Newspaper Page Text
Friday, December 22,2017
Lake Oconee News
Page A7
MORGAN COUNTY
Morgan
Thanks to hundreds of Morgan
County residents, the Morgan
County Board of Commissioners,
and Environs Design Studio, the
Madison-Morgan Conservancy has
completed updating the Morgan
CountyGreenprintGuide. Originally
developed in 2004, the Greenprint
Guide is an inventory of those places
that matter most to Morgan County
citizens.
Developed over 12 months with
input from the public, the Greenprint
will serve as a guide for protecting
Morgan County’s valuable historic,
ecological, agricultural, and recre
ational resources.
During the summer, meetings
were held in each Morgan County
community to gain input from the
public about what county resources
are important to protect now and for
future generations.
Through this process, over 200
resources were identified, including
places like the Bostwick Cotton
Gin, the Apalachee River, and the
scenic view along Dixie Highway.
Less known resources identified
include the former amethyst mine,
the Dickson Cotton Gin and a few
previously undocumented family
cemeteries. The Greenprint Guide
offers a description of each resource
and maps their locations in Morgan
County. Tools and resources that
can help facilitate the protection
of these places are identified in the
Guide as well.
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the Morgan
County Board of Commissioners
voted to acceptthe Greenprint Guide
as an informational resource docu-
mentfor the County. The Greenprint
Guide will serve the Morgan County
Commissioners and planning staff
as a tool to assist with community
planning efforts, tourism promotion,
Greenprint guide now complete
Wynn Howard/Contributed
The Bostwick Cotton Gin is one of many historic assets identified in the updated version of the Morgan County Greenprint Guide.
farmland preservation and preserva
tion ofhistoricallyimportantplaces.
Additionally, landowners in
Morgan County may find the
Greenprint Guide helpful if they
choose to list their properties on the
National Register, Centennial Farm
Register or execute a conservation
easement. The Greenprint Guide
willbe available online soon through
the County’s website as well as
through the Conservancy’s website
so that it can be referenced and
utilized by local governments, non
profit organizations, land trusts,
teachers, tourists and community
members.
For questions about Morgan
County’s Greenprint Guide, please
contact Theresa Pippin, Program
Coordinator, at 706-818-8046.
About the Madison-Morgan
Conservancy: The mission of the
Madison-Morgan Conservancy is
to provide public education on con
servation matters and to protect and
enhance the heritage and quality of
lifeoftheresidentsofMorganCounty
by preserving historic sites, green-
space, farmland and timberland.
For more information, visit www.
mmcgeorgia.org.
Miracle
Continued from A4
distance and felt the vibra
tion of it on my skin, orange
sparks flew into the air.
I pulled into the emer
gency lane 50 yards from the
accident and got out camera
draped around my neck. The
asphalt was littered with
broken chrome and plastic;
steam hissed from the radia
tor of the SUV. Sirens wailed
in the distance.
The SUV had plowed into
the rear of a blue Plymouth
Horizon and shoved under
a flatbed tractor-trailer.
The roof of the Horizon had
nearly been sheered off by
the impact.
Men in blue uniforms ran
toward thewrecked van with
bags of equipment. A burly
manwithabeardloweredthe
titanium teeth ofthe “jaws of
life” into place and tore into
the passenger compartment
of the Horizon.
I lifted my camera and
clicked the shutter. The
flash bathed the scene in an
ethereal glow for a moment.
Above of the cacophony
of idling automobiles, I
heard a desperate bleating
noise in the distance. An
elderly woman was running
between the rows of cars. Her
face was wet with tears and
snow, andshewas screaming.
Adeputy managed to calm
thehysterical woman enough
to learn that the occupants
of the Horizon were a young
mother and two little girls
aged seven and nine. The trio
had been on the way to the
mall to visit Santa.
These are moments of
the most fervent prayer.
You might not fall to your
knees and press your hands
together, but you pray the
purest prayers anyway.
Then, quite suddenly, a
change swept over the para
medics. I can’t say for sure if I
feltthepresence of something
or the absence of something
else, but the sense of urgency
was gone, and with it, hope.
None of them had survived.
I could see the anger and
frustration on the faces ofthe
paramedics as some of them
withdrew.
I felt like the worst kind
of paparazzi creep for taking
that photo, but I tried to
reassure myself that I had
only been doing my job.
I dropped off the film in
my camera at a Macon photo
processing shop on my way
home.
I dreaded going to work
the next day. Details of the
tragedy would have to be
compiled, and a story would
have to be written.
Since I had worked over
time covering a basketball
game earlier in the week,
I decided to take the next
morning off. When I arrived,
the office was empty, except
for the publisher. The editor
had taken the afternoon offto
have lunch with her husband
in Macon.
I had expected to be inun
dated by questions about
the accident when I arrived.
Word travels fast in rural
counties, and I expected the
publisher to know the family
histories of everyone involved
bythetime I opened the front
door.
Surprisingly, she had not
heard a thing about the
accident. Perhaps the victims
lived in an adjacent burg. She
contacted the chief deputy,
but he told her that as far as
he knew there hadn’t been
an accident on the interstate.
I didn’t press the matter.
I decided to retrieve the film
later, if need be, and prove
that I wasn’t a raving lunatic.
After work, I hurried out
to my car. I was on my way to
Macon once again, traveling
southbound on Interstate 75.
Fractals of snowflake were
beginning to build up on my
windshield, and I knew the
roads were becoming slick
and treacherous.
Just after I passed
Faulkner’s Christmas tree
farm, I saw something men-
acinginmyrear-viewmirror:
A pair of headlights closing
fast.
‘You’ve got to be kidding
me,” I said. Then, a black
SUV virtually identical to the
one involved in the accident
the night before roared past
my window.
Almost simultaneously,
the blue lights of a county
patrol car lit up in the gloom
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ahead and Deputy Bradley’s
White Crown Vic slipped
behind the SUV. As I passed
by, the police cruiser and the
black SUV were pulling into
the emergency lane.
A few seconds later, as
I was considering this odd
coincidence, my cell phone
rang. It was my editor.
“Hi,” she said. “I was in
Macon and I thought I’d stop
by the photo shop and pickup
up the film, but all they have
is a picture of two little girls
sitting in Santa’s lap.”
A Christmas carol, “Hark
the Herald Angels’s Sing” was
playing on the radio.
I reached over and turned
up the volume.
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