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WEDNESDAY August 10, 2005 Volume 135, Number 413 Award-Winning Newspaper 2005 Belter Newspaper Contest Inside TODAY v' h ' f ■I A t '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 ■MX FOR ADC 301 August 10, 2005 Serving Houston County Since 1870 (777 i JMcmtclf dim JJaurrtal ™ LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville Perry Home Depot project moving forward • 6 \ ' f** S j ' I I I ■*!'' '!, . RjjifjßPp-jr j *" "'^v y • { wm , - ■ |-iarif • 1 l*tt*~*. I | | 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. lljhfeME' v '' f i jjjH ■: ■• !J B - . .1^ *■&/» • * t/Wt' 1 -'J-<X'S V ‘ •- ; • ,*:M '-.i /■ ■ ; I ?5jHMMr\ *'r-- - R> ‘J*' ,< 3ft-vSv^'B' I ‘4‘ f awC> • % ' ' '4 ■§§. v m 1 •.- 'Jfr.. ■•. •'.- .■ •.-: * n v;*.**. 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