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HOSTING PLAYOFFS s Trojans, Lady Trojans win region SEEPAGES 2A, 1B IT’LL BE IN PERSON Gordon will hold in person commencement May 14 SEE PAGE 5A Tuesday, April 20,2021 Barnesville, Ga. 30204 HERE’S THE SCOOP Dick Esco to be awarded Golden Eagle Dick Esco will be re ceiving the Golden Eagle Award for Lamar County from the Boy Scouts of America May 22. The awards banquet is set for the civic center DICK ESCO at 6:30 p.m. Esco, is retired from Georgia Farm Bureau and is very active with the local chamber of commerce and other organizations. He has served for de cades as the chairman of Buggy Days. Mayor Peter Banks is chairman of the awards committee. For tickets or more information, call Banks at 404.433.0224 or BSA district execu tive Rebekah Florence at 770.468.4479. Debuting columnist Chris Walter Debuting in this edition of The Herald Gazette is new columnist Chris Walter. Chris is a Barnesville native, son of a Susan Wal ter and the late Doug Walter. An artist and author, Chris lives in Alpharet- CHRIS WALTER tawith his wife Ursula and son Abner. He is the author of ‘Southern Glitter”, a humorous collection of stories that are the by product of growing up and living in Barnesville. His work is on display at kudzuandclay.com. His column will appear periodically. Dedication set Rock Springs Church will hold a dedication service for their 120 foot cross at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 16. Subscribe. Your name goes on the label in this box BBQ.fir' Blues gets rave reviews The 2021 BBQ& Blues Fes tival came to a close Saturday night with highly positive feedback from cook teams and music fans. Veteran participant Bob Parker was among those sing ing the event’s praises. “1 have been coming to Barnesville for a long time. Back in its FBA days, 1 both judged and cooked for many years. This was the most memorable and fun time I’ve had. Y’all did a great job,” Parker said. The Smokin’ the Good Stuff team was the grand champion. Reserve grand champion went to Robby Royal of Rescue Smokers. Local Taster’s Alley winners included Scott Leverett of Blue Bear Restoration, the Kiwanis Club and Robyn Underwood of Bakery on Main. Chamber president Melissa Lee was catching her breath Monday as clean-up continued. She said music lovers gave high marks to the Friday con cert. “All we have gotten are rave reviews. I think it was a huge success in spite of a lack of volunteers from what we are used to and the pandemic,” Lee concluded. THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER Great music, yummy tastes BBQ & Blues re turned after a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19 and brought big crouds to Barnesville in the process. Those who took in the festival heard great music and feasted on barbecue and all the trimmings. Barnesville's own Ca leb Anthony (top) was among those perform ing at Friday night's free concert which drew a very large crowd. It was held in conjunction with the Taster's Alley competition. Barbecue was the featured event Satur day and Max Tileson (left) rolled in from his baseball game in time to chow down on some tasty ribs. Abreu bound for hospice; taxpayers not footing the bill Former Barnesville mu nicipal judge Henry Abreu remained a patient at Upson Regional Medical Center at press time Monday but will be trans ferred to a hos pice facility once bed space is available. Abreu, 66, was hospitalized after in gesting a quantity of meth dur ing a drug raid at his Stafford Avenue home March 31. At last report he was on a ventilator. Warrants for Abreu were not taken until after the raid and his ingestion of the drugs, therefore he is not a Lamar County prisoner. This is an important detail in that local taxpayers are not funding his medical care, according to Lt. Chad Payne of the LCSO. HENRY ABREU High speed chase ends in crash, arrest A 23-year-old Barnesville man was arrested on multiple charges after a high-speed chase April 15 that began on Hwy. 36 East, continued on 1-75 at speeds of up to 150 mph., and ended with a crash on Unionville Road. Dep. Justyn Weaver was observing traffic on Hwy. 36 near Van Mar Park at just be fore 8:30 p.m. when he spotted a white Chevy Camaro with a headlight out. He attempted to stop the Camaro but it fled into Butts County and onto 1-75 South with Weaver in pursuit. The driver was later identi fied as Shamar Harden Tyus of 399 Atlanta Street. His pas senger was Jeco- ria Sims. Weaver noted in his report he was run ning 133 m.p.h. on 1-75 and the Camaro was pulling away. Tyus exited onto High Falls Park Road and then turned onto Unionville Road. He attempted to enter private property but hit a bar across a gate that then hit Weaver’s pa trol car. The Camaro hit a tree and overturned and Weaver’s vehicle rolled into it. Tyus exited the vehicle through the back glass. He was held at gunpoint until backup arrived. Neither Tyus or Sims was seriously injured. Deputies later found marijuana where Tyus slowed briefly at one point during the chase. Some unidentified pills and a hand gun were found in the Camaro. Tyus went to jail charged with two super speeder viola tions, no headlights, fleeing and attempting to elude, improper lane change, reckless driving, no seatbelt, posses sion of marijuana, drugs not in original container, possession of a firearm during the com mission of a crime, two counts DU1, failure to stop, improper passing, striking a fixed object, interference with government property, hit and run, litter ing and failure to exercise due care. Kunst tops Mason in magistrate race Paul Kunst took just under 59% of the vote April 13 to best Jeff Mason in the race for chief magistrate judge. The certified results, released Friday, showed Kunst with 1,016 votes to 711 for Mason. Only 1,727 of Lamar’s 13,153 registered voters bothered to cast ballots, a turnout of 13.13%. Kunst was sworn-in Saturday by Judge Kathy Martin and he was on the job Monday. JUDGEKUNST ©2021 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS