Newspaper Page Text
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
HAPPY HOUR
From page 1A
Williams of Ace Hardware
in Bonaire for donating the
plants, shrubs and pine
straw we used,” said Smith.
“Buddy Deal of Irrigation
Deals was also instrumental
in bringing a crew in to help
prepare the ground for the
planting.
“All we had to do was ask
these people for help and
they opened their hearts to
us,” said Smith.
The Falcon Park 111 facili
ty is located at 321 Myrtle
St. in Warner Robins. It is a
semi-independent living
facility where Happy Hour
clients can prepare their
own food, clean up after
themselves, and have jobs
either in the community or
at Happy Hour.
“This building provides a
much-needed resource for
the community, and we at
Happy Hour are very happy
for the amazing amount of
help we have received from
the community,” Smith said.
The grand opening of
Falcon Park 111 will be at 10
a.m. Thursday. The public is
invited.
BOOT
From page 1A
“The boot drive is where we
collect the bulk of the money,”
said Warner Robins Fire Chief
Robert Singletary. Last year,
the firefighters collected over
$130,000, Singletary said -
and about 70 percent of the
money raised came from the
boot drive.
“We raised more than any
other department is the state
for each of the past 10 years,”
Singletary said. “Last year
put over $1.5 million since we
started.
“We’ve been told, we raised
more than any non-union
department in the country,”
POKER
From page 1A
found at the scene of the
raid as Greater Georgia
Amusements LLC.
Repeated attempts to
reach the company were
unsuccessful Tuesday.
Balli said that the DA’s
office has filed type of a
civil lawsuit called a forfei
ture action on behalf of the
state to keep the five
machines seized in the
raid, which are still being
held by the Perry Police
Department as evidence.
The Perry PD has been
investigating four different
convenience stores where
police believe cash was
being handed out for video
poker winnings - a viola
tion of state law.
In Georgia, convenience
stores like OM can hand
out vouchers for merchan
dise as video poker win
nings, but cash payouts are
illegal.
Police found two of the
ZONING
From page 1A
and people are making money
in the area putting houses on
the lots.
Planning and Zoning
Commission Chairman Bill
Schwanebeck thanked
Guillory for “his fine speech”
which drew applause from the
room. Schwanebeck also
reminded concerned residents
the board is only a recom
mending body to the county
commissioners, who have
final say.
Childers said the real estate
office would not be open
nights or weekends, which
Planning Commissioner
Nancy Newell questioned -
“A real estate office not open
on weekends?”
Childers said he would meet
clients off-site by appoint
ment.
Another resident, Barbara
Cunningham, was “extremely
concerned about this going
in” across the street from her
home and said she was
“extremely opposed to this
going commercial.”
Cunningham said her home
was built 20 years ago when
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Steve Smith, executive director of Happy Hour, thanks Buddy Deal and his crew from Irrigation Deals, for providing
much-needed landscaping work at Falcon Park 111, Happy Hour’s new apartment complex.
Singletary said.
The fire department will
also be holding its annual
Gospel Sing on July 31 at
Southside Baptist Church,
“with lots of local talent,”
Singletary said.
Singletary said another
fund-raiser, the annual barbe
cue will be different this year.
“We’ll smoke Boston butts
and sell those this year,” the
chief said. Firefighters will be
cooking the Boston butts at
the training center and people
can pick them up at the
Wellston Center.
He said tickets will go on
sale soon for the barbecue on
five machines seized at OM
in plain sight, but the
three remaining machines
were found behind closed
doors towards the rear of
the building. Behind the
counter, police found
$5,000 in cash and S7OO in
prize vouchers marked for
that day alone, ranging
from $lO to SIOO. Balli said
he could not believe S7OO
in merchandise left the
store that day and could
not find an item priced
above $4.99. Balli said
most items in the store
were priced less than a dol
lar, and he found most of
the shelves nearly fully
stocked - a sign that cash
was leaving the store, he
said. The five machines
advertised jackpots of
between $3,000 and more
than $6,000. Balli said
Tuesday that police did not
take an inventory of the
store, but did take pictures
to use in their investiga-
just Hatcher Farm was across
the street.
“Now our idyllic lifestyle
and values of our home are
just declining,” she said.
She also complained about
a “very obnoxious lighted
sign” at nearby Central
Baptist Church.
“I don’t want to live across
the street from even a nice
real estate office or Central
Baptist Church,”
Cunningham said.
She also said the street cor
ner at Lake Joy and Hatcher
has turned into one of the
busiest in the county with one
or two traffic accidents occur
ring there each week.
“I hope he puts a nice house
there like the rest of our
neighborhood,” Cunningham
said.
The last area resident to
speak out, Jack Willburn,
asked Childers - whom he’s
known all his life - “Would
you like a real estate office
next to your home?”
Childers told him he tried
to get his home rezoned for an
office, which was also denied
Sept. 1 - the Thursday before
Labor Day, Tickets will be S2O
for an 8-10 pound Boston
butt, Singletary said.
For 51 years, firefighters
across the nation have
teamed up with MDA to fight
muscle disease. MDA com
mends these national heroes,
as does Gov. Sonny Purdue,
who has proclaimed the
month of August as
Firefighter Appreciation
Month.
