The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current, January 10, 2024, Image 1

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The wiregrass farmer., January 10, 2024, Image 1

About The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2024)

Page of 6

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (2.5 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 6

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextChamber Banquet Details inside this week iregrass Farmer Wednesday, January 10,2024 ASHBURN,GA, 31714 VOL 109 - No. 2 • 750 www.thewiregrassfarmer.com ^Around Town N Subscribe to The Wiregrass Farmer Delivered in your mail every week Call 567-3655 Meetings County Commission, last and 1st Tuesday of the month. Ashburn Council, 1st Thursday of the month. Sycamore Council, 2nd Thursday of the month. School Board, 1st and 2nd Monday of the month. All meetings are at 6 p.m. Teddy bears The Kiwanis Club is col lecting teddy bears for public safety to give to children. The bears are to help frightened kids. New bears may be dropped off at The Wiregrass. Stray dogs Ashburn residents are re minded that pets must have a collar and current rabies tag. Animals without tags will be collected by Animal Control. A copy of the City's animal ordinance is available at City Hall and the Police Depart ment. Animal control number is 567-0313. Separate debris If you pile leaves and limbs at curbside, please sep arate limbs from the leaves and pine straw. The City's street vac can pick up the leaves and straw. The boom truck can pick up limbs. When you separate the leaves and limbs, pick up goes faster and takes fewer employees. Siren Test The Turner County weather warning siren is tested the first Wednesday of the month, good weather per mitting, at noon. If weather is bad, the system will be tested at noon on the next clear day. County website The County Commission has a website, www.tumer- countygeorgia.com . Commission meeting minutes and other items about Turner County are posted on the website. Chamber info Your one stop shop for information, visit www.turnerchamber.com V J HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1902 Liquor by drink referendum Sometime this year vot ers in Turner County will get to vote on a liquor-by-the-drink ref erendum. When that will be on the ballot remains to be seen. Elec tions Superintendent Jan Win ter said it is too late for the March Presidential Preference primary election. The next election after that is in May. The County Commission, which called for the election, Denham Burgess has to get the ballot item to gether. VOTER CHOICE County Commissioner Nick Denham stressed that this gives citizens a chance to vote on the matter. “We are not voting to allow it to happen. We are voting to allow the cit izens to vote to have it or not,” he said. If the vote says no, it can come up again, but must wait a while. If it is approved, a refer endum is needed to remove it down the road. Voters “should be allowed the opportunity,” said Com missioner Joe Burgess. While the vote is county wide, it has no real effect We are not voting to allow it to happen. We are voting to allow the citizens to vote to have it or not. Nick Denham Weaver Whiddon Calhoun within the City of Ashburn. Ashburn residents get to vote on the drink issue, but the City already has this in place. The County, Sycamore and Re- (See DRINK Page 2) Sales Tax heads to voters TOP PARAMEDIC On a 4-1 vote, the County Commission voted to ap prove the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) referendum. It will be on a ballot in March according to Commissioner Brad Calhoun. Sycamore voted in late December to accept the split. Ashburn voted last week to accept the split. Rebecca’s meeting is this week. Commissioner Joe Burgess voted against it. He said something in the meeting, but his words were inaudible. Other commissioners said they could not hear what he said. “He said he is against giving Ashburn” any more of the money,” Commissioner Brad Calhoun said. Mr. Burgess felt the Ashburn was getting to much. He also ob jected because some of the Com mission worked out the agreement with City representatives. Mr. Burgess said the whole board should have handled it. Under the proposed split, Ashburn and Sycamore get more than they do under the current agreement. The County eliminated the Turner County Development Authority from the split, freeing up 10%. The accepted