Newspaper Page Text
Index
Around the County 2
Obituaries 3
Opinion 4
News 5,6,7,8
Calendar 9
Sheriff's Report 10
Legals 10
Sports 11
Inside
Caleb Sass drives a skid
steer to help level the
infield and replace sod
on Oglethorpe County
High School's baseball
field last week.
... Page 11
To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page 10
Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 149, Number 42
July 20, 2023 ■ Oglethorpe County, Georgia
$1
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Muscadines of Oglethorpe, which were discovered on Lewis Sanders' property in Stephens in 1994, are on display at
the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.
Dazzling
display
The Muscadines of Oglethorpe,
the state s largest amethyst
cluster, were found in Stephens
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cristina Harris (from left), John Koontz and Frank Harris
look at the Muscadines as they appeared in 1994, before
they were displayed at the Oglethorpe County Library.
By AvniTrivedi
The Oglethorpe Echo
When Lewis Sanders received a letter
from Chester Karwoski in 1994, inquiring
about digging up parts of his farm in Ste
phens for crystals, he didn’t have high ex
pectations they would find much.
“He just came by and said that he want
ed to dig to see if they could find some
amethyst, and I said, ‘Yeah go ahead,’ ”
Sanders said.
What came to a surprise for both was
the discovery of nearly 250 amethyst crys
tals, the largest cluster ever found in Geor
gia.
Now the crystals, dubbed the Musca
dines of Oglethorpe, are prominently dis
played at Tellus Science Museum, which
holds more than 1,000 minerals from pri
marily Georgia and the Southeast. The
museum is in Cartersville, Georgia.
“It’s very important for us to collect and
display very unique
and very important
mineral specimens
from the state,”
Tellus Museum
Executive Direc
tor Jose Santama-
ria said.
This cluster of
amethyst crystals
are particularly
unique as they all
originate from the
same vein, but due
to factors such as tree root growth or frost,
the specimens were separated. Karwoski
and fellow mineral collector David Smith,
spent hours connecting the pieces to form
the continuous vein.
“It’s like a puzzle, but there’s no picture
on the box to tell you how it looks when
it’s complete,” Karwoski said.
Before starting his dig, Karwoski, who
lives in Watkinsville, asked Sanders for
permission to dig up his property. He sent
a letter listing the pros of searching for the
crystals, including some of the stones be
ing given to Sanders.
“Within a day or two he called me and
said, ‘Hey that sounds great, come over,’ ”
Karwoski said.
The initial dig in December 1994 result
ed in the finding of the gray, smoky col
ored crystals on display, but Karwoksi and
his team dug around the property lour oth-
See MUSCADINES, Page 12
State adds
resources
to sludge
program
Department of Agriculture
to hire staff update software
By Garrett Kicklighter
The Oglethorpe Echo
The Georgia Department of Agriculture
will hire staff, update software and increase
enforcement to strengthen the state’s Soil
Amendment Program, according to an email
last week.
The department stated in the email that the
state will add three soil amendment program
employees, two as in
spectors and the third as
a program coordinator.
“We believe these so
lutions represent a step
in the right direction,
and as we move for
ward, we’ll continue to
look at additional solu
tions within the Depart
ment’s rulemaking pro
cess to strengthen the
soil amendment program, address citizen con
cerns, and ensure Georgia’s agriculture indus
try continues to thrive,” the email states.
Oglethorpe County Commission Chair Jay
Paul said the state hasn’t dedicated as much
time on rectifying the sludge and soil amend
ment issues as county officials would like,
but hopes these moves will help solve prob
lems in the county and state.
“I still like the idea of local oversight
because regardless of how many people
(the state has employed), I doubt that any
body can respond to a complaint quicker in
(Oglethorpe County) than myself or the code
compliance officer,” Paul said.
Soil amendments, also called sludge, have
been an ongoing issue in Oglethorpe Coun
ty and the surrounding area for years. The
Oglethorpe County Commission approved a
resolution on Feb. 6 that proposes localizing
oversight of soil amendments.
The updated software will help inspec
tions be completed digitally and tracked
through an online database, which will re
place the current handwritten system. The
email stated this part of the new develop
ment will start this month.
In addition, the three new positions will be
used to inspect and enforce non-compliance
issues more effectively. Currently, the state
can only respond to complaints after the fact.
“I hope that the new ag commissioner
has good success, and this whole program is
more on the up and up than what we’ve seen
in the past,” Paul said.
Lewis Sanders
Jay Paul
LANDEN TODD/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Construction equipment sits at one of the con
struction sites on Bunker Hill Road, near the in
tersection of Highway 78, in Crawford last week.
Crawford Village, a multi-use development, and
The Pines at Grove Creek are being built.
Crawford Village stays on five-year time frame
By Julianne Akers
The Oglethorpe Echo
Crawford Village, the mixed-use devel
opment at the intersection of Bunker Hill
Road and Highway 78 expected to house
hundreds, is on track with the loose timeline
Patriot Construction set in place last year.
“We’re just working on it as we have
time. Basically, the first 90 units are grad
ed, and we’re currently installing the san
itary service,” said Chad Tracy, president
of Patriot Construction, which is based in
Amoldsville.
While a completion date hasn’t been set,
several tenants moved in earlier this year,
and Tracy said he expects more spaces to
be available for rent in about a year.
“We've got two duplexes, four units, that
people are already living in, and the next
group of probably 25 units will be ready,
probably summer of next year,” he said.
Construction began in 2022, and Tra
cy said there haven’t been any challenges
with the development other than his com
pany having to focus on other projects.
He said he thinks this development
will be a positive addition to Oglethorpe
County that will preserve the surrounding
agricultural area.
“I think it's helping to concentrate our
growth around our population centers,
which helps prevent mb an sprawl, which
kind of takes away from the agricultural
farms that are up and down most of our
roadway,” Tracy said.
The multi-use development is expect
ed to include businesses that are expected
to be finished within the site’s five-year
time frame.
Construction is underway at The Pines
at Grove Creek, which is across Bunker
Hill Road from Crawford Village. The de
velopment is set to include 31 single-fam
ily homes.
DuSouth Surveying and Engineering,
which is based in Watkinsville, didn’t re
turn two voicemails.
i
Stock Investment.
ountry
ReSl Estate
Buy Land
706-424-2472
Southern
Select Properties
RANCH
PROPERTIES
A DIVISION OF UNITED COUNTRY REAL ESTATE
SOUTHERN
SELECT PROPERTIES
UNITED COUNTRY
SOUTHERN
SELECT PROPERTIES