Newspaper Page Text
•National Signing Day Check out Valentine
•Hardcourt bounces to Specials from local 'Pwm
next level \! ^it ttut(ftt V ua
* merchants cfmc(
-See Pages IB 2B Inside * Pages9B&10B! mm ^
&;
X
Wednesday, February 9, 2000 Peach County's of local i m:
r source i
Serving County 1888 Peach Since ®he Heaber-Crtbune
Vol. No. 111, Issue 6 2 Sections, 20 Pages
Tenant for spec, bldg '
120 jobs to be available
By Victor Kulkosky
The Leader-Tribune
Wm Peach County’s
X" V 1 $2.2-million specu¬
■
lation has paid off..
.... The first
A r~~- | tenant
X . ...
.
X \<h:\ ■
: *
■
—
Spec building above and to the
right is mailbox to be made by
ac
UT
The Phoenix Center Com
m unity Service Board will
at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Febru¬
ary 10, 2000 at the
Center, 503 Camellia Blvd.,
Valley, Georgia. The public
invited. For further information,
please call 912-322-4058, Warn¬
er Robins.
Peach County Demon
CRAT1C Party will hold its quar¬
terly meeting scheduled for
Thursday, February 10 at 7 p.m.
at the courthouse, commission¬
er’s meeting room.
Department of Family and
Consumer Sciences will hold its
Annual International Food Fair
on February 17, 2000, 6:00-8:00
p.m. in Myers Hall. Donation at
door. Funds for the Gladyce C.
Sampson Scholarship Fund. For
more information: 912-825-6234
or 825-6893.
Are you paying too much
for your medications? Come and
find out how to receive your
medications FREE! February
16, 2000 at Peach County Senior
Center, 11:30 a.m. For addition¬
al information call: (912) 218-
5802
Valentine Dance- The H.A.
Hunt High class of 1960 will
sponsor a Valentine dance
beginning at 9:00 p.m. at Camp
John Hope. Saturday, February
12, 2000. Tickets may be pur¬
chased from any class member.
Tickets will also be available at
the door at no additional cost.
Dress is semi-formal.
Jazz Concert * There will
be a Valentine's Day Jazz Con
cert featuring the Spelman Col
ege Jazz Ensemble on Sunday,
February 13 at 6 p.m. in the Pet¬
tigrew Auditorium on the cam¬
pus of FVSIJ. For more informa¬
tion call 825-8544.
The FVSU, Dept, of Fami
y and Consumer Sciences
Child Development Center
Toddler Program is excepting
applications for children ages
one and walking, • two and
talf. Program will operate
don.-Fri., 7:45 a.m. • ft.OO p.m.
4
Two.
Tax man will call
By Victor Kulkosky
The Leader-Tribune
Except for Pfeach County’s biggest tax¬
payer, the re-evaluation of all 11,000
pieces of property in Peach County has
begun,
Chief Appraiser Dennis Lee, told the
Peach County Board of Assessors at
their regular meeting on February 2 that
the company hired to do the re-evalua¬
tion has begun its work.
Last October, the county accepted the
bid of Cole Layer & Trumble, a Dayton,
Ohio-based appraisal company to do the
re-appraisal for the county’s 2001 tax
digest.
The appraisers have begun by examin¬
ing property sold in the past couple of
years and will soon be visiting homes
and businesses throughout the county.
The mqjor news from the meeting was
the news that hasn’t come yet: the deci¬
sion of a three-man arbitration board on
the tax-assessment dispute between the
county and Blue Bird Body Co. has yet to
be made, Lee told the Board.
He said he expected that decision some¬
time during this week, Feb.
For the day-to-assessment work, the
county has hired a new senior appraiser.
Teresa Riley started work on Feb. 1, Lee
said.
After the close of official business,
board members and the press were
City pondered
buying cable co.
By Jerry Murtagh - The Leader-Tribune
It might be called the season of closed
meetings.
If you had some difficulty last week
getting in touch with Fort Valley Mayor
John Stumbo, Fort Valley Utilities Gen
eral Manager, Ken Werner, or members
of the city council and the utility com
mission there’s a good explanation.
The Fort Valley Utility Commission
and the City of Fort Valley were dis
cussing the possibility of purchasing
Valley Cable, Inc. at a proposed price of
$5 5 million.
Why the hurry and all the closed
meetings?
The closed meetings were necessary to
discuss legal issues surrounding a pos
sihle purchase, the hurry motivated by
another set of factors
According Stumbo, Valley Cable was
approached by Suntel Corporation and
a letter of intent was signed between
SunTel and Valley Cable to permit Sun
Tel to do an operational due diligence.
(See CABLE. Page 3A)
i, i, *
.■■■A? ,v<-n NR
I
ii_
shown proofs of the county’s new tax
maps.
The maps use crystal-clear aerial pho¬
tographs taken about a year ago.
The maps don t only serve the county’s
tax needs, though. They are sold to busi¬
nesses, from which the county makes a
few dollars.
Lee said the maps could also be used by
police officers chasing suspects or inves¬
tigating crimes, allowing them to pin¬
point their location.
A project is also underway to put the
maps on computer. People could buy a
printout of a particular map, or a blow¬
up of a section of a map.
Lee said he’s also exploring how to put
the tax maps on an Internet website,
something Houston County has already
done.
Byron’s big sister says goodbye
McDaniel steps down
after 38 years service
By Jerry Murtagh - The Leader-Tribune
Some probably think of her as
Byron’s big sister.
After all, Byron City Clerk Frances
McDaniel and the city she served did
grow up together. From a small town of
unpaved streets, limited water service,
no sewer system or natural gas and
bare bulbs for streetlights, McDaniel
has seen Byron blossom into a thriving
community where, as she puts it, “ the
management of growth has become a
key issue."
On February 29th. McDaniel will
retire as Byron’s city clerk after 38
years of public service,
“When I first became city clerk,
McDaniel said, there were only two city
employees, myself and Chief of Police,
CarL Ferguson.”
In the early years, Frances recalls, “all
the utility billing and tax notices were
done by hand. My office was in the old
depot. It wasn’t insulated We used a
metal pegboard for keeping a record of
utilities. It was so cold, I had to wear
gloves until 10:00 a m on most of those
mornings, until the office began to
warm up."
She recalls standing in her office in
the old depot one day when a train
passed wearing a white dress. As the
train rumbled past, a collection of old
rags fell from a chimney flue in the ceil
ing covering her and her dress with
soot. "It fell right on top of my head,"
McDaniel recalled. " I called the mayor
and told him to watch the office so I
for the 100,000-square-foot spec
building off South Bypass in Fort
Valley will be StepTwo Inc.
The Streetsboro, Ohio-based com¬
pany makes children’s toys, such as
playhouses and swingsets, along
with other plastic things.
About 120 jobs will come to the
county when StepTwo moves in
starting sometime during the first
quarter of this year.
The plant may employ as many as
300 to 400 over the next five years.
The Fort Valley plant will begin by
making a one-piece mailbox and
post, which is resistant to weather
and vandalism.
Work is underway to modify the
building for StepTwo’s needs.
Applications for employment will
be available in about three weeks.
Information about employment
opportunities and StepTwo will be
available from the Peach County
Chamber of Commerce at that time.
50c Per Copy
*v
X,
■
nti «„ *rj
.LsL:.. A,;.
1
■Ai
. M t
if r c>j
\
\ ■.
-W-* *J&r J
& v.
, ^
v.
/. ’
1. n
A »i - . • *,* * ■ t:
m *■
- t
Y
/♦ . ,'4 ^ f-
UNUSUAL ENTRY - Chelsey and Jessica Swartz, holding Hermit and
Kermit, crabs they entered in the Camellia Festival Pet Show this past
weekend. The two crustacians won for “Most Shy” and “Most Unique**
pets at the show. For more Camellia Festival photos see Page 8A inside.
\
\
- -
* T 1 *• 1 • J
V -gp
Frances McDaniel
could go home to shower and change
my dress "
In her 3K years of service. McDaniel
worked for four different mayors
"I have really enjoyed working here,
McDaniel added. “I’ve been given a lot
of freedom in this position by the may¬
ors and citv councils I’ve had the
opportunity to gel additional training
and to keep up an active professional
life"
McDaniel has held .ill of the offices up
to president of the --tHte association of
city clerks She is also a inemher of the
international association of city clerks,
a certified municipal clerk and a certi
fied financial officer
Asked to descrilie the most memorable
occasions n her career as McDaniel
first mentioned the renovation of the
old depot ‘Kirk Morris, an employee of
the city at the time, worked the con
struction phase and I worked raising
I
funds for the project."
In addition to the old depot. McDaniel
recalls the city's competition in Gover¬
nor George Busbee’s project competi¬
tion for small cities. "It was an effort to
get small cities to do some things for
themselves without going to the state
to ask tor assistance." she explained.
“During that time, we put up the Wel¬
come to Byron sign and the triangle in
front of the depot Wo also got Dr. Liv¬
ingston to come to Byron and it was the
beginning of the Battle of Byron The
first year we won first place in the state
and the second year, we won second
place" >
McDaniel remembers a time when
council voted to put up a traffic light in
town, i called an engineer in Macon
and he worked up a design and gave us
all the paperwork we nt-oded to fill out.
I've always been willing to ask for
help," McDaniel noted
On one occasion w hen she was going
to school to learn about purchasing she
commented that it wouldn’t make sense
for Byron to huv lightbulbs in bulk
liecause they would either get broken or
stolen liefore they could be used As a
result of her comment, the city of Warn
er Robins and Bvron worked out an
agreement in which Warner Robins
would buy in bulk and sell to Byron
Asked if she has any words of wisdom
for the city as she steps down.
McDaniel said that mayors and city
councilmen need to learn that they are
(Hilicy makers and to avoid the tempta¬
tion to micromanage" She added that
the city charter, not updated since 1941
and frequently amended, needs to be
revised
'Tm going to miss it." McDaniel said