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Index News Obituaries Opinion Around the County Calendar Legals Sports 2,3,5,6 3 4 5 7 8 9-10 Inside The Winterville Snowflake 10Kon Jan. 13 will kickoff the five-year anniversary of the Firefly Trail Race Series. ... Page 5 To start your subscription or to donate to The Oglethorpe Echo, see Page 10, The Oglethorpe Echo Volume 150, Number 13 December 28, 2023 ??? Oglethorpe County, Georgia $1 Looking Staff Report This year has been filled with news that helped shape the coun ty and fill the pages of The Oglethorpe Echo. So The Echo???s staff decided to take a look back at the five most newsworthy stories in Oglethorpe County in 2023. Broadband grant awarded The hope for better broadband received a boost in January, when back at county???s top stories this year Gov. Brian Kemp???s office awarded $7.9 million to Oglethorpe County as part of Georgia???s Capital Proj ects Fund Grant Program. Spectrum, in partnership with the county, must use those funds to provide internet access to 2,972 locations by Dec. 31, 2026. Work has started on the project, mainly in the western part of the county. ???This is the biggest thing to ever happen to Oglethorpe, as far as in ternet,??? Oglethorpe County Eco nomic Development chair Will Brown said at the time. Kinetic by Windstream also has installed optical fiber to hundreds of homes in the Crawford and Lexington areas this year. New school construction Work on the county???s new K-5 elementary school started behind the current primary and elementa ry schools on Comer Road. This year's top Oglethorpe County Stories See STORIES, Page 2 MCCAIN BRACEWELL/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO Crowds gather to watch a youth basketball game at the Oglethorpe County Recreation Department on Dec. 5. Stands on both courts in the gym were packed with parents and other attendees. Recreation Department staff say space is at a pre mium with continued growth in their athletic programs. Tight for space: Recreation Department, others call for expansion amid increasing participation By Jordyn Gershoni and Christian Kirby II The Oglethorpe Echo Brody Bearden has often found himself searching for small fields or empty patch es of grass so the Little League baseball teams he coaches can practice. That???s be cause space at the Oglethorpe County Rec reation Department???s Bryan Park is limited. ???It???s really tight trying to get in practice space,??? Bearden said. ???I'm talking about 7- or 8-year-olds and they're still practicing, pushing 8 or 9 o'clock. That can be hard on a school night.??? Due to a continued increase in sports participation in Oglethorpe County, the rec reation department is facing a challenge ??? finding space for its athletes. Specifically, the main hub for rec sports, Bryan Park on Lakeshore Drive in Craw ford, has become cramped, causing sched uling issues for teams. Bryan Park sits on 32 acres. The prop erty has three baseball/softball fields, one full-sized football field, two tennis courts, a blacktop basketball court, soccer fields and a two-court indoor basketball facility. There is also a pond with walking/jogging trails. Yet, recreation department staff have CHRISTIAN KIRBY 11/ THE OGLETHORPE ECHO These soccer fields at Bryan Park host games for hundreds of players each season. Under a possible new plan to expand recreation department facilities, soccer fields could move to a county space near the Oglethorpe County Jail. The Recreation Department has talked with the Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners about the concept. consistently heard complaints about space. Michael White, recreation department di rector, said he has met with the Oglethorpe County Board of Commissioners on multi ple occasions and has developed a plan for expansion. The commissioners also have toured the property to see the issues facing the depart ment. ???Once we actually got them out here, they were able to see in person the traffic jam that builds in the park,??? White said. ???It took them forever to get in here and forever to find a place to park.??? White???s plans currently include convert ing the tennis and outdoor basketball courts into a parking lot, which would alleviate stress on visitor parking. White also plans to change the existing soccer and football fields at Bryan Park into additional base ball/softball fields. White said he wants to keep baseball fields on one property, so they would be able to hold travel baseball tournaments. This could also create a county revenue stream. The county does have another space lo cated by the Oglethorpe County Jail, off Buddy Faust Road in Lexington, where White said he would build new tennis courts, pickleball courts, outside basketball courts and a multi-purpose building that would be available for rent. White also mentioned having a 400-by- 800-foot soccer field that would act as an ???open canvas??? to use as needed. See RECREATION, Page 2 Gabriel to run for reelection Staff Report Sheriff David Gabriel will run for a third term in 2024 and said he will ???crank up??? his campaign around Febru ary. ???My life plan is to run at least two more times, this time and the next time, and that puts me at retirement age at the end of that,??? said Gabriel, who is 50 years old. Gabriel was elected in 2016 and re elected in 2020, when he defeated chal lenger Don Waldroup with 55% of the vote. Gabriel will have at least one opponent in the 2024 general election. County coro ner James ???Ju nior??? Jackson, who spent 18 years in vari ous roles with the Oglethorpe County Sher iff???s Office, said last week he plans to run for sheriff. Jackson placed an intro ductory ad in last week???s edition of The Oglethorpe Echo. Jackson and Gabriel recently met to discuss Jackson???s candidacy and several topics that likely will be hot-button cam paign issues. Those include use of the Oglethorpe County Jail, Sheriff???s Office staffing, the new school zone cameras on Highway 78 and Comer Road (Highway 22), and the amount of warrants being served in the county. Jackson???s wife, Angela, is the coun ty???s 911 director, which is under Gabriel. Sheriff is one of several county-wide positions in this year???s general primary, which is scheduled for May 21. Those include magistrate judge (Me gan Code), probate judge (Kayla Grier), chairman of the board of commissioners (Jay Paul), tax commissioner (Sheila Ar nold), coroner (James Jackson) and clerk of superior court (Kelli Paradise Smith). Also, representatives from Districts 1 (Guillermo Camacho), 2 (Tim Poole) and 4 (Jake Willcox) of the board of ed ucation, and from Districts 2 (Andy Sax on) and 4 (Will Brown) of the board of commissioners will be decided this year, according to the Oglethorpe County Board of Elections. Qualifying for the offices will be held from 9 a.m. Monday, March 4 to noon on Friday, March 8 at the board of elec tions office, 41 Fairground Road in Lex ington. David Gabriel 2394 Sharon NE Road Crawfordville, GA 30631 5 Bed 2 Bath home on 73.97 Acres Spacious Kitchen with Quartz Countertops 42x50 Shop 30x25 Pole Barn 1 Acre Stocked Lake Recently Updated Interior Roads Well Maintained Food Plots 2 Creek Systems Interested in this Property? r.-' .. ii i it??? "P ??? an???i i Call: 678-791-3483