About The Jenkins County times. (Millen, Ga.) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 2023)
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 • u Ph JENKINS COUNTY • MILLEN • PERKINS • SCARBORO • BUTTS • EMMALANE • THRIFT BIRDS VILLE Shop Local and Eat Local g® ®n j©y nM® fim stolen 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 zl=l> 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.
