Newspaper Page Text
j Perry, Ga.
I this week
Volume 125—N0. 71—32 Pages
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5,1994
50 CENTS
Don't forget!
Hayneville Ist Baptist
celebration continues
Members and friends of the
First Baptist Church of
Hayneville will wind up their
week-long homecoming cel
ebration with special events
Wednesday and Thursday
nights.
On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
the will be a Family Night sup
per and services at 7 p.m. The
speaker will be Jimmy McDuffie
and there will be special music
by Darrell and Trisha
Etheridge.
The church will hold Youth
Night Thursday, beginning with
a pizza supper at 6 p.m. Ser
vices will follow at 7 p.m. The
speaker will be Wayne
Halcomb, Jr.
The Rev. David Fisher and
members of the church invite
everyone to join them in the
final days of their homecoming
celebration.
Shriners to serve BBQ
The Perry Shrine Club will hold
its annual fall barbecue on Fri
day, Oct. 14, at their facility
located at 402 Courtney
Hodges Blvd. (next to the Sand
man Motel).Two thousand
pounds of ham will be pit
cooked, starting at 6 a.m. on
Oct. 13. Plates will be ready for
pick-up at the barbecue site
drive-thru from 11:30 a.m. until
6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14.
Each plate will contain pit
cooked barbecue, slaw, cook
ies, chips, pickles and bread.
The price per plate is $4, and
bulk is $5 per lb. Tickets are
now being sold by Shriners, or
plates can be purchased at the
drive-thru.
Sports
A grid milestone...
Westfield Coach Ronnie Jones
wins his 150th grid game by
bombing Tiftarea by a final
score of 46-8. Page 6A.
Panthers roll 0n...
The Perry Panthers sneak past
Jackson by a 21-14 score as
Kiwaukee Thomas scores two
times to lead the Panther at
tack. Page 6A.
Family
Public Awareness
One out of every eight women
will be affected during her life
time by breast cancer, one of
the leading causes of death
among females. Page 18.
In Sympathy
The community's sympathy
is extended to the families of
those who recently died. They
include: Wilson Arnold, Russell
Clark Sr., Edgar Walker Jr.,
Hazel Norman, Frances
Shugart Simons, Doris Frances
Wood Smith and George Tho
mas. See details page 2A.
XEO CITY 30fex —"" ■
project i National Fair
iRY ,
_ _ Jt the fair!
See section inside
Houston Times -Journal
10-Day Ga.
fair slated
Oct. 7-16
By JIMMY SIMPSON
Staff Writer
One of the most long-awaited
dates in the City of Perry will
arrive in two days when the gates to
the sth Annual Georgia National
Fair swing open.
"The excitement is building,"
said Executive Director Michael
Froehlich. "The entire staff is
working hard to get ready, and we’re
looking forward to a great fair.”
Froehlich reported vendors and
ride technicians were still arriving
at mid-day on Tuesday to make
final preparations to their respective
attractions. In addition, the BBC
(British Broadcasting Corporation)
is in town for five days to film
footage for their viewing audience.
An official ribbon-cutting
marking the event will be held
Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. State
Rep. Larry Walker will be the
keynote speaker. The fair will come
to a close on Sunday. Oct. 16.
Fair officials have reported they
expect even more people to attend
the 1994 event than the 309,000
patronizing the state event just one
year ago.
The annual parade, sponsored by
the Georgia National Fair/Kiwanis
Fann-City Days, will begin at City
Hall on Washington St. at 11 a.m.
State Sen. Sonny Perdue will be
the grand marshall.
The procession will then follow
course to Carroll St. before
journeying along Courtney Hodges
Blvd. From thefe, the unit will turn
onto Larry Walker Pkwy. before
entering the gates of the Georgia
National Fairgrounds.
Featured this year will be a
traditional package of livestock
events, horse shows, youth
exhibits, and home and fine arts
competition.
Livestock buildings open daily
at 8 a.m., and exhibit buildings at
12 'noon. Gate times for midway
rides are staggered.
Gates open for midway rides at
10 a.m. on Oct. 8, and 12 'noon on
Oct. 9. Gates for the midway will
open Monday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m as
local schools celebrate Columbus
Day. The schedule for Oct. 11-14
calls for midway gate openings at 4
p.m. Rides are open to the public
on Oct. 15 at 10 a.m., and on Oct.
16 at 12 'noon.
Admission to the fair is $4 for
adults, $3 for senior citizens, and
children 10-and-under, free. Parking
will be free of charge.
County will foot $52,000
tab to meet standards
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
The county will be spending
$52,000 to bring the Houston
County Correctional Institute and
the Warner Robins detention facil
ity up to fire code standards, county
commissioners decided at their regu
lar meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 5.
The Office of the Commissioner
of Insurance found several viola
tions of the fire code at both loca
tions in an inspection June 22. In
HCCI, located on Kings Chapel
Road, six areas were found not to
be in compliance. At the Warner
Robins facility, two areas were
cited as not being in compliance.
Among the serious violations
found at HCCI were that several
hazardous areas were not enclosed
by one hour fire resistive construc
tion including the boiler room and
inmate laundry room, the opening
for combustion air was sealed off in
construction of the addition to the
jail, evacuation diagrams routed
inmates through an hazardous area,
the laundry room, in case of fire,
Official Legal Organ for Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia
Football season In full swing
Teams have winning week
Perry High , Westfield outscore opponents —6A
w j
if,
> I :9W ...
Workers with the Reithoffer
ride Tuesday at the Georgia
mechanics were expected to
opening to ensure safety for
**.>***++ .
it -■
A total of 24 ticket booths are being set up at various
points along the fairgrounds. That number represents a
71 percent increase over the number of booths just
one year ago. (Times-Journal Photos by Eric Zellers)
residential areas did not have auto
matic smoke detectors, and holding
cells, solitary cells, isolation block
and cell blocks had no windows,
vent openings, moke shafts or
smoke control systems.
Commissioner Larry Snellgrove
said that the county would not do
any work until it had written con
firmation that the work will correct
the problems with the jail. He added
that he did not want to spend
money that would satisfy one in
spector only to have the next in
spector find a problem.
"We will do nothing until it is
right," said Snellgrove. "I don't
trust the system."
In other business before the
commission, Tommy Stalnaker, di
rector of public works for the
county, said that the weather had de
layed the paving of turning lanes at
Houston Lake Road and Highway
96. The paving of the turning lanes
should start Wednesday, Oct. 5,
will take about two days, he said.
Stalnaker also requested that
fair begin to assemble a
National Fairgrounds. The
work up until the event's
fairgoers.
I'■ Mr m v J■
’Fire Safety With The Pup../
Two local businesses recently contributed monies to the Perry Fire Department to
go towards the costs of purchasing the rights to "Fire Pup," a costumed character
that promotes fire safety education throughout the community. The suit was
purchased from National Fire Safety, Inc., a non-profit organization in Michigan. Fire
Pup will make his first official appearance in the Ga. National Fair Parade in
downtown Perry this Saturday morning at 11 p.m. Pictured shaking hands with the
character is PPG's Ty Sturgeon (2nd from left) and Northrop's Lany English (far
right). Looking on is Perry Fire Chief Gary Hamlin. (Times-Journal photo by Jimmy
Simpson)
Local firefighters
protest chief; 13
stage walk-out
By JIMMY SIMPSON
Staff Writer
Angered by the decision to hire a
chief from an outside department,
13 members of the Meadowdale
Fire Dept, have staged a walkout.
"We’ve been lied to, humiliated,
and embarrassed," said volunteer
firefighter David Harris. "We realize
that we're untrained, but we're
willing to leam."
Harris was referring to the
decision by Houston County Fire
Chief Jimmy Williams to staff the
Meadowdale station with 10-year
veteran Jim Adams after Harris had
earlier applied for the job.
The majority of Meadowdale
volunteers say Adams is "hard to
work with," and that one of their
own-- Harris- was passed up for the
chiefs job as a result of Williams'
decision to appoint Adams.
But Williams defended his
position by saying that Harris
wasn’t qualified to take the
position- something that Harris,
himself, agrees with.
"I wasn't ready," said Harris,
"but I had the backing of this
(Meadowdale) department and a
commitment from (former chief)
Ernie Wright to stay on and train
me for the next six months."
Harris said there was no
motivation of money behind his
desire to become chief (volunteers
are only paid $8 during training
meetings), only satisfaction.
"Statistically, this department
has done an excellent job," Harris
said. "We all work great together,
and we all know our duties."
Williams said that while he
didn't doubt the volunteers abilities,
he did feel that leadership needed to
come from someone with more
experience.
"I just wasn’t comfortable
putting (Harris) in that position,"
Williams said. "I realize that he
could have had someone to train
him, but we could not wait six
months (to assume the role)."
Williams said his decision to
staff Adams was due to the fact that
"he was the best selection."
"I had other choices, but he was
fairly knowledgeable, close to the
area, and he gets the job done,"
Williams said.
Meadowdale volunteers are
responsible for battling fires in the
entire southern portion of Perry.
Only four of the original 17
volunteers were reported to still be
active as of yesterday, according to
one volunteer.
index to Features
Classified 7B Deaths 2A
Family 1B Police 3A
Legals 4B Veto Roley 4A
Letters 4A Sports 6A
Pauline Lewis 1B Bob Tribble 4A
But any decrease in volunteer
enrollment should not affect
firefighting techniques, according to
the county supervisor.
"The (Meadowdale) station is not
closed," Williams said. "I do have
the membership to respond, and
have made alternative plans to
respond for assistance."
Both Henderson and Lake Joy
Volunteer Fire Departments have
18-20 volunteers who have been
placed on a stand-by mode. The
City of Perry Fire Department can
also intervene if a "life-threatening
or large incident" fire occurs,
Williams said.
In the meantime, Williams said
Meadowdale may have to look at
rebuilding with additional members.
"We’re going to start training,
and we need some good people to
leam," he said.
Authority inks
$215,000 pact
By JIMMY SIMPSON
Staff Writer
A new CEO has been hired by
the Houston County Hospital
Authority to oversee operations in
Perry and Warner Robins.
Dr. Eugene R. McDannald Jr., a
Maryland based health care
adminisuator, will step into the
position Nov. 1. He replaces former
administrator Karl Weinmeister,
who resigned on May 11 of this
year.
The board voted to bring in a
new Chief Executive Officer after
the position was decided upon in
April. The official appointment
came at the authority's meeting on
Sept. 28.
"The entiie hospital authority is
excited about getting someone with
Dr. McDannald's credentials," said
Hal Cotton, authority chairman.
"He has a tremendous background."
That background includes a 15-
year career as a general surgeon at
his own private practice.
McDannald attended the Virginia
Military Institute and the Medical
College of Virginia.
Most recently, the recently
appointed CEO served as senior
vice-president at the Sacred Heart
Hospital at Cumberland, Md.
But one of the most obvious
questions expected to be raised is
the annual salary for the position-
Please see Hospital page 8A