Newspaper Page Text
Index
Community Day 2
News 3, 5,6, 7, 8
Obituaries 3
Opinion 4
Around the County 6
Sheriff's Report 9
Calendar 10
Sports 11
Inside
Quarterback Jayden Wallace and
the Oglethorpe County football
team have new Nike uniforms
this season, including this white-
on-white version worn at picture
day two weeks ago. The Patri
ots host West Hall in a scrim
mage at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Page 11
To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page 8.
The Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 149, Number 45
August 10, 2023 ■ Oglethorpe County, Georgia
$1
Chicken
farmers
recover
Storm blew the roofs
off houses last month
LANDEN TODD/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Superintendent Beverley Levine chats with a student at Oglethorpe County Primary School on the first day of the school
year.
New year starts strong
Teachers, staff welcome students as the school year gets under way
LANDEN TODD/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Kaylan and Adam Carter comfort their son Cohen on the first day of kindergarten
as daughter Charlotte looks on at Oglethorpe County Primary School on Monday.
By McCain Bracewell
The Oglethorpe Echo
Teachers in matching T-shirts and smiles
lined the decorated halls. Parents arranged
their students for pictures before walk
ing them to their classes. Buses and cars
eased through the wait to drop off students,
armed with supplies and backpacks.
There was excitement in the air as the
Oglethorpe County School System wel
comed back students for the new year on
Monday and Tuesday.
Oglethorpe County Primary School ea
gerly greeted incoming pre-K students and
returning students on Monday morning.
“I’m really excited to meet my new
students and their families,” said Laray
Mask, who teaches first grade. “It’s a big
deal. We have to do a lot with getting
their nametags ready, their desks ready,
their cubbies ready. Just all of those
things. Getting ready for the first day by
picking out the books you’re going to
read and the lessons you’re going to do.”
The Oglethorpe County School System
continued to split the start by last name
at the request of the principals at OCPS,
Oglethorpe County Elementary School
and Oglethorpe County Middle School.
That meant that students whose last
See SCHOOL, Page 5
By Julianne Akers
The Oglethorpe Echo
Howard Sanders assessed the damage
to a chicken house after a severe thunder
storm ravaged Stephens and the rest of
Oglethorpe County in July. About 100 feet
of the roof was gone, blown away by high
winds.
The structure has since been repaired, but
he said “it was just a very, very big mess to
clean up.”
That storm on July 20 also impacted
Freddy Gilbert, who owns a farm less than
a quarter-mile away. He saw tin and wood
damage to the roof of a chicken house, as
well as several large trees uprooted across
his property.
An oak tree at one of his cattle working cor
rals was damaged in a particularly strange way
that Gilbert said he had never seen.
“It actually just twisted the top out of it,” he
said. “You could actually just see the twist in
the bark that remained on the tree like some
thing just reached down and grabbed it and
just twisted it with a hand.”
Damaged chicken houses and fallen trees
were part of the destruction from that storm,
which blew over trees and knocked out pow
er throughout the county. It was just another in
a line of weather issues that continue to hit the
county and Georgia this year.
t
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The roof was blown off a chicken house on
Howard Sanders'farm in Stephens during
the storm on July 20 that blew down trees
and knocked out power across the county.
Sanders said the roof has been repaired.
Sturdivant covers MOAS adoption fees for month
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Lizzie, a 1-year-old yellow lab
mix that has been spayed,
microchipped and is current on
her vaccines, has been at the
Madison Oglethorpe Animal
Shelter for more than 72 days.
By AvniTrivedi
The Oglethorpe Echo
Roddy Sturdivant, a resident of
Stephens and longtime support
er of the Madison Oglethorpe An
imal Shelter (MOAS), has offered
to cover the cost of pet adoptions
through Sept. 6.
“It’s donors like him; they are
just a blessing,” said Erica Hen
drix, director of MOAS. “We’ve
been very fortunate to have him
and some others to be there for us.”
Sturdivant reached out to Don
Campbell, a former MOAS board
member, to ask how he could help
the shelter, which had posted on
social media about its struggles.
Many people who want to adopt
may not be able to afford the
adoption fees, and while the shel
ter will waive the fees in some
cases, it loses money when it does.
Sturdivant offered to pay the fees
to help the shelter.
Adoption fees are $100 for dogs,
$200 for puppies and $65 for cats.
The shelter has been at its maxi
mum capacity since May 2022 and
has struggled to house more than
303 pets. Adoptions have decreased
and there has been a 14% increase
in owner surrenders and strays,
compared to last year, Hendrix said.
“It’s been a very tough year for
the shelter,” she said. “With the
price of food going up, I feel like
I’m constantly begging for people
to help me feed the animals.”
Despite the shelter sending 82
dogs to Connecticut for adoption
events in 2022 and 2023, it’s not able
to maintain the number of pets there.
For the shelter to ease its load,
Hendrix said around 15 adult dogs
need to be adopted, as well as the 15
puppies in the puppy room, to make
room for the puppies in isolation.
As for cats, Hendrix said the
shelter’s priority is for the kittens
to be placed in foster homes until
they are able to be spayed and neu
tered, which is around two weeks.
The shelter provides beds, litter
boxes, food and more for fosters.
The shelter also encourages peo
ple to foster the pets or to take them
out for a day. Hendrix said the best
way to promote adoptable pets is by
taking pictures and videos to show
people. She said some of their re
cent adoptees were noticed because
of videos posted on social media.
See ADOPTION, Page 2
Meet the New
Echo Staff
Stop by The Oglethorpe
Echo's office from 12:30 to
2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18 to
meet and greet the new
fall staff.
We'll have refreshments
and several of the Univer
sity of Georgia students
will be there. These stu
dents will be The Echo's
staff from the end of this
month to the first week of
December.
The Echo is located at 121
Main St. in downtown
Lexington.
No one's ever been
able to stand on a
Stock Investment.
Buy Land
706-424-2472
-— l ■ I i|M II
^United
Country
Realli Estate
Southern
Select Properties
RANCH
UNITED COUNTRY
SOUTHERN
SOUTHERN
SELECT PROPERTIES
SELECT PROPERTIES