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WEDNESDAY July 13, 2005 Volume 135, Number 393 W Award-Winning Newspaper 2005 Belter Newspaper Contest Inside TODAY K M ■ Getting in the spirit Columbia County fan painted in dark blue from head to toe. Sports, page 8A Happy BIRTHDAY? Ruby Overton Cherry Crook Young (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 Curtis I. McNeal Jr. Ruth Elizabeth Myers Robert Kyle Spratling Gloria Y. Walker Obits, page 2A INDEX CLASSIFIED 10A COMICS 9A CROSSWORD ... .9A HEARTH&HOME .11A OBITUARIES 2A OPINION 4A SCHOOL NEWS . .3A, SPORTS 6A TV LISTINGS 9A WEATHER 2A PERIODICAL liilltllvMf llivllimmli iillllillltli • »m 1.11...11 5 Georgia Newspaper Project Main I thrarw UNIV OF GEORGIA ATHENS OA 30502-0002 ALL FOR ADC 301 July 13, 2005 Serving Houston County Since 1870 V j3omeif (Lite W LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville McDowell to throw hat in ring MM | i ■ ■ doug mcdowell Home Depot may locate in Peppy Also, Houston Springs submits redesigned site plan to planners By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer A community planner with the city of Perry revealed Monday night that Home Depot, one of the nation’s largest retail chains, has submitted plans for a new store near Interstate 75 in Perry. Perry Community Planner Mike Beecham told the Perry Planning Commission that the home improvement retailer plans to build along St. Patricks Drive near Sam Nunn Boulevard. He said Tuesday that the store will sit between Wal-Mart and the former St. Patrick Catholic Church on the site of Horton Homes. Building plans, if approved, call for an approximately 130,000- square-foot complex with an additional 20,000 square feet for parking and land scaping. “I don’t know the owner ship situation, whether they’ve bought, but the spe cial exception itself takes about six to eight weeks,” Beecham said Tuesday. The project will have to win the approval of both the Perry Planning Commission and the Perry City Council. Beecham said the city’s “big Nine Houston roads to be repaved State to fund resurfacing through Local Assistance Road Program By RAY UGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer Houston County will get 2.578 miles of roads resur faced, thanks to LARP The Georgia Department of Transportation’s Local Assistance Road Program projects include portions of nine roads in Houston County with a cost of $103,253.93. GDOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl awarded the contract for the nine roads to Reeves Construction Company. “We are proud to assist local governments through the LARP program,” Linnenkohl said. “A well maintained road helps make See ROADS, page 3A www.hhjnews.com Military vet, school board employee to seek WR council post By TIMOTHY GRAHAM HHJ Staff Writer Doug McDowell has submitted his Declaration of Intention to Accept Campaign Contributions at the Warner Robins City Clerk’s Office. McDowell, a retired member of the U.S. Air Force and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, has decided that he will be running for the Warner Robins City Council Post 6 seat that is now vacant due to the passing of Councilman Tom Simms Sr. “The passing of Councilman Simms was unfortunate and Warner Robins lost a good man who cared about this city,” said McDowell. “Before retiring I Home Depot site plan, IZA box” ordinance requires planning and council I D approval for single tenant residential developments of over 35,000 square feet and shopping , centers of over M. 50,000 square Jr* feet - /Ba Beecham saidAtoM that the ning commission plans to look at the piciuo tu cii uic project during their first meeting in August. If approved, the site plans will move to the Perry City Council, which will decide the project’s ultimate fate. Beecham said he was first contacted by an architectur al company representing the retail chain about a month ago. Don Harrison, a spokesman with Home Depot’s corporate offices in Atlanta, said he could nei ther confirm nor deny that the company was planning a move into Perry, but said that most projects are kept quiet until the property where the project will be built has changed hands. Also during Monday’s pi "M sombp ' '■ t -y f I; TKtfZ <■> vh ■ • fr * a tak BHHraV • Bag '.*&&. '.l submitted Perry Firefighter Kelvin Ross smiles with campers at Camp 00-U-La, a summer retreat for bum victims in Eatonton. Ross and the Perry Fire Department are planning a boot drive July 22-24 for the Georgia Firefighters Bum Foundation, an organization that supports the camp. spent more than 11 years stationed at Robins Air Force Base and have watched this city grow. Warner Robins has given a lot to my family, and now it is time for me to give back by repre senting the citizens of Post 6.” McDowell said he lives on the north side of town and he has seen more and more businesses move in across town. “I see the potential for growth and I will work to bring back businesses to our area,” he said. “Crime is up in my neighborhood and our families deserve to be safe. We have a fine police depart ment; however, more needs to be done to improve the safety of our citizens.” McDowell retired from military serv- */Bi A-—, ‘. l j I '’ | | hiii. meet- ing, a devel oper for the Houston Springs active adult resort community submitted new plans for the 494-acre development, including consolidating two development areas into one and relocating a proposed commercial district. Jeff Moredock, president of developer Woodland Property Partners, said that his company decided to move the commercial dis trict to a more central loca- .. . . . _ , , w/ I ! ; ■- ; tJwOttk { j W V» I i 1 1 Mr A top *k }/m tion near the resort community’s TO 112-foot-wide * entrance See PERRY, page 12A Peppy fipefighteps pull out the boot By MIKE GEORGE HHJ Staff Writer Kelvin Ross never anticipated that one week at a summer camp would change his life, but the Perry firefighter says that the time he spent at a retreat for young burn victims has inspired him to do more. Ross and The Perry Fire Department are organizing a boot drive to raise money for the Georgia Firefighters Burn Foundation, an organization designed to educate the public about the realities of burns and how to prevent them. In late May, Ross spent a week as a coun selor at Camp-00-U-La, a haven for kids whose lives have been emotionally effected by severe burns. The camp is funded through money raised by the GFBF. Ross said that Perry Fire Chief Freddy Howell volunteered at the camp for several years, and asked Ross if he would be interested in working there. “I said ‘why not?’” Ross said. “I have kids of my own and I thought it was an opportu nity to be a big brother to these kids, to give them a direction in life.” Ross spent the week with a group of young boys who are all still recovering from the emotional scars left by their injuries. See BOOT, page 3A an Evans Family Newspaper ONE SECTION • 12 PAGES ice after more than 20 years. “After being stationed at Robins Air Force Base in 1989 and spending over 11 years here, I retired and took a job with the Houston County Board of Education as their Web master,” McDowell said. “I was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., and lived there until joining the military at 18. My wife Wendy (Beckworth) was raised in Warner Robins and graduated from Northside High School. After I retired from the Air Force, my wife and I con templated moving back to Kentucky to be with family, however, Warner Robins is home for me and my family, See McDOWELL, page 3A 50c IIIIW. Airport Hood fittMNteo This is the new site plan for Houston Springs. submitted