Newspaper Page Text
Houston Times-Joumat
Volume 124 No. 26
Dogwood Fest
Activities Are
In Full Bloom
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Just like the beautiful Dogwood
trees speckling the city, the Perry
Dogwood Festival is in full bloom
this week.
A major attraction for both Perry
citizens and out-of-towners, the fes
tival kicked off this past weekend
with two nights of pageants and a
Family Day at Rozar Park. Events
continue through this Saturday,
April 2.
“The first weekend of events was
wonderful,” Perry Area Chamber of
Commerce President Peggie
Williams said Monday morning. “If
it keeps up like this, we will defi
nitely be entering this one in the
record bocJcs.”
Several hundred people attended
both nights of the Dogwood
Pageants which crowned five new
Miss Dogwoods and the crowd at
the Rozar Park Family Day was es
timated at 2,000.
Events coming up this weekend
include:
•6:15 a.m.-lO a.m.—Kiwanis
Pancake Breakfast; Houston County
Extension Building, Carroll Street;
tickets are $3 each.
•10:15 a.m.—Dogwood Festival
Bake-Off judging. A popular event
featuring a number of delectables,
the Bake-Off will be held at the
Perry Book Store in downtown
Perry. Following the contest, many
of the entries will be available for
purchase during a day-long bake
sale.
•7 a.m.-7:30 a.m.—Registration
for the Sixth Annual Dogwood Fes
tival 5K Run/Walk; comer of Car
roll and Ball streets. Cost to enter
the day of the event is sl2. Pre-reg
istration forms can be obtained at
Perry Hospital or the Perry Area
Chamber of Commerce offices.
Early entries are $lO.
March Of Dimes To Hold Kick-Off For Walk America
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
A local kick off luncheon for
Walk America, the nation’s largest
walking event held annually by the
March of Dimes Birth Defects
Foundation, is scheduled from
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday,
March 31, at the Perry Hospital
with the actual walk slated for Sat
urday, May 7.
Anyone interested in forming a
walking team or getting otherwise
involved in the local March of
Dimes event is invited to make
Perry Schools Getting
School Board Attention
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Construction of music, art and
physical education facilities at all of
Perry’s elementary schools and the
search for a solution to parking
problems at Perry High School
have members of the Houston
County Board of Education busy
these days.
According to Bill Loudermilk,
director of facilities and mainte
nance for the county school system,
workers will be working diligently
throughout the summer to finish up
a seven-year, multi-million dollar
project giving 10 county
elementary schools-including all
four in Peny-freestanding facilities
for their many cultural and physical
education programs.
The first two such facilities to
be completed were at Lindsey and
Bonaire Elementary schools seven
years ago, with construction on the
Page 5B
More on the festival
appears on pages 8-A
and 9-A!
•8 a.m.-Sixth Annual Dogwood
Festival 5K Run/Walk kicks off at
the comer of Carroll and Ball. This
run is an official event of the “Run
and See Georgia Grand Prix” circuit
and is sponsored by the Perry Hos
pital and PPG Industries. For more
information, contact Marti Tolleson
at 987-3600 or Ty Sturgeon at 987-
2459.
•9 a.m.-3 p.m.-Free and Ac
cepted Masons Open House at
Houston Lodge #35, 756 Carroll
Street Event is in celebration of
their 150th Anniversary. For more
information call Blake Walston at
987-3696 or James McKinley at
987-2253.
•10 a.m.-4 p.m.—Arts and Crafts
on Carroll Street featuring more
than 50 artists and crafters display
ing and selling unique handmade
Please see Waakend, page 11A
reservations by calling Shelby
Adams at 743-9165.
“This is sort of a pep rally for
our Perry Walk,” Suzy Wasserman,
Director of Field Services for Geor
gia’s March of Dimes organization,
said this week, adding that Walk -
merica is the fundraiser from which
the majority of her organization’s
funds are raised. “Hopefully, we
will have people from local compa
nies, churches, clubs, schools and
other organizations attend and form
walking teams. Information on the
March of Dimes and Walk America
remaining eight beginning some
two and a half years ago.
Order of construction was deter
mined by school size and need, ac
cording to Loudermilk.
So far, five of the eight started a
couple of years ago have been
completed and opened, with only
three more-the Perry schools of
Kings Chapel, Momingside and
Perry Elementary-yet to go.
