NEWS
FAYETTE
COUNTY
4*THE TRUTH SINCE 1886 4'
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VOL 151, NO. 13
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023
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INSIDE: $10,000 Reward Offered to Locate Man Accused of Killing 11-year-old, A5
INSIDE: Royal Animal Rfuge Facing Food Crisis, A6
Fayette County Votes
to Pass SPLOST Renewal
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
FAYETTE - Unofficial
count shows that Fayette
County residents voted to
extend a one-cent special
purpose local option sales
tax by a 4,259 to 1,524 mar
gin, reflecting participation
of only 6.6 percent of 87,535
total registered voters in the
county.
According to the incom
plete election summary re
port provided by the Fayette
County Elections office,
fewer than seven per 100
registered voters cast ballots
in the election cycle. Of those
voting, more than 73.6 per
cent favored extension of the
existing SPLOST.
Unofficial counts did not
include provisional ballots.
Each city and town in
Fayette County utilizes
SPLOST for a variety of cap
ital projects.
Director of Election and
Voter Registration Brian Hill
emphasized his gratitude for
those who were able to make
the election possible.
“I would like to thank the
Fayette County Board of
Commissioners, Board of
Elections and Voter Reg
istration, and all the munici
palities and voters for partic
ipating in this successful
SPLOST election. I would
also like to thank Fayette
County Elections staff and
poll workers that allowed
this SPLOST election to run
smoothly,” he said.
Election results were cer
tified during the March 24
Fayette County Board of
Elections meeting.
Rick Ross' bison loose in Fayetteville. Courtesy of FCSO
Commissioners Discuss Bison on the Loose
Fayetteville Resident: ‘This Would Not be an Issue in Peachtree City’
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
Unconstrained bison in
the city of Fayetteville on
March 21, owned by well-
known rapper Rick Ross,
were discussed at the Fayette
County Commission meet
ing on March 23.
The bison are pictured
on Ross’ neighbors’ prop
erty, preventing residents
from exiting their homes.
Fayetteville residents in at
tendance voiced concerns to
the commission and asked
for a solution.
Johnny Hill of Fay
etteville expressed his dis
content with the commission
and described how he feels
the board has handled the
recurring problem.
“I’m sitting here ponder
ing that we were here last
year, and we were told that
this would never happen
again, so I’m concerned with
what transpired a change.
Something has to be done,”
Hill said. “Y’all don’t act like
it’s important to you.
“As we were repeating
the Pledge of Allegiance, I
noticed one little sentence in
there said, ‘justice for all.’ I
don’t think you’re [seeing]
this is as important as it is.
This would not be an issue in
Peachtree City,” he con
cluded.
Antoinette Barnes of
Fayetteville explained how
she was directly affected by a
bull, another one of Ross’
pets.
“The bull came to my
property, and it posed a
threat to my family and the
community. I do understand
that those pets are supposed
to be caged, even on his
property, and they were
loose on several occasions.
This is not the first or second
time. From my understand
ing, it has been about three
or four times,” said Barnes.
Other residents voiced
similar concerns and ex
pressed wishes to hear how
the issues would be resolved.
Commissioners, along
with County Manager Steve
Rapson, told residents they
plan to contact Ross and
gain control of any future
problems that may arise be
cause of his animals.
PTC Councilman Proclaims
Order of DeMolay Month
On the weekend of March 4, PTC
City Council member Frank Destadio
presented the Peachtree City Chapter
Order of DeMolay ivith a proclama
tion for DeMolay month. DeMolay is
the premier youth fraternity for young
men ages 12 to 21. DeMolay teaches life
lessons, such as leadership, teamivork,
social skills, program planning, and
accepting responsibility.
The young men of the Peachtree
City chapter have planned and imple
mented self-directed programs for 18
years. Courtesy of PTC
Tyrone Post Office
Catches Fire, Mail
Re-routed to PTC
TYRONE — In the early morning hours of March
27, the Tyrone Post Office caught fire, causing the office
to close.
While officials with the Town of Tyrone are not cer
tain of how long mail service will be interrupted, mail
temporarily will be processed through the Peachtree
City Post Office by direction of the United States Postal
Service.
No information regarding the cause of the fire was
available by press time, but the investigation is ongo
ing. However, initial speculation from residents and of
ficials is that the fire was started by a lightning strike
from damaging storms which swept through central
Georgia March 27, along with confirmed tornadoes in
Troup and Meriwether counties during the weekend.
Officials are sharing updates through the Town of
Tyrone Facebook page.
Commissioners Approve
First Phases of Judicial
Equipment Upgrades
$850,000-Plus of ARPA
Grant Funds to be Utilized
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
Commissioners unani
mously approved a request to
utilize $851,917 of American
Rescue Plan Act grant funds
to modernize equipment for
judicial services during the
March 23 Fayette County
Commission meeting.
Chief Superior Court
Judge Fletcher Sams re
quested to apply the funds,
on behalf of the Griffin Judi
cial Circuit, to upgrade audio
visual equipment, and the
request was presented by
County Manager Steve Rap-
son.
“This is specifically tar
geted to improve the technol
ogy associated with the
audio-visual that we started
to do during Covid. What this
does is it brings all seven
courtrooms up to that level of
functionality in regard to
modernizing the judicial
services,” explained Rapson.
Rapson said he called
Matt Russell, the audio
visual broker working with
Fayette County, to explain
how he worked with judges to
get quotes on upgrades.
“[Russell] worked with
the judges to get all these dif
ferent quotes that you see in
here. With that, the chief
judge would like us to ap
prove this request to go out
and actually go back to them,
get their approval, and then
it’ll come back for ratification
if it’s approved as a grant,”
Rapson said.
Commission OKs
Allocation of National
Opioid Settlement Funding
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
During the March 23
meeting, Fayette County
Commissioners unani
mously approved a staff
request to allocate unused
funds from the National
Opioid Settlement to be
earmarked for inmate spe
cialty costs and opioid
overdose kits for fire and
EMS services.
County Manager Steve
Rapson presented the
request to board members,
including background on
the initial allocation.
“If you recall, the very
first time we got an alloca
tion, we got an allocation
of $186,000, and that has
n’t been allocated any
where, even though that
cash is sitting in the bank.
All we did was we ap
proached the sheriff s de
partment, as well as
fire/EMS, and we asked
them for a recommenda
tion,” explained Rapson.
Rapson outlined in
tended use of the funds.
“What we’re trying to
do is set up a plan to spend
roughly $60,000 a year.
One, to kick start the plan,
and two, because we know
See Funding, A2
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