Newspaper Page Text
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By Victor Kulkosky
Newt Editor
Barbara Williams has a simple
answer to the question. “Why are you
running for Mayor?”
“1 have something to offer and I
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Vol. 126 Issue No. 8 500
Legal Organ For Peach County ; City of Fort Valley and City Of Byron
Early Voting
Open This
Saturday
SPECIAL NOTICE: Early voting
for Peach County will be open on
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 25. from
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Peach County
Courthouse Annex. Fort Valley. This
is a new law that requires polls to
open on the second Saturday before
Election Day when a state or federal
candidate is on the ballot. Voting
will be for the Presidential Preference
Primary and SPLOST.
Regular early voting is continuing
at the Courthouse Annex, M-F, 8 a.m.
- noon and I p.m. - 5 p.m. Through
March 2, 2012. Election Day for
the primary and SPLOST will be
Titesday. March 6. For information,
contact the Peach County Elections
Office at 825-3514.
FVSU Student
Charged for
Columbus Crime
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
A Fort Valley State University
student was arrested on campus earlier
this month on charges related to a
home invasion in Columbus, Ga.
FVSU Campus Safety arrested
Terrell McFarland, 20 on arrest war¬
rants related to a December 25 home
invasion. The arrest report listed
McFarland's address as 6254 Warm
Spring Road in Columbus. Columbus
Continued to page 2
What's
INSIDE
Peach In A* Out 8
Police Beat...... 3
Opinion........... 4
Country Living. S
Faith Mattere.. 6
Sports.............. 7
School............ 8
Local 9-10
Lafali----------- 11-13
CltMifieds.... 14
Black History. 18
Tax Tina....... 16
Local Weather
Forecast
Sunny Wednesday, fib. 21
Hi: 73 *
lo: 57 *
Goody Thursday Feb. 22
Hi: 75*
Lo: 63*
Thundershowers Friday, Feb. 23
Hi: 66* ‘It
11 5afurday, Feb. 24
Hi: 60*
lo. 35*
Sunny Sunday, Feb. 25
Hr. 66*
lo: 44*
f * r (h i t l(f(t tears
UNIV. OF GA
ATHENS GA 30602-0001
That "something" has developed over
her four teams on the City Council; by
the end of next year, she will have
served for 16 years.
Reach Newspaper
Hummingbird Does What She Can
A healing place in the woods is one woman's
tiny effort to bring peace to the world.
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An image of St. Francis of Assisi at the heart of the Blue Heron Lake Prayer Labyrinth, with
the healing herb rosemary planted nearby. Images and texts from any tradition, religious,
spiritual or secular, can be placed at the center of the labyrinth. Photo by Victor Kulkosky
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The 10th anniversary of the 9-11
attacks was approaching, and Sondra
Francei! and her husband Edward
Demonchonok felt compelled to mark
the occasion in a lasting manner.
It would take more, Sondra recalled,
than to attend a quickly forgotten
memorial service, and so the couple
started looking for signs of how they
might help bring about peace on earth.
The flight of a great blue heron had
inspired her to found the Blue Heron
Lake Nature Conservancy outside Fort
Valley, so Sondra again looked to the
natural world for signs, which guided
her over time to create a prayer laby¬
rinth next to the conservancy. Like
a labyrinth, Sondra’s path took many
turns.
According to a flyer Sondra drew up,
a labyrinth is a pattern laid out on the
ground that guides people on prayer and
meditation. They have been used for
thousands of years in cultures around
County Commissioners February Meeting Summary
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The Peach County Board of
Commissioners handled a long agenda
at their regular monthly meeting last
week. Among the actions taken:
• Approved a $100 donation to the
Fort Valley Main Street Arbor Day
Celebration;
• Approved the creation of an
Assistant Chief Appraiser Position
through reclassifying a current employ¬
ee, along with developing procedures
for advertising and describing the
potion through Human Resources;
• Commissioner Michael Dinkins
read into the record a statement saying
he will recuse himself from any votes
related to a Community Development
Block Grant application, because he
has family members living in the area
to benefit from the grant;
• Tabled a budget amendment request
from Public Works Director Paul
Schwindler because many vendors were
unending a conference and unavailable;
• Approved changes to the
Memorandum of Understanding cov¬
ering the Southwest Peach sewer
project, with changes requested by
Mayor Stumbo; the vote was 4-1 with
Commissioner Roy Lewis opposed;
• Approved the recommendation of
Sheriff Terry Deese to accept the
bid of Peach County Ford for two
patrols cars at $29,248 each; the bid
was second lowest but within the 3%
allowance for local vendors;
• Voted to deny a request from
the FVSU Community Development
and Outreach office of Cooperative
Extension to support the Georgia Civic
Awareness Program for Students,
which Lewis argued was “a nice thing
to do" but not “an essential level of
government services;" the vote was
4-1 to deny, with Dinkins opposed;
• Approved a request from the
Board of Elect tons and Registration
to hire Latretle Alford as a contractor
to staff the Absentee Precinct during
advance voting, at a salary of $10.71
per hour,
• Authorized applying for a
OneGeoria and Employment Incentive
Opportunity grams in connection with
terms of service with
iring for the people."
i recent interview.
Williams insisted she is “not casting
any aspersions;" the city has a “bright
future," but “things get a little stale."
She wants to act before that happens.
the world.
