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12 Days
cost of Christmas. Page 4
Rasslin’ Rebs
picture THIS big. Sports.
the Wiregrass Farmer
Serving Turner County Since 1902
Best Overall
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008
ASHBURN, GA, 31714
VOL 106-No. 51 *500
fAround Town \
Subscribe
to The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week.
Call 567-3655 for
information.
Birth certificates
Need a certified birth
certificate? If you were
bom in the State of
Georgia, the Turner County
Probate Court may be able
to provide you with a certi
fied copy. For more info,
call Probate Court Judge
Penny Thomas at 567-
2151.
Be a mentor
Support the Youth of
Turner County, be a
Mentor! The Turner County
Connection would like you
to join us in providing one-
on-one support for at-risk
children in grades 4-8.
Please contact Garrett
Boone, Mentoring
Coordinator, at 229-567-
2524 or email him at
gboone@turner.kl2.ga.us
Toys for Tots
Turner County
Connection has partnered
with the U.S. Marine Corps
Reserve and United Way of
South Central GA since
2005 to provide needy chil
dren with gifts. SADLY
there will be children who
will not receive one present
from Santa under the tree
on Christmas morning.
YOU can help put a smile
on a child’s face this
Christmas by donating a
new unwrapped toy. You
can drop off your toys at
Turner County Connection
by Dec. 18th. Thank you
for helping make the holi
days more joyous for chil
dren in Turner County.
Girl Scouts
Do you have a talent
that you would like to
share? The Girl Scouts of
Southwest Georgia would
like to invite volunteers to
participate in troop leader
ship or service unit man
agement. Training is pro
vided. Time dedication
depends on assignment
selected. For more informa
tion call Sherri Girard at
229-242-5213.
Firefighters
needed
The Turner County Fire
Department wants you. If
you want to become a vol
unteer firefighter, no matter
where you live in Turner
County or what your abili
ties are, if you are 18 or
older, we have a place for
you. Call Randall Whiddon
at 567-3501.
SHELLEY ZORN presents the Best Overall award to Donna Waters for the Moultrie Technical College float entry
in the Home for the Holidays Christmas parade. The MTC float was a patriotic salute to the men and women in the
military. Each star on the float had a name of some from Turner County in the military. Trinity Baptist Church won best
of Show.
A different tack on juvenile crime
Hedges
by Ben Baker
Editor
Parents will be held more
responsible for the actions of
minor children under an ordi
nance the City of Ashburn is
considering.
Ashburn
Mayor Jim
Hedges is
proposing the
ordinance after
reviewing the
City’s juvenile
crime statis
tics. At the
December
meeting, he
presented 21
cases of juve
nile crime beginning in March
and going through October.
Charged crime range from
fighting to theft to rape. Most
cases are listed as disorderly
conduct.
Under the proposed ordi
nance, the parent(s) of a child
arrested for a crime would also
receive a citation from the
police department. This would
require the parent to come to
court to at least talk with a
judge, the mayor said.
“The objective is to make
this a better place and a safer
place,” he said.
“This is part of a co-opera
tive community effort includ
ing the churches, School Board
and a lot of state agencies deal
ing with children,” said City
Attorney Tommy Coleman.
The objective is
to make this a
better place and
a safer place.
Mayor Jim Hedges
The proposal will come
back to the City Council in
January for possible action and
more discussion.
Councilman Art Eld said
something needs to be done to
help some parents. He said he
listens to a scanner for police
calls and hears the problems
some parents have. Many times
the parents asked the police for
help, he said.
“They are trying to get help
for these kids. They really are,”
he said.
Domestic violence calls
appear to be up as well, he
said.
Councilman Major Sanders,
noting a report in November on
gang activity in Ashburn, said
he hoped more intervention
efforts
could be done
here.
“That is
one obvious
mission, gang-
related activi
ties,” the
mayor said.
The pro
posed ordi
nance is iden
tical to one
'^-1 ^
The “non-exclusive” list of requirements on parents
from the ordinance is:
1) Keep “controlled” substances out of the home
and possession of a child, except as prescribed by
a doctor
2) Keep guns out of the child’s possession,
except for hunting and when supervised by an
adult.
3) Keep the City’s curfew.
4) Keep child in school. This item is not specific
to public or private schools and could cover home
schooling.
5) Make sure kids have proper supervision at all
times.
6) Keep child from destroying another’s proper
ty-
7) Keep child from having stolen property.
8) Get help with and for the child from appropri
ate agencies as needed.
9) Keep the child safe from possibly violent or
dangerous people.
The Community Relations Commission will
hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30 at City
Hall to discuss the proposed parental responsi
bility ordinance.
The public is invited to attend the meeting.
Copies of the ordinance are available at City
Hall.
Coleman
from Savannah. Only the
names were changed to reflect
Ashburn, said Mr. Coleman.
“We have tools in the box
not being enforced, curfew.
Will this make any difference,”
asked Councilwoman Sandra
Lumpkin.
The attorney said the Police
Department will need instruc
tions of how to enforce the new
ordinance, specifically what
they can and cannot do. The
attorney also pointed to the
weaponry police officers carry
as things that would need
instruction for use under the
ordinance
“You have policemen who
are not as attentive to the riles
as others,” he said.
“She’s got a gun and a
taser,” the mayor said, pointing
(See CHILD Page 2)
ISO
drops
by Randall Whiddon
TC Fire Chief
Finally, after three years of
intense work, the City of
Sycamore’s fire insurance rat
ing will drop from a 7 to a four
4. However, the new rate will
not become effective until
March 2009.
The Insurance Services
Office (ISO) re-evaluated
Sycamore’s Fire Protection
generating the positive results.
The lower rating, which is
used by most insurance compa
nies to set property insurance
rates, should mean a drop in
commercial and residential
property insurance premiums.
In our research through
local insurance agencies, the
homeowners could get a reduc
tion of up to 30 percent and the
businesses could get up to a 40
percent reduction in fire insur
ance premiums. These are only
estimates and I would like to
receive any feedback on the
percentages you may receive
or any comments you wish to
share with us. Feel free to con
tact me at Turner County
Emergency Services at 229-
567-3501.
In late April 2008, ISO
came and spent all day review
ing Sycamore’s fire equipment,
maintenance records, training
records, water system and the
911 system. All of these play a
role in Sycamore’s ability
towards fire protection. The
ISO rating is a very complex
evaluation; that is why it has
taken from April until now to
finalize and notify us of our
grade.
I thank some of the people
that helped to make this possi
ble. A special thanks to Brian
Meadows, Chief of the
Ashburn Fire Department and
Pete Giddens, Director of
Turner County Emergency
Management Agency for their
knowledge and expertise in
ISO matters, the employees of
the City of Sycamore for their
patience in providing informa
tion pertaining to the city’s
water system, Tim Wiggins of
the Turner County Building
Maintenance Department for
his support and utilizing
inmate labor of the Georgia
Department of Corrections in
getting the fire station and
equipment in good working
order and the Turner County
Board of Commissioners for
their support in obtaining
equipment and allowing me to
invest many man hours to this
project.
In 2009, we will be evaluat
ing the Rebecca Fire
Department as we did
Sycamore, upon completion
we will focus on lowering the
entire county’s ISO rating.
Sycamore and Rebecca’s eval
uation is a tremendous job, but
the entire county will be a very
large undertaking.
I will be contacting many
of you trying to obtain permis
sion to use ponds and creeks
for water sources. Anyone
wishing to help, please contact
our offices at 229-567-3501.
County tables raise for weekend shift 911 workers; more info needed
Obituaries
Alto McKinney, 70,
Ashburn
Mrs. Erma G. Mauldin,
79, Ashburn
David W. King, 67,
Virginia
Royce A. Childs, 73,
Marietta
Complete obituary
^information is on Page 5
by Ben Baker
Editor
A plan to give 911 weekend
employees a dollar an hour
raise was tabled for more dis
cussion and more information.
County Manager Charles
Kinney proposed the raise,
which would only apply to 911
operators working the weekend
shift. He said the idea is that a
raise would encourage more
people to apply for the job at
the County’s
emergency
call center.
Beginning
operator pay
for part time
dispatchers is
around $9 a
hour. The pro
posed raise
would put
weekend shift
workers over
Kinney
$10 an hour.
The 911 center has an ongo
ing problem in finding dis
patchers to work the weekend
shift, which is 12 hours at a
time.
“We have a rough time
keeping and recruiting people
to work the weekend shift,” he
said. “We recommend that (the
raise) for an incentive.”
Commissioner Greg
Hudgins said the raise was not
budgeted. Mr. Kinney said that
was correct. He again pointed
out the County has problems
finding and keeping weekend
shift 911 dispatchers.
Commissioner Mike
Geoghagan wanted to know
where the money for the raise
would come from.
“We’re hurting,” he said.
Mr. Kinney thought a
moment and then said, “A cou
ple of places. Cost saving mea
sures are com
ing in. It will
be offset by
that.”
That was
not enough for
the Commis
sioners, who
said they
wanted more
details of
Geoghagan (See RAISE
Page 2)
You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself, and for the firefighter it is fire.
Larry Brown
