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PAGE 8A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
Veterans Day ceremony
planned for Nov. 13
The Winder-based Sunbury Chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution will host its annual Veterans Day Ceremony
at 11 a.m. Nov. 13 at Watson Hall, 125 Church St.
The event will include a recognition of veterans, a flag retire
ment ceremony and a presentation of Quilts of Valor to three local
veterans.
The public is invited to attend and is asked to bring an American
flag if it is in need of retiring.
Covid
continued from 1A
staff and students will
be required to tem
porarily wear masks
indoors at school and
on the school bus, and
that requirement will
be rescinded once the
schools falls below the
1% threshold for at
least a five-day period.
No schools were at
that threshold as of
Tuesday, Oct. 19.
According to the
latest weekly data re
leased by the district,
there were 18 posi
tive cases among stu
dents from Oct. 11-15
and 11 staff members
were isolated due to
COVID.
Masks are still re
quired at all times on
school buses, district
officials said in a news
release.
“We will con
tact-trace positive cas
es and require quar
antines at home for
students identified as
a close contact,” offi
cials said.
“We will review
our protocols and
mitigation measures
in the coming weeks
to determine what
criteria will be used
to manage positive
COVID-19 cases and
student quarantines
moving forward.”
AREA UPDATE
The Georgia De
partment of Public
Health reported 16
new cases among Bar-
row County residents
on Tuesday with a
seven-day rolling av
erage of 17.4 new cas
es, still far below the
late summer peak.
Area hospitaliza
tions due to Covid
have also continued
their decline with
Northeast Georgia
Health System report
ing Tuesday that it
was treating 109 pa
tients across its facil
ities. Those numbers
included two patients
at Northeast Georgia
Medical Center Bar-
row in Winder and 35
at NGMC Braselton.
The system had
reached 333 patients
on Sept. 9, coming
close to the peak of
355 in January.
The state has con
firmed 185 deaths
among county resi
dents, with the lat
est-confirmed death
reported to have oc
curred Oct. 10.
Barrow’s full vac
cination rate as of
Monday, Oct. 18,
was 40%.
Winder continued from 1A
Downtown apartments and living quarters
“would encourage more pedestrians downtown
where the residents could live, shop and eat,”
Greenway said.
“I believe the city needs to look at what is
presently available and see if it can be salvaged
or used in any way,” Ward 1 candidate Melissa
Baughcum added. “The impact on current busi
nesses needs to be considered before any changes
are made. This progress and growth needs to be
planned for now.”
Incumbent councilmen Sonny Morris (Ward
1), Jimmy Terrell (Ward 3) and Chris Akins
(at-large) noted that the city has for over a year
worked with a private company on development
of a downtown-area master plan, a final report on
which is due back to the council in the coming
weeks, and which, they said, should address sev
eral concerns.
“This will give our city a plan and a vision,”
Morris said.
Chief among the issues hindering further down
town progress, several of the candidates said, is
traffic. Danny Darby, who is running against Ter
rell, said he considers traffic congestion the No. 1
deterrent to people coming to the downtown area
to patronize businesses. Darby and Terrell agreed
on the need to work with the Georgia Department
of Transportation on additional improvements
through the center of town along with the coming
West Winder Bypass. Terrell said another north-
south corridor, additional lanes of traffic on High
way 11/81 and a railroad overpass similar to the
Center Street underpass would be necessary to
alleviate traffic woes long-term.
Akins, a major proponent of an additional
1-cent sales tax for transportation-specific proj
ects, said a TSPLOST referendum, if placed on
a future ballot by the Barrow County Board of
Commissioners and approved by voters, could
generate upwards of $125 million over a six-year
period in revenues for road repairs and enhance
ments throughout the county.
“We can pave every street from one end of the
city to the other,” Akins said. “That would free
up tremendous amounts of money (for the city to
accomplish other projects).”
Terrell said the transportation improvements
would play an important role in helping attract
more businesses to Winder, along with the city
analyzing its taxes, rates and fees to make sure
they're not driving companies away.
“If we have a weakness, I think we need to im
prove our pro-business environment,” he said.
Darby said the city should have a more stream
lined permitting process for developers, noting
the city’s unveiling of a new online platform
aimed at addressing concerns in that area.
“I don’t think the city will grow unless ( the per
mitting and plan approval process) can be short
ened,” he said.
But is there such a thing as too much progress
too soon?
While Akins and Morris were proponents of a
large increase in budget appropriations for down
town development efforts this fiscal year — a
spike from $8,000 to $500,000 — Stephanie Britt,
one of the two challengers to Akins and one of
the strongest critics among the candidates of the
council’s vote in August to double the city’s mill-
age rate, said those larger investments “shouldn’t
be put on the backs of’ residents through higher
property taxes.
“I think progress is something people embrace
or they shut down. It is important to obviously
always have growth, but there is a point where
we outgrow ourselves and we can’t afford the
progress we’re attempting,” Britt said. “There are
some things in the works that are progress for the
sake of progress that I think we need to cut out.”
Better communication between the city gov
ernment and residents was another issue several
of the candidates touched on, while Jerry Martin,
the other at-large challenger to Akins, said the
city, county and chamber should be collaborating
more closely on growth and creating a better en
vironment for it while adding that the county and
city should quickly resolve their service-delivery
dispute that is still tied up in litigation.
“If we’re not working together, we’re not going
to accomplish anything,” Martin said. “How do
we get on the same page?”
Statham
continued from 1A
“I am a very independent,
ethical and hardworking
person who thinks for their
self,” she said before quip
ping, “If you ask the mayor,
in the 44 years we’ve been
married, I don’t do every
thing he says, and I don’t
plan to start now.”
There was, though, gen
eral consensus among the
candidates during the forum
that, if elected, they would
support the mayor’s agenda
of heavily emphasizing wa
ter infrastructure upgrades
to handle the ongoing popu
lation influx and prepare for
future growth.
“Our old pipes are failing
and that’s just begging for a
catastrophe to happen,” said
Penn, adding that the city’s
water, sewer and roads are
all in need of upgrades but
that water and sewer should
take precedence.
Penn suggested that the
city limit the amount of new
residential development
“until we get our infrastruc
ture improved and caught
up for the future.”
Piper said the city can
only “work within our or
dinances and zoning” to
control development but it
is currently “unprepared”
to meet its infrastructure
needs, saying that the city’s
previous administrations
did not focus enough on
future growth. She and the
other candidates agreed that
funds need to continue to be
allocated for future infra
structure development.
“Right now, the only
thing we have access to, to
help fund this, is our tax
dollars, which is not quite
adequate,” Piper said.
One major hurdle that
Statham has dealt with is a
multi-year lag in keeping its
financial audits up to date,
which landed the city on
the state’s restricted list and
has rendered it ineligible
for grant monies that could
be used to help fund key in
frastructure projects. Mayor
Piper, who took office in
January 2020 and hired and
tasked current city accoun
tant April Stephens with
Considering
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770-867-9026
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working to get the audits
caught up, has said the city,
with the help of its auditing
firm, should have its fiscal
year 2020 audit completed
and submitted to the state
by the end of this year and
would then regain that eligi
bility for applying to grants.
“Until our audits are com
pleted. we are still in the
same situation we were two
years ago when we had this
very same forum,” Krause
said. “...We have talked ad
nauseam about water the
last couple of years. It’s im
portant to all of us. .. .We’ve
got to have water for down
the road. We need to look
ahead and plan further than
when I’m going to be alive.”
Krause and the other
candidates signaled their
support for the city’s on
going well exploration and
development efforts. The
city budgeted $425,000 in
the current fiscal year for
the development of a well,
aimed at moving it toward
water independence and
away from its reliance on
water purchases from Bar-
row County and the City
of Winder — purchases
projected to cost at least
$270,000 this fiscal year.
“This could be money that
could be put back into the
community to start address
ing (the city’s needs).” Pat
terson said, pointing to road
repaving and upgrades and
new sidewalks in more parts
of the city as examples. “It is
frustrating to see where road
repairs and repaving, like on
Atlanta Highway, stop when
you enter the Statham city
limits, and pick back up as
you’re leaving the city lim
its.”
Krause agreed that the
city’s lack of available fund
ing for infrastructure im
provements has it “behind
the curve” not just in its
ability to handle the grow
ing population, which she
noted has jumped 25% since
the 2010 Census, but to at
tract businesses and indus
try to locate in the city. She
pointed to bringing in busi
nesses with higher wages,
cutting down on a poverty
rate greater than 11% within
the city, developing public
transportation options, im
proving and expanding rec
reational opportunities, and
fully staffing and raising
the pay for the city’s police
department to help ensure
24/7 coverage as short- and
long-term goals to bolster
the city’s economic devel
opment outlook.
“A town is defined by
its people.” Patterson said
during the candidates’ re
sponses to a question about
their vision for growth in
the city.
“Any vision the town
comes up with must be cit
izen-focused.”
Patterson and Penn both
said the city should be fo
cused on catering toward
young families and pro
viding them with more
ways spend their money in
Statham through business
and entertainment, while
also maintaining a “small
town feel.”
“The growth has pretty
much been slow and stag
nant.” Piper added. “It seems
like the vision of previous
administrations has been
to basically turn us into a
bedroom community. With
that being said, those don’t
tend to be very self-suffi
cient. We need businesses
that will bring more things
to Statham. We need other
things (other than festivals)
to draw people into our city.
Unfortunately, our down
town area is very limited. It
does need some upgrading
and it needs some beautifi
cation.
“My vision for the city is
we become more than just a
bedroom community.”
October 20, 2021 ~ Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1. Now, in the ER
5. For what reason?
8. Three-dimensional
figure
12. Sills solo
13. Shade
14. Again
15. Attended
16. Ballot type
18. Irish dogs
20. Trenches
21. Clod
22. Preacher’s word
23. Station
26. Weep
27. Young woman
30. Showy bloom
31. Acorn-bearer
32. Alternative word
33. Space
34. Seize
35. Ridge
36. Continually
38. Animal skin
39. More skillful
41. Soft drink
45. Santa’s team
47. Get on video
48. Is unable
49. Tangled mass
50. Froster
51. Takes to court
52. Exploit
53. Lincoln’s coin
DOWN
1. Woodcutting tools
2. Sycamore, e.g.
3. “It Me Babe”
4. Skin markings
5. Pier
6. Centers
7. You bet!
8. Outrigger
9. Sort out, as a knot
10. Borscht vegetable
11. Barnyard females
17. Television award
19. Enjoy a picnic
22. Noah’s transport
23. Get
24. Historic time
25. Supply route
26. Urban vehicle
28. Donkey
29. Permit
31. Dinghy paddle
32. Inconsistent
34. Dweeb
35. Cow’s chew
37. Airs
38. Expertise
39. Semicircles
40. Wooer
41. Black and Bering
42. Stride
43. Unlatch
44. Impudent
46. It’ll never fly
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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8
9
10
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12
13
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53
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