Newspaper Page Text
Index
News A2,A7,C3,C5,C6,C7
Obituaries A3
Opinion A4
Around the County A6
Calendar B5
Sheriff's Report B6
Legals B6
Sports B1-B4, B7
Inside
This week's Oglethorpe
Echo has three sec
tions. Check out the C
Section, which features
letters to Santa, writ
ten by second-graders
at Oglethorpe County
Primary School.
... Pages C1-C2
To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page A5. ~|
The Oglethorpe Echo
Volume 150, Number 12
December 21, 2023 ??? Oglethorpe County, Georgia
$1
Ongoing
battle with
solar farm
CAITLIN DOWNING/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
CAITLIN DOWNING/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
Oglethorpe County resident John Burt, along with his dog, Dixie, shows the substation that converts the
power from theTimberland Solar Farm Project on Goose Pond Road, which is feet from his property line.
Burt (top) shows where runoff from the solar farm has impacted his property.
Resident tired of erosion and runoff on his land
By Caitlin Downing
and Jay Reece
The Oglethorpe Echo
Goose Pond Road had been a
sanctuary for John Burt and his
family for over a decade.
When the Timberland Solar
Farm Project broke ground in
April 2022, Burt didn???t realize
the disruption it would cause.
Later, a substation was built.
???I bought the property know
ing the transmission line was
there,??? he said. ???But it wasn't un
til this (substation) came, which
is a result of that whole solar
project. All this stuffs happen
ing and snowballing just because
of the solar project. If it weren't
for the solar project, we wouldn't
have a substation. If we didn't
have the substation, we wouldn't
have a highly energized line,
which increases the risk proba
bly tenfold of what it used to be
a year ago.???
The substation isn???t Burt???s only
complaint.
Runoff from the solar farm
runs straight onto his property,
with a fence built only a few feet
from his property line.
The Timberland Solar Proj
ect on Goose Pond Road is one
of two solar farms in the county.
The Wolfskin Project is on Dou
ble Bridges Road near the Ath-
ens-Clarke County line.
The Oglethorpe County Board
of Commissioners passed the
Zoning Board???s recommendation
in September of a new protocol
for buffers with solar farms, but
these are effective for future proj
ects, not what has already been
established.
Kellie Woods from RWE
Clean Energy, the company
working on the Timberland proj
ect, responded saying, ???We???re
aware of the concerns brought
up by the neighbor and are ac
tively working with a third-party
engineer firm to do our due dil
igence.???
Oglethorpe County Code Com
pliance Officer Jeff Sharp said he
knows the issues as well.
Sharp said the county is work
ing to address them, but when
Georgia???s Environmental Pro
tection Division (EPD) visit
ed Burt???s property to inspect the
runoff from the spillways RWE
built for the solar farm, they de
termined there was no erosion be
ing caused.
???All of (the runoff) falls un
der the Georgia EPD???s authority,???
Sharp said. ???They haven???t been
real helpful.???
See SOLAR, Page A5
Time is nigh for triple-match donations
Staff Report
In four days, it???s ???Ho, Ho, Ho.???
Santa and his reindeer will be
here.
But in just 11 days, it???s ???No,
No, No,??? if you plan to take ad
vantage of an opportunity to see
your donation triple to the com
munity???s 150-year-old newspaper.
That???s right ??? triple. But you
must hurry.
Between now and New Year???s
Eve, every dollar donated ??? up
to $1,000 ??? will be tripled.
???For the second year in a row, we
have partnered with two other non-
Sustain your
trusted source
of news.
See the ad on Page A5
profits in a fundraising drive to gain
support for our journalists, office,
printing, postage and digital costs,???
said Dink NeSmith, chairman of
The Oglethorpe Echo Legacy, Inc.
Two national organizations,
NewsMatch and The Loud Hound
Partner Fund, make this possible.
Last year, donors contribut
ed more than $14,000 to The
Oglethorpe Echo???s campaign,
which put almost $45,000 in the
newspaper???s coffers.
