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Tuesday, NEWS — ■- Jl± L-s-l NATIONAL NEWSPAPER WEEK OCT. 2-8,2022 #newspaperpower October 4,2022 barnesville.com Barnesville, Ga. 30204 HERE’S THE SCOOP Destin Roberts has 1000th assist SEE PAGE 1B Cara Bishop makes the p ay at short SEE PAGE 3A Subscribe. Your name goes on the label in this box 96852 78853 Excess power usage leads to bust of marijuana growing operation REECE GAVIS WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com Power company technicians check ing on extremely high power usage at a location on Jones Road discovered a marijuana grow house and alerted authorities. Deputies served warrants at the property on Sept. 26. They seized 314 marijuana plants growing under lights. They also recovered eight pounds of harvested marijuana in mason jars. Shane William Reece, 53, of 269 Jones Road address was arrested and charged with manufacture and distribution of mari juana. After five days in jail, he was released on a $120,000 bond. Zachary Michael Gavis, 33, of Fort Lauderdale was charged with possession of a fire arm by a convicted felon and manufacture and distribution of marijuana. He has been released on a $16,000 bond. The investigation is ongoing and more charges and potential property seizures are pending. Ian a no-show in Lamar Hurricane lan made a mockery of multiple pre cautions taken locally to prepare for his arrival last week. When all was said and done, Lamar County got only a cool wind and a trace of rain from the pow erful storm which devas tated central Florida. After crossing Florida, Ian gathered strength over the Atlantic and then hit near Charleston, SC as a much weaker system. Chief among the local precautions was the mov ing of Friday’s homecoming game to Thursday night in advance of the storm. THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER A new queen is crowned Emma Eubanks exults after being selected homecoming queen. The honor was bestowed at the Lamar-Pike game which was moved to Thursday last week due to the hurricane threat. With her is her father Jeffery Eubanks. At the homecoming dance Saturday night, Demari Carter was named homecoming king. Olivier mourned at homecoming Beloved local teacher Dr. George Olivier was mourned at the homecoming game last week with a moment of silence prior to kickoff. Olivier, known to generations of students as ‘Doc’, died Sept. 25 after a battle with liver cancer. Pictured are (l-r) Doc’s former student county commission chairman elect Ryran Traylor, his widow Linda Olivier and his son George Olivier, III. Water sought for hurricane victims Rebuild Lamar and the American Legion are col lecting cases of bottled water to be taken to the Ft. Myers area in Florida hit hard by Hurricane lan last week. Donations of water may be dropped off at the Barnesville police sta tion on Mill Street. For more information, call 770.358.1484. Robyn Roche appointed to school board At a meeting Sept. 27 that was largely used for disciplinary tribunals, Robyn Roche was appoint ed to replace Sue O’Neal on the school board. O’Neal resigned her posi tion effective Sept. 20. She decided earlier this year not to seek reelection. Roche was the only candidate to qualify for the District 2 seat and her’s will be the only name on the November ballot. The ap pointment expires Dec. 31 when she will be sworn in for a full four-year term. Driver collides with train, dies WALTER GEIGER news@bamesville.com A 57-year-old Lamar County man died Sept. 27 after driving his vehicle into the side of a string of parked rail cars in Barnes ville. Carl Walker of 188 Silver Dollar Rd. apparently had some sort of medical issue before the incident. Wit nesses said Walker was southbound on Jackson Street in a 2003 Dodge Caravan and paused briefly at the Railroad Street stop sign before accelerating onto the tracks and hitting a hopper car. Walker was badly injured and lifeflighted from the scene. He died later that day at the hospital. ©2022 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS