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Abreu off ventilator, out of nursing home and jailed without bond WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville Former Barnesville municipal court judge Henry Abreu was arrest ed April 23 after checking himself out of Harbor- view Nursing Home in Thomaston. At last re port, Abreu, no stranger to law enforcement, had been on a ventilator and headed to hospice care after ingesting a quantity of meth during a drug raid at his home at 123 Stafford Ave. in Barnes ville March 31. According to Lt. Chad Payne of the LCSO, Abreu came off the ventilator at some point, checked himself out and was waiting on a ride when he was arrested by Dep. John Thurman. He is now being held in the Lamar jail. Bond was denied at a first appearance hearing over the weekend. Abreu is charged with distribution of meth within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of meth with intent to distribute, trafficking in meth, tampering with evidence, obstruction, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of drug related objects and possession of marijuana. Tuesday, April 27,2021 Hgraltr <©a?ett£ 3A Henry Abreu arrives at the Lamar County jail Friday in the custody of Dep. John Thurman. Abreu was arrested after checking himself out of a Thomaston nursing home. He is jailed without bond on multiple drug charges. Silver Dollar Road back in county spotlight WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com After a 50-minute public hearing on a zon ing variance for a new driveway off Silver Dollar Road for an expansion of Zoe Pediatrics April 20, the Lamar County com mission voted to table the matter for at least a month and study safety issues. Citizens at the hearing noted this was the third or fourth time such a driveway has been proposed and they had to fight it. They noted the road floods and log trucks have destroyed the pavement, creating multiple hazards. Dicksie Duval, who lives at 145 Silver Dollar Rd., brought up mul tiple issues, including the steep grade of the proposed driveway and its proximity to a sharp curve. “Log trucks tore up our road. The county can’t get it repaired. This will just make it worse,” Duval said. Deborah Johnston, who lives at 253 Silver Dollar Rd., said she bought her land in 1975 and built there in 1978 when the road was still dirt. “Once the road was paved, through traffic increased. We need a ‘no thru trucks’ sign. We have tractor- trailers out there now. That driveway is going to be dangerous. Coming off the four-lane, people cross the center line. Somebody will get hurt,” Johnston told the com mission. Kristina Peterson, who lives right across from the proposed expansion at 129 Silver Dollar Rd., noted James Williams promised to put up a tree buffer when he built the current building which housed a funeral home in “Log trucks tore up our road. The county can’t get it repaired. This will just make it worse. ” -Dicksie Duval 2001. “There has never been a buffer. There are visibil ity issues. The proposed driveway is near a school bus stop. People are constantly speeding there. They are always on the wrong side of the road. Chil dren ride bikes there,” Peterson said in voicing her opposition. Paul Proud, who lives at 123 Silver Dollar Rd., compared the situation to the now-defunct Fred’s wanting a driveway onto Murphey Ave. in Barnes ville. “That was never ap proved. This will be a blind drive no matter where he puts it. This is the third or fourth time we’ve done this,” Proud said. He alleged he had a county official tell him, “Oh, it’s progress. Deal with it”. Tommy Sizemore, who lives at 149 Silver Dollar Rd., presented the com mission with a petition signed by 31 residents opposing the driveway. “We don’t want a commercial driveway on a residential road. He is open 13 hours a day. That is a lot of traffic for a residential road. This is merely a convenience for him. It is not a ne cessity,” Sizemore argued. Richard Adams, pas tor of a nearby church, brought up water issues. “We already have flood ing on both sides of this. The culvert is not suffi cient. The county has the responsibility to keep the road safe. If you have to have the driveway take care of the water and make it safe before some one gets hurt,” Adams implored. Daniel Long, who lives at 199 Silver Dollar Rd., questioned the need for the driveway. “Silver Dol lar is just a cut through. None of his patients live on our road,” he alleged. Jodi Sizemore told the commission there are three active farms still on the road and she and others traverse it pulling livestock trailers. “This is a residential/agri culture road. We want to stay an agricultural com munity,” Sizemore said. Larry Walker, who lives at 256 Silver Dollar Rd., said he had lived on the road longer than anyone. “When 1 moved there, it was a good road. It had a wooden bridge. Now it is just a cut through to Hwy. 36. People don’t want to use the 36 bypass,” Walker said. Dr. Wayne Kong, who is seeking the variance, said his office had been in a portion of the old funeral home for eight years and three doc tors see 60-70 patients a day. He is building an additional building to house a treatment facility for autistic kids using a program that has been successful in his Colum bus operations. “1 had no idea there would be this much re sistance to this simple request. 1 did not realize it would stir up a hornet’s nest,” he said. Kong told the commission public works su pervisor James Rigdon picked the loca tion for the driveway. “1 have been listen ing carefully. Whatever decision you make, 1 will honor it but 1 still desire the driveway,” Kong said. Commissioner Nancy Thrash moved the county table the issue for a month and got unani mous support from her colleagues. “This is a dangerous area. 1 heard things to night that 1 did not know. We need to look at the in tersection as a whole and solve the safety issues,” Thrash concluded. “This is the third or fourth time we’ve done this. ” -Paul Proud “This is a residential/ agriculture road. We want to stay an agricul tural commu nity. ’’ -Jodi Sizemore County sees financial stability on horizon WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com The Lamar County commission voted April 20 to authorize a bank line of credit, known as a tax anticipation note (TAN), for $2 million but held out hope the funds won’t be needed. “This is the latest in the year we have had to bring this up. We don’t need it yet but we may. We need it in place,” chairman Charles Glass said. He noted the TAN last year was $3.8 million and the county is mak ing progress in the right direction. “I hope we can get away from TAN com pletely next year,” county administrator Sean Townsend added. In other action, the county: •Agreed to a change its phones over to VOIP using a com pany called Ring Central. The move should cut GLASS the phone bill from around $3,200 per month to just under $1,800 per month. The switch will take some time to implement. •Renewed its health insurance V policy with NFP Health Broker ® though the premium will increase by TOWNSEND 17%. ------ •Appointed Mattie Drake to replace Mildred Merchant on the board of appeals. •Proclaimed April Confederate History and Heritage Month. •Proclaimed National Nurses Week. •Approved its portion of the Towaliga circuit court budget. The total budget is increasing by about $24,000. These costs are associated with superior court, juvenile court and drug court operations. •Okayed the purchase of an $8,400 sweeper to attach to existing paving equipment. •Approved routine minutes. •Approved the first reading of a financial policy ordinance. •Approved the sec ond reading of a timber harvest ordinance. •Accepted the dean nexation of property from Milner. The prop erty is owned by Rudy Vaughn. •Heard from com missioner Thrash who thanked those who expressed sympathy following the recent death of her grandchild but with reservations. “We have some people who use social media to prey on others. It is a sad situation,” Thrash said of certain online discussion pages. THRASH Judge Kunst sworn in SUBMITTED Paul Kunst (left) was sworn in as Lamar County’s chief magistrate judge April 17 after his special election runoff victory. He is pictured with his wife Penny (center) and probate judge Kathy Martin. Milner council discusses Woodall Estates development WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com After an inquiry from new resident David Stelsad, the Milner city council spent some time discussing the Woodall Estates subdivision at its regular meeting April 19. Mayor pro tern George Weldon presided in the absence of mayor Andy Marlowe. Also missing were former council member Vickie Smith who resigned last month and city administrator Tausha Grose. Weldon explained Woodall Estates was approved in 2006 and roads, sewer and water were put in. Then came P e. the econom- f ic collapse N | and the 1 subdivision * ~ £ has gone to /Sjf'V seed since with only one resident calling it home. A Canadian com pany has now bought the development and hopes WELDON to resuscitate it, Weldon added. “Our new engineer is studying it and working with the new company. We are evaluating it,” Weldon told Stelsad. In other action, the council: •Discussed committee appointments. The city has three committees but no one wants to serve on them, the council lament ed. Several ideas were bandied about regarding how to fill those slots. •Approved the second reading of its nuisance and stormwater manage ment ordinances. •Approved routine minutes. •Briefly discussed financial reports from the city and library. •Approved the police report. Deputies put in 2503 miles patrolling in vehicles and made three arrests, two of them for felonies, last month. It was noted that officers are seeing more and more drugs in Milner. t!lip era lb (Dapettr barnesville.com Milner will fill empty council post with vote in Nov. general election WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com The Milner city coun cil formally accepted the resignation of council- woman Vickie Smith at its regular meeting April 19. Smith resigned due to a “change in life circum stances” last month. The council agreed to call a special election to fill her term and have it coincide with the general election in November. COVID-19: Lamar adds one death Lamar County had 1,340 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of the April 25 update from DPH. That number is up from 1,326 cases April 18. Lamar has had 119 coronavirus related hospitalizations. Lamar added one COVID death, that of a 63-year- old white male, to run its total to 45. As of Monday, sheriff Brad White was tracking 33 positive cases at 22 local residences. Local COVID-19 numbers and those from surround ing counties are updated daily at barnesville.com.