agreement bumps the County, (See TAX Page 2) The split is County 45 % Ashburn 40% Sycamore 8% Rebecca 5 % Library 2% Ashburn Mayor called out As the Ashburn Council reappointed various people to their posts, Councilman John Burgess called out Mayor Sandra Lumpkin for not following protocol at the January 2023 meeting. “You sat there and called me a liar. We appoint (the Mayor pro tem and others) every first of the year. I had to get that out there to show peo ple Johnny Burgess knows what he is talking about,” the Councilman said. The Mayor called Mr. Burgess out of order and threatened to have him removed. She said he was not following the meeting agenda. “I call you out of order. I can have you removed from the meet ing,” Mayor Lumpkin said. “There you go again,” Mr. Burgess said. “You can’t call me out of order. Ain’t no one here qualified to remove me. You can’t do what you want to do. I am calling you out on it.” After the ex change, the Council (See MEET Page 2) Burgess Turner O Parann EMS Director Robby Royal congratulates Susan Baker on receiving the 2023 Turner County Paramedic of the Year award. by Robby Royal Turner County EMS Join me in Congratulating Para medic Susan Baker, 2023 Turner County EMS Paramedic of the Year! The award was voted on by her peers here at Turner County EMS. Huge THANK YOU to the entire staff here at Turner County EMS & Turner County Fire Rescue for their care of our cit izens ! If you see any of these folks out and about just give them a quick "thank you for your service", that goes a long way! I ap preciate each of you more than I can ever express! Please keep all 1st responders in your thoughts and prayers while they are away from their families working to protect you and your family. Get to know Donald Garrett by Sami Mastrario TurnerCountyProject.com On a warm, Sunday after noon, the Turner County Project sat down with Donald Garrett and his daughter Lisa Garrett Bonnell to talk about car hops, milk routes, and his family legacy in Turner County. What made this interview so special was sitting in Old Hopewell Church which stands today due to a generous land do nation from Donald’s great-grand parents, Alvah Pinkney “A.P.” and Mary Rooks Haman in 1903. Some of this interview has been edited for clarity. TCP: What was your first memory of Turner County? Donald (D): We moved over here, I was about 12 or 13. That’s when we moved to Turner County but I had - my mother’s people was from Turner County. They grew up out here in the country not far from here [Haw Pond area/Amboy]. There was 13 chil dren. I had been in and out of Turner County because all of my relatives lived here. We moved to Turner County in 1950. I left in 1954. TCP: Tell me about your fam ily. Who was your mom and dad? D: Annie Bell Sellars Garrett. She is from this area [Haw Pond area/Amboy]. My dad is Willliam Cluria Garrett. They had 9 chil dren, 2 died at an early age. There are 6 of us still living. TCP: And where did you live while in the county? D: First I lived in Ashburn. Then we moved out in the Hol land’s place out in the country. Then we moved where the Rock- house is. Then we moved onto an other house and then later on, we moved from there to a place we called the brown house. Then we moved into the city limits of Sycamore. And we had a restau rant there. TCP: What was the name of your restaurant? D: Garrett’s Dinette TCP: Where was the restau rant? D: We had 2 or 3 restaurants. There was one in Ashburn where all we served was corndogs that we took over from a guy named Black. I think we sold them at $0.10 a corndog. But then we moved to Midway near the Drive- In theater. Right where the stock- yards are now. We opened up early in the morning and closed late at night. We had a big restau rant there with car-hop service and all. We hung the tray on the side. [Donald’s voice changes a bit as he (See GARRET Page 4) Donald Garrett Photo Sami Mastrario Wed Mostly Sunny Thur Partly Cloudy 8 66670 00023 750 - tax included Fri Thunderstorms Windy Sat Mostly Sunny Sun Mostly Sunny o 54 35 This space available. Your ad runs 4 or more weeks. Get your business noticed! Call 567-3655 I think the warning labels on alcoholic beverages are too bland. They should be more vivid. Here is one I would suggest: "Alcohol will turn you into the same ******* your father was.” - George Carlin Alcohol, taken in sufficient quantities, may pro duce all the effects of drunkenness. - Oscar Wilde