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144th YEAR, NO. 17 THURSDAY, MAY 6,2021 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES 50 CENTS PER COPY
Flint Energies To Fund Mural Projects In
Butler Through “Rural Murals” Program
Flint Energies announced
that the City of Butler has won
grants from the Co-op’s Rural
Murals program. The City of
Butler won two grants. Flint
will award $10,000 each to the
Taylor County Chamber of
Commerce and the Taylor
County Development Author
ity, as part of a matching grant.
Each of these community
groups will invest approxi
mately $2,500 of their own
funds toward their mural
project.
The first Taylor County mu
ral, titled “Butler, Georgia - En
joying Life off the Beaten Path”
will transform the side of Split
Acres Floral building, located
at 20 South Broad Street in
Butler. The second Taylor
County mural will be located on
the Taylor County Sheriffs Of
fice building at 4 West Main
Street in Butler and will have
the theme of 'Taylor County,
Georgia - Connecting You to the
Rural Life”. This mural will in
corporate the Georgia Grown
slogan for the county, "Taylor
made for you!”
Each of the winning organiza
tions has contracted with art
ist Chris -Johnson of Columbus
to paint the murals. Since 2017,
Chris has painted more than 25
murals throughout Georgia,
North Carolina, and South
Carolina, In 2020, he was se
lected hv Keep Roberta/
Crawford County Beautiful to
paint the second mural of
Flint’s Rural Murals program.
You can see examples of Chris'
mural work and community
projects at his website;
chrisjmfa.eom.
The Rural Murals program es
tablishes a collaboration be
tween Flint Energies and the
local, rural community to cre
ate murals that carry lasting
impact, spark economic devel
opment and are the focal point
of community discussion. The
focus is to celebrate the unique
history and diversity of our lo
cal rural communities. It is vi
tal to establishing a strong
sense of place for residents by
creating suitable and recogniz
able murals within a commu
nity/downtown. The Rural Mu
rals program intends to in
crease the number of public
murals across Flint’s service
territory while supporting the
incredibly talented artist com
munity within Middle Georgia.
Flint Energies will identify and
partially fund the projects that
highlight positive images of
Middle Georgia area’s history
and culture through an appli
cation process.
The program’s murals are de
signed to bring travelers off
main interstates to travel the
backloads...off the beaten path
to discover the vast resources
our area has to offer. Money
spent in the towns that host the
murals will directly benefit
those areas, as the funds are
given by visitors and not long
time residents.
“It is our hope to positively
impact the aesthetics, activa
tion, marketability and percep
tion of our winners’ community;
to increase property values and
serve as a catalyst for contin
ued private sector investment
through visible improvements.
We hope that these murals will
provide visually-friendly envi
ronments for residents and
visitors to dine, shop, work, and
live,” says Marian McLemore,
Flint’s Vice President of Coop
erative Communications. “We
are excited to partner with But
ler on this year’s mural projects
and hope they help spur eco
nomic growth for the commu
nity,” says McLemore.
Flint’s first Rural Murals
project, located at 100 N,
Sumter Street in Oglethorpe,
was completed in Fall 2019 by
artist Jackie Fontenot of neigh
boring Montezuma. The second
mural is in Crawford County on
South Matthews Street in
Roberta. The City of Fort Val
ley has also received a grant for
a mural this year.
Earlier this year, Flint Ener
gies invited rural communities
located in the Co-op’s service
territory to apply for the Ru
ral Murals grant. Flint Ener
gies’ service area encompasses
parts of Bibb, Chattahoochee,
Crawford, Dooly, Harris. Hous
ton, Macon, Marion, Monroe,
Muscogee, Peach, Schley,
Sumter, Talbot, Taylor,
Twiggs, and Upson counties.
In March, the Cooperative re
ceived four grant applications,
A panel of art educators and
aficionados served as judges
and reviewed the applications.
The top scoring mural ideas
were funded.
NATIONAL
DAY OF
PRAYER v
All residents and churches of Taylor
County are invited to attend our unified prayer
Observance on Thursday May 6, at 12 noon, in
Reynolds, GA. We will gather at the City Hall
Gazebo (not the gazebo between the churches).
Bring a lawn chair, if needed. The prayer obser
vance should last 20-30 minutes.
YOU Have The POWER To
(LOWH© ^KH§>
YOU HAVE THE POWER
TO WHUUNrraiBflt WITH
TAYLOR COUNTY yM
VOLUNTEER
FIRE DEPT.
Applications - https ://tay lore ountyga.ro m/re sources_5_4219605085.pdf
The Taylor County Volunteer Fire Department
Needs YOU!
Volunteer Fire Departments across the country are struggling to maintain due to
the lack of available personnel, and Taylor County needs your help. Our Fire De
partment currently has seven stations placed throughout the county to serve our
community. While having multiple stations is nice, we need volunteers to help re
spond to calls and maintain minimum requirements. When we lack volunteers, we
are faced with a lesser service to our community, which leaves lives and property at
higher level of danger and unprotected. If you would like more information or would
like to join our agency, please feel free to visit the Taylor County website
taylorcountyga.com/departments- ad ministration .php. Under resources, click on Fire
and Rescue and dick on Fire Department Application. You can also come by the
County Annex Building, located at 7 Ivy St., Butler GA 31006, to pick up an applica
tion, Mon* - Fri., 9-5.
The Taylor County Fire Department meets twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Thurs
days of each month at 196 East Main St., Butler GA 31006.
You can also visit our Faeehook page at facebwik.com/TaylorCountyGAVFD/
yyjNNER
Charlotte Parker Crowned Baby
Miss Georgia Strawberry Queen 2021
Charlotte & Ava Chambers Crowned Strawberry Princesses
The Miss Georgia Strawberry Pageants were held Saturday; April 10th, at the Taylor County
High School Auditorium. Little Miss Charlotte Parker (pictured, top) was crowned Baby
Miss Georgia Stra wberry Queen 2021, She is the daughter of Matthew and Alison Parker.
Charlotte also won the Most Photogenic and Prettiest Hair titles for her age division. Con
testants who received the most votes and raised the most money were named Miss Georgia
Strawberry Princesses. Local winners in this competition were Charlotte Parker (lower, left)
and Ava Chambers (lower, right). Ava is the daughter of Kyle Chambers and Haley Foy.
Domestic Violence Subject Flees
From Officers And Search Ensues
According to Butler Interim
Police Chief Matt Woodard, on
May 2nd, at 6:37 p.m., the But
ler Police Department re
sponded to a domestic violence
call at Ranow Circle and
Castlegate Circle.
Officers from the Butler Police
Department, Taylor County
Sheriff's Office, and Reynolds
Police Department arrived at
the scene to investigate a com
plaint that an identified male
subject from Bibb County had
a firearm and was pointing it
at others. When questioned,
the subject gave officers a false
name and ran.
The Department of Correc
tions was notified for assis
tance with a tracking dog, and
Chief Woodard was notified
and responded.
At 7:20 p in,, the subject was
located on Pine view Dr., and he
fled, again, into a wooded area
east of'IIwy, 19.
Officers and the K-9 tracking
dog searched the area until
dark, with assistance from the
Georgia State Patrol helicopter.
Warrants are pending on the
subject.