Newspaper Page Text
the Wiregrass Farmer
Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009
ASHBURN, GA, 31714
VOL 106 - No. 1 • 500
/Around Town \
Subscribe
to The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week.
Call 567-3655 for
information.
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
Circus coming
to town
Walker Bros. Circus
will be at the Old Ashbum
Gym Friday, Jan. 16. Show
time are 5:30 & 7:30 p.m.
There will be comedy, aeri
al ballet, juggling. Come
and see these amazing per
formances. For more info
visit www.walkerbrother-
scircus.com
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.
Story time
The Victoria Evans
Memorial Library hosts a
Community Story Time the
third Friday of each month
from 10-11 a.m. Children
of all ages are invited to
attend. Sessions include a
variety of stories, songs and
crafts. The Victoria Evans
Memorial Library is located
at 605 North St, Ashburn
For more information call
567-4027.
Band Boosters
There will be a
Middle/High School Band
Booster meeting in the
Band room on Monday,
January 26th, at 7:00 p.m..
Everyone is encouraged to
attend. Let's begin 2009
with a good show of sup
port for our band students
and program.
Obituaries
Ivey E. Youngblood, 93,
Ashburn
Charles Sharon Beard,
Sr., 79, Ashbum
David Charles Rainey, 78,
Ashburn
Edwin Augustus “Gus”
Woodall, 83, Jesup
Frances A. Patterson, 62,
Loganville
Complete obituary
information is on Page 5
Serving Turner County Since 1902
Recession postpones ethanol plant
by Ben Baker
Editor
The nation’s economic woes have
not killed the planned ethanol plant for
just south of Sycamore, just postponed
it said Allen Whitehead, project manag
er for the Georgia Alternative Energy
Cooperative, the company behind the
plant.
“We are waiting until the banking
situation improves until we move for
ward,” he said. “Everything is in place.
We have contractors. We have permits.
When the time is right, we will move
forward.”
As to when that will be, Mr.
Whitehead said, “I am not willing to
make a guess.”
The Co-op has not sold stock in the
venture yet either. This is waiting for
better economic conditions, Mr.
Whitehead said.
Stock will be sold and then con
struction will begin, he said.
“We are ready when the financial
situation in the country improves,” he
said.
He stressed the problems are not
linked to the plant and its projected pro
duction of corn-based ethanol.
“The profitability of well-managed
ethanol plants is still very good today,”
he said. “Any new business venture
today, a startup venture, will have
extreme problems. This has nothing to
do with ethanol.”
As for anything else which people
say may be delaying the plant, financing
is the whole issue. There are no other
issues I know about.”
Rebel Wrestlers
160 pounder Alex Ellis getting some back points in the recent wrestling tournament at the Valdosta Wildcat
Invitational. Photo Rene Hasty
Meth lab makings shut down store, road briefly
by Ben Baker, editor
A convenience store was closed
briefly and traffic detoured around the
area over the weekend as law enforce
ment and two fire departments worked
on the makings of a meth lab.
Things were closed off because a
highly explosive chemical was found in
a truck which was stopped by law
enforcement at the Bussey Road exit on
the interstate.
Closing off the area was a safety
precaution, said Sheriff Roy Wiley.
The incident started with a truck
being stopped for a headlight being out.
When Deputy Olivas asked for the
driver’s licence, William Kelly Sager,
35, of Vincennes, IN, was not able to
produce one.
We had to close the
station because of the
danger of the anhy
drous exploding.
(Store owners) were
very cooperative.
Deputy Mike Taylor
The deputy ran a background check
which revealed Indiana had warrants for
the man’s arrest and would extradite
him, said Sheriff’s Department
Investigator Mike Taylor.
“They patted him down and found
some plastic bags and syringes. They
checked the rest of the car and found
some more stuff,” Dep. Taylor said.
A pipe with suspected marijuana
was found as well as “two plastic bags
with a white powder which field tested
to be meth.”
The department’s drug dog was
called in. The dog indicated a sleeping
back in the back of the truck.
Dept. Taylor said a check showed it
was a bottle of anhydrous ammonia, a
highly explosive chemical used in mak
ing meth.
