Newspaper Page Text
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Volume 135, Number 341
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Book sale
PERRY Are you
hooked on romances? Do
you need more suspense
in your life?
Lifestyle, page 8A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
May 1
Faye T. Lacey
Reatha Thomas
May 2
Nancy Joiner
Bobbe Richardson
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
May 2
Roy and Jannet Bibb
Area DEATH
Sara Taylor Self
Obit, page 2A
Correction
An article in
Wednesday’s Houston
Home Journal contained
an error. The statement
should have read, “The
Houston County Board of
Education voted to
approve a request from
Comptroller Steve
Thublin for a budget
amount of about $176
million.” The Houston
Home Journal regrets the
error.
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 7B
CLUB NEWS 7A
COMICS 5B
CROSSWORD 5B
LIFESTYLE 8A
OBITUARY 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .6B
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 5B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
7*
Georgia Newspaper Project
Man Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-DIGIT 30S
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
Housing permits rising in Housto
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Permits for
new single-family homes are on the
rise here.
For Warner Robins, Centerville,
Perry and unincorporated Houston
County combined there were 156
single-family dwelling permits
Jobless
rate,
claims
down
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
ATLANTA - The Warner
Robins area unemployment
rate and the number of ini
tial claims were both down
for the month of March.
In the Warner Robins
metro area, which includes
all of Houston County, ini
tial claims were down 30, or
8.3 percent, from 360 in
February to 330. Initial
claims are considered to be a
leading economic indicator,
because they measure newly
laid-off workers, according
to the Georgia Department
of Labor. —~——■
The unemployment rate
in the metro Warner Robins
area declined to 4.7 percent,
0.2 percent lower than the
4.9 percent in February.
That is still greater than the
area’s jobless rate of 3.5 per
cent in March 2004.
Statewide, the Georgia
Department of Labor
reported 30,477 filed first
time claims for unemploy
ment insurance benefits in
March. This represents a
slight increase of 4.4 percent
from February, when 29,191
claims were filed.
“The March increase in
initial unemployment insur
ance claims indicates that
Georgia is not creating
enough jobs for the workers
See JOBLESS, page 6A
21 CP braces for BRAC announcement
‘D-Day’ could be only two weeks away; Davis Oil Co. donates to base booster group
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - The
21st Century Partnership
has kicked into overdrive to
prepare for an announce
ment that will be a strong
indicator of the future for
Robins Air Force base.
Federal Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld
will make an official recom
mendation of bases to be
affected by base realign
ment and closure (BRAC) on
May 16.
BRAC is a federal process
to identify military installa
tions for closure or work
force changes. In the
process, the commission will
evaluate the Pentagon’s
plan for closing and realign
ing domestic military instal
lations, including Robins,
Georgia’s largest employer
and largest industrial com
plex.
Next on the BRAC time
line is Sept. 8, when the
BRAC commissioners sub
mit a list to the president.
Then on Sept. 23, the presi
www.hhjnews.com
issued in March, up from the 111
February and in January, but down
from the 226 in March 2004.
Average values of the homes per
mitted were down at $140,425, from
$171,073 in February. It is also up
from March 2004’s average of
$72,195.
The number of permits issued was
Bloom where you’re planted
_ v
; Mv r • 7 yjr; rW
HHJ/Rex Gambill
An amaryllis blooms, improbably, from a gutter along Swift Street
in Perry on Friday.
dent will either approve or
reject that list.
BRAC commissioners
were named March 12.
These individuals, nominat
ed by President Bush and
confirmed by the Senate,
will decide which bases will
be affected based on
Rumsfeld’s recommenda
tions.
Ron Smith of the 21st
Century Partnership said
“D-Day,” as the Robins Air
Force Base support group
has named it, may be as
early as May 13.
Smith said he has infor
mation from White House
officials that Rumsfeld has
called a press conference for
May 13 at 10 a.m. This press
event may or may not be for
BRAC announcements.
Smith said they are
preparing to hear announce
ments as early as May 10.
Immediately following
this press conference, the 21
Century Partnership will
follow with its own press
conference to provide
See BRAC, page 6A
up for each city and the county from
February.
In the unincorporated areas of the
county, permits for single-family
dwellings rose from 39 in February
to 57 in March. The 57 permits are,
however, down from the 61 issued in
March 2004.
In unincorporated Houston
/:uo DO!LABS
HHJ/Teresa D. Southern
Davis Oil Company of Perry made a SIO,OOO contribution to the 21st Century
Partnership. Pictured are Neil Suggs with the 21st Century Partnership, Dennis
Burnett, manager of alternative fuels at Davis Oil Company, and Ron Carbon, director
of the 21st Century Partnership.
TWO SECTIONS • 22 PAGES
County, the average value of the
new homes was down from $265,861
in February at $185,170, which is
up, however, from the $164,388 in
March 2004. Year to date, 133
homes with a total value of
$24,370,400, have been permitted in
unincorporated Houston County.
See HOUSING, page 11A
Deputy:
Meth is
prevalent
in county
HCHS PTSA hosts
presentation by members
of sheriffs narcotics unit
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Parents and students
were told things they probably didn’t like to
hear Thursday night at Houston County High
School.
The school’s Parent Teacher Student
Association learned about methamphetamine
and its prevalence in the county from Sgt.
Wayne Franklin, who along with Sgt. Manny
Quinones make up the narcotics unit for the
Houston County Sheriffs Office. Since 1999,
they have worked over 300 clandestine
methamphetamine labs in the county.
That does not include those found in Warner
Robins and Perry. Franklin said most of the
drug investigations are methamphetamine,
with a few exceptions - namely those found on
the interstate with large quantities of mari
juana or cocaine.
Methamphetamine is a central nervous sys
tem stimulant made in a lab.
“When I say lab,” Franklin said, “I’m not
talking about a laboratory with beakers, like
the school chemistry lab.” „
Everything needed to manufacture it can be
purchased at retail stores like Wal-Mart and
Home Depot.
“For an SBO investment, (meth manufactur
ers) can make $5,000,” Franklin said. “That’s
See METH, page 6A
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