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Opening Day
Recreation Baseball & Softball
10 am, Saturday, April 13th
Father/Son Retreat
April [ 9-21 a«H
Camp Grace
Contact Lucas Farmer at 404-989-2204
Thursday, April 11,2013
2 Sections, 14 Pages
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Commissioners Change
Meeting Time Back To 6 p.m.
By Abigail Adams
The Georgia Post
The agenda for the Crawford
County board of commissioner’s
meeting on April 2nd was request
ed to be amended by Chairman
Dean Fripp to include the commis
sioners’ meeting time. Also on the
agenda the transit policies were
presented as requested after the
last meeting when, Charles Cook,
president of the Chamber of Com
merce expressed concerns about
the uses of the transit buses.
County Manager Pat Kelly
presented the commissioners with
the 2014 LMIG (Local Mainte
nance Improvement Grant) road
list to start the meeting. The list
consists of paving for one mile of
Billy White (requested by Com
missioner Blasingame), one mile
of Mt. Param (Thomas), and two
and a half miles of Tribble (Hollis),
widening, drainage, and grading of
Jackson Rd. and Rowell Rd. (both
requested by Fripp) and resurfacing
of one and a half miles of Hortman
Mill Rd. and one and a half miles
of Walton Rd. (to be considered by
the board).
At the last meeting of the com
missioners, Cook came before the
board to express the concerns of
the Chamber and himself about the
transit system, which is partially
funded by county tax dollars, tak
ing citizens out of the county on
personal shopping trips to Walmart
and Kroger. Cook stated again at
the April 2nd meeting that it did not
make sense for the county to take
people out of the county to spend
money taking away from the tax
revenue of Crawford.
Kelly stated that on reviewing
the policies, while medical trips
outside of the county are a required
use of the transit buses and these
trips should be prioritized, the use
of the transit buses for the sole
purpose of a shopping trip and the
limits on these were at the discre
tion of the board. Commissioner
John Thomas asked that Kelly
research further to find out how
many trips, just for shopping, were
being made before the board made
any decision to limit services. The
board agreed.
The proposed industrial park has
been in discussions for a long time
now and after the public hearing
on the matter, the board requested
Kelly to find an appraiser to get a
second appraisal on the property
being looked at for the proposed
park. Kelly stated that he had hired
David Gay from Dublin, GA and
that the appraisal would be com
pleted no later than May 23,2013
and would cost $2,600.
Chairman of the Board of Asses
sors, Shawn Bryant came before
the board to clarify the issue of
storage shed living, which was
brought before the board by former
commissioner, Eddie Still at their
last meeting. Bryant stated that
though board member Michael
Sama had attended the meeting and
had stated the board of assessors
were not quite sure how to handle
the matter, the assessors were treat
ing these “storage shed houses”
as guest houses and taxing them
accordingly.
Chief appraiser D’Lyn Jones
gave the board paperwork on some
of the “guest houses” showing
where they were being taxed at a
higher rate than regular outbuild
ings. She stated, though, that if
a building is not secured to the
ground and could be moved from
the property, it was considered
personal property and, therefore,
would be tax exempt.
The meeting time for the board
has now been changed back to 6
p.m. thanks to Thomas. He stated
he felt 6 p.m. would be a better
time for citizens who work until
4-5 p.m. in the afternoon. He stated
he felt like the 7 p.m. meeting time
gave people the opportunity to get
home and “get comfortable on the
couch,” and by the time the meet
ing started, they would not want to
leave the house having made them
selves comfortable for the night.
Fripp disagreed but the motion car
ried 3-2 with Fripp and Blasingame
voting against the change.
Representative Robert Dickey,
owner of Dickey Farms on Old
341 North, came before the board
asking what they could do to get
the name of their road changed.
His wife, Cynde, was in attendance
with him, as well as neighboring
business owner and resident Buddy
Hays. The three stated that the road
name makes it very hard for people
to find their businesses even with
the signage on the state highway
341.
Mrs. Dickey stated that some
times even ambulances would get
lost trying to find them and trying
to have a package delivered could
turn into a nightmare. Fripp asked
if they had a name in mind and
they stated that they would like to
poll their neighbors to come up
with a suitable name. The board
agreed and set a public hearing for
their next meeting on April 16th
at 6 p.m. All citizens who have an
opinion on this matter are asked to
attend.
