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RECREATION FOOTBALL
SIGNUPS
Monday - Friday see Lindsey at
the Probate Court 9 am- 5 p.m.
Saturday At the High School
Fieldhouse 12 noon - 2 p.m.
Age 7-12 $75
Flag $25
Contact James -478-258-0110
or Lindsey at 478-836-3313 with
Questions!
Chamber Sponsored
Business After Hours
is being hosted by
Security Finance on
Thursday, August 22,
2013, 5:30 p. m, - 7
p.m. Foods, Door
Prizes and a grand
prize worth $50!
O
NATIONAL MODEL
AVIATION DAY
Roberta Rebels RC Flying
Clubw will be flyer Model
Airplanes Saturday, August
24th 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. at 6889
Hwy. 341 S Roberta at Emmett
Walker Airfiield just behind
A&W Metal Fabrication.
Issue 32 Thursday, August 15, 2013 The Voice of Crawford County Since 1921 2 Sections, 12 Pages One Dollar
also serving Byron and Peach County
Dirt shoveled for medical and senior services facilities
time estimated at 8-10 months
Construction
A groundbreaking event
was held Friday to highlight
the scheduled construction of
medical and senior services
facilities in Roberta. Flint
Professional Group, LLC an
nounced its plans to build a
medical office complex and a
Bsenior living community on
its site located at the inter-
BY SUSAN GARNTO
The Georgia Post
August’s meeting for
Roberta City Council was
filled with appearances from
various people.
First up was Julita Mar
tin who was in attendance
representing the Word of
God Tabernacle Church.
The group wants to hold an
event in the city park and
hand out school supplies
and hold a gospel concert.
Mayor Becky Smith asked
Martin if she had met with
Joanne Hamlin who over
section of US 341 and East
Agency Street last year. Due
to inclement weather a tent
was set up to keep those in
attendance out of the rain.
The medical building will
house physicians’ offices, a
pharmacy, and other health
related retail shops. The
multi-story building of over
sees the park to understand
fees and what was expected.
The mayor also wanted to
know how many they were
expecting to attend.
“First of all,” Martin said
addressing council, “the
number of people that we’re
expecting is a rough draft
because it’s open to the com
munity and anyone who’s
passing by can definitely
stop by, so, with that being
said we’re thinking between
too to 150 people with the
churches that have respond
ed. I have not spoken with
24,000 square feet will be
named Milford B. Hatcher
MD Medical Complex in
honor of the late Dr. Hatcher,
a Macon physician who
worked tirelessly to bring
health care to rural areas and
was the founder of the Mercer
Medical School.
Mrs. Kathleen Cook,
Ms. Joanne, if you could
give me that information I
will have it as well.”
The mayor told her, the
questions council had were
because there is not really
an area stage set up for a
concert. Martin said they
had picked out an area but
wanted to know about other
stipulations. The area was
discussed and it was arrived
at being on the grass area in
the park.
Martin said they just
wanted to make sure that
they were well in the bound-
daughter of Dr. Hatcher, is a
member of Flint Professional
Group and has been instru
mental in the company’s
development plans. Other
members of the group include
David L. Mincey, III, an at
torney in Roberta and Chris
McIntyre.
The assisted living facility
is to be named Hydrangeas
Senior Living, named after
aries. The clean-up, noise
and the porta- potty was
again addressed and Ham
lin’s phone number was
given. Martin said there
would be a Concert, Game
Stations, Food & Fellowship
and the Word of God Taber
nacle would be in charge of
the clean -up. Martin told
council, “I appreciate this
opportunity,” and exited.
The next guest, Eve
Tomberlin representing ALS
Walk told council the walk
was to raise money to help
find a cure and to support
the Oak Leaf Hydrangeas
found here. The structure will
include five apartments of
various sizes. Hydrangeas will
be a private pay community
providing residents with an
array of social activities, assis
tance with activities of daily
living, medication assistance,
and an active lifestyle.
The facilities are to be
built by Hogan Construction
families who are living with
ALS. She continued say
ing her husband had it and
died in April of this year.
Tomberlin explained, that
the walk was piggy back
ing on a big Walk in Atlanta
called, “Walk to Defeat ALS”
and the team in Roberta is
called “Tread for ED”. She
showed them a flyer which
is in the works for the event.
Contributions go to the main
ALS Association, which goes
to research and for assis
tance to families. Tomber-
COUNCIL, Page
of Atlanta simultaneously,
beginning immediately. Con
struction time is estimated
at 8-10 months. Paul Hogan,
President of the company is
a native of Crawford County.
The architectural and design
work for both buildings was
completed by CDH Partners
of Atlanta, led by Paul Ste-
genga.
Insignia Senior Living will
be the senior community op
erator. Insignia and its related
companies own 19 assisted
living communities in Florida,
Georgia, and Puerto Rico. In
signia’s principal and Chair
man Milton Cruz attended the
ceremony along with Ramsey
Jennings, Insignia President.
Insignia’s cooperate offices
are in Alpharetta, GA.
Speakers at the ceremony,
led by Mincey, included rep
resentatives from each of the
development team members.
Mincey welcomed a large
crowd on hand for the event,
introduced the project partici
pants, and spoke of the proj
ect’s beginnings. Mincey said
“many have worked tirelessly
for the past two years on this
effort” and “there would not
be a project at all without the
leadership and support of
Kathleen Cook.” According to
Mincey, Mrs. Cook’s, Mc
Intyre’s and Mincey’s overall
purpose is to bring needed
services to the community
and to create additional com
merce for a small town.
Hogan expressed his enthu
siasm for the project and for
Crawford County, saying his
firm “is honored to have been
selected to construct facilities
that will help put Roberta,
Georgia on the map.” Hogan
stated that the project will
have his personal attention
and will be something that
created pride for his company
and residents of Crawford
and surrounding counties.
He said 75% of the construc
tion will be built with local
contractors.
Cook discussed her involve
ment with the care of her
Mother as she aged, express
ing her commitment to not
only a beautiful building but a
high quality service needed by
the aging population.
Cruz and Jennings spoke
briefly of their appreciation
to be selected as the com
munity manager. Insignia
has experience in providing
services both in small towns
in Georgia and in metropoli
tan areas. Hydrangeas “is the
best example we have seen of
local individuals using private
resources to help a small
town prosper and allow its
seniors to stay close to home”,
said Jennings. Hydrangeas
will create jobs for citizens
and can become a focal point
of Roberta according to Cruz.
The facility will be a place for
groups to meet and families
to visit. Cruz said Insignia’s
purpose is to provide “safe
and joyful environments for
seniors” and Hydrangeas will
be a great asset to the area.
Those interested can obtain
more information about
the development by calling
478-836-2273 (CARE) or
by e-mailing Hydrangeas@
insigniaseniorliving.com
Following a welcome and brief remarks from those involved, ground was broken for the Milford B. Hatcher, M.D. Medical Complex and Hydrangeas Senior
Living facilities. Kathleen Cook, center, wore a pink hat which she said was for her granddaughters. Pictured above Ramzy Jennings, Paul Hogen, Chris Mc
Intyre, Kathleen Cook, David Mincey III, Clark Todd Gollotte, Milton Cruz.
No vote taken on raising taxes by BOE
BY SUSAN GARNTO
The Georgia Post
Though the room was foil, very few
people spoke at last week’s meeting of
the Crawford County Board of Educa
tion.
One point which people were
concerned about was the possibility of
doing away with the ROTC program.
Though the board had said they were
looking into all possibilities no deci
sion had been made on eliminating the
program. Chairman Raymond Dickey
told the group, “To my knowledge
the board has not made a decision
for eliminating the ROTC Program,
I don”t know of any board members
that heard or communicated that. We
don’ know how that information got
out but the board has not made a deci
sion to eliminate this program.”
One citizen asked if they were con
sidering or was it a rumor? Mr. Dickey
replied that as far as I know, far as I’m
concerned, that is a rumor, again, we
don’t know how that rumor got started
but it is not something that this board
has made a decision on.
John Douglas (Superintendent)
addressed the budget saying that “We
have created another budget”. He
explained that the board needed 2 V2
mil to factor in the “New Budget”. The
difference between this one and the
last one is the last one started out at 4
V2 mil.
Douglas said that instead of cutting
the bus drivers a total of 20 furlough
days, they were looking at five instead
of four which would be 18 days.
With the changes of the way the Ad
Valorem tax is done Douglas said that
he had no idea how that was going to
work so far. “So what’s the idea of the
budget? I would like to address this
board, like I said, it’s going to require
about 2 V2 mil increase in taxes.”
Douglas went on to try and explain
how that would affect property and the
cost explaining that it was pretty easy
math with $100 on a property taxed
at $100,000. (One mill = $1 for every
$1,000 of assessed value.)
There was discussion about the new
title tax which went into effect this
year which no one has a real clue as to
how that will affect revenues.
Douglas mentioned that the fur
lough was for Budget and math pur
poses. Teachers will physically work
169 days. Students will attend school
physically 160 days; nine days are
Staff Development days. Dickey asked
Douglas if staff contracts had to be ad
justed to renew with the shorter school
term. Douglas said, “The contract
for years has not had that in there. “
Dickey said, “I thought that we had to
renew this contract because we had to
put all the information in the contract
for a certain period of time”. Douglas
responded, “There’s a clause that’s
always been in there that say’s based
on availability of funds.”
Because there will be an increase
of 15 minutes more of school per day
for the children, if you picked up your
child at 3:00 last year, this year it will
be at 3:15 for the new school year.
If your child rides the bus and was
picked-up at 2:45 last year, this year it
will be at 3:00. For Back to School the
exact times and schedule will be put in
the paper.
Becky Smith, Roberta mayor,
addressed the board about a Sewer
Easement. She passed a paper around
for the board nembers to sign on the
Sewer Easement. It would not inter
fere with the traffic much, if any she
said. The board passed the easement
unanimously. Then Smith spoke on
the Resolution of the BOE to An
nex the real property and CCMS into
the City of Roberta. There was some
discussion among the board members
and no decision was made at that time,
Smith told them, “Thank you, I hope
we can work it out on the annexation.”
It was announced that the first
official football game starts August
30, 2013. Scrimmage is on the 23 but
there is rain in the forecast so that
could change. A young lady said that
you could go to the maxreps.com then
choose ghs website and you can see
the schedules, print them out. Pretty
much, whatever you’re looking for
about the sports, she said.
Dickey said that the schools this
year are mandated to have an Advi
sory Counselor at every school. He
then asked Douglas if they had the
required people with specific coordi
nated positions? Douglas replied with
“yes”.
Council approached about activities; incomplete accident report
