Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY
May 3, 2006
YRV 136, NUMBER 86
OUR
INSIDE
Unemployment down
B And jobs are up in Houston
County according to the Georgia
Department of Labor.
~ Page 2A
Demons split opener
B Warner Robins loses first, wins
second in double header with Henry
County Warhawks.
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B Laura Rodriguez wanted to show
support for the rights of immigrants.
So, on Monday when many in' the
nation closed their doors for a day
in protest, the small shop owner in
Perry joined them. Read her story
in Thursday's Houston Home
Journal.
IN BRIEF
Scouts selling barbecue
B Boy Scout Troop 96 is selling
barbecue dinners for $6 per plate
Friday 11a.m.-2p.m. and 4 p.m. to
6 p.m. Each plate includes pulled
pork barbecue, beans, chips, bread
and a dessert. They will deliver to
your location if a minimum of 10
plates are ordered for same deliv
ery time. Plates may be picked up
at Crossroads United Methodist
Church Family Activities Building at
1600 Main Street in Perry. Proceeds
from the fund-raiser will go to making
sure each scout can attend camp. If
you have any questions, call Vickie
Graham at 987-4621.
Ordinance meeting set
B Warner Rohins will host a town
hall meeting Thursday to explain its
proposed sex offender ordinance.
The meeting is set to begin at 5
p.m. at Warner Robins City Hall in’
council chambers. The city council
will not take action on the ordinance
until after the public forum. The ordi
nance would prohibit the residence
of a registered sex offender from
being within 1,500 feet from schools,
child, care facilities or any places
where minors congregate. State law
is 1,000 feet.
BIRTHDAYS
W David Burgin
M Barbara Sandefur Ham
M Scott Hutchinson
W Carolyn Ragan
W Julia Watts
DEATHS
M Ron Dowdy
W Michael Weldy
INDEX
RO .. ... ... A
WEATHER ....... 3A
OPINION .. ....... 4A
DUSINESS . ...... 5A
SIS, . ........BA
SIS .. .......BA
CLASSIFIEDS .....9A
PERIODICAL
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May 3, 2006
ISl{RVl‘\’(,' HoUSTON COUNTY: SINCE 1870
The JJaierl
- LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
CITY OF PERRY, CITY OF WARNER ROBINS AND CITY OF CENTERVILLE
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HH.J/Ray Lightner
Willie Talton looks at his new badge Monday as a member,
once again, of the Warner Robins Police Department.
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Warner Robins city council sets its sights on Peach County
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
According to members of the
Warner Robins city council, the city
has prospects on the west side of I
-75 off Russell Parkway.
“If what’s happening on the plan
ning board happens,” said Mayor
Donald Walker, “we’d be the largest
city in Peach County.”
The city council was discussing
the service delivery agreement in
Houston County at the pre-council
session this past Thursday when the
issue came up.
The agreement was approved
Monday - minus some language
about appointments to the Library
Board - that the cities no long can
make appointments to countywide
boards like the Library Board and
Hospital Authority concerns the city
raised about the agreement.
www.hhjnews.com
Movie Magic
The county, Perry and Centerville
each have approved the state man
dated service delivery strategy
agreement, which spells out services
provided by the respective govern
ment entities and how those services
are funded.
Councilman Dean Cowart asked if
a similar agreement was forthcom
ing from Peach County. The mayor
said yes, a service delivery agree
ment is coming, “but it seems to
change. They don’t want us to west
of I-75.” :
The city limits already extend
across the interstate to the Pilot gas
station and truck stop.
The city also has about 500 res
idents in Peach County. “Warner
Robins has a say in Peach County’s
service delivery strategy too,”
Walker said.
Warner Robins has questions
Willie Talton returns to
WR police department
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Willie Talton began his law enforcement
career 40 years ago as one of the first black
police officers with the Warner Robins Police
Department.
