Newspaper Page Text
20 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, November 3, 2021
At-large, Ward 1 Winder council races heading
for runoff; Terrell re-elected in Ward 3
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
One of the three Winder City Council
incumbents was re-elected easily Tuesday,
Nov. 2, while the other two remain in con
tention but will have to wait another four
weeks to find out whether they’ll be serving
another four years.
Ward 1 councilman Sonny Morris and at-
large councilman Chris Akins both collect
ed the most votes in their respective races
in Tuesday’s city election, but failed to get
over the 50% threshold to avoid a Nov. 30
runoff.
Morris, the longest-serving council mem
ber (going back to October 1986), finished
with 136 of the 306 votes counted (44.4%)
and will be opposed in the runoff by Yvonne
Greenway, who collected 85 votes (27.8%).
Melissa Baughcum had 56 votes (18.3%),
and Matthew Redfern finished with 29
(9.5%). There was one write-in vote.
In the at-large race, Akins, who is seek
ing a second term, finished with 583 of
the 1,290 city wide votes (45.2%) and will
square off with challenger Stephanie Britt,
who received 459 votes (35.6%), later this
month. Jerry Martin finished with 184 votes
(14.3%), while former candidate Beth Spei
ghts, who dropped out of the race due to
family health reasons but was kept on the
ballot, had 64 (5%). There were seven
write-in votes.
Ward 3 incumbent Jimmy Terrell was
re-elected in Ward 3, beating back a chal
lenge from Danny Darby with nearly
three-fourths of the vote — 330-112 (74.7-
25.3%).
There were seven write-in votes for that
ward.
Turnout across the city in the election was
very low, though there at least appeared to
be enough sentiment against the council’s
controversial decision this summer to dou
ble city’s millage rate — one that Morris
and Akins voted in favor of, but Terrell op
posed — to force the runoffs.
Greenway. a former long-time city em
ployee, primarily in the city’s planning de
partment prior to leaving in March of this
year, has been publicly critical of the city’s
spending decisions and has called on the
city to be more transparent with its budgets
and agenda-posting processes. Britt, a math
teacher at Winder-Barrow High School, has
voiced similar criticisms about the city’s
budget transparency and spending.
Morris and Akins have defended their
votes in favor of the millage increase as
See Winder, page 2A
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Index:
Public safety 6A
School/social 8-9,12A
Classifieds 4B
Legals 5-7B
Obituaries 10-11A
Opinion 4A
Sports 1-3,8B
MAILING LABEL
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Halloween treats in Winder
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Photos courtesy of Boheme Winter Photography
SCENES FROM CITY’S ANNUAL DOWNTOWN FESTIVAL
Despite cold temperatures and rainy weather, more than 7,000 people took to
downtown Winder on Friday evening, Oct. 29, for the city’s annual Streets of
Treats and Halloween Spooktacular festival.
Patterson, Krause,
Penn win council
seats in Statham
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Statham began to usher in new leadership Tuesday,
Nov. 2. as voters elected three new city council mem
bers in a five-person race with no incumbents.
Lee Patterson, a long-time worker in the health
insurance industry, was the top vote-getter with 161
votes (25.6%) and was followed closely by former
Barrow County Board of Education member Debi
Krause (159 votes, 25.2%). Local realtor and public
safety veteran Scott Penn was also elected with 135
votes (21.4%).
The trio of winners are set to be sworn onto the
five-member council in January and will replace in
cumbents Betty Lyle, Tammy Crawley and Dwight
McCormic. all of whom chose not to run for re-elec
tion this year.
Local retired barber Barnard Sims finished fourth
with 89 votes (14.1%), while Janel Piper, who is mar
ried to Mayor Joe Piper, had also sought a seat on the
council but came up short in her bid Tuesday with 53
votes (8.4%).
See Statham, page 2A
Vogel, Sisk win in
extremely close
Auburn council race
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Six votes separated the three candidates for the
two open Auburn City Council seats, with incumbent
Robert Vogel III winning re-election and challenger
Taylor Sisk apparently unseating incumbent Bill Ack-
worth.
Vogel, who has been on the council since 2010, re
ceived 138 of the 406 votes (34%) to earn another
four-year term. Sisk finished right behind him with
136 votes (33.5%), while Ackworth had 132 (32.5%).
Write-in votes turned out to have a dramatic impact
on the outcome, as 11 voters cast their ballots for can
didates whose names didn’t appear on the ballot.
Sisk, a business owner originally from Lula who
has since moved to Auburn, has said he decided to run
for the council to be a “voice” for the city’s residents.
Ackworth was vying for a third term on the council.
Also Tuesday, city voters voted overwhelmingly in
favor of allowing retail package sales (65.3-34.7%).
County voters approve 1-cent SPLOST renewal for six years
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Barrow County voters opted
Tuesday, Nov. 2, to continue the
county wide 1-cent special-pur
pose local-option sales tax that
funds capital-improvement proj
ects around the county for anoth
er six years once the current one
expires.
The big-ticket item: a major ex
pansion of the county detention
center and judicial facility on Bar-
row Park Drive.
The countywide SPLOST 2023
measure received the support
of 1,772 voters (60.35%). while
1,164 vote in opposition (39.65%).
While the SPLOST was renewed
by a comfortable margin, the per
centage of those in support was
lower than previous renewals,
when the measure enjoyed at or
around 70% support.
The tax is projected to generate
another $120.8 million over the
six-year period, which will go to
ward various capital-improvement
projects in the unincorporated
portions of the county and within
the county’s municipalities’ cor
porate limits. An intergovernmen
tal agreement reached earlier this
year by county and City of Winder
leaders allows for a six-year col
lection period for “SPLOST 2023”
— rather than the five-year period
for SPLOST 2018 — and for the
entities to collect more than the
projected $120.8 million listed in
the referendum if collections ex
ceed that mark within the six-year
frame.
County and municipal lead
ers made a push earlier this year
to bring another SPLOST refer
endum to voters this November
due to projections that SPLOST
2018 will hit its designated $56.6
million collection mark several
months early, either in late 2022 or
early 2023. With the IGA in place
and the extension approved, col
lections will essentially continue
uninterrupted.
An estimated $38.6 million is
slated be set aside for the justice
center expansion project. The re
maining more than $82 million
will be split for use by the coun
ty and municipal governments on
roughly a population basis with
the county receiving 62.5% and
the cities a combined 37.5%.
With its extra money — a pro
jected $51.5 million — the county
plans to spend:
•$15 million in road, street,
bridge and sidewalk and other
transportation-related projects.
•$15 million in equipment pur
chases to include 911 system up
grades, vehicles, technology, soft
ware and voting equipment.
•$6.5 million on paying down
Bear Creek water reservoir bond
debt.
•$5 million each in fire safety
equipment and facilities as well as
parks and recreation facilities and
equipment.
•$2 million each on county facil
ity projects and improvements as
well as water system projects and
improvements.
•and $1 million on sewer system
projects and improvements.
The remaining roughly $30.5
million or so would be distributed
to the municipalities as follows:
•$17.7 million to Winder, with
See SPLOST, page 3A
