Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
April 19, 2006
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 76
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
It's Vidalia time
See page 6A for recipes
and tips on the Georgia
favorite.
In BRIEF
YMCA to hold
tryouts tor
first All-Star
Cheerleading
The Houston County
YMCA is holding tryouts
for the first ever YMCA
all-star competitive cheer
leading squad in Middle
Georgia. All males and
females ages 10-19 are wel
come to tryout Saturday,
April 22 at 9 a.m. at the
Northside YMCA located
at 1902 Suite D. Eleberta
Road in Warner Robins.
There will be a $lO try
out fee. The squad will be
announced on the same
day at 4:00 p.m. For more
information, please call
(478) 922-2566.
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Tamara Carter
David HUderbrand
Betsy Edwards
Having a birthday or anniver
sary? We ’ll put it right here.
Call Charlotte Perkins at (478)
987-1823, ext. 234, ore-mail
cperkins@evansnewspapers. com
Area DEATHS
Oscar Anderson
Matt Bennett
Joseph Raymond
Boland
Thomas E. Brady
See OBITS, page 2A
INDEX
BUSINESS 5A
CLASSIFIED 5B
CLUB NEWS 3A
COMICS 4B
CROSSWORD 4B
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS .. 3A
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 4B
WEATHER 3A
PERIODICAL
4
Gfewgia newspaper Project
Man Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 30602-0002
ALL FOR ADC 301
April 19, 2006
Serving Houston County Since IS7O
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
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HH.) Mike George
Dignitaries with the Georgia Cities Foundation’s “Heart & Sou 1" Bus
Tour prepare to step inside the New Perry Hotel for lunch Tuesday
momirjg. The group of roughly 30 state officials, business leaders and
philanthropists plans to visit 13 cities in three days.
Class size
law signed
From staff reports
Governor Sonny Perdue has
signed into the Truth in Class Size
Act (HB1358), legislation lowering
class sizes in kindergarten through
eighth grade.
Governor Perdue signed the
bill into law at a kindergarten
class at Mirror Lake Elementary
School in Douglas County.
“Today we’re accomplishing two
things. First, before the children
walk in the door on the first day of
school, parents and teachers will
know with certainty that the num
ber of children in the classroom
will be limited,” said Governor
Perdue.
“And second," he said, "we’re
reducing class sizes to create a
better learning environment for
Georgia’s students.”
Beginning in the fall of 2006,
parents and teachers will see no
more than 18 students in a kinder
garten class, down from a maxi
mum of 20 in the past. For grades
1-3, classes will be reduced to 21
students in a class, down from
23. In grades 4-8, class sizes will
be reduced from 32 students to a
maximum class size of 28 students.
Governor Perdue’s FYO7 bud
get includes $163 million in gen
eral instruction through the
See CLASS, page 2A
EEOC overturns RAFB dismissal of complaint
Despite a guilty plea to sexual asault, the harrassment complaint was dismissed
(Editor's note: the charges in
this case are very specific, but
details would be inappropriate
for a family newspaper.)
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
On April 5, the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission over
turned a decision made by Robins
Air Force Base Equal Employment
Office to dismiss sexual harassment
and sexual assault charges against
a civilian senior manager.
The manager, Mark Ferris, a con
tracting branch chief at Robins,
pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2005, in
U.S. District Court for the Middle
District of Georgia in Macon, to
assaulting his secretary, Sharon
Peacock, by touching her inap
propriately and exposing himself,
behavior she did not consent to or
encourage. He was sentenced to six
www. hhjnews. com
Pulling a fire truck
i me
Photo by Keith Kindle
Law enforcement and firefighters swarmed around Perry’s newest fire truck for the first Fire Truck Pull, rais
ing well over S6OO for the Special Olympics. A team from the Warner Robins Fire Department finished their
pull in 9.12 seconds, winning the competition. The Houston County Fire Department finished second
with a time of 9.29 seconds. The third place team from Robins Air Force Base finished in 9.41 seconds.
Five teams competed Saturday, including the Perry Fire Department and Body Tec of Perry. The Perry Fire Department
and Dr. Michael Kinsley raised money for trophies.
months in prison, with a strong rec
ommendation that he be placed in a
hospital or psychiatric-type facility.
