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Barrow News-Journal Barrow County News Est. 1893 • Barrow Journal Est. 2008 16 Pages, 2 Sections A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia Merged August 2016 $1.00 Copy Wednesday, September 6, Austin Road Rockets officially launch The official ribbon cutting for Austin Road Elementary, Barrow County’s newest school and latest addition to the Innovation Campus, was held Tuesday, Aug. 29. Barrow leaders celebrate new elementary school at ribbon cutting ceremony By Carole Townsend Barrow County Board of Education members, area mayors, law enforce ment, county commission ers and state officials were on hand Tuesday for the official ribbon cutting for Austin Road Elementary School. The school, situat ed on the Innovation Cam pus in Winder, is Barrow County’s newest. “A school is a place where futures are shaped and futures are nour ished,” said Dr. Chris Mc- Michael, Barrow County Schools Superintendent. “A lot of hard work and a lot of heart have gone into the creation of this school.” The new elementary school was funded us ing local funds instead of state funds, and athe Aug. 2023 opening provides much-needed overcrowd ing relief for Bethlehem Elementary and Kenne dy Elementary schools. Growth remains both a challenge and an oppor tunity for Barrow County schools. “The Board’s fore thought and conservative budgeting over the years have made this possible,” said McMichael. The Austin Road Ele mentary Rockets - stu dents and staff - are led by principal Julia Hodges. Auto shop fire on Bert Day Road Submitted photo Firefighers with Barrow County Emergency Services responded to an auto shop lire on Bert Day Road in Winder on Tuesday. On Tuesday, just before 6 p.m., fire fighters with Barrow County Emer gency Services (BCES) responded to the 300 block of Bert Day Road in Winder on a reported structure fire. Upon arrival crews found an auto shop with heavy fire showing. “Crews quickly started fighting the fire from the exterior of the building due to the amount of fire,” said pub lic information officer Scott Dakin. “This included aerial operations and several fire engines.” The fire took several hours to con trol and firefighters were on scene for several more hours completely extin guishing the fire and performing over haul. The building and numerous vehicles around it were completely destroyed by the fire. The Fire Marshal Office responded to the scene to conduct an origin and cause investigation. It was determined to be an accidental fire. One person who was in the building at the time of the fire was treated and released on scene by medical personnel. MAILING LABEL o WINDER LEADERS HOST HOMETOWN CONNECTION Credit: City of Winder Last Wednesday, the City of Winder hosted a Hometown Connection event with local legislators Senator Frank Ginn, Rep. Holt Persinger and Rep. Chuck Efstration’s of fice had General Council Sam West in attendance. Direc tor of Government Relations from Georgia Municipal As sociation, Jim Thornton, was also present. Mayor David Maynard, Mayor Pro Tern Travis Singley and department leaders participated in a presentation to the guests and Winder Police Chief Jim Fullington introduced the group to the newest member of the Winder Police Department, River, the new emotional support K-9. BOE proposes new property tax exemptions for seniors By Carole Townsend The Barrow County Board of Education has proposed amended prop erty tax exemptions for senior county residents. The board, after first meet ing with the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson In stitute for Government, has worked for eight months to devise new, more equi table, tax exemptions for senior citizens. The proposed new prop erty tax exemptions are as follows: • For residents age 62+ with annual earned income less than $60,000 (exclud ing social security and re tirement income up to the yearly social security max imum benefit): $140,000 exemption on Barrow County School taxes • For residents age 70+ with earned income less than $113,000 (exclud ing social security and retirement income up to the yearly social security maximum benefit): unlim ited exemption on Barrow County School taxes The following rules will apply to both of the above circumstances: • Home values will be frozen when residents ap ply for the exemption. • Seniors will not receive either exemption if there are minor children residing in the homestead, unless such children are the nat ural or adopted children of the person, are foster chil dren under the care of the person, or are children for whom the person has been appointed guardian. • Exemption covers up to 5 acres and one home. • These exemptions will be in lieu of, and not in addition to, any other homestead exemption