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144th YEAR, NO* 52 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES 50 CENTS PER COPY Miss December The Taylor County News Calendar Girl for Dec&nber is Bridgette Byrd. Bridgette is a senior at Taylor County High School, where she has been an Honor Roll!Gold Card Student all four years. She was a member of the SAGA Yearbook Staffs freshman / sopho more years), Key Club (sophomore /senior years), and Beta Club (junior/senior years). She has l?een a Varsity Cheerleader through- out her middle and high school career and served as Captain her senior year. Following graduation, Bridgette plans to attend the University of West Georgia to pursue a degree in Psych iatry. She is the daughter ofda mason Byrd of Reynolds and Terry Byrd of Reynolds, Her grandparents are Frank and Betsy Byrd of MitledgevUle and the late Bernard and Jean Conley. The Calen dar Girl is a monthly feature of Taylor County High School and The Taylor County News. Calendar Girls are chosen based on academics:, extracurricular activities, personality, and character. IpHr® _ - iMm iijhi Yk\' # Mr. December Clayton Me Gough has been named The Taylor County News Cal endar Guy for December. Clayton is a senior at Taylor County High School. Following graduation, he plans to attend Georgia Southwestern State University to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Clayton is the son of Chance McGough and Carol in e Harp of Reynolds. His siblings are Camden Watson and Conner McGough. He is the grandson of Desmond and Cheryl Harp of Reynolds. The Calendar Guy is a monthly feature of The Taylor County News and Taylor County High School. Calendar Guys are chosen based on academics, extracurricular activities„ per sonality, and character. Taylor County 2021: By VALORI MOORE Editor Through another year of COVID-19 spikes and valleys; the county commissioners fac ing issues such as railroad crossings, roadside garhage pickup, and adjustments with the fire department and EMS services; and tumultuous times for the Reynolds Mayor and City Council, a few other head lines stand out in our county, as we look back and close 2021. 2021 began with two new members of the Taylor County Board of Education. Wayne Mclnvale, Jr. and Wes Sum mers were sworn in at the first meeting of the year. There were, and will be, more elected officials taking their seats throughout the year. At the September meeting of the Reynolds City Council, Laticia Dixon w as sworn in to represent Post 3 on the Coun cil. This came alter the resig nation of City Councilman Chris Mason, Municipal elections were slated for Nov. 2nd, but no elec tions were needed in Butler or Reynolds. After qualifying, there was a sole qualifier for each seat up for election. In Reynolds, beginning in January 2022, Danny Peed w ill replace Danny Perkins in rep resenting Post 1 on the City Council. Hiram Couch will re place Walker Moore for Post 2; Ti mi shea Price wi 11 fill Post 5, replacing Libby Bond; and Hannah Summers will replace Erie Barker for Post 6. They will join Tiffany Coker (Post 4) and Laticia Dixon (Post 3) on the council. In Butler, Rodrick Flowers will replace Amanzio Jenkins for District 1, Post 1 on the Butler City Council. Jake Hopkins (D2. Post 3) and Glenn Harris (D2, Post 5) ran unop posed for another term. Coun- cilwoman Deborah Williams and Mayor Pro tern Ed Guinn were not up for election this year. * * * On April 16th, Butler Police Chief Kain Cobb resigned. During a called meeting on May 27th, the Butler City Council appointed Assistant Chief Matt Woodard as Chief. Chief Woodard w p as sworn in at the June 8th council meeting. jfc ak $ On March 29th, a ribbon cut ting ceremony was held for the new Reynolds Police Depart ment, now located at The Ar mory. Renovation of the new police department w r as paid with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. 5t # The City of Reynolds filed suit against the City of Butler on Jan. 17, 2020, for reimburse ment of training expenses for terminated police officer Marquavious Harvey. The City of Butler filed an answer and Motion to Dismiss in February 2020, and oral arguments were heard on July 22, 2021. To end an almost two-year court battle between the cities in Taylor County, on Oct 13, 2021, the Honorable Judge Bobby Peters granted Butler's Motion to Dis miss, # * * After the 2020 Census, which was plagued with problems due to the COV1D pandemic, in August of 2021, the Census Bureau reported that Taylor County’s population declined from 2010 to 2020, by 8.8%, down from 8,906 in 2010 to 7,816 in 2020. These Census results are used for congres sional and legislative redis tricting and the allotment of federal and state funding, 4 ^ + In January, five juveniles from the Georgia Center es caped, stole a tractor, broke into a home, and damaged property. They were apprehended by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. This incident followed 2020 es capes that resulted in the bur glary of a church and stolen firearms and a separate escape in which vehicles in Reynolds were broken into. Af ter these incidents, in Janu ary, local law enforcement, in cluding the sheriffs office and Taylor County Tag Office To Close For System Upgrade And Holidays According to Taylor County Tax Commissioner Shirley Gra ham, the county tag office will be closed Jan. 3,2022 for a sys tem upgrade. The office was also closed Dec. 23rd and Dec, 24th for Christmas and will be closed Dec, 30th and Dec. t31st for the New Year. During this system upgrade* the DRIVES (Driver Record and Integrated Vehicle Enter prise System), including DDS Online Services and DRIVES c- Services, will be unavailable beginning Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021, at 7 p.m., through Mon day, Jan. 3, 2022, According to Department of Driver Services (DDS) Com missioner Spencer Moore and Department of Revenue (DOR) Commissioner Robyn Critten den, "This upgrade will result in significant cost savings, while optimizing system perfor in a nee and ensuring that DRIVES is always running on modern, state-of-the art hard ware. Both agencies will be well positioned to pursue fu ture innovations because of this improvement to the underlying technology that powers Georgia DRIVES,” Both agencies and all 159 County Tax Commissioners encourage those with late De cember and early January re newal dates to plan ahead and renew early. System Upgrade Schedule: DDS: Dec. 30, at 5 p.m. - Jan. 3 In person, DDS online ser vices, and the DDS 2 Go mo bile app will be unavailable to customers, DOR and County Tag Offices’ Motor Vehicle Operations: Dec. 30, at 7 p.m. - Jan. 3 In person, online, and kiosk services will be unavailable to customers. Please note all DDS Customer Service Centers will be closed on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, and all state offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, in ob servance of the New Year’s Day holiday. Both agencies will be open and fully operational on Tuesday, Jan, 4, 2022. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for patience as we per form this necessary system up grade. The Year In Review both city police departments, contacted the Governor’s Of fice, the Department of Juve nile Justice (DJJ), and the De partment of Family and Chil dren Services (DFACS), seek ing a solution. In February, State Representative Patty Bentley addressed the issue, and in May, Rep. Bentley an nounced the closure of the Georgia Center, after DJJ did not renew their contract. In May, it was announced that the City of Butler was awarded two grants through Flint En ergies’ Rural Murals Program. The Taylor County Chamber of Commerce and the Taylor County Development Authority were each awarded $10,000 and each invested an addi tional $2,500 for two murals in Butler. The murals were painted by Chris Johnson of Columbus. The first mural, “Butler, Georgia - Enjoying Life Off the Beaten Path,” was com pleted on the Split Acres Flo ral building at the end of May. The second mural, “Taylor County, Georgia - Connecting You to the Rural Life,” was com pleted at the beginning of July. It is located on the sheriffs of fice building, The*sc murals were dedicated during Taylor County’s National Night Out on Aug. 5th. A third mural, 'The Sweetest Spot in Georgia,” was com pleted at the end of August, on the Knight’s Pharmacy build ing in Reynolds. This mural w'as paid for by the Chamber of Commerce and the Develop ment Authority, with no grant funds, * * * Tickling Masonic Lodge cel ebrated 101 years with a dedi cation ceremony held on Sept. 12th, The ceremony included the opening of a time capsule that was enclosed in the corner stone of the lodge in 1920, The time capsule was refilled and replaced in the cornerstone. =5 * At the final meeting of the year, the Taylor County Board of Commissioners approved a conditional use application for a privately owned and operated golf, fishing, and hunting club, Fall Line Camp (FLC). This is a $40-$50 million investment, to be located off Currington Road. The resort is expected to create around 125 jobs and to be completed in Fall 2023. As always, the youth made Taylor County proud through out the year. Following is a list of some of their accomplish ments. Lauren Blair was named the Taylor County High School CTAE Student of the Year. Lauren studied Audio-Video Technology. Shekeela Williams claimed first place In the FBLA Re gional Leadership Competition in Banking and Financial Sys tems. Jazarion Daniely earned fifth place in Job Interview. Nick Woodard was named the Region 5A Basketball Player of the Year. Region w-inners, from Taylor County, in the Chattahoochee - Flint RESA Young Georgia Au thors Competition were: Patrick McCarthy, 41 h grade; Sadie Mur rah, 3rd grade; and Erin Allen, 7th grade. The Kiwanis Cluh of Taylor County locally sponsors the STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) Pro gram. Taylor County’s STAR Student for 2021 is Jordyn Fauccttc. The STAR Teacher is Nicole Hoffman, Little Miss Charlotte Parker was crowned Baby Mips Geor gia Strawberry Queen. Char lotte and Ava Chambers were also Miss Georgia Strawberry Princesses. The Taylor County 10U Allstars won the District and State Baseball Championships and represented Georgia in the World Series in Laurel, MS, where they finished runners- up. The Taylor County 12U Pony tails won the State Champion ship in softball and represented Georgia in the World Series in Alexandria, LA. They were >See Year In Review on p, 2, City Of Butler Holiday Trash Pickup New Year’s Day: Trash will be normally scheduled this week and the following week* Taylor County Board Of Assessors Notification Notice is hereby given that a member of the appraisal staff will review and inspect properties which are the subjects of an active building permit for changes and improvements which have been made to the property, Also, site visits and review's will be made, if determined needed, in all of Taylor County of residential, agricul tural, and commercial properties to determine if im provements have been made or verifications need to be made in our data, These appraisal reviews will include measuring struc tures, listing construed on information, and photograph ing the subject property. The majority of these field reviews will take place in the coming weeks, from the hours of 9 a.in. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Ap praisal staff will be in a vehicle dearly marked Taylor County Tax Assessors or GMASS Contractor/Appraiser. For more information or concerns on this notification, please contact the Assessors Office at (478) 862-3802 or by email taylortax(?< pstel.net.