“The dismissal of the sexual
harassment charge was a gross
abuse of power by the Air Force,”
said Josh Bowers, attorney for
Peacock. “The EEOC administra
tive procedure is intended to pro
tect employees with a quick and
confidential procedure for resolving
discrimination actions.”
Instead, Bowers said, “the
Agency (the Equal Employment
Office at Robins) attempted to
evade its responsibility to protect
Ms. Peacock by discouraging her
complaint then dismissing a valid
sexual harassment complaint.”
He also noted that during this
time, the base expedited Ferris’
application for retirement. “The
whole case smacks of injustice and
sends a message to the women at
Perry welcomes
Heart & Soul tour
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
Thousands of tourists visit downtown
Perry every year, stopping at local res
taurants, picking up treasures in the
city’s boutiques and shops, and some
times even bringing along the family
dog for a quiet walk.
One busload of state officials, business
leaders and philanthropists saw the best
the city had to offer Tuesday morning,
welcomed by Perry’s downtown busi
ness community with open arms.
For six years, the Georgia Cities
Foundation has sponsored a bus tour
through the state, taking a closer look
at how Georgia communities are revi
talizing their downtowns. This year,
Perry was the second stop on the “Heart
& Soul” Bus Tour. Perry Mayor Jim
Worrall and Downtown Manager Tish
Mims greeted the group in Fort Valley
before the bus arrived at The New Perry
Hotel shortly before 11:30 a.m.
“This is important for our city,” Mims
said. “This is a group of people who are
interested in economic development in
this state, and they know how to find
to find the money that makes economic
development possible.”
Perry High School’s “Pride of the
Crossroads” marching band performed
as the bus pulled in to town, and the
group was greeted by city leaders before
Robins Air Force Base with notice
sexual harassment charges will not
be taken seriously.”
Bowers said, “the EEOC decision
corrected the Agency’s wrong-head
ed dismissal decision.”
Peacock initiated contact with an
EEOC counselor on July 20, 2004
and filed a formal complaint on
Oct. 8, 2004, with some incidents,
according to the EEOC decision
beginning as far back as late 2000
through July 2004.
Of the 16 complaints, 14 were
dismissed by the Base Equal
Employment Office on the basis
of untimely contact with an EEO
counselor. The complainant then
filed the instant appeal on her own,
without an attorney.
Bowers explained federal employ
ees have 45 days from the incident
to file a complaint with the Equal
Employment Office and meet with
TWO SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
stepping inside the hotel for lunch. The
group’s visit included a tour of Perry’s
downtown district, where organizers
talked about the progress of three of
the city’s economic development proj
ects. One, the facade grant program,
gives downtown business owners help in
refurbishing and refinishing the outside
appearance of their buildings. According
to Mims, the program has been in place
since the 19705.
The tour also included a stop at the
city’s downtown Garden Park, which
greets visitors from U.S. 41 and Houston
Lake Road. Plans are underway to
expand the modest park in a land swap
ping deal with Perry United Methodist
Church.
The Big Indian Creek project, spear
headed by the Perry Rotary Club, will
eventually turn a lot along Courtney
Hodges Boulevard, once filled with
twisted vines, cinder blocks and old
tires, into a park area with walking
trails and a bridge over the creek.
Both city leaders and Perry’s
Downtown Development Authority
organized Tuesday’s tour. Each par
ticipant also received a gift basket from
the city.
According to Mims, the tour is
designed to educate and inform
state leaders on the importance of
See BUSLOAD, page 24
a counselor. The counselor has 30
days to investigate then 15 days
after that to file a complaint. The
agency then has 60 month to inves
tigate itself.
Bowers said the Supreme Court
ruled that if one of the incidents
happened within the 45-day win
dow then all other previous inci
dents can be included as well. That
is the basis for the EEOC overturn
ing the case, Bowers said.
“I’ve never seen an appellate
body rule in eight days,” Bowers
said, noting he’s being doing this
for 20 years. “It caught me totally
by surprise.”
Department of Defense Office of
Complaint Investigations will have
to assign an investigator for the
case, Bowers explained. The inves
tigator will talk to witnesses and
collect documents at Robins Air
Force Base.
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