Newspaper Page Text
SAMPLE BALLOTS
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HEALTH®
WELLNESS
Local clinic making a
change
Inside
IflREGBASS F HER
Wednesday, January 24,2024
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 4 • 750
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
^Around Town'
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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.
Banquet awards
To preserve the secrecy of
the annual awards presented
at the Chamber of Commerce
banquet Tuesday night, the
Wiregrass is holding those
stories for next week’s news
paper.
Video of the event is
being uploaded to the news
paper’s YouTube channel.
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.
Obituaries
Larry Joseph Baker, 80,
Ashburn
Margie Lee Evers
Stephens, 69, Vienna
Complete obituary
information Page 5
V J
HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1902
Kamoiye Peacock and Gwen White
STAR student, teacher
Kamoiye Peacock is the Turner County High
School STAR student for the year. He picked
Gwen White as his STAR teacher.
STAR is Student Teacher Achievement
Recognition. The student, a senior, must be in
the top 10 percent of the class in grades 9-12.
The student also has to have the highest SAT
test score for the class.
In turn, the STAR student gets to select a
STAR teacher. The teacher can be from any
grade during the student’s school career.
Mr. Peacock and Ms White will be recog
nized at the Turner County Chamber of Com
merce Banquet on January 23th.
Sycamore starts FaceBook page
Sycamore is launching
a Facebook page with
Council member Jen
nifer Yawn to be in
charge of it.
The Council devoted more
discussion to that than any
thing else at the first meeting
of the year.
The current FB page for the
city is a standard and generic
page. It has little information
on the City.
Ms. Yawn said she wanted
an online portal to let people in
town know what the Council is
doing, what laws are in place
and more.
"I have seen a lot of fires in
the City limits. I have seen a
lot of fires get out," she said.
"This will let folks know there
are ordinances out there for
noise, dogs on leashes and
things like that," she said.
(See CITY Page 2)
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It was cold enough over the weekend to freeze parts of the downtown fountain.
Sales tax on
March ballot
On a 4-1 vote, the
County Commission
voted to approve the
Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) referendum.
It will be on a ballot in
March according to
Commissioner Brad
Calhoun.
Commission 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 Ash-
bum any more of the
money," Commis
sioner Brad Calhoun
said.
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, Ashburn
and Sycamore's share up 3%
each and gives the
Library another 1%.
VOTER CHOICE
SPLOST must be
approved by voters to
renew it. The coming
vote calls for a cap of
$6.5 million. The
County and all 3
cities will list proj
ects for the sales tax.
Money can only
be spent on capital
improvements, some
(See TAX Page 2)
The split is
County 45%
Ashburn 40%
Sycamore 8%
Rebecca 5%
Library 2%
Burgess
HAPPY 101
Virginia Raines still does her own grocery shopping
at the Piggly Wiggly and still carries her groceries to her
car. At 101, that is something worth talking about. Happy
Birthday Miz Raines. Photo Millie McNair
Hospital land sold for $299K
The County Commis
sion voted to accept a
$299K offer to sell the
remaining property
where the old hospital
used to sit.
The first motion was
from Commissioner
Dana Whiddon to ac
cept the offer and set
the money aside for
raises for County em
ployee in the next
budget. It died for lack
of a second.
Commission Chairman
Nick Denham said the matter
before the board was to accept
or reject the offer.
"That is my motion, Nick,"
Ms. Whiddon said.
Another motion to accept
the offer passed.
The sale is contin
gent on all the needed
paperwork being done.
The buyer is Springhill
Land Trust, a
Thomasville company.
The County has tried
to sell the property in
the past and even held
auctions. Bids at those
sales were rejected.
The Wiregrass reached out
to the buyer, but has not heard
back.
Whiddon
Wed
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necessary freezing of water. - Carl Reiner
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Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two
kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative. - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Nothing burns like the cold.
George R.R. Martin
