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Vol. 14, No. 47
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Thursday, November 25, 2021
UPSON.
BEACON
Shining Light & Keeping Watch on Our Community
upsonbeacon.com
219 Thomas Street, Thomaston, Ga. 30286 • 706.646.2382
50 Cents
Newsline
Nov. 25. 2021
City & County
Offices Closed
Thursday, Friday
Upson County government
offices will be closed Thursday
and Friday, Nov. 25-26 for
Thanksgiving. City of Thomas
ton offices closed at 2 p.m.
Wednesday.
All offices will reopen Mon
day, Nov. 29 for normal hours
of operation.
“The City of Thomaston
would like to wish everyone a
happy Thanksgiving and safe
travels as you visit family and
friends,” according to a state
ment from city officials.
The Upson Beacon office
also will close Thursday and
Friday in observance of
Thanksgiving. Local Libraries in
Thomaston and Yatesville will
be closed through Saturday.
T-U Sports HOF
2022 Inductees
are Announced
The Thomaston-Upson
Sports Hall of Fame has an
nounced the 2022 inductees,
who will be recognized at the
organization’s banquet sched
uled March 12 at the civic
center.
Inductees include Phyllis
Yates Long (basketball player
and coach), 1970 graduate of
R.E. Lee Institute; Gary
Thornton (football player),
1989 graduate of R.E. Lee; Ty
rone Perry (football player),
1995 graduate of Upson-Lee
High School; Buford Daniel
(Merit Award); and the 1975
R.E. Lee boys’ basketball team
coached by Wallace Rhodes.
For more information on
the inductees, see Jim
Fowler’s column in Sports, 5B.
Christmas
Lane 5K Run
Set Dec. 11
The Thomaston-Upson
Chamber of Commerce
Christmas Lane 5K Run &
Walk will be held starting
at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11,
according to chamber di
rector Lori Smith.
The race will begin at
Silvertown Baptist Church,
300 W. Goodrich Ave.
Awards will be presented
to the overall top three
Christmas Lane 5K, 7 A
8
10499 02461 2
Luke Haney/Upson Beacon
T-U Schools Host
Family Engagement Night
The Thomaston-Upson School System held a family engagement night
last iveek, inviting students and families of all schools in the system. With
free food and crafts, families enjoyed face painting, interactive booths, and
performances from the Upson-Lee High School chorus, band, and color
guard. Local first responders ivere also present, giving children the oppor
tunity to take part in “touch-a-truck,” where participants can get a close
look at first responder vehicles and learn more about local emergency serv
ices. See additional highlights, 4B.
Sheriff Pleads
Case for 2022
Wage Increases
County Budget Meeting
Bridge Turner
Managing Editor
bturner@upsonbeacon.com
Upson County Sheriff
Dan Kilgore defended a 15
percent salary increase
request for department
personnel to commis
sioners during a 2022
budget work session last
week, re-emphasizing the
need to remain compet
itive with neighboring
counties.
Law enforcement sal
aries have been a recurring
concern annually, with
Kilgore and Thomaston
Police Chief Mike Richard
son expressing difficulty
Sheriff Dan Kilgore
hiring and retaining qual
ified officers during re
spective county and city
budget negotiations.
“My dilemma is that we
Sheriff Pleads Case, 7A
PD: 4-Year-Old
Life-Flighted
After Car Crash
A four-year-old boy
with “severe injuries” was
life-flighted to Egleston
Children’s Hospital in At
lanta following a vehicle
crash last week on High
way 74 East near Gilmore
Center, according to a
statement from Thomas
ton Police Chief Mike
Richardson.
A family was traveling
toward downtown Thom
aston when a tire blew,
causing the vehicle to cross
a lane and collide with a
concrete barrier near
Upson-Lee Middle School
football field, the report
stated.
The child was unre
sponsive when emergency
Child Life-Flighted, 7A
Chair Allen: Community
Ambulance Non-Renewal
'Opportunity to Improve’
In a press release from
the Upson County Board of
Commissioners, Chairman
Norman Allen called Com
munity Ambulance’s notice
of non-renewal an “oppor
tunity to improve... serv
ices.”
Community informed
commissioners last week
that its final day of opera
tion providing emergency
medical services to Upson
will be Feb. 13, 2022. In ad
dition, the company will
voluntarily surrender its
designation as the 911 zone
provider for the Upson
County Emergency Re
sponse Zone, the letter
stated.
“Community has ex-
Comm. Ambulance, 7A
Council Approves
Tax Commissioner
Contract Renewal
Council members voted
unanimously last week to
approve renewal of an exist
ing contract with Tax Com
missioner Andy Chastain to
collect and remit property
taxes to the City of Thomas
ton.
Extension of the three-
way agreement among
Chastain, the city, and
Upson County was re
lax Commissioner, 7A
ULHS Assistant Principals Matt Bentley and Lesley Murphy, Principal Dr. Jarvis Price,
Assistant Principals Nesha Campbell and Ricky English.
ULHS Awarded 2021-22 High School
Distinguished Breakout School
Upson-Lee High School earned the dis
tinction of being designated a 2021-22
Breakout School by the Georgia Association
of Secondary School Principals at the 2021
GASSP Fall Conference in Savannah on Nov.
15. ULHS is one of only four in Georgia
chosen for this state honor that recognizes
Georgia high schools and middle schools
that are high achieving or dramatically im
proving school performance.
Upson-Lee High School earned the high
est designation awarded by the GASSP for
being tapped as the 2021 High School Dis
tinguished Breakout School due to doc
umented success in implementing strategies
aligned with three specific areas: collabo
rative leadership; personalization; and cur
riculum, instruction, and assessment.
(0 Griffin Ob-Gyn
NOW SEEING PATIENTS IN THOMASTON
CALL TO MAKE AN
APPOINTMENT TODAY:
403 WEST MAIN STREET
TUESDAY-THURSDAY 8:30-4:30
(770)227.5505
(706)646.2888
Leigh Ann Story, CNM; Bryan Krepps, HO; Jim Dunaway, MD; Lou Hameli, MO; Holly Harrison, PA*C;
Nadine Nolting, CNH; Enid Lofters-Jones, MD; Megan Potter, MD; Katya Brickman, CNM; Ashley Johnson, PA