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Local Living ..2 | Perspective „4
Faith & Family „3
Eagle News „8
Farming & Fishing „9
Sports 10 & 11
Easter at
Big
Bucknead
Page 3
Congratulations,
Daphne
Wiggins
Page 4
What's the
latest
happenings
in
SPORTS?
Page 10
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JENKINS COUNTY • MILLEN • PERKINS • SCARBORO • BUTTS • EMMALANE • THRIFT
BIRDS VILLE
Shop
Local
and
Eat
Local
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By Joe Brady, Editor
for
The Times
Two local teens are sitting in Juvenile Detention after a weekend joyride leads to charges of theft by taking. Saturday night officers
with the Millen Police Department responded to Neighbors Express to investigate a report of a stolen vehicle.
The victim was traveling through Millen and stopped at the local gas station. While inside the store, the vehicle was stolen. The
vehicle was quickly recovered on Park Street with no damages. With the help of surveillance cameras in the Neighbors parking lot,
officers were able to identify the suspects as a 13 year old male and 13 year old female. Both juveniles were located on North Gray
Street and taken into custody.
“It is important to remember to always lock your vehicle when unattended,” Chief Dwayne Herrington explains, “also park in a
well-lit of the parking lot.” Other tips are to install motion detection lighting at your home and if parking in your garage, lock both
the garage and vehicle.
New Sports Facility Coming to Jenkins County Schools
By Hannah Derriso, Reporter
for
r 111 : Times
The Jenkins County Board
of Education recently met to
review and approve a bond for
the current SPLOST in order to
build a new sports facility for
the schools. The new state of
the art complex will include two
baseball fields, a softball field,
and a track. Construction on the
new sports complex is slated
to begin this spring and will
take approximately 12 months
to complete and will be funded
by a bond taken out against the
SPLOST measure that was on
the November 2022 ballot and
passed by 59%. The bond allows
the $4 million dollar SPLOST to
become available now instead of
having to wait until 2025. The
final step on securing the bond
was completed at the last Board of
Commissioners meeting. While
some commissioners were wary
and held off on approving the
levy citing having only a “7 day
notice,” documents obtained by
The Jenkins County Times show
that the County Attorney was
notified of the constitutionally
mandated levy twice prior to
the recent BOC meeting, the
first time on February 17, 2023,
when the BOE finance attorneys
initially notified the County
Attorney with the attachments of
all documents pertaining to the
bond, and again on February 27,
2023, when the BOE attorney
asked for the matter to be placed
on the BOC March agenda, again
with all attachments. Ultimately,
the resolution to levy taxes in the
event the Board of Education was
for some reason unable to repay
the bond passed 3-2. However,
the chance of a tax having to be
levied is slim to none as this is the
third bond of this type the BOE
has used for school funding and is
currently scheduled to repay the
previous bond a year early.
Annual Chamber Banquet
Steps Back In Time
By Tyler Busch, Podcast Director & Staff Writer
for
The Times
Jessica
Suggs was
presented
with the
Citizen of
the Year
award. Shana
Brinson, last
year s winner,
presented
Jessica with
the plaque.
(Photo by D.
Hearn)
The Charm Barn was selected as this year's Business of The Year. "We
are so thankful for this award, ” co-owner Jessica Wilson says. Jessica
and her daughter Macey accepted the award. (Photo by D. Hearn)
In addition to the sports complex,
a new student walkway and a
new teacher sidewalk will be
constructed during spring break
by Jones Concrete Company.
The new walkway will not only
help keep students from walking
in the wet grass or mud, but also
help congregate everyone to
one crosswalk instead of having
students and adults alike crossing
the street in multiple areas. A new
sidewalk for the teachers is being
constructed for safety purposes.
Currently, when teachers exit
their vehicles, they have to walk
through the lanes vehicles use and
puts them at risk of being struck.
The new sidewalk will allow
teachers a safer, vehicle-free path
to get to the school buildings.
The new sidewalks will be built during spring break. The sidewalks are not only safer but
keeps students and teachers out of wet grass and mud. (photo contributed)
RABIES ALERT
Rabid Raccoon Found in
Jenkins County, Georgia
Department of Public Health
for
The Times
A rabid raccoon was identified
March 20, 2023, along Rogers
Extension in the Perkins area of
Jenkins County, Georgia.
The raccoon was killed by a
resident after it attacked a pet
dog. The Jenkins County Health
Department Environmental
Health Section was notified
and collected the raccoon. The
raccoon was sent Mach 21, 2023
to the Georgia Public Health
Laboratory (GPHL) in Decatur,
GA for
rabies
testing. T jSffti
Test results received March
22,2023 from GPHL confirmed
the raccoon was positive for
rabies. The dog was current
with its rabies vaccination and is
now under a 45-day observation
period.
The Jenkins County Health
See RABIES page 5
Cotton Avenue was the place to be this past Thursday evening. This past Thursday, the Jenkins County Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual banquet. It was a warm, clear, sunny evening
filled with lots of fanfare. There was live music, a DJ, photo booth, and fireworks at the end to find out the gender of soon to be Jenkin’s County newest resident.
This year's theme was “All Roads Lead to Millen” and the dress attire was country western. The theme comes from Millen's history as being a transportation hub, from the railroad to the four
lane highways that cut across the county. Millen's ties to the railroad comes from when the city was a train stop for The Nancy Hanks train that used to take passengers from Atlanta to Savannah
many years ago.
This year's banquet dinner took place right on Cotton Avenue, in front of the historic train depot where the Chamber of Commerce's offices are located today. The hundreds of attendees sat at one
large table, all decorated with flowers and historic pictures of Millen and Jenkins County. The tables were beautifully decorated by Foye Thompson Knight and her team. Multiple locally owned
food establishments catered the event. Some of the delicious food served was crispy fried chicken (provided by Cafe on Cotton), Macaroni & Cheese (provided by Amazin' Grazin), Deviled Eggs
by Round's on Winthrope, and many other delicious southern dishes. It wouldn't be a proper southern banquet without the prize possession, sweet, iced tea.
Mandy Underwood, the Jenkins County Chamber of Commerce Director, spoke about how Jenkins County & Millen, “is full of opportunity, young folks moving back to their hometown to
build a house and raise a family”. Underwood also mentioned, “some of the county's newest residents are from out of state and how special it is that they picked Jenkins County out of any other
place”. She did not forget to acknowledge the many generations that continue to live in Jenkins County and the positive impact these families have had and continue to have on the community.
Christa Walters presented the 2023 Business of the Year Award to The Charm Bam. The Charm Bam is located at the comer ofN. Daniel Street and Cotton Avenue, and the store has been in
business since 1946. Charm Bam is a floral and boutique store that was founded by Bill Landmm. The co-owners of the Charm Bam, Jessica Wilson and her daughter Macey Crews accepted the
award. Both Jessica and Macey were humbled to have been this year's winner. Macey writes on Facebook, “We are honored to get Business of the Year” and continues saying “this award means
SO much to us I would never be able to describe how thankful, grateful, & blessed we are”.
The 2023 Citizen of the Year award was presented by Shana Brinson. The recipient of this year's award went to Jessica Suggs. Jessica is the current president of the local Rotary Club Jessica
Suggs. Suggs says, “Ya'll didnt tell me that I was going to win!”. She also was humbled and pleasantly surprised to have won this year's
citizen of the year award. Additional Pics See BANQUET page 6
JENKINS COUNTY
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Get Back in the Swing of Life
Our Swing Bed skilled care program is the in-patient extended care you need to get home and back to your life. We can
help you regain your independence. Visit Jenkinamedicalcenter.com or call 478.982.4221 for more information.