Newspaper Page Text
DA wants staff, local office
Changes to cost another $1,000 a month over original projection
Set clocks ahead 1
hour Saturday
HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1902
Wednesday, March 6,2024
ASHBURN,GA, 31714
VOL 109 - No. 10 • 750
www.thewiregrassfarmer.com
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Clay Pirkle
Pirkle
by Sami Mastrario
District Attorney Bryce
Johnson wants to hire
full time Ashburn Victim
Advocate and adminis
trator and create a
Turner County District
Attorney’s office pres
ence.
Before the County Commis
sioners on, District Attorney
Bryce Johnson brought a reso
lution to hand prosecution in
the State Court to the
DA’s office. State
Court Solicitor Steve
Ivie resigned earlier
this year. State Court
is the County county
that handles traffic
cases and misde
meanors. The solici- Johnson
tor is the prosecuting
attorney. John Holland is the
State Court judge.
With the change over from
Solicitor General to the District
Attorney’s Office,
fees were waived for
the months of January
and February 2024.
With the funding ex
pected to begin on
March 1, the pro
posed resolution
needed to be ad
dressed and passed.
The resolution gives the
DA’s office the authority to
contract with the Prosecutor’s
Attorneys Council of Georgia.
They are a state agency in At
lanta that runs the DA’s pay
roll, benefits, and retirement.
The resolution gives the PAC
authority on behalf of the
So, it would be about right at $12,000-13,000
more than we originally said but we are still
going to be less than what we appropriated
for FY 24 for the Solicitor’s office. Nick Denham
county to pay the DA’s em
ployees.
Mrs. Beverly Hobby, cur
rent Ashburn admin for the
DA’s office, has decided that
she is going to retire effective
February 29. DA Johnson
wants to change that position
from 20 hour per week to a
full-time position. Originally
there were no benefits in
volved with this position.
The job would change to a
dual role of an admin as well
as a Victim Advocate all-in-
one who would work 40 hours
a week. This employee would
serve only the Turner County
(see DA Page 2)
TCHS TOP STUDENTS
Dicambia ruling has farmers concerned
Subscribe to
The Wiregrass
Farmer
Delivered in your
mail every week
Call 567-3655
Tags due by
April 30
Vehicle tags are due April
30. Please have your tag
number or vehicle identifi
cation number and proof of
insurance when you come to
renew your tag. You can
come in anytime during our
working ours. You can also
renew your tag online by
visiting: www.eservices.dri-
ves.ga.gov .
Firearm and
driver safety
class
Turner County Sheriffs
Office will have a Public
Firearm Class March 16
from 9am until. To register
or if you have any questions
regarding the training, call
229-567-2401. Registration
ends Thursday March 14,
2024, or when the maxi
mum limit is reached.
TCSO will also have a Pub
lic Driver Safety Class
March 30 from 9am until.
To register or if you have
any questions regarding the
training, call 229-567-2401.
Registration ends Thursday
March 28, 2024, or when
the maximum limit is
reached.
Food & books
A federal court ruling
has, at the moment
anyway, put an end to
U.S. production and
use of an important cot
ton and soybean herbi
cide.
Dicambia is used to control
pigweed in the two crops. Pig
weed is mildly toxic, has
spines and grows rapidly.
Roundup was once used to
control it but the weed is now
immune to that. Some farmers
hire crews to go out and pull
the plants up by hand.
Some, but not all, soybean
and cotton plants are engi
neered to be Dicambia resist
ant.
Turner County Extension
Agent Macie Mosteller said
this will have some effects on
the coming season. How much
remains to be seen.
"There are some other prod
ucts out there. This is a really
good tool they will lose. There
may be an extension (on the
stop deadlines), but that is up
to political decisions. The Uni
versity of Georgia is doing the
best it can to get the product
back," Ms. Mosteller said. "It
happened in 2019; we got it
back. Now it happened again."
She stressed farmers must
keep their pesticide license
current to continue to use the
product through the court-set
deadlines. Training is planned.
The Extension office will pro
vide updates on when and
where training is planned.
EXTENSION
ANNOUNCEMENT
The UGA Extension Serv
ice provided this update for
farmers and Dicambia distrib
utors:
Dicamba update
as of FEB. 27
As of Feb. 6, manufacturers
had to STOP manufacturing,
distribution, and sales to dis
tributors.
Product that was in the
chain and was packaged to sell,
retailers can continue to sell it
until June 30th.
Growers can continue to use
it over the top of dicamba-re-
sistant cotton until July 30,
2024.
