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Vol. 126 Issue No. 15 50#
Legal Organ For Peach County. City of Fort Valley and City Of Byron
Fuel Costs
| Hitting
Fort Valley
Operations
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The revenue picture was actual¬
ly quite good - 69% collected with
the year 50% over - but high fuel
prices have hit hard. This was the
picture painted by Finance Committee
Chair Melba Hester at last Thursday’s
meeting of the Mayor and Council of
Fort Valley.
Hester said the Police and Fire divi¬
sions and Public Works Department
had already spent their yeariy funds
budgeted for fuel.
The fire division of the Public Safety
Department was slightly over budget
with 71% of spending, due to a new fire
truck and new uniforms, but Hester
noted those would be one-time costs.
She said she has asked all departments
to find ways to rein in spending.
In other business, the Council unani¬
mously approved a resolution autho¬
rizing an ordinance that would allow
one-day beer and wine permits for
special events, but under strict con¬
trols.
City Manager Martha McAfee
said the ordinance was in response
to a request for such a permit, which
showed that the city had nothing on the
books addressing such a situation. She
said the Public Safety Director would
be in charge of the permitting process
and would have the power to limit the
places where such events could serve
alcohol and how many people could be
in the area. The event organizer would
have to partner with someone already
licensed to serve alcohol within the
city.
Continued to page 10
Whats
INSIDE
Peach In fr Out ............ z
Police Boat..... 5
Opinion........... 4
Country Living. 8
Faith Matters.. .6
Sports............. .7
Legals....._________ e-io
Battle of Byron •••••• 11-18
Classifieds IS
Local. 14
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Peach County's " Newspaper
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Mo<k and Real Commissioners Mingle. L-R: Commissioner Melvin Walker, Victoria A/can
tar, PCHS teacher Vosofowe Cammack, Juan Cervantes, Briana Glover, Gerrod McGhee,
Aniria Williams, Commissioner Michael Dinkins and Social Studies Instruction Coordinator
Vickey Silas. Photo by Victor Kulkosky
1
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
It took place in the County
Commissioners’ meeting room,
Commissioners took their respective
seats. A commissioner led the Pledge
of Allegiance and offered an invoca-
FVMS Invites You
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The FVMS gym glows with new paint and a 16' x W screen with rear
projection. Photo by Victor Kulkosky . f
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By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The renovated gym at Fort Valley
Middle School no longer has that dark
and dingy lock that drones, “this is a
middle school gym,” and that’s just
what first year principle Marc Dastous
wants.
The space is not “just a gym,” he
points out, but a focal point of school
activity where assemblies, dances, and
all kinds of special events happen,
on top of gym classes and basketball
games. So the shiny new Mack and
gold bleachers and gold panels on
the walls, which will soon spell out
and “FVMS” make the gym
a (dace students and the community
want to go.
“We’re here for the kids,” Dastous
in an interview in tne gym.
we can do to get them
about coming to the building
we [teachers and staff] can take care
the rest”
When Dastous started his job
tion. There” was an agenda; however,'
as the chairman explained, due to
unique circumstances, there was nq
Consent Agenda, no minutes, no old
business and no closed session.
There was, however, a vote on the
potentially explosive issue of sex edu
cation for high school students, but no
as Principal last July, the gym had
scarcely changed since FVMS opened
in 1990. The old plastic bleachers
were cracked and crumbling, limiting
seating capacity. The window blinds
were missing slats and the remaining
slats were failing apart. During his
first few months on the job, Dastous
looked to the community for fund
raising ideas, and they came up with
selling coupon bocks.
“The community came through,”
Dastous said.
The fundraising produced the $9,000
needed for the new plastic seating. The
16’ x 10’ screen and rear projector on
the stage cost about $4,000. The rear
projection means the basketball boards
won’t block the images. During the
interview, die screen showed a slide
show of recent FVMS events, with
soothing classical flute musk playing
on the sound system.
The sound system already in place
“a good foundation” Dastous said. The
speakers are good quality and the
school has a set of wireless micro-
pr6l6stors showed up.
The reason for the unusual elements
was the nature of the meeting: The
meeting last week was not a regular
commissioners meeting, but a Mock
Commissioners Meeting, with Peach
County High students in the
Continued to page 2
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More R. Dastous, Principal of
Fort Valley Middle School, sits
on the brand new seating that is
part of an ongoing renovation of I
the FVMS Gym. Sales of coupon
books raised the funds for the
seating and a new screen and
projector.
ph Q to by Victor Kulkosky
phones that work well,
Plans are in the works to start pro
ducing musicals next year,
The old blinds were replaced with
ultramodern shades made by an
Arizona company that block much of
the sunlight while still the
view outside. The Winds make it easier
to see outside than for anybody outside
see in. The blinds are a step toward
the gym more energy efficient,
will be getting a grant to replace
outdated lights. The old lights in
now take as long as 15 minutes to
up, Dastous said, which means
usually left on even if nothing
going on in die gym. The new lights
be turn cooler. on and off instantly, and j
rnarthmad Continued tn to naoe page 7 7 1
April
Scene Development Looking
Brighter
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
“Georgia is slowly crawling
back,” Charles Sims said at last
week’s meeting of the Development
Authority of Peach County.
The authority’s executive direc¬
tor told the board of directors that
cautiously optimistic news during a
meeting that discussed several posi¬
tive but not large-scale improvements
in the local and state economy.
Sims said the most exciting event
is a new tenant moving in soon to the
former Georgia Ag Chem building.
The owner of that building and the
former Camellia and Main build¬
ing is in the process of doing the
paperwork for a company to move
into the 12,000-square-foot building,
but he has little information about
the company. That news is part of a
bigger story.
Sims said the old Arrowhead
Fibeiglas building would now be the
only empty building in that section of
the industrial park.
Sims also noted a dip in the state
unemployment rate to 10%, but
Georgia has now spent 42 months
(three and a half years) with higher
unemployment than the nation as a
whole, which departs from historical
trends.
I He pointed to Census data recent
ly published in the Leader-Tribune.
1 V™ about 17% in sho the ' ved past th ® decade. “T 1 * grew
M That’s about as good as a small
county can do,” Sims said.
He noted Byron’s approximately
I 56% growth and Fort Valley’s 22%
growth.
In another development, Sims
said he recently met with former
County Commissioner Joe Collins
and Houston County Development
Authority Director Morgan Law.
Collins is now on the board of the
Houston County Airport Authority,
which oversees the Perry/Houston
County Airport (which is partially in
Peach County). According to Sims,
Collins said the airport authority
is “getting serious” about develop¬
ing property near the airport. The
recently installed instrument landing
system and a proposed 1,000-foot
Continued to page 3
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Rows of roses stretch out toward
the fountain and flowerbeds in
the distance. The old Fort Valiev
High Photos School by Victor is in Kulkosky the background.
1
JK fou ft fa ift the light
behind rows of pansies, chard
end snapdragon at Vinevitle and
KnaxviHe in fort Valley. 7