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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.
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