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Now is the winter of our discontent. William Shakespeare AREA DUALS CHAMPS In Sports THE WIREgrass Farmer Wednesday, January 8, 2014 ASHBURN,GA, 31714 VOL 109 - No. 2 • 500 www.thewiregrassfarmer.com fAround Town\ Subscribe to The Wiregrass Farmer Delivered in your mail every week Call 567-3655 for information. Chamber banquet The 58th Annual Ash- burn Turner County Cham ber of Commerce banquet will be held on Thursday, January 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Turner County Civic Center. The meal will be pork chops with all the trimmings and will be catered by David Hickman. Motivational speaker, A1 Walker, will be the speaker for the evening. You will also be entertained during dinner by Julie West and The Jazz Element Band. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at the Cham ber office. Tickets must be purchased by Friday, Janu ary 17. Blood drive The American Red Cross will be holding a Blood Drive at the Turner County Civic Center on Thursday, January 16th from 2-7. Park benches The recent expansion at Elrod Park has created room for 15-18 more mar ble benches. If you are in terested in ordering a bench in honor of or in memory of someone who served in the military, this is your chance. Call Edgar Perry at 567- 3366. Ashburn election Qualifying fees for the coming Ashburn election are $234 for mayor and $126 for Council mem bers . The election will be held in November and qualifying will be later this year. Legion meeting Post 98 of The Ameri can Legion will hold its monthly meeting at 7:00 pm on 14 January. New of ficers will be discussed. Obituaries Mrs. Alcese E. Royal, Ash- bum J. W. “Jake” Lumpkin, Sr, 85, Ashburn Mr. Sherman Burdett, 85, Ashburn Dura Eidson Smith, 95, Ashburn Mr. Calvin T. High, Ash- bum, incomplete Complete obituary ^information is on Page 5 ^ Serving Turner County Since 1902 New ranking could hurt county by Ben Baker Editor Turner County is now a Tier 2 County in state economic rankings. Local officials say this is wrong. They say the data the state used for this ranking is skewed and Turner County is not a Tier 2 county. Tier ranking has a direct effect on how grant applications, tax incentives for business and industry and other eco nomic incentives for the county. In short, it makes such help harder to get. This is a major matter for new busi ness and industry because Tier 1 coun ties are able to offer significant tax credits to new industry and business and expan sions . Tax credits exist for Tier 2 coun ties, but the amount offered is much smaller. Ashburn Mayor Jim Hedges said in this region, Tift and Turner Counties jumped into Tier 2 while the rest stayed at Tier 1. “It’s crazy. I’m trying to figure it out,” said Mike Geoghagan, interim economic developer at the Chamber of Commerce. “I know basically why it hap pened. One of the big figures [used to rank the counties] is the unemployment rate. Our unemployment rate dropped offi cially way down.” Mr. Geoghagan disputes the official unemployment rate. Mayor Hedges points to a report showing the Turner County unemployment rate at 10.3 per- Unemployment 10.3% $30,277 ave. income 24.1 % poverty level It’s crazy. I’m trying to figure it out. Mike Geoghagan cent. The official rate in Turner County has pretty much stayed above the state average, reaching 15 percent in late 2009-early 2010. The current statewide rate is about 7.7 percent. (See TIER Page 2) Hedges Geoghagan Ashburn submits 5 road projects Ashburn has submitted parts of five roads in the City for resur facing under a state program. Ashburn will have to contribute 30 percent, $12,900, of the cost. City Manager Ben Taylor said the streets were submitted to the Department of Transportation for review. DOT will consider the list and decide what to pave. Streets are: • E. Monroe from Lamar to Whittle Circle. This stretch of road has sunken utility lines. This is also found on several other roads. • Harrison Avenue from Stevens to W. Davis. This road also has crumbling pavement. • Phillips from Monnie to McLendon. •W. Madison in front of the public housing project. • Carlos, also in front of the public housing project. More details about Eureka development The Ashburn City Council got a briefing about the com ing Eureka Heights housing complex at the Eureka Prop erty in west Ashburn. The apartments won’t be available until 2015. Construc tion is expected to begin this spring. The 56-unit apartment com plex will be divided into 11 buildings. Apartments will be one, two, three and four bed room units. A community cen ter and an office are part of the buildings. The property will have a walking track around the perimeter, a community park- garden, but not a vegetable garden and a small splash pad. Mayor Jim Hedges ap pointed Councilman James Hall to head the community on the park-garden. The entire development is expected to cost $6,850,000. It is one of the most expensive single-item projects in Turner County’s history. Possibly In terstate 75 resurfacing work has cost more. While other business and projects in the county have spent more in total, that has come in phases. The project will be funded through a program called tax credits. Investors buy “tax credits” amounting to $6.34 million. They can then use these credits as a deduction against their taxes for 10 years. The $6.34 million in cash will be used to build the apartment complex. The apartment rent will be income-based. (See EUREKA Page 2) HOW COLD WAS IT? Turner County and most of the nation went to bed Monday night with below freezing tempera tures or temperatures ex pected to drop below freezing. In Turner County some people set up their water system to drip all night creating some natu ral ice sculptures like the peach tree at right. Above the fountain at Elrod-Veter- ans Park also froze over creating a sheet of ice that cover the waterfall and the sidewalk all the way out to the road. Got ice pictures from your house? Send them to us at wiregrassfarmer@ yahoo.com and we’ll share them on our Facebook page One flu death reported in South Georgia; nine reported across the state The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) has con firmed one flu-related death in South Georgia. This is the first confirmed flu-related death in South Georgia this flu season; however, there have been nine flu-related deaths in other parts of Georgia. The local death was an adult. DPH is reporting increases in flu activity statewide; how ever, the increase is normal for this time of the year, according to Dr. Cherie Drenzek, DPH State Epidemiologist. H1N1 appears to be the predominant strain but that is also one of the strains in this year’s vaccine. Symptoms of the flu include cough, runny nose, sore throat and fever. One of the most pro nounced flu symptoms is an overall feeling of achiness and discomfort that comes on quickly. “The most effective way to prevent the flu is getting your flu vaccine each year,” high lights Dr. William Grow, Dis trict Health Director. “It’s not too late to get your flu vaccine at any of our health depart ments, many local pharmacies or your doctor’s office.” Frequent and thorough hand washing also will help guard against the flu. Alcohol based gels are the next best thing if there is no access to soap and water. Cover the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing to help prevent the spread of the flu. Use a tissue (See FLU Page 2) HOLIDAY MEAL Ashburn Fire & Rescue held a holiday lunch for everyone in Public Safety in Turner County. County and City firefighters, EMS, police, sheriff and local elected officials attended.