About The Jenkins County times. (Millen, Ga.) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2023)
Page 6 - Friday, April 14, 2023 The Jenkins County Times thejenkinscountytimes.com There is a rich anthropological history in the Ogeechee River basin. Archeological artifacts indicate human habitation at least 10,000 - 12,000 years ago. The Ogeechee and Canoochee rivers’ importance as a thoroughfare for trade and commerce, as well as a source of potable water and plentiful fish, continued for centuries. More than simply a recreational area, it was the main, or only source, of fresh food for some residents, as late as the mid-20th century. In an effort to preserve the history of the area, Ogeechee Riverkeeper launched an oral history project in 2016. Audio files, transcripts, and images are available through the Special Collections at Georgia Southern University. Listen to the stories of the river. This one is by Larry Lucas front 2016. I just had a natural thing for swamps. I mean, I knew swamps from the time I was a kid, I guess growing up in the rural south. If we was ever in the swamp lost I would climb a tree. I look for pine tops. If you see pine tops, it’s dry land. So I go back down, we head for the pine trees. Sometimes there’d be a hammock or something, so you’d climb another tree and look for pine tops again. If you see cypress, you know it’s swamp. If you see pine trees, oaks, hickory, anything you know, it’s dry land. But don’t get ‘em mixed up with gum trees, ‘cause gum trees grows in the swamp, tupelo, gums, and all grow in the swamp. This next story is by Shirley Daughtry from 2016 also. I went one time to a cane grinding at my aunt’s farm. And that to me was very entertaining. It was a social occasion. The mule walks around and it grinds the cane and the juice pours out and everyone has cane juice to drink. Sugar cane is not any longer a cash crop around here. My dad was a fisherman. Every Wednesday afternoon. In fact, all townsfolk would close shop early on Wednesday afternoon and go fishing. ... the Ogeechee River, as a young person, I always felt close to it. It was clean, we ate the fish, we swam, we got water in our mouths. Do you have a story you would like to share with our readers about the Ogeechee? Send it to me at: Uncle Rogers Tales of the Ogeechee @The Times Newspapers, 125 North Main St. Sylvania, Georgia 30467. Gardening with Talmadge By Talmadge Fries, Peonies Never Go Special Contributor im tiMrs Out of Style Peonies are always a classy flower. Did you know peonies can live for 100 years? Their beauty never goes out of style. You can plant peonies and your children and grandchildren can enjoy blooms from the same plant. Peonies are considered timeless beauties. When selecting your peonies to plant, there is a wide variety to choose from, here are a few of the most colorful and hardy. Queen Victoria is a beautiful white peony. It is a bloom fit for a queen and is hardy in our area. Red Charm is a vibrant red color. It is very beautiful and has a tall stiff stem, which makes it good for vase arrangements. Coral Summit is a peachy pink color. It is a soft color bloom that adds softness to your garden. Ozark Beauty is a light lavender colored bloom. The bloom is like a rose and it has strong stems which makes it excellent in vase arrangements. Peonies like full sun and well-drained soil. They like at least a half day of sun. remove spent blooms from the plants as well as dead foliage. A general garden fertilizer is good for Peonies. Do not allow Peonies to dry out, drought will harm the plants. As always, join your local garden club for a wealth of information and fellowship. Federal prosecutor named as First Assistant US attorney for Southern District of Georgia Tara M. Lyons has been appointed First Assistant U.S. Attorney, effective April 9. Lyons currently serves as the Deputy Criminal Chief and assistant US attorney. She is a 20 year veteran prosecutor. As first assistant US attorney of the Southern District of Georgia, Lyons will join Criminal Division Chief Patricia Rhodes and Civil Division Chief Shannon Statkus. Man killed on bicycle in Richmond County arrested years ago A man who traveled to Augusta from Colorado five years ago, planning to have sex with an underage teenager, was killed while riding a bike Monday night. The Richmond County Coroner’s office says 54 year old Richard Mennemeyer was pronounced dead at 8:54 p m. Mennemeyer was living in Colorado when he thought he had arranged to have sex in Augusta with a 14 year old girl. He had instead been communicating with undercover law enforcement. He was charged in March 2017 in Augusta and in 1999 of Sexual assault on a child in Colorado. Statewide manhunt underway A man convicted of murder 30 years ago has escaped from a minimum security facility in northeast Atlanta this week. A statewide manhunt is underway for 51 year old Charles Edward Smith. Smith had been on parole since 2021 and walked away from the Atlanta Transitional Center early Wednesday morning. Powder Springs PD buys groceries for veteran Three police officers with the Powder Springs Police Department recently came across a man who was visibly struggling. The man revealed that he had not eaten in quite some time and his VA check was not expected for another three weeks. The officers quickly pooled some money and went grocery shopping for him. According to estimations, the veteran had lost more than 50 pounds because he could not afford food. Shooting at Atlanta Chik-fil-A leaves 2 people dead Two people were killed in an apparent murder-suicide at an Atlanta Chik-fil-A. The victims were identified as a 56 year old man and a 39 year old woman who police say were in a domestic relationship. Both died at the scene. The shooting allegedly unfolded in the drive thru lanes. Investigators say the man shot the woman while she was in the car and then turned the gun on himself. No other injuries were reported. GA attorney general launches investigations into cybercriminals across state The FBI has infiltrated a worldwide band of cybercriminals who were hacking personal bank accounts. The FBI is providing GA prosecutors with leads to go after cybercriminals in the state. The cybercriminals have been running a virtual market place of stolen data, called the Genesis Market, the FBI has since shut it down. The stolen data allowed online thieves to assume the identities of malware victims and log into personal sites. GA lawmakers pass a $32.4 billion in 2024 budget Not everyone is happy with the $32.4 billion spending plan in the 2024 fiscal budget. The budget anticipates $17.9 billion in federal funding, bringing the funds to more than $55.6 billion. Governor Kemp initially proposed the budget. The budget funds the Quality Basic Education for Georgia schools and allocates $229 million to help school districts pay for a 67% increase in employer contributions for employees’ monthly health insurance premiums. However, the University System of Georgia is concerned about it’s budgeted $3.1 billion in state funds, which is an additional $66 million decrease in state funding. University officials also say that a 10% budget reduction in 2021 due to the pandemic has not been restored. The 2024 budget kicks off on July 1. Former Savannah pastor will serve prison time for child molestation Alfonza McClendon, SR, a former Savannah pastor will serve 25 years in prison and life on probation for child molestation and statutory rape. He was convicted of molesting two children between 2013 and 2017. The molestation happened when McClendon was pastor of the First Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. Brier Creek attends Hornet’s Nest event By Dess Smith, Special Contributor far The Times Members of the East Fall Line Region and the Little River Chapter, Georgia Society Sons of the American Revolution traveled to Elijah Clarke State Park to participate in their Annual Heroes of the Hornets' Nest Event. We arrived at 9:00 am and quickly set up 3 of our cannons, 2-6 pounder Field Guns and 1-6 pounder Mortar. Beginning at 10:00 am, we fired a 1 round volley of all 3 cannons and then at 11:00 am and 12:00 noon. In between the cannon fire. Compatriot Steve Burke and his assistant presented his traveling trunk to the on lookers. At 12:00 noon, approximately 150 participants were treated to a fantastic lunch at the park recreation center by the "Friends at the Park". The afternoon program consisted of an update on the Kettle Creek Battlefield by Compatriot David Noble and individual SAR, DAR Chapters and organizations presenting 96 Wreaths to honor those Revolutionary War Soldiers who died during the War. At the end of the event a 3 round alternating volley was fired by the Elijah Clarke Militia using their flintlocks and the Brier Creek Artillery using their 3 cannons. Then Taps was played by the bugler. Sanders Monument Company Producers of high quality monuments and markers 1484 Halcyondale Road Sylvania, GA 30467 (912)425-7870 (912)451-6382 Kenneth & Stacy Sanders Owner/Operators C. "com sandersmonument.com STDs are on the rise; health officials hope an old drug will help the fight Special to The Times U.S. health officials released data Tuesday showing how chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases have been accelerating, but doctors are hoping an old drug will help fight the sexually transmitted infections. Experts believe STDs have been rising because of declining condom use, inadequate sex education and reduced testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans are infected each year. Rates are highest in men who have sex with men, and among Black and Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. “Sexually transmitted infections are an enormous, low-priority public health problem. And they’ve been a low-priority problem for decades, although they are the most reported kind of infectious disease,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., a retired health official who lectures at the Colorado School of Public Health. To try to turn the tide, many doctors see promise in doxycycline, a cheap antibiotic that has been sold for more than 50 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drafting recommendations for using it as a kind of morning-after pill for preventing STDs, said Dr. Leandro Mena, director of the agency’s STD prevention division. The drug is already used to treat a range of infections. A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine showed its potential to prevent sexually transmitted infections. In the study, about 500 gay men, bisexual men and transgender women in Seattle and San Francisco with previous STD infections took one doxycycline pill within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Those who took the pills were about 90% less likely to get chlamydia, about 80% less likely to get syphilis, and more than 50% less likely to get gonorrhea compared with people who did not take the pills after sex, the researchers found. The study was led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and built on a similar French study that saw promise in the idea. “We do need new approaches, new innovations” to help bring sexually transmitted infections under control, said Dr. Philip Andrew Chan, who is consulting with the CDC on the doxycycline recommendations. Mena, of the CDC, said there is no sign the STD trend is slowing. Mississippi had the highest rate of gonorrhea cases, according to 2021 CDC data released Tuesday. Alaska saw a sharp increase in its chlamydia case rate that allowed it to overtake Mississippi at the top of that list. South Dakota had the highest rate of early- stage syphilis. And Arizona had the tragic distinction of having the highest rate of cases in which infected moms pass syphilis on to their babies, potentially leading to death of the child or health problems like deafness and blindness. Using an antibiotic to prevent these kinds of infections won’t “be a magic bullet, but it will be another tool,” said Chan, who teaches at Brown University and is chief medical officer of Open Door Health, a health center for gay, lesbian and transgender patients in Providence, Rhode Island. Experts noted the CDC will have many factors to weigh as it develops the recommendations. Among them: The drug can cause side effects like stomach problems and rashes after sun exposure. Some research has found it ineffective in heterosexual women. And widespread use of doxycycline as a preventive measure could contribute to mutations that make bacteria impervious to the drug, as has happened with antibiotics before. Nevertheless, the San Francisco Department of Public Health in October became the first U.S. health department to issue guidance about doxycycline as an infection-prevention measure. And some other clinics have been recommending antibiotics to patients who may be at higher risk. Derrick Woods-Morrow, a 3 3-year-old artist and an assistant professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, is an early adopter. Woods-Morrow said he isn’t a fan of condoms — they can break and sometimes people slip them off during sex. But he wants to stay healthy. About a decade ago, he started taking an anti-viral medication before sex to protect himself from HIV infection. Five years ago, a doctor told him about research into whether doxycycline might protect people from other diseases. “I thought it was probably in my best interest to protect myself, and my partners as well,” he said. He said it’s been a positive experience and that he hasn’t tested positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis while using it. “I feel like it’s a tool to sort of take back the sexual freedoms that someone may have lost and to really enjoy sex and interactions with people with a piece of mind,” he said.
