Newspaper Page Text
SUNDAY
February 13, 2005
Volume 135, Number 286
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
Brannen to make
Daytona bid
Turn on your TV this
weekend - and that will
also apply to any of a
number of other week
ends coming up during
racing season - and you’ll
be able to see one of the
area’s very own.
Sports, page 1B
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Feb. 13
Jesse Bishop
Ryan Conrad
Jaquline Cralley
Jessica Cralley
Marie Hawk
Annette Johnson
Jeff Pierce
Ken Woodard
Feb. 14
Michael Farrow
Ethel Ganus
Paula Geiger
Larry Johnson
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Feb. 14
Travis and Lea’ Nigro
Guy and Helen Starling
(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
Henry Sandler
Ollie Mae Smith
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
BUSINESS 6A
CLASSIFIED 1D
COMICS 5C
CROSSWORD ... .5C
LIFESTYLE 1C
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT ... .8A
SCHOOL MENUS . .5B
SCHOOL NEWS .. .5B
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 5C
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
7*
Georgia Newspaper Prefect
Main Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-OIGIT 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
Bill could cost county $1.6 million
Proposed state law would divert local traffic fines, seizures to Georgia treasury
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - House Bill 6,
if enacted, would divert money from
local traffic tickets to the state.
Houston County Commission
Chairman Ned Sanders said the
WR girl wins national pageant
6"year'old has
several trophies,
scholarships
to her name
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS -
Melanie Claire Wood may
only be 6 years old, but she
has already brought a
national championship
home to Warner Robins.
Melanie, the daughter of
Cathie and Bobby Wood of
Warner Robins, recently
competed in Houston,
Texas, and won the title of
Our Little Miss World’s
Universal Beauty on Jan.
16. Melanie competed
against 26 other young
ladies in her age group,
while almost 300 girls com
peted in .t 1m other age
groups.
The Our Little Miss com
petition is a 44-year-old
scholarship competition
pageant.
Melanie, who attends
Central Baptist
Kindergarten, is the grand
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Charles R. Holt Sr., and Mr.
and Mrs. Robert Wood Sr.,
also of Warner Robins.
Melanie began her pag
eant competition less than
two years ago when she was
second runner-up in the
See MELANIE, page 3A
Malpractice reforms closer to becoming law
By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - The Georgia
House decided to limit pain
and-suffering awards for
people killed by negligent
doctors by a razor-thin mar
gin, a single vote, on its way
to approving sweeping mal
C-130Es grounded
Robins office: Inspections reveal
Special to the HHJ
SCOTT AIR FORCE
BASE, 111. - Air Mobility
Command Commander,
Gen. John W. Handy, direct
ed 30 U.S. Air Force C-130E
model aircraft be grounded
Thursday. An additional 60
C-130 aircraft, including
some of the E, H, HI, and
HC-130 N/P models were
placed on restricted flight
status to minimize wing
stress and increase the safe
ty margin.
The 30 C-130E aircraft
were grounded based upon a
recommendation by the C
-130 System Program Office
at Robins Air Force Base.
Since 2001, a series of
inspections of the center
www.hhjnews.com
county budget includes roughly $2.2
million collected in traffic fines.
About three-fourths of that would
have to be sent to the state, Sanders
said, if the bill becomes law.
“That’s roughly $1.65 million out
of the county’s general fund, or 14
percent of the general fund budget,”
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HHJ,Timothy Graham
Cathie and Bobby Wood sit with their daughter Melanie Claire Wood behind some of the many trophies she has won
in pageant competition.
practice law reforms.
The House approved a
long list of tighter rultes for
people who sue doctors, who
have long argued that run
away juries are driving up
the cost of malpractice
insurance and running them
out of business.
wring box structure of C-130
has revealed that cracks to
the structure were greater
in number and severity than
originally expected.
Most of the aircraft affect
ed are in AMC’s inventory,
but affected aircraft are also
assigned to Air Education
and Training Command,
Pacific Air Forces, US Air
Forces in Europe, the Air
National Guard, and Air
Force Reserve Command.
“Working together with
the Air National Guard, Air
Force Reserve Command
and our active duty units,
we are committed to meet
ing our requirements to war
fighters around the world’,
Handy said.”
he said. “I don’t think we can absorb
a loss like that.”
The bill requires that local agen
cies send any fines, after costs, for
any speed limit violation on the
interstate or 'controlled access high
ways that lead to them, be remitted
to the Department of Public Safety
Most of the new rules
inspired little debate, and a
similar version has already
passed the Senate, but
House members ardently
argued whether to limit
pain-and-suffering 'awards
for malpractice victims at
$250,000, as doctors have
'
HHJ,Teresa D. Southern
A C-130J lands after a flight test at Robins Air Force Base on Thursday.
Robins hosts flight test
Test conducted for new
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE - On a
wrindy Thursday afternoon here, a flight
test was conducted that may permit air
craft to fly in closer formation.
Robins Air Force Base was chosen as a
test site for the C-130J, being tested to as a
proposed. Lawmakers from
both parties, some with
tears in their eyes, argued it
was immoral to put a price
tag on life.
“This is an ‘Am I going to
sleep at night?’ vote,” said
Republican Rep. Rich Golick
of Smyrna, who argued
separation certification
part of an innovation that would allow
more planes in the air at the same time.
As of Jan. 20, vertical separation, or the
distance planes can fly from each other,
was changed from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet,
allowing for more planes to occupy the air
space.
See TEST, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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FOUR SECTIONS • 24 PAGES
for payment into the state treasury.
“Someone in Atlanta is saying ‘We
want your money but you have to
collect it for us,”’ Sanders said.
“They’re transferring responsibili
ty.” '
See COST, page 8A
there should be no limit on
jury awards for people killed
or forever handicapped by a
bad doctor.
Insurance companies have
said that pain-and-suffering
awards must be capped for
them to control runaway
See MALPRACTICE, page 3A