About The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 2015)
Blood Drive! f Thursday 2-7 Civic Center General Assembly Report Rep. Jay Roberts checks in Shooting sports signups See Page 9 ^ I \ w i * iw vvi iivi in MJ/ilin oce rage ™ Wiregrass Farmer Wednesday, January 14,2015 ASHBURN,GA, 31714 VOL 109 - No. 2 • 500 www.thewiregrassfarmer.com (Around Town\ Subscribe to The Wiregrass Farmer Delivered in your mail every week Call 567-3655 for information. Chamber Banquet Tickets are now avail able for the 59th Annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet. The banquet is Jan. 22. Call 567-9696 for ticket information. Give Life American Red Cross will be at the Civic Center from 2-7pm Thursday, Jan. 15th. Please donate what only YOU can give...lifesaving blood. Rec basketball signups The Turner County Rec. Dept, will be signing up for basketball Jan. 20-23 and Jan. 26-30 from 4:30-6pm at the old gym at Special Services School. Boys and girls ages 4-14 can sign up at a cost of $25 per child. For more info call Mike Coker, 229-567-5223. Test assistance Turner County Special Services is assisting anyone that needs a diploma that has not passed the GHSGT, or if you passed all portions of the test, but lack at least two classes. Please come Mon-Thurs 4-6pm at Spe cial Services School and let us help you. The time is now! Obituaries Betty Frances Jacqueline Powell Harris, 75, Sycamore Rayford Carroll Page, 74, Ashbum Laura M. Cushion, 62, Ashbum Complete obituary information is on Page 5 Serving Turner County Since 1902 Mayor promises open government HOW COLD WAS IT? I am going to make the best decisions I can for the City of Ashbum. Mayor Sedric Carithers by Ben Baker, editor program will replace more New Ashburn mayor Sedric sidewalks with stamped con- Carithers promised to do what crete. is right and to do it in open. • The new well and water “I want to be as transparent tank on the west side of town as I can to let the citi zens of Ashburn know what is going on,” he said. “I am going to make the best decisions I can for the City of Ashburn.” In his brief speech as the new mayor, Mr. Carithers said he was most disappointed that X w- Or 1 w grandmothers were not present to see him be sworn in. He broke down when speaking of them. “It is a joyous day for me and a bittersweet day,” he said. That done, he gave the standing-room-only crowd a State of the City speech. • A downtown streetscape is still underway. • New sewer lines and a lift station along MLK are on the way. • A grant will bring more repair work to the historic Tabernacle on the edge of downtown. Carithers • The City has $6 million in debt. Most of this is for the wastewater treat ment plant. As of his report, the City had $1.3 million in the bank. “These are some of the things going on in Ashburn be fore we took over,” he said. He also read a letter of con gratulations from City Council member Sandra Lumpkin who was not at last week’s meeting. his The City of Ashbum is in pretty good finan cial shape, said auditor Brandon Montgomery with the Herring PC firm from Tifton. Mr. Montgomery handed out copies of the audit report to the City Council but did not go over the report as has been done in the past. He said he will return next month to discuss the re port in detail. He pointed to a lengthy agenda and as the reason for the delay. The City is in good shape. After his presen tation, he said there was one item in the report which he planned to address, but otherwise it was good. “Looking at the City and treating it as a busi ness, the City ended up making money,” he said. He encouraged the Council to look over the audit report and come to the February meeting with questions. In other business, Ray Holland was reap pointed Municipal Judge; Flynn Coleman pros ecutor; John Sherrer indigent defense and Tommy Coleman as City Attorney. Greg Millette, executive director of Turner County Connections, snapped this pic ture of his dashboard gauges on Thursday morning. 17 degrees is COLD! Photo Greg Millette Ashburn auditor presents report HEADING TO STATE The Turner County Rebel wrestlers cruised to an easy victory in the Area 1 duals, defeating Treutlen County 56-12. They are headed to the state duals in Macon. Good luck Rebels! School Board eyes contract with Moultrie Tech for Driver’s Ed The Board of Education must replace the Driver’s Edu cation car. State law says the car used for that class cannot be used once it is 10 years old. Interim Superintendent Joy Gentry said Moultrie Tech has offered a car and an instmctor for less than what the school system could get a teacher and a car for. The present driver’s ed instmctor, Scott McGuinty, will be reassigned if the School Board approves the contract. Dr. Gentry said if the con tract is approved, which will be for next year, the school sys tem could save as much as $75,000. In the meantime, Moultrie Tech is offering a Driver’s Ed car. Mr. McGuinty will con tinue to teach that class. In other news: • The BOE bought a used F350 from Parker Chevrolet for $11,000. The track will be used to pull the Ag Department livestock trailer for students who show animals as part of their ag class. The 2008 truck is a diesel and has 21 IK miles. Dr. Gentry estimates 4,000 to 6,000 miles will be put on the truck each year. She did re mind the Board that buying a used vehicle does incur some risks. The truck will also be used to pull the marching band equipment trailer. • Sycamore mayor Wayne Woodruff was hired as a full time substitute bus driver and bus monitor. Some of the older buses do not have video moni toring equipment. All new buses do. Mr. Woodruff will ride buses where a driver has reported a problem with stu dent behavior. “He will be assigned to ride on those where we have con cerns on a bus,” Dr. Gentry said. “There are a couple of buses we’ve had issues on. If we had the money, we’d love to have a monitor on every bus,” she said. Phillip Crawford said a bus monitor could just be one more voice in a “he said - she said” kind of argument. Cornelius Ball asked why problems weren’t being han dled by the driver. Dr. Gentry pointed out a bus can haul as many as 90 stu dents, far more students than in any one classroom in school. She said Mr. Woodruff can serve as a chaperone on the bus. “If there are concerns, he’ll ride the bus for several days,” she said. “It will be a start.” Mr. Woodruff regularly goes to the bus shop during school to see if he’s needed to substitute for a driver. Other board members noted Mr. Woodmff was reliable. “I object. I just object to that,” Mr. Ball said at the workshop meeting last week. “Most kids don’t care if there is an extra person on the bus. I don’t see how it will improve.” “If there is a need, if you think we need it, to head some problems off, give it a try. We don’t have to stick with it,” Mr. Crawford said. “Some systems are moving to hire a monitor on all buses,” Dr. Gentry said. The board voted Monday night to hire Mr. Woodruff as noted above. Mr. Ball cast the sole no vote against creating the position. Shop local Put local people to work and keep your tax dollars at work at home. Si !ELECTRONIC TAX FILING BANCORP FINANCE 567-3436 FAST TAX STARTS JAN. 20 Come see us for your fast tax refunds! Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process. John F. Kennedy
