Newspaper Page Text
WEEKEND
August 13, 2005
Volume 135, Number 416
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Belter Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
HI HHMHHH
Go Fish!
New shop has a
Christian message with
high style
There’s a new shop in
downtown Perry with a
giraffe out front, and
plenty of shoppers inside.
Lifestyle, page 7 A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Aug. 13
Donnie Free
Eunice Terry Manning
Aug. 14
Paul Boyles
Kathleen Daugherty
Horace Matthews
Rose Mae Smith
Janice Loudin Stewart
Aug. 15
Tyler Hightower
William Jackson
Flo Mitchell
Sarah Sherman
Le Ann Tuggle
(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
Richard Wayne Doherty
S. “Dana” Morgan Rollis
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD 4B
LIFESTYLE 7A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT 6B
SPORTS 1B
SCHOOL NEWS .. .5A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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5
Georgia Newspaper Prices
Man Librarv
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30662-0002
ALL FOR AOC 301
August 13. 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
Robber hits WR, Perry stores
Man hits five businesses in two
cities; suspect eludes authorities
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
Police in Perry and
Warner Robins are search
ing for an unidentified man
wanted in connection with a
string of armed robberies in
Warner Robins and Perry
Thursday afternoon and
evening.
Maj. Harry Dennard with
the Warner Robins Police
Department said the man
used a handgun, possibly a
revolver, to rob three
Warner Robins loan offices
before robbing the Video
Warehouse on Ball Street
and the Best Mexican store
on Carroll Street in Perry
Thursday evening.
Police said the man is
between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet
tall, between the ages of 19
and 25, weighing 180-200
lbs., and was seen by clerks
wearing a white shirt, a pair
of dark shorts and white
tennis shoes. Dennard said
the man escaped from the
WR office to get two new parole officers
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HIM ft ay Lightner
Parole officers practice making an arrest during execution of a warrant for violation of
parole.
C'ville DDA confronts
right-of-way issues
Homeowners refuse to donate
land for downtown project
By WILLIAM JOHN HAGAN
HHJ Staff Writer
A public meeting of the
Centerville Downtown
Development Authority
(DDA) was scheduled for
Thursday night at City Hall.
However, the only members
in attendance were
Chairman Henry L. Hopson
Jr. and Barbara Shaheen.
After City Attorney
Rebecca Tydings ruled that
the DDA did not have a quo
rum, it was decided that the
meeting could go forward but
no rulings could be made.
Hopson and Shaheen took
the opportunity to discuss
two major issues of impor
tance with Mayor Ronnie
Brand and councilmen
Sherod Wilson and Randall
Wright: The topics on the
evening’s agenda were the
planned right-of-way pro
posal on Margie Drive and
www.hhjnews.com
Perry video store on foot.
“Based on the times of the
robberies, we feel like he
had used some type of vehi
cle,” Dennard said. “But at
this point, no vehicle has
been seen or identified.
“He would have had to
have some type of trans
portation.”
The suspect first struck
the Service Loan & Tax at
105 North Davis Drive at
4:24 p.m. Thursday, then hit
the E-Z Title Pawn at 1755
Watson Blvd. and the Ace
Title Pawn at 1716 Watson
Boulevard around 5:30 p.m.
Police said the robberies in
Perry occurred within min
utes of each other shortly
after 7 p.m. Thursday. Capt.
Bill Phelps with the Perry
Police Department said
police do not know which
robbery occurred first, but
said the call from the
Mexican store came in first.
Phelps said the man stole
See ROBBER, page 3A
the required training of the
members of the DDA.
The Margie Drive project
is at the heart of
Centerville’s future down
town development and
beautification plans. The
project calls for a widening
of Margie Drive from a two
lane to a three-lane road.
The project would also
include the installation of
sidewalks that would create
a promenade for the city’s
residents. As part of the
plan, Margie Drive would be
curved via Gunn Road into
Houston Lake Road. The
project is expected to relieve
traffic congestion, and
increase property values for
businesses and homeowners
in the area.
In a perfect world,
Centerville would face no
obstacles to such a seeming
ly positive development.
See DDA, page 3A
11114/Mike George
Capt Bill Phelps (left) with the Perry Police Department goes over details behind the
counter of the Video Warehouse on Ball Street in Perry Thursday. Police believe an
unidentified man wanted in connection with a series of armed robberies in Warner
Robins forced clerks to hand over an undetermined amount of cash at gunpoint before
escaping on foot.
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HH.J 'I im Hoskins
Loma Cox, MGTC Instructor of the Year, shows off the surgical technology pro
gram’s mock surgery lab.
Cox named MGTC instructor ot year
By TIM HOSKINS
HHJ Student Writer
“My students are like my
children,” said Lorna Cox,
surgical technology instruc
tor at Middle Georgia
Technical College. “I tell
them: ‘l’m a good tech and
I’ll make you a good tech.’”
Training now under way for Harris, Skinner
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Two new parole officers in
the Warner Robins office are
among the current class
undergoing basic training in
Forsyth.
Sheryl Skinner and
Lamario Harris will gradu
ate Sept. 2 after eight weeks
of training at the Georgia
Public Safety Training
Center in Forsyth. The two
will bring the number of
parole officers in Warner
Robins to four, and they can
expect a caseload of 80
parolees.
The office will get a fifth
parole officer once the next
class in February is com
plete, explained Kim Patton-
Johnson, public information
officer for the state Board of
Pardons and Paroles. She
said that would reduce their
Cox was recently chosen
as the MGTC 2005
Instructor of the Year and
nominated for the Rick
Perkins Award, a statewide
recognition for the best
instructor at a technical
college.
The decision was made by
an Evans Family Newspaper
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TWO SECTIONS • 16 PAGES
caseload below 70, and give
the state 320 parole officers
to supervise and monitor
the state’s 22,000 parolees.
Skinner is a six-year vet
eran of the Macon Police
Department and became a
parole officer to stay in law
enforcement with the social
aspect. Harris said he want
ed the opportunity to help
someone get his or her life
back together.
Patton-Johnson said
parole officers determine
needs of parolees, so they
get the assistance they need
to get back into society, like
getting the mental health or
substance abuse counseling
they may need and to meet
the other terms of their
parole including employ
ment and drug screening.
“They get out to their
See TRAINING, page 10A
a committee drawn from
the college administration
and the surrounding com
munity. The committee
interviewed several final
ists before making their
choice, and said that it was
a difficult decision.
See COX, page 6A