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SEPTEMBER 11:
NEVER FORGET
9A
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
AUTUMN HINKLEY
Lady
Trojans
stay hot;
run their
record to
12-2
SEE PAGE 2A
Lamar
County
awarded
health
promotion
and well
being grant
SEE PAGE 6A
Subscribe. Your name goes
on the label in this box
DA, sheriff to meet with citizens
regarding solid waste authority
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
In response to an
inquiry from The
Herald Gazette, district
attorney Jonathan
Adams reported he and
sheriff Brad White plan
to meet with a group
of citizens this week
regarding ongoing con
cerns surrounding the
Lamar County Regional
Solid Waste Authority
(SWA).
Adams said members
of the authority can
not be charged with
malfeasance in office
in connection with the
burgeoning scandal.
“Malfeasance only
applies to elected of
ficials in their capacity
in office. The other legal
options cover matters
of theft and fraud,”
Adams said.
The SWA is under
scrutiny with regard
to a $27.5 million loan
it must begin repaying
next April. In addition
to the note principal,
the SWA owes over $2.3
million in accrued inter
est. The loan was taken
out in 2014 to fund a
waste to energy project
which has yet to be
permitted by EPD.
The citizens group
is combing through
records acquired
through a freedom of in
formation request and
demanding the county
conduct a forensic
audit of the SWA.
THE HERALD GAZETTE/WALTER GEIGER
Bringing buggy
buildings back to life
Local artist and graphic designer Mike Merritt of Blue-J
Customs (top) is busy recreating an old Smith Buggy
Company ad (right) as a mural on one of the last remaining
Smith’s shop buildings on Zebulon Street in Barnesville.
Jonathan Anderson of McJotta Holdings has bought the
building and several others and is breathing new life back
into some of downtown’s tired facades.
The mural should be finished by Buggy Days weekend.
K"' J. + G. + SMITH,
<jf lh»—<■-
’Celebrated Barnesville Buggies.
96852
78853
Dukes’ 911 thoughts still relevant 22 years after attack
(Editor’s note: The fol
lowing is a letter to the
editor penned by the late
Charles Dukes and pub
lished in the September
18, 2001 edition of The
Herald Gazette follow
ing the terrorist attacks
on our country a week
prior. Dukes died this
summer on the morn
ing of his 88th birthday
following a brief illness.
This letter was read at
his funeral on July 31 by
his son John Dukes. The
Dukes family resided
on Thomaston Street
here for many years and
opened their home and
hearts to every chari
table need laid before
them.)
Dear Editor:
Last week’s scenario
is still in some ways un
real, like some novel by
Tom Clancy, like some
thing that can be put
on a shelf and rendered
harmless by mov
ing on to another
and less apoca
lyptic story. But,
it is real, causing
a relative quiet
to settle over
the day to day
conduct of things
- no sports spec
tacles, no boiling
crowds in airports, no
boiling crowds any
where for that matter.
Routines are altered
by an attitude of watch
fulness - not the cringe
of fear, but the quiet re
solve to join in the task
of, once more, confront
ing and destroying an
evil that threatens the
entire free world.
It is a new type of
battlefield but an old
story: the corrosive evil
of militant and deadly
fundamental religion
that preaches death to
anyone who doesn’t
agree with it.
Once again,
God is asked to
take sides in his
own name. Once
again, we face
warfare over the
question of who
is right about
God, which is the
wrong question
to begin with.
Warfare over that ques
tion makes everyone
wrong, for no one, no
group, no nation, has
the ultimate answer
to the existence of the
object of our neurobio-
logical urge for order
and control.
Mankind still ignores
the lesson of God’s
answer for Moses: “I
am...”. There is no
further possibility of
description without
limiting and thereby
negating the idea of a
God. God is simply be
yond the most complex
religions possible - not
detached from them, for
they are all like fingers
pointing to the moon,
all to some degree
externalizing mankind’s
yearning for absolute
truth.
Absolute truth can
not be found at this
stage in our planet’s his
tory, but enough can be
found in the hearts of
all who love their neigh
bor, even if that love is
the kind that responds
only when it is needed.
Now the world
knows what Americans
have always known;
we are a community, a
neighborhood bound
invisibly together in
all our diversity and
ready to sweep aside all
distinctions in order to
love our neighbor when
they need it. That, after
all, is the definition of
freedom.
CHARLES DUKES
DUKES
Buggy Days
are here
again
The 49th annual Buggy
Days Festival kicks off this
weekend with the annual
Miss Buggy Days Pageant
at the Fine Arts Center.
Registration for pageant
entrants has closed.
The main event week
begins Tuesday, Sept. 12
with the return of Almost
Anything Goes, a series of
games pitting local teams
against each other. The
event starts at 6 p.m. at
Summers Field Park.
The official festival
kickoff party gets under
way Thursday, Sept. 14 at
Depot Plaza. Sponsored by
Lamar Arts, the party
SEE BUGGY DAYS 3A
Public hearings
set on
planned McLean
Rd. subdivision
Walter Geiger
news@barnesville.com
Two public hearings
have been set regarding
a plan to rezone 28.24
acres along McLean Road
from AR (agricultural-
residential) to R2 (residen
tial) to allow for a 10-lot
subdivision. The property
includes acreage on both
sides of McLean Road and
surrounds the Carden Cem
etery.
The applicant is Kyle
Johnson. The property
owner, according to tax
records, is Glenda R. Cole
man of Concord.
The proposed lots range
from two to five acres with
four lots on the south side
of the road and six on the
north side.
Public hearings will be
held at the courthouse on
September 7 at 6 p.m. and
September 19 at 6:30 p.m.
The county commission
will vote on the matter fol
lowing the second hearing.
Walter wins
writing
award
Herald
Gazette
contribut
ing colum
nist and
Barnesville
native
Chris
Walter was
recently
honored with the Best
Entertaining Feature Award
for columns less than 650
words by the Statewide
Editors Association.
Walter won for his
column entitled The
Tater Tosser 3000’ which
was published here and
republished in ‘Georgia
Magazine’. The column
described the legendary
potato gun designed and
built by his father, the late
Doug Walter.
Chris Walter nows lives
in Atlanta.
WALTER
©2023 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS
