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FRIDAY July 8, 2005 Volume 135, Number 390 Award-Winning Newspaper 2005 Better Newspaper Contest Inside TODAY |K M f v. .> ' Fun for kids at the library The Perry Library host ed a talent show for chil dren on Wednesday, with special guests from Taiwan, who brought their traditional puppets as well as Chinese yo-yo’s. Family&Faith, page 8A Happy BIRTHDAY? Susie Beard Leah Hill-Waddell Blake Seymore Heather Shy Brenda Taylor Happy ANNIVERSARY! Dennis and Sandra Arbuckle (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 Donnie Thomas Obit, page 2A INDEX CLASSIFIED 15 CLUB NEWS 6A COMICS 10A CROSSWORD ...10A FAMILY&FAITH .. .8A NASCAR 12A OBITUARY 2A OPINION 4A SCHOOLS NEWS .5A SPORTS 13A TV LISTINGS ... .10A WEATHER 2A PERIODICAL 6* PBojee* UfWCJF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 3060243002 3-OK3fT3OB July 8, 2005 Serving Houston County Since 1870 i"frrusitcm Jfcimc f (Lite JJrrurtml 9 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, ; city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville IHHII UtOODtUN'H It's official: Walken to nun again Warner Robins mayor to seek re-election this November By TIMOTHY GRAHAM HHJ Staff Writer To the surprise of few, Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker says that he will run for another term in the November city election. “I certainly do intend to run for re-election,” Walker said Wednesday at City Hall. “I am ready for whatever opposition comes up.” Walker said that he intends to run a campaign similar to President George Bush. “I plan to stick to the issues and run on my record,” Walker said. “I hope that if there is anyone who runs against me that they will do the same and run a clean campaign and not let things get ugly. I have yet to have anyone do that, but I can still hope.” Walker said that he will Penny mulls video poken, animal contnol By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer The Perry City Council introduced two new ordinances in its meeting this week - one designed to prevent illegal video poker from returning to Perry and another that will estab lish the city’s own version of a uni fied animal control ordinance rec ommended by Vision 2020. Kids bring history to life at Museum of Aviation www.hhjtiews.com Plant to be company's flagship Authority to issue bonds for Perdue Farms’ chicken plant By RAY UGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer The Houston County Development Authority will issue $155 million in bonds to help make the Perdue Farms’ Perry chicken processing plant its flag ship facility. HCDA Executive Director Morgan not take it easy on any prospective opposition. “If anyone qualifies against me I will run as hard as I can,” Walker said. “I think I have a winning track record to run on. Since I have been in office, the mill age rate has dropped from 14 to 9.9. That is millions of dollars we have given back to the property owners of Warner Robins and I don’t think that they will ignore that fact when they go to the polls. “We have the third-lowest utility rates in the State,” he said. “If it wasn’t for me there would be no local cam pus of Macon State and no local community college. There will also be an announcement soon about the re-opening of the local campus of Fort Valley State.” See WALKER, page 3A The council is expected to vote on both ordinances at its next meeting scheduled for July 19, but the two ordinances were both introduced for public review Tuesday night. The proposed video poker ordi nance comes weeks after the Perry Police Department seized nine video poker machines in two raids on local convenience stores on June 2 and Law said the expansion would add 1,000 new jobs to the 1,800 already here. Perdue Farms is already Houston County’s largest private employer. The major industrial expansion deal will be formally announced by Gov. Sonny Perdue and Perdue Farms’ Jim Perdue on Thursday at the plant. The mV.'*. . ■■l' j ! ' JP I HI r *'* l iflyk-#V. " BP* ;J| Mr • j SI" HRL HJWH • A rd*’iF&fc HHJ Timothy Graham Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker stands next to the master plan for the Macon State College Warner Robins campus. Walker considers the growth of educational resources in Warner Robins as one of the highlights of his time as mayor. 11. Police believe the stores were operating illegal casinos, handing out cash instead of merchandise for winnings. In a letter delivered to the council, Perry City Attorney David Walker said that under the Video Poker Act passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 2001, “video poker” machines are illegal under state law, iliWf ’ HHJ /Teresa D. Southern ABOVE: The Museum of Aviation hosted the first of two Living History Days. Sametria Glass, a junior volunteer at the museum, shows the Tuskegee Airman exhibit to stu dents from the Junior Summer Camp at Robins Air Force Base. She and other students shared historical information about exhibits and plan to include more museum exhibits next week such as those on the J-STARS and U-2 aircraft. RIGHT: Students from the Junior Summer Camp at Robins Air Force Base look at infor mation from the Tuskegee Airman exhibit at the Museum of Aviation as a part of Living History Day. ONE SECTION *l6 PAGES governor is not related to the family that operates the Salisbury, Md., inter national food and agriculture business. Part of the deal, includes an inter governmental agreement with the Monroe County Development Authority, because a portion of the See PERDUE, page 3A but businesses can apply for a state gaming license regulated by the Georgia Department of Revenue for coin-operated “amusement machines.” But businesses can escape prosecution if they hand out merchandise for winnings instead of cash. Perry Police Chief George Potter See PERRY, page 3A an Evans Family Newspaper 50f|