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StarNews
CARROLL COUNTY, GEORGIA'S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED / LOCALLY OPERATED NEWSPAPER
- Villa Rica Main Street’s “Rise-N-Shine” hosts
legislative recap by State Senator Mike Dugan
and State Representative J Collins - see page 9
- Where are you eating this week? See Carroll
County restaurant inspections - see page 13
| NEWS REPORTING / NEWS RECAP / NEWS ANALYSIS
StarNews monthly traditional print publication / StarNews Online daily local news \
MAY 14, 2023 • VOLUME 29 NUMBERS
www.starnewsgaonline.com
Mayors of Carroll County’s three largest cities
share their post-pandemic good news on growth
Carrollton Mayor Betty Cason, Villa Rica Mayor Gil McDougal, and Temple Mayor Michael Johnson
spoke during a breakfast panel discussion hosted by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce
Commission proposes FY2023-2024
budget of S73.23M, increase of S6.19M
Cost to operate county per month has climbed from $4.44M per month 2019-20
to $6.10M per month with 58 full time vacant positions in new proposed budget
notice to the board that the Proposed
Budget for FY2023-2024 will be pub
lished in the legal organ of the county on
5/3/23 and will run until a Public Hearing
See COMMISSION BUDGET page 6
story by Janice Daniels
On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, the Carroll
County Board of Commissioners met for
a regular meeting, with all commissioners
present. Chair Michelle Morgan gave
Left to right: City of Villa Rica Mayor Gil McDougal, City of Temple Mayor Michael
Johnson, and City of Carrollton Mayor Betty Cason spoke to an audience of
approximately 150+ during a breakfast panel hosted by the Carroll County Chamber of
Commerce, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Moderator invited questions, but none were asked.
story by Wayne J. Reynolds
On April 25, 2023 the Carroll County Chamber
of Commerce held their Membership Breakfast
featuring three of the seven mayors of the cities of
Carroll County: Mayor Betty Cason of Carrollton,
Mayor Michael Johnson of Temple, and Mayor Gil
McGougal of Villa Rica. These three shared details
of their municipality’s growth. Approximately
150 were in attendance.
Cason was elected mayor in 2019 and opened
Governor visits WGTC to
sign bills designed to support
the education necessary to
fill current high demand jobs
from press release
Governor Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty
Kemp were hosted by West Georgia Technical
College (WGTC), Coweta Campus, Newnan,
April 27, 2023, for a bill signing ceremony. Gov.
Kemp signed six bills - House bills 163, 155, and
607, and Senate bills 246, 3, and 86 - that will
See GOVERNOR at WGTC page 15
the panel presentation, “I am always excited to talk
about the City of Carrollton. I think we are a bright
star in Carroll County. We are financially sound
and provide many services to our residents. We
See MAYORS TALK page 5
State Agriculture Commissioner speaks to
full house at Carroll EMC’s bi-annual seminar
“Agriculture is national security” and “not rely on someone else” for food production
from press release
Georgia’s 17th Commissioner of
Agriculture, Tyler Harper, attracted a full room
of area farmers, agriculture
students, business leaders
and elected officials as guest
speaker at Carroll Electric
Membership Cooperative’s
(EMC) agribusiness seminar
held Thursday, April 13,
2023.
The agribusiness seminar
is a bi-annual event hosted
by Carroll EMC each spring
Harper
City of Villa Rica tackles major cleanup
of homeless encampments: 20 tons of
waste, 150 shopping carts, and dogs
Nine of the homeless had outstanding warrants and were arrested
Police Chief Michael Mansour stated there were no minors in the camps
police department was then involved due
to violations of these ordinances, and
See HOMELESS SITES page 4
New Chief Magistrate
Judge Nathaniel Smith
began work April 1st
Smith was a U.S. Navy Intelligence
Specialist; Drug Enforcement Agency
Tactical Debriefer; served with Naval
Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS);
and has been a local attorney 23 years
story by Wayne J. Reynolds
Local attorney Nathaniel Smith was
appointed by Governor Brian Kemp as
Chief Magistrate Judge
for Carroll County.
Smith’s first day on the
job was April 1, 2023.
Smith replaced
Michael Hubbard who
had been appointed by
the governor May 2022
to fill the unexpired
term of longtime Chief
Magistrate Judge Alton
Parker Johnson who died March 26,
2022. (Parker had been appointed in 1998
to fill the unexpired term of Richard
Smith who retired. He then ran success-
See JUDGE SMITH page 11
story by Janice Daniels
Mayor and City Council of the City of
Villa Rica met for their monthly work
session Tuesday, April 11, 2023.
Councilmember Shirley Marchman was
absent. Police Chief Michael Mansour
gave an update on the cleanup of the
numerous homeless encampments that
had been brought to council’s attention
during recent meetings.
City council had recently passed the
Urban Camping Ordinance and Shopping
Cart Ordinance in response to these rap
idly multiplying homeless sites. The city’s
and fall. Designed to bring people together
from all sectors of the agriculture community,
the meeting offers a time of fellowship and
networking followed by a presentation from a
keynote speaker. Commissioner Harper, now
entering his fourth month in office, addressed
this year’s crowd with a plea to keep remind
ing the common citizen of how critical agri
culture is.
“Agriculture impacts every Georgian, every
single day,” said Commissioner Harper. “It is
vital we tell that story and remind consumers
of the role the industry and this department
See STATE AG COMMISSIONER page 15
Smith
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