“Anything embedded in the collec¬
tive unconscious for so many millen¬
nia must have some kind of healing
power," Sondra said during a recent
tour of the Prayer Labyrinth.
A true labyrinth is not a maze but
a guided path with numerous twists
and turns, and no wrong turns or
dead ends. There is only one way in
and out, and you can only get lost in
thought. Christian churches often
used labyrinths, and they were often
embedded in the floors of the great
European cathedrals.
The Blue Heron Lake Prayer
Labyrinth is in the classic seven-ring
form, which combines the ancient
sacred forms of the circle and the
spiral.
Sondra first walked a labyrinth
about three years ago. Suffering from
physical pain, she walked the laby¬
rinth slowly, and when she came out,
her pain was gone.
Middle Georgia already has its share
of labyrinths. St. Francis Episcopal in
the proposed Work Force Development
Center;
• Approved $6,520 for out state train¬
ing relating to the county's employee
information system for Clarice Davis,
Rich Bennett, Michaela Jones and part
time employee Ashlyn Holly with the
stipulation that Holly agree to stay on
the job for at least six months after the
training or reimburse the cost of the
training; Walter Smith and Dinkins
were opposed;
• Approved buying two vans previ¬
ously used by Peach County Transit for
no more than $3,500 each, with one to
be used by the Senior Center for meals
on wheels and the other to be leased
by the Middle Georgia Community
Action Agency for one year and then
bought; Smith was opposed;
• Approved renewing the agreement
with Central Georgia Billing Service
Inc. to do billing for the Peach County
Ambulance Service, at a rate of 6% of
collections;
• Tabled a budget amendment cover
Continued to page 3
Having been elected at the same
time as Mayor John Stumbo, who has
already announced his re-election bid,
Williams said she wants to continue
many positive developments while
increasing focus on economic develop
ment and work force improvement.
Macon has one, as does Rose Park in
Macon. Sondra received one sign at
St. Francis.
“1 walked it prayerfully for guid¬
ance.” she said. In the middle of
the path was a cracked robin's egg
shell. Sondra scooped up the shell and
carried it as she walked the labyrinth,
until the guidance came to her.
“God heals broken lives through a
labyrinth,” she said.
A great blue heron again provid¬
ed guidance for Sondra and Edward:
where to put the labyrinth.
Sondra was standing near the bank
of Blue Heron Lake when one of the
majestic birds took off and circled
three times over a site near the couple’s
house before returning to the lake.
"That was my sign from God," she
said.
There had been other clues. The
couple’s terminally ill dog would often
sit at the spot, looking out at the lake.
Continued to page 2
( 1%‘tn It Pnhlh/iin( a \ r\\ s /ut/H’i
She would like to bring more restau¬
rants to town. The city’s recent vote
to allow liquor by the drink creates
an opportunity for more restaurants,
as well as for motels in the city to add
Continued to page 9
February 22,2012
FVUC Raises
Electric Rates
Still Among
State's Lowest
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
Facing rising costs and a $1.2 mil¬
lion deficit, the Fort Valley Utility
Commission voted last week to raise
electric rates for all customers, with an
increase for residential customers of
about J/2-cent per kilowatt hour. The
new rates are effective March 1,2012.
The called meeting last Wednesday
began with a presentation from Paul
Warfel with the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia, which sup¬
plies electricity to 49 participant cities
including Fort Valley.
“These are tumultuous times,”
Warfel said.
Pressure from the federal govern¬
ment to reduce emissions from power
plants is leading to higher costs, Warfel
said. Plant Scherer, a coal-fired plant
in North Georgia, recently had to shut
down each of its units to install emis¬
sion-control equipment,
Warfel showed a chart showing
wholesale power costs for Fort Valley,
with historical numbers for 2004-2011
and projections for 2012 to 2016.
MEAG's wholesale rate for the elec¬
tricity it sells to members at cost was
4.61 cents per kilowatt hour in 2004
and 7.14 cents per KwH in 2011, with
the price rising from about $6 million
to about $9 million. The wholesale
rate increased 18% from 2010 to 2011.
largely due to higher costs for emis
Continued to page 9
Byron to Get
Early Voting
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The City of Byron will at last get its
wish for early voting in town after the
Peach County Board of Commissioners
approved the city's request.
The unanimous vote came at last
week's regular meeting of the board.
The latest vote reverses a 2009
vote that saw commissioners split 3-2
in turning down a previous request.
Commissioners Melvin Walker,
Michael Dinkins and Walter Smith
were the no votes in 2009, citing bud¬
getary concerns. However. Byron offi¬
cials have said repeatedly that they
believe the vote was politically moti¬
vated.
Bryon officials repeated those opin¬
ions at their City Council meeting the
previous night before voting to send a
new request, but they got a different
result.
On Tbesday, Chairman Melvin
Walker said Census numbers showed
considerable growth in the area, and
Byron-arca residents had been express¬
ing concerns about access to early
voting.
Byron residents currently must travel
to Fort Valley for early voting.
“We're taking a second look in light
of those numbers," Walker said.
Addressing the board. Peach County
Elections Supervisor Michelle Riley
said the Board of Eletions had recom¬
mended Five days of early verting for
Byron.
She said “a lot of details" need to
be worked out to bring early voting
to Byron The one-time cost for addi¬
tional machines would be $9,070,
with labor costs of $1,171 per election.
Continued to page 9