Newspaper Page Text
WINNING WAYS!
Sports, Page 10
Mayor says another
rate hike not likely.
Page 1 below the fold
MANYTHANKS
Cleve Brown
THE Wiregrass Farmer
Wednesday, January 13,2016
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 2 • 500
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
^Around Town N
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Call 567-3655 for
information.
Chamber
banquet
Tickets for the annual
Chamber of Commerce
banquet in January are on
sale now at the Chamber of
fice. Tickets are $30. Call
567-9696 for more infor
mation.
Called meeting
Special Called Council
Meeting of the Rebecca
City Council on January
18th, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. The
meeting will take place at
Rebecca City Hall, 51
North Railroad St., Re
becca. The regular sched
uled council meeting on
Monday, Feb. 1st, 2016 is
canceled at this time. Public
is invited to attend.
Woops
Last week’s story about
hog hunting did not include
the statement - all hunters
need a small game hunting
license to hunt hogs unless
the hunter owns the prop
erty.
Democrat
registration
Registration for county
offices under the Demo
cratic Party will take place
at Ashburn City Hall. San
dra Lumpkin will register
candidates.
Literacy night
Turner County Elemen
tary School Family Literacy
Night. Parents and Teachers
Working Together to Help
Children Enjoy Reading
Jan. 26, from 4:30-6 p.m.
Enjoy: Story Time, Teacher
Led activities, Reading
books with your child. 2nd-
5th graders may take AR
test. Take home activities to
help your child with Read
ing. Blue tickets will be
given to students who at
tend with their parents.
Obituaries
Blanchie O. Jordan, 82,
Ashburn
Vivian Taylor Lane, 96,
Rebecca
E.A. "Shorty" Young
blood, 90, Tifton
Complete obituary
.information Page 5 ,
Serving Turner County Since 1902
Rebecca resignations
Mayor, councilman, city clerk quit; Special election in the works
Rebecca Mayor Don Collins, newly the monthly City Council meeting. not give a reason for her leaving. Mr. Lewis,
re-elected Councilman and mayor pro- Mayor Collins and Mr. Lewis said The City Council has a called meet- The City has brought former City
tempore Junior Lewis and City Clerk council infighting is why they quit, ing (see Briefs at right) to discuss a spe- Clerk Karen Watson back to City Hall
Janice Vamadore quit last week during Mrs. Varnadore, who resigned first, did cial election for mayor and to replace while matters are sorted out.
That’s when all hell broke
loose. Jimmy said something
that ticked the mayor off.
Former City Clerk Janice Varnadore
Junior Lewis
The newspaper called Junior Lewis and spoke to
him. He called back about an hour later and provided
more information.
He too points a finger at Councilman Jimmy Wilk-
erson as part of the source of the trouble. He said he
is not sure why they did and said the things they did.
A message was left at Rebecca City Hall offering Mr.
Wilkerson the opportunity to have his say in the
DaDer (See LEWIS Page 2)
Don Collins
Don Collins came to The Wiregrass Farmer to
present his side of the story.
“The main reason I resigned ... is because we have
never had as much problems as the last three months.
I dreaded going to City Hall because of the fussing
and fighting. You couldn’t tell anybody anything,”
Mr. Collins said. “Why a certain gentleman wanted
to change everything after all these years I couldn’t
understand.”
Mr. Collins has sat on the Rebecca Council on and
off since 1988. He first joined the Council in 1988 as
a councilman. He later became mayor.
“I appreciate the citizens of Rebecca letting me be
mayor. I hope they continue to progress and get har
mony back in City Hall.
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Mike Hasty
Rebecca Mayor pro-tempore Mike Hasty was con
tacted Thursday at Rebecca City Hall. He provided
one brief comment.
“I don’t have any comment about that. I understand
you spoke to Janice. I am not going to get into a po
sition of getting into argument,” he said. If she wants
to make a statement, I’m fine with that. I’m not going
to get into an argument.”
Janice Varnadore
Mrs. Varnadore was hired as City Clerk when the
former clerk quit. Previously she served as Sycamore
City Clerk for years.
She was the first to resign at last week’s Council
meeting. She said the Council approved the minutes
of the December meeting and a credit card policy as
required by state law.
