About The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 2008)
f^Workl I Youth Ap] ^5 orkin’ & Learnin’ Apprenticeship. Page 2 r I I The real 12 Days cost of Christmas. Page 4 Rasslin’ Rebs picture THIS big. Sports. the Wiregrass Farmer Serving Turner County Since 1902 Best Overall Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008 ASHBURN, GA, 31714 VOL 106-No. 51 *500 fAround Town \ Subscribe to The Wiregrass Farmer Delivered in your mail every week. Call 567-3655 for information. Birth certificates Need a certified birth certificate? If you were bom in the State of Georgia, the Turner County Probate Court may be able to provide you with a certi fied copy. For more info, call Probate Court Judge Penny Thomas at 567- 2151. Be a mentor Support the Youth of Turner County, be a Mentor! The Turner County Connection would like you to join us in providing one- on-one support for at-risk children in grades 4-8. Please contact Garrett Boone, Mentoring Coordinator, at 229-567- 2524 or email him at gboone@turner.kl2.ga.us Toys for Tots Turner County Connection has partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and United Way of South Central GA since 2005 to provide needy chil dren with gifts. SADLY there will be children who will not receive one present from Santa under the tree on Christmas morning. YOU can help put a smile on a child’s face this Christmas by donating a new unwrapped toy. You can drop off your toys at Turner County Connection by Dec. 18th. Thank you for helping make the holi days more joyous for chil dren in Turner County. Girl Scouts Do you have a talent that you would like to share? The Girl Scouts of Southwest Georgia would like to invite volunteers to participate in troop leader ship or service unit man agement. Training is pro vided. Time dedication depends on assignment selected. For more informa tion call Sherri Girard at 229-242-5213. Firefighters needed The Turner County Fire Department wants you. If you want to become a vol unteer firefighter, no matter where you live in Turner County or what your abili ties are, if you are 18 or older, we have a place for you. Call Randall Whiddon at 567-3501. SHELLEY ZORN presents the Best Overall award to Donna Waters for the Moultrie Technical College float entry in the Home for the Holidays Christmas parade. The MTC float was a patriotic salute to the men and women in the military. Each star on the float had a name of some from Turner County in the military. Trinity Baptist Church won best of Show. A different tack on juvenile crime Hedges by Ben Baker Editor Parents will be held more responsible for the actions of minor children under an ordi nance the City of Ashburn is considering. Ashburn Mayor Jim Hedges is proposing the ordinance after reviewing the City’s juvenile crime statis tics. At the December meeting, he presented 21 cases of juve nile crime beginning in March and going through October. Charged crime range from fighting to theft to rape. Most cases are listed as disorderly conduct. Under the proposed ordi nance, the parent(s) of a child arrested for a crime would also receive a citation from the police department. This would require the parent to come to court to at least talk with a judge, the mayor said. “The objective is to make this a better place and a safer place,” he said. “This is part of a co-opera tive community effort includ ing the churches, School Board and a lot of state agencies deal ing with children,” said City Attorney Tommy Coleman. The objective is to make this a better place and a safer place. Mayor Jim Hedges The proposal will come back to the City Council in January for possible action and more discussion. Councilman Art Eld said something needs to be done to help some parents. He said he listens to a scanner for police calls and hears the problems some parents have. Many times the parents asked the police for help, he said. “They are trying to get help for these kids. They really are,” he said. Domestic violence calls appear to be up as well, he said. Councilman Major Sanders, noting a report in November on gang activity in Ashburn, said he hoped more intervention efforts could be done here. “That is one obvious mission, gang- related activi ties,” the mayor said. The pro posed ordi nance is iden tical to one '^-1 ^ The “non-exclusive” list of requirements on parents from the ordinance is: 1) Keep “controlled” substances out of the home and possession of a child, except as prescribed by a doctor 2) Keep guns out of the child’s possession, except for hunting and when supervised by an adult. 3) Keep the City’s curfew. 4) Keep child in school. This item is not specific to public or private schools and could cover home schooling. 5) Make sure kids have proper supervision at all times. 6) Keep child from destroying another’s proper ty- 7) Keep child from having stolen property. 8) Get help with and for the child from appropri ate agencies as needed. 