Newspaper Page Text
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! / 4A
Tuesday, January 25,2022
barnesville.com
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
Blood
drive is
Thursday
Blood supplies are
critically low and you
have the opportunity to
help alleviate the crisis
Thursday.
The Rotary/Women’s
Club blood drive will be
held from 1-6 p.m. in the
fellowship hall at First
United Methodist Church.
Appointments are
strongly recommended.
Call the church office
at 770.358.1494 or visit
redcross.org.
Soccer
action
heats up
Friday here
The high school soc
cer season gets under
way in earnest this week
with the annual Trojan
— Cup
tourna-
J m ment and
ft j Lamar
\ 1 County
"m is getting
some
respect entering the
season. The Lady Tro
jans are ranked #5 in the
preseason poll while the
Trojans are #9.
Lamar’s Justin Bran-
nan is on the preseason
All-State team as selected
by eurosports.com.
Three Lady Trojans, Cara
Bishop, Samiya Smith
and Alaina Cato, are on
the preseason All-State
honorable mention list.
Trojan Cup action
began Monday night with
Pike County battling Trin
ity Christian on the road.
LC takes on Hampton
Friday at Trojan Field.
The girls game begins at
5:30 p.m. with the boys
following at 7:30 p.m.
On Monday, Jan. 31
Lamar takes on Harris
County at the stadium
while Pike plays Houston
County at the new high
school field. Action be
gins at 5:30 p.m. at both
venues.
Subscribe. Your name goes
on the label in this box
Commission approves new voting districts
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
The Lamar County commis
sion unanimously approved
the county redistricting map
at its regular meeting Jan. 18.
Districts are redrawn every 10
years using new census data.
“The deadline to get this to
the state is (Jan. 24),” commis
sion chairman Charles Glass
said. The county has worked
extensively with the state
redistricting office on the map,
he added.
The new districts apply to
commissioners and school
board members who run in
districts. The at-large school
board member and the county
commission chairman run
countywide.
“We had two goals going into
this process. We didn’t want to
draw anybody out of a seat and
we were trying to keep commu
nities intact. It was a challenge.
If you move one thing it has a
ripple effect and changes two
or three other things,” Glass
said.
The new districts will be
official once they get legisla
tive approval which is usually
routine.
Note: The map is published
on page 2A.
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
Raybon awarded Medal of Heroism
Hunter Raybon (right), a US Army JROTC Cadet at Lamar County High School, was awarded the Army’s Medal
of Heroism Jan. 20 in a ceremony at the school. Presenting the medal was Maj. Paul Stinson (left). Stinson said
Raybon is the first LC cadet to receive the medal which has only been awarded a few times statewide.
On Feb. 9, 2021, Raybon came upon an automobile accident and crawled into an overturned vehicle and extri
cated Diane Slade and her three-year-old daughter Mae Slade, who was hanging upside down in her safety seat.
The medal was authorized by Army commanding officer Col. Amos R. Bennett.
Commission contracts for renovation
of old Fred's building for office space
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
The Lamar County commis
sion accepted a bid from Hogan
Construction to renovate the
old Fred’s building on Veterans
Parkway for use as county of
fices at its regular meeting Jan.
18. The bid was $2,031,604.
The county also plans to
use some American Recovery
Plan Act funds on the renova
tion which will allow it to move
out of its current space in the
old Thomaston Street barracks
which serves as the county an
nex. They plan to sell or lease
that facility.
In other business, the
county:
•Approved routine minutes.
•Recognized three retirees.
Barbara Hardin retired after
26 years in courthouse main
tenance. Rebecca Harde
man hung up her keys
after 17 years as a jailer
at the LCSO and Billy
Campbell retired after 32
years with the EMA office.
•Granted a 12-month
extension to BRAC Devel
opment for installing buf
fers at the planned solar
panel farm on Crawley
Road. The company has
not yet finalized its agree
ment with Georgia Power
but is close, a representa
tive said.
•Appointed commis
sioner Bob Heiney vice-chair
man, Scott Mayfield county
attorney and open records
custodian and James Butler as
county surveyor.
•Appointed multiple doctors
as county physicians, including
Woodall, Wilson and Manley
and Dr. Aaron Buice. That
vote was 3-1 with Heiney
opposed.
•Heard from Clifford
Barber who reaffirmed
his commitment to use
the recreation gym for
youth programs. “We
have 22 people signed
up to work with these
kids after school,” Barber
said.
•Heard both commis
sioners Bennie Horton
and Nancy Thrash con
demn social media. “I’m
old school. 1 want to do things
man-to-man and lady-to-lady.
Don’t hide behind things,” Hor
ton urged. “There is so much
stuff out there on social media
that is false. So much of it is
posted to pit us against each
other,” Thrash concluded.
THRASH
Horse racing
coming
to Milner
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
The Lamar County commis
sion tabled proposed changes
to the conditions it has placed
on the operation of Ole Rudy’s
Equine Event Center just out
side the Milner city limits at its
meeting Jan. 18. The property
owner/operator is Randolph
(Rudy) Vaughn.
Two motions were made
and died for a lack of a second
before the motion to table until
the February meeting was ap
proved unanimously.
At issue were BYOB alcohol
at the horse track, screens and
buffers protecting residential
neighbors, a 500 person atten
dance limit on events and how
the county’s restrictions could
be enforced.
The concern about alcohol
arose when flyers and social
media posts circulated adver
tising a Jan. 30 event at the
track which encouraged po
tential attendees to bring their
own beer. The conditions cur
rently in place require alcohol
to be served by a caterer with
an alcohol license.
Commissioner Nancy Thrash
stopped the meeting briefly to
confer privately with county
attorney Scott Mayfield and
Vaughn’s attorney Newton Gal
loway.
“1 see this first event as a
learning curve. It is up to Rudy
and his promoter to comply
with the ordinance,” Galloway
said.
Commissioner Robert Hein
ey fired back, “We already had
our learning curve out on High
Falls Park Road. We have had
nothing but problems there. We
have already learned.”
Galloway estimated the Jan.
30 crowd at the track would
number 200-300. “The event
contract mirrors the county’s
current conditions,” he said.
Those conditions call for
a cease and desist order if
Vaughn is hit with three cita
tions. There was discussion
about whether that should be
changed to two convictions
to provide Vaughn with due
process.
“The citizens in this com
munity have been told this is
something it is not. They have
told us they don’t want what
we have at another venue,”
Thrash said.
“My goal is not to put any
body out of business. My goal
is to keep the neighborhood
quiet. We’ve got another one
of these tracks where they do
whatever they want to do,”
Heiney added.
Galloway said Vaughn was
being watched closely and
implied the focus on his client
bordered on harassment.
Vaughn spoke out, noting
he had no intention of getting
three citations.
“I’ve been working on this
thing for four or five years. I’ve
got a lot of rules and regula
tions on me. All 1 want is the
opportunity to make it work. 1
put 100% into everything I do.
I’m just looking for the oppor
tunity. If 1 can’t make it work,
it’s over,” he concluded.
Lamar County is fifth in Class AA wrestling
The LC wrestlers went to Bremen
Saturday for the Elite 8 round of the
state wrestling meet and went 1-2 for
the day, leaving them in fifth place in
Class AA.
Lamar defeated Pepperell 51-20 but
lost to Vidalia 46-30 and Dade County
40-30.
“We have finished in the top five
for the last three years in row. We are
extremely proud of how hard the kids
fought this weekend and look forward
to what they will accomplish moving
forward in the individual tournaments,”
coach Jeff Sloan said.
LC wrestler Trace Morton (top) in action Jan. 14.
©2022 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS
