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THURSDAY June 29, 2006 VOLUME 136. NUMBER 127 OUR FRONT PORCH INSIDE Police beat ■ Three women one preg nant fight it out; Pot and no combma- l" , tion fIHT y - Page 2A I w It's a stretch ■ The Nationals extended their lead in the Middle Georgia Baseball standings with a win against the Tigers. -Page 1B IN BRIEF Grand re-opening ■ The Georgia Department of Driver Services will re-open the driver license facility in Perry on July 11. The office is located at 450 Larry Walker Parkway. Their office hours will be Tuesday- Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. It will re-open, according to a release from the organization, as a full service facility offer ing renewals, the written test, passenger vehicle road tests, motorcycle road test and full reinstatements. WRLT to present comedy/drama ■ Warner Robins Little Theatre will present its first production of the sea son, The Contrite Spirit" a comedy/drama by Denis J. Harrington, directed by Cathy Collins. The opening perfor mance will be held July 7 at 8 p.m. A Green Room reception will follow the performance. Additional dates will be July 8. 13-15, 20-22, all at 8 p.m., with 3:30 p.m.-matinees on July 9 and 16. The play is set in an old house near Virginia’s Bull Run battlefield and believed to be haunted. Kerry Kirkpatrick, a laid-back comic-book artist, doesn't believe in ghosts and the price is right. He becomes a believer when the spirit of a Confederate cavalry offi cer, Colonel Percival Scott, appears and informs him sev eral million dollars worth of Union Army gold are buried in the basement. Reservation may be made by calling 929-4579, Mon.- Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. begin ning July 3. Tickets are sl2 adults, seniors $8 (Sundays only), students SB. BIRTHDAYS ■ Katherine Weaks DEATHS ■ Martha Temple DeGuire ■ Mary Meeks Rozier INDEX LOCAL 2 A WEATHER 3 A OPINION 4 A SPORTS 1 B COMICS 3 B CLASSIFIEDS .... 4 B PERIODICAL Award-Winning Newspaper 2004 Better Newspaper Contest com o GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT Main Library UNJV OF GEORGIA ATHENS GA 306G2-0002 3-DIGIT 306 June 29, 2006 Servisg Hoi sros Cm vn Si\( i: 1870 ' • - ’• r -■ (/SJt If ( 'Tff idmtstmtJßCcmte |f (Lije jjmmtm LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY, city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville Deft, taxes ,f « mi 1 if| ' ■''' ■ . ■ < pmmmmmmmmmmm' ■ jp* -mmmmmmmmmmr KNI Gary Harmon Centerville officials, including Mayor Harold Edwards listen to the concerns of citizens during a town hall meeting Tuesday. Centerville debates exemption, alcohol By KIMBERLY CASSEL PRITCHETT HHJ Contributing Writer Approximately 50 people gathered at Centerville City Hall Tuesday for the last of three town hall meetings about the possible repeal of a property tax law that gives 100 percent exemption to seniors age 70 and older and the possible granting of the sale of alcohol by the drink on Sunday in restaurants. A spread sheet with a scale of assessed property ranging from $62,500 to $400,000 and showing how much would be owed if the homestead exemption were $25,000, $20,000, $15,000 and SIO,OOO was made avail able to the audience. On the scale, owners of a house assessed at $62,500 would have no taxes to pay. “We’re trying to right something that was very, very wrong,” said Centerville See DEBATE, page 7A County adopts SB7 million budget Millage rate may be lowered by half a mill from 9.82 to 9.32 mills in September ByRAYUGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer The Houston County Board of Commissioners adopted an SB7 million budget for fiscal year 2007 budget during their regular meeting Tuesday. Of that $87,555,596, the largest portion is the General Fund at $45,032,825. The rest comes from enter prise and special use funds as well as special purpose local option sales tax funds. www.hhjnews.com Mayor takes firm control of town meeting protocol By KIMBERLY CASSEL PRITCHETT HHJ Contributing Writer The Tuesday Centerville town hall meeting to dis cuss the possible repeal of a property tax law that gives 100 percent exemption to seniors age 70 and older and the possible granting of the sale of alcohol by the drink on Sunday in restau rants took a different turn from the previous meet ing on June 22 when more than 100 residents were up in arms about the possibly of losing total exemption. While holding up a copy of the Houston Home Journal, Centerville Mayor Harold M. Edwards Jr. began the The general fund is paid for mostly with property taxes, about $29.5 million. According to Commission Chairman Ned Sanders the general fund budget is actu ally an 8 percent increase from the FY 2006 final bud get of $41,407,547. FY 2007 begins July 1 for the county. Sanders said the com missioners anticipate scal ing back the millage rate one half a mill from 9.82 to 9.52 to offset reassessments meeting by saying he was not happy with what he read in the newspaper about the last meeting. The story stated that members from the audience