Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday,
February 23,2021
barnesville.com Barnesville, Ga.
30204
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
VOTE
★ ★★★★
Early
voting
underway
Early voting got un
derway Monday in the
March 16 special elec
tion. On the ballot are
the ESPLOST referendum
and the vote to choose
a successor to late chief
magistrate judge Karen
Rhyne Henson.
Advance ballots may
be cast daily at the elec
tions office in the court
house annex through
June 5. Hours are 8 a.m.
-12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.
- 5 p.m.
As of press time Mon
day, elections superinten
dent Anita Reid and her
staff had served 23 early
voters and mailed out
seven absentee ballots
of which none had been
returned.
Clear signs with
Lyon College
SEE PAGE 6A
Cc
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
Three generations
of educators
and midwives
SEE PAGE 7A
Subscribe. Your name goes
on the label in this box
County
array
commission okays solar panel
on Crawley Rd. near Milner
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
After hearing concerns from
a room full of opponents dur
ing a long, contentious public
hearing, the Lamar County
commission voted 3-1 Feb. 16 to
approve a solar farm on 132.61
acres north of Milner. The
commission granted a special
exception to the current AR
(agricultural-residential) zoning
to allow the installation of ap
proximately 83,000 solar panels.
Commissioner Ryran Traylor
cast the lone dissenting vote.
The site fronts Crawley
Road and is bisected by Cot
tage Road. It lies east
of the railroad line
and off Old Hwy. 41
near the burned out
Lighthouse Restaurant
location. According to
tax records, the land is owned
by TMJ Investments, LLC. The
registered agent is Theresia Hall
of Pine Mountain, Ga.
TRAYLOR
The opponents detailed
concerns about loss of property
value, erosion, pollution and
the loss of the rural nature of
the property.
The project was presented
by developers Mark McCook
and Chris McCook and solar
installation consultants Dennis
Zabala and Christopher Powell.
They displayed a model panel
at the meeting and said the
project will involve a $30435
million investment.
They hope to sell electricity
to Georgia Power but needed
the zoning out of the way in or
der to apply for a program the
giant utility offers.
The pollution concern in
volved cadmium which was pre
viously used in panels.
Commission chairman
Charles Glass said he
had researched cadmi
um prior to approving
two other solar farms
in recent years. Neither of those
projects were built out and no
GLASS
THRASH
one at the meeting knew why.
“Cadmium is not an issue,”
Glass said.
Noting that zoning is the
hardest thing commissioners
do, Nancy Thrash said she had
researched the project thor
oughly. “People have
the right to utilize
their property to the
fullest extent. No one
(at the hearing) spoke
of Mr. McCook’s right
to utilize his property,” Thrash
said.
She also said McCook had
agreed to conditions, including
fencing and buffers. “1 don’t see
a reason to deny him the right
to do this on his property,”
Thrash added.
Commissioner Bennie Horton
was worried about heat genera
tion. There is none in
modern arrays, the de
velopers said. He also
was concerned about
clean-up at the array’s
HORTON end of life.
“What else are we going to
tell Mr. McCook he can’t do with
his property,” com
missioner Bob Heiney
asked? He noted Mc
Cook could put in a
subdivision or trailer
park which would be
worse. “This project has no
noise, no traffic and, once the
trees (on the buffer) grow, you
won’t even be able to see it,”
Heiney added.
Traylor suggested the trees
be planted now to speed up hid
ing the project.
The array was approved
with conditions. The entire site
must be fenced and buffers
established with trees planted
by Jan. 1, 2022 where there are
currently no trees. The LLC
must also return the site to its
current state if the solar farm
is not developed or falls into
disuse in the future.
HEINEY
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
State tournament basketball action here tonight
Star Tamya Blasingame (12) and the rest of the Lady Trojans will host the Swainsboro Tigers in the first round of the Class AA state basketball tournament
here tonight. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The Tigers (10-9, 6-6) are the number three seed from Region 2AA. LC (17-5,10-2) is the number two seed from Region
3AA.
The Lady Trojans are ranked #7 in the latest Sandy’s Spiel poll. Swainsboro is unranked. The winner of tonight’s game will face the winner of the Putnam
County-Early County game in round two. Early County is ranked #1 in the state.
Chief magistrate candidates tell views at Milner forum
ENGLISH KUNST MASON WILLIAMSON
KAY S. PEDR0TTI
kayspedrotti@gmail.com
Editor's note: Due to our commitment to
thoroughness, this story is extensive. It has
been broken into two parts. This is part one.
Part two will be published in the March 2,
2021 edition.
At a recorded forum Feb.
20 at the Milner library, the
four men running for the office
of Lamar County chief mag
istrate judge told personal
backgrounds, stated reasons
why they should be elected,
honored their opponents with
compliments and maintained a
low-key, civil atmosphere.
The candidates are Jeff
Mason, Gordon Police chief and
professor; Shannon Williamson,
Lamar County sheriff’s deputy
and lead evidence custodian;
Arthur (Brutz) English, former
lawyer and city of Barnesville
code enforcement officer, and
Paul Kunst, local businessman
who opened his law practice
four years ago.
Milner City Council member
Michael Floyd organized and
chaired the forum, at which the
Herald Gazette was present;
but the event was not open to
the general public. Floyd said
the entire proceedings were
“live-streamed,” and will be
available on the Lamar County
discussion page on Facebook.
Here are the questions and the
candidates’ answers. (Note:
both may have been condensed
but unchanged in purpose or
meaning.)
Floyd opened the discussion
with a brief synopsis of the role
of chief mag
istrate judge,
which may
cover both
criminal and
civil proceed
ings.
Question
1: For voters
who may not
know you all, please state your
name, work history and educa
tion background.
Jeff Mason, 53: work in both
law enforcement and education;
resident of Georgia since com
ing here with the Army at age
17; married, four children; FBI
Academy graduate; law enforce
ment career spans 31 years and
includes courtroom experience;
all experiences were helpful in
obtaining a master’s degree in
public administration and then
becoming a teacher and instruc
tor.
Shannon Williamson, 46:
Lamar County resident since
1984; honor graduate of military
police academy and have been
in law enforcement for 22 years,
17 of them in Lamar County.
Married to Reba Williamson 25
years, two children, 21 and 23.
SEE MILNER FORUM 5A
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