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Blood Drive Thursday!
Give another Thanksgiving this year to someone you may never meet!
Wiregrass Farmer
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008
ASHBURN, GA, 31714
VOL 106 - No. 46 • 500
/Around Town \
Subscribe
to The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week.
Call 567-3655 for
information.
Pix with Santa
Treasure's Galore, Yard
Sale, Turner County
Elementary School Gym
Saturday, Dec. 6, 8am-12
pm. Pictures with Santa
Firefighter
course
Ashburn Fire & Emergency
Services will offer the
Basic Firefighter: Module
One Course as part of its in-
service training program.
The course is a very fast
paced course, which is the
mandated training course
required by Georgia Law to
become a firefighter. The
class will begin on Monday
January 12th, at 6PM at
Ashburn Fire & Emergency
Services Station #2 located
at 1070 Bridges Road in
Ashburn. The course is 60
hours in length and will be
held on consecutive
Monday and Thursday
Nights. Therefore, the
course will take approxi
mately 8 weeks to com
plete. If you are interested
in attending the class please
call 567-4952 to register.
There is no charge for this
class and after successful
completion participants
may pursue a career in the
Fire Service.
Arts Council
The Turner County Arts
Council is proud to present
Saturday with the Sarge.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 7 PM
First Baptist Church Social
Hall. Pound cake & coffee
will be served. Come hear
little known Civil War facts
as told by Charles Perry.
Tickets $5, available from
Arts Council Members.
GED Classes
Need to study for the
GED Exam? Orientation for
Adult Education classes will
be held Friday, Nov. Nth ,
from 8:30- 3:30 at Moultrie
Technical College. Call us at
567-4280 for more info.
Chickenque
T. C. High School will
have a Chickenque,
Thursday, Nov. 20. Tickets
$7 each. Plates include:
half grilled chicken, baked
beans, chips, bread, dessert.
Pick up at TCHS Cafeteria
from 3:30-7 pm Nov. 20.
Purchase tickets at the
school or call 567-4377 for
more info. We appreciate
your support!
Fruit sale
Again this year Turner
County 4-H will sponsor a
Holiday Fruit Sale to raise
money for the County pro
gram. Fruit sale orders are
being taken now and the
fruit will be delivered in
December. The fruit will
(See BRIEFLY Page 6)
Serving Turner Co unty Since 1902 ==
Gangs in Ashburn
Special investigator says Council needs to give APD resources to stop them now
by Ben Baker
Editor
Ashburn has two gangs,
said Sgt Joey Woods, a gang
investigator for the Tift County
Sheriff’s Department and the
City Council needs to act now
to help the Ashburn Police
Department control these
gangs.
The names of the gangs are
not being released because
gangs often view publicity of
any kind as a positive thing.
The investigator urged the
City Council to back the APD
in efforts to control the gangs.
“You’ve got to give them
resources,” he said. “If you
don’t do anything with these
gangs, your violence will esca
late.... They will fight over
anything.”
Sgt. Woods said a three-
way program is needed.
“You’ve got to have preven
tion. You’ve got to have inter
vention and you've got to have
suppression,” he said. “If you
let them go wild, they will go
wild. You have got to support
your police department. You
need to have a citizen-based
program.
“If you do something with
them, you can keep them down
and keep them out.”
Sgt. Woods said gangs can
prevent new industry from
locating here, because compa
nies will see the gang problems
and then go somewhere else.
“You’ve got to find the
resources” to do something
about the gangs, he said.
BEST EVIDENCE
Ashburn Police Chief
Bryant McCard asked Sgt.
(See GANG Page 3)
Feelin’ froggy!
GAVIN WIGGINS at the Trinity Baptist Church Fall festival recently.
Photo Trish Mathes
County garbage
hike likely in Jan.
by Ben Baker
Editor
County garbage rates will
go up in January most likely,
according to information pre
sented to the County
Commission last week.
County
Manager Charles
Kinney suggest
ed a new rate of
$18.75, up from
the present
$17.50.
The
Commission is
expected to vote
on the rate hike
at the December
meeting.
The County’s
contract with the
Crisp Regional
Landfill authority
gives that board
the ability to set
the garbage rates
with little to no
input from the
County. The
County attempts
to pass the costs
of the service to
the customers.
Under the contract terms,
the County is ultimately
responsible for the bill. Since
the program was begun about
14 years ago, the pro
gram has never broken
even, meaning taxpay
ers have picked up part
of the bill each year.
In addition to that,
the County has had
many complaints over
the collection service.
Past audits by County
Commissioners
revealed some houses
did not have roll-carts, some
houses were not being billed
and some houses had carts but
did not get a bill.