repeat edly made promises to get petitions to get them out of office and put someone else in their place while similar comments drew claps and cheers from the audience. “If not recognized by the chair, you do not speak,” he told the group Tuesday and added “then you have one minute to make a positive comment.” The mayor took up the first 15 minutes of the meeting voicing his See TAX, page 7A in the 2006 tax digest. He explained the decision on the millage rate would be made in September when commissioners get it from the Tax Assessor’s Office. “We are interested in roll ing back the millage as much as possible,” he said. “It’s the one thing we have con trol over. We don’t have con trol over the assessments.” Both Commissioner Jay Walker, who is running for re election and his Democratic Perry set for new growth By CHARLOTTE PERKINS HHJ Lifestyle Editor If all goes as planned, the city of Perry is about to get bigger geographically, to have some new restaurants and businesses and 406 new homes in the $150,000 - $200,000 range. The Planning Commission approved a request for rezoning and annexation on Monday night, which would pave the way - pending City Council approval - for the develop ment of a major commercial and residential area called “Walker Farms.”, The land, accessed from Sam Nunn Blvd. west of 1-75, just before Wayne Morris Ford, would be pur chased from the Walker family. Part of land, approximately 126 acres, would be annexed into the city. The adjacent part, approximately 53.69 acres, is already in Perry. Both Provision delayed in sex offender law By RAY LIGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer If the bus stop provi sion currently being tabled is upheld, 99 of the 101 registered sex offenders in Houston County would have to move. “We only had two in compliance,” said District Attorney Kelly Burke. "There are 10,000 bus stops in Houston County (and) virtually everyone was in violation.” On Monday a federal judge issued an injunc tion on the school bus por tion of the new state law scheduled to go into effect Saturday that bans regis tered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of Two road projects get OK for county By RAY LIGHTNER HHJ Staff Writer Some long-awaited road projects are moving for ward. The county commission in its meeting last week approved a contract with the state to pave Toomer Road. “It’s a long time coming,” said Commission Chairman Ned Sanders. The contract not to exceed $133,845.14 is for grading, drainage, base and plant mix to resurface 1.04 miles of Terrell Road between Sewell and Elko opponent Maurice Braswell, raised the issue of legislation for a freeze in assessments, which has been enacted in larger metro counties around Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah and Columbus. Walker said there are many legal issues he’s looking into. “The property must be at market value,” said County Attorney Mike Long. Sanders said, “you almost have to evaluate every situa tion on a cost benefit ratio.” “What kind of benefit there is,” Walker added, “and the legal requirements on continuing the basics.” For the owner of a $ 100,000 j V /{n.\s I \MU ) \i \\ sr \ri //] 500 lllllipilll s^ssioFooooi*^ TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAGES would be rezoned to accom modate the building of a “community” development, which would have restau rants and other businesses facing Sam Nunn Blvd. with a road leading into a large residential area. Neal Koelbl, who is the developer for the Jonesboro-based Knight Group, said in an inter view on Wednesday, that plans are to have a “town hall” central building, and two swimming pools, one of “junior Olympic” size, and a smaller one for young children. The land has a pond, which will be incor porated into landscaping plans. There will be a 4- ft. wide sidewalk connect ing the retail area with the residential area, and plan ners anticipate that in the final stage of development, the sidewalk will be seven miles long. Knight plans See MAJOR, page 8A m' Williams not only schools, parks and places where children con gregate, but also churches and school bus stops. See LAW, page 7A roads. The commission also took action on Toomer Road, voting 3-1 to authorize the county attorney to take whatever action necessary to acquire right of way so Public Works can proceed with the paving project. “Up to and including legal action,” added Sanders. Commissioner Larry Thomson was opposed to the action because “Toomer Road will take 80 feet of right of way through the middle of someone’s See ROADS, page 8A home, the roll back to 9.52 mills - not including any other exemptions like home stead and seniors, or the fire tax - would lower the county portion of a tax bill about sl2. Sanders said increasing personnel, fuel and energy costs are the reasons for the budget increases. The bud get includes 12 new posi tions and a 3.5 percent cost of living increase for all employees. The 12 new positions include a personnel office assistant, custodian, Superior Court clerk, an See BUDGET, page 3A