Newspaper Page Text
FRIDAY
June 23, 2006
VOLUME 136, NUMBER 123
--- - - - .
OUR
FRONT
PORCH
COMING SATURDAY
Branches and roots
■ What do you know about
your family's history. Our
weekly Lifestyle section will
explore ways to get started
on research of your family
tree.
IN BRIEF
No shots, no school
■ Parents of sixth-graders
are reminded they must com
plete required immunizations
to enter middle school. The
Georgia Health Department
requires that all students
have current immunizations.
The required vaccinations
for sixth-graders are MMR,
Hepatitis B and Varicella
(Chicken Pox).
State law says, “No shots, no
school." Parents are urged
to make sure their children's
shots are up-to-date before
the first day of school, Aug. 4.
Parents are encouraged to
contact their health provider
for more information.
Camp time
■ The Warner Robins Police
Department will be sponsoring
summer camps for the youth
in Houston County, with dates
and particulars as follows:
June 26-30 from 9 a.m.-4
p.m.
This day camp will be held at
the Elks lodge on Carl Vinson
Parkway and is for students
of Houston County in the
fourth, fifth and sixth grade.
The cost is S4O per person.
July 10-21 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Activities planned include
bowling, skating, movies,
swimming and much more.
This two-week day camp will
be held at Huntington Middle
School and is for students of
Houston County in the sixth,
seventh and eighth grade.
The cost is SSO per person.
Lunch will be provided.
Activities include all of the
aforementioned above. For
more information call Warner
Robins Police Department at
929-7260.
BIRTHDAYS
■ Brrtlany Capp*
■ John Har
■ Susan McNally
■ Taylor Loudwi
■ Robert Bearden
■ Gabrtef Rice
Having a birthday or anniver
sary? Call Charlotte Perkins at
987-1823, ext. 234, ore-wail her
at cperkms@evansnewspapers.
cow.
DEATHS
■ Judy Alexander.
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
Man surrenders after 5-hour standoff
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Christopher Phillips, 34, was
taken into custody Wednesday
night after a five and a half
hour standoff on Tucker Road
in Perry
Capt. Allan Everidge with
the Houston County Sheriffs
Office said Phillips had out
standing warrants for burglary
and a bench warrant out from
Water, water
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Haynail Croteau, who works for Crossroads Landscape Design in Perry, takes advantage of water-restriction hours
to water flowprs the flowers in the heat in front of Security Bank on Washington Street in Perry on Thursday.
Restrictions remain topic of fierce debate
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Watering restrictions
continue to be a hot topic
no pun intended and
such was the case during
the Houston County Board
of Commission* meeting
Tuesday.
For starters, Commission
chairman Ned Sanders
reminded everyone of the
outdoor watering restric
More radios needed for better
communication between agencies
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
“What we have here is a
failure to communicate,” or
as it applies to, the Georgia
State Patrol in Perry, a fail
ure to “be able” to commu
nicate.
That said, things in that
regard might be about to
change, thanks to a request
by Post Commander Sgt.
Gregory Patrick and
Houston County district
attorney Kelly Burke made
to the county commission
during its meeting Tuesday.
They asked for the county
www. hhjnews. com
Superior Court.
“We had information from
Perry Police that he’d said he
was not going to jail and was
going to make police kill him,”
Everidge said, “so an agreement
was set up with an acquaintance
and we were going to try and
pick him up at the house.”
Everidge said, “the person
was there, but when (Phillips)
saw deputies drive up he pushed
tions and explained the
rationale behind them as a
difference of condition.
“We’ve had plus or minus
13 inches of rain for the
year,” he said. “We’re nor
mally at 22 inches.”
Sanders also said some of
the elevated tanks are run
ning down to the bottom,
and only have the “pump
pressure, not static pres
sure. The tanks are not fill
to pay for 10 800-megahertz
radios so the troopers can
communicate directly with
local law enforcement agen
cies and dispatchers.
Patrick added he has expe
rienced the need first had.
During the Jan. 27, 2005,
chase which ended with the
shooting death of Kevin
Screws in Woodlawn ceme
tery in Perry, Patrick said he
pulled alongside the vehicle
and because of the dark tint,
could not see in well. He did,
however, see a small hand
and said he believed there
was a child in the vehicle.
(the acquaintance) out the door
and barricaded himself in the
house. He said he had a gun and
wasn’t going to jail.”
Everidge said a direct phone
to the house was established but
he refused to pick it up to nego
tiate. After a couple of hours,
“we introduced pepper spray
into the house to encourage him
to surrender.”
WTien he didn’t come out and
ing back up before going
down again,” he said.
County Director of
Operations Tommy
Stalnaker said the county is
pumping 17 million gallons
a day. “We can’t do more,”
he said. “It’s a serious mat
ter. We need more coopera
tion.”
Sanders added: “We don’t
want to be in the situation
of pump failures and not be
But, he added, he couldn’t
communicate with the depu
ties involved. A deputy on
the others side of the car
saw it was a woman.
“If I knew there was not a
child in the vehicle, I would
pit them,” he said. “The
driver ended up doing the
pit maneuver on one of my
troopers, spinning his car
out ... The shooting in the
cemetery will follow me the
rest of my career.”
“After that incident,”
Patrick said, “the county
gave us a radio, which we
See RADIO, page 6 A
there was no response, Everidge
said “out of concern he may
have harmed himself or been
injured, the decision was made
to storm the house. We deployed
a flash bang device at one end
of the house to distract him and
entered the other end.”
“When we came in,” Everidge
said, “he laid down on the floor
and placed his hands behind
See POLICE, page 6A
ENI/Gary Harmon
able to get water out of the
ground.”
He also asked for volun
tary compliance and cited
the county code 68-110,
the drought contingency
plan that provides for these
restrictions.
County restrictions are
the statewide odd, even
restrictions even number
addresses water on Monday,
See WATER, page 6A
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Perry police officer Brian Mixon talks on his car radio
behind the police station Thursday. The Georgia State
Patrol post in Perry has requested 10 radios so the GSP
can communicate directly with local law enforcment offi
cials.
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TWO SECTIONS • 12 PAGES
County
to adopt
budget
Tuesday
Millage rate
may be lowered
by half a mill
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Want to have your say
on how the county spends
your tax dollars?
The Houston County
Board of Commissioners
will formally adopt the
$45 million fiscal year
2007 budget at a special
called meeting and pub
lic hearing on Tuesday at
6 p.m. in the boardroom
at the County Annex on
Carl Vinson Parkway in
Warner Robins. FT 2007
begins July 1, for the
county.
In the meantime, a copy
of the proposed budget is
available for review at the
Commissioner’s Office
at the County Annex in
Warner Robins during
normal business hours, 8
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday.
According to
Commission Chairman
Ned Sanders the bud
get, at $45,032,825, is a
9 percent increase of the
FY 2006 final budget of
$41,407,547.
“The increasing cost
of personnel services
accounts for most of this
increase,” said Sanders.
The budget includes
12 new positions and a
3.5 percent cost of living
increase for all employ
ees. The 12 new positions
include a personnel office
assistant, custodian,
Superior Court clerk, an
investigator for the Public
Defender’s Office and
five new positions in the
Sheriff’s Office including
a booking clerk, a records
clerk and three investi
gators. Sanders said the
positions are needed with
“the new laws and the
growing population,” of
Houston County.
See BUDGET, page 6A
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PHILLIPS
ENI/Gary Harmon