Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY
June 13,2006
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 115
OUR
FRONT
PORCH
INSIDE
Split and Web
■ Northside's baseball team
teams as some players
have been split into additional
squads has had a good
summer on the baseball dia
mond. Such, however, has
not been the case for Perry's
squads.
In other news, Region 1-
AAAAA football has a new
Web site, which will be main
tained by local Internet expert
and statistician Wade Moore.
- Page 1B
IN BRIEF
2 killed in motorcycle wreck
■ The Houston County
Sheriff's Office Traffic Division
investigated a fatal collision
that occurred on U.S. 341,
three miles south of Perry.
Charles Evans, 57, and
Mary Gordy, 47, both of
Macon, the driver and pas
senger, respectively, of the
motorcyle died on scene.
According to Sheriff’s
Office, the accident occurred
one mile south of Saddle
Creek Road at approxi
mately 2:40 p.m., Sunday.
The motorcycle, a blue 1992
Harley Davidson, crossed the
centerline and was struck by
the tractor-trailer, a blue 2005
Ken worth.
The driver of the tractor
trailer attempted to avoid the
collision, and according to the
Sheriff’s Office, the tractor
portion of the truck missed
motorcycle, but the motorcy
cle was struck by the trailer.
Both were thrown off the
motorcycle and died on
scene. The driver of the truck
was uninjured. Neither driver
appears to have been under
the influence of either alcohol
or drugs.
The truck driver was
Rafael Ferrer, 38, of East
Stroudsburg, Pa. He is not
expected to be charged.
Ray Lightner
BIRTHDAYS
Tuesday
■ Christine Walker
■ Tricia Weeks
■ Hugh D. Lord
■ Linda Christie
■ June Harris
■ Chad Shelton
ANNIVERSARIES
Tuesday
■ Steve and Nancy Greene
DEATHS
■ Helen Virginia Beall
■ Wayne Tallant
INDEX
LOCAL 2 A
WEATHER 3 A
OPINION 4 A
LIFESTYLE 9 A
SPORTS 1 B
COMICS 4 B
CLASSIFIEDS .... 5 B
PERIODICAL
Award-Winning
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2004
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Contest
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perky, city of Warner Robins and cit\’ of Centerville
Twister, twister
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ENLCJary Harmon
Jerry Reppert points to damage to his yard and house Friday. The storm that caused the damage hit the area June
2 in Warner Robins. Some residents say the damage was caused by the tornado, but no weather agency reported
a funnel on that day.
Damage caused by high winds, but was it a tornado?
By DON MONCRIEF
HHJ Managing Editor
True or false, a tornado
touched down in Warner
Robins June 2?
The answer: It depends
on who you talk to.
It’s false if you talk to
anyone from the Robins Air
Force Base Weather sec
tion, which according to
one forecaster is only con
Proper planning can keep lawn green
By KIMBERLY CASSEL PRITCHETT
HHJ Contributing Writer
Having a nice, green yard with
healthy trees will take a little more
than a green thumb in Houston
County. It takes planning.
With state water restrictions already
in place and an additional curfew on
watering implemented by the county,
Houston Countians have to plan ahead
to make sure their prized greeneries
get the proper watering needed to stay
healthy.
According to Grady Trussed, project
manager for Operations Management
International Houston County Water,
since 2005, state law allows even
numbered houses to do outside water-
Proper tree care
essential for safety
By KIMBERLY CASSEL
PRITCHETT
HHJ Contributing Writer
With the first official day
of summer approaching
and temperatures consis
tently in the 90s, proper
care and maintenance of
trees is essential.
According to Houston
County extension agent
Willie Chance, hurricane
season is not the only time
people need to worry about'
falling trees. It can happen
anytime - and does.
In April 2003, a tree fell
on a car traveling south
on Houston Lake Road in
the middle of the after
noon, causing traffic to be
detoured and backed up for
hours. And most recently,
a falling tree limb injured
a father and a son in their
backyard while a second
son was fatally wounded
by it.
“In the summer, we have
thunderstorms and wind
- high winds and rain
fall make the tree limbs
heavy,” he said. “In the
www.hhjnews.com
cerned* with a five-nauti
cal mile radius arouftd the
installation, anyway. This,
the area in question, would
have been just outside that
circle.
It’s also false if you talk
to the National Weather
Service. ,
“We had some reports of
some strong storms on that
day,” said forecaster Shirley
Watering plans
The state has placed restrictions
on when residents can use outside
water. In addition, Houston County
placed further restrictions on use.
Here’s a breakdown of when watering
is allowed:
Even-numbered houses: Monday,
Wednesday, Saturday.
