Newspaper Page Text
6A
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2006
.
—• *—' • HEJp
ENI Gary Harmon
Wayne Dollar from the Georgia Farm Bureau cuts the ribbon while dignitaries look on
during a ceremony held recently at the new Georgia Farm Bureau on Hwy 41 just out
side of Perry.
IB 1
Buyers beware of door-to-door
medicare prescription scams
Special to the HHJ
ATLANTA lnsurance
Commissioner John W.
Oxendine said his office has
received complaints from con
sumers about scam artists,
some selling door-to-door, who
have tried to take advantage
of confusion surrounding the
new Medicare Prescription
Drug coverage benefit.
“Make sure anyone who
tries to sell you one of the new
Medicare Prescription Drug
Plans is a legitimate, licensed
insurance agent before you
give him or her any money
or personal information,”
Oxendine said.
“A real agent will make an
appointment to see you, and
will let you have time to go
over the policy and get back
to them; be wary of high-pres
sure tactics.”
Private insurance com
panies are selling the new
Medicare Prescription Drug
Plans which have been
TREE
From page iA
And roots go out two to
five times the length of the
branches. It can weaken a
tree and (it) begins to decline
- become poor in health. It
becomes weaker and limbs
die and they fall.”
Chance also explained that
trees might have structural
defects or may suffer injury
in a storm and crack and fail
later on.
“The interior of a tree is
deadwood,” said Chance.
“The outer bark protects
it from decay and insects.
As long as we can protect
the outer bark, they gener
ally recover and can do well.
They can heal over wounds.
They grow over the side and
cover them.”
Although the most impor
tant thing is not to damage
PERMIT
From page 1A
apartment permits issued
in May, four each in Perry
Grand opening
approved by Medicare.
The period for enrollment
in the program began Jan. 1
and ended May 15.
The next enrollment period
runs Nov. 15 through Dec.
31.
Since there are millions of
people eligible for the pro
gram, the potential exists for
more fraudulent sales activ
ity.
“To avoid being a vic
tim, verify before you buy,”
Oxendine said. The commis
sioner offered the following
tips to consider when being
solicited for drug plan poli
cies:
■ Check with Oxendine’s
office to make sure a sales
person is a licensed agent.
Call (404) 656-2070, or toll
free at (800) 656-2298, from
8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday
through Friday
■ Beware of door-to-door
salesmen.
Agents cannot solicit busi-
a tree, Chance said that once
a tree is damaged, all you
can do is give it proper care.
First, he suggests staying
out “from under the canopy
of it” which includes putting
buildings under its limbs
or driving vehicles under it
where the roots are grow
ing.
Second, Chance recom
mends replacing the grass
around the tree canopy with
mulch and watering prop
erly. He said that trees need
one to one a half inches of
water once a week.
“Get a pie pan or some
thing like that and put it on
under a sprinkler and time
it and see how much time it
takes to put out that much
water,” he said, adding that
people need to be aware of
the water restrictions in the
state and county.
Chance does not recom
mend fertilizing the tree
at first because it will not
and Centerville. Both did
•not have any the previous
ly month or in May 2005.
For the year, 152 apart
ment permits have been
issued, with the remain
ing 144 issued in February,
A salute
Members of Houston
Lodge No. 35 recently
took part in the annual 16
Historic Flags Program at
the Scottish Rite Temple
in Macon. The Program
was in honor of the sth
Combat Communications
Group from Robins Air
Force Base. Pictured, from
left, Past Master Thaggart
(Rutland Lodge No. 298),
Worshipful Master Alan
Shaw (Houston Lodge No.
35) and Junior Warden
John Croom (Houston
Lodge No. 35).
Nuhmittod
ness at your home without an
appointment.
■ Do not give out personal
information, such as Social
Security, bank account num
bers or credit card numbers
to anyone you have not veri
fied is a licensed agent.
Sales representatives are
not allowed to request such
personal information in their
marketing activities
Once you decide to purchase
a plan and have verified that
the agent is licensed, you may
give the agent personal infor
mation to assist in enrollment
and billing.
■ Verify that the plan is an
approved Medicare plan.
All of the approved plans
are available at www. medi
care, gov or you can call (800)
MEDICARE.
■ If you suspect fraud,
call the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
Inspector General at (800)
HHS-TIPS.
fix an injury. Instead, he
suggests waiting about six
months and then fertilizing
the tree lightly.
“Trees are big science,”
he said. “You really need an
arborist a person trained
in tree care because there
is a lot to it... an arborist can
correct some of these defects
but the most important
thing is preventing them.
That includes proper tree
care particularly pruning
properly.”
Although Chance said
that an arborist should be
consulted when it comes to
problems and defects with
trees, he said anyone inter
ested in looking at examples
of how to recognize tree
defects can e-mail him at
wchance@uga.edu.
To locate a certified arbor
ist, Chance suggests check
ing out the International
Society Web site at www.
isa-arbor.com.
with 128 in Warner Robins
and 16 in Perry.
There was only one apart
ment permit issued all of
2005 with one in Warner
Robins in September
2005.
LOCAL
WINDS
From page 1A
streets (on the west side
of the building that used
to be Family Mart) the
area in question.
He they are not
so convinced it wasn’t a
“true” statement in regard
to being a tornado.
There were reports, and
of course they lived it, of
fences being blown down,
shingles by the dozens
being blown off, and in one
case, a metal post being
driven into the wall of one
of the buildings in the area
that used to house the old
mall.
Lang offered this descrip
tion.
“The wind sounded like
it was blowing 200 mph,”
he said. “The hail was as
big as baseballs. You could
WATER
From page 1A
pressure for homeowners.
And it doesn’t look like
any of these restrictions are
going to change anytime
soon, according to Trussell.
The state law remains in
effect 365 days a year and
the county public works
would have to make the
decision to change the 4 to
10 p.m. watering ban for
the county water depart
ment.
“We’re getting hit pretty
hard still,” said Trussell
explaining that the water
ing restrictions give the
system time to recharge
the tanks. “If we can get
all the citizens to water on
their days, we would not
have any problem.”
And, according to
Trussell, if people would
water about a quarter to
half inch once or twice a
week, their yards would
be better off than if they
tried to water daily.
“Watering everyday
causes roots to stay shal
low. It’s better to water
once or twice a week
heavier than everyday,”
he explained.
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If it had been
lower, it would
have leveled this •
neighborhood
Andrew Lang
hear ‘whoop,’ ‘whoop,’
whoop.’ It blew a big metal
roof off... It sounded like a
train was coming through.
“There was this big oak
tree, it must have been
there forever. It picked it
straight up and moved it
about 10 feet before drop
ping it.
“Somebody said later
they had seen a funnel
cloud in Warner Robins
and I believe it.”
Lang, who said the whole
incident lasted 30-40 min
utes, is also no stranger to
tornadoes.
Now 71 and retired, but
having lived in Texas for
many years, he said they
With the dry weather that
the county has been hav
ing, Trussell said the water
department is really try
ing to crack down on peo
ple watering on the wrong
days. For the first offense
of watering on the wrong
day or at the wrong time,
Trussell said he just talks
to the residents and gives
them the correct informa
tion.
On the second offense,
he has the option of turn
ing off their water and/or
fining the offenders.
The Houston County
water department, accord
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_ 0000278
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
were “all over the place
(there).”
Also, in the 35 years he’s
lived in Warner Robins,
he’s also been caught in
one in Houston County.
“It was when I used to
work at the brewery in
Perry.” he said. “It caused
a million dollars in dam
age, tore off the roof ... all
the lights cut off and we
heard this terrible crash.
“This (the incident of
June 2) was similar to
that.”
Whether or not it was an
actual tornado may be up
for debate but one thing is
for sure, Lang said.
“It was horrible. You
couldn’t see a thing. It
about scared my wife to
death. She thought the
hail was going to come
through the window.
“If it had been lower it
would have leveled this
neighborhood.”
ing to Trussell, not only
serves homes in the unincor
porated parts of the county,
but also has subdivisions
in Centerville, Perry, and
Warner Robins.
“Everyday we’re riding
the subdivisions and giving
people notices of the water
ing bans,” he said. “We’re
riding in subdivisions day
and night.”
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