Sheriff Lewis Walker rounded
out the evening with a request for a
better training area for his deputies.
The shooting range and training
grounds for the Crawford County
Sheriff’s department is currently at
Fair Play Hill Pit where the ground
is very rocky and not suitable for
on-the-ground training maneu
vers. Walker asked Kelly if there
was another location they could
relocate their training grounds to
and suggested the Hortman Surface
Mining Pit.
Two residents spoke out against
the relocation of the training
grounds to Hortman stating they
did not feel it would be safe. In
stead the board suggested resurfac
ing the current training grounds to
make it more suitable for the depu
ties to train there. Walker agreed,
stating that safety was the number
one concern of the sheriff’s depart
ment and whatever was best for
the county and its residents would
work for him.
Old 341 May
Change Names
Residents of Old 341 would like
to change its name. Due to a lot of
confusion trying to find businesses
the CC Board of Commissioners
was asked to consider changing the
name of the road and other small
connecting roads that are also called
Old 341.
If you live in that area and would
like to make a suggestion for the
road name, or are just curious as to
what the name of the road will be
changed to, there will be a public
hearing held during the next county
commissioner meeting on April
16th at 6 p.m. The meeting will be
held in the Paul Coverdell room in
the Crawford County Courthouse.
Some names already suggested
are Peach Blossom Street, Elberta
Lane, and Peachtree Parkway.
Development Authority Award Grass
Bid; Thanks Fitzgerald For Service
By Abigail Adams
The Georgia Post
Development Authority board
member, Don Fitzgerald has decided
to see what retirement feels like and
has decided to resign from his posi
tion on the board. He attended their
regular meeting on April 4th as a visi
tor as they discussed the grass cutting
bids and the lease on the community
center. Also visiting the meeting were
Chamber president Charles Cook,
David and Charles O’Neal (grass cut
ting contractors who had a bid put in)
and Troy Cook, an applicant for the
vacant authority board position.
Board Chair, Brenda Carroll,
thanked Fitzgerald for the entire
board and community for all his hard
work and dedication, not only to the
authority, but also to the community.
She also stated that, “retirement is
not what he thinks it will be like.”
Fitzgerald stated he would still be
available to help but is looking for
ward to retiring.
Board member, Johnnie Colbert
and secretary, Carol Jackson, attend
ed the Logistics Summit in Atlanta,
GA on behalf of the authority. They
stated they had a lot of people visit
the booth they had set up and met
many different people of different
nationalities. They also met with the
representatives from the Houston
County Development Authority, who
also attended the summit.
“The event was great and registra
tion was the easiest we have ever
been through at an event,” Jackson
stated.
Recently, the Community Center
changed from being the responsibility
of the county to the Crisis Counsel
ing Center. The change has now also
brought a change in location. The
Community Center used to lease part
of the Development Center from the
authority, but now the Crisis Center
has decided to use their own building
to cut down on costs.
“The crisis center already pays in
surance on their own building and if
they leased the old Community Cen
ter they would have to pay double
insurance. So, they have decided not
to lease the building. They will move
the center to their building down
town,” board member Roy Shepard
stated.
Board member David Mathews
gave the recommendations of the
maintenance committee on the bids
put out for grass cutting, the alarm
and fire protection systems. He stated
that the lowest bidder with all the
required paperwork was Gary Crane
for both locations that were bid for
grass cutting.
On the alarm system the lowest
bidder was Safeway, but the board
questioned the monthly maintenance
fee. The fire protection system bid
process was tabled because of the
huge difference in bids received with
the lowest being $31,947 and the
highest being, $94,930.
Board member Charlie West-
berry and Carroll agreed to make
arrangements to find out why the
discrepancy in prices. Since “time
is of the essence,” the board agreed
to go ahead and let the two make
the arrangements on the fire protec
tion system before the next authority
meeting in May.
Champion’s Restaurant officially opened Monday with a RC-
CCOC Ribbon Cutting. Above are Chris McIntyre, Scott Long
and Kathleen Cook.
\v
Turner’s Wings was chosen as the Roberta-Crawford County Chamber of Commerce Business
of the Quarter. Pictured from left are Patricia Bassett, Libby Scarborough (regular customers),
Sara Turner, daughter Felicia “Little Bit” Turner, David McLeighton - chamber president-elect
and Gary Turner. Though famous for their wings, Turner’s serves a variety of foods.