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! HAMMERIN’ HANK! Read a timely tribute to the late Hall of Famer and Braves baseball legend Hank Aaron. See page 4A PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPO ONE DOLLAR www.pikecountygeorgia.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021 Two special elections planned for March 16 Pike County will have two special elec tions in March to fill council member seats in the cities of Molena and Williamson. Those desiring to run for the Molena Council Post 3 seat may qualify Monday, Feb. 1 to Wednesday, Feb. 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Molena City Hall, 10 Spring Road. The qualifying fee is $9. Qualifying for candidates for the Wil liamson Post 2 council member position to fill the unexpired term of Melissa Kelsey will be held from Wednesday, Feb. 17 to Friday, Feb. 19 at Williamson City Hall from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with the office closing for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. The qualifying fee is $25. Residents of the Mo lena and Williamson districts may cast their ballots at Molena City Hall and Williamson City Hall from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day Tuesday, March 16. The last day for a person to register and be eligible to vote in the March Special Elec tion and Runoff Elec tion is Feb. 16, 2021. Other local elec tions will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 2 with qualifying information in a future edition of the Pike County Jour nal Reporter. The last day to register and be eligible to vote in the Nov. 2 general election is Monday, Oct. 4. PHOTOS BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER A COVID-19 vaccine clinic was held Jan. 19 in Pike and 150 vaccines were administered to area residents who will get a second dose of the vaccine in coming weeks. Members of the Department of Public Health, EMA and EMS volunteers as well as medical reserve corps volunteers and sheriff’s office personnel worked together to make the clinic a success. As of press time Monday, no more vaccine appointments are being made in District 4 at this time due to a shortage of vaccine. That shortage will not impact those who got the first dose of the vaccine and they will be contacted soon about their second shot. First vaccine clinic held in Pike BY RACHEL McDANIEL news@pikecountygeorgia.com A total of 150 citizens received the COV1D-19 vaccine at the first vac cine clinic held in Pike County on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Citizens in the Phase 1A group lined up in their cars at the Christ Chapel building to fill out paperwork and then pulled around to get the vaccine from Department of Public Health nurses. The 150 citizens who got the first shot will get the second part of the shot at a future vaccine clinic in Pike. “It went great for the first time doing this,” said Pike County EMA di rector Jimmy Totten. “Ev erything ran smoothly all day and the Department of Public Health was able to give 150 vaccines to people from Pike and surrounding counties. We got a lot of compli ments from people about how well organized and how quickly the line went.” Hayla Folden of District 4 Public Health - which includes Pike County - encouraged people to continue to fol low safety precautions. “For people who have been unable to get a COV1D-19 vaccine and for people who have only had one of their two vaccine shots - please continue to wear a mask, maintain a physical distance of at least 6 feet, and wash your hands with soap and water,” she said. “We will contin ue to schedule appoint ments as we receive the vaccine.” The followup vac cine clinic has not been scheduled yet. Angela Farr of the Pike Health Department said the county’s first vaccine clinic went well. “It went really awe some. We had such good help and that’s what made it flow so smooth ly,” she said. “We’d like to thank Christ Chapel for use of their property, the county for putting up our tent, our volunteers who went through the medical reserve corps to help out as well as Pike’s EMA and EMS and sher iff’s office for stepping up to help the health department employees.” The COVID-19 vac cine is still only available for people in Phase 1A which includes health care workers in a clinical setting, staff and resi dents of long-term care facilities, all law enforce ment and fire personnel and adults 65 and older and their caregivers as applicable. The District 4 Public Health facebook page announced Jan. 21 that the vaccine appoint ment line was closed until further notice. See VACCINE page 3A Marsha Landers (above) and Brian Hammock (below) get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Laura Rogers of the District 4 Department of Public Health. V’‘*'~rtrrf/7r COVID-19 cases in Pike drop The number of posi tive COV1D-19 cases in Pike dropped significantly from the previous two weeks, down to 88, com pared to 109 for the previ ous two weeks and 142 before that. As of press time Monday, there were no additional deaths, with a total of 837 cases since March, 16 deaths, 10 probable deaths and 59 hospitalizations accord ing to the Georgia Depart ment of Public Health. As of press time, the number of COV1D-19 pos itive cases in the school system had increased to 21 students from 17 in the previous two weeks and decreased to 3 adults from 10 in the previous two weeks. The number of quarantined students increased 217 to 337 and the number of quaran tined adults decreased from 11 to 5. Early voting ongoing Early voting is ongo ing for the Feb. 9 election for District Attorney of the Griffin Judicial Circuit which includes Pike, Spald ing, Upson and Fayette counties. In the first week of early voting, 236 Pike citizens cast their ballots. “Local elections are very important,” said election supervisor Lynn Vickers. “Please come out and vote!” Early voting will contin ue on week days through Feb. 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the elections office in Zebulon on Jackson Street. Citizens may also cast their ballots from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day Tuesday, Feb. 9. Republican candidate Marie Broder is currently District Attorney and prior to that served as Assistant DA. She was ap pointed to fill a vacancy left when former DA Ben Coker became a Superior Court Judge. Democratic candidate Rev. Dexter Winbush is a private attorney in criminal and civil litiga tion and practices law in Fayetteville and Griffin. Ralph McCrary named Citizen of the Year by Zebulon council The Zebulon City Coun cil recently honored Ralph McCrary as the Citizen of the Year for 2020. He has been employed with the City of Zebulon for 35 years, having worked in both the Water/Wastewater Depart ment and the Public Works Department. Ralph is a native of Zebulon, having lived in the community his entire life. He attended Pike County schools, includ ing the building that now houses Zebulon City Hall. “He has selflessly served his community over the years, having earned the respect of the citizens of Zebulon as well as his co workers,” said city admin istrator Larry Mitcham. “He has gone above and beyond by volunteering in the com munity along with making himself available to assist anyone who might need his help. Some of his volunteer activities include delivering breakfast to the elderly and shut ins on the third Sunday of every month and driving citizens to doctor appoint ments. He also takes the time to assist citizens with small things around their home if they are unable to do it themselves.” Ralph and his wife Bren da are members of Mount Hope Baptist Church and are proud to call Zebulon their home. He was honored with the Citizen of the Year proclamation and a key to the city during the Dec. 8 council meeting. See RALPH page 3A SUBMITTED PHOTO At left, Zeb ulon mayor Joe Walter presents Ralph Mc Crary with the 2020 Citizen of the Year certificate as well as a key to the city of Zebulon. He has served with the city in various depart ments for 35 years and volun teers in the community as well.