Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
April 20, 2006
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 72
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2004
Better Newspaper
Contest
In BRIEF
The meetings that
didn't happen
By KIMBERLY CASSEL
PRITCHETT
HHJ Contributing Writer
In a rare twist of events,
two, regularly-scheduled
city meetings in Houston
County have been can
celed this week due to
unforeseen circumstanc
es.
The Tuesday work ses
sion/council meeting in
Centerville was canceled
due to the lack of a quorum.
In an e-mail sent earlier
Tuesday, Centerville City
Clerk Krista Bedingfield
stated that the regu
larly scheduled council
meeting would not be
held because Centerville
Mayor Bubba Edwards
had a family emergency
out of town, Councilman
Sherod Wilson was out
of town dealing with a
business emergency, and
Councilman Randall
Wright had dental sur
gery. At 6 p.m., no one
had shown up at the
Centerville City Hall and
signs were posted on the
door stating that the meet
ing was canceled. While
closing up the building,
Bedingfield
See MEETINGS, page 8A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Cynthia Neal
Linda DeShazo
Having a birthday or anniver
sary? Well put it right here.
Call Charlotte Perkins at (478)
987-1823, ext. 234, ore-mail
cperkins@evansnewspapers.com
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Mike and Carolyn
Brambiett
Area DEATHS
Jessie B. Davis
Teralyn Dixon Huntley
Joan L. Liberty
Suzanne Limehouse
Barbara Ann Manders
See OBITS, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 7 A
COMICS 6A
CROSSWORD.... 6A
HONOR ROLLS. . 118
LEGALS 4B
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
SCHOOL NEWS . 128
SPORTS 1B
TV LISTINGS 6A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
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ATHENS GA 30602-0002
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April 20, 2006
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
Run, run as fast as you can
Teen eludes, then kicks and spits at police in two-hour chase
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
A 15-year-old Perry teenager ran
from police Monday afternoon, lead
ing authorities on a chase through
the city that ended two hours later.
According to Capt. Heath Dykes
with the Perry Police Department,
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HHJ/Don Moncrief
Warner Robins’ Trevor Whelan (11) battles an Upson-Lee opponent in the Demons’ Region 3-AAAA second round play
off game Tuesday at Tanner Field in Warner Robins. The match, after two overtime periods, was finally settled on a
series of shootout penalty kicks with the Bulldogs coming out on top. For more, see page 18.
Retirement complex planned for Perry
City Council endorses $7.6 million Macon Road project
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
The Perry City Council has
endorsed an estimated $7.6 million
project to build rental apartments
for seniors in a new community
along Macon Road.
Bill Collins, president of
Potemkin-Magita Development,
Inc., asked for a resolution in sup
port of the Cameron Court proj
ect Tuesday. Collins is working
to secure tax credits through the
Georgia Department of Community
Affairs, and plans to sell those cred
its for equity on the project.
“This project is going to cost
roughly $7.6 million,” he said. “If I
can secure tax credits through the
state, I may only have to borrow $2
million.”
Collins’ company asked for a sim
ilar resolution from the council in
2000, before starting work on the
Gatwick Village retirement com
munity along Perimeter Road the
following year. Collins said he plans
to build a 64-unit apartment com
plex in a single-story configuration.
He plans to offer both one-bedroom
Peach buying into Houston's E-911 radio system
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Assistant Editor
The Houston County
Commissioners voted on Tuesday
night to approve an intergovernmen
tal agreement with Peach County for
public safety radio communications.
Essentially, public safety officials
in Fort Valley and Peach County, will
be using Houston County’s 4-site,
simulcast 800 MHz radio system,
which provides radio and data com
munications for law enforcement
officials, firefighters and other emer
gency personnel.
Peach County will purchase ter
www.hhjnews.com
officers were called to Smith Drive
shortly after 1 p.m. Monday, after
the boy allegedly threw a brick at his
mother, smashing into the sunroof
of a parked car.
Police did not reveal the teen’s
identity, but Dykes said that the boy
had run away from home for several
Scalped
and two-bedroom apartments, with
estimated monthly rental rates
starting at below S4OO.
According to council members,
Collins has had similar success with
similar projects in Byron, Gray,
Thomaston and South Macon.
Collins is hoping to begin con
struction early next year.
