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16 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, September 1, 2021
School district to ‘temporarily’ require masks at all schools
Date
Number of Positive Student Cases
out of ~ 14,395
Percentage of System-wide
Student Population
8/3 - 8/6
25
0.17%
8/9 - 8/13
86
0.60%
8/16 - 8/20
170
1.18%
8/23-8/27
174
1.21%
Courtesy Barrow County School System
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjoumal.com
Barrow County School System superinten
dent Chris McMichael announced Tuesday,
Aug. 31, a “temporary” mask requirement for
all schools and facilities, as the district con
tinued to see an increase in positive corona-
vims cases across its campuses amid soaring
COVID-19 infection levels throughout county
and state — and as administrators and other
employees across the district have continued to
be weighed down with contact-tracing efforts.
Effective Wednesday, Sept. 1, masks will be
required indoors at all facilities and school bus
es, while any student with a valid medical note
confirming they should not wear a mask will be
excused from the policy, according to a letter sent
by McMichael to students and families.
All students and staff currently quarantined as a
close contact who are not positive for COVID-19
and are asymptomatic will be allowed to return to
school as of Wednesday, McMichael said.
The announcement came less than two weeks
after the district began implementing temporary
mask mandates at campuses where 1% of the
population tested positive for COVID-19. The
list of facilities that reached that 1% threshold
has quickly swelled during the ongoing COVID
surge throughout the area.
“When the numbers of positive cases and re
lated quarantines are at a manageable number
system-wide, we will rescind the requirement,”
McMichael said without providing a certain per
centage.
The Georgia Department of Public Health
on Tuesday confirmed another 68 COVID
cases in Barrow County with a seven-day
rolling average of 71.4 new daily cases with
the highly contagious delta variant continu
ing to fuel that surge. Four more deaths were
also confirmed over the past week, bringing
the confirmed county wide total to 150 with
local and area hospitalizations still on the
rise and trending toward their January peak.
In its weekly data update Tuesday morn
ing, the school district also reported another
uptick in cases, disclosing that 174 students
tested positive for the virus between Aug.
23-27 — up from 170 the previous week —
with Apalachee High School continuing to
be the hardest hit. As of Tuesday, there were
192 active positive cases among students,
McMichael said.
Since the school year started Aug. 3. more
than 4,400 students and 85 staff members
have had to quarantine, McMichael said,
adding that district officials have begun
to see some slowing in numbers in a few
schools that were already under a temporary
mask mandate. Of those, Russell Middle,
Winder Elementary, Bear Creek Middle —
where mandates have been in effect for over
a week — had slight drops, according to the
district’s data.
District officials had made the decision
not to begin the academic year with a mask
mandate before the latest surge that began
in late July, and McMichael in his letter
attributed that decision to why so many
students and staff have had to quarantine.
Under state guidance, a person identified
as a close contact of a person infected with
COVID-19 can avoid quarantine if they
and the infected person were over three
feet away from each other and “properly
masked,” McMichael said. The district is
also now permitted to allow students who
may have been within that 3-foot distance
to quarantine in school while masked and
asymptomatic, he said.
And while some school districts in north
east Georgia and across the state have an
nounced temporary shifts to 100% virtual
school, Barrow officials have maintained
that they would attempt to avoid that step.
“We are continuously looking for better
ways to balance keeping as many of our stu
dents and staff safe in face-to-face learning
situations without shutting down schools
and going virtual,” McMichael said. “With
either option, the Department of Public
Health expects us to adhere to their rules
to provide the safest environment possible
for our students and staff. The absolute last
thing we want to see is going back to a total
virtual school model.”
See Schools, page 3A
Interchange
dedication
ceremony
set for Sat.
A dedication ceremony
for the Highway 316/81 in
terchange in honor of the
late Judy Loftin will be held
2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, at
W. Clair Harris Stadium on
the campus of Winder-Bar
row High School.
Loftin, who died in 2017,
was a counselor for 30
years in the Barrow County
School System with WBHS,
Winder-Barrow Middle
School and Bramlett Ele
mentary School. She was
a native of Barrow County
and born and raised on a
homestead on Punkin Junc
tion Road near the site of the
interchange that was com
pleted and opened last fall.
The Georgia General As
sembly in May approved a
resolution to name the inter
change the Judy Hill Loftin,
LPC Memorial Interchange.
Index:
Public safety
2A
Classifieds
4B
Legals
5-7B
Obituaries
5-7A
Opinion
4A
Sports
1-3B
MAILING LABEL
'0 4879 14541
Remembering
Rev. Julius Mack
Julius Mack is pictured at his computer getting ready for another edition of
newspapers. The long-time press foreman for Mainstreet Newspapers, who
worked for the company for 50 years, died last week due to complications from
COVID-19.
