Newspaper Page Text
FRIDA Y
February 25, 2005
Volume 135, Number 295
Award-\Vinnin|!
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
| Inside TODAY
reaching out with
love, prayer, pizza
Businesses, govern
ment offices and service
agencies all across
Houston County got sur
prising news in recent
weeks. They learned that
they had been “adopted”
by members of Southside
Baptist Church as part of
the church’s “40 Days of
Community” program.
Family&Faith, page 6A
In BRIEF
Boy killed crossing
Carl Vinson Parkway
WARNER ROBINS - A
12-year-old boy identified
as Travis Wright was
killed Wednesday, about
7:16 p.m. along Carl
Vinson Parkway.
According to Warner
Robins Police, the juve
nile ran in front of and
was hit by a Ford F-350
traveling southbound and
driven by Charles
Harrison. The initial
impact threw the juvenile
into the path of a Pontiac
Grand Prix driven by
Latisha Garrison, who
was traveling northbound
on Carl Vinson Parkway.
Houston County
Coroner Danny Galpin
pronounced the juvenile
dead at the scene. Warner
Robins Police
Department Traffic
Division Officer Dale
Hale’s investigation is
ongoing, and the drivers
have not been charged.
- Ray Lightner
I Happy BIRTHDAY!
Feb. 25
Octavius Barrett
Jackson Combs
Margaret Wallace
Feb. 26
Christopher Davis
Deontae Lowe
Dean Schofill
Sam Tabor
Area DEATHS
Trellis Harris
Florence Turner
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD ... .4B
LIFESTYLE 6A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION ,4A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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Serving Houston County Since 1870
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city of Perry ; city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Perry PD nabs bomb threat suspects
Two juveniles accused in connection with incident that cleared local high schools
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - If you make a bomb
threat in Perry, you will be arrested.
“We’re 100 percent on this, every
time there is a bomb threat we’ve
made an arrest,” said Perry Police
Capt. William Phelps. “We will not
Hospital rates
to rise 7.5%
Hospital Authority adopts
budget for fiscal year 2006
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - The Hospital
Authority of Houston
County adopted a fiscal
year 2006 budget on
Wednesday that calls for a
7.5 percent rate increase
over the budget for 2005.
The new budget calls for
spending $326.1 million.
“Our goal is to provide
services as cost-effectively
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HHJTeresa D. Southern
Matthew McConaughey tries on a Robins AFB T-shirt
on for size. It was one of three items presented to him
by Col. Bruce Curry.
McConaughey
visits Robins AFB
Hollywood actor greets service
members, promotes ‘Sahara’
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
ROBINS AIR FORCE
BASE - It seemed like a
normal day on Robins Air
Force Base - except for the
crowd at the visitor’s gate,
and the brightly colored
recreational vehicle with
the word “Sahara” painted
it.
The day turned out to be
not so normal, when film
star Matthew
McConaughey arrived on a
military truck with a crew
of excited military person
nel.
tolerate it here in the city of Perry.”
Two juvenile students at Perry
High School were arrested and
charged Wednesday for making a
string of bomb threats at public high
schools in Houston County that
morning.
Perry Police Chief George Potter
as we can,” said Frank
Powell, chief financial offi
cer of Houston Healthcare.
“However, in order to
maintain our facilities,
update our equipment,
provide the array of service
we offer and adequately
compensate out employees,
we must be able to cover
our expenses.”
Powell stated that the
See AUTHORITY, page 3A
McConaughey visited
Robins as part of a six
week tour across the
United States to promote
his film “Sahara,” that will
be in theatres in April.
McConaughey’s film
credits include “Dazed and
Confused,” “A Time to
Kill,” “U-571” and “The
Wedding Planner.”
In “Sahara,”
McConaughey plays an
explorer who goes on a
treasure hunt through
West Africa. He hunts for a
Civil War
See McCONAUGHEY, page 3A
www.hhjnews.com
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HHJ/Ray Lightner
Sherri Simoneau looks over a booklet provided by the American Heart Association. Her
daughter, Shaelyn, 5, was born with complex congenital heart defects and now has a
pacemaker. The family will be participating is Saturday’s Houston-Peach County Heart
Walk at the Agricenter in Perry.
Heart Walk set for Saturday
Shaelyn Simoneau
named local Heart Child
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - The dollar you give
today may be the dollar that saves your life
tomorrow.
Linda Easterly said that is her favorite
statement about ’ the American Heart
Association. Easterly is co-chair of the 2005
Houston-Peach County Heart Walk, an
annual fund-raiser for the local chapter of
the American Heart Association.
The walk is Saturday along the midway at
the Georgia National Fairgrounds and
Agricenter. Registration begins at 9 a.m.
and the walk is from 10 a.m. to noon.
Easterly knows firsthand
the benefits patients receive
from research funded by the
Heart Association, as direc
tor of Occupational Health
for Houston Healthcare
since 1999 and 26 years as a
nurse.
“That whole room out
there,” she said, pointing at
Houston Healthcare’s
Health Connections facility,
“would not have survived without the
research.”
Easterly is also a stroke survivor.
She was in excellent health, ate well and
did not have any of the risk factors - smok
ing, overweight or lack of exercise - when
she had a stroke in July 2000.
“I woke up and could not move my left
arm or leg,” she said.
She recovered fairly quickly, because she
was in such good health, and by September
was hiking the Appalachian Trail with a 35-
pound pack. She had to relearn large motor
skills “like walking, swallowing, running.”
She was diagnosed with a rare disorder
that caused her blood to clot faster.
“I’m now on medications to keep it in
check,” Easterly said.
The American Heart Association funds
research for the development of new med
ications, as well as education on CPR and
use of portable defibrillators. Education is
said he takes such “idle pranks”
seriously.
“It was a very bad, very dangerous
situation,” Potter said. “A minimum
of two police cars and a fire truck
responded to each school. If anyone
had been injured en route to the
schools, the charges would be sub-
EASTERLY
TWO SECTIONS *l4 PAGES
stantially upped.”
Phelps credited the hard work of
Detective Drew Dodson for tracking
the number the call came from to a
cell phone. Dobson said the suspect
on a cell phone made the call from
inside Perry High School.
See SUSPECTS, page 8A
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HAELYN SIMONEAU
also part of the reason for Saturday’s walk.
Easterly said more people are affected by
heart disease than any other factor.
“From infants with heart defects to those
who live long lives, their quality of life is
improved by the work of the American
Heart Association,” she said.
Jo Bradley of Centerville is one of the Red
Caps or survivors who will be at the walk.
She had her aortic valve replaced after hav
ing chest pains while walking at the Galleria
Mall.
“The doctor said it was 100 percent
blocked and I needed surgery immediately,”
See HEART WALK, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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