ap plicable to school district ad valorem taxes for edu cational purposes. • Exemptions will carry over from year to year un til financial or family situ ations change (such as age, income eligibility, pres ence of minor children, or when a new application is filed). A few issues are yet un decided; for example, the board would like to pro vide that seniors who cur rently receive exemptions under HB 985 or HB 1124 would not need to apply for the new exemptions. Another provision Board members request is that taxpayers who currently receive exemptions will continue to keep those exemptions until the new ones go into effect. On Tuesday evening, Board of Education mem bers voted to approve these amendments. Next, the proposed amendments will be reviewed by the Geor gia State Legislature. The amendments will either be approved as submitted, or state leaders will sug gest changes to the board. Finally, the matter will be put before the voters in Barrow County. If voters approve the changes, the amended tax exemptions will take effect in 2025. Municipal Elections ★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★ ★★ ★★ ★* ★ CORRECTION: In last week’s Issue, the Barrow News Journal made an error in reporting the qualified candidates for the Nov. 7 election. Mayor Joe Piper of Statham was initially not listed as a qualified candidate on the Georgia Secretary of State website due to a clerical error; however, it has since been confirmed that Piper did qualify and is indeed running for re-election as Mayor of Statham, alongside Deborah Krause. Also in Statham, Councilmembers Gary Venable and Hattie Thrasher will not seek re- election. Additionally, Krause’s council seat is vacant due to her mayoral campaign. The November election for Statham City Council will not feature any contested races, as only three individuals have qualified to fill the three available positions. The qualified candidates for these vacancies are Tim Terrelli, Frank Burnette, and Christina Bogenrieder. In Carl, incumbent Rebecca McKnight qualified to rerun for her seat unopposed. Incumbent Billy Nix did not qualify to rerun and Jason Allen qualified unopposed for Nix’s seat. In Winder, Power Evans and Todd Blackwell qualified last week in the Special Elecion to fill the Ward 3 council seat vacated by Councilmember Jimmy Terrell due to his mayoral run. Credit: City of Winder Winder hosted its first ever Internatinal Night last Friday as its TGIFF event for September. The event showcased the unique diversity of local residents who come from all corners of the world. The different cultures were experienced through cuisine, live performances and an internatinal vendor market. A special showing of Disney’s “Encanto” concluded the evening. INTERNATIONAL NIGHT IN WINDER TAKES RESIDENTS ON A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD Progress underway for problematic intersection at SR 53 and Mulberry Road By Morgan Ervin The findings from a recent study that fo cused on improving the intersection of State Route 53 (SR 53) and Mulberry Road were discussed by the Barrow County Board of Commissioners at its Aug. 22 meeting. The project concept by BM&K, Inc. aims to enhance vehicle safety at the junction of SR 53, also known as Gainesville Highway, and Mulberry Road by constructing a sin gle-lane roundabout. This improvement en deavor is designed to maintain intersection mobility without compromising safety. The proposed plan includes realigning SR 53 and Mulberry Road and building the round about approximately 575 feet north of the existing intersection. According to the report, the current con figurations of these two roadways present several safety concerns. The skewed align ment of Mulberry Road forces vehicles making left turns onto SR 53 to venture into oncoming lanes, increasing the risk of col lisions. Meanwhile, for those making right turns onto SR 53, limited visibility due to vertical curves poses challenges when as sessing southbound traffic. Additional issues are encountered by southbound SR 53 vehicles tinning right onto Mulberry Road. Drivers must sig nificantly reduce their speed to execute a U-turn-like maneuver, potentially result ing in abrupt speed changes along a high speed route and requiring vehicles to cross into opposing lanes, thereby increasing the likelihood of rear-end and sideswipe col lisions. Data collected by the Georgia De partment of Transportation between 2017 and 2021 indicate a notable prevalence of such collisions dining this period. During the five-year data collection phase, morn ing peak hours observed 1,030 vehicles on SR 53 and 86 vehicles approaching SR 53 along Mulberry Road, with evening peak hours showing 1,340 vehicles on SR 53 and 116 vehicles approaching SR 53 along See SR 53, page 2A