Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
September 1, 2005
Volume 135, Number 179
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Good Grief!
‘You’re a Good Man,
Charlie Brown’ to be pre
sented by The Perry
Players Sept. 9-18
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Donna Johnson
Patty Rainey
(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 returnsl)
Area DEATHS
Kenneth E. Camp
Radford “Ralph” Guest
MSgt Charles Rawls Jr.
US Army (Ret)
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 11A
CLUB NEWS 7A
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD ... .4B
ENTERTAINMENT .9A
LEGALS SB
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT ... .5A
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 2A
PERIODECAL
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Georgia Newspaper Project
Main Librarv
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
ALL FOR ADC 301
Sept. 1, 2005
Serving Houston County Since 1870
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9 LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Local Red Cross prepares for relief effort
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
We all watch our televisions in
horror as they play videos of the
devastation wrought by Hurricane
Katrina, and the one thought that
comes to all of us is: “What can I do
to help?”
The answer is to contact your
local chapter of the American Red
Cross.
In Houston County, that is the
Houston County-Middle Georgia
Chapter located at 346 Corder Road,
Warner Robins.
The American Red Cross is get
ting ready to mobilize what is
submitted
Ralph Guest began Warner Robins Wrecker Service with
one stomJwMfain 1969.
Beloved WR wrecker
operator dies
Friends, family remember Ralph
Guest as helpful, compassionate man
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Ralph Guest loved to help
people.
He started Warner Robins
Wrecker Service in 1969
with one truck.
“His wife Irene would
take the call and go to the
field to get him,” his brother
Ronnie remembered. “When
he came back, he went back
to what he was doing in the
field.”
The family still runs the
C'ville looks at tightening
sign restrictions
By WILLIAM JOHN HAGAN
HHJ Staff Writer
For years the city of
Centerville has had an ordi
nance banning the posting
of signs on rights of way.
Such signs can be seen
affixed to telephone poles or
pounded into the ground on
public property. The viola
tions frequently take the
form of hand-written signs
for yard sales or, during elec
tion years, the red, white
and blue signs promoting
candidates for statewide
office.
If these were the only
offenses, and the signs were
removed after serving their
purpose, the Centerville
City Council would probably
have little objection.
Unfortunately, such signs
have now been joined by
semi-permanent pamphlets
for businesses that advertise
get-rich-quick schemes and
weight loss products.
Furthermore, those posting
yard sale signs or urging
www.hhjnews.com
expected to be the single largest
relief effort in the history of the
United States, and the Houston
County chapter will be doing all it
can to help.
“We cannot go into the stricken
area just yet because the local emer
gency management organizations
have not yet certified it as safe,” said
Catherine Carchedi, executive direc
tor of the local chapter.
“We had already sent three volun
teers to Miami, Fla., where they are
helping out in shelters there for the
first victims of Katrina,” said
Carchedi. “We have three more vol
unteers ready to go to the Gulf
produce stand on Dunbar
Road. That was his second
love, his brother said.
“When he started in the
wrecker business,” Ronnie
Guest said, “he was told
there were too many wreck
er companies already. He
said ‘what’s one more, then?
If you try to make sl, I’ll try
to make 50 cents.’”
Ronnie Guest said, of all
those towing companies,
only one other, Williams, is
See GUEST, page 6A
votes for their favorite
politician sometimes fail to
remove the illegal signs once
the sale or election has
passed.
Therefore, the city mar
shal, at the expense of the
people of Centerville, has
been burdened with the
duty of removing these
signs. It is for this reason
that attending members of
the Centerville City Council
took this subject under
advisement during their
Tuesday night work session.
City Attorney Rebecca
Tydings brought the issue
before the City Council in
response to complaints from
the City Marshal’s Office,
and urged a unified enforce
ment policy to deal with the
illegal signs.
The initial reaction from
the City Council was one of
concern for the rights of cit
izens to express free speech
through the posting of signs.
“Political signs are a way
See C’VILLE, page 6A
Coast as soon as they are cleared.”
Volunteers who assist in disaster
areas have been specially trained by
the Red Cross. Such training usual
ly lasts three weeks, but in emer
gency situations like this one that
time period can be cut to two weeks.
“If anyone would like to volunteer
to go to the disaster area to help out,
they are urged to contact us and we
can begin their training as soon as
possible,” Carchedi said. “But we
also need volunteers here locally. We
need people to answer the tele
phones. There is a good chance that
we will be opening a shelter here
locally and we will need volunteers
Isakson defends Iraq war
Also talks about BRAC, gas
prices in speech to WR club
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson spoke to the
Warner Robins Rotary Club on Tuesday,
and left no doubt as to how he feels about
the president’s Global War on Terror.
“If you turn on the six o’clock news, the
first thing you will see are protestors ques
tioning whether what we are doing in Iraq
is right,” said Isakson. “I was proud to vote
to allow the president to use force in Iraq,
and I am proud of what we are doing there.
“We went into Iraq for three reasons: to
overthrow Saddam Hussein, remove his
weapons of mass destruction, and to bring
democracy to the people of Iraq. Saddam is
currently awaiting trial and the Iraqi peo
ple are about to vote on a constitution. We
may not have found any assembled
weapons of mass destruction, but we found
component parts of weapons and the mass
graves of 400,000 Iraqi citizens killed by
Saddam.”
Isakson said that the people of. the
United States need to remember the goals
of the War on Terror.
“We need to think about what we are
doing, why we are doing it and what would
be happening if we were not doing what we
are doing,” he said. “Afghanistan is a
democracy, Iraq is voting on a constitution,
Israel is pulling out of the Gaza Strip, and
Libya has disavowed the use of weapons of
mass destruction. The world is a better
place for what we are doing.”
Isakson then shifted gears to talk about
Middle Georgia’s favorite subject on con
versation: BRAC.
“By and large, Georgia came out a big
winner in BRAC and nothing pleased me
more than the success of Robins Air Force
Base in the review,” said Isakson. “I con
gratulate you and the 21st Century
Partnership for your hard work.”
Of course, maybe the high price of gaso
line has pushed BRAC into second place.
Wish list
life
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HIM Matthew Brown
Perry head coach Andy Scott takes care of some administrative duties during prac
tice Tuesday at the school. The Panthers will be attempting to keep their unbeaten
streak - they are currently 2-0 - when they host Fitzgerald and former Warner
Robins head football coach Robby Pruitt Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Panther Pit.
TWO SECTIONS • 24 PAGES
Related article,
photos, page 3A
to help in staffing it.”
Carchedi said that there are a lot
of people who fled the hurricane
who drove up to Middle Georgia and
got motel rooms. She said that their
money is probably starting to run
out and the local authorities in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
are not yet ready to allow them to
return. They will be needing a place
to stay and food to eat. She said that
See RED CROSS, page 34
U.S SEN JOHNNY ISAKSON
“I filled up my Oldsmobile 88 yesterday
and it cost $45, and when I filled up my
pickup truck I stopped looking after it
went over $50,” joked Isakson. “I would
like to be able to tell you that the Senate
can cut the price of gas with the stroke of
a pen, but we can’t.
“We did pass an energy bill that increas
es investment in alternative and renew
able energy. It also allowed us to begin the
licensing of nuclear power plants for the
first time in 20 years. We can now drill for
oil in (Alaska) in an environmentally
sound fashion.
“It will take time for these to have an
effect on the price of gas, but they will
eventually,” Isakson said.
See ISAKSON, page 6A
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