Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

It Sunday, Wed., Oi l. 2 \ 21)02 I’iii th ( tin ii 11/ s s (in it t‘ t >f I tit ill iitii's, till ( i i l isiiix mill sjun Is for ,i < f i I (HI ifciii s... GEORGIA 7-1-08 UNIV ATHENS OF GA GA NEWSPAPER 30602 PROJECT w* » fuafettvVrfbmt* School bus driver resigns after DUI By DAVID WALENCEUS L-T Staff Writer _ A random alcohol and drug test resulted in the DUI arrest of a Peach County school bus driver last week. George VV. King of Fort Valley was arrested Friday for DUI. Mandatory alcohol and drug tests are performed by the BOE periodically on all m t ’ 3 \\ invites the public to its wireless inter net “kickoff” celebration Tuesday, October 29, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at City Hall (council chambers). Representatives will be on hand to demonstrate the service. Light refreshmetns will be served. Fort Valley Historic Preservation Commission will meet at City Hall, 5:30 P'™' Monday, October 28. This is a public meeting. Open House at Kay Center, November 12, 9-11 a.m. PC Chamber of Commerce, open house and new member reception, Thurs., Oct. 24, 4-7 p.m. at the Troutman House. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:30 p.m.. St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 309 Central Ave., Fort Valley. For information call 478-825-8133,825- 7337 or 825-3498. BYRON TOPS CHAPTER meets every Thursday evening, 7 p.m. at Byron United Methodist Church. For more information call 956-3935 or 218-2919. SASANQUA FESTIVAL at Massee Lane Gardens, Oct. 1-31. Hands on discussion every Wednesday in October at 1 p.m.; Senior Citizens Day is Oct. 22; fall fashion show Oct. 16. Call 478-967-2358 for admission fees and information on events. Halloween Carnivals • Thursday, October 31, downtown Fort Valley Nightmare on Main, Byron also Oct. 31 Jailhouse Alley Art Show & Sale Saturday, November 2,2002 at 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Fort Valley United Methodist Church. Free Admission. Voting machine demonstration Usher’s Temj. 9 CME Church, Sunday, Oct 27, 12:45-1:45 p.m. Fort Valley Area Alumni Chapter of FVSU National Alumni Association, launches birthday keepsake caelndar project. This project enables eligible stu dents to attend college. For further infor mation contact 825-8675m 825-8646, 825-7308 or 825-0858. Deadline Is November 1,2002. Perspectives 4A Dublin edges PCHS Religion/Obits 8A-9A - PRMC Golf Tournament Op-Editorial 5A 1 FVSU football 3B-15B - ► Pages 1B & 2B Legals/Classifieds - a *r • ' r.-;. * 4 - turn your clock back one hour before retiring Saturday night. employees. Shortly after 8 A.M. Friday (Oct. 18th) C.B. Mathis, acting Transportation Director, of the BOE called the Peach County Sheriff’s (PCS) office notifying them of King’s condition. King, picked randomly by computer, tested positive for alcohol after deliv ering students to school. BOE officials left the deci sion to Sheriff’s Deputies on whether charges should be filed against King according to Major Terry Deese of PCSO. After being read Georgia Implied Consent laws King was transport ed to Peach Law Enforcement _ Center ^ where he teemd officially a .047. Commercial It’s official -- taxes to increase By DAVID WALENCEUS L-T Staff Writer In spite of public opinion the Board of Education (BOE) and County Commissioners voted to raise taxes. Several groups of Peach citizens voiced concern over recent tax pro posals by Peach County and BOE members. Official members of both groups voted Thursday (Oct. 17th) to raise taxes to a combined 31 mills, City officials voted unanimously last week to keep a 9.3 millage rate, Thursday ended public hearings for tax increases and tentative budgets were adopted by both BOE and *> mmmk l«ggM| &*#***■ £H&iUS! . J m. ^ we % in * ■ < ii t 4 ■•V * - f -e-lJ v ii* mmmb •I . 7 3:31;: 5 t Driver’s Licenses (CDL) are subject to a testing rate of .040 as DUI in Georgia. Deese also said BOE offi cials were not willing to toler ate any infraction of this sort, Derrel Bryan, School Superintendent, commented Tuesday, “The driver resigned his position after the inci dent.” He added, “It scares me to death to think a driver would risk our children.” Reccomendations of termina tion would have been the process followed had the dri ver not resigned on his on accord, Such oucn tests test, are are required required for lor all employees safety of the BOE and the of our children is a priority for the school system. Jennifer Ray, left, received the first Pat Joiner-Peavy Award at the 30th annual meeting of the Peach County Chamber of Commerce last week. Jim McClarnon, right, received the Durward Gasset Award. Derrel Bryan was the recipient of the