Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
July 6, 2005
Volume 135, Number 388
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
Tomberlin enjoys ride
as driver, owner
Ask Don Tomberlin
how he learned to “milk”
a car through the corners
and you might get a les
son on both driving and
dairy products.
Sports, page 6A
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Kids' cereals not
for grownups
Breakfast cereal is nos
talgia. Opening a box on
a Saturday morning can
bring you back to those
lazy days of childhood.
Hearth&Home, page 11A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Cliff Broxton
Jean Martin Davis
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Wayne and Linda Patton
(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 DEATHS
Kevin Shane Gammage
Arthur Shierling
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 10A
COMICS 9A
CROSSWORD ... .9A
HEARTH&HOME .11A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SPORTS 6A
SCHOOL NEWS .. .2A
TV LISTINGS 9A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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Georpa Newspaper ProjecJ
Main Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
3-OfGfT 306
July 6, 2005
Serving Houston County Since 1870
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HHJ/Mike George
Perry’s five-term Mayor Jim Worrall stands in front of Perry City Hall on Washington Street Tuesday. Worrall said
he plans to run for a sixth term.
Worrall
Longtime mayor to face at least one challenger come November
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
Perry’s five-term mayor
said Tuesday that he plans
to run for a sixth term in
office.
James E. “Jim” Worrall
has served as the city’s pub
lic face for 17 years, first
elected in 1988.
A qualifying dateTias not
been set for this year’s city
elections, but Worrall
released a written state
ment that announced he
will be a candidate for re
election in November.
“I was just overwhelmed by
the number of people who
have asked me to run one
more time, the people who
County OKs arbitration lor leaky building
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Houston County wants a complete
and usable building on the site of
the Juvenile Justice Building.
The board of commissioners
approved spending $750 for the
county attorney’s law firm, O’Neal,
Long and Hall, to handle the arbi
Peppy FD closer to
buying safety pobot
Only SSOO more needed to fund
purchase of educational ‘Sparky’
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
The Perry Fire
Department has secured a
$4,000 grant from the
Georgia Firefighters Burn
Foundation for a robot that
will be used to teach young
people about fire safety.
Perry Fire Chief Freddy
Howell said the grant will
move the department closer
to the $9,500 they need to
buy the remote-control
robot used for fire safety
and bum prevention demon
strations.
The “Sparky the Fire
Dog” robot can look around,
wink and carry on conversa
tions and play music as he
“drives” his fire truck. The
robot opens and closes his
www.hhjnews.com
to seek re-election
came to my house, who
called me and wrote me let
ters,” Worrall said. “I’m old
enough to have the experi
ence necessary, and still
young enough to do the
job.”
Perry’s mayor serves as
the ceremonial head of the
community, acting as a go
between for the city and the
state, and representing
Perry at public events.
Worrall said his work as
mayor is not finished. If re
elected, he plans to contin
ue shepherding several
major development proj
ects, including the exten
sion of Ball Street to the
Perry Parkway. Worrall said
tration process.
“The contractor needs to give us a
complete, usable facility that does
not leak,” Commission Chairman
Ned Sanders said. “Another issue is
the consistency of the facade. ”
Sanders said the contractor and
architect “should come up with a
permanent solution. It is not up to
mouth as he talks and can
blink his eyes at children.
Both the robot and the truck
are made from impact
resistant plastic.
“It’s something more
entertaining for the kids,”
Howell said. “They won’t
even know that they’re
learning.”
The department already
won a $5,000 grant from the
Flint Energies Foundation,
a non-profit organization
that supports local charities
and fire and emergency
crews, to buy the dog, but
still needs the remaining
SSOO to pay for it.
Howell said the dog will be
a useful tool for the depart
ment.
See ROBOT, page 12A
the extension will keep
heavy tractor-trailer traffic
off of Perry’s downtown
streets. He also plans to
continue working with the
Perry Rotary Club and the
Downtown Development
Authority to build a new
park and walking trail
along Big Indian Creek.
He also plans to focus on
the multimillion-dollar ren
ovation and expansion of
the city’s wastewater treat
ment plant on Frank
Satterfield Road.
“Water is our most pre
cious commodity and some
thing we are going to have
to deal with in the coming
years,” he said. “We’ve got
us to tell them what the solution is.”
While there is still not a final com
pletion date on the building,
Sanders said such arbitration is usu
ally resolved in 60 days.
“The purpose of it is to make it
less difficult than lengthy legal costs
and it is binding by the contract,” he
said.
Houston Lake phase to end in October
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HHJ/Ray Lightner
Phase II of the Houston Lake Road widening is scheduled to be complete by the end
of October, according to Georgia Department of Transportation Field Engineer
Clinton Ford. The orange barrels are out directing traffic to stay on the old portion of
the road as new sections for the widening project are paved between Ga. 96 and Ga.
127. Ford said Phase 111 will widen the road down into Perry at U.S. 341, but projects
involving the rerouting of the road at Ga. 127 and a new bridge over Mossy Creek
have not yet been let.
to protect our drinking
water.”
Worrall taught American
history and government at
Perry Junior High School
for four years before accept
ing a job as the first full
time principal of Perry
Elementary School in 1956.
He worked as a school
administrated T<sd*Tnore
than 30 years before retir
ing from the Savannah
Christian Preparatory
School in 1988. Worrall said
he retired partly to run for
office.
He defeated former Perry
City Councilman Gene
Smith in a December 1988
See WORRALL, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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O'Neal:
Bull,
Shipp
WR state rep
says pundit’s
statement is
‘IOO% untrue’
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
Despite what the rumor
mongers might say, state
Rep. Larry O’Neal has no
interest in becoming
Georgia’s lieutenant gover
nor.
In Monday’s column,
Georgia political pundit Bill
Shipp opined that Gov.
Sonny Perdue was interest
ed in putting O’Neal up as a
candidate to
run against
Ralph Reed.
Here’s
what Shipp
wrote:
“Rep.
Larry
O’Neal, R-
Warner
Robins, a
member of
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s inner
circle, has been mentioned
as another possible candi
date for lieutenant gover
nor. Presumably, O’Neal
would have the full, if not
public, blessing of Perdue in
a race against Reed.”
One problem with that is
that O’Neal says he is not
interested. Another is that
See O’NEAL, page 12A
Sanders said the American
Arbitration Association will give the
county several nominees to choose
from, which the parties must agree
to.
“It’s usually a retired judge,” he
said.
The Juvenile Justice Building was
See COMMISSION, page 3A
O’NEAL