Newspaper Page Text
PERRY 17
C.CARROLLCO. ..16
I WARNER RORINS 49
LUELLA 9
WEEKEND
September 10, 2005
Volume 135, Number 186
Award-Winning
Better .Newspaper Wg"jr>7
Contest
Advance voting
begins Monday on
schools SPLOST
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Staff Writer
Advance voting will
take place Monday
through Friday for the
$123 million special pur
pose local option sales tax
(SPLOST) being pro
posed by the Houston
County Board of
Education for school
building purposes.
The funds, if approved
by the voters, will be used
to build a new high
school, two new middle
schools and two new ele
mentary schools, as well
as to pay for some
improvements in existing
schools and to buy land
with future growth in
mind.
Houston County voters
living in any preciacttfa*.
See VOTING, page QA
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Sept. 10
Warren Faircloth
Joe Ray
Sept. 11
J.D. Calhoun
Sherri Wengler
Sept. 12
Mable Duckworth
Tonya Hipps
Area DEATHS
Walter W. Burns
Jill C. Fischer
Nell Haddock
John Louis Houck
Marcus E. O’Connell
Obits, 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 5B
CLUB NEWS ... .10A
COMICS 9A
CROSSWORD ... .9A
HOMETOWN 4B
LIFESTYLE 10A
OBITUARIES .....2A
OPINION 4A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 9A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
4
Georgia Newspaper Project
Man Library
UN IV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 3G6G2-GGG2
ALL FOR ADC 301
Sept. 10, 2005
Serving Houston County Since 1870
HOUSTON CO. ...33
PEACH CO 20
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NORTHSIDE 54
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™ LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY \
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Murder trial to begin Tuesday
Airman accused of killing two, wounding a third on Robins AFB
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
The court martial trial of Senior Airman
Andrew Paul Witt resumes Tuesday.
Witt is charged with two counts of pre
meditated murder for the stabbing deaths
of Senior Airman Andrew Schliepsiek and
Diagnosis: AutlSlYl
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Dalton Crofutt, who has autism, works on a craft project
at school.
Stone
won’t
run
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
Warner Robins
Councilman Matt Stone
announced on Thursday
that he will not be seeking
re-election to his position.
Stone serves Post 1, which
is an at-large district that
covers the entire city.
Stone was elected in 2001
and was the youngest per
son ever to serve as a city
www.hhjnews.com
his wife, Jamie, at their on-base residence
in the early morning hours of July 5, 2004.
He is also charged with one count of
attempted murder for a knife attack on
Senior Airman Jason King the same morn
ing. King has testified in the process so far
during the pretrial Article 32 hearings last
ir ■ 4jr
MATT STONE
councilman in Warner
Rohins.
Stone was recently mar
ried to Heather Fasciocco,
the media relations director
See STONE, page 8A
See Spfarts
Section
For
Complete
Details
Part I -
A family faces the challenges
of raising a child with
incurable brain disorder
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Lifestyle Editor jgm^emm
One day five years ago Nicole Crofutt’s 3-year-old son,
Dalton, pitched a tantrum in the pediatrician’s office.
If you’re a parent, you have probably been through a public
tantrum or two, drawing on every ounce of patience you have,
maybe with firmness, maybe with a gentle voice of reason, know
ing that somebody’s probably watching the whole scene, second
guessing you, thinking “If that were my child...”
So you may be thinking that you know what Nicole was going
through that afternoon six years ago.
But you don’t - not unless you have a child with autism.
On that day in the doctor’s office,
Nicole already knew in her heart that
there was something wrong with her
child, but nobody seemed to be listen
ing to her. It wasn’t just the tantrums,
which were an everyday pattern. She
was also worried that he was lagging so
far behind his fraternal twin brother,
Dakota.
Dakota was talking and listening. Dalton
was screaming. Dakota was keeping up
with other children his own age in meeting
developmental milestones, like toilet train
ing. Dalton was out of touch, out of con
trol, not even close to being trained.
“Dakota was much more advanced than
Dalton,” Nicole says, “and I kept telling
the doctors that something wasn’t right.
They tried to tell me that I shouldn’t com
pare him to his brother, but I knew he was
different.”
See AUTISM, page 6A
Foreclosures to be
turned over to FEMA
HUD homes pulled from market to aid Katrina evacuees
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
In response to the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, HUD foreclosures have
been put on hold and all foreclosed proper
ties taken off the market.
Ronald Roland, a local broker who han
dles foreclosure resales said the move
“would drastically affect all Realtors” and
“have some drastic effects on the market.”
Roland said a good part of his business is
foreclosure resales and said the move puts
some realty agents out of business. The
properties will remain off the market until
TATTNALL 42
WESTFIELD .....13
WILCOX CO 12
HAWKINSVILLE.. .6
November.
In December, Maj. Gen. Mike Codings,
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center com
mander and the convening authority for
Robins AFB, referred the case of U.S. vs.
Witt to a general court-martial as a capital
See WITT, page 8A
TIFT CO 27
BROOKS CO. 7
DUBLIN SO
EAST LAURENS.. .0
TWO SECTIONS *lB PAGES
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Dalton loves to draw. Here is one of his
portrayals of a "Star Wars” character.
their relisting is approved.
He was also concerned about the impact
on neighborhoods.
“You don’t know who’s moving in there,”
Roland said.
Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Alphonso Jackson told all FHA
approved lenders like Roland to provide
foreclosure relief to FHA-insured families
who are affected by Hurricane Katrina.
The relief includes a special 90-day mora
torium on all foreclosures of FHA-insured
properties in the presidentially-declared
See HUD, page 8A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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WITT