The ADVANCE, November 10, 2021/Page 2A
(Eift Aiiuancg
Election
continued from page 1A
have
been some of the most re
warding times in my life. It
is an honor to serve our
community as Mayor and I
look forward to continuing
to work with great leaders
to make Vidalia the best
it can possibly be/’ Roper
said following his win. “I
believe the citizens validat
ed in this election that our
city is moving in the right
direction, and I would like
to say thank you for believ
ing in me and affording me
the opportunity to further
impact the future of our
Sweet Onion City.”
Roper added, “I would
like to take this oppor
tunity to also thank my
family, friends and many
volunteers that helped
me throughout my cam
paign. There is no way I
could have taken on this
task without all of their
support, and I will be for
ever grateful. We have a
tremendous community
with a bright future, and I
look forward with great an
ticipation to what our lead
ership team will accom
plish in the coming days,
months and years. I truly
believe our best days are
ahead of us and together
we will continue to prosper
and grow.”
Lyons City Council
Voting was razor thin
in the race to fill the Ward
2 seat on the Lyons City
Council. When votes were
tallied, challenger Cathy
Benton edged out incum
bent Sonja Eason in a 118
to 116 vote, which was
affirmed in a recount on
Monday.
It was also a rematch
for the candidates in this
race. The Ward 2 seat on
the Council was left vacant
with the
death
on De-
c emb er
5, 2019,
of long-
t i m e
Council
man Ben
Mitchell.
Eason narrowly defeated
Benton in a June 9, 2020,
bid for the Council seat
with 101 votes to Benton’s
99 votes. A recount of the
vote confirmed Eason’s
win and she took her place
on the Council as the first
woman Lyons City Coun
cil member.
Benton commented, “I
am so thankful to the citi
zens of Ward 2 who have
put their trust in me and
elected me to serve and
represent them. I am look
ing forward to serving and
working for Ward 2 and
the City of Lyons. I am so
excited and cannot wait to
get to work.”
There was not much
election action across
Toombs, Montgomery
and Wheeler counties on
November 2 due to a lack
of opposition to incum
bents seeking re-election.
In Montgomery County,
elections were cancelled
because of this fact.
Liquor Referendum
In Wheeler County,
the only seats up for grabs
were three posts on the
Alamo City Council. Since
no one qualified to oppose
the incumbents, the only
item on the ballot was a ref
erendum on selling alcohol
in the City of Alamo. The
measure was defeated in a
72 to 25 vote.
Wheeler County Reg
istrar Sheila Cheek said the
voter turnout was extreme
ly low. Of the 524 citizens
eligible to vote, only 99 vis
ited the polls. “In the three
weeks and two Saturdays
preceding the election, we
only had 51 early voters.
Another 45 voted on Elec
tion Day and there were
three absentee ballots,”
Cheek said.
Cathy Benton
Kemp, Carr sue over Biden vaccine
mandate; court halts measure
By Tim Darnell
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service
A federal appeals court
has halted enforcement of
the White House’s employ
er vaccine mandate a day
after Gov. Brian Kemp and
Georgia Attorney General
Chris Carr filed a lawsuit
against the requirement.
The 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in Loui
siana issued an emergency
stay Saturday on President
Joe Biden’s mandate that
businesses with 100 or
more workers be required
to vaccinate their work
ers by Jan. 4, 2022, or face
mask requirements and
regular tests.
Last week, Kemp, Carr
and Agriculture Commis
sioner Gary Black filed a
separate lawsuit against
Biden's vaccine mandate
for federal contractors.
Friday’s lawsuit
claimed the vaccine man
date for businesses with
100 or more workers ex-
Following the recom
mendation of the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and
the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practic
es (ACIP), the Southeast
Health District began of
fering Pfizer pediatric CO-
VID vaccine to children
5-11 years old on Novem
bers.
The pediatric Pfizer
COVID vaccine is au
thorized for children as a
2-dose series taken 3 weeks
apart. The dose for chil
dren ages 5-11 is one-third
of the dosage of the vaccine
for adolescents and adults.
ceeds the U.S. Depart
ment of Labor’s authority
and conflicts with the 1st
Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution and the Re
ligious Freedom Restora
tion Act. The mandate was
set to be enforced by the
U.S. Occupational Health
and Safety Administration
(OSHA).
Georgia joined Florida
and Alabama, along with
several private employers,
in filing the lawsuit in the
11th Circuit Court of Ap
peals. The Georgia High
way Contractors Associa
tion, the Georgia Motor
Trucking Association and
Robinson Paving Co. are
among the companies that
joined in the latest lawsuit.
"In addition to vilify
ing Americans for their per
sonal choices, Biden's vac
cine mandates are unlawful
and a recipe for economic
disaster," said Kemp. "With
inflation skyrocketing, the
supply chain screeching
In clinical trials, vaccina
tion was nearly 91 percent
effective in preventing CO
VID-19 among younger
children. Vaccine side ef
fects were mild and tem
porary. The most common
side effect was a sore arm.
Area residents are ad
vised to make an appoint
ment for the preferred date
and time for their child to
receive a vaccination; how
ever, walk-ins are welcome
as well, though patients
may experience longer wait
times. Appointments may
be scheduled by calling
1-855-473-4374.
to a halt, and job creators
across the country desper
ately searching for more
workers, Biden is pouring
gasoline on a fire."
“This unlawful man
date is yet another example
of the Biden administra
tion’s complete disregard
for the constitutional rights
afforded to our state and
our citizens,” Carr added.
“The federal government
has no authority to force
health care decisions on
Georgia’s companies and
its employees under the
guise of workplace safety.”
Anthony Coley, a
spokesman for the Justice
Department, defended the
mandate.
“The OSHA emer
gency temporary standard
is a critical tool to keep
America’s workplaces safe
as we fight our way out of
this pandemic,” Coley said.
“The department will vig
orously defend this rule in
court.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.
Pediatric Pfizer
Vaccines Now
Available Locally
Legislative Report
At the begin
ning of the special
session that began
last Wednesday, No
vember 3, I would
like to express what
an honor and privi
lege it is to serve the
citizens of District
156 in the Georgia
House of Represen
tatives.
The Georgia
General Assembly has convened for a
special session to adopt legislation that
would redraw and update our state’s leg
islative and congressional maps based on
the new census data. Since the U.S. Census
occurred during 2020, all 50 states must
go through the process of changing their
district boundary lines ahead of the 2022
election cycle. As Georgia’s population
changes, the number of people in each
legislative and congressional district must
be adjusted so that the population in each
district is as close to equal as possible.
Our state grew by approximately one
million new residents over the last 10
years, which is an increase of more than
10 percent since the last census. As a re
sult of this population growth, all 180 state
House districts will increase to approxi
mately 59,511 people. In addition to pop
ulation requirements, district maps must
also comply with the Voting Rights Act of
1965 and consider traditional principles of
redistricting, such as ensuring that com
munities of interest are represented, avoid
ing major changes to the existing represen
tation in the Legislature, and keeping local
government jurisdictions whole.
Each state has its own way of redraw
ing its legislative and congressional maps.
In Georgia, the State Legislature creates
new district maps through the legislative
process. The House and Senate each have
a standing committee that works with the
nonpartisan Legislative and Congressio
nal Reapportionment Office to update
these maps. This summer, the House and
Senate reapportionment committees be
gan preparing for the special session by
holding several town hall hearings across
the state, as well as virtually, to gather testi
mony directly from Georgians about how
the redistricting process and their current
district lines impact their communities.
Thank you to the many citizens of the
156th District that attended one of these
meetings to share your thoughts and con
cerns with the committees.
As we move through the redistrict
ing process over the coming weeks, I will
continue to provide updates on how the
proposed maps may affect our local com
munities. While I’ll be spending most of
my time away from the district until the
special session adjourns, I hope to hear
from you while I am at the State Capitol.
If you’d like to share your thoughts and
opinions on the redistricting process or
any other topics that may come before the
Legislature next session, I can be reached
via email at leesa.hagan(a)house.ga.gov.
Thank you for allowing me to serve as
your representative.
By Leesa Hagan
R-Vidalia
(District 156, Georgia
House of
Representatives)
Hagan
continued from page 1A
aries of state House, Senate
and Congressional districts
is expected to occur im
minently — perhaps even
this week for the House
and Senate maps. The in
tense work of map restruc
turing was being done in
special legislative commit
tees whose efforts followed
hearings held across the
state to gather public input.
After being enacted into
law, the redistricting chang
es will not be effective until
January 2023.
Hagan is waiting to see
how her own district might
be impacted by the remap
ping. It is expected that
Toombs and Montgomery
will remain in her area of
representation, but other
counties, like Wheeler,
might be added. Also, the
current proposals eliminate
Appling and Jeff Davis from
her district. “But that could
change,” Hagan said.
Hagan will qualify in
March 2022 to run again
for a seat in the State House.
“We will be running for
election in new districts al
though we will not be repre
senting them until January
2023.” The Vidalia busi
nesswoman was elected ear
lier this year to fill the unex
pired term of Greg Morris,
who resigned to take a seat
on the state Transportation
Board.
Last week, as the
special committees met,
Hagan, and other legisla
tors who were not on these
committees, had free time
for networking and discuss
ing plans for the 2022 ses
sion that begins in January.
The freshman legislator is
a member of the Agricul
ture and Consumer Affairs,
Natural Resources and the
Environment, and Small
Business Development
Committees. “The commit
tee chairs were encouraged
to have committee meet
ings, but the one thing we
cannot do is vote on any
thing until we are officially
in session,” she said. “For
me, it is a good time to just
meet everybody, to get ori
ented.”
While getting acquaint
ed at the State Capitol last
week, Hagan learned that
top issues for the new ses
sion will likely include a
focus on mental health.
“There has been a good
bit of money set aside for
this. It is a priority with the
Speaker (of the House), and
I agree that we have a lot of
work to do in that area. We
all care about that issue.”
Hagan plans to issue a
weekly report on Legisla
tive activity which will be
published in The Advance.
“I want to keep my constitu
ents informed,” she said.
^ [y\X)0 \^X\ Solution ’ p°9 e 14A
Fun By The
Numbers
Like puzzles?
Then you’ll love
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puzzle will have
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the moment you
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sharpen your
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Level: Intermediate
Here’s How It Works:
Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine
3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each
row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row,
column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will
appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The
more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!
2
0
3
7
4
5
9
8
2
5
5
0
9
4
7
8
0
2
5
7
2
8
3
4
businesswoman Carmela
Spikes-Williams to win this
race. Evans was unopposed
in her bid for reelection on
November 2.
As he begins his first
full term
as Vi-
d a 1 i a
Mayor,
Roper
comment
ed, “The
last 12
months
Doug Roper
Local Roots.
Local Branches.
Local Bankers.
Full Service Banking for Personal
and Business Use
121 CHURCH STREET, VIDALIA
912-403-3019
Member
cnir l=j
ri Jl* ■ EQUAL HOUSING
■ LENDER