Newspaper stciffers reflect on long-time press
foreman who diedfrom COVID-19 complications
By Mainstreet Newspapers staff
Mainstreet Newspapers lost its bright
est light last week with the death of Rev.
Julius Mack.
Rev. Mack served as printing shop
foreman where he oversaw printing op
erations of the newspapers and commer
cial printing operations for The Jackson
Herald later Mainstreet Newspapers. He
recently celebrated his 50th anniversary
of working at the firm.
Rev. Mack was a well-known member
of the community who interacted with
the public through both his job and his
ministry at Bush River Baptist Church in
Banks County.
Rev. Mack, 63, of Jefferson, died of
complications of COVID-19 on the
morning of Aug. 25 after being hospital
ized for 10 days.
Services were held Monday, Aug. 30,
in Jefferson. See Rev. Mack’s full obitu
ary on the obituary pages this week.
Employees and friends of Mainstreet
Newspapers remembered Rev. Mack this
week:
Helen Buffington:
I have many fond memories of Ju
lius but my favorite is of a chubby little
guy whose round face was laced with
smiles. His father, Mr. Jesse, worked at
the newspaper and one day we found we
needed someone to sweep and do similar
chores. So I asked Mr. Jesse if he had any
boys at his house who might be interest-
Mack, center, celebrated 50 years of
working at Mainstreet Newspapers in
June 2021. He is shown with co-pub
lishers Mike (left) and Scott Buffing
ton.
ed in working after school. He promised
to get back to me. A few days later. Mr.
Jesse walked in with this beaming little
fellow. “This is my boy Julius,” he said.
The cute lad was all of 13. Julius went to
work at the newspaper as a floor sweeper.
But over the years, he earned his way up
the ladder to become our diligent and be
loved shop foreman. RIP, Julius.
Sharon Hogan:
How do you come up with just one
memory of someone you’ve worked with
over 361/2 years. For the first 35+ years
I probably spent as much time with my
work family as I did with my real family.
Julius and I were close to the same age,
he has a son about my daughter’s age, he
has grandchildren around the same age as
See Memories, page 3A
County airport
authority eyes $5M
expansion project
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
The Barrow County
Airport Authority hopes
to take on an estimated $5
million expansion project
in an effort to attract more
businesses to the airport
but is seeking the coun
ty’s involvement in help
ing pay back the debt on
a construction loan for the
work. The county’s return
on investment, officials
said, could mean more
than double and even tri
ple the amount of ad va
lorem taxes the county
gets from airport use ev
ery year.
Phil Eberly of Lead
Edge Design Group, the
planning and engineering
firm for the airport, told
the county board of com
missioners last week that
plans are in place to con
struct a new taxiway and
apron (tarmac) and two
additional corporate han
gars on the western end of
the airport property in an
open field next to the Zax-
by’s hangar.
Under the proposal in
formally presented by
Eberly to the BOC at its
Aug. 24 meeting, the
county would participate
in paying back the pro
jected $5 million loan by
contributing an amount
each year equal to the
ad valorem tax money it
would receive from the
additional business at the
airport.
The Barrow airport
currently ranks seventh
out of the state’s 103 pub
lic-use airports in with
111 aircraft based there as
of last week, Eberly said.
But with the airport’s cur
rent hangar space full,
the authority is aiming
for the expansion to ac
commodate high business
demand and tenants look
ing to locate there. Eberle
said tenants at airports in
“neighboring counties”
are eyeing a move to Bar-
row but did not elaborate
on specifics. And while
the airport receives feder
al funding from the FAA
for projects, most of that
stream of money is geared
toward the main runway
and likely won’t be avail
able for the new taxiway
and hangar space, Eberly
said.
“We need to be creative
to do this project,” he said.
The county has brought
in about $1.3 million
in tax revenue from the
airport over the last five
years at an average of
roughly $258,000 per year
during that span. With the
additional business an
ticipated to be brought in
with the expansion, that
number would increase to
an estimated $650,000 to
$750,000 per year, Eberly
said.
While the proposal for
county assistance would
not directly involve the
county forgoing to ad
ditional debt, the coun
ty would contribute an
amount equal to the new
revenue. Eberly said. He
said that one prospective
tenant has made commit
ments to pay $200,000
toward the debt off the
top and that the authority
could negotiate with oth
er potential tenants to do
the same in order for the
debt to be paid off more
quickly.
County commissioners
seemed generally sup
portive of the proposal
last week as a way to
help ease the county tax
burden on homeowners.
But a timeframe for when
an actual agreement or
memorandum of under
standing for the arrange
ment will be presented
to the board hasn’t been
established. County man
ager Kevin Little said last
week that the proposal
was being reviewed by
the county attorney’s of
fice.
Eberly said the project
could go out to bid this
fall if the parties reach an
agreement and that con
struction would take place
next spring.