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Page 6 - Friday, March 3, 2023 The Jenkins County Times thejenkinscountytimes.com
City Council Meeting:
1st Tuesday of each month. 6 p.m. This month is March 7, 2023
County Commissioners Meeting:
2nd Tuesday of each month. 4 p.m. This month is March 14, 2023
Smith named VP of Institutional
Advancement at EGSC
BRIEFS
By Hannah Derriso, Reporter
for
The Times
Millen City Council Meeting February 7, 2023
February 7th’s City
Council Meeting was a
busy, but productive one,
with almost a dozen items
on the agenda as well as
several other points of
concern brought up by
council members during
open discussion. The first
item on the agenda was
the review and approval
a resolution to use grant
money to demolish three
condemned houses within
the city limits. The motion
to adopt the resolution
carried unanimously and
the three structures are set
to be demolished within
45 days.
Property owners on
Pine Street united and
signed the petition for a
new speed hump on Pine
in hopes that it will help
slow down the cut through
traffic. Receiving well
over the required 60% of
property owner signatures,
the motion to install a new
speed hump was approved
unanimously by City
Council. The next step is
to identify any utility lines
before the hump can be
installed.
An auction for surplus
vehicles and equipment is
currently being planned.
The list of surplus items
was approved during the
council meeting and a
discussion to have a joint
auction with the County
ensued. Council agreed
to table further discussion
regarding the combined
auction until the March
Council meeting after the
County had chosen an
auction house to host the
sale.
Other notes of interest
from February’s City
Council Meeting were the
date change for the July
City Council meeting from
July 4, 2023, to July 6,
2023, the reappointment
of Ms. Janette Keezel to
the Planning & Zoning
Board for the 2023-2027
term, new discussion of
a possible sanitation rate
increase, repaving and
striping of Staff Sergeant
Robert Mosley Road and
a section of Gray Street
by the Community house
has been completed, the
property survey for the
new water town site on
Highway 25 is completed
and timber is currently
being cleared out, and the
City Council qualifying
dates for the November
2024 City Council Election
have been set for August
21, 2023 - August 25,
2023.
COUNTY
BRIEFS
By Hannah Derriso, Reporter
for
The Times
February 14, 2023 County Commissioners Meeting
Much was accomplished
at last month’s Board of
Commissioners meeting.
The meeting began with
Mr. Wally Sasser request
ing funding for new pagers
for the North Jenkins
Volunteer Fire Depart
ment. The board agreed
unanimously to cover any
remaining costs that grants
and fundraising did not in
order for the new pagers to
be purchased. Next on the
agenda was Chamber Di
rector Mandy Underwood
discussing the upcoming
Chamber Banquet and
requesting the Board file
a clearance form with
the FFA in order to use
Dr. Kyle Gay’s hangar at
the airport as the banquet
location. The board agreed
to submit the paperwork
requesting clearance to
use the location but said
it could take as long as 45
days to receive a reply.
Congratulations to Ms.
Vivian Johnson on being
appointed to the Jenkins
County Board of Health by
unanimous agreement. The
Jenkins County Elections
Office will be receiving
three new printers for voter
check-in during advanced
voting which will help cut
down on wait times and
make the process easier for
the voters. The DOT will
soon begin replacing the
bridge on Old Savannah
Highway and is looking
for input from the county
regarding a recommend
ed detour route. Lastly,
Jenkins County went from
54 washed out dirt roads
during the heavy rain in
2021, to only having 5
roads washed out this year
with the heavy rain we’ve
had thanks to new drain
age pipes and regular road
maintenance.
Fr. Larry’s Lent Part 2:
Service
-Fr. Larry Jesion, St.
Michael’s Episcopal Church
“The proof of love is in the
works. Where love exists,
it works great things. But
when it ceases to act, it
ceases to exist.” -St. Greg
ory the Great
One of the many ways in
which we may prepare
ourselves for the coming
of Easter Sunday this
Lenten season is to serve
others. When performing
service to others in the
name of Christ, there truly
is no limit to what the acts
of serving look like, no
limit to what they can be or
accomplish.
For instance, my godson
Kejon recently volunteered
his time to serve senior
citizens who for a variety
of reasons were unable to
do things that they were
able to in the past. This in
cluded things like painting
porch railings, raking and
hauling away yard debris,
planting saplings, and bak
ing cookies for distribution
in a community senior
meal delivery program.
To deepen our under
standing and knowledge
of Jesus, we need to do
what he did; that is, to give
compassionate, loving, and
selfless service to those
in need. It is through the
act serving others that we
encounter Jesus. St. Teresa
of Avila said it best:
“Christ has no body now
but yours. No hands, no
feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through
which he looks compas
sion on this world. Yours
are the feet with which he
walks to do good. Yours
are the hands through
which he blesses all the
world. Yours are the hands,
yours are the feet, yours
are the eyes, you are his
body. Christ has no body
now on earth but yours.”
One of the most meaning
ful of my Lenten service
to others occurred last
Wednesday. For the first
time since the pandem
ic, I was able to offer an
Ash Wednesday worship
service to the residents and
staff of the Georgia War
Veterans Nursing Home
in Augusta (also known
as the Blue Goose). This
familiar worship service
for Roman Catholics and
Episcopalians enjoyed the
participation of members
of several other Christian
faith traditions. (In fact,
the Catholics and Episco
palians were outnumbered
10 to 1.) It was a shared
time of joy and devotion.
I was stmck by the hunger
and the need that the
participating residents had
for the act of worship.
