About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2013)
Byron Lions Club Turkey Shoot Saturday, November 23,9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Field by O’Reilly’s on Hwy. 49. Cost is $5 per shot or three shots for $10. Tickets from any Lions Club member or at the shoot. Lunch with Santa A Vintage Christmas at the Byron Depot, Saturday, December 14. Sponsored by Byron Area Historical Society. For times, reservations and more information contact Para at 478-214-5560. Community Blood Drive Byron UMC fellowship hall, December3,2-7 p.m. For more info contact Connie Short at 478-956-2412. ISSUE 44 THURSDAY, November 21, 2013 COVERING BYRON AND PEACH COUNTY BYRONBUZZ@PSTEL.NET Tour brings hope and encouragement to the bereaved Angels Acrross America van. Honor someone or their memory with a Lions Club Love Light The 2013 Love Light Tree Ceremony sponsored by the Byron Lions Club will be held on Friday evening December 6, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. at Jailhouse Park. For only $3.00 per name, you can honor or memorialize a loved one with a light on the tree in the park, in a beautiful ceremony. Musical entertainment will be provided by the 4th and 5th grade chorus from Byron Elementary School under the direction of Kristine Fleckenstein. Brother Brad Blackmon of Byron Baptist Church will provide words of inspiration to the assembly. After the lights are lit, all attendees are invited to join the club for hot chocolate and cider in the Old Jail, thanks to the Byron Area Historical Society and Byron Main Street, Please send your list of names, advising whether they are in honor of or in memory of that person, with $3.00 per name to the Byron Lions Club, PO Box 1123, Byron GA 31008. Names must be submitted by December 1st to appear in the program. All proceeds go the Georgia Lions Camp for the Blind in Waycross GA. The Byron Lions Club thanks you for your support. (Form inside on page 2) Three days of early voting Don’t forget that you can begin voting early for Byron City Council Post 5 next week. Since it is Thanksgiving week, there are only three days next week. Early voting will take place 8:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Byron Municipal Complex, located at 401 Main Street. The runoff is between Alan Dorsey and Rick Knowles, one of which will be replac ing incumbent Mark Waters. The runoff election is Tuesday, December 3, 2013 with polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Phone scam claims they are the IRS It’s that time of year again. Unfortunately, the holly, jolly holidays also brings out un- scrupolous people wanting to take advantage of others and every year a different scam emerges to do just that. One, which might catch you unaware, is a phone scam in volving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This phone scam targets people across the nation, including recent immigrants. Callers claiming to be from the IRS tell intended victims they owe taxes and must pay using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The scammers threaten those who refuse to pay with arrest, deporta tion or loss of a business or driver’s license. The callers who commit this fraud often: • Use common names and fake IRS badge numbers. • Know the last four digits of the victim’s Social Security number. • Make caller ID appear as if the IRS is calling. • Send bogus IRS emails to support their scam. • Call a second time claim ing to be the police or DMV, and caller ID again supports their claim. The truth is the IRS usually first contacts people by mail - not by phone - about unpaid taxes. And the IRS won’t ask for payment using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The agency also won’t ask for a credit card number over the phone. If you get a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS asking for a payment, here’s what to do: • If you owe federal taxes, or think you might owe taxes, hang up and call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you with your pay ment questions. • If you don’t owe taxes, call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector Gen eral for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484. • You can also file a com plaint with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Add ”IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments in your complaint. Be alert for phone and email scams that use the IRS name. The IRS will never request personal or financial information by email, tex ting or any social media. You should forward scam emails to phishing@irs.gov. Don’t open any attachments or click on any links in those emails. Read more about tax scams on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov. Denise and Alan Pederson with Karla Chidester (right). Last Thursday, Byron was treated to the Angels Across America Tour with Alan Pederson. The event, hosted by the local group, Compassion ate Friends of Middle Georgia, was held at the fellowship hall of Byron United Methodist Church. Karla Chidester, is the chapter leader and she too, has experienced the loss of a child. The purpose of this tour is to bring hope and encouragement to bereaved families, while bringing community aware ness and media attention to grief organizations large and small who reach out to these families. Alan Pederson started the support group Angels Across the USA after he suffered the loss of his eighteen-year old daughter Ashley in a car ac cident in 2001. Several months after her death, he was contact ed by a Compassionate Friends group. He has spent the years since writing songs of inspira tion and holding countless motivational speaking events that have helped him heal as well as one can in this kind of situation. No one ever truly gets over the loss of a child or any loved one but through his songs and speeches, Alan has shown many people different ways to cope. Alan says, ” Ashley’s death taught me the value of I love you.” He also says that you will be bereaved for the rest of your life and any little thing can set a person off, from seeing a school bus go by, a favorite toy or just any little thing. One ritual that he practices and recommends when you are overcome by grief is to sit still, close your eyes, take a deep breath and hold it, let it out slowly and grab on to a special happy memory of your loved one and focus on it until your moment of grief passes. One thing that Alan asks of the groups he speaks to, is to practice the circle of love and “be kind to yourself’ by doing something nice for others who don’t have someone to give them a gift for birthday’s or during the holiday season. If you are interested in a support group, The Compas- sionateFriends of Middle Georgia, Supporting Family After a Child Dies, local chap ter meets the 4th Thursday of each month at Byron United Methodist Church at 7:00 p.m. For information call Chapter Leader Karla Chidester (478) 954-4592 or visit www.com- passionatefriends.org. BPD continues to get recognition Chief Wesley Cannon announces that the Byron Police Department won three awards at the annual Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) Gov ernor’s Challenge Banquet on Novem ber 15, 2013. The Governor’s Challenge awards program is a statewide awards program that recognizes excellent law enforce ment traffic safety programs. The program provides law enforce ment agencies with an opportunity to make a difference in the communities they serve and allows agencies to learn from one another and establish future goals in traffic safety enforcement and education. The Byron Police Department won 1st place for agencies with 11-25 of ficers and special categories of Child Occupant Protection and Underage Drinking Prevention. Along with the awards the department was given $8000 in “GOHS Bucks” to use at the GOHS store to purchase traffic enforce ment equipment. The department also received a Digital Ally video system in a door prize drawing. Chief Cannon stated he is very proud of the efforts put forth by the men and women of the Byron Police Department in promoting traffic safety and added that due to the Department’s hard work and dedication, the City of Byron had zero traffic fatalities and a 20% reduc tion in accidents with injuries over the past year. Chief Cannon sends con gratulations and great appreciation to dedicated community sponsors such as Byron Tire Company, Holland’s Colli sion & Auto Repair, Southway, Crane & Rigging LLC, Yamaha of Byron, Diamond Plastic Corporation, GIGA, Interceptor Public Safety Products, H & H Home and Truck, Mid-State RV Cen ter and to partners with the Medical Center of Central Georgia Children’s Hospital Kohl’s Safe Kids. Lt Bryan Hunter said this is a com plete department effort to promote traffic safety in order to save lives not just in Byron and Peach County but across the state. Our educational programs have been taught all across middle Georgia to thousands of chil dren and their parents. We are humble to have received national and state recognition for doing our job. The Byron Police Department is the lead agency of the Middle Georgia Traf fic Enforcement Network (MGTEN) and works closely with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) as they continue to demonstrate their strong commitment to reducing traffic fatalities in the State of Georgia. Gingerbread Market in the books This year’s Gingerbread Market is now history. This year it was at the Peach Shops of Byron in two vacant buildings at the outlet center. Whether it was decorations, art, jewelry, baked goods or more, you were sure to find something to your liking. Next up is the Holiday Art Mart which begins the Fridav after Thanksaivina and runs throuah December 21st. It features local artisans and all handmade items and you are sure to find something for everyone on your Christmas list. It also will be held at the Peach Shops, Suite 70, next to Party Playgrounds. Open Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and on Sunday from noon until 6 p.m. Ready or not, Christmas is on the wav!