“That’s when all hell broke loose. Jimmy said
something that ticked the mayor off. They had
words,” she said. “It broke out from there. The mayor
resigned. Junior resigned. I resigned and left.”
Andrew Rudisail-Lilly and Derrick Carter get involved in an art project at the Special Services
School recently.
On a split vote last week, the
County Commission selected Brad
Calhoun to serve as Chairman for
the coming year.
The first motion was made by
Joe Burgess to have Daryl Hall
serve as chairman. Mr. Hall gave
the second. The vote failed 2-3 with
Calhoun, Sam McCard and Nick
Denham voting no.
The next motion was for Calhoun to be chairman,
Denham/McCard. It passed 3-2.
A motion to make Mr. Denham vice chair passed
unanimously.
At the workshop meeting at the end of December,
Mr. Hall again argued for making the Chairman post
rotate sort of automatically through the Commission.
“Rather than appoint a (See CHAIR Page 2)
Calhoun
Calhoun to chair
County Commission
School Superintendent says state funding is not fair
The way the state of Geor
gia finances public eduction is
not fair, said School Superin
tendent Jeff McDaniel.
The new superintendent got
visibly riled at least weeks
Board of Education meeting as
he discussed state funding. He
apologized for letting his emo
tions come out. After the meet-
McDaniel
ing he said he
did not and
would not
apologize for
standing up
for the chil
dren of Turner
County.
“Now I see
it. We need to
I see discrepancies in funding. Our
kids are getting the short end of the
stick. Our kids are not getting funding.
Superintendent Jeff McDaniel
be more passionate about it,”
he said. “Someone is going to
listen.”
Those statements came at
the end of this presentation. He
said coming from wealthy
north Georgia public schools to
a poor rural South Georgia
school has absolutely changed
his mind about how Georgia
funds education. Now, he’s
seen both sides of the funding
situation.
“I see discrepancies in fund
ing. Our kids are getting the
short end of the stick. Our kids
are not getting funding,” he
(See SCHOOL Page 2)
Consultant to Ashburn: Make money or get out of the business
You’ve got to find a way to generate more revenue in natural
gas. Propane, I’d find a way to make more money or get out
it. These are decisions you have to make. Tom Berry, consultant
The City of Ashburn needs
to start making money on its
gas service or get out that busi
ness said Tom Berry, a consult
ant the City has brought in to
help with the budget.
The problem is the City’s
natural gas and propane de
partments are not bringing in
enough money.
Mr. Berry’s report from
Julyl through the end of No
vember.
“The place you ought to be
breaking even or generating
dollars is your enterprise
funds,” he said. The enterprise
funds are the two gas depart
ments, water & sewer and
garbage. Enterprise funds are
supposed to be self-supporting.
Taxpayer dollars are not sup
posed to be used in those de
partments.
“I am concerned with water
and sewer. I know you can do
things with natural gas,” he
said. “You’ve got to find a way
to generate more revenue in
natural gas. Propane, I’d find a
way to make more money or
get out it. These are decisions
you have to make.”
“These enterprise funds,
they are (in) bad (shape),” said
Mayor Sedric Carithers. “We
knew something wasn’t right.”
NATURAL GAS
Mr. Berry said the City
should be making a profit on
natural gas (and propane).
“You should run it like a
business.
“You ought to be making
transfers into the General
Fund,” he said. The City’s
General Fund is the main part
of the budget.
Part of the problem is the
warm weather. Mr. Berry said
it’s just not been cold enough
for people to use gas to heat
their homes.
“Natural gas (sales) is a
function of weather. But you
do have to manage your natu
ral gas system. You have to
find a way to add to the load
and help customers.”
As of his report, which re
flected finances through Octo
ber, natural gas was $43K in
the hole.
“You budgeted to have a
Berry’s deficits
$43K nat. gas
$100K water
$109K sewer
A propane
deficit was not
given.
gain (profit) of $174K. I don’t
think you will make that. I
don’t think you’ve got enough
year left,” he said.
The solution is to find ways
to sell more natural gas. Heat
(See MONEY Page 3)
251 E. Monroe Ave • Ashburn, GA 31714
Phone: (229) 778-9228 • Fax: (229) 778-9230
ptn.liberty@gmail.com
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Defeat doesn't finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he's defeated. He's finished when he quits. Richard M. Nixon
