakson said he is
hopeful funding for the two
aircraft will be returned to
the budget by Congress.
“He gave a great state
ment of support for the F-22
and the C-130,” Isakson
said.
See C-130J, page 3A
House
OK's
secret
deals
Bill would allow
development deals
to be conducted
behind closed doors
By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - Government agen
cies making offers to entice busi
nesses would be shielded from
public access laws under a bill
approved Wednesday by the
Georgia House.
The measure allows economic
development authorities to bar
public access *to the offers they
send companies. The deals would
be subject to open records laws
only after a deal was completed,
meaning the public would not be
allowed to see what their local
government has offered a compa
ny to relocate there until the deal
was already settled.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican
Rep. Ron Stephens of Garden
City, said public access laws are
hurting Georgia because busi
nesses do not want negotiations
open to public inspection.
Stephens also argued that neigh
boring states use open records to
find out what Georgia’s offering
and steal away those businesses
by offering slightly better deals.
“This will protect our economic
playbook from our competitors,”
Stephens said.
But many objected. Democrats
and some Republicans said the
bill allows too much secrecy for
agencies working with public tax
money. The measure prevents the
public from knowing who is being
recruited, and in some instances
where the company might locate,
until it is too late to object.
In some cases it could be years
before the activities of Georgia’s
nearly 900 economic development
See BILL, page 3A
POLITO