Our theological differenc
es were set aside for an
hour as we praised God
and prayed together with
one another. Recogniz
ing the need of the men
and women of the Blue
Goose for worship, St.
Michael’s in Waynesboro
and the Church of the Holy
Comforter in Martinez are
now providing regularly
scheduled worship and
communion service.
Special Contributor
for
tin Times
East Georgia State Col
lege (EGSC) is proud to
announce that Harley Strick
land Smith has been named
the new Vice President for
Institutional Advancement
at EGSC. In this role, Smith
will provide leadership and
strategic focus to further
the college’s development,
alumni relations, market
ing communications, and
engagement. She will work
with the EGSC Foundation
and its members to imple
ment strategies to increase
private funding for college
programs and capital needs,
as well as secure gifts from
private foundations and gov
ernment sources.
“Harley has already served in
several leadership positions
at EGSC over the years. Her
work in Advancement and
Community Relations has
been stellar. She knows our
students well, having been
one herself, appreciates and
respects the role of faculty
and staff, and brings a passion
for all things local to the new
position,” said Dr. David
Schecter, president of EGSC.
“Institutional Advancement
and fundraising are crucial
to the Mission of the
College, as we seek funds
and support for students and
programs alike. We know
the cost of college can be
daunting for many, but a
solid Advancement office
can offset some of those
concerns by building the
Harley Strickland Smith
scholarship base for students
and attracting community
support for every aspect of
the College.”
Harley Smith was bom
and raised in Evans County,
Georgia. After graduating
high school, Smith attended
East Georgia State College
in Statesboro before moving
on to Georgia Southern
University. She was a cum
laude graduate of Georgia
Southern University majoring
in journalism and minoring
in public relations. Smith is
currently pursuing a Master
of Public Administration
degree with a concentration
in nonprofit management
from Georgia Southern
University. She will graduate
in May.
After obtaining her
journalism degree, Smith
started working as a reporter
with the news station WTOC-
TV in Savannah, Georgia.
She covered numerous
stories in Southeast Georgia
on a variety of topics. Smith
switched her journalism focus
to behind the camera as the
communications coordinator
at East Georgia State College
in 2019. During her time
at EGSC, she has also held
the roles of Coordinator
of the Sudie A. Fulford
Community Learning Center
and, most recently, Director
of Institutional Advancement
and Community Relations.
She was named STAR Staff
of the Year in 2020.
“I am so excited and
thankful for the opportunity
to lead the Institutional
Advancement Department at
East Georgia State College,”
said Smith. “I fell in love with
this college, the community,
the faculty, and the staff
when I first stepped foot on
the campus as a student. It is
a blessing to be able to work
at the college that changed
my life and helps change the
lives of others each day.”
Smith is a member of
the Swainsboro Rotary
Club, Leadership Emanuel
Class of 2022, The Camilla
Foundation, the Evans
Region College and Career
Academy, and the Ronald
McDonald House Charities
Wine, Women and Shoes
Event Board. Smith is
married to Kaleb Smith, and
they reside in Statesboro,
Georgia.
Georgia Senate passes bill
exempting rural hospitals
from CON law
Special Contributor
for
Tin Times
Legislation exempting most
mral hospitals from Geor
gia’s certificate of need law
cleared the state Senate this
past Monday.
Senators voted 42-13 to no
longer require proposed new
acute-care hospitals in coun
ties with populations of fewer
than 50,000 residents to have
to prove to the state that the
medical services they plan to
offer are needed in their com
munity.
“We have an access-to-
health-care problem in rural Georgia,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the bill’s chief
sponsor. “This is a pmdent step to improve access to care.”
Georgia’s CON law was first passed in 1979 to comply with a federal mandate aimed at
reducing health-care costs by avoiding duplication. About three dozen states currently have
CON laws on their books.
Other states have repealed their CON laws since Congress did away with the mandate,
Dolezal said.
“The original intent was to suppress the volume of health care,” he said. “As you suppress
the supply of something, you decrease access.”
But Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, said the CON law protects existing hospitals from being
encroached upon by new facilities that hurt them financially by taking away their patients.
“The reason CON exists is because a hospital could locate too close to another hospital,” she
said. “Patients are poached.”
Indeed, when Senate Bill 99 was presented to the Senate Regulated Industries Committee
earlier this month, Dolezal said it was prompted by a private developer’s plan to build a 100-
bed acute-care hospital in Butts County.
Representatives of the Wellstar Health System told committee members exempting the
proposed hospital from the CON process would let the new facility open for business close
to both the 25-bed Sylvan Grove Hospital in Jackson and the 160-bed Wellstar Spalding
Regional Hospital in Griffin.
“You will be adversely affecting a hospital that’s in place a few miles [on the other side of]
of county line,” Orrock said Monday.
But Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, chairman of the Regulated Industries Committee, said
the legislation requires rural hospitals exempted from the CON law to accept both Medicare
and Medicaid enrollees and dedicate at least 10% of their incomes to indigent care.
Opponents of CON reform have long argued that significantly reducing CON requirements
or repealing the law entirety would lead a plethora of physician-owned ambulatory surgery
centers to open near existing hospitals and - since they wouldn’t legally have to accept
indigent patients - siphon off paying patients and leave existing hospitals with a heavy con
centration of non-paying patients.
“Hospitals are closing down in rural Georgia,” Cowsert said. “This is to encourage new
ones.”
A second CON bill that has cleared Cowsert’s committee goes farther than Senate Bill 99
in seeking to eliminate the CON law.
“Senate Bill 99 is more like a rifle shot narrowly focused on adequate medical services for
mral areas of our state,” he said.
The bill now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives.
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