Grand Openings
Two of ‘em. Page 2
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Halloween Hours?
Who says so? Page 4
JC=
REBEL ROC
It’s a close one. Sports
the Wiregrass Farmer
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008
ASHBURN, GA, 31714
VOL 106 - No. 42 • 500
/Around Town \
Subscribe
to The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week.
Call 567-3655 for
information.
Halloween
Halloween hours for
Turner County, Ashburn,
Sycamore and Rebecca are
6- p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30.
Fest Yard Sale
November Fest will be
Nov. 1 10 a.m.-l p.m. The
Yard Sale is in conjunction
with the November Fest
will be from 7 am-1 pm
Open House
Turner County Middle
School will have Open
House Monday, October 13
from 4-6 p.m. Students
will receive their report
cards at that time.
Flu shots
The Turner County
Health Dept, will begin giv
ing flu shots Monday, Oct.
20th. The cost of the shots
will be $20. We will accept
Medicaid, Medicare,
PeachCare, PeachState or
WellC are.
Breast exams
October is Breast
Cancer Awareness Month.
The Turner County Health
Dept, will be offering
FREE Breast Exams Oct.
20th - Oct. 24th. Please
call 567-4357 for an
appointment.
Boston Butts
Friends of Scouting Boy
Scouts boston butt sale,
price is $20, pickup Nov. 1,
2008 at American Legion
US Hwy 41 South,
Ashburn, from 11 am - 2
pm. contact any Boy Scout
or Scouters.
Tunnels of
Terror 2008
We need volunteers for
the Tunnels of Terror that
will be held on Oct. 17,18,
24,25 & 31 in Turner
County Please call NOW if
you’re interested or for info
567-8075, ask for Frankie
or April.
Christmas
Parade
Saturday, Dec. 13 6:00
Parade, line up at 5 at Civic
Center Christmas Open
House to follow downtown
with merchants Theme -
Home for the Holidays.
Obituaries
June Carroll Rogers
Tucker, 65, Sycamore
Betty Joe Wilson, 74,
Ashburn
L.H. (Pat) Raines, 90,
Peachtree City
James (Jay) Baker, 49
Lawrenceville
Joseph Albert Llobet, 74,
Lake Park
Complete obituary
^information is on Page 5
Serving Turner County Since 1902
Your money
In most cases, taxes will be going up even with mil cut
County Commission does rollback, but taxes are up
Sycamore plans same millage as last year; tax increase
by Ben Baker
Editor
The County Commission plans to
roll back millage to 16.5 mills, down
from last years 19.199 mills, but that
amounts to a tax increase for some peo
ple.
If your property value stayed the
same in the recent re-evaluation, your
taxes paid will go down. If your proper
ty went up only slightly, your taxes may
go down or stay about the same. If your
property went up a good bit, your taxes
will probably go up.
Because property values vary by
property, there is no one-amount-fits all
to determine how much you will be
paying in taxes.
The millage is not yet set. The
County Commission will hold a called
meeting later in the month to set the
final millage.
In the meantime, public hearings
will be held to gather public input on
the proposed tax rate.
Rebecca taxes to remain same; millage rolled back
by Ben Baker, editor rate that will only bring in new revenue
The City of Rebecca is not raising from new growth in the City,
taxes. The amount of taxes you paid last
The Council plans to set a millage year should be the same this year.
by Ben Baker, editor
Sycamore plans to hold the millage
to 11.5, the same as last year.
Because most property in Sycamore
saw an increase in property value, that
means for most people, the amount paid
in property taxes is going up. Exactly
how much depends on how much the
property value went up.
There’s no one-amount-fits all
approach to figuring individual property
(See SYCAMORE Page 2)
Q. If the millage is reduced, why are my taxes going up?
A. Because property values went up more than the millage roll
back accounts for.
Q. What is a mil?
A. A mil (millage, mill rate) is one-tenth of one percent. It is $1 for
every $1,000.
Q. What will my taxes be?
A. Taxes, the amount of money you pay, is directly based on your
property’s value, less any exemptions. Because exemptions and
values vary, there is no universal way to figure everyone’s proper
ty taxes at once.
CodeRED
goes off
twice
by Ben Baker
Editor
CodeRED, the county’s
new automatic severe weather
warning service, went off twice
last week.
Both alerts were sent out
Thursday.
The first was Thursday
morning. Emergency Manage
ment Director Pete Giddens
said 39 calls went out. 28 were
accepted.
This call was to the
Rebecca area warning of a
severe thunderstorm with golf
ball-sized hail. Mr. Giddens
said some hail did fall but as of
this article, he was not aware
of any severe damage.
“The ones not delivered
were due to a busy phone, no
one at home or an intercept on
a cell phone (voice mail),” he
said.
The second watch, also for
a severe thunderstorm went out
Thursday shortly before 6 p.m.
Far more people were called
this time as the area under the
watch was much larger.
CodeRED is a service paid
for by the County Commission
and Ashburn City Council. In
the event of bad weather,
CodeRED calls everyone in the
system in the affected area
within two minutes.
Signup is free and can be
done at the Courthouse Annex,
City Hall, the Road
Department, banks and a num
ber of businesses in town.
Each person signing up can
list two phone numbers.
“We have over 3,000 peo
ple in the database now and
building. We’ve been working
hard,” Mr. Giddens said.
COLOR GUARD
The JROTC presents the flag at
every TCHS home football game.
Photo Trish Mathes
County aims
for CHIP
extension
by Ben Baker
Editor
With no discernible activity
in the Community Home
Investment Program (CHIP),
the County Commission has
agreed to hire Mitch Varnadoe
for $5,000 for three months to
work on the program.
The County received the
CHIP grant from the state to
help low income residents get
needed home repairs. In nearly
two years of having the grant,
operated by John Wheeler, no
one has been approved and the
Commission is not sure how
many people have applied or
who they are.
Chairman Daryl Hall said
Mr. Varnadoe has agreed to do
the work.
Contacted last week in his
office, Mr. Varnadoe said his
company was willing to take
over the CHIP program if the
Commissioners approved it.
Mr. Varnadoe will spend
much of the next few weeks
working to get an 8-month
extension for the County to use
the CHIP money.
“He’s got to do a lot of
things to get us an extension,”
County Manager Charles
Kinney said.
In addition, Mr. Varnadoe
believes he can find additional
grant money to dovetail with
the CHIP program as well as
lower the homeowner’s
required contribution.
At present the County’s
CHIP program requires a
homeowner to provide a per
centage cash match to what the
homeowner will get under
CHIP.
CHIP is only available to
(See CHIP Page 2)
4-H ’ers and achievemens saluted at annual awards ceremony
by Nancy Stevenson
‘Go Green’ is their motto,
but hard work and dedication is
at the core of those who
become involved with Turner
County’s 4-H club.
The 4-H had their awards
program October 2nd to recog
nize those students who strove
for and have achieved excel
lence in their projects and in
their ambition to do their very
best.
Although still a student, the
speaker of the evening, Tareva
Moore, a senior at Worth
County High School, delivered
an inspirational speech to her
peers and the general assembly
as well. She spoke of how
much 4-H has done for her in
the past eight years.
Ms. Moore said she joined
the club “on a whim,” when
she was in the 5th grade. The
agent that she met, struck her
as an “amazing person” and
wouldn’t know at the time, “the
significant role she would play
in my life.” That year, Ms.
Moore became extremely
active in 4-H’s many communi
ty projects.
Overcoming difficult obsta
cles, she was able to attend the
4-H summer camp. Although
she came away with a few
bruises and scraps, she also
came away from the experience
“with a connection to a club I
knew I belonged in.”
4-H is all about opportunity,
and this is exactly what 4-H
has given Ms. Moore. When
she entered the sixth grade, the
club gave her the chance to use
a talent that she enjoys. A
small competition called DPA,
District Project Achievement,
(See 4-H Page 13)
Tareva Moore, a senior at Worth County, was the featured speaker this year’s 4-H
Awards program. Photo Lynn Davis
There are 10 (to the 11th power)stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to
call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. Richard Feynman
