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COVID SPIKE IN PIKE Confirmed cases have increased to 142 in the past two weeks with two additional deaths since last week. Vaccines are being administered locally. See page 3A, 5A PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER ONE DOLLAR www.pikecountygeorgia.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021 Help welcome the first local baby of 2021! Each new year, the Journal Reporter features the first baby born to Pike County parents. Help us welcome the first baby of 2021 with a feature story and photos. Call the newspaper office at 770-567-3446, email us at news@pikecounty- georgia.com or stop by the Journal Reporter office on the court house square to share the news. School board chairman Ryan Edge arrested Pike County board of education chairman Gregory Ryan Edge, 41, of Williamson, was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 5 and charged with six counts of felony theft by decep tion. On March 19, 2020, the GB1 Re gion 2 Field Office was requested by the Grif fin Police Department to assist in investigat ing suspicious activity reported on loans at The Southern Credit Union in Griffin in Spalding County. See EDGE page 3A GREGORY RYAN EDGE Magistrate, tag office closed due to COVID The Pike County Magistrate Court will be closed until Jan. 18 after chief judge Christopher Edwards signed an emer gency order Jan. 3 outlin ing the judicial emergen cy and need for the office to close after two of the court’s four employees were COVID-19 positive. Arrest and search war rants will be authorized by Superior Court judges in the interim. The Pike tax commis sioner’s office was affected the next day after the tax commissioner was quar antined. The tax commis sioner’s office was closed Thursday and Friday, Jan. 7-8 for cleaning. The office will have limited hours the week of Jan. 11. They will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. “You can renew your tags, cancel your tags or get a TAVT estimate at eservices.drive.ga and you can pay your taxes in full on line at pikecountypay. com,” said tax commis sioner Donna Chapman. “We do have a dropbox to the right of our door that is labeled “Tag & Tax Dropbox.” If you use the dropbox, please place your stuff in an envelope and write your phone number on it in case we have any issues with your payment. 1 greatly appreci ate your patience with us. Hopefully all will be back up and running full force on Jan. 18.” According to judge Edwards’ order, the order affects only the magis trate court and employ ees of that office. “No scheduled or ordered court hearings in any court are cancelled by this order in any court. Public access to the courthouse and op eration of all other offices within the courthouse is unaffected by this order,” said judge Edwards. See CLOSED page 3A The tax commissioner’s office was closed to citizens on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 7-8 for cleaning after tax commis sioner Donna Chapman tested positive for COVID-19. The of fice will be open limited hours from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. this week. PHOTO BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER Students at Pike County Middle School were honored as the Class of 2025 REACH scholars as they signed agreements for the Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen scholarships. Pictured are (l-r) Ninth Grade Academy principal Sheryl Watts, superintendent Dr. Michael Dun can, REACH scholar Isabel Bailey, Pike County High School principal Kevin Huffstetler, REACH scholars Jailah Blackmon and Braxton Earls, school board member Allen Edwards, REACH scholar Paris Henley, PCMS principal Mike Maddox and REACH scholar Zane Howard. REACH scholars honored at PCMS BY RACHEL McDANIEL news@pikecountygeorgia.com Five students Pike County Middle School students were hon ored during the REACH Georgia Signing Day Ceremony on Jan. 5 as they signed their scholar ship agreements, includ ing Isabel Bailey, Jailah Blackmon, Braxton Earls, Paris Henley and Zane Howard. PCMS principal Mike Maddox congratulated each student individually as the REACH scholars Class of 2025 signed their scholarship agreements with family looking on. “This is a highlight for me as a principal and 1 know it is for all our other teachers as well,” he said. “We are here to honor these five students and we are so proud of them. This year we had to rely solely on dona tions from local sources to fund these scholar ships and the board of education as well as citizens and businesses substantial donations to support these students. 1 was the first person in my family to ever attend college. 1 come from a family of hard work ing people but it was a source of pride for me - and my parents - for me to go to college.” The Realizing Edu cational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) program is in its second year in Pike County and students who complete all program require ments receive up to $10,000 in scholarship funds - $2,500 a year for up to four years to be used at two- or four-year Georgia REACH-eligible institutions. In addition, continuing academic and social support is provided throughout the students’ attainment of the postsecondary de gree or certificate; those schools also match (or even double) the scholar ships for the students. The five REACH schol ars signed an agreement stating they will maintain a 2.5 or higher GPA; re main free of crime, drug or behavior issues; and meet with a volunteer mentor and an academic coach until they graduate from high school. See REACH page 2A MLK Day parade set for Jan. 18 with Claude Hollis as grand marshal The Pike County Martin Luther King Jr. Day committee will host the annual MLK parade and celebration on Monday, Jan. 18. Due to the COVID-19 pan demic, there will not be a program following the parade. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Good Trouble is our New Beginning.” The grand marshal of the MLK Day parade will be Zebulon city council man Claude Hollis. “The parade will consist of vehicles only; no walkers will be allowed because of the pandemic and no decorating supplies will be available this year,” said organizer Regina Bridges. “Everyone is encouraged to partici pate as we continue to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” Line up will start at 9:30 a.m. and the parade will leave the Fullers Chapel United Methodist Church park ing lot at 10 a.m. For additional infor mation, contact Regina Bridges at 678-5884058, Patricia Beckham at 770468-4937, Edward Alexander 770-567-8991 or Veronica Evans at 770-567-3225. PHOTO BY JENNIFER TAYLOR / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s MLK Jr. parade will have vehicles only with no program following the parade as in year’s past. NGA students write, create book for kids about COVID-19 SUBMITTED PHOTOS Above, students who helped create the ‘Sanna-Tizer Disinfects the Substitute’ book practice social distancing for a group photo. Above right, Ashton Norton scans images for the book. Students at the Pike County Ninth Grade Academy worked togeth er to write and publish a children’s book about COVID-19 for kinder garten through second graders. Around 120 students helped create the book, “Sanna-Tizer Disinfects the Substitute: The heroes’ journey of a teacher and her second grade students.’ The stu dents wrote, illustrated and designed the book as well as working to establish a budget for the book based on book size and color usage. The book may be pur chased at the NGA front office or A Novel Experi ence in Zebulon. The cost is $16 for soft cover and $20 for hardcover. Proceeds from book sales will go toward the project- based learning program at NGA and also to families in the community who have been adversely af fected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Copies are sell ing quickly but the book will be reprinted. Email hudsonj@pike.kl2.ga.us to reserve a copy. Six classes of ninth grade literature and two classes of world history students were divided into illustrators, writers, editorial and marketing teams, designers and software engineers. “This required lots of creativity and com munication skills,” said NGA literature teacher Jan Hudson. “What we thought would take hours, took days. What we thought would take days, took hours. We literally went back to the drawing board countless times. And just when we thought things started to hum like an oiled ma chine, over 50 students had to leave school to be quarantined.” See BOOK page 2A