Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
May 18, 2005
Volume 135, Number 353
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
v I
-■ I \ -£ |
IffelMP WW®m :
B
Relay for Life
photos page
11A
1 --*^ayg||
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Buddy Achord
Marvin Gilbert
Sharon Wallace
(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 DEATH
Leslie Joe Spires
Obits, page 12A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 10A
COMICS 9A
CROSSWORD .. . .9A
HEARTH&HOME .12A
OBITUARY 12A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT . . .14A
SPORTS 6A
TV LISTINGS 9A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
j« ’
j Georgia Newspaper Proved
, Man Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30502-0002
3-DfGfT 306
Serving Houston County Since 1870
Development for south end of county
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Last week’s
BRAC announcement, is bringing
the developers back out.
“Once the list is out, people are
coming back out,” said Houston
County Building Official Tim
Andrews. “Applications are starting
to pick up.”
Andrews told the Planning and
Zoning Board it will see a lot of
Local volunteers reflect on experience at Habitat
J ,,x , /
■*y. <U if ijWJW f I^BL,
' IJS rl ■■ ■•** ■ '■* >,
j>; ■;» •>?’ m Ufl | >fcr»Sj
j'-. V'V . i J itlEafr W ## idl , ,
submitted
(From left) Lisa Wenschlag and Jim Wenschlag pose with Ilka Shumway and Chris
Shumway at Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village and Discovery Center.
Military discount program
expands into Perry
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
PERRY - A program that
offers military families dis
counts on everything from
haircuts to hotel rooms is
expanding into Perry.
The Perry Area Chamber
of Commerce announced
earlier this month that a
military discount program
already popular in Warner
Robins is coming to Perry.
The program is designed
to encourage local business
es to offer discounts to uni
formed military personnel
and their families.
“Our list is growing fast,”
said Christine Parker at the
Family Support Center on
Robins Air Force Base.
Parker has been compiling a
list of businesses willing to
hand out discounts since
late last year. The list, which
Russell Parkway zoning overlay passes 4-2
Altered front-parking restriction opposed by Councilman Matt Stone and Steve Smith
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - The
City Council voted 4-2 on
Monday to approve overlay
zoning restrictions on the
Russell Parkway extension
from its intersection with
Houston Lake Road to
Interstate 75.
The purpose of the overlay
zoning is to improve and
enhance the aesthetic quali
ties of development within
the arterial road corridor.
A public hearing was held
last Tuesday on the pro
posed overlay zoning and
(7!p( \ Mximclf
Ql he JJmtrrotl
* LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY ,
cm of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
www.hhjnews.com
development in the south end of the
county.
“We’ll get more rural suburban
use,” he said.
Andrews said he expected to see
more acre-lot subdivisions and
rezoning from R-Ag (residential
agricultural) to R-l (single family
residential), “to maintain a certain
use.”
The lots would have to be larger to
accommodate septic tanks and pos
can be found on the family
support center’s Web site,
already includes businesses
in Byron, Macon, Warner
Robins, Hawkinsville, and
on base.
The Warner Robins
Military Affairs Committee
printed special decals for
businesses that decide to
offer discounts. They are
available at the Perry
Chamber, located at 101
Courtney Hodges Blvd., for
no additional cost.
“It’s something that busi
nesses across the county
have already been doing for
a long time,” said Perry
Chamber President Megan
Smith. “It’s not something
we came up with.”
Mike Jackson, Perry
Chamber chairman, said
that he would lIKE to see
See DISCOUNT, page 3A
the only opposition that
came up concerned a provi
sion that did not allow park
ing in front of businesses.
That provision was added to
the ordinance by council but
the Board of Planning and
Zoning took it out of the
ordinance and replaced it
with a provision that any
front parking would have to
be screened from the road
way.
Councilman Matt Stone,
who was a member of the
committee that drafted the
ordinance, voted against
accepting it.
sibly wells. There are some water
lines in the area, Andrews said, and
there are plans for extending lines
in the south end.
Andrews said the county and the
school board are also looking that
way, with schools and road projects
proposed.
“There has been some discussion
of extending Thompson Mill Road to
Klondike (Road) and Ga. 247.”
. “You can’t develop a plan without
Construction ongoing at Robins Federal
EhHS sjj§ Wgffi \H| SB ■'
?v •J^,
HHJ/Res Gambill
Work continues on the new training facility Robins Federal Credit Union is building
behind its office building on Watson Boulevard. According to Robins Federal’s Dee
Dee Cote, the bottom floor will be dedicated to training rooms and training staff
offices. The second floor will be used for future office expansion. “Our purpose with
this building is to provide top-notch training to our staff to ensure that we have the
best trained workforce in Middle Georgia, ” she said. “We are out growing our main
building and some offices may relocate after the facility is opened. ” The facility is
scheduled to be complete in mid-September.
“We strayed from our orig
inal intentions in order to
get a consensus and I am
forced to vote against it,” he
said.
Councilman Steve Smith
also cast an opposing vote.
“I feel that this is too
restrictive in some areas,
and not restrictive enough
in others, so I feel I cannot
vote for it,” he said.
Councilman Terry
Horton, who also helped
draft the ordinance, said:
“We have massaged this
very well and I think we
have a very good docu
WR couple helps Global Village and
Discovery Center visitors learn about Habitat
Special to the HHJ
AMERICUS - As volun
teers at Habitat’s Global
Village and Discovery
Center in Americus, Warner
Robins residents James and
Lisa Wenschlag help visitors
learn about Habitat for
Humanity’s work around
the world.
“Those four walls are just
the beginning of improving
a family’s quality of life. I
try to give people the big pic
ture,” said Lisa Wenschlag,
who said she realizes the
impact a simple, decent
home can have includes
more than walls and win
dows.
After her husband, James,
received a command posi
tion with the 53rd Combat
Communicatiqna jSauadron.
the couplererocated from
California to Warner
Robins. It was during their
Thanksgiving vacation
when they made a trip to
Habitat’s Global Village and
ment.”
In other action, the coun
cil unanimously voted to
approve rezoning land for
two new upscale housing
developments, one off Gunn
Road and the other off Lake
Joy Road. It also approved
rezoning a plot of land off
Russell Parkway for a pro
posed mini-storage building,
but Stone and Smith again
opposed the action.
“I do not want any mini
storage facilities on Richard
Russell Parkway,” Stone
said, and Smith added: “I
would like to see a site plan
an Evans Family Newspaper
50c
I Willi
ONE SECTION • 14 PAGES
a road down there,” Andrews said,
“but the developer wants to build
it.”
Andrews noted, “the county
prefers that road to be a four-lane
arterial road as it would connect Ga.
96 to Ga. 247” in the south end.
The board also denied a prelimi
nary site plan in the south end,
between Perry and Henderson, “for
lack of information,” explained
See P&Z, page 14A
Discovery Center.
“We had heard about
Habitat before, but didn’t
realize the scope of its
work,” she said. “We were
really impressed with the
educational aspect of the
Village.”
Lisa Wenschlag, a para
medic with 20 years of expe
rience, had been looking for
an opportunity to volunteer
and the Village presented
her with that opportunity.
Since Thanksgiving, she has
driven to Americus once a
week to give tours, work the
cash registers and fill in
wherever needed to help
provide visitors with a great
experience.
“James and Lisa sire car
ing and committed individu
als,” said Michelle Dalva,
director of Habitat’s Global
Village and Discovery
Center. “They clearly
demonstrate our mission -
love through action. During
See HABITAT, page 34
for the project before
approving it.”
The vote was 4-2 to
approve the rezoning.
The council approved the
appropriation of $37,000 to
buy a used van for the
Senior Citizens Council. The
seniors will be receiving a
$15,000 state grant, which
will be turned over to the
city to help defray the cost of
the van.
In other business:
• An increase in the fees
for using roll-off garbage
pans was approved.
See COUNCIL, page 3A