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A6 Fayette County News
Wednesday, July 12,2023
Deputy Cornejo Completes
LEO Training Course
Fayette County Sheriff’s Office recently con
gratulated Deputy Sheriff Greg Cornejo on his
graduation from the Basic Law Enforcement
Training Course at the Georgia Public Safety
Training Center in Forsyth on Friday, June 23.
From left are Major Cody Benslay, Deputy
Sheriff Greg Cornejo, and Fayette Sheriff Barry
Babb.
Courtesy of FCSO
Bergen,
Continued from Front
dustry has benefited the cit
izens of Fayette County over
many years through avoided
outages, expedited project
delivery, improved safety,
and cost savings,” said Phil
Mallon, Fayette County
engineer and public works
director.
“With this appointment,
he can now use these same
skills to benefit utility ex
pansion, transportation,
and related projects across
the state,” Mallon con
tinued. “I’m thankful and
proud to have Matt on our
team.”
Matheny,
Continued from Front
said while introducing Ma
theny. “So, I would ask for a
motion for approval.”
After taking the oath for
the position, Matheny
shared a few words with
council members, thanking
them for the opportunity to
be a part of the commission.
“I’m really excited about
serving the town,” Matheny
said. “There’s a lot of good
things on the horizon.”
Matheny has a degree in
public administration, ac
cording to Dial, who stated
he believes that Matheny is
“highly qualified” for the po
sition.
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Code Ninjas Celebrates with Ribbon Cutting
Fayette County Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand opening of
Code Ninjas on Thursday, June 29. At Code Ninjas, located at 168 Peachtree East Shopping Center in
Peachtree City, children can learn coding to create video games and iveb content in a safe and fun en
vironment, according to center director Nicole Savage. Courtesy of Fayette Chamber
Fayetteville,
Continued from Front
ating the budget, “We look
closely at the strategic prior
ity areas that we have
created as a city, and we
align our resources [with
our goals].”
The city’s goals are
under the umbrella of five
main areas: future ready
goals, quality of life goals,
economic vitality goals,
maintenance and enhance
infrastructure goals, and ef
ficient and effective work
force goals.
Tax collections account
for 81.25 percent of the gen
eral fund budget revenues,
33.25 percent of which is
comprised of property
taxes. Other key tax collec
tions for the general fund
tax revenues include sales
tax at 25.62 percent, fran
chise tax at 7.38 percent,
and business tax at 13.82
percent.
Included in budget dis
cussions was a list of holi
days (when city offices will
be closed) to be recognized
by the city during FY24,
which include Labor Day
(Sept. 4), Thanksgiving and
the day after (Nov. 23-24),
Christmas Day observance
(Dec. 25-26), New Years
Day (Jan. 1, 2024), MLK
Day (Jan. 15, 2024), Memo
rial Day (May 27, 2024),
Juneteenth (June 19, 2024),
and Independence Day ob
servance (July 4-5, 2024).
During the meeting, the
council unanimously ap
proved changes to the regu
lar meeting schedule,
removing one of two regular
monthly meetings. The
council will continue to
meet on the third Thursday
of each month at 6 p.m. and
hold a monthly work ses
sion meeting on the last
Tuesday of the month at 9
a.m.
Gibson reminded those
in attendance that the coun
cil can hold special called
meetings when needed.
The council unani
mously approved an ordi
nance to amend the Unified
Development Ordinance,
specifically relating to Chap
ter 100 - Administrative
Services and Chapters 200 -
Zoning and Land Use.
Director of Community
and Economic Development
David Rast presented the
amendments, which he says
are mainly “housekeeping
items.”
Rast commented that,
following adoption of the
UDO on May 4, staff has
since reviewed the UDO as
it relates to development
and redevelopment. His
torically, the city council
designated the planning and
zoning commission as the
body to hear variance
requests. The approved
UDO states that council will
have the final say, so staff
proposed redesignating the
planning and zoning com
mission to consider vari
ances.
Additional details re
garding the budget and
UDO are available at Fay
etteville City Hall.
In other action, council
unanimously denied a step-
one annexation application
from Middleburg Com
munities, a privately owned
company with plans to place
259 single-family rentable
cottages and townhomes,
along with accompanying
amenities, on the 28-acre
tract of land on the north
west quadrant of the inter
section of Banks and Ellis
roads.
Mayor Ed Johnson and
multiple city council
members commented that
they were “impressed” by
the presentation but ex
pressed the council’s wish to
manage growth properly.
Councilman Darryl
Langford added that he be
lieved citizens “at this time
think this would be a little
too much too soon.”
Bernard,
Continued from A4
cheap. Red state gun laws
are being loosened, with no
license required to carry
concealed weapons. Plus,
red state guns are shipped
throughout America.
I’m a progressive Jew
who once lived in Texas,
and I have relatives cur
rently living near Colley-
ville. I endorse much
stronger national gun con
trol laws. But short-term, I
feel compelled to own fire
arms due to lax gun control,
plus increasing violence
against minority groups, in
cluding Jews.
Synagogues large and
small are hiring private se
curity services, installing
cameras, locking doors, ad
mitting only those known,
and implementing an as
sortment of other precau
tions to keep worshippers
safe. But with antisemitism
and racism at a peak and
gun legislation nowhere in
sight, the carnage will con
tinue.
And synagogues and
some churches (especially
predominantly black ones)
are proven relatively easy
targets. Which leads to my
tough judgement: the short
term solution is for specially
trained congregants to be
armed to protect our syn
agogues and black churches.
One final note: As Amer
icans, we must be vigilant
and not let the plague of an
tisemitism grow in our
county, state, and nation. If
you hear someone say
something bigoted (regard
less of whether it comes
from the left or right... and
whether it’s about African
Americans, Latinos, Jews,
or another group), stand up
and say something. If you
know of anyone harassing
any minority... report them
to the proper authorities.
As Hillel wrote, “If I am
not for me, who is for me;
and if I am (only) for myself,
what am I? And if not now,
when?”
Don’t leave it to the next
person to address. Never
again!
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Harper,
Continued from A4
“cut the fat,” but, unfor
tunately, most governments
don’t have a department of
fat, making this line item
ever elusive when the
budget ax arrives.
“But other governments
Broder,
Continued from A4
The victim and defendant
were involved in a perceived
business dispute, which ulti
mately led the defendant to
stab the victim three times,
killing him. In his last
words, the victim was able to
tell officers and EMTs on the
scene who had stabbed him.
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aren’t raising taxes; why is
my county government?”
Well, the state gets more
than three quarters of its
budget from income taxes
and sales taxes. The revenue
generated from these
sources automatically in
creases with inflation. As
wages and the price of
goods rise, so do the reve
nues from taxing these
items at predetermined
rates.
Thus, like the summer
heat in July, property tax in
creases are somewhat baked
in. Does it mean that each
increase is justified, or the
amount is only what is nec
essary? Absolutely not.
But to determine that,
each voter would have to -
and should - pay attention
to what is happening at
their local level. Just under
stand the realities inherent
within the system to better
target criticisms and com
plaints.
Snipes from Thomaston Po
lice Department and her
team were able to identify
the defendant and collect
significant physical evidence
against him. After a four-day
trial, the jury convicted the
defendant of malice murder,
felony murder, aggravated
assault, and possession of a
knife during the commission
of the crime. The Honorable
Judge Ben Miller, Jr. sen
tenced him to life in prison.
In addition to being a big
case involving a loved
member of the community,
the pressure was on as this
was no “slam dunk.” While
there was significant physi
cal evidence tying the defen
dant to the stabbing, the
victim had initially con
fronted the defendant and a
fist fight had ensued. Ho
wever, the defendant
brought more than his fists
to the fight and chose to take
a man’s life.
Make no mistake, the
law in Georgia does not
allow you to engage in a
fight, take a break from the
fighting, and retrieve an im
plement of death to use
against your former at
tacker. Self-defense has its
limits, and the jury recog
nized that here.
Once an attorney has
tried his or her first big case,
and they have tried it well,
the time to bask in the glory
of the result is short-lived.
Ms. Holliday and Mr. Rich
ardson have bright futures
and I will be trusting them
to continue to take on the
big cases as they protect the
citizens of this circuit.
Ludwig,
Continued from A4
televised live in Hawaii: they were on a one-
week tape delay. So I didn’t have a choice: I
had to listen to the games on the radio, even
when I was in school. Again, I didn’t have a
choice: Hawaii is several times zones be
hind the continental United States, so a
baseball game starting at 7 p.m. on the east
coast begins at 1 p.m. in Hawaii. The
teachers never seemed to mind - as long as
we kept them informed of the score from
time to time.
Eventually radio progressed to broad
casting rock and roll on (drum roll) FM sta-
tions\ That opened a whole new world for
music fans like me. Just one example: FM
stations were allowed to play the long 17-
minute version of Iron Butterfly’s In-A-
Gadda-Da-Vida whereas AM stations were
restricted to the shorter, three-minute ver
sion. That’s the one without the cool drum
solo.
There’s no telling how many hours I
spent listening to some of the best - and
most widely recognized - music of all time.
I still remember the last time I listened
to my trusty transistor radio (Lord knows
how many batteries I went through): April
8, 1974. It was a Monday night - a school
night - and I had the radio turned on as I lay
in bed, reluctant to fall asleep for fear of
missing out on a piece of history.
I didn’t. Fall asleep or miss out, that is. I
heard the now-famous words of Atlanta
Braves’ announcer Milo Hamilton as he
called it live:
Here’s the pitch... swinging... there’s
a drive into left centerfield!
That ball is gonna be... outta here!
It’s gone! It’s 715!
There’s a new home run champion
of all time, and it’s Henry Aaron!
Radio has come a long way since then.
Now there’s satellite radio, guaranteed to
have a station that broadcasts what you
want to hear when you want to hear it. Sat
ellite radio offers almost everything.
Everything, that is, except commercials.
That, and static.
Long live radio.