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NEWSPAPER FOLKS HAVE
UNIQUE PE
/ 4A
Tuesday, June 22,2021
barnesville.com
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
Freida Ham
dead
at age 91
Longtime Barnesville
businesswoman Freida
Ham died late Friday after
a brief illness. She was 91.
A native of Ellabell, she
married Bill Ham in 1955.
They moved to Barnes
ville and built a thriving
string of NAPA Auto Parts
stores in the region,
including the local opera
tion. Funeral services will
be held today at 2 p.m. at
First Baptist Church.
Life after
COVID:
A long
road to
recovery
SEE PAGE 9A
Early
deadlines
Due to Independence
Day on Sunday, July 4,
The Herald Gazette will
observe the holiday on
Monday, July 5. News and
advertising deadlines are
requested before noon
Thursday, July 2, in order
to be included the July 6
edition.
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Commissioners eye
single county TSPLOST
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
The Lamar County commis
sion is considering adding an
other one percent local option
sales tax which would raise the
local sales tax rate to eight per
cent. If approved by voters, the
money would be earmarked for
road improvements and other
transportation projects.
Sixty-four of Georgia’s 159
counties currently have such
sales taxes in place. They
are known as transportation
SPLOSTs (TSPLOSTs). Some
are regional but many are
single county taxes as pro
posed here.
The county is proceeding
with plans to include a refer
endum on the matter on the
November general election
ballot. Upson County col
lects TSPLOST funds and
Spalding County is placing
it on the ballot this year.
At the regular com
mission meeting June 15,
chairman Charles Glass
said the tax could bring in
$10 million over its five-
year lifespan.
“This would allow us to
triple our capacity to pave and
resurface roads in the county.
We could make some sorely
needed improvements,” Glass
said.
The basic state sales tax
is four percent and state law
caps the sales tax rate at eight
percent. Lamar currently
collects one percent in local
option sales tax which goes
into the general fund.
Another one percent
is collected in special
local option sales tax
which goes toward
projects approved by
voters.
The school board
also collects one per
cent in educational spe
cial local option sales
tax which is used for capital,
construction and improvement
projects. The ESPLOST was
just extended by voters earlier
this year.
The existing sales taxes
are currently bringing in
record amounts of cash into
the county and school board
coffers due to population and
economic growth.
GLASS
COVID-19 Stats in Lamar County
Feb. 'a March 'a
■ NEW CASES ■ DEATHS
WALTER GEIGER/FILE
The COVID-19 vaccine, along with natural immunity acquired by those who contracted the virus, have all but
stopped the spread of the virus here in Lamar County and health experts hope that trend continues.
What a difference two shots make
The COVID-19 vaccine,
along with natural immunity
acquired by those who con
tracted the virus, have all but
stopped the spread of the vi
rus here in Lamar County and
health experts hope that trend
continues. Health care workers
and first responders here were
offered vaccinations beginning
Dec. 21, 2020. Mass vaccina
tions began on Jan. 13, 2021.
At the end of 2020, Lamar
had reported 794 cases and
27 deaths. By the end of
January 2021, 1,147 cases had
been reported and 33 deaths
recorded.
The spread slowed as five
deaths and 102 new cases
were reported in February. By
the end of March, Lamar had
43 dead and 1,293 cases. The
community ended April with
1,342 cases and 45 deaths.
Over the seven-week period
since, Lamar has added only
27 cases and two deaths.
According to DPH, 5,160
Lamar countians have received
one dose of the vaccine. Of
those, 4696 are fully vacci
nated.
Charter's woes rile viewers here
Many Charter Spectrum
customers in and near Lamar’s
incorporated municipalities
and elsewhere were frustrated
much of last week by outages.
Charter’s internet service
was spotty at times but its
cable TV system was hard hit
and some still have no signal.
For most, resetting the cable
box fixed the problem but that
was not a universal remedy.
The company blamed work
on its system for the issues.
“While the majority of our
customers have been restored,
some cable customers are still
experiencing service inter
ruptions in the Barnesville
area as the company makes
improvements to its networks.
We appreciate our custom
ers’ patience as our teams are
working as quickly as possible
to finish the work and restore
service. Customers who have
been restored should contact
us to cancel any service calls
they have scheduled,” Char
ter regional communications
director Patti Michel said.
Forensic audit
still pending
Grand jury
recommends no
prosecution in
Milner probe
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
ADAMS
Phase one of the year-long
probe into the allegations of
wrongdoing by the Milner
city council came to a close
June 14 when the
Lamar County
grand jury heard
the case and
recommended no
indictments or
prosecution in the
matter. District
attorney Jonathan
Adams concurred with the
grand jury’s decision.
In a letter to GB1 special
agent Eric Pipkin, Adams
wrote, “After careful review of
the case, the Grand Jury and
1 believe there is insufficient
evidence to proceed with
prosecution.” Adams went
on to write there was insuf
ficient evidence to prove the
elements of fraud or financial
gain with regard to possible
charges of bribery, forgery or
malfeasance in office.
Adams emphasized that the
GBl’s forensic audit of Mil
ner’s financials has not been
completed and any charges
emanating from it would be
handled when it is completed.
At issue was council mem
ber George Weldon signing
a plat or plats
for subdivisions
in Milner in the
name of former
city administra
tor Harold Wilson
who is deceased.
Asked by The
Herald Gazette if
the plat or plats in question
are now void, Adams replied,
“It would be a matter for civil
court but the short answer
is probably not. What is ef
fected is the square footage
authorized by the city. If they
don’t enforce it on the con
tractor who built the houses,
then there is no change to the
status quo. If they do enforce
it, then the contractor suffers
a harm and may have a civil
and/or criminal
remedy against
the councilman.”
Milner mayor
Andy Marlowe
was asked the
same question.
“Yes, it means the
plat that George
/ ,
WELDON
MARLOWE
signed is non-binding on the
city. However, nothing is going
to happen because of the lack
of a backbone of the city coun
cil,” he replied.
Marlowe requested the fo
rensic audit after being elected
for the first time last summer.
He said the audit is not com
plete and Pipkin told him he
had no idea when it would be
complete. Adams said the au
dit would likely take two years.
Marlowe pledged to ride
herd on the city’s finances in
the interim but is not optimis
tic.
“1 will do my best to keep
things in the city as best as 1
possibly can and everything
on the up and up. 1 don’t see
much happening the rest
of the year with the current
council. 1 just hope the citizens
realize they need new council
members who care about the
citizens and the city,” Marlowe
said.
The Milner probe began
May 18, 2020 when Adams
requested the sheriff’s depart
ment and GB1 implement it
after reports of what Adams
termed “irregularities”.
©2021 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS