About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2025)
A6| THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025 The Eatonton Aessenger www.msgrnews.com Obituaries Joan Whitten Cook named new NCHD district health director It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Joan Marie Whitten, who left us on July the 26th at the age of 92. She went peacefully in her sleep. Joan is survived by her husband Frank and her children Tracy Morrow and Ken Whitten, their spouses Bill Morrow and Glenn Watts, her sister in law Lynn Clark and her husband Bill Clark, her grandchildren MARILYN DENISE FRENCH 1966-2025 To view the obituary or pledge a cancer research donation in Marilyn’s honor, please visit us at |www.HurtsFunerals.com| Cassie Kanca and Megan Johnson, their spouses Kenny Kanca and Cody Johnson and her nine great grandchildren. Joan was known for her love of reading, her talent when it came to painting, her love for her family, her dedication to Jesus, and her baking skills. A celebration of Joan’s life will be held on August 9th at 2:00 PM at Lake Oconee Lutheran Church. Mary Sandford STOKES 1935-2025 To view the obituary, share a memory, or send gifts to the family please visit us at Iwww.HurtsFunerals.coml The North Central Health District (NCHD) has announced the appointment, as of July 1, of Georgia native Dr. Kim Cook as its new district health director. With an extensive background in preventive medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research, Cook brings decades of experience and leadership to the position. “It’s great to be back in Georgia, back home, and back with public health,” Cook said. “Public health is the foundation of healthy communities whether you’re in a small rural town or a busy city.” A Georgia native, Cook earned his Bachelor of Sciences in Zoology from the University of Georgia, followed by a Doctor of Medicine in 1989 from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. His commit ment to public health led him to complete an internship at the Univer sity of Hawaii, a preventive medicine residency at the University of Utah, and earning a Master of Science in Public Health. In 1996, Cook completed a prestigious two-year Epidemic Intelligence Service fellowship within Dr. Kim Cook the Foodborne and Diar rheal Diseases branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Cook’s public health career spans roles as a medical epidemiologist with the CDC and various state health depart ments, including in Utah, Georgia, and Vermont. He has led numerous infec tious disease outbreak investigations, guided data-driven public health surveillance, and contrib uted to the development of preventive health programs across a wide variety of jurisdictions. More recently, Cook transitioned into phar maceutical sciences. He founded and led a clinical research site in Gainesville that collaborated with leading pharmaceutical sponsors in conducting safety and efficacy trials for new prescription drugs. He later served as medical director for a pharma ceutical company, spear heading clinical programs that led to multiple FDA approvals for new prescription drugs. Originally from Savannah, Cook has deep roots in the state, including time spent in Jenkins County on his family’s pine tree farm, which he now co-owns. For more than 20 years, he also operated a small vegetable and fruit farm in Clermont. Outside his professional life, Cook enjoys hiking, sailing, gardening, and traveling. He is the father of two adult children who also live in Georgia. Cook’s blend of medical expertise and community familiarity enables him to address public health needs in a way that is both scientifically sound and locally informed, strength ening NCHD’s ability to improve health outcomes across all 13 counties served. “Everyone deserves access to effective, equitable public health services,” Cook said. “I’m excited to work along side the dedicated staff of NCHD to strengthen our services, build part nerships, and ensure that every community and individual we serve has the tools and support to thrive.” NCHD also thanked South Central Health District’s Dr. Thomas Craft, who served as Interim District Health Director during the lead ership transition. Craft’s guidance and commit ment to public health was credited for maintaining public health services and advancing the district’s mission during this period. NCHD serves patients in Putnam, Baldwin, Craw ford, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Macon- Bibb, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs, Washington, and Wilkinson counties, with fees based on income for those without insur ance. For more informa tion about NCHD, visit NCHD52.org or follow NCHD on Facebook and Twitter. — Contributed for u Nyx is around four months old, and a super sweet pup. She not only loves when you play with her, she's also great with other dogs. Nyx wants very much to find a home of her own and meet her new best friend! Learn more about Nyx and other great pets by calling us at 706-485-3970, or just stop by. We're in Eatonton next to the Putnam County Sheriff's Department. Georgia lawmakers to weigh repealing state income tax May those who have lost a loved one find strength in the love of family and in the warm embrace of friends. Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Policy wonks on both sides of an upcoming debate in the General Assembly over whether to eliminate Georgia’s income tax are advocating a cautious approach. “That’s a very lofty goal,” said Danny Kanso, senior fiscal analyst with the progressive-leaning Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. “The income tax represents 56% of gener al-fund revenues. Nineteen billion dollars would leave a massive hole.” “You can’t just cut spending,” added Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Founda tion, a think tank that advocates free- market approaches to public-policy issues. “You have to be thoughtful about how to make the math work.” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Georgia Senate, has formed a legislative study committee to consider whether to get rid of the state income tax. Jones, a Repub lican, has made abolishing the tax a key platform plank as he seeks the GOP nomination for governor next year. Republican governors and the legislature’s GOP majorities have moved in that direction in recent years, reducing the income tax rate from 6% to 5.75% in 2022, then ratcheting it down further to 5.49%, 5.39% and - this year - to 5.19%. But Republicans have stopped short of attempting to repeal the tax altogether. State Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, who will chair the study committee, pledged to rectify that during a news conference July 24, vowing to introduce legislation during the 2026 General Assembly session to get rid of the tax. Tillery said nine states do not impose an income tax, including the neighboring states of Tennessee and Florida as well as the swing states of Nevada and New Hampshire and deep-blue Washington state. “This is about competitiveness, economic freedom, and letting hard- working Georgians keep their money in their pockets,” he said. Tillery promised to chart a “real istic and responsible path” toward ending the income tax, acknowl edging the difficult task ahead. Kanso said the incremental reductions in the income tax rate lawmakers have approved thus far were accomplished by cutting spending rather than increasing other taxes. Getting the income tax rate even close to zero would require additional sources of revenue, he said. “They haven’t replaced income taxes with another tax,” he said. The next-largest source of state revenue after income taxes - the sales tax - would be a logical place to look. Way back in 2010, a special committee of lawmakers and busi ness leaders formed to overhaul Georgia’s tax system recommended that the state move more toward taxing consumption and away from relying as much on taxing income. But the group’s report went nowhere amid opposition to polit ically unpopular proposals like taxing groceries or services. “What you’re really saying is, We’re going to start paying taxes on things we haven’t paid taxes on before,’ “ Kanso said. “It becomes a much more difficult position to sell.” Wingfield cited a study the Georgia Public Policy Foundation conducted before the pandemic that concluded the state income tax rate could be lowered to 3% by taxing some services or raising the state sales tax rate from the current 4%. He said one politically palatable way to begin taxing services would be to limit the tax to goods a busi ness provides but not the service components of its operation, for example an oil-change company that taxes only the oil but not the labor. 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