Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
August 10, 2005
Volume 135, Number 413
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Belter Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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'l'll huff, I'll puff...'
Luke Rabun, 11, takes
on a tackling dummy dur
ing the Warner Robins
Recreation Department's
Draft Day Monday.
Sports, page 7A
hcfc at tM boa
back of the can
In a hurry, check out
the back of cans and
boxes for some surpris
ingly good recipes.
Hoarth&Home, page 11A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Lisa Sanders Fullmore
Chad Langston
(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
Perry Daniel “Danny”
Campbell
Bill Dippel 111
Angela Anderson Hasty
Louise A. Heaberlin
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 10A
COMICS 9A
CROSSWORD ... .9A
HEARTH&HOME .11A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SPORTS 7 A
TV LISTINGS 9A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
5
Georgia Newspaper Project
Main Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 3G6G2-QCG2
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August 10, 2005
Serving Houston County Since 1870
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™ LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Perry Home Depot project moving forward
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HHJ Mike George
Chris Logan, a site development coordinator representing Home Depot, goes over site plans for a new store on St.
Patricks Drive with the Perry Planning Commission. The project has won initial support from the commission, but the
group wants to see a final site plan before the project goes before the Perry City Council in early September.
Houston jobless
rate rises
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
The Georgia Department
of Labor has announced
that metro Warner Robins’
unemployment rate in June
rose to 5.2 percent, an
increase of 0.7 percent over
May’s 4.5. Metro Warner
Robins includes all of
Houston County.
The local unemployment
rate of 5.2 percent remained
below the state rate of 5.6
percent and metro Macon’s
6.2 percent. Both also rose
in June, 0.6 percent over
May’s 5 percent state rate
and 0.7 over the 5.5 percent
in May in Macon.
Houston’s jobless rate
stood at 4.4 percent,
Macon’s at 5.1 percent and
the state’s jobless rate
Amrit’s businesses thrive in Perry
Business
In Profile
Slwad Amrit
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
A small town in Houston
County can seem like a dif
ferent world for a first-gen
eration immigrant who has
lived in far-off locales in
Africa and England.
But the sights and sounds
of the South still surprise
local businessman Shrad
Amrit, who has lived in
Perry since 1980.
Amrit shares ownership of
a string of Houston County
restaurants and hotels,
including two Subway
stores in Perry and the
Guest House Inn and Suites
on Valley Drive that brought
him to the United States.
Amrit also recently pur
chased the Houston County
Board of Elections building
See AMRIT, page 3A
www.hhjnews.com
stood at 5.1 percent in June
2004. The state
Department of Labor said
June saw an increase of
30,404 in the number of
jobseekers.
In Houston County, 47
more people were unem
ployed in June than the
300 in May. The 347 unem
ployed in June is also more
than the 280 in June 2004.
During the month,
21,951 new jobseekers,
many of whom were high
school and college stu
dents, entered the work
force. Also in June, 34,450
laid-off workers filed first
time claims for unemploy
ment insurance benefits,
up 7.5 percent from May,
but down 10.3 percent from
the 38,414 last June.
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HHJ/Mike George
Perry businessman Shrad Amrit stands in a Subway restaurant he partly owns on Sam Nunn Boulevard Friday. Amrit
has an interest in a string of Houston County Subway franchises and hotels, including the Guest House Inn in Perry
that brought him to the United States in 1980.
Voter registration urged
Deadline Aug. 22 to register to vote on SPLOST
From staff reports
New residents of Houston County
still have time to register to vote in
the Houston County Schools special
purpose local option sales tax
(SPLOST) referendum on Sept. 20,
according to Jack Steed, chairman of
the Citizens for Excellence in Public
Schools.
“We’re anxious to get every possible
supporter to register and vote for the
children of Houston County,” Steed
said. “The deadline to register to vote
in the referendum is Aug. 22.”
According to the Houston County
Board of Elections, registered voters
will be able take advantage of advance
voting Sept. 12-16, the week prior to
the election, if they desire. Advance
votes can be cast at the County Annex
building in Warner Robins as well as
at the new Board of Elections office in
Perry (old courthouse at 801 Main
See VOTE, page 3A
ONE SECTION • 14 PAGES
Chamber, HBA endorse SPLOST
From staff reports
The Warner Robins Home Builders Association
and the Warner Robins Chamber of Commerce
have both endorsed the 1-percent special purpose
local option sales tax proposed by the Houston
County Board of Education for building and ren
ovating schools.
Speaking for the Home Builders Association at
the school board’s work session on Monday night,
President Ted Griffin predicted a “steady, accel
erating relocation of high-income families in the
Warner Robins area,” and noted that the quality
of the schools is a “major factor driving family
decisions to move here.”
Terry Smith, a member of the chamber’s board
and Education Committee, said that the chamber
would urge its members to support the SPLOST.
“Basically we understand that the continued
growth of the county depends on Robins Air
Force Base, and the schools,” Smith said. “From
the point of view of a businessperson, an educat
ed work force is very important.”
an Evans Family Newspaper
50c
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
A project to build a new
Home Depot in Perry has
won the initial approval of
the Perry Planning
Commission, and is headed
to the Perry City Council
early next month.
Tfye commissioners rec
ommended a special excep
tion for the new store, but
want to see an updated site
plan for the project that
reflects what the store will
actually look like by their
next meeting Aug. 22.
The Home Depot will sit
along St. Patricks Drive off
Sam Nunn Boulevard,
between Wal-Mart and the
former St. Patrick Catholic
Church on the site of
Horton Homes.
The new Home Depot
store is the first test of the
city’s “big box” ordinance,
which requires a special
exception from the Perry
City Council and the Perry
Planning Commission for
single-tenant retail develop
ments of over 35,000 square
feet and shopping centers of
over 50,000 square feet.
Commissioners were happy
to see that the company was
willing to compromise under
the city’s regulations, which
set standards for everything
See DEPOT, page 3A