Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
September 8, 2005
Volume 135, Number 184
(TO
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Eagles get thßir shot
Northside's Marques
Ivory (11) prepares to
option out to a teammate
during the Eagles' prac
tice Tuesday at the
school. The team will hit
the road to play
Stockbridge Friday.
Sports, page 1B
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Alfred Anderson
Kathy Barry
Robert Hicks
Hunter Jackson
Susie Kaufman
Allan Lee
Judy Sabus
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Anthony and Anne Di
Diego
Matt and Elaine Watkins
Area DEATHS
Duane Frank Nottis
William “Bill” F. Ulrich
Jr.
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 4B
COMICS 7 A
CROSSWORD ... .7A
ENTERTAINMENT .8A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
LEGALS 5B
SCHOOL NEWS . . ,6A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 7A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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Georgia Newspaper Project
Man Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
ALL FOR ADC 301
SEPT. 8, 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
Katrina relief right here
Red Cross,
churches and
Robins AFB
helping evacuees
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
The Red Cross is helping
the victims of Hurricane
Katrina.
The American Red Cross
has set up 470 shelters in
12 states, served 2.6 million
hot meals and trained 5,000
new volunteers, as of
Tuesday, said Catherine
Carchedi, executive direc
tor of the Houston-Middle
Georgia Chapter of the
American Red Cross.
“The Red Cross is using
all of its resources for face
to-face interaction with
evacuees” from the gulf
coast, she said in an address
to the Warner Robins
Rotary Club.
“Locally, the Red Cross
has - in only two days,
Sunday and Monday -
helped 47 families and
spent $57,433,” Carchedi
said. “They are getting
help.”
In response to a surge of
local community requests
wanting to know what they
can do to help, the local
office has come up with a
City marks 10 years of tax decreases
WR council approves 2005-2006 budget with lower millage rate
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
Warner Robins City Council
approved the proposed city tax rate
for fiscal year 2005-2006 Tuesday, and
for the tenth year in a row city resi
dents will see a millage rate decrease.
The millage rate for 2005 will be
9.80 as opposed to last year’s rate of
9.882. That rate is expected to bring
in revenues of $11,084,746. Last
year’s higher tax rate brought in
$10,405,651. The difference between
the two is $679,095, or 6.53 percent.
The council approved the millage
rate so it can be published. It will be
approved officially after the public
C'ville sends police to hurricane-ravaged area
Chief, other
volunteers to help
re-establish small
town police force
By WILLIAM JOHN
HAGAN
HHJ Staff Writer
Tuesday night the
Centerville City Council
met in regular session.
Councilman Robert Smith
opened the meeting with an
inspirational prayer for the
victims of the Hurricane
Katrina. Smith’s words
were not the empty rhetoric
of so many national politi
cians, but symbolized the
resolve of Mayor Ronnie
Brand and the other mem
bers of the City Council to
help those in need.
Chief Ernie Pardo, with
the full support of the city
government, announced
that a special team from the
Centerville Police
Department will be travel
ing to Mississippi to offer
direct relief and police pro
tection to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
This heroic and danger
ous operation will be led by
Chief Pardo and five volun
teers from the ranks of the
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Christine Parker, director of the Family Support Center at Robins Air Force Base
talks with the media about help available for displaced military, civilian DoD employ
ees and veterans.
resource list. She explained
the Red Cross cannot
accept donations of food,
clothes, water, housing or
in-kind donations.
To make donations of
toys, clothes, hygiene prod
has had a chance to study it.
One councilman had his reserva
tions about the millage rate decrease.
“I oppose the decrease,” said
Councilman Dean Cowart. “Once we
hit the 10-mill mark we got below the
amount where we can have enough to
put back into city improvements. I
would like to see it float at about 10
mills. It will come to a point where we
will have to look into those things we
have been putting off like a new police
station and improvements at the foot
ball stadium.”
Mayor Donald Walker pointed out
the revenue increase of over $600,000
despite the millage rate decrease.
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Centerville Police Chief Ernie Pardo and mayoral candidate John R. Harley discuss
Hurricane Katrina.
police force. This action is
being taken as part of an
effort known as “Police
Helping Police.”
Pardo reported that his
team of volunteers would
leave for Mississippi at 6
U.fVAIR FORCE
Robins Air Force Base
ucts, sheets, and canned
food, she suggested local
residents contact the fol
lowing agencies:
• Goodwill, 2209 Moody
road, Warner Robins, 328-
2931;
a.m. Friday for a staging
area outside of Biloxi. After
arriving, they will be dis
patched to one of the rural
areas most affected by the
storm’s damage. Pardo said
that the area his officers
• Salvation Army, 305
Green St., Warner Robins,
922-2226;
• All Saints Episcopal
Church, 1708 Watson Blvd.,
Warner Robins, 923-1791;
See KATRINA, page 3A
“I will vote to pass the budget, but
there will come a time when we will
have to look at these things,” said
Cowart. “I am not talking about rais
ing taxes, just taking a look at keep
ing them level.”
“I will not allow taxes to increase
when we have this much revenue
coming in with a tax decrease,” said
Walker.
Cowart and Walker ended the dis
cussion after a disagreement over
whether or not keeping taxes level
was or was not a tax increase.
Councilman Steve Smith asked how
the proposed tax rate would affect the
See WR, page 3A
will serve has been com
pletely devastated by the
hurricane.
“These are small depart
ments, some with just five
police cars,” he said.
See C’VILLE, page 10A
TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAGES
Peppy
council
OKs
Home
Depot
Firm contracted to
study stormwater
drainage problems
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
The Perry City Council
gave its stamp of approval to
the new Home Depot project
Tuesday night, but not
before one council member
pointed out his own prob
lems with the store’s design.
The project was the first
test of the city’s “big box”
ordinance, which requires a
special exception from both
the Perry Planning
Commission and the Perry
City Council for single ten
ant projects larger than
35,000 square feet and shop
ping centers larger than
50,000 square feet. The
city’s regulations set stan
dards fqr everything from
the concentration and loca
tion of parking spaces and
sidewalks to the height of
the building’s ceiling and
even the location and size of
trash dumpsters.
The new store will sit
along St. Patricks Drive
between Interstate 75 and
the Wal-Mart Supercenter,
on the site of Horton Homes
near the old St. Patrick
Catholic Church. The proj
ect won the support of the
Perry Planning Commission
last month, which sent the
project on to the council
after negotiating with repre
sentatives of the company
over the look and design of
the project. Home Depot
agreed to work with the city
on the project) developing
site plans for the store than
include new columns and
more trees.
Councilman Joe Kusar
voted against the project,
arguing that the designs the
company submitted did not
do enough to direct traffic.
Kusar said the company’s
attempts to punctuate the
parking lot with small
islands of landscaping and
sidewalks was not enough,
even saying that the nearby
Wal-Mart Supercenter was
an “eyesore” because of the
added traffic the store
brings.
But Perry Building
Official Steve Howard said
the city’s planning depart
ment is i n the early stages of
several projects designed to
curb traffic problems along
Sam Nunn, including
extending St. Patricks Drive
north to Thompson Road.
The council voted 5-1 to
support the project, but
asked for a more detailed
plan of the parking lot
before the company starts
construction.
The company plans to
build a 104,456-square-foot
store with a 28,098-square
foot garden center and an
additional 20,000 square
feet of parking and land
scaping.
Also during Tuesday’s
meeting, the council agreed
to support several recom
mendations handed down
See PERRY, page 5 A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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