Newspaper Page Text
32 Pages 3 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50« Copy Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Two people wanted for questioning after body
of missing Walton Co. man found in Barrow Co
Barrow
Briefs
CANDIDATE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Ahead of the May 22 primary
election, the Barrow News-Jour
nal sent candidate questionnaires
to candidates in locally-con
tested primary races. See pages
6-7A and 12A in today’s paper
for responses from Republican
candidates for Barrow County
Board of Commissioners in dis
tricts 4-6. There are no Demo
cratic candidates for the seat. In
next week’s edition, we will have
responses from the two Republi
cans running for Georgia Senate
District 47 — incumbent Sen.
Frank Ginn and challenger Scott
Howard.
DEMOCRATIC
CANDIDATE
MEET-AND-GREET
The Barrow County Democratic
Party will host a public meet-and-
greet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 10,
for local and statewide candidates
on the May 22 Democratic prima
ry ballot. The event will be held
at the Winder Community Center,
113 East Athens St.
Candidates invited include Bar-
row County Board of Education
candidates Johnny Smith and
Anthony Mayweather, state Rep.
Deborah Gonzalez (District 117),
Dawn Johnson (for State Senate
District 47), John Noel (for pub
lic services commissioner), Cindy
Zeldin (for insurance commission
er), RJ Hadley (for secretary of
state), and Chalis Montgomery and
Richard Winfield for U.S. House
of Representatives, District 10.
SQUARE DANCE
Winder’s square dance club. Jug
Tavern Squares, will hold a ben
efit dance for the 68th National
Square Dance Convention® on
Friday, May 11. from 7:30-10 p.m.
at the YMCA in Winder at 50 Brad
Akins Dr.
Theme is “Wear dots raise
Lots!” The 68th National Square
Dance Convention® will be held
at the Cobb Galleria Convention
Centre in June 2019. Dancers
from all over the world will come
together for four days to dance.
This is the first time Georgia has
hosted this event which is held
each year somewhere in the United
States. Current registrations exceed
2,000 for the national dance. If
you would like more information
about either dance, contact JTS
club presidents Buddy and Sha
ron Davis at 770-513-1189 or jug-
tavemsquares.org.
Index:
Public Safety
8,10A
Opinion
4-5A
Lifestyle columns
1-2C
Church News
5B
Classifieds
3C
Legals
5-11C
Obituaries
11A
Sports
1-4B
Mailing
Label Below
8 *0 4879 14541 7
Two people in Barrow Coun
ty have gone missing and are
wanted for questioning after the
body of a Walton County man
was found near their home on
Fleeman Road.
Michael Brent Huff and Jen
nifer Louise Huff, who were
renting a home on Fleeman
Road, have vacated the prop
erty after the body of Montez
Watson, 32, was discovered by
investigators.
Investigators with the Wal
ton County and Barrow County
sheriffs offices as well as the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
are still working to determine a
cause of death and a motive.
Watson had been missing
since February and was last
seen alive at his residence in
Walton County, according to his
mother, Lisa Chaney, of Bar-
row County. Chaney organized
a candlelight vigil for her son
last month at First Christian
Church of Winder. According
to his obituary, Watson was pre
ceded in death by his father,
James Riden. He is survived by
his mother and five children.
A memorial service is sched
uled for 6 p.m. Thursday at
White Oak Springs Missionary
Baptist Church in Winder.
Anyone with information of
the Huffs’ whereabouts is asked
to contact investigator Barry
Chandler of the Barrow Coun
ty Sheriff’s Office at 770-307-
3977.
Those with information about
Watson’s disappearance are
asked to contact Investigator
Hudson of the Walton Coun
ty Sheriff’s Office at 770-267-
2391.
No other information was
available at press time.
Check barrownewsjournal.
com for updates.