9) Keep the child safe from possibly violent or dangerous people. The Community Relations Commission will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30 at City Hall to discuss the proposed parental responsi bility ordinance. The public is invited to attend the meeting. Copies of the ordinance are available at City Hall. Coleman from Savannah. Only the names were changed to reflect Ashburn, said Mr. Coleman. “We have tools in the box not being enforced, curfew. Will this make any difference,” asked Councilwoman Sandra Lumpkin. The attorney said the Police Department will need instruc tions of how to enforce the new ordinance, specifically what they can and cannot do. The attorney also pointed to the weaponry police officers carry as things that would need instruction for use under the ordinance “You have policemen who are not as attentive to the riles as others,” he said. “She’s got a gun and a taser,” the mayor said, pointing (See CHILD Page 2) ISO drops by Randall Whiddon TC Fire Chief Finally, after three years of intense work, the City of Sycamore’s fire insurance rat ing will drop from a 7 to a four 4. However, the new rate will not become effective until March 2009. The Insurance Services Office (ISO) re-evaluated Sycamore’s Fire Protection generating the positive results. The lower rating, which is used by most insurance compa nies to set property insurance rates, should mean a drop in commercial and residential property insurance premiums. In our research through local insurance agencies, the homeowners could get a reduc tion of up to 30 percent and the businesses could get up to a 40 percent reduction in fire insur ance premiums. These are only estimates and I would like to receive any feedback on the percentages you may receive or any comments you wish to share with us. Feel free to con tact me at Turner County Emergency Services at 229- 567-3501. In late April 2008, ISO came and spent all day review ing Sycamore’s fire equipment, maintenance records, training records, water system and the 911 system. All of these play a role in Sycamore’s ability towards fire protection. The ISO rating is a very complex evaluation; that is why it has taken from April until now to finalize and notify us of our grade. I thank some of the people that helped to make this possi ble. A special thanks to Brian Meadows, Chief of the Ashburn Fire Department and Pete Giddens, Director of Turner County Emergency Management Agency for their knowledge and expertise in ISO matters, the employees of the City of Sycamore for their patience in providing informa tion pertaining to the city’s water system, Tim Wiggins of the Turner County Building Maintenance Department for his support and utilizing inmate labor of the Georgia Department of Corrections in getting the fire station and equipment in good working order and the Turner County Board of Commissioners for their support in obtaining equipment and allowing me to invest many man hours to this project. In 2009, we will be evaluat ing the Rebecca Fire Department as we did Sycamore, upon completion we will focus on lowering the entire county’s ISO rating. Sycamore and Rebecca’s eval uation is a tremendous job, but the entire county will be a very large undertaking. I will be contacting many of you trying to obtain permis sion to use ponds and creeks for water sources. Anyone wishing to help, please contact our offices at 229-567-3501. County tables raise for weekend shift 911 workers; more info needed Obituaries Alto McKinney, 70, Ashburn Mrs. Erma G. Mauldin, 79, Ashburn David W. King, 67, Virginia Royce A. Childs, 73, Marietta Complete obituary ^information is on Page 5 by Ben Baker Editor A plan to give 911 weekend employees a dollar an hour raise was tabled for more dis cussion and more information. County Manager Charles Kinney proposed the raise, which would only apply to 911 operators working the weekend shift. He said the idea is that a raise would encourage more people to apply for the job at the County’s emergency call center. Beginning operator pay for part time dispatchers is around $9 a hour. The pro posed raise would put weekend shift workers over Kinney $10 an hour. The 911 center has an ongo ing problem in finding dis patchers to work the weekend shift, which is 12 hours at a time. “We have a rough time keeping and recruiting people to work the weekend shift,” he said. “We recommend that (the raise) for an incentive.” Commissioner Greg Hudgins said the raise was not budgeted. Mr. Kinney said that was correct. He again pointed out the County has problems finding and keeping weekend shift 911 dispatchers. Commissioner Mike Geoghagan wanted to know where the money for the raise would come from. “We’re hurting,” he said. Mr. Kinney thought a moment and then said, “A cou ple of places. Cost saving mea sures are com ing in. It will be offset by that.” That was not enough for the Commis sioners, who said they wanted more details of Geoghagan (See RAISE Page 2) You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself, and for the firefighter it is fire. Larry Brown
