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ISSUE 52, Thursday, DECEMBER 27, 2018 COVERING BYRON AND PEACH COUNTY email us at: BYRONBUZZ@PSTEL.NET
Commissioners recognize Smith
and youth commissioners
BY LINDA REYNOLDS
The Byron Buzz
“We need to recognize Walter Smith for
his 20 years of service to Peach County,”
declared Chairman Martin Moseley at the
December 12th commissioners meeting.
“If you see him on the street or out and
about in the community, please thank him
for his many years of tireless service. We
wish him the best in retirement and we
salute him.” Smith was absent from what
would have been his last commissioner’s
meeting, as Shanita Walker-Bryant, Com
missioner-elect will fill his post, starting in
January. Bryant attended the meeting in
the audience and was present to hear the
commissioners approve the IT request to
get her set up with a tablet, e-mail address
and everything she’ll need to hit the ground
running once she’s sworn in on January
20th.
Three of the newly chosen Peach County
Youth Commissioners were introduced.
This is a new program under the direction
of County Clerk April Hodges and funded
by grant money enabling selected youth to
learn about and participate in municipal
government. Four Peach County High
School students were chosen for the honor:
Avantae Sessoms, Stephania Lopez, Alyssa
Lunsford, and Kemoye’ Caldwell-Latimore.
They have already visited the firehouse and
put out a fire. At the meeting they intro
duced themselves and spoke about why
they were interested in government.
Boy Scout troop 620 of Byron accepted
several boxes of American Flags that had
serviced the county over the past few years.
They will ceremonially retire the flags by
cutting them into four quarters, never
separating the stars from each other, as
Youth commissioners getting hands on
experience at fire department.
they represent the states, which make up
the union. The flags will then be properly
burned, the ashes recovered and buried by
the Boy Scout flagpole with another cere
mony. Scout Leader Steven Smith said, “I
think it’s important for the boys to honor
our flag. Being given this opportunity by
the county, the boys will show respect for
not only the flags, but our government.”
Recreation Director David Parrish was
pleased to present to the commissioners
that GA Power will soon replace all the se
curity lights and their poles at North Peach
Park. There will be no cost to the county,
and the new lights will be economical LED
lights. There was some discussion of South
Peach Park, but the Fort Valley utility com
mission services that park.
• Meetings for January 2019 were pushed
back a week to accommodate the holidays.
The work session will be held on January
8th and the regular monthly board meeting
on January 15th.
• Alcohol licenses in the county were
renewed.
• The county will surplus two Crown
Victoria vehicles.
Pure Flavor to provide
There’s nothing better than fresh produce
and even better when it’s free. Hunt Elementa
ry School in Fort Valley will be receiving fresh
tomatoes and cucumbers from Pure Flavor’s
greenhouse facility in Peach Countv.
The school is part of
Pure Flavor’s adopt a
school program which
provides free produce.
The school should begin
receiving the produce next year and will be the
third school on this continent to receive fresh
produce at no cost. The program is part of
being a good corporate citizen and being a good
member of the community.
Even in the off season, whether cloudy,
stormy or fair, the tomatoes and cucumbers
ripen on the vines at the greenhouse situated
on Hwy. 96 and visible to all as you pass that
way.
Metal pipes with hot water running through
them help keep the environment warn. Plants
are nourished through computer-controlled
drippers supplying fertilizer and reclaimed
rainwater.
You won’t find any dirt, only coco peat, a
growing medium made from recycled coconut
husks. Lights, temperature and humidity are
controlled and monitored from an iPad. They
welcome the bees and ladybugs as inhabitants
for the plants.
“We use good bugs to take care of the bad
free produce to school
bugs to reduce the need for pesticide,” chief
marketing officer Chris Veillon said. “Should
there be a need for pesticides, it’s very localized
to that plant.” If you were to visit you would
first have to wine vour shoes on a wet rub
's 1 her mat soaked with
sanitizer. A driverless
machine beeps while
scooting by, with a cart
of black plastic crates
to be filled with tomatoes and cucumbers. The
company is being inundated with calls from
people wanting a tour. “People are asking if
they can come take a look, Veillon said. He
added that they hope to be able to provide an
open house at some point in the new year.
Once packaged the fruit is shipped to stores
like Sam’s Club, Sysco and others across North
America. The first cucumbers were picked
December 5.
Pure Flavor is a Canadian based company
which opened here a little more than a year
ago. The greenhouse is 25,000 sq. feet and the
company just broke ground on a 60,000 sq.
foot food distribution facility. It is located about
10 minutes from the greenhouse.
Pure Flavor needs to hire more than too
additional employees and job applications may
be submitted on the company’s webside www.
georgiagrownflavor.com.
Be sure and check out their website because
they also feature recipes to create.
Dump truck kills
man in FV
Sixty-year old Jamie Lee Willis
died after an accident in Fort Valley
Tuesday, December 11th.
Willis was driving a small tractor
down Chestnut Hill Road when
he was hit from behind by a dump
truck. He was pronounced dead on
the scene at 6:40 p.m.
There were no lights or even a re
flective triangle on the farm tractor.
It was dark and there was no light in
the area. According to reports, the
dump truck driver swerved left in an
attempt to avoid hitting the tractor.
The front right of the dump truck
hit the left rear of the tractor and
Willis was thrown off the tractor.
The drump truck traveled off the
roadway and apparently hit Willis
as it veered off the road.
Mims elected
Craig Mims, General
Manager/CEO of the Fort
Valley Utility Commis
sion was recently elected
Chairman of Electric Cities
of Georgia (ECG). ECG
is a Joint Action Agency
that provides strategic and
technical services to 52
communities that pro
vide energy services. The
services include engineer
ing and energy services,
training and safety, joint
purchasing, professional
development training, and
economic and community
development.
Mims, who has served on
the Board for 5 years, has
an extensive background
chair of ECG
and experience in the utility
industry. He has served
as GM/CEO at the Fort
Valley Utility Commission
since 2015. Mims said,
“ECG has a strong track
record of helping commu
nities throughout Georgia,
Florida and the US Virgin
Islands to obtain goals that
maybe otherwise difficult
to attain. I am looking
forward to continuing to
work with the other board
members and the ECG
staff to further enhance the
services we provide.”
Mims is serving in his
second term on the Board
and has previously served
as Vice Chairman.
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Boy Scout Troop 620.
The four youth commissioners Avantae Sessoms, Stephania Lopez, Alyssa Lunsford and
Kemoye’ Caldwell-Latimore at the Peach County Fire Department.
The three young lady youth commissioners were introduced at last week’s meeting. Steph
anie Lopez, Avantae Sessoms and Alyssa Lunsford. Kemoye’ Caldwell-Latimore, a young
man was not present.
Engine building team finishes 6th
The PCHS Engine Building Team finished in 6th place at the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow
National Engine Challenge. The competition took place at the Performance Racing Indus
try (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, IN. Once, the final times were calculated the PCHS
Engine Building Team was ranked 12th in the nation.
The students walk away from the competition with $5,000 in scholarship money from
three different schools; Universal Technical College, School of Automotive Machinist
(SAM), and Ohio Technical College. Thank you to Summit Racing for your sponsorship and
congratulations to the Peach County High School Engine Building Team and their Instruc
tor Johnny Rickerson.