The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current, January 10, 2013, Image 1

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The Georgia post., January 10, 2013, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextCountry Store Finally Gets Rezoning Fripp Voted Chairman By Abigail Adams The Georgia Post On January 3rd, the Craw ford County Commissioners gathered for their first meeting of 2013. On the agenda the re zoning of a piece of property on Highway 341 was once again an item for approval, several board appointments were made, and CDBG proj ects are being discussed again to try to decide what would be best for the county as a whole. Newly elected district four commissioner John Thomas took the seat of Gene Hamlin as his very first meeting be gan. After the invocation and approval of the minutes from the last meeting were made the time came to vote on the 2013 chairman and vice chair man. Commissioner and 2012 Vice Chairman Paul Chapman nominated Dean Fripp to con tinue as chairman of the board. The nomination was approved unanimously and Fripp will continue as chairman this year. Chapman will also keep his title as vice chairman which was approved unanimously as well. Albert Jones has been be fore a county board a total of four times now and has finally gotten the answer he was hop ing to get. Back in December Jones brought his request to rezone a piece of property in order to open a country store. His first stop was the Planning and Zoning board where his request was denied due to the close proximity of the build ing to the highway. Jones did not give up and followed the suggestion to take his request before the board of commissioners. After lengthy discussion the commissioners tabled the decision until after they had the time to go out and see for themselves what the is sue with the property would be and why Planning and Zoning had denied the request. Jones returned to Planning and Zoning and this time his request to open a country store was approved 4 to 1. His next step was to gain the approval of the county commission ers. He came before the board represented by Fabian Hol lis and let the commissioners know that he planned to open a country store to help serve the people of the surrounding neighborhood. Though Jones must make sure the property and building are up to the codes required by the USDA he must first get approval for the rezoning be fore he can move forward. All of the commissioners were in agreement that having a new business come to the county would be beneficial but some felt that allowing the rezon ing may be dangerous given the distance from the road and the slope of the shoulder of the highway. The building has been in the past, before zoning laws were set, a country store. Develop ment Authority member David Mathews was in attendance at the meeting and stated that most of the neighbors are in favor of the store opening again and would like to have a place closer to home to go to purchase items they might need. Jones has no plans to sell alcohol at the store. See STORE, Page 8 New Fire Station on Julia Jordan Road People on the west side of Crawford County now have more coverage in fire protection with the finish ing touches being put on the new fire station on Julia Jordan Road. This new station gives that area a wider coverage area by bringing the location into the county almost five more miles from its previous location right on the county line. The building was assembled on the site by Pro Construction and was paid for by Public Safety SPLOST funds. Chief Randy Pate encourages people to vote for Public Safety SPLOST as the funds will help to further improve the county’s public safety system. He has been working to change the locations of each firehouse to county owned property throughout his time as fire chief, so that further improvements and renovations can be made to keep up with advance ments in the future. Pate is also hoping to add another station in Musella and volunteer fire fighters will be out and about collecting donations to help make improvements to the fire station on Marshall Mill Road. The donations will go to equipping the station with living quarters and bathrooms for the volunteer firemen. Fire fighters will be out knocking on doors and asking for donations of $40 or more to help them with this proj ect. Each donation will be rewarded with a free 10 x 13 Family Portrait. “Remember it’s your Volunteer Fire Department. We just operate and maintain the equipment. It’s through the efforts of people such as yourself that make this life and property saving service possible.” New station at top, old station at right. Development Authority Discusses Website, Paint By Abigail Adams The Georgia Post The Crawford County De velopment Authority’s first meeting of the year started out with some sad news. Chairman Charlie Westberry informed the board that Jim Middleton, who was respon sible for bringing Polywad to Roberta had passed away be fore the beginning of the year. Middleton had done a lot for the county and Westberry stat ed that, “he was good guy and will be missed.” As the