A day of prayer
DOZENS ATTEND SERVICE IN WINDER
National Day of Prayer was observed in Winder last Thursday at
the Winder Community Center. National Day of Prayer is an annu
al day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, desig
nated by the United States Congress to bring people of all faiths
together to pray for the nation. Barbara Garrison, local coordi
nator for the noon program, along with Mayor David Maynard
of Winder, welcomed attendees. Special music was provided by
Barrow County Probate Judge Tammy Brown, the Roving Ringers
hand-bell group from Winder First Baptist Church and Chris
Blanton, Minister of Worship at Winder First Baptist Church. The
Honor Guard representing the City of Winder Fire Department
presented the flags as the pledge was led by Dale Foreid, CW03
USMC (RET). Prayers for the nation were given by Betsy Daniel,
coordinator of Every Woman’s Bible Study; Ray Fumea, pastor
of Whistleville Christian Church; Gwen Hill, president of the
Barrow County Cooperative Benevolence Ministries; and Chad
Mantooth, senior pastor of Winder First Baptist Church. Pictured
above are Roving Ringers, from left to right, Barbara Garrison,
Linda McGraw, Teresa Dressier and Martha Bashears.
Photos by Susan Treadwell
COMING TOGETHER
At left: Members of the Honor
Guard representing the City
of Winder Fire Department.
Above: Chris Blanton per
forms during the National Day
of Prayer ceremony at the
Winder Community Center
on May 3.
County approves $2.15M bid
for road patching, resurfacing
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
The Barrow County Board
of Commissioners on Tuesday
approved a $2.15 million bid by
Sunbelt Asphalt for patching and
resurfacing on 11 county roads and
one road within the city limits of
Auburn.
About $1.4 million of the work
will be funded by a combination
of county capital improvement and
SPLOST funds; roughly $753,000
(for two roads) will come from a
Georgia Department of Trans
portation Local Maintenance and
Improvement Grant, and the City of
Auburn will reimburse the county
$33,862.30 for the work done inside
the city limits.
The roads slated for resurfacing
and patching work include:
•Tanners Bridge Road from High
way 11 to Highway 81 (3.27 miles)
— LMIG funding
•Atlanta Highway from the east
ern city limits of Statham to the
Oconee County line (1.16 miles)
and from Highway 53 to the western
city limits of Statham (4.49 miles)
— bump repair only. LMIG funding.
•City Pond Road from the Winder
city limits to Rockwell Church Road
(1.13 miles)
See BOC on Page 3A
BOC candidates
participate in
chamber forum
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
The six Republican can
didates running for the Bar-
row County Board of Com
missioners all said during
a candidate forum on May
2 that they were propo
nents of cutting taxes. But
their answers varied when
asked if they would favor
a millage rollback to help
minimize a looming prop
erty-tax increase for coun
ty residents.
Incumbent commission
ers Isaiah Berry (District
4) , Billy Parks (District
5) and Ben Hendrix (Dis
trict 6) participated in a
forum with their challeng
ers — Derek Cox, Debbie
Reid and Deborah Lynn,
respectively — hosted by
the Barrow County Cham
ber of Commerce at the
Colleen O. Williams The
ater in Winder. The candi
dates were asked questions
prepared by the chamber’s
governmental affairs com
mittee as well as a slew of
questions submitted by the
audience.
One of those audience
questions — the one about
the millage rollback —
drew a mixed response.
Many county residents
are facing a property-tax
hike between 22-24 per
cent as their bills will
include debt from a 2005
general obligation bond
that was used to build the
new county jail and court
house. Those projects were
approved by voters in a
2005 SPLOST referendum
and voters had continued to
approve SPLOST funds for
paying down the debt.
However, that option
was not available to vot
ers last fall when they
approved another five-year
SPLOST renewal. The rea
son: the county and City
of Winder were not able to
reach an intergovernmen
tal agreement that would
have allowed the county to
take more than $27 million
— around $4.5 million per
year — to pay down the
debt.
Winder officials had
argued continuing to allow
SPLOST proceeds to be
taken off the top to pay
down the debt would be
unfair to the municipali
ties because it would take
money away from their
shares of the proceeds,
while county leaders con
tended not doing so would
lead to higher property
taxes.
When asked whether
the millage rate should
BERRY
COX
HENDRIX
LYNN
PARKS
REID
be “rolled back” — to
ensure the county would
receive the same amount
of money from property
taxes after reassessment as
it did before — Cox said
See Forum on Page 2A
o