The contract the County has
locks the Commission into 8
more years of service with
Allied Waste as
the collection ser
vice. The contract
with the Landfill
Authority runs
another 15 years.
“If you
haven’t read the
contract... you
ought to. It’s hor
rible,” said
Commissioner
Mike Geoghagan.
“They can do
whatever they
want, whenever
they want and we
can’t do anything
about it.”
Some slight
good news on
that front is the
requested
increase to cover
fuel expenses has
dropped, Mr.
Kinney said.
EYE ON COLLECTIONS
At present, $248,000 is in
the past due accounts on
garbage. Over the years
the County has written
off several hundred
thousand in past due
bills.
Collecting that
money has been a prob
lem.
Numerous attempts
in the past have met
with mixed success.
(See TRASH Page 2)
Garbage at a
glance
• Present rate is
$17.50 a month.
• Recommended new
rate is $18.75.
• $248,000 is in the
past due ledger.
• The County has
very little choice in
the rate or the
collection company
If you haven’t
read the con
tract ... you
ought to. It’s
horrible.
Mike Geoghagan
Kinney
Wiley, McCard, Scott cruise to victories in general election
by Ben Baker
Editor
Turner County turned 3,590
voters out on Tuesday in a his
toric election.
Roy Wiley cruised to an
easy victory last week, tallying
63.18 pecent of the vote.
Andy Hester was the only
qualified write-in candidate
and pulled some of the 1223
write-in votes, but not all of
them.
Because Mr. Wiley polled a
clear majority, the review panel
of Coach John Dye, George
Beasley and Cheryle Bryan did
not examine the computer-gen
erated write-in votes. They did
review the absentee votes.
Not all of the write-ins went
to Mr. Hester either.
Among the names written
in were:
Mickey Mouse
Randy Kendrick
Roy Hester
Doug Hester
In the only contested race
for County Commission,
Democrat Sam McCard easily
swept past Republican chal
lenger Richard Weaver, polling
72 percent of the votes.
RUN OFF
In one regional race and one
statewide race, there was no
clear winner.
For Superior Court Judge to
replace Gary McCorvey,
Melanie Cross polled 48.27
percent of the votes here while
Joseph Carter had 30.19 per
cent. Ronnie Wheeler was a
distant third with 21.48 per
cent.
The race was much tighter
across the 4-county area
according to the Georgia
Secretary of State’s office,
Carter 39.8 percent from the
circuit while Cross won 39.1
percent.
Mrs. Cross will face Mr.
Carter in the runoff Dec. 2.
The Tift Judicial circuit
comprises Turner, Worth, Tift
and Irwin Counties.
Incumbent Republican
Senator Saxby Chambliss did
not get a majority across the
state, despite getting 51.84 per
cent of the vote in Turner
County.
He will face Democrat chal
lenger Jim Martin on Dec. 2.
Mr. Martin had 45.53 percent
of the vote here.
Libertarian candidate Allen
How you voted.
Precinct results, Page 3
Runoff election Dec. 2
Any registered voter
may vote in this elec
tion.
Who’s Running
Superior Court Judge
Melanie Cross
Joseph Carter
US Senate
Saxby Chambliss
Jim Martin
Early voting is Nov. 24-
26.
Buckley was the state-wide
race spoiler, but only managed
2.51 percent of the votes here.
FOR PRESIDENT
The election saw Turner
County give 58.94 percent of
its votes to John McCain, a
trend that was followed across
most of the state which went
for the Republican ticket.
Barack Obama turned out
40.13 percent of the vote.
US HOUSE
Democrat incumbent Jim
Marshall had a decided victory
in Turner County with 58.35
percent of the vote to
Republican Challenger Rick
Goddard’s 41.62 percent.
Across the district which
Jrflery Iahii
by Ben Baker
Editor
Jeffery Speck was convict
ed of murder and concealing
the death of another by a
Turner County Jury.
Speck, 40, a long haul truck
reaches up to Warner Robins,
Rep. Marshall polled enough
votes to hang on to his seat in
Congress for the next two
years.
driver before being arrested in
another state, is accused of the
death of Michaella Maria
Swaney. Her body was found
in a ditch off 1-75 in February
1997.
The murder was a cold case
until 2006 when Speck was
serving time in a Texas prison
on drug-related charges. His
DNA was entered into a
national database.
“Investigator Steve
Mauldin reviewed the case and
discovered that the DNA evi
dence had not been sent
through CODIS (a national
database). He sent this infor
mation in and a match was dis
covered. This was when Jeffrey
Speck was arrested in prison in
Texas and brought back to
Georgia,” said Chief Deputy
Steve Wood. “This makes a
pretty good story to let people
know about up to date inves
tigative techniques.”
Speck convicted of murder
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
James Bovard