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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 PERIODICAL Award-Winning Newspaper 2004 Better Newspaper Contest 3001 0 GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT Main Library UNIV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 30602-0002 ALL FOR ADC 301 r ”3 : , ISI KMM, Hot SIOX OHXIX Sl\(J:lS7t) CLLhe 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 ML \ 4, .- * k ■ . jjf * - Jrallfe' 4. . M ■ rtsy* • H * 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 * J/ jj ■' Jfr Wm » S*f 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. W.\ 7:11 \ S /~ V V/// ) .\7 R S/MV > / /r 50# 11111(111 8 *ss loß*ooool**4 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 m, ~ * PHILLIPS ENI/Gary Harmon