So, what does this mean for
you? Anyone applying
(See COTTON Page 2)
steps
down
State Representative
Clay Pirkle (R-Ashburn)
announced that he will not
seek re-election to the
Georgia House of Repre
sentatives after nine years
of service. Rep. Pirkle is
sued the following state
ment:
“It has been an honor and a
privilege to serve our commu
nity as your state representa
tive. I have, however, decided
not to seek re-election as State
Representative of District 169.
I have come to realize that pub
lic service as a representative
of the people is neither a sprint
nor a marathon. Rather, it is a
relay. It is time to pass the
baton to someone else to run
the race and fight the good
fight for our community. I have
full confidence that someone
will step forward and be an ef
fective voice for us at the Capi
tol.
“I am grateful beyond
measure to the citizens of
House District 169 for allow
ing me the opportunity to serve
you for a season. Many of you
encouraged me, some of you
challenged me, while others
prayed for me. Thank you
again for this tremendous
honor, and God Bless!”
Rep. Pirkle represents the
citizens of District 169, which
includes Irwin and Turner
counties and portions of Coffee
and Tift counties.
County employee health insurance policy risks federal fine
Feb. 6th-March 12th on
each Tuesday from 5:30-7
p.m.Victoria Evans Memo
rial Library will host a
Prime Time Family Reading
Series for families with chil
dren 6-10. A nutritious meal
will be served and free
transportation is available.
Two free books will be
given to each family and
door prizes will be given!
Registration cards for the
program are available at
Turner County Elementary
School and Victoria Evans
Memorial Library.
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.
V J
by Sami Mastrario
County must stop entic
ing employees away
from County Health In
surance or risk $5,000
fine per employee and
more.
The fines and the issue stem
from Medicare eligible County
employees. Medicare is the
federal government’s health in
surance plan for retired people.
It is not based on need or in
come like Medicaid.
Skip Hill, from Partner Ben
efits Group, spoke to the
County Commissioners about
the County’s Health Insurance
Shared Savings Plan.
“The county has savings
plan in place that basically if
an employee that is eligible to
be covered up under the
County’s health insurance plan
choose to waive that coverage
due to the fact that they have
coverage available through
their spouse or other means,
because that it is a savings to
the county, the county shares
that savings with the employee
in the amount of $300/month,”
he said.
“The stipulation that is cur
rently written in that plan is
that also allows people who are
Medicare eligible to waive the
coverage at which time the
County is also reimbursing
$300/month. That is the por
tion of the savings plan that is
not allowed under what we call
the ‘Medicare Second Payer
Rule.’ That law reads that if
you have 20 or more employ
ees, that your plan must be pri
mary on anyone who is
Medicare eligible,” he said.
So far, so good, Mr. Hill
said the problem comes up
when the County offers an em
ployee an incentive to get off
the County insurance.
“If they make the choice
through an education process
to come off your plan and
choose Medicare as their pri
mary coverage, that is ab
solutely ok. But the County or
any other employer is not al
lowed to enhance or entice that
employee to do that. Through
your current Savings Plan, that
is a financial incentive you
have in place to do that.”
According to Mr. Hill, he
reviewed the employee census
and said that the County does-
not have any employees who
were Medicare eligible that
were currently being paid that
$300. Commissioner Nick
Denham was quick to speak up
that we did have employees,
possibly 4 or 5, who were
being compensated who went
on Medicare, with himself
being one of them.
Mr. Hill said that the
County could grandfather
those participants and continue
to pay but suggested that going
forward, they stop this County
Shared Savings Plan for
Medicare eligible employees
only.
It is still allowed for those
employees who are eligible for
coverage and waive it for other
reasons. If the County contin
ues to pay these Medicare eli
gible employees, the County is
opening itself up to a $5,000
penalty per occurrence for
each person that is in that situ
ation.
Mr. Hill did also warn,
“Now I have had this happen
on a group where claims were
filed to Medicare and
Medicare was paying those
claims but when Medicare
found out that employee had
been enticed or should have
been on the County’s insurance
that they made the [County]
plan go back and process those
claims and reimburse
Medicare... As you can imag
ine, the government doesn’t
want the exposure.”
Mr. Hill does not think that
this may ever come back and
cause issues on the County but
he believed it was his job to
fully make the Commissioners
aware of the potential risk.
If the County changes this
Health Insurance Shared Sav
ings Plan going forward or if
they keep it exactly as is, he as
sured them it was a County de
cision but he just had to let
them be aware of the rules and
regulations are.
8 66670 00023
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Court games aren't fair. They don't judge men by their worth, and they aren't about what's just. Guilty men can hold power their whole lives and be wept for
when they pass. Innocent men can be spent like coins because it's convenient. - Daniel Abraham
