The Herald-gazette. (Barnesville, Ga.) 1981-current, December 26, 2023, Image 1
Barnesville,
Tuesday,'December 26,2023
312104;
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
Farewell 2023
The Year in Review
Championship sandwiches, old buildings restored to new glory and a whole host of region titles were among the good news highlights during 2023 in
Barnesville-Lamar County. For a month-by-month replay of local news, see our Year in Review section which begins on page 1B.
Solid Waste Authority forensic audit shot down
Lamar
Arts
members
party set
Lamar Arts will host
its annual Members
Party Jan. 13 at the De
pot Gallery from 6-8 p.m.
The event is open to all
members of the group.
The evening will in
clude a silent auction of
work by local artists.
Hors d’oeuvres and
wine will be served.
For more information,
visit lamararts.org.
Chamber
elects
directors
The chamber of com
merce held its election
for board members and
three members were
elected or reelected.
They are Matthew
Preston of PRG Catering,
John Moore of English’s
Antiques and Travis Gra
ham of United Bank.
The board will elect
officers at its first meet
ing of 2024.
Birthday Queen
Merle Childs receives
over 250 birthday cards.
SEE 3A
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WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
In a chaotic session
before a packed meeting
room, the Lamar County
commis
sion took
votes on
multiple
motions,
many
of them
conflicting,
regarding
the ongo
ing con
troversy over the solid
waste authority. At one
point, there were three
motions on the table at
once. At another point,
three motions to table
previous motions were
up for votes simultane
ously.
When all was said and
done, chairman Ryran
Traylor’s reappoint
ment to the SWA was
tabled until the hiring
of conflict counsel. The
commission did agree on
that motion in that, until
recently, county attor
ney Scott Mayfield also
represented the SWA.
The county wants an
opinion on whether or
not it has the author
ity to call for a forensic
audit of, or otherwise su
pervise, the SWA. Com
missioner Nancy Thrash,
who chairs the SWA, was
emphatic in her opinion
the county has no con
trol whatsoever over the
authority.
A motion to call
for the audit was also
tabled.
Commis
sioner Ja
son Lovett
said he
had been
threatened
since he
began look
ing into
the SWA’s
finances. He made a mo
tion to have the sheriff’s
office, district attorney,
GBI or FBI do forensic
and engineering audits
of the SWA in that there
is no question they have
the authority. That mo
tion, too, was tabled.
“I’ve made multiple
requests to tour the
buildings and look at
the equipment and was
denied each time. They
threatened to start look
ing into my personal
can Party
THRASH chairper
son Beth Pearce so
much that she vowed
to launch recall efforts
against Thrash and
Traylor, both Republi
cans. “You should have
recused yourselves (on
these votes). The fact
that you did not is a cry
ing shame. You should
be ashamed of your
selves,” Pearce said.
Citizen Mike Mad
dox warned he has seen
all this before and that
is why he left Henry
County. “Watch out when
they start tabling stuff.
You table stuff to cover it
up,” Maddox warned.
In other action, the
commission:
•Elected Ashley Gilles
as its vice-chairman and
made multiple additional
annual appointments.
•Approved reduc
ing the speed limit on
Skinners Bypass from 45
mph. to 35 mph.
•Heard from Traylor
and county adminis
trator Sean Townsend
that property owners
are paying less of the
county’s bills than they
have in quite some time.
“In 2015, property taxes
made up 60% of our bud
get. In the new budget,
that is down to 46.3 %,”
Traylor said.
r ’■
LOVETT
©2023 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS