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12 Pages, 1 Section, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, January 6, 2021
For results from Tuesday s runoff election, go online to barrownewsjournal.com and see next week s edition.
Schools
plan to
reopen
next week
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Despite the continued
massive surge in corona-
virus infections, including
locally, Barrow County
School System superinten
dent Chris McMichael said
the district plans, for now,
to have all of its schools
open when students return
for instruction next week.
McMichael told the
board of education during
its Tuesday, Jan. 5 work
session that — as of Tues
day night — the district re
mained at adequate staffing
levels to open all schools to
in-person instruction Mon
day, Jan. 11, when the new
semester begins. School
staffers will return Friday,
Jan. 8, for a planning day.
As has become custom,
McMichael stressed to the
board and the public that
the district’s course could
change at any time based on
conditions.
“We’re in fairly good po
sition,” McMichael said.
“We do expect this is go
ing to be a very uncertain
time over the next several
months. There is some light
at the of the tunnel, even
though (the rollout) has
been a little slower than we
anticipated. We’ll do our
absolute very best to give
as much notice (about any
changes).”
The school district has
planned to enact “targeted”
closures when individual
schools reach insufficient
staffing levels, or in the
event major outbreaks oc
cur within the student body
at those facilities. Winder
Elementary School was
closed to in-person instruc
tion the final week of the
first semester before the dis
trict went on winter break
because the school did not
have adequate staffing due
to COVID-19 issues.
See BOE, page 3A
Index:
Public Safety
6-7A
Ronda Rich
7A
Classifieds
12A
Legals
8-9 A
Obituaries
10-11A
Opinion
4A
Sports
5A
MAILING LABEL
State announces expansion to virus vaccine group
Georgia officials have announced
plans to add additional groups
of people to the current group of
individuals eligible to receive a
COVID-19 vaccination.
Adults 65 and older, law enforce
ment officers, fire fighters and first
responders are expected to be eligi
ble for the vaccination in the next
two weeks, if adequate supply is
available.
They will join health care work
ers and long-term care facility res
idents, who are already eligible to
receive the vaccination.
Georgia public health commis
sioner Kathleen Toomey and Gov.
Brian Kemp announced the expan
sion of the “Phase la vaccination
criteria” last week — “provided
the state continues to receive ade
quate vaccine supplies,” according
to Kemp.
“We will continue to monitor the
administration efforts of our public
health workers and partners in the
private sector, and the supply chain
of both the Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines to ensure eligible Geor
gians are vaccinated without delay,”
Kemp said.
While the vaccine is starting to be
administered, some reports indicate
the rollout in the state has been ex
ceedingly slow.
While the federal government al
located funding to develop and then
ship the vaccines, it did not allocate
funding for the states to actually ad
minister the vaccine until the most
recent legislation was passed.
“Different areas of the state are
completing Phase la at different
times based on the number of health
care workers and LTCF residents
and staff they have to vaccinate,”
Toomey said. “This expansion of
la eligible vaccination criteria will
allow vaccine to be administered
See Virus, page 3A
Proposed development back
before Winder City Council
Google Maps image
The Winder City Council is set to consider a revised annexation and rezone request
for more than 200 acres south of Atlanta Highway and west of Pine Hills Golf Course
for a proposed 240-home residential subdivision — six months after it denied the
original request.
City planning board
has recommended
denial of annexation
of land\ rezoningfor
residential development
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
A proposed large residential subdivi
sion just east of the Winder city limits is
coming back before the council this week
— six months after the council shot down
proposed land annexation and rezoning re
quests that would have initiated the devel
opment. But despite the applicants cutting
back the proposed number of homes by
more than a third, the city’s planning board
has again recommended denial of the re
quests.
As part of its new meeting schedule for
2021, the city council will meet at 6 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 7, in a work session and will
hold public hearings on requests by MMK,
LLC. and Sullins Engineering to annex
seven parcels totaling more than 200 acres
south of Atlanta Highway and between Pine
Hills Golf Course and Russell Cemetery
Road into the city and rezone the bulk of
the land to single-family high-density resi
dential in order to build a proposed 240-lot
subdivision at 1.57 units per acre. The re
maining 45 acres would be rezoned to gen
eral commercial.
The applicants last summer proposed a
387-lot subdivision and “light industrial
development,” but the proposal drew sig
nificant pushback from council members
as well as county government leaders over
the potential impact on traffic in the area
and concerns from county school officials
over the strain new homes could cause the
district as well as the projected price point
of the homes.
The land is currently located within
the county’s rural reserve character area,
which would limit the developers to only
about a third of the homes under the orig
inal plan, which the applicants said last
summer would not be economically fea
sible. Future land uses under the county’s
character area are recommended to be ag
riculture, forestry and “very low-density,
detached single-family residences” with
a maximum of one dwelling unit per two
acres), including residential subdivisions
that “protect natural features and set aside
communal open space.”
The land is also adjacent to the Subur
ban Neighborhood character area with
in the city limits. That area’s intent is to
“preserve established neighborhoods and
create quality new residential develop
ment that is consistent with surrounding
suburban densities; and are suitable where
suburban residential development exists
or is likely to, given the presence of sewer
(or the potential for sewer expansion) and
existing residential zoning. Future devel
opment is recommended to be consistent
with single-family homes at low to mod
erate densities. Suburban Neighborhood
areas include the perimeter of Winder and
adjacent unincorporated areas.”
Julie Sellers, an attorney for the appli
cants, wrote in a letter to the city that the
site plan has been “significantly modified”
following input from the city last summer.
See Winder, page 3A
Barrow among
Ga. counties that
received threatening
election email
The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office had deputies
posted at each of the county’s eight polling locations
Tuesday after the county officials received a threat
ening email in the lead-up to the Jan. 5 runoff elec
tion, where both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats and
a Georgia Public Services Commission seat were on
the ballot.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Depart
ment of Homeland Security and other agencies are
investigating the email, which apparently was part of
a coordinated series of threats sent by a person or per
sons seeming to be part of a right-wing organization
to officials in Barrow and at least nine other counties
across the state, including neighboring Jackson Coun
ty. The individual or group threatened to blow up
polling places and inflict violence upon anyone who
doesn’t support overturning the presidential election
results in Georgia to favor outgoing President Donald
Trump and referred to anyone who voted for any of
the candidates in the runoff “our greatest enemy.”
See Threat, page 3A
GBI sketch
Public help sought
in identifying
statutory rape,
kidnapping suspect
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Barrow
County Sheriff’s Office are seeking help from the
public in identifying a man wanted for questioning in
connection to a May 2020 incident in the county that
involved kidnapping, statutory rape and aggravated
child molestation.
The GBI released a sketch of the white male this
week but did not have any age information available.
He may drive, or previously had access to, a white
SUV, authorities said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the GBI
Athens office at 706-552-2309. Anonymous tips can
be made via the GBI tip line at 1-800-597-8477 or
online at https://investigative-gbi.georgia.gov/gbi-tip-
line.
