About The Jenkins County times. (Millen, Ga.) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2023)
Aubrey says. tHis 540 E Wi nth rope Ave & \ Millen 5 GA 30442 * (478) 401-0943_ MILLEN • PERKINS • RED HILL • SCARBORO • BUTTS • EMMALANE • THRIFT • BIRDSVILLE • FOUR POINTS Jenkins County Times Vol l No l6 June 21, 2023 Quality News That Affects You Millen, Georgia $1.25 Belt Avenue blaze quickly extinguished SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY! HERE! Feds address blocked railroad By Joe Brady, Editor for The Times For Mr. Tracy Tarver of Belt Avenue, what started as a normal Thursday last week resulted in him being trapped in the bathroom while a fire raged in the kitchen. At approximately 4 p.m. 911 dispatch received a fire call involving Mr. Tarver’s residence. Upon arrival, heavy smoke was coming from the eaves of the home. Firefighters gained entry through the front door and discovered the fire in the kitchen. Mr. Tarver explained to firefighters, “I was cooking and went to take a shower. I forgot the stove was on until the heat and smoke had me trapped in the bathroom.” Tarver was able to break out of the bathroom window and escape the residence. He was treated on the scene with minor injuries. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. Photo by D. Hearn County investigating tax complaints By Joe Brady, Editor for The Times At last week’s county commissioner meeting, the recent residential tax appraisals garnered most of the attention. Jenkins County Commissioners were caught trying to, “figure out how to minimize the impact of this,” Commissioner Hiller Spann summed up in a conversation with The Times. After several minutes of back and forth between the Tax Community unites to provide steeple for local church By Joe Brady, Editor for The Times After 77 long years, the Millen Church of God installed a steeple last week that has been a long time in coming. Pastor Joshua Farthing, minister of the church since 2015 said, “The congregation would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to this special project. A few of those include Spring Creek Auction for auctioning our cakes every weekend and B.L. Kent and others for baking those cakes to sell each week.” The Millen Church of God was established after a tent revival in the summer of 1946. The church is located at 625 Hwy 25 North. Sunday worship services are held Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. “Though we may be a congregation small in number, we serve a great, big, and mighty God. We thank Him for all He has done for our church.” PROPERTY TAX Appraiser and County Commission, it was decided to take some time to gather additional information such as the current tax digest and to address the 65 percent of residential assessments the county has disputed. Commissioner Spann said, “all of us on the commission are working together to figure out how to mitigate the hardship this has/will place on property owners across the county. I once again ask for our constituents to give us some time to address this.” The Jenkins County Times will continue to follow this developing story and will bring it to you both in podcast and printed media form. US Department of Education that taught unwed students to be self-sufficient. She also started a program that Knight chosen as GFWC Woman of the Month By Jessica Suggs, Special Contributor for The Times Marilyn Knight has been chosen as the June GFWC Millen Woman’s Club woman of the month. Marilyn Knight first joined GFWC Millen Woman’s Club 47 years ago and is still an active member. When she joined there were 125 members in the Millen Woman’s Club. The ladies fed the Millen Rotary Club lunch at the Rotary Club’s weekly meetings. She has served as District President and State Chairman of various committees within Woman’s Club. Marilyn came from an educational family and always knew she wanted to teach. She’s been a Delta Kappa Gamma member for 54 years. She began her teaching career in 1956 and taught Home Economics. She started a program for the See KNIGHT page 5 crossings By Tyler Busch, Podcast Director & Staff Writer for The Times The Don’t Block Our Communities Act is a bill introducedbyU.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN) in 2021 and again in 2023 by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), and other congressional democrats, that will limit the time a stopped freight train can block a railroad crossing. The act would impose a 10-minute maximum on how long freight trains can block a railroad crossing. There are no current federal laws pertaining to railroad blockings caused by stopped freight trains. Numerous states, like Georgia, have “anti-blocking” laws, but their effectiveness is minimal. If the act is approved, it would give the U.S. Department of Transportation authority to fine train companies like Norfolk Southern, who exceed the 10-minute maximum, mandate the use of defect detection technology, limit train car length to 1.4-1.6 miles, regulate rail transport of hazardous materials, and increase financial penalties regarding safety violations. The issue of stopped freight trains blocking busy railroad crossings is a nationwide problem. One major concern is that with these numerous railroad blockings, the stopped trains are blocking vital railroad crossings for first responders, resulting in delayed responses to emergencies. Complaints about railroad crossing blockings can be made to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The FRA receives thousands of complaints nationwide regarding lengthy blockings of railroad crossings. Locally, in Rocky Ford, WTOC (CBS news affiliate out of Savannah) did a news story recently about how a train, this past May, was blocking the main street crossing for an entire day. The story continues to say that in Rocky Ford, it is not unusual for trains to be parked for 2-3 hours. The city of Rocky Ford has been in contact with Norfolk Southern about these railroads blocking negatively impacting local residents. Elsewhere around Georgia, a story was written recently about this issue in an Atlanta neighborhood by WANF (CBS news affiliate out of Atlanta). This story talked about children and adults having to crawl under or squeeze through narrow openings to get across the tracks to get to school and work on time. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) is wanting to add a provision to the bill that would eliminate rail crossings near schools and bus routes. Warnock also states that these excessive railroad crossing blockings “disproportionately impacts certain communities, the most marginalized members of our communities”. At the time of this article being published, there has not been a vote yet on this bill in congress. Happy Summer y’all Mrs. Ellen Douglas and Mr. Kenny McMillan pose for a photo op at the Jenkins County Senior Center. “We would like to thank Foye Knight for the beautiful arrangement,” Director Lee Wilson said. And what was the occasion? Just seemed like a good time to take pictures beside stunning flowers! Happy Summer from everybody at the Center! Photo contributed. CONVENIENT CARE Prakul Chandra, MD • Jodi Gilmer, PA optim primary care Schedule appointment today: Local Living „2 Faith & Family „3 Perspectives ..4 Obits ,.5„ Crossword/Comics ...7 & 8 Sports „9 & 10 Farming & Fishing .. 11
