Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, February 2,2021
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
barnesville.com
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
First female
school supt.
in Georgia?
From the Feb. 3, 1921
edition of The News
Gazette:
The Lamar County
schools will soon be
moving in good shape, if
the way the new board
of education and the su
perintendent are getting
down to their work is any
indication.
The board met Tues
day with all members
present. Miss Mattie
Tyus, perhaps the first
woman superintendent
in Georgia, was present,
had the oath of office
administered to her by
the Ordinary and im
mediately went into the
consideration of various
school problems with the
board.
(This is the last in a series of Cen
tennial Minutes published to salute
the formation of lamar County 100
years ago. You can continue to follow
the saga in the look Back feature
published weekly on the editorial
page.)
AMERICAN RED CROSS
O BLOOD
DRIVE
Blood
drive a
success
The Red Cross Blood
Drive held here Jan. 28
was deemed a success by
Charles Glass who spear
heads collection efforts
here.
“Last year we got 44
units at our January
drive. The Red Cross set
our goal for this month at
46 units. We collected 53
units. We had seven Pow
er Red donors, our most
ever,” Glass reported.
The drive was spon
sored by the Rotary Club,
Women’s League and
First United Methodist
Church. The next drive is
set for March 25.
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LC welcomes new coach;
wing-T offense will return
The Ellington family was introduced at a called school board meeting
Jan. 26. They are (l-r) Tootie and Travis Ellington and their sons Whitt and
Levi.
WALTER GEIGER
news@bamesville.com
Lamar County welcomed
Travis Ellington as head
football coach last week. The
school board voted unani
mously to hire Ellington at a
called meeting Jan. 26.
“We did three-hour inter
views with 14 candidates. His
name kept rising to the top,”
LCHS principal David Boland
told the board.
“1 am super excited and
blessed. 1 want my players to
be great men and to come back
here and be great husbands
and fathers. I’m excited to
have the opportunity,” Elling
ton said.
New board member James
Butler told Ellington he was
concerned about how long the
new coach would stay in the
position, noting tenure has
been an issue with the last sev
eral head football coaches.
“We don’t like to move. I’m
picky about where 1 apply. 1
have applied for this job be
fore. I like the town. I want to
build a program and finish my
career here,” Ellington coun
tered.
Becky Taylor, sports editor
at The Tifton Gazette, reported
Ellington was “beloved” in his
native Tift County. He played
football at Tift County, East
Mississippi Community Col
lege and Greenville College in
Greenville, Illinois.
He was an assistant at
Irwin County and defensive
coordinator at Swainsboro,
Toombs County and Forsyth
Central. He also has been a
head wrestling coach and won
a state title as track coach at
Swainsboro in 2007. A special
education teacher, Ellington
was system-wide Teacher of
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
the Year in Toombs County.
Ellington spent time last
week meeting with Trojan
players and current assistant
coaches. He plans to change
up the offense.
“We will be running the
wing-T offense and a multiple
front defense. 1 am in the pro
cess of interviewing coaches
now on staff and coaches to
come in and work for us. We
are excited and ready to get
there and ready to get start
ed,” Ellington concluded.
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
Lady Trojans rolling
LC’s Shakiria Foster (10) works inside against a Bleckley County defender during a key 59-51 region win at the
local gym last week. The Lady Trojans (15-4, 8-1) are atop the Region 3-AA standings with three games left in the
regular season. (See story on page 3A)
Georgia to receive more vaccines from federal government
The federal government
announced Jan. 26 that Georgia
will begin receiving around
25,000 more COV1D-19 vaccines
weekly. This is a 16% increase
from the previous allotment
of 120,000 doses each week,
bringing the new weekly total
to 145,900 doses.
On a record high day,
Georgia reported that 71,307
additional vaccines have been
administered. The state has
distributed 56.7% of the total
vaccines which have been
shipped by the federal govern
ment.
For more information, go to
https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-
vaccine.
Vaccine .
w- 4
Elections board:
English can run
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
Arthur (Brutz) English can
continue his campaign for mag
istrate judge after the Board of
Elections voted
unanimously
not to challenge
his eligibility at
a hearing Jan.
27. The hear
ing opened with
board vice-chair
man Bill Christo
pher explaining that the entire
board serves as the superin
tendent of elections by statute.
Anita Reid is the hired supervi
sor of elections. He noted the
board was in possession of
information and opinions from
district attorney Jonathan Ad
ams and legal counsel from the
Secretary of State’s office that
English was not eligible. Only a
registered Lamar County voter
or the elections superintendent
(meaning the entire board) can
SEE ENGLISH CAN RUN 3A
LCSO, BPD
bust entering
auto "gang”
Five arrests have been made
in a rash of entering auto cases
that have plagued the com
munity in recent
weeks. “Numer
ous pistols, rifles,
credit and debit
cards have been
stolen,” sheriff
Brad White said.
Investigators
from the Barnes
ville Police
Department
and the sheriff’s
office worked
together to iden
tify suspects. “Lt.
Belinda Penamon
with the police
department was
instrumental in
breaking the case
and identifying
two of the sus
pects,” the sheriff
added.
Those arrested
were Audarion
Napier, 17, Darius
Bentley, 19,
Chaderien Driver,
20, Shelton
Watkins, 20, and
one unidentified
juvenile.
Some of those
arrested have
identified on
social media as being in a gang.
“If that is confirmed, we will
charge them under Georgia’s
gang statute. That requires a
mandatory minimum sentence
of five years in addition to the
sentences for their convictions.
We will not tolerate gangs or
gang activity in Lamar County,”
the sheriff concluded.
m.
BENTLEY
DRIVER
WATKINS
ENGLISH
Peaches to
Beaches
postponed
The world’s longest yard
sale, Peaches to Beaches, has
been postponed due to CO-
VID-19. The event, which was
scheduled for March 14-15, will
be held August 6-7 if conditions
have improved.
The annual yard sale is
conducted along the length of
Hwy. 341 from Barnesville to
the Georgia coast.
©2021 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS