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William 4*2 ..... n---- ►♦ALL I.III...II...H FOP ADC ...... 301 III!,|,i e r Fort 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 W It W r. 1 ■ r. . rlilK-F iin» 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. % m * 41 t % ife r s -a , V • W ! V ft * ,:\n ■V ,a * V : ■ - 4* SL \\ A I * \ ' ’ >. V % \% * * jM I**. ?*■ V. t£T_. ♦5* v V I r, '£• #/ X * i i p /■ > fr ;ii' il c* ■dt ’’S* | f - u §r T** r \ ' : " I uwhwJi .mSk -Jit,:- -' - 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