The proceeds will be used
locally to provide services for
individuals with neuromuscu
lar diseases, including MDA
tion.
On June 2, the Perry PD
raided the L&B Mini Food
Mart at 1429 Sam Nunn
Blvd. near Interstate 75,
seizing four machines and
taking an unidentified
female clerk into custody.
The clerk was questioned
and later released after the
store’s owner agreed to
turn over the machines to
police, forfeited any money
found in the machines and
swore not to replace them.
Balli said that the Griffin
based company that owned
those two machines,
Spalding Amusement
Company, bought their
machines back for SI,OOO
per machine after agreeing
to a court order signed by
Superior Court Judge
Edward Lukemire. Balli
said the company agreed
never to bring the
machines back to Houston
County and swore to never
allow them to be used in
any type of illegal casino
by the planning commission.
Newell made the motion to
deny, which was almost unan
imous, except for the absten
tion of Planning
Commissioner Fred Graham.
In contrast, Graham
praised William Rankin Jr. for
“going about his request the
right way,” getting the recom
mendation of the homeown
er’s association and the
Georgia Department of
Transportation, but said “it’s
not suitable for commercial at
this time,” and recommended
denial.
Rankin had the approval of
The Brantley Homeowners
Association for his request to
rezone 4.9 acres fronting Ga.
96 from R-AG (residential
agricultural) to C-l for his
medical practice. Bob Jones,
the homeowners association
president, said the property
would always be a private
medical office, under its
covenants.
Only one of the four lots has
a home on it and it has been
vacant for two or three years.
Rankin bought it after the
LOCAL
clinifcs at Children’s Health
Care of Atlanta, support
group sessions, and assistance
with the purchase of medical
equipment.
The boot drive will also help
fund vital research to find
cures for over 40 neuromus
cular diseases, and help sup
port the local MDA’s Summer
Camp Walk-N-Roll in
Rutledge.
The Warner Robins Fire
Department will make a
check presentation on the
2005 MDA Labor Day
Telethon, Sept. 5, on WMAZ
13 (CBS).
gambling operation in the
state.
“They’re under a court
order,” Balli said. “I’m sure
the prosecutor would ask
for stiffer penalties if the
company was involved
with this again.”
Days after the raid, two
other stores, the Perry
Food Mart at 719 Carroll
St., and the Circle Nine
Food Mart at 423 Courtney
Hodges Blvd., agreed to
voluntarily send their
machines back to the com
pany they came from.
Balli said that Patel
could still face felony
charges for operating an
illegal casino establish
ment, which he said could
bring up to a SI,OOO fine
and one to five years in jail.
Perry Police Chief
George Potter has asked
the city to draft an ordi
nance to help regulate any
new machines that come
into the city.
bank repossessed it.
Susan Lassiter from across
Ga. 96 was opposed the
request with concerns over
traffic in the area, which has
already had two serious acci
dents recently. She said the
reason the home never sold is
because people stand in the
yard and watch the traffic and
near-wrecks as cars come over
the hill and can’t stop for oth
ers stopped to turn.
The commissioners
explained to Rankin the
request was “spot zoning” as
the nearest commercial prop
erty is over a mile away at
Lake Joy and Ga. 96. That’s
the way we approach com
mercial, Schwanebeck
explained - we start at the
hubs or major intersections
and it spreads from there.
The major hubs on Ga. 96
were given as Moody Road,
Houston Lake Road, Lake Joy
Road and U.S. 41.
Both requests will be con
sidered by the Houston
County Board of
Commisisoners on July 5 at 9
a.m. in Perry.
REPAIRS
•Guitar 'Band J
•Electronics *Amps
•Speaker Replacement
BILL HARDIN MUSIC
WARNER ROBINS MACON MACON
18S5WATSONBLVD. COLONIAL MALL W7S@US.BO
329-1135 471-1115 781-1112
www. billbardinm usic.com
OVERTON JEWELERS
• Jewelry Repair & Cleaning
y \. • Watch Repair
* Engraving Hours;
'Class Rings SAT 9-3:00
905 Downtown Carroll St. • Perry
478-987-1392
19BRPlgaW
PI
I . II
Diamonds
3.64 ct Black Diamond Earrings $599^
2 ct Princess Cut Diamond $1 2999 s 2
2 ct Round Diamond $11 999 s 2
2.04 ct Certified Round (VS 2 H) $1 9999 s 2
1.33 ct Marquise Cut Set $5999-
1.64 ct Round Certified Set (ESI,) $8999^
2.00 ct Round Earrings $4999^
2.50 ct Round Earrings $9999^
mm Overton
; Jewelers
905 Carroll Street • Perry, GA 31069
478-987-1392
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2005 ♦
I,W^OK.:
.Super
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Clearance
Spring & Summer
Clothes & Shoes
UP 7 it %
TO | f J off retail
*lO IS.
Wednesday, June 22 n<i
thru Monday, June 27 th
18712 V
THE TOG SHOP
1-75, Exit 136 *IOO Hampton Ct • Perry
Mon.-Sat. 9:00 - 6:00 • (478) 218-9080
Curtis. _
Photography
478-929-2407
3A
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