Also on Tuesday, the council
approved an ordinance to amend
the Perry Land Development
Ordinance, the city’s zoning rules,
creating neighborhood commer
cial corridor districts and placing
tighter restrictions on signs and
billboards in certain areas where
commercial and residential devel
opment meet. The new restric
tions will effect parts of Macon
Road, Swift Street, Houston Lake
Road, and Main Street from the
Perry Parkway to downtown;
Kings Chapel Road from the Perry
Parkway to Houston Lake Road;
and the entire stretch of Martin
Luther King Jr. Drive. Under the
new restrictions, business owners
will have roughly 64 square feet
for signs and billboards on their
minal equipment allowing access
to Houston County’s system, and
will also purchase radios and other
accessories compatible with Houston
County’s system. Additionally Peach
County will pay a user fee to Houston
for the service.
Commissioner H. Jay Walker 111
praised the move toward coopera
tion and noted that he hoped that
the Georgia State Patrol would soon
have 800 MHz capability in middle
Georgia, because they currently can
not communicate directly with other
law enforcement officers when on
high speed chases.
days.
When officers arrived on the
scene, the boy fled on foot towards
W.E Ragin Drive. The boy even
tually made his way to Ball and
Washington streets, running past
City Hall and the police department,
according to Dykes. Detectives and
property. Businesses won’t be able
to post freestanding signs larger
than 32 square feet or taller than
10 feet, but the new rules give busi
ness owners leeway to post larger
signs on the building, as long as
the total square footage of signs on
their property doesn’t exceed the
64 square feet allowed.
The new rules also allow shop
ping centers to post signs based
on the size of their building front,
and also sets restrictions on lighted
signs in these areas, designed to
prevent glare and light shining on
surrounding properties. Violators
will face municipal citations.
The new restrictions were devel
oped by the city’s planning depart
ment and supported by the Perry
Planning Commission.
Also during Tuesday’s regular
meeting, the council:
• Introduced an ordinance to
annex and re-zone roughly 44 acres
along Kings Chapel Road. Wayne
Roughton plans to develop the tract
with multiple homes. The Perry
Planning Commission stamped
See PERRY, page 8A
The county also voted to begin
charging a fee of S3OO to raise or
lower meter boxes and the accompa
nying pipes for water service.
According to Public Works Director
Tommy Stalnaker, who recom
mended the fee, many requests have
been made for raising the meter
boxes due to landscaping changes,
and county workers are spending
increasing amounts of time on these
requests. The motion was passed
unanimously, with Commission
Chairman Ned Sanders commenting
that the fee may “encourage people
to work more efficiently.”
TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAGES
Perry firefighters chased the boy
on foot across Washington Street
and through the parking lot of The
Houston Home Journal’s offices,
where the boy jumped over a fence
and ran into nearby the Heritage
Apartments. According to Dykes,
See RUN, page 8A
Schools
ready for
testing
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
HHJ Assistant Editor
Parents are being urged to get
their children to bed on time next
week and school lunchroom workers
are gearing up to offer free break
fasts for every child from grades
one through eight, as the big testing
week arrives.
Superintendent of Schools
Danny Carpenter told the Board
of Education on Tuesday that stu
dents will be taking the Criterion
Referenced Competency Tests
Monday through Friday. Also End
of Course exams are coming up for
high school students, and Advance
Placement tests for high achievers
in different academic fields will soon
be given.
The CRCT, which is required by
Georgia Law, is used to diagnose
individual student strengths and
weaknesses. Students in grades one
through eight take the test in read
ing, English/language arts and math.
Students in grades three through
eight are also tested in science and
social studies.
Test scores also provide infor
mation, by comparison with other
school systems, on how well individ
ual schools and systems are doing.
Supt. Carpenter also announced
that the groundbreaking for a new
school, Lake Joy Primary, will take
place at 11 a.m., April 27.
A number of new appointments
to the central office staff were
approved by the Board at the meet
ing. These include the following, all
of whom will work in the Teaching
and Learning Department:
Pam Knauer, currently a teacher
at Feagin Mill Middle school, and
an educator with the Houston sys
tem for 22 years, has been named
Coordinator of Social Studies.
Amy Fouse, currently teaching at
Perry High school, has been named
Coordinator of Language Arts for
the Teaching and Learning Dept.
See TESTING, page 8A
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HHJ/Charlotte Perkins
Chandler Stroman, one of two winners
of the Evening Optimist Oratorical con
test spoke to the Board of Education on
Tuesday, giving her winning speech,
Another speaker, Tyier Heck, also
spoke. The students received enthusi
astic applause.
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