Newspaper Page Text
™ Wireorass Farmer
Wednesday, September 13,2017
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 37 • 500
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
^Around Town ^
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Call 567-3655
Early deadline
With Hurricane Irma a
giant unknown, The Wire-
grass Farmer was put to
gether Saturday. You have
the best information we had
at the time in this edition.
School is out Monday
and Tuesday.
Boiled peanuts
Turner County Young
Farmers has cases of boiled
peanuts for sale. Each case
has 24 quart cans and is
available for a $45 dona
tion. Leave a message at
(706) 452-4906 and a mem
ber will be in touch to
arrange pick up or delivery.
You can also visit
www.facebook.com/turner-
countyyoungfarmers for
more information.
Tools for
Schools
Tools for Schools "Sani
tize September" Help get
classrooms ready for cold &
flu season! Donate any of
the following items during
September: Lysol or Clorox
Wipes, Wet Wipes and Tis
sues, Hand Sanitizer. Items
may be dropped off at the
Turner County Chamber of
Commerce office located at
238 E. College Ave., Ash-
burn.
Animal control
Anyone who needs the
Ashburn Animal Control
department should call 567-
0313. All calls routed
through the dispatch center.
This applies to Ashburn res
idents as well.
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 pro
vide you with a certified
copy. For more information
call Probate Court Judge
Penny Thomas at 567-2151.
Obituaries
Judith Wilkerson, 69,
Sycamore
Julian Loyvoy Morris, 88,
of Lee County
Complete obituary
information Page 5
8 66670 00023
4
500 - tax included
Hasty returns to Rebecca Council
Mike Hasty has stepped
back to the Rebecca City
Council and promises to stay
until the new mayor is sworn
into office in January.
Mr. Hasty beat former
mayor Don Collins, who re
signed and forced the City to
have a special election to fill
the mayor’s unexpired post in
that special election after Mr.
Collins qualified to run. Mr.
Collins will face Charles Hut
ton in the general election.
Mr. Hasty alleges some
questionable conduct in the
City without calling names.
His letter is printed entirely
below.
S eptember 5,2017
From: Mike Hasty
To: Citizens of Rebecca,
Mayor Pro Tern and City
Council.
In view of recent unethical
actions and since the Council
has not acted to accept my let
ter of resignation, I withdraw
my resignation at this time and
will remain as Mayor until the
new administration is in place
in January 2018.
My sole purpose in taking
this step is to return the City of
Rebecca to a standard of con
duct in business that is above
reproach. Some of the above
mentioned unethical actions
are:
1. An unauthorized person
allowed access to personnel
files which contain medical
and other private information.
2. Private meetings to dis
cuss appointments to the City
Council.
3. Private meetings on dirt
roads, parking lots and side
walks to discuss city matters
and to decide how council
members would vote.
4. Discussion of Executive
Session actions with a member
of the public.
All council members have
signed the Georgia Sunshine
Law agreement that prohibits
actions of this type. A Code of
Ethics will be established in
the near future.
I ask all the citizens of Re
becca to pray for Blessing and
Guidance of Almighty God.
• ••
(See HASTY Page 2)
Turner County packed with refugees
As Hurricane Irma drew ever closer
last week, Turner County quickly be
came packed with people. The motels
were booked solid as soon as weather
forecasters made their predictions.
People still kept coming. Starting
Thursday, people started sleeping in
their vehicles in the interstate ramps
and the parking lots where available.
Stores quickly sold out of water as
Turner County residents prepared for a
direct impact Irma, expected to be a
Class 1 or 2 by the time it reached here.
All city and county employees were
put on standby. Emergency services
double-checked their resources.
A voluntary evacuation was called
for people in mobile homes and those
worried about their ability to ride out
the storm. People were directed to a
Crisp County school.
Turner County had no official shel
ters because of lack of manpower.
Those who helped after the January tor
nadoes were busy in other communi
ties.
Even as Irma bore down on the US,
Hurricane Jose was building strength in
the Atlantic.
A state of emergency was declared
at the state and federal level as Irma
came up Florida’s west coast.