Odd-numbered: Tuesday, Thursday,
Sunday.
No house can water on Friday and
the county added a no-watering time
of 4-10 p.m. everyday.
ing on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Saturdays anytime during the day or
night and odd-numbered houses on
summertime, the leaves
catch the wind. It weakens
the trees and makes them
fall.”
When the wind the blows,
Chance said that trees gen
erally learn to strengthen
themselves based on which
way the wind is blowing on
it. However, the problems
begin to arise when people
cut off limbs. When that
occurs, the wind blows on
the tree differently and
puts stress on it in a dif
ferent way, causing it to be
more likely to fall.
The best thing to do,
according to Chance, is
to be careful not to dam
age a tree at all. He said
that crowding a tree, doing
anything within three to
four feet of a tree could be
extremely bad - causing it
to fall.
“Trees don’t forget - you
can cut through a tree and
see where it was wounded
from years before. Basically
anything that happens to
its roots weakens the tree.
See TREE, page 6 A
Lamback, “but no reports
of a tornado.”
That, false, is also the
case if you talk to anyone
from the Warner Robins
Fire Department.
. “It was pretty rough,”
said firefighter Bruce Davis,
who wasn’t on duty June 2
but saw firsthand the dam
age caused the day follow
ing. “It knocked down some
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Houston County extension agent Willie Chance exam
ines a tree for maintenance problems.
power lines”
“It did some damage,” he
said matter-of-factly.
“I haven’t heard it report
ed as a tornado, but there
were some pretty strong
winds.”
And then there’s Andrew
Lang, and some others who
live off Green Street and on
James, Sidney and Merlin
See WINDS, page 6A
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays;
there is a total outdoor watering ban
in the state on Fridays. But that’s
not all the restrictions that have been
placed on outside watering.
“Since we’re having a draw down on
our tanks in the afternoon, Houston
County further enacted a total water
ing ban from 4 to 10 p.m. daily,” said
Trussell.
The county, according to Trussell, is
on a gravity flow system. Consequently,
the tanks are a storage for the demand
time of water and as the tanks draw
down, the tank water pressure in the
system at resident’s homes drops. As
the tanks are filled, it provides the
See WATER, page 6A
TWO SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
Housing
permits
down
slightly
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
There were 152 single
family dwelling permits
issued in the month of May
for all of Houston County,
down slightly from the 155
issued in April and the 156
issued in May 2005.
Perry was the only one
of the three cities and the
unincorporated area of the
county to have an increase
from April to May, with 26
single family dwelling per
mits up one from 25 in April.
It is also up 32 percent from
the 17 permitted in May
2005.
Both Centerville and the
unincorporated areas were
down' two permits in May
with seven and 47 respec
tively, compared to nine and
49 in April. Centerville per
mits are down 42 percent
from the 12 in May 2005.
In the unincorporated areas,
permits are down about 8
percent from the 51 in May
2005.
Warner Robins was down
nine percent from April’s
80 permits with 72 in May
and down slightly from May
2005’s 76 permits.
The average value of the
homes permitted county
wide, at $133,328.12 for
May, was also down almost
SIO,OOO from the previous
month’s $143,998.67 and
May 2005’s average value of
$143,289.93.
While down countywide,
the average value of homes
permitted in May in the
unincorporated areas, at
$184,052.34, was up from
April’s $181,337.14 and May
2005’s $178,815.68. The
average value of the homes
permitted in each of the cit
ies in May was also down
from the previous month
and May 2005 with drops of
around SIO,OOO in Perry and
Centerville.
In Warner Robins, the
average value for May was
$105,761.73, down from
April’s $111,378.06 and
May 2005’s sll2, 594.60.
In Perry, the average value
of the permitted homes for
May was $113,351.53, down
from April’s $122, 628.80
and May 2005’s $134,712.94.
In Centerville, the average
value of the homes permit
ted dropped from $185,860
in May 2005, to $162,034.44
in April and down again to
$150,490 in May.
The number of manu
factured homes permitted
countywide almost doubled
from eight in April to 15 in
May. It is more than double
the seven permitted in May
2005.
Centerville had most of
the permits in May with
seven. There were five in the
unincorporated areas, three
in Warner Robins and none
in Perry.
The unincorporated
areas and Perry were both
unchanged from April to
May with five and no man
ufactured home permits
respectively. Perry had none
in May 2005 and there were
four manufactured home
permits issued in May 2005.
Warner Robins was up to
three in May from one in
April and two in May 2005.
Centerville’s seven permits
were up from the two in April
and none in May 2005.
There were also eight
See PERMIT, page 6 A
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