About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2013)
ICU Ministry Meets Thursday, April Uth Byron Depot 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. New Events And Past Ones At 2013 Battle of Byron By Victoria Simmons The Byron Buzz Byron’s annual Battle of Byron is less than a month away and the planning committee has been bus ily working on this year’s activities. You will see some fun games from year’s past but will also be treated to some new ones. One new item which sounds like loads of fun is the Kentucky Derby in the form of broomstick horses. You can register your decorated ’’Broomstick Horses” at the BoB Tent by 3:30 p.m. on Sat., May 4th at North Peach Park. Kids will be divided into age classes. Don’t worry, there will be an adult class too and the adult winner gets money! !The Broomstick Derby Race starts @ 4:00 p.m. How cre ative can you be with your ’’horse”? Get busy thinking about ideas now. The annual 5K road race will be the Saturday after the Battle, May 11th. The Battle of Byron race chair, Caryl Deems wants to know if runners have been challenged lately? Not by running in pretty paint colors or on a course filled with mud ... but a real challeng ing course? If you’re ready for a real challenge, register TODAY for the Battle of Byron 5K Road Race Satur day, May 11th at the Byron Municipal Complex. The race course is a little uphill and a little downhill and is sure to challenge you! It’s also registered with the 2013 Run & See Georgia Grand Prix Series & the Macon Tracks Club’s Pied mont Sports Medicine Race Series. Register early to guarantee your race t-shirt! Package pickup and race day registra tion begins at 6:30 a.m. Race begins at 8:00 a.m. Awards will be given to 1 st, 2nd & 3rd place overall male and female winners. Awards also go to masters’ winners and other age division winners. You can be a winner just by running the challenging course! For more information call the BoB 5K Road Race Chair Caryl Deems at 478- 972-2609. The committee says the 2013 Battle of Byron Car Show will be the best one the Battle has seen in a long time. They are bringing the fun classic show back Sat urday, May 4th on the grass and under the shade of the trees at North Peach Park. Register your car early and get a discount rate. Dash plaques and show grab bags entries. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.; show begins at 11:00 a.m. Trophies and other prizes will be awarded at 3:00 p.m. Get in on the chance to win a NEW IPAD! For more information call the BoB Car Show Chair man Mike Love at 478-228- 3071. The Lil’ Mr. and Miss BoB is underway. Pennies count as votes and the participant who collects the most votes during April 1 - May 1, is declared the winner. In 2012, they had eight participants aging from 3 -6 yrs. The total amount raised was $2,101.09. Jacob Carter (3yrs) won Lil’ Mr. BoB, and Lily Carroll (6yrs) won Lil’ Miss BoB. Again this year you can expect the always fun Pie Eating Contest, banana re lays, water balloon toss, sack races, egg roll contests, mud volleyball, high heel dash, musical chairs and more. There will also be live entertainment on stage, lots of food and arts and crafts vendors. It all adds up to FUN!! Spend the day on Saturday, May 4th at North Peach Park at the annual Battle of Byron. For more information see their website at www.battleofbyron.com. Emergency Sewer Project Approved By City Council By Victoria Simmons The Byron Buzz Two items were added to the shorter than usual Byron City Council agenda Monday night, one which Michael Chidester called an emergency sewer situation and the other was the annual Battle of By ron contract. May 1 is the funding deadline for sewer lines along Walker Road being tied into the city’s main line and increased in size from eight inches to 12 inches. Since May 1st is fast approaching the city is under the gun to get the work done. Chidester presented the matter to council and it was approved to the tune of $114,482 and awarded to Griffin Utility Construction, LLC. Chidester suggested the city go forward without going through the bid process because it was an emergency. Council approved unani mously. Council also approved a change order which increased cost by $16,859.24 for the existing contract related to the sewer work to ensure the work is completed in 30 days not 60 as was originally in the contract. Alan Dorsey of Alan’s Towing in Byron addressed council concerning rules and regulations for wrecker services operating in the City of Byron. Dorsey told council he did not see how one of the wrecker services on the call list even got a business license if the regulations were followed. Council referred the matter to the legislative committee to clean up the rules and regulations. Dorsey stated he would like to be at the committee meeting and the mayor told him he was certainly welcome. Byron does not have a res cue truck in operation because the motor in the old one needs replacing and a replacement has yet to be foimd. The rescue equipment has been put on a pumper but the vehicle has not been certified as a rescue truck. Chidester noted that the department had the trained personnel but not the vehicle. He also said there is a posibility that a Peach County ambulance might become available to convert into a res cue truck. Chidester said the rescue truck issue needed to ’’rest” for now until they foimd out if they could indeed get an ambulance from the county or a new engine could be foimd for the old truck. The matter was tabled. The city has an ordinance which alows them to dispose of abandoned and derelict property but it has yet to be put to the test. At Monday’s night meeting council ap proved a test case to pursue property which Billy McDan iel, public works director said was on Chase Court in the Summitt Chase subdivison. It is a burned out binding which Chidester said the owners got insurance money for but did not use it to rebuild or replace the structure. Planning and Zoning had voted in their meeting to move forward in the legal process on the property and council approved the minutes from that meeting Monday night. According to City Attorney Joan Harris, the ordinance was patterned after a Perry one which has been succcessful in allowing the city to clear property and put a lien on it to recover expenses. If successful for Byron, Harris said it would pave the way to more eas ily rectify ongoing situations with abandoned and derelict properties in the city. Council approved the an nual contract with the Battle of Byron to provide sponsorship in the amount of $ 1500. (%K2»)yotes] ^(°Xr§©^to mimw 0 ^©o^OuDo K)QflCrS©Cr^ Paul Carreker singing The Lord’s Prayer. Jill Elliott Conference Attendees Ask For More By Abigail Adams The Byron Buzz Whether the conference touched just one or all of the people in the Byron Mu nicipal Building on Saturday, April 6th, it was a light in the darkness for all those who needed it. Thanks to the JoyFULL Three, Victoria Simmons, Nancy Gibbs and Bobbie Evans, the confer ence helped one woman release her anger and guilt, gave all those in attendance a good laugh, and raised the joyful sound of praise in song to the ceilings of the confer ence room. Byron’s own Paul Carreker took to the front of the room to give the Lord’s Prayer in song. He sang the prayer acapella, his beautiful voice ringing throughout the room. Nancy Gibbs welcomed the crowd to the first Light in the Darkness conference. Evans, the creator of Joyfull Laughter, started the conference with a unique style of dispersing any anxiety the group may have had. She introduced them to the concept of the laughter greeting. With Gibbs she demonstrated the silly greet ing by taking her hand as if to shake it and bursting into laughter, all while keep ing eye contact. She then encouraged the rest of the group to do the same thing and soon the room was filled with laughter. After the laughter died down, Simmons came forward to tell how God had placed the task of putting together the conference on her heart. She explained how she had had many doubts, but each doubt had been swept away. She told the crowd about dreams she kept having of standing on a stage and speaking and soon realized God was pushing her to put together the conference, no matter how much she didn’t like microphones. "... Let your light shine be fore others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to you Father who is in Heaven. ” -Matthew 5:15 A rousing performance by Tammie Klima, a local gospel singer, rang through the room warming the hearts of the audience and inspir ing them as she ended with My Redeemer Lives. Gibbs took to the podium to talk about her calling to write and eventually to speak. She is no stranger to conferences either, being a motivational speaker and running a min istry with her husband Roy Gibbs, who emceed the Light in the Darkness conference and pastors Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Comedian, Jill Elliot, came to the conference with a heavy heart and mismatched shoes. She explained as she took the podium, that she had left her comedy act behind that day. She gave her testimony, instead, explaining her heart was heavy because she felt God was punishing her for turning her back on her brother in his dying days. Though the content of what she was saying was sad, the natural comedian in Elliot came out and had the room laughing at her antics and her declarations. The tone of the conference calmed back down and Donna Stripling of Papa’s Pride along with Simmons came forward to ask that the conference attendees help them pray with Elliot to help her release her guilt and turn once again to God. With la dies gathered all around her Elliot’s whole countenance seemed to brighten as the prayers were spoken. The testimonies continued as an unexpected testimony was given by a lady encour aged by the conference to tell of how God led her off the path of drugs and alcohol and Mandy Robinson was wheeled forward to give hers on how He shed light on her bad lifestyle and the wreck that almost took her life but that God was always with her. The rest of the conference was filled with beautiful music from Papa’s Pride and Roy Gibbs and laughter with Christian comedian Chef Audrey, half of the Heav enly Queens of Comedy (the other half being Elliot) talking about her childhood as a preacher’s daughter, and JoyFULL laughter speaker, Evans. Paul Carreker closed the conference, once again sharing his praise in song. Attendees were in agree ment that this should be an annual conference, with many saying they would like to see another one soon. Simmons expressed thanks to those who made the event possible, especially Jeff Smith Chevrolet in Byron in helping with lunch. ”It was an awesome day with lives changed and that is what it is all about,” Sim mons said. ”We are to be encouragers (light) and to lift people up, not tear them down and our lives need to reflect that, not just in what we say or post somewhere, but in everything we do and say.”
