About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2014)
May 15-17 events For details check: www.gajugiestival.com. It’s the 10th anniversary of the Georgia JugFest so you will want to attend. Georgia^ JugFest' SHOP LOCAL. EAT LOCAL. SPEND LOCAL. ENJOY LOCAL. Start a C £/rend Keep up with local happenings. Check our community calen dar inside on page Issue 19 Thursday, May 15, 2014 The Voice of Crawford County Since 1921 also serving Byron and Peach County 2 Sections, 16 Pages One Dollar 10th annual Jugfest festivities begin today BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post Whether you want to learn about the Flint Riverkeep- ers, bid on some pottery, en ter a contest, run a race, see tractors, historic buildings, crafts and demonstrations, or just want to do some thing, then you can find all of this and more at the Jugfest which begins today (May 15). The Pottery Show opens today at 10 and continues until 6 p.m. at which time the preview party begins. Hopefully, you have already made reservations for the preview party. The silent auction also begins at 6 and the Pottery Hall of Fame Celebration and student birdhouse contest winners will begin at 7:30 p.m. This takes place at the old Knox ville courthouse. Friday, of course, the pottery show continues from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Lunch and Learn with Gordon Rogers of the Flint Riverkeepers at Musella Baptist Church beginning at noon (Reser vations required). Historical Exhibits can be viewed at the old courthouse from 1-5 p.m. and the quilt show at the recycling center from 1-7 p.m. A tea will be held at Champion’s Restaurant from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Ending Friday night is the Peaches Citizens unhappy with county road decisions BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post Citizens in attendance about paving Billy White Road were not happy with the outcome for the road at last week’s meeting of the Crawford County Board of Commissioners though the road contract for it has been awarded. In fact, several said they felt like they had been lied to again by the commissioners as they left the meeting. Commission Chairman Dean Fripp stated he would like for the board to reconsider the paving project for Billy White Road because he felt the road would quickly fall into disrepair due to the amount of potential logging going on in the area. He suggested the county rock the road instead of paving. Frank Hollis reminded the board that the project had already been agreed upon, was put out to bid and awarded last year. He said therefore, it needed to proceed as agreed upon. Commissioner Bobby Blasingame agreed, as did several residents from the area who were in attendance at the meeting. Residents informed the commissioners that many have received damage to their automobiles and that the road beds were impassable during heavy rains. One resident told the board the loggers were done and that the county had promised for two years that the road would be paved and it still had not been paved. Other roads in that area, Childs and Thomas were also mentioned. “We are paying taxes,” one resident said, adding that cars could not be kept clean and were contin ually tearing up because of the road condition. Fripp told those in atten dance the county had a limited amount of money to fix roads. “We are doing what we can do,” he said. He added that he had a problem with spending so much to pave a road which could be rocked for less and would probably last longer. After more discussion back and forth the board voted to proceed with the project as planned and pave the road since the project had already been awarded. Commissioner Paul Chapman and Fripp voted against but it passed 3-2. County Manager Pat Kelly had presented the board with a list of roads to be considered for re-striping. These includ ed Old Knoxville Road from Hwy. 42 to Casey (3.0 miles); Andres Road from Hwy. 42 to Old Knoxville (.50 miles); and Avera Road from Hwy. 341S to Zenith Mill (.75 miles). The board voted to proceed with the projects and Kelly will get quotes for them all. Board members were re minded by Kelly to provide his office with the roads in each of their districts they would like to be included on the 2015 LMIG discussions. Once the list is completed, Kelly said, he would provide estimates for each proj ect. After that the board could decide which projects to put in the 2015 grant cycle. Kelly requested that the board approve beginning the process of abandonment for a portion of Tribble Road. The county recently completed a project on that road which consisted of widening, grading, draining and rocking. That project exits out Cummings Lane rather than the north end of Tribble Road which cuts through a pecan orchard. Both sides of the road are owned by an individual who has re quested the road be closed and abandoned. The board discussed and then Commissioner Thomas made the motion to begin the process to formally abandon the road. Commissioner Chap man voted against the motion but it passed 4-1. Commissioner Blasingame had requested that the county install culvert pipes for two residents on Myrick Road, noting that the residents would purchase the pipes. Board attorney David Mincey, III told the board it would not be appropriate for the county to do the installations. However, he said if the roadway need ed improvements because of drainage issues the proper course of action would be to acquire right of ways, widen, drain and grade the roadway. Such an improvement project could include replacement of pipe but otherwise it was up to the landowner to get done. After some discussion about the condition of the road and water drainage issues, Com missioner Paul Chapman made the motion to seek right of way deeds from property owners and the motion passed unani mously. and Pork Recipe Contest from 5-7 p.m. Saturday’s activities begin bright and early with the 5K and 1 mile fun run at 7:30 a.m. The wood fired kiln pottery sale begins at 9 a.m. followed by the tractor ex hibit and parade at 10 a.m. Arts and crafts and other displays and demonstrations and tours begin at 9 a.m. The historical society is holding their chicken Q again from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. so be sure and get fueled up again. The Quilt Show is from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sat urday and the lawnmower races begin at 5 p.m. There’s much more in-be tween. See complete sched ule on Page 11 inside this week. See you there! DARE essay winners recognized PI , 1 •- f EiitL Fifth grade students in the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program wrote essays on what they learned and what the D.A.R.E program mean’s to them. The top seven students whose essays were chosen and their teachers are: Brenda Torres - Mrs. Donaldson; MaKayla Hortman - Mrs. Wells; Courtney Blassingame - Ms. Robinson; Madi Callahan - Ms. Tharpe; Kehl Turner - Ms. Tharpe; Snyder Store - Ms. Hatcher; Sierra Ussery - Ms. Wells ~ overall winner. Students are pictured with the DARE mascot (Daren), Roberta Police Chief Benny Thomas and DARE officer, Wes Griffits. (See winning essay inside). Winners were recognized at a DARE program last week. County unsure of Juvenile Court payout BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post Two pay increases were discussed by county commis sioners last week with one be ing approved, the other tabled until further information can be obtained and studies. Latonya Ages, who has taken over the duties of the Juvenile Court Officer, due to the death of the former offi cer, Mrs. Kennedy, requested the board increase her supple ment pay to the same level as the previous officer. She also requested to be paid retroac tively from the date she took over. County Manager Pat Kelly told the board he was unable to find any agreement or un derstanding as to supplement pay amounts and how those amounts were determined. Ages is a full time employee of Peach County but was also re ceiving a W-2 from Crawford County for supplement pay. Kelly said he was concerned as to any liability that may be associated with workman’s compensation and unemploy ment benefits and suggested it might be better to just pay Peach County a reimburse ment for the services. Peach County could then pay Ages. Ages told them she had not had any increase since August 2012. and she had been solo since that time. She went on to list some of her duties and said she was doing the job of three positions. When commission mem bers discussed this further, Ages told them she did not understand why it was never a problem with Mrs. Kennedy and was now a problem. She noted she had been doing this job for 20 years. Kelly noted that this is in agreement with other coun ties and money comes from the indigent defense fund which is paid into based on population but he would find nothing to show where they were getting the figures. After discussion back and forth the board asked that county attorney David Mincey III and Kelly study the issue and provide more information to them at a later date. The matter was tabled pending further investigation. Pay for Superior Court Judges was the second pay increase requested. Pay for superior court judges is sup plemented at the county level and for sometime Crawford has been supplementing the pay of some judges at a rate of $1500 annually while others were receiving $$1620.06 a year. Mincey told the board that the judges should all be receiving the same amount of pay- Board members, Mincey and Kelly went back and forth on how this could have oc curred and whether or not it needed to increase to remedy the situation. Kelly told the board these pay amounts had been in place since he became county manager. Mincey said he had found a legislative act dating back to 1989 setting the pay at $1000 annually. Any increases, he said, should have been approved by a majority vote of the commis sioners. That, Mincey said would need to be researched to determine when and why. However, he felt it needed to be remedied and that all judg es should receive the same pay and you can not decrease pay during a sitting judge’s term. After more discussion thev decided to increase the pay of all judges to the $1620.06 annually. In other business the board: • approved proceeding with amending the ordinance to dissolve the Joint Board of Appeals and allow the joint Board of Zoning Appeals hear and decide appeals where necessary. •heard from Mincey that the ownership of the Commu nity Center Building had yet to be determined and more research was required and he had enlisted the aid of a title researcher and would keep them abreast of what was found. • learned from Kelly the water tower on Hwy. 42S needed major maintenance and would need to be drained and the interior repainted. Es timated cost is $75,000 which will be paid from the water enterprise maintenance fund. Kelly recommended the board consider an extended main tenance agreement with an outside provider that would save money in the long run. • heard from Kelly that HB752 was passed by the General Assembly which eliminated the office of an elected county surveyor. It would be necessary for the board to appoint a county surveyor at its first meeting each year. • was presented with a Notice of Prepayment to the holder of the Water Reve nue Bond, Series 2007. To facilitate USDA’s requirement of 30 days notice in advance of prepayment it is neces sary to send a conditional prepayment notice to them. This comes as the county is working toward issuing bonds to refinance and pay off the 2009 bond which will save the countv money in the end. This was approved by the board unanimously. •went into a closed execu tive session to discuss pend ing litigation from Southern Rivers Energy which lasted about half an hour. EMA director tenders his resignation BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post EMA Director Jake Watson tendered his resignation at last Tuesday’s meeting of the Crawford County Board of Commissioners with the effec tive date being June 30,2014. Watson told the board it had been an honor to serve the citizens and community of Crawford County. He said he felt it was time for the county to carefully consider appoint ing an EMA Director who can devote more time to the plan ning and preparedness activi ties associated with emergency management. Being employed in the private sector full time, Watson said there was not enough time to maintain and prepare everything which created a false sense of security for the county. Watson said he had two grandsons now and wanted to have some time with them. Fripp thanked Watson for all his hard work. “I hate to see you go,” he said. He also told him if Watson had anyone to recommend to the county to let them know. In his submitted letter of resignation Watson noted that he had developed a tremen dous amount for response for the Emergency Management Community during his two years See EMA. Paae 9
