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THURSDAY May 19, 2005 Volume 135, Number 354 Award-Winning Newspaper 2004 Better Newspaper Contest Inside TODAY jin ms, Power of the Prequels When George Lucas released “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace” in the summer of 1999, critics and fans alike were expecting something akin to a Beatles reunion. But what Lucas deliv ered wasn’t. See what worked with the prequel trilogy, and what didn’t, inside. Entertainment, page 9A Happy BIRTHDAY! Chris Chaloult Evan D. Norton Zachary H. Norton CLARIFICATION Carol Archer, men tioned in our coverage of the United Houston County Relay For Life, called to make sure read ers know she is an 11- year survivor of non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002 dur ing a recurrence of non- Hodgkin’s. Archer wishes everyone to know that she is living proof that “Non-Hodgkin’s lym phoma is not a death sen tence.” Area DEATHS Ethel Chastain Shantilal Chunilal Desai Eugene Edgar Willis Sr. Obits, page 2A INDEX CLASSIFIED 8A COMICS 7 A CROSSWORD 8A ENTERTAINMENT ,9A LEGALS 4B OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 4A TV LISTINGS 7A WEATHER 2A PERIODICAL lltlitHlllliiltllttfltisiliMtillt! 6* Georgia Newspaper Project Mart Library UMfV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 30502-0002 3-DfGfT 306 Serving Houston County Since 1870 c7fT Y Hnusttm Mmuelf dim JJaurtml * LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville County to widen major intersection Airport authority asks for matching funds for capital improvements By TIMOTHY GRAHAM HHJ Staff Writer WARNER ROBINS -The Houston County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday to appropriate $76,067.85 to reconstruct Carl Vinson Parkway at its intersection School board honors retirees ilf, •a . \ aj| f-gSI \ I ■Hp’ | s *&&& - 'SEgfi . , Frances Marshall shakes the hand of Houston County Board of Education member Jim Boswell after receiving a plaque for years of service in education at the Houston County Board of Education retirement banquet. WRFD plans softball tourney By RAY LIGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer WARNER ROBINS - For the 15th year, the Warner Robins Fire Department will be playing softball for Jerry’s Kids. The annual Warner Robins Fire Department Muscular Dystrophy Softball Tournament is Saturday at Peavy Park, beginning at 8 a.m. Tony Theus of the fire depart ment said the entry fee is S2OO per team for the dou ble elimination tournament with a one up homerun rule. The tournament usually averages about $3,000, Theus said, with all pro ceeds going to The Muscular Dystrophy Association. “The Warner Robins Fire Department is the number one nonunion fund-raiser for MDA,” Theus said. To date the department has raised over $1 million for MDA. “We went over $1 million last year,” Theus said. The department holds a variety of fund-raisers include boot drives, a golf tournament, barbecues and gospel sings. The softball tournament usually has 12 to 15 teams and can last as late as 8-10 p.m., Theus See TOURNEY, page 6A www.hhjnews.com with Russell Parkway. The original design for the inter section had Carl Vinson being three lanes wide where it intersects with Russell, but the county determined that it would be better if Carl Vinson were five lanes wide at the Wreck results in car fire t £jL HHJ/'Foy Evans Houston County firefighters work to douse a car fire after a two-car wreck on Ga. 247 at the Russell Parkway interchange. This white Honday burst into flames after an accident with a white Mercury Grand Marquis. Engines 11 and 6 responded to the midmorning blaze Tuesday. One of the drivers was transported to Houston Medical Center, according to Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy Williams. Perry tables rezoning By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer PERRY - The Perry City Council tabled a controversial plan to rezone a piece of residential property along the Perry Parkway Tuesday night, and denied Qne local developer’s plans to build affordable housing along Gurr Road. The council will have until June 7 to decide what to do about local developer Doyle Dominy’s request to rezone a 3.5- acre plot near the entrance of the Yorktown subdivision from residential to commercial property. Dominy’s plan met stiff resistance from local homeowners when it went before the Perry Planning Commission April 11, and before the intersection. This is just the first part of the rebuilding of Carl Vinson Parkway, said Commission Chair Ned Sanders. “We hope to advertise for bids in spring of 2006 for the first phase of By TERESA D. SOUTHERN HHJ Staff Writer PERRY - Some Houston County Board of Education employees were treated to a steak dinner, a night of con gratulations and presenta tions, words of thanks and jazz music. Why, you ask? Just for 11 to 38 years of dedicated service to the Houston County School System. A retirement banquet was held to honor those who have given years of service as principals, teachers, maintenance workers, para professionals, bookkeepers, counselors, and many other duties. Dr. Kim Halstead, princi pal of Tucker Elementary School, sang “Wind Beneath My Wings,” as teachers’ pic tures flashed on a Power Point presentation and they received plaques for their accomplishments. Audience members cheered for them with the excite ment of high school seniors. “These people have sacri ficed for years for the chil dren,” said Superintendent council for a first reading May 3. During the April planning commission meeting, Kathy Shaw, who lives in Yorktown, told the commission that she felt that the city was changing the rules in the middle of the game by trying to rezone the property. Shaw has told both commissioners and council members that she bought her home because she felt safe that the surrounding property would remain residential. Joe Meadows and Scott Free, real estate agents with Coldwell Banker Robbins & Free Realty in Warner Robins, represent ed Dominy at Tuesday’s meeting. Free said Wednesday that Dominy is in the See PERRY, page 6A ; „y' '/■ ' 'flpP 4 ' •’/'* ‘-pis| Jfjk ™ j»||S HHJ/Teresa D. Southern Nolan Bruce Rodgers shakes the hand of Houston County Board of Education member Dr. Toby Hill after receiving a plaque for 30 years of service to the system at Northside High School. Danny CarpawtewuMThey are special people and need to be treated in a special way. They are a resource. You can’t honor them enough. You see people you’ve worked with for over 30 years and they deserve a pat an Evans Family Newspaper 50c ii ■nun 8 "*5 5108"00001""4 TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAGES rebuilding the parkway,” he said. That phase will turn Carl Vinson into a four-lane divided highway from Russell Parkway to Elberta Road. Phase Two will take the park way on to Dunbar Road. See COUNTY, page 6A on the back. “We care about our employees and provide them a safe work environment and treat them as profes sionals,” Carpenter said. “We do this every year See RETIREES, page 5A Miller to visit Perry Former governor to sign latest book By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer PERRY - Former U.S. Sen. and Georgia Gov. Zell Miller will make a stop in Perry Friday to sign copies of his new book, which takes a critical look at changing American values. Miller is scheduled to sign at the Macon Barnes &Noble book store on Tom Hill Senior Boulevard from 12-2 p.m.; then at Jeff Smith Nissan, located near exit 135 off 1-75 from 3-5 p.m. Miller is scheduled to end his visit with a book signing at the Macon Christian Bookstore on Bethlea Avenue from 6-7:30 p.m. In his new book, “A Deficit of Decency,” Miller takes a hard look at the impact the media, judges and others are having on the decline of tra ditional values in the American family. “There have been ten gen erations of Americans since this nation was founded,” Miller writes, “...Each left this nation in a little better condition that they had inherited it from their par ents. “This is the first genera tion at risk of doing the opposite.”