Newspaper Page Text
20 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, October 13, 2021
INSIDE:
Statham candidate
questionnaires
-3A. 5A
Winder candidate
questionnaires
-6-8A
Statham
council
candidate
Elrod drops
out of race
The field of candidates vy
ing for three open seats on
the Statham City Council in
next month’s election has now
dropped to five.
Parker Elrod, one of seven
candidates who initially qual
ified in August for the Nov. 2
city election, said Oct. 7, that
he has withdrawn from the
race because he is likely to
soon move out of the city due
to “unexpected financial op
portunities’’ that recently arose.
Elrod’s departure from the
race follows the withdrawal
last month of Ethan Breazzano,
a law enforcement officer in
another county who said he’d
been notified by his employer
that the agency considered it a
conflict of interest for him to
hold elected office.
The remaining candidates
running for the three open seats
are Mayor Joe Piper’s wife
Janel Piper, former Barrow
County Board of Education
member Debi Krause, former
council candidate Scott Penn,
Barnard Sims and Lee Patter
son. Current council members
Betty Lyle, Dwight McCormic
and Tammy Crawley are not
seeking re-election.
In-person advance voting
began Tuesday, Oct. 12, and
runs through Friday, Oct. 29,
at the Barrow County elections
office, 233 East Broad St.,
Winder.
Election Day voting Nov. 2
will be held at Barrow Coun
ty Emergency Services Fire
Station 1, 1625 Bethlehem
Rd., Statham. The top three
vote-getters will be elected,
and no runoff is necessary.
Index:
Public safety
2B
Socia news
3B
Classifieds
4B
Legals
5-7B
Obituaries
10-11A
Opinion
4A
Sports
1B
MAILING LABEL
Millage rate increase key point of
discussion at Winder candidate forum
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Public pushback on the Winder City Council’s vote
this summer to double the city’s millage rate and gen
eral frustrations from residents over what some view
as a lack of transparency over spending from city of
ficials fueled much of the discussion Monday, Oct.
11, during a council candidate forum at the Colleen
O. Williams Theater downtown.
The Barrow County Chamber of Commerce’s gov
ernmental affairs hosted the forum, which featured all
the candidates running for the Ward 1, Ward 3 and at-
large seats up for grabs in next month’s election. Most
of the challengers to incumbent councilmen Sonny
Morris (Ward 1) and Chris Akins (at-large) centered
their strongest comments around the fiscal year 2022
budget that the council approved a few weeks late in
July and the subsequent vote in August to raise the
city’s millage rate from 3 to 6 mills. That decision
was to cover the city’s expenses, but also aimed at
starting to reduce the city’s continued reliance on util
ity fund transfers to balance its General Fund.
“Right now, it feels like the cost of all this is being
laid on the backs of the taxpayers. That’s not the way
it should be, and there needs to be something done
about it,” said Melissa Baughcum, one of the three
candidates running to unseat Morris, who has been on
the council since 1986. Baughcum, in response to an
audience question about the millage hike, was one of
several candidates Monday who said the city should
be focusing more closely on areas in the budget that
could be cut.
“Spending like that without cutting, that’s just fis
cal irresponsibility,” Baughcum said, referencing the
utility fund transfer practice, which city officials have
said needs to begin tapering off significantly as its
runs into major infrastructure needs within those util
ity funds. “You can’t just keep spending money that
you don’t have. My resolution would be to stop all
See Winder, page 2A
Sonny Morris
Matthew Redfern
Matthew Redfern
Melissa Baughcum
Danny Darby
Yvonne Greenway
Jimmy Terrell
Chris Akins
Jerry Martin
Stephanie Britt
‘Mighty’ Kaspian soldiers on
Submitted photo
Kaspian Kenoyer is pictured in the hospital with his father, Travis. Kenoyer,
who will turn 4 years old Oct. 20, continues to brave a rare and deadly heart
disorder he was diagnosed with as an infant in 2018.
Barrow boy with heart disorder
nears 4th birthday; family
raising funds for nonprofits
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Kaspian Kenoyer, the small, young
Barrow County boy with what his moth
er, January, describes as a giant personal
ity, will celebrate his fourth birthday Oct.
20, and for his family it’s nothing short
of a miracle.
“To be honest, he should have never
even made it to this birthday,” January
Kenoyer said of her son, whose story the
Barrow News-Journal first reported on
in September 2018. “He’s been through
more than almost anyone, including me
at 42.”
Kaspian was born Oct. 20, 2017, at 32
weeks and, in February 2018, was diag
nosed with multiple heart conditions —
most significantly Pulmonary Vein Ste
nosis (PVS), a rare heart disorder where
blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich
blood from the lungs back to the heart
are obstructed. A little over 1 in 100,000
children are diagnosed with it. and the
survival rate in infants has been reported
See Kaspian, page 2A
Missing teens located
in upstate New York
Two missing teens —
one from Barrow Coun
ty and another from
Oconee County — who
had been described by
authorities as runaway
juveniles were located
safely in upstate New
York last week.
According to law
enforcement officials,
James Ethan Dutton,
17, of Winder, and his
girlfriend. 17-year-old
Olivia Warren of Oconee
County, were found near
Lyons in the western part
of the state. The pair had
been reported missing
since Sept. 18 and were
said to have left the area
on their own accord after
being seen together that
evening.
The Winder Police
Department, Oconee
County Sheriff’s Office.
Oconee County Juvenile
Court and state authori
ties in New York collab
orated on the search for
Dutton and Warren.
BOC approves
proposed apartment
complex near future
hospital site
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
A proposed apartment complex catering to em
ployees of a future Northeast Georgia Health System
location has gained approval from Barrow County
leaders.
The county board of commissioners voted unan
imously at its Tuesday, Oct. 12 meeting to approve
requests from Meridian Development for a future
land-use map change and rezoning of 31.76 acres
southeast of the intersection of Carl-Bethlehem
Road and Highway 81 for the project. The 275-unit
multi-family development, known as Dillard Farms,
is slated for completion in 2023. Meridian’s requests
received no opposition from the public.
Meridian plans to construct a gated-apartment
community equipped with a pool and fitness center,
among other amenities. The BOC’s approval of the
project came with 17 conditions, including a limit of
275 units, a stipulation that development will have
no more than 12 three-bedroom units and a condition
prohibiting a playground.
Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) owns
a nearby tract of land to the south of the develop
ment and plans to build a new hospital at the location,
though there is no timetable for when the site will be
built out, an NGHS spokesman said at a public hear
ing last month. But Meridian and NGHS have met
to discuss how the development and future hospital
facility would be integrated.
See BOC, page 2A