Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY
June 20, 2006
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 120
OUR
FRONT
PORCH
INSIDE
High school honor rolls
■ Houston County announces list
of honor rolls and honorable men
tions.
- Page 2A
IN BRIEF
Public invited to forums
■ The Houston County
Comprehensive Planning
Committee and it Chairman,
Rick Lowe, are holding
two public forums in June.
Residents and business rep
resentatives from Houston
County, Centerville, Perry and
Warner Robins are encour
aged to attend the meetings
to discuss the joint Houston
County Comprehensive Plan
Forums are planned as fol
lows:
■ Thursday, 6 p.m., Houston
County Board of Education
auditorium, 1100, Main
Street, in Perry.
■ June 29, 6 p.m., Centerville
City Hall, 300 E. Church
Street.
For more informa
tion contact Rick Lowe,
Chairman, Houston County
Comprehensive Planning
Committee, 926-9040 or
335-2594; or broderick.
lowe@robins.af.mil.
Red Cross seeks space
■ The Houston-Middle
Georgia Chapter of the
American Red Cross,
in cooperation with the
Houston County Emergency
Management Agency, will
conduct an emergency shel
tering briefing on Thursday
from 6-8 p.m. The briefing
will be at the Middle Georgia
Technical College auditorium.
According to Charles
Seymour of the local Red
Cross office, the American
Red Cross is focusing on four
different kinds of shelters: the
Red Cross, Red Cross/part
ner, Red Cross supported
and independently managed.
For information, call
Seymour at 923-6332, e-mail
cseymour© redcrosshmga.
org, or attend the meeting.
BIRTHDAYS
Saturday
■ Barbara Jean Cumbess
■ Scott McSwain
■ LaWanna Welch
■ Peggy King
ANNIVERSARIES
Sunday
■ Lisa and Chad Wicker
DEATHS
■ Louise McKinnley Crockett
■ Paul B. Munt Jr.
INDEX
LOCAL 2 A
WEATHER 3 A
OPINION 4 A
SPORTS 1 B
COMICS 4 B
CLASSIFIEDS .... 5 B
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LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
1J§ \ Cathy comes to
‘Sonny Country’
A education, jobs, a?chamotte
alternative energy HHJ Staff Writer
. 4. * vernor S° nn - V Pefdue’s turf
I - Sk V: : JKBtm ers for her bid for the Democratic
.4- SeUsf 1 ' 'Jk / nomination for the state’s top post
-'■j \ y ( 4f " / About 150 people attended the SSO
- !>• r jT a-plate barbecue fund-raiser for Cox
t / in the Miller-Murphy Howard Builder at
Jp?; W ? f t \ the Georgia National Fairgrounds. Among
* ' j f I j <***■**'" As I those in attendance were Rep. Robert Ray,
j .jJI'TMB'. jf j t D- Ft. Valley and his family; Rep. Lynmore
, A \ James, D-Montezuma, and former Rep.
/ m \ jL \ Cox, who served in the Georgia House of
a Bl Jf 1 S Representatives with Ray, James and Hudson,
KAy | \ 5* is currently Georgia’s Secretary of State, and will face Lt.
I j Governor Mark Taylor in the July 17 Democratic Primary.
- No Houston County elected officials were present.
| The winner will challenge Perdue in the General Election in
Hi Cox in her campaign ads and speeches is already running
// \\ - , *\ against both men, and has just released a commercial in which
Ay \\ 4 she begins bv explaining that she is not “the big guy,” in a refer
/yL ence to Taylor.
SbR jfc “We’ve had enough of big guys scratching the backs of other
big guys at the capital,” she told her supporters on Saturday,
I See CATHY, page 6 A
Perry
nearing
budget
vote
From staff reports
The Perry City Council
continues to deliberate over
its 2006 operating budget
and could vote on the pro
posed $7.86 budget as early
as tonight.
The mayor and council
will meet for a work session
at 4:30 today, with a regular
public meeting following at
6 p.m. in council chambers.
Both meetings are open to
the public.
The budget, as proposed
includes increased funding
for anticipated increases in
health insurance claims and
energy costs. Vehicle fuel is
expected to be 50 percent
higher in the year ahead,
and electricity is expected to
be 8.85 percent higher.
City administrator Lee
Gilmour said that the mayor
and council are still consid
ering the budget and dis
cussing it, and while a vote
See VOTE, page 6 A
lIHJ/Charlotte Perkins
RIGHT: Cathy Cox greets Bob Ray
of Perry, while his children Callie,
left, and Rob, watch on. Ray, who
has worked with Cox as Assistant
Secretary of State, was one of a
crowd of about 150 attending Cox’s
political fund-raiser at the Georgia
National Fairgrounds. Cox is seeking
the Democratic nomination for
governor. ABOVE: Cox tells the
crowd in the Miller-Murphy-Howard
building, “/ am the only candidate
who can beat Sonny Perdue.”
Unemployment, jobs up
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
The unemployment rate
rose in Warner Robins,
from April to May, but so
did the number of jobs.
Warner Robins added
300 jobs from April to May,
an increase of six-tenths
percent, from 54,100 jobs
in April to 54,400 jobs in
May. In Macon, jobs were
up 100, or one-tenth per
cent, from 101,700 in April
Warner Robins MSA Employment
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to 101,800 in May.
Warner Robins had 67
more, or 22 percent more
initial unemployment
insurance claims from
April’s 304 to May’s 371.
The number of claims is
also up 23.7 percent from
May 2005 when there
were 300 initial claims for
unemployment insurance.
Macon was also up 180,
or 18 percent, from 1,020
initial claims in April to
1,200 in May and up 7.1
percent from 80 initial
claims in May 2005.
The Warner Robins
Metro Service Area
includes all of Houston
County. The Macon Metro
Service Area includes Bibb,
Crawford, Jones, Monroe
and Twiggs counties
The state’s unemployment
rate rose to 4.7 percent in
May, up four-tenths of one
See RATE, page 6A
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TWO SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
Arrest
made in
Saturday
beating
ByRAYUGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Giovanni Demetrice Smith
was arrested Saturday on
charges stemming from the
assault of an acquaintance
with “some sort of stick,”
according to Det. Scott
McSwain of
the Warner
Robins
police
department
Criminal
Investi
gations
Division.
O n
Saturday,
about
11:20 a.m.,
Warner Robins Police
responded to a Vickie Lynn
Drive residence in refer
ence to an assault. Upon the
officers’ arrival they found
Charlie Jones Jr. suffering
from a wound to his head
and torso.
See ARREST, page SA
SMITH