Newspaper Page Text
Index
Obituaries 3
Opinion 4
News 5,6,7,8,9,10
Calendar 11
Legals 12-13
Sheriff's Report 13
Sports 14-15
Inside
Seniors Landon Quarles
(from left), Yanet Alvarez,
Charlie Roberts, Michaela
u Watkins and Bryan Hernan
dez, Oglethorpe County's
first class of REACH scholars,
are beginning to submit
their college applications.
... Page 6
To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page
The Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 149, Number 52
September 28, 2023 ??? Oglethorpe County, Georgia
$1
Homecoming 2023
LIZ RYMAREV/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
CASSIDY HETTESHEIMER/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
(Top photo) Oglethorpe County High School seniors Jamarion Miller (left) and Aariana Bell are crowned home
coming king and queen at halftime of the Patriots'57-0 victory over Riverside Military Academy on Friday.
(Bottom photo) Members of a Oglethorpe County rec department cheerleading team throw candy to spectators
lining the homecoming parade route last Thursday. The homecoming parade started and ended at Bryan Park in
Crawford. For more photos and coverage of the OCHS homecoming parade and gamd, see Pages 2, 14 and 15.
Inflation,
raises push
budget
increases
By Caitlin Downing
The Oglethorpe Echo
Inflation. Cost of living increases. Both speak to the
upward shift in prices and costs across national and lo
cal governments.
Oglethorpe County???s Board of Commissioners re
cently approved the county???s 2024 operating budget
of $9.55 million, which was an 8.6% increase from
this year???s total. Inflation in the U.S. reached a high of
9.1% in June 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of La
bor Statistics, and had dropped to 3.7% at the end of
August.
???From a county government???s perspective, we are
fighting the same inflationary war created by the na
tional government that everyone else is,??? Commission
Chair Jay Paul said.
While inflation and the rise in the cost of living help
explain the $755,000 increase in Oglethorpe County,
County Administrator Josh Hawkins said ???it???s not as
clean of an answer as it probably should be.???
Hawkins explained using the example of a $1,000
tax bill. Most of the tax bill, 75%, or $750, goes toward
the school system, while the other 25%, or $250, goes
to the county government.
See INFLATION, Page 6
County portion of tax bill varies by department
Although 75% of the county tax bill goes to the school system, the other 25% funds Oglethorpe
County departments Here's how that 25% - or $250 of a $1,000 tax bill - is distributed in
dollars for select departments
Sheriffs Office
Emergency Medical Services
Public Works
Board of Commissioners
E9i 1 Communications
MU
??23
Senior Services
Clerk of Court
Board of Assessors
Planning & Compliance
Judicial
Volunteer Fire Service
Probate Court
Magistrate Court
Recreation Ops
Board of Elections
Board of Health (OPH)
Library (ARLS)
Cooperative Extension (UGA)
Animal Shelter (MOAS)
EMA
Coroner
Values in doMars
Chart Caitlin Dunning * Source County Afftrunistratm * Greeted vnth Detanrappei
CAITLIN DOWNING/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Poultry is booming: Can the
county???s small farms keep up?
By John James
The Oglethorpe Echo
Howard Sanders??? father began
poultry farming in the 1980s, shift
ing away from the family???s previ
ous practice of raising cattle and
farming.
Within a few years, they had
nine chicken houses on their prop
erty in Stephens, and had estab
lished one of the most prominent
poultry farms in Oglethorpe Coun
ty-
???There just weren???t that many
poultry farms in the county at
the time,??? Sanders said. ???Back in
the ???80s, we were probably one
of the largest poultry farms in
Oglethorpe County.???
Times have changed, however.
The poul
try indus
try has blos-
s o m e d in
Oglethorpe
County over
the past four
decades,
meaning that
nine chicken
houses can???t
compare with
the large chicken farms of today.
???Now, we???re not even close,???
Sanders said.
Poultry and egg production
was a $189.4 million industry in
Oglethorpe County in 2021, ac
cording to the Georgia Farm Gate
Value report. That was the sixth-
highest figure in Georgia and ac
counted for over two-thirds of
Oglethorpe???s total farm gate value
of $270.7 million in 2021.
Sanders said the primary reason
for Oglethorpe County???s lucrative
poultry industry is simple: space.
It has maintained its status as a
rural county, filled with plenty of
open land fit for the establishment
of chicken houses.
See POULTRY, Page 3
Howard Sanders
k M-h
BASILTERHUNE/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Tamita Brown, who co-owns Caribe United Farm with her husband
Gabriel Jimenez, brings non-GMO feed to the chickens on pasture
in Crawford. Jimenez said they have about 600 chickens, small in
comparison to the big chicken farms around the county.
i
Thinking of
Selling Land?
WE HAVE
BUYERS
Contact
678-791-3483
???r--
Sq Uihern
Select Properties
Me
R A N C 1 i