Kings Chapel School is set to
open their facility as early as next
week, while Momingside’s is
expected to be completed by the
fall. The furthest behind is Perry
Elementary, where the construction
site is nothing more, at this point,
than a concrete slab. Tucker
Elementary’s new facility was
opened last year.
“Our original goal was to have
all of the facilities completed by
this coming fall,” Loudermilk said
Pleas* see School, page 11A
Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia
■ ‘ I! A 1 P .
pf *
Heather Jo Wilder, the 19-year-old daughter of Joyce Wilder of Perry and Bill Wilder of Cornelia
Is the new Miss Dogwood for 1994. A freshman at the University of Georgia, Heather was crowned
Friday night.
fundraiser packets will also be dis
tributed on that day.”
Wasserman added that some
where between 250 and 300 walkers
are expected to participate in the
Perry walk, a five mile route which
runs from Perry Hospital on Mom
ingside Drive to Kings Chapel
Road, Keith Drive, Tucker Road,
Ball Street, Main Street, Morning
side Drive and back to Perry Hospi
tal.
The way the event works, walk
ers recruit family, friends and col
leagues to sponsor them by making
'-v**' ju* --..y h B
The City of Perry and The Houston County Board of Education are working together to solve the
parking problems at Perry High School and to fill In this ditch, which Is located alongside the
Perry Village Shopping Center and runs down to the school. The ditch Is both an eyesore and a
safety hazard, the city says.
For News And Subscriptions Call 912-987-1823
Sports
Page 6A
Wednesday, March 30, 1994
a donation before the event. All col
lections are then turned in by
Walk America Day and walkers hit
the pavement for a fun-filled day
with fellow workers and family.
All monies raised support the
March of Dimes Birth Defects
Foundation in its fight for healthier
babies.
A national voluntary health or
ganization, the March of Dimes
was started in 1938 by Franklin D.
Roosevelt for the purpose of
finding a cure for polio. It became
Classified
Page 4B
and remains the only organization
to eliminate the disease it set out to
conquer.
Today, the organizations mis
sion is to prevent low birthweight
babies and infant mortality, the
most serious birth defect of all.
Up until just recently, Georgia
had ranked first in the nation in the
number of babies who die before
their first birthday. As of this week,
statistics showed that the state had
improved to fourth.
Perry, Georgia - 25 Cents
Weekend
Shooting
Hurts One
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
One local man is behind bars and
another is hurting this week follow
ing a Friday night shooting at the
intersection of Lucille and Houston
streets in Perry.
According to reports filed at the
Perry Police Department, 20-year
old Eldis Kendrick of Westwood
Trailer Park, Lot 14, allegedly fired
more than 20 shots from a Tec-22
pistol, striking 18-year-old Travis
Barnes of 1324 Houston Street,
Perry, twice in the back just after 7
p.m. Friday.
About one hour after the inci
dent, Kendrick turned himself in to
local police, and Barnes, who took
himself to Perry Hospital, was
treated for his wounds and released
that same evening.
Police reports indicate that the
incident probably stemmed from
some previous domestic situations
and that the two men appeared to be
arguing over a girl.
Several witnesses were reported
to have been present at the shooting
and the weapon as well as 21 empty
shell cases were recovered from the
scene.
After turning himself in,
Kendrick was booked and charged
with two felony charges, aggravated
assault and possession of a firearm
during the commission of a crime,
and two misdemeanors, discharging
a firearm near a highway and
carrying a pistol without a license.
He is being held at the Houston
County Jail on bonds totaling
$34,000. He will attend trial in the
Superior Court of Houston County
and faces serving one to 20 years in
a penitentiary for the aggravated
assault charge alone.
Local Clinic
To Open In
The Evening
The Perry office of your
Houston County Health
Department announces evening
clinic hours. Beginning Thursday,
April 3, services will be offered
each Thursday evening until 6:30
p.m.
Services included in the special
extended hours are immunizations,
pregnancy testing, family planning
refills, marital blood tests,
enrollment for free mammograms
and pick up for WIC vouchers, TB
medications and blood pressure
medications.
"We're happy to be able to
expand our services in Perry.
Extending hours will be especially
helpful to working parents, children
and teenagers in school, and
families with limited transportation
resources," said Bill Carter, Health
Department Administrator. "We
want to make our services available
to everyone. If this test program is
successful, we'll expand our
Pleas* see Health, page'll A
2 Sections, 20 Pages
Inside
Today
Legals 5B
Outdoors 7A
Classifieds 4B
Editorials 4A
Calendar 10A
Obituaries .’..2A
Sports 6A