GREAT JOB
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The County Commissioners honored the 4-H Longshots who won the national title in air pistol. Pictured with Chairman Sam McCard are Will
Watson, Ike Hobby and Remington Smith. Mr. Smith took 3rd place in the Eastern Division.
Commission rejects bids for road paving
The County Commissioners
rejected both bids for a partly
state-funded road paving pro
gram here.
The low bid came from
Reeves Construction, a firm
that has paved several County
roads in the past. This time, the
Commissioners and Road Su
perintendent Brent Rucker
brought some issues with
Reeves to the table. Specifi
cally, the paving work on
Bethel Road.
“The road is scabbed up.
They didn’t do it proper. I
asked them to not bid because
the work was done improp
erly,” Mr. Rucker told the
Commission. After the meet
ing adjourned, he added, “It is
starting to peel up.”
“The work they did out
there is shabby at best,” said
Commissioner Nick Denham.
“How do you tell someone
‘you can’t bid’?” Commis
sioner Daryl Hall asked.
“You can do that legally,
right Mr. Holland?” Mr.
Rucker said. John Holland is
the County attorney.
He said a company cannot
be prevented from bidding, but
the board could reject the bid.
“You can not accept the
bid,” said Commissioner Joe
Burgess.
“If I vote today, I will vote
for the lowest bidder,” said
Commissioner Hall.
Getting Reeves to redo parts
of Bethel was also an issue.
“We had to twist their arm
to come back,” Mr. Denham
said.
Mr. Hall said he wanted
proof of the improper work on
Bethel.
“It’s the same bunch me and
you had a visit with,” Mr.
Rucker said.
“I know,” Mr. Hall replied.
The road work will be rebid.
Reeves may bid again.
GRANT MONEY
TCES renovation next
Turner County Middle School applied for and received a $2,500 tech
nology grant from Georgis Power. The school is looking for the best
way to spend the money now.
Ashburn finances in good shape
Auditor Brandon Montgomery said Ash-
bum’s municipal finances are in very good
shape, especially in light of several things
that happened during the fiscal year.
“You had a lot of different things going
on. Two tornadoes. March, you switched
over to a different accounting program.
Budgeted revenue did not materialize,” he
said. The City also had some DOT projects
that required City help.
He said work by City Clerk Sheree
Hickman and City Manager Sedric
Carithers kept the City from running into
the red this past year. They “did a good job
trying to reduce expenses as much as pos
sible ,” he said. (See CITY p age 2)
Superintendent Jeff McDaniel is
asking the Board of Education to
turn their attention to the elemen
tary school now that the new mid
dle school campus is up and
running.
Last week he delivered a
lengthy outline of projects for the
school, most of which will be cov
ered by state money. Public
schools accumulate state renova
tion and maintenance funds for
every year they are open. TCES
now has about $1.3 million in state
money.
No. 1 on the list is roof work.
After six contractors looked at the
room, ah said the roof just needs
sealing work, not replacing. Rough
guesses put that work at $50K.
Dr. McDaniel suggested the
work be done over the Christmas
break. That way the school would
have several months under the new
roof before inside work began. Any
leaks or problems could be cor
rected before the inside stuff is
done over the summer.
“Is there a reason to wait until
then? Can we go ahead and do the
roof?” asked Sandra Blue.
The school system will pay for
the roof work and be reimbursed
by the state in the fall of 2018.
“We are paying for it. We don’t
have to wait,” said Ann Kendrick.
Dr. McDaniel said the work can
be done sooner. “It will be noisy.
There will be a crowd making a
racket,” he said.
“We put it off two years. I hate
for it to wait longer and longer,”
Ms. Blue said.
Those two years go back to
when the Board first started TCES
renovation work. At Dr. Mc
Daniel’s direction, fiscal attention
shifted to renovating the old ele
mentary school/altemate school to
make it into the middle school
campus.
The superintendent said, in the
beginning of the discussion, he
wanted to wait to let the school’s
sales tax account build up in case
money is needed for something ur
gent.
Like Irma.
“We spent ah the money at the
middle school. If something hap
pens, we may not have money to
fix it,” said Cornelius Bah.
To the dumb question, 'Why me? 1 the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply, 'Why not?'
Christopher Hitchens
