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2A ®[)£ Heraltr <§a?£tt£ Tuesday, January 12,2021 Citizen wants no change in name for 12th Street THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER Child lifeflighted after golf cart incident First responders load a boy into an Air Life medi cal evacuation chopper at a makeshift landing zone in a field off Morgan Dairy Road Jan. 3. The juvenile, whose last name is Wallace, was the passenger in a golf cart when the driver, a juvenile named Smallwood, applied the brakes to avoid a car on Liberty Trace. Wallace was thrown from the cart and injured. His mother reported Thursday he is at home and recovering well. “We are thankful for the Butts County EMS, Lamar deputies and EMS, all the Lamar County volunteers and the Air Life crew that responded to the call,” Ashley Wallace said. KAY S. PEDROTTI news@barnesville.cam Barnesville City Coun cil will discuss the matter of changing the name of 12th Street to Annie M. Harris Street at its next two council meetings. The change had been scheduled for an or dinance as requested by councilman Chris Hightower, said Mayor Peter Banks. The ordi nance procedure would be followed by a first reading in Febru ary and a second reading in March. Pamela Smith, whose BANKS HIGHTOWER UPSON Regional Medical Center *Not an actual patient* Experience and Advanced Technology close to home. Our staff is"A"mazing! We're proud to announce we scored an A for our Leapfrog Safety Score. family she described with three others as the “founding families” of 12th St., was on the agenda to speak to the council about the 12th street residents’ objec tions to the renaming. Hightower had asked for the renaming, but no official action had been taken. “The remaining residents there,” Smith said, “are the ones who made a community on 12th street, and were and are important to the city today.” The families cited by Smith were Jones, Wim berly, Brown and Smith. She said that at one time there had been two pub lic swimming pools there, and “every home had a garden.” If the name is changed, Smith added, “it would be like erasing history.” She said she would re turn for the next council meeting. During his report, councilman Bill Claxton called attention to what appears to be “a clogged pipe” at 726 Greenwood St. The pipe problem will continue to flow excess water onto Greenwood unless it is taken care of, Claxton said. Other council reports called for a conference with county authorities to discuss what appears to be a lack of ambulance coverage in the city, and some public works ques tions. In other business, the council: Ap proved a resolution designat ing mayor Banks and acting city manager Tim Turner as city officials COVID-19: c * ^ WHITWORTH MCDANIEL CLAXTON TURNER for handling any matters concerning the MEAG trust for member cities. Set the qualifying fee for council seats now held by Christopher Hightower, Ward 2; Larry Whitworth, Ward 4, and Butch McDaniel, Ward 5. The fee is $45 per candidate for any one who qualifies to run in the November election. Ap proved the application process for a Community Development Block Grant of $750,000 to continue water and sewer im provements toward Jackson Street. Appointed Irvin Trice to the Three Rivers Re gional Commission for a one-year term. Voted Christopher Hightower as mayor pro tern for 2021. Mayor Banks asked for prayers of city man ager David Rose (after the meeting Rose died on January 9). See the obituary on page 5A. ROSE Virus spike continues as Lamar reports 94 new cases At Upson, our patients'safety is always a critical component in everything we do. This dedication to keeping our patients safe has just been recognized with a Leapfrog Score of"A"for safety. Patient safety and our resulting A Score means protecting our patients from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. And to that end, two major accomplishments we've attained are: No Ventilator Associated Events or Hospital Acquired C. Diff cases. Receiving such a high score makes us proud. Keeping you safe also makes us very happy. NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED Lamar County was reported as having 952 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of the Jan. 10 update from DPH. That number is up from 858 cases Jan. 3. Lamar has had 66 coronavirus related hospitalizations. The community also re corded its 28th COVID-19 fatality last week - that of a 60-year-old white male. As of early Monday, sheriff Brad White was tracking 171 positive cases at 138 local resi dences. Local COVID-19 numbers and those from surrounding counties are updated daily at barnes ville.com. LEAPFROG HOSPITAL SAFETY FALL 2020 GRADE GSC delays start of classes to Jan. 25 I UPSON Regional Medical Center & The big-city hospital that's right in your backyard After approval from the University System of Georgia (USG), Gordon State College adjusted the start of spring semes ter classes to Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Originally set for a Wednesday, January 13 start back date, GSC will begin classes on Jan. 25 instead with move-in to residence dorms set for Sunday, Jan. 24. With a streamlined approach to the spring semester, classes would end on Monday, May 3, and still maintain the appropriate level of contact hours (i.e., instructional min utes per credit hour) as identified by the USG and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. “After careful and thoughtful consideration of our campus communi ty, we view this decision as the right move to take for the continued health and wellbeing of High lander Nation,” said Dr. Kirk A. Nooks, president of GSC. “In light of the current national, regional and local public health situation, we remain committed to a spring semester that can start and end successfully.” Nooks said by delay ing the start of spring classes by approximately two weeks, GSC will use the time to gather addi tional data on the health status of the Highlander Nation population fol lowing the holiday break, including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday break of January 16-18. He said one prior ity given to this revised approach will be to conduct class sessions during the previously scheduled spring break, which was set for March 15-19, as well as adding a maximum of two asyn chronous class meetings (depending on the class schedule). Since the return to campus on January 4 fol lowing the holiday break, Gordon State College has continued to monitor the case numbers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of regional school districts and other institutions have made similar decisions to alter the start of the semester. For updates and ad ditional information, visit the GSC web site a gordonstate.edu and so cial media on Facebook (@GordonStateCollege #GSCHighlandersFor- ward), on Twitter (@Gor- donState) and Instagram (Gordon state). Leading new life-saving cardiac intervention program at Upson Regional Medical Center starting December 2020 Treatment of heart failure, rhythm disorders, and preventive cardiac care Varicose leg vein treatment including radiofrequency ablation /jP CARDIOLOGY 612. W. Gordon St. (Suite C) Thomaston, Ga Ryan Macwar, M.D. 706-646-5712 Help welcome the first local baby of2021! Each new year, The Herald Gazette features the first baby born to Lamar County parents. Help us welcome the first baby of 2021 with a feature story and photos. Call the newspaper office at 770-358-6397, email us at news@barnesville.com or stop by The Herald Gazette office on Greenwood Street to share the news.