Newspaper Page Text
Issue 8 Thursday, FEBRUARY 24, 2022
The Voice of Crawford County Since 1921
also serving Byron and Peach County
1 Section 10 Pages, 3 Inserts One Dollar
QUItTOQ QlliT
Because of a basketball game, not all of the softball team was in attendance. Those attending are pictured with coaches and board of education members.
BY KRISTI WATKINS
The Georgia Post
It was recognition evening
for the CCHS softball team
and coaches by Crawford
County School Board last
week with plaques presented
on their outstanding year. The
softball team made history
making it to the Elite 8 for
Crawford County Schools.
Crawford County High
School will be receiving a
new turf field in the near
future. The board approved
to use SPLOST funds for the
$200,000 increase from the
$300,000; funds originally
approved coming from the
Capital Project Funds.
Since the SPLOST is doing
well according to Lowe and
they are above their project
budget for the year paying
bonds, Raymond Dickey sug
gested using SPLOST funds
for the $200,000 increase
for the additional padding
under the turf. A $700,000
donation from Thunder Bay
Foundation will complete the
funds needed to give the high
school a state of the art field
for football and soccer.
A timeline is unknown
when the turf will be installed
due to many schools upgrad
ing their fields to turf as well.
Lowe will have to get informa
tion and a timeline from the
company to give to the board.
There will be a new struc
ture in personnel heading
the schools in the new school
year. After discussion from
two of the board members
on having only one princi
pal at the new middle/high
school, the board passed the
new structure 3-2. Two of
the board members stated
the new middle/high school
should have two principals,
with Lowe explaining there
needs to be one person in
charge of all faculty; not two
as he has explained in other
meetings.
The structure will consist of
one principal and two assis
tant principalsfone middle;
one high school). There will
be one principal and one
assistant principal at the ele
mentary school. The Primary
School will have one principal
and one assistant principal.
There will be a CTAE Director
and Athletic Director and a
Director of Success Academy.
The decision will increase
positions by one.
Superintendent Brent Lowe
addressed the board with
Policy Manual revisions ac
cording to the GSBA. Several
changes were made due to
wording or were outdated and
no longer used. The proposed
changes to the Policy Manual
is now available on the board
website for public viewing.
The adoption will be voted on
in the March meeting.
When discussing the finan
cials, questions were brought
to Lowe about the school
board taxes and when the
update will be added. Lowe
explained he had talked to
the county tax commissioner
and stated, “They are working
with new software and still
working out the kinks.”
Board member Al Hatch
er brought up conversation
about the assistant principal
supplement which still had
not been addressed after four
meetings. Lowe stated he
looked for the approval from
the board, but it was never
voted on which Vice Chair
man Tim Johnson also stated
he could not find the vote in
the minutes.
Chairman Raymond Dickey
stated they approved it in
the budget meeting; but the
actual vote was not cast in a
regular meeting. Dickey stated
it was in the budget to pay the
assistant principals with Lowe
stating they did not officially
approve the supplement.
Hatcher stated the problem
needs to be resolved since
they assistant principals have
not had an increase since
1992.
Currently, there is a range
of pay for assistant principals
along with other supplements
for coaches. Jackson DeFore,
Hatcher and Johnson under
stood why they had the range
scale and stated they need to
review all supplements with
ranges in a meeting.
Lowe was asked if there had
been any problems with the
new equipment at the middle/
high school. Lowe explained
one piece of equipment to
malfunction due to the city’s
water being so clean and
pure, the filter wasn’t catching
anything, so the equipment
malfunctioned.
FBLA re-emerges at high school
Above are four members of the 15 member FBLA club at CCHS. This is the first Future
Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at CCHS in over 20 years. They have accomplished
many goals and plan on more. They attended the Fall Rally at Perry Fair in October and
are going to attend the Spring Conference at the Hyatt in Atlanta. They sponsored a food
drive for a local church at Thanksgiving and a Toy Drive at Christmas. They have pro
vided breakfast for faculty/staff three times. They have received cash gifts during club
meetings and won over $500 in EOPA fast cash in Smith’s Business Class. The faculty
advisor is Brannen Smith, Mercer University and Stetson School of Business in 1989.
From left: Lance Tingle, Christian Braswell, Noah Willard, and Da’Nasia Preston Officers
are: Da’Nasia Preston- President, Jada Neeley- Vice President, and Elizabeth O’neal- Sec
retary.
Rep. Dickey will seek re-election
State Representative Robert Dickey
announced his re-election cam
paign for the Georgia House of
Representatives on Thursday.
Representative Dickey, farmer
and agribusiness man, chairs
the House Agriculture and Con
sumer Affairs Committee. He
also serves on Appropriations,
Banks and Banking, Energy,
Utilities and Telecommunica
tions, Higher Education, Natu
ral Resources and Environment
and Way and Means Committees.
Speaker Ralston also appointed him
to serve on the Agricultural Exposition
Authority Overview Committee and
the Agricultural Education Advisory
Commission. Representative Dickey is
currently serving his sixth term
in the Georgia House of Repre
sentatives.
With his son and his wife,
Representative Dickey owns
Dickey Farms, Inc., a peach,
imber and agritourism farm
hat has been in his family
since 1897. Dickey Farms is a
ocal tradition that has support
ed our local community and
created jobs for generations of
local families. He is also a member of
the Middle Ocmulgee Regional Water
Planning Council and a board member
and past President of the Crawford
See DICKEY, pane 6
County manager recommends
new youth center for CDBG
BY CASEY MOORE
The Georgia Post
Fabian Hollis, County
manager wants to start
work on the Community
Development Block Grant
(CDBG) for 2022 by June
or July, and gave a recom
mendation on a project at
last week’s meeting of the
Crawford County Board of
Commissioners.
There is a list, not a
complete list, of around
42 different items that can
be applied for the CDBG
grant. Hollis recommends
the new youth center/
boys and girls club/4H
building for the grant. The
minimum to apply for the
grant is $750,000 up to $1
million. Hollis said he has
a building in mind that
would have four offices,
three conference rooms, a
full kitchen as well as a full
gymnasium. There was
even a recommendation of
a pool or at least a splash
pad for the kids. The
location for the new youth
center would be where
the current county shop is
located.
LMIG paving recommen
dations for 2022 the board
unanimously agreed on
the ranking of doing the
following roads: 1. Rumph
2. Whitaker 3. Collins
4. Rowland 5. Tribble 6.
Union Church 7. Rowell
8. Zenith Mill. Engineers
will be told to stop paving
once the cost has gotten
to $1 million. It should be
around 7-8 miles paved.
Roads 1-4 equals to 7.32
miles.
There was a discussion
of a RV Park. The RV Park
would possibly be to the
left side of the fuel station
at the recreation depart
ment. There would be
power, water, and dump
station. There would also
be a limited number of
days allowed for campers
to stay. More details will
be discussed at a later time
but to get things started
Hollis will need a layout
from the commissioners.
The county shop person
nel need to decide what is
needed for the new county
shop building and bring
it back to Hollis and they
are waiting on an engineer
and architect.
Hollis noted that the
animal shelter is set up
and has had at least one
dog every day until last
Monday.
Gideons make donation to fifth graders
The Gideons representatives,
Charles Allen and Steve Wid-
ener (pictured with Principal
Paris Raines), visited CCES
on February 17,2022, to
distribute pocket-sized New
Testament Bibles to the 5th
Grade students. Although no
Bibles were distributed by
the teachers, any 5th grader
who wished to receive one
did voluntarily accept one
from Gideons.