“They called in the Turner County
Fire Department and the Mid South
Drug Task Force. The Ashburn Fire
Department set up a decontaminatin
post across the street,” he said.
(See BUST Page 2)
Chamber
banquet
Jan. 27
by Ben Baker
Editor
The annual Chamber of Commerce
Banquet, Turner County’s gala event, is
set for Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the Civic
Center.
Tickets are $30 each and are avail
able at the Chamber of Commerce, 567-
9696. Deadline for getting tickets is
noon Friday, Jan. 16 .
The event provides the setting for
announcing the Turner County Citizen,
Farm Family, Industry and Small
Business of the year. These are not
Chamber of Commerce awards. The
Chamber merely provides the venue for
the announcement.
The sole Chamber award is
Volunteer of the Year which also will be
announced at the event.
This year’s entertainment is
Christian comedian Charles Marshall.
“Charles’ com
edy is a breath of
fresh air and origi
nality. He delivers
only the best, orig
inal stand-up mate
rial and has a repu
tation in his field
as one of the most
hilarious stand-up
comedians per
forming today.
Your crowd is
guaranteed to hear fresh, laugh-until-it-
hurts comedy that they’ll relate to and
remember, and will talk about for
months afterward,” states his website.
www.charlesmarshallcomedy.com.
Walker’s BBQ is catering the meal
with smoked pork chops and trimmings.
Charles Marshall
Financial crunch hitting library hard; donations needed
LIBRARIAN JOANNE BROWN helps a patron. Photo Nancy Stevenson
by Nancy Stevenson
Our nation is under an era
of painful financial decline.
Even as our nation struggles to
find the answers, small towns
like Ashburn fight to breathe.
As the hand of bankruptcies,
and layoffs tighten around big
businesses, it’s the small towns
that must vie for the right to
survive.
Victoria Evans Library is a
viable source of knowledge for
the citizens of Ashburn,
extending even to surrounding
cities. It is a place where peo
ple can have access to books
they might not ever have the
opportunity to own. It is a
fountain of information for the
researcher, the student in need
of computers, and is there to
increase the students score in
the school’s Accelerated
Reader program.
Yet money is running out.
This facili
ty provides
free services
not only for
those in need
of facts, but for
the pure enjoy
ment of read
ing a book by
their favorite
author or a best
seller.
Librarian
JoAnne Brown
commented,
“we’ve lost
funding in the
system ser
vices grant
money for
regional opera
tions and in
money for
materials, for
all libraries in
the system.”
Mrs. Brown explained that
materials include Fiction and
Nonfiction of adult and juve
nile books, magazine subscrip
tions, news papers, reference
books, and DVD’s.
“The book money has been
cut by 39% which is over a
third of the books,” Mrs.
Brown said of their financial
situation.
State and local funding for
materials have been exhausted.
Library Board member, Dianne
Wideman made a motion at the
Nov. 17 board meeting to
amend the budget by zeroing
remaining
funds for
cleaning and
moving it to
materials. The
transfer could
be made
because the
county pays
half of the
guards salary
for prisoners to
clean the
building.
“What little
money we had
for cleaning is
now put into
materials.”
Mrs. Brown
explained.
That gave the
library approx
imately $2,000
to work with.
Next years
funding is still up in the air.
Feeling the financial pinch, the
dedicated librarian voiced her
concern, “I don’t know what
we’re going to do.”
Funding comes from the
County Commission, City of
Ashbum, City of Rebecca, City
of Sycamore, and Turner
County Board of Education.
Money also comes in from
(See LIBRARY Page 2)
We’re a great
asset to the
community. There
are people who
come and use our
computers
because they don’t
have a computer
or Internet access
of their own.
We’re a free ser
vice. You can
come in, check
out the best seller,
take it home, keep
it for 2 weeks and
bring it back.
JoAnne Brown
Ethanol has reduced our nation's dependence on imported energy, created thousands of jobs, reduced air pollution, and increased energy security. And renewable fuels cost less
at the pump. It is a growth fuel that fuels opportunities for millions of Americans. Lane Evans