meeting moved for ward discussions about the Development Authority’s website were brought up as member Giles Ragsdale asked about the information they are waiting on about costs. Secre tary Carol Jackson stated she had sent out the email with the authority’s information and now was just waiting on a re sponse. Westberry mentioned to the board that the RDC also builds websites for entities and that Houston County was among a few of the counties that have used them and were happy with the results. He stated that the authority would have to make the request for them to do it and the cost was between $500 to $1,000. Concerns about a painhng job that was supposed to be completed when weather per mitted were brought up. The air conditioner ducts on the building need to be painted before there is damage done to them due to the outside conditions. The paint has been bought but the work has not been done yet. County Commissioner Paul Chapman stated that now would not be a good hme to paint due to the temperatures being under 45 degrees. The board discussed who they would like to do the job and voted to ask Lee Henley to paint the duct work when the weather permits. Member Brenda Carroll then suggested to ask Robert Tharpe to scrape See PAINT, Page 8 Elections, LOST Prevalent In 2012 Continuing with our look back at 2012 in Roberta, Crawford County taking up where we left off last week. May: -Crawford-Taylor County Relay for Life raised over $47,000. -Crawford County Sher iff’s Office Investigator Thomas R. Wallace puts in his bid for Sheriff in the election of 2012, while Chuck Evans begins cam paigning for the District 2 seat on the Board of Com missioners. -The Jugfest takes over Roberta with family fun and historical pottery. This year’s Jugfest is slated to happen the third weekend in May this year. Stay tuned for more info on this annual historical event. -Boy Scout Troop 264 and the ladies of the UDC honor those who lost their lives at a special ceremony in David Bailey Park for Memorial Day. June: -Robin Dunaway was named interim magistrate judge after the death of for mer magistrate judge Donna Johnson. -Old service station on the comer of Highways 341 and 80 is demolished in prepara tion for a big project that was announced later in the year. -Debates over the pros and cons of T-SPLOST become central topic as early elec tion in July looms. -Crawford County re ceives Georgia Work Ready signs. -Crawford County High School comes off the state list for needs improve ment and they don’t plan to stop there. Back in June of 2012 CCHS principal Mike Campbell informed the board of education that his staff are working on ways to make the school more ef ficient and to push students to achieve academic excel lence. -Negotiations between the city of Roberta and County began in June over the split of LOST funds. This new policy to negotiate percent ages every ten years was implemented this year and has caused a lot of hard feel ings between community en tities. Roberta and Crawford County did not escape the hardship these negotiations have caused a lot of counties and cities. July 2012 Local Musella au- See 2012, Page 8 2 Arrested In Stabbing Tay Cox and Brandon Searcy were arrested and charged with aggravated as- salt/other weapon in con nection with the stabbing of Raydarius Lackey of Musella on December 15, 2012. Roberta Police responded to Western Auto after receiv ing a call someone had been stabbed and was bleeding heavily. An ambulance was called and Lackey was taken to the Macon Medical Cen ter. It was determined he had been stabbed with a knife several times. After an intense investiga tion for several weeks and being able to talk with the victim after he was released from hospital, it was deter mined two knives were used in the commission of the crime. The stabbing was al legedly over a girl. Suicide Under Investigation December 30, 2012 at ap proximately 7:24 p.m. Craw ford County Sheriff’s depu ties responded to a suicide call in the 200 block of Caus ey Road in Knoxville Geor gia. Upon the deputies arriv al they found a male fatally shot outside his residence. This is an ongoing inves tigation by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office. The name is being withheld at this time until family mem bers have been notified. The body was sent to the GBI Crime Lab for an au topsy. Further information will be provided later. Flint Energies’ Rates To Rise Flint Energies will raise residential rates from $21 per month to $22 per month beginning with the April 1, 2013 bill. This increase is another step in executing an equity management plan to increase residential base charge by $ 1 a year to $27 a month by the year 2017. According to Flint CEO Bob Ray, these changes al low the Cooperative to meet financial needs and continue to provide reliable electric service. In addition to the base rate increase Flint began impos ing late fees as of January 1 st and deposits are expected to rise to $500 as on April 1, 2013. Flint will also, accord ing to policy, not work with members on payment ar rangements once the account has a “collect” status.