H. E. Bryant award but was unable to attend. Chamber Executive Director Verna Borders is pictured in center. At far right is Rev. Dennis Stalvey who pro vided the entertainment. His wife, Jerita, sang God Bless America. Claybon Edwards and the Troubadours provided entertainment prior to the meal. Byron Middle gets check Wal-Mart has been quite ge nerous to Byron Middle School. Find out how much and for what inside. ■ Page 10A f f % _____ Janesa Walker and Michael Johnson were cho oftno oftrto « Hon.ecom.ng . Queen and , King. They were crowned during half tune pHrfnv fnaide nitrhi Mnw. nirtnroa j :_*• __ Peach County Commissioners. Hearings marked the end of sev eral month’s work trying to balance budgets and stay within revenues. The county had received criticism even as late as 6 p.m.. Thursday prior to adoption of the 2003 budget, Several citizens had insinuated county services were too abundant and government was oversized and should be cut back. BOE officials have received no less sympathy from taxpayers at their public hearings. Low tax collec tion rates and unfunded mandates from the state have been blamed partially for the Board’s tax increase. Officials from both institu- Ml I I I i i i I i I i i i^i iii y tun • >. Fall Events 3®$ . to Remember , Sat., Oct. 26 - Byron Elementary School PTO, Fall Festival at the school from noon until 4 p.m. It will be located near the gym on the back side of the school. Fun and food for everyone. Costume contest at 2 p.m. Thurs., Oct. 31 - Fort Valley Lions Club Fall Festival downtown, 5*8 p.m. Trick or treat with merchants from 5-6 p.m. Registration for Costume Contest begins at 6:30 p.m. in front of courthouse, judging at 7 p.m. sponsored by Woman’s Club. Food and fun downtown. Thurs., Oct. 31 - Nightmare on Main Street inj Byron Main Street - 6-7:30 safely p.m. trick Kids can go up and down j or treating. Costume contest sponsored by Byron Rotary Club begins at 7:30 in the Jailhouse Park gazebo. See you there! - - \ tions have stated their regret at hav ing to raise taxes, but services being denied to citizens wasn’t an option. Shortly after the first meeting for Thursday Commission Chairman James Khoury left the public meet ing in an ambulance suffering chest pains. Since the meeting Khoury has reportedly returned home after surgery and is recovering. Joe Collins, Vice-Chairman for the County Commission, then read the motion to accept the combined totals for BOE and County taxes due, and called for a vote, which passed -'- unanimously. Byron taxpay - taw* AXES Face d 2A I Fall Festival at HE8 Food, fun and frolic was the fare for the day at the recent Fall Festival held at Hunt Elementary School. Pictures and story inside. I Page 7A Fort Valley suing PC BY DAVID WALENCEUS - L-T Staff Writer Citizens may be beginning to wonder if Church St. is developing a crack down the middle dividing city and county court houses with so many negotiations. The most recent being Fort Valley seeking an injunction to stop the county from cutting off E-911 services. Fort Valley Mayor John E. Stumbo assured, “That’s not the case”. Reamt negotiations on Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) have put county and city officials at odds over E-911 obligations. County Commissioners had set November 15th as a cutoff date for services if Fort Valley refused to participate in deficits for the operation of E-911. Under a prior agree ment Stumbo says the city’s obligation to partially fund 911 was over three years after its inception. Issues such as these have risen through out Georgia during LOST negotiations. Eas , Elijay GA . noa ^ „ uod offi . H a i s de J s ; mular mu io r rimimstan™** circumstances, The lne ‘ outcome of that court case left municipal! ties to jointly pay for services. Stumbo feels that Fort Valley owes nothing to Peach county for services because a written agreement exists ending their obligation. East Elijay had no agreement with county officials when their suit was filed. "The suit was filed to protect the city from the loss of service. My job is to protect the city’s interest,” said Stumbo. Commissioner Matt Mullis of Peach County said, “Legal action was unneces sary, we had just drafted a letter to hope ^Hy end LOST negotiations.” Commissioners had agreed to totally fund E-911 and assume responsibility for libraries if the county received 68 percent of *** proceeds- Those terms were dis cussed during the last session for munici parties- County officials met last week and had agreed to accept tentative figures dis cussed during negotiations and allow Chairman James Khoury to enter an agreement between officials. Recent development of the lawsuit may h ave hindered further negotiations.