“It’s good to come back home to where I
started,” Talton said after taking his oath
of office Monday, to once again be an active
duty police officer with the department
Talton was with the Warner Robins Police
Department for seven years, reaching the
rank of captain before being hired away
by newly elected Sheriff Cullen Talton in
1973.
Talton, also a state representative, recent
ly retired from the Houston County Sheriff’s
Office. “When I left the Sheriff’s Office for
the General Assembly,” Willie Talton said,
“I gave the citizens of Houston County my
word I would retire.”
“I felt it was fitting to retire,” he said, “to
not stand in the way of others moving up in
the sheriff’s office.”
Mayor Donald Walker said the return
about the limitations of any agree
ment including other cities deny
ing Warner Robins the opportunity
to provide services in others ser
vice delivery areas when the cities
themselves can’t. Councilman Terry
Horton noted both “Fort Valley and
Centerville have interest in provid
ing services to the area of the sod
farm. I don’t know how they can
deny us, when they can’t physically
do it.”
The city also has prospects on
the east side of the interstate in
Peach County including the front
age road between Russell Parkway
and Watson Boulevard. At Thursday
night’s pre-council session, the
council voted to abandon a 4-acre
portion of the rights of way previ
ously donated for the frontage road
at Russell Parkway.
Councilman Dean Cowartdescribed
of Talton to the Warner Robins Police
Department is to: “correct a wrong done so
many years ago.
“At the time he was hired, the state did
not let African-American officers contribute
to pension plans.”
A recently passed state law changes that
and permits black police officers hired at
that time to now qualify for the full pension
they would have received if they were white.
But the state requires they be an active
police officer, Walker said.
Talton and others sponsored the legisla
tion, House Bill 666, amending the Peace
Officers” Annuity and Benefit Fund so
that any active member of the fund on
July 1, and any person who becomes
an active member after such date, may
obtain creditable service for prior service
as a peace officer rendered prior to Jan.
1, 1976.
According to the bill, “a member wishing
toestablish such creditable service shall pay
an employee’s contribution in an amount
See TALTON, page 10A
Members of the Warner
Robins High School
Theatre Department
rehearse Monday for “The
Follies: Movie Magic.” The
group is set to perform
Saturday at 7 p.m. and on
Sunday at 2 p.m. Reserved
tickets are $8 for adults,
$5 for students. Costs at
the door are: $lO for adults
and $8 for students. For
more information, call 542-
2275.
ENI/Gary Harmon
AN EVANS! EAMILY. NEWSPAPER
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ONE SECTION * 10 PAGES |
Persistence
Childers
By CHARLOTTE
PERKINS
HHJ Assistant Editor
Al Childers got his wish
for a rezoning on Tuesday
- with a little help from
his friends and neighbors.
Childers, who wanted to
have his lot at 745 Lake
Joy Road
rezoned
so that he
could use
his home
for a real
estate
office
has been
back and
forth to
meetings
gslnce
Feb. 22 when he first filed
the request.
The Planning and
Zoning office approved the
request. Then the County
Commissioners sent it
back to P&Z for further
study. And then the ques
tion came back to the
County Commissioners.
This time, Childers had
a lawyer, some letters and
some good friends and
neighbors with him.
Tim Millwood of
the Rehoboth Baptist
Association, achurch head
quarters just across Lake
See COUNTY, page 10A
the land as “the little peach orchard
at the corner of Russell and 1-75.”
The road, now in place, was
realigned from the intital design,
Walker said. “Tim Dupree asked we
abandon the right of way he donated
to the city as we're not going to use
it‘”
Part of the action approved
includes signing a quitclaim deed
for the land. Walker said, “he asked
it be done quickly as he has a buyer
and can’t close until we sign off on
it.”
The council also approved an ani
mal maintenance agreement with
Centerville, which that city has
already approved. Warner Robins
version brings the terms of the
agreement more in line with a simi
lar agreement Warner Robins has
with the county for keeping animals
See COUNCIL, page 10A
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