???Those dollars are essential to
The Echo???s long-term financial sta
bility,??? NeSmith said. ???While we
are a nonprofit, we still must be a
solid business. Our revenue model
for profitability is threefold: circu
lation, advertising and donations.???
Donations have topped $5,000
this campaign, which equates to
$15,000 for the newspaper???s fund.
Jackson will
run for sheriff
Current county coroner worked
in law enforcement for 18 years
Staff Report
James ???Junior??? Jackson, who
held various positions in the
Oglethorpe County
Sheriff???s Office from
2005 to earlier this year,
will run for sheriff in
2024.
Jackson announced
his candidacy with an ad
in this week???s edition of
The Oglethorpe Echo.
He currently is the coun
ty coroner.
???It???s been over a year
that the thought has been
in my head,??? Jackson said Tues
day morning. ???I had even been ap
proached by some citizens a while
back about running. After I left
(the Sheriff???s Office), I was think
ing, I don???t know if anybody else
is going to run for sheriff, so some
things have got to change, so I???m
going to go ahead and run.???
Sheriff David Gabriel was elect
ed in 2016 and reelected in 2020,
when he defeated challenger Don
Waldroup with 55% of the vote.
Gabriel didn???t return a phone
call and a text message
before The Echo???s dead
line.
Sheriff is one of sev
eral county-wide posi
tions in this year???s gen
eral primary, which is
scheduled for May 21.
Those include mag
istrate judge, probate
judge, chairman of the
board of commissioners,
tax commissioner, cor
oner and clerk of superior court.
Also, representatives from Dis
tricts 1, 2 and 4 of the board of ed
ucation and from Districts 2 and 4
of the board of commissioners will
be decided this year, according to
the Oglethorpe County Board of
Elections.
I See JACKSON. Page A5I
James Jackson
Oglethorpe County qualifying fees trend lower than others
Qualifying fees in Northeast Georgia show that running for government office is most expensive
in Clarke County, while Oglethorpe County costs are more in line with neighboring counties.
| Oglethorpe
Board of
Clerk of
Judge Court Commissioner Commissioner Education
Member
Chart John Janies ??? Source - County Board of Elections Offices ??? Created with Datawrapper
JOHN JAMES/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO
County sets qualifying
fees for 2024 election
By John James Qualifying for county offices
The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Board
of Commissioners has approved
qualifying fees for the 2024 elec
tion cycle.
A qualifying fee is the amount
of money that must be paid by
candidates to run for an elect
ed office. Qualifying fees for
Oglethorpe County???s 2024 elec
tions are:
??? Commission chair:
$1,927.66
??? Commissioner: $126
(down from $132 in 2022)
??? Sheriff: $1,927.66
??? Magistrate judge:
$1,693.55
??? Probate judge: $1,660.34
??? Clerk of court: $1,660.34
??? Tax commissioner:
$1,660.34
??? Coroner: $72
??? Board of education (mem
ber): $43.20 (increase from $34
in 2022)
will be held from 9 a.m. Monday,
March 4 to noon on Friday, March
8 at the board of elections office
on Fairground Road.
Jay Paul, chairman of Board
of Commissioners, suggested
that qualifying fees were creat
ed to narrow the list of genuine
candidates for a government po
sition.
???It may help weed out if a per
son is serious or not about one of
these positions,??? he said. ???For ex
ample, the sheriff???s qualifying fee
is $1,927.66. Well, perhaps if you
didn't have that, you may have
500 people run for sheriff. (The
fees) may be a way to gauge a
person???s sincere interest in a po
sition.???
According to Georgia Code,
Section 21 -2-13(a)( 1) ??? which
applies to every county in Georgia
??? qualifying fees ???shall be 3 per
cent of the total gross salary of the
office paid in the preceding calen
dar year.???
See QUALIFYING, Page A2
www.smithoniafarm.coml ??? (706) 788"3050 ??? 2289 CrawfordSmithoma Rd. Colbert, CA, 30628
???For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and
the government shall be upon his shoulder: and
his name shall be cal led Wonderful Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of PeaceT
Asa/ad 9-.6 K]V