Newspaper Page Text
GIRLS GO TO STALL
The Pike County High School varsity girls
basketball team made it to the state playoffs.
See page 7 A
PIKE COUNTY
REPORTER
www.pikecountygeorgia.com
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2021
PIKE'S PEEK
Food pantry,
service set
for March 5
Christ Chapel Com
munity Church will
hold a special Food
Distribution and ser
vice at 9 a.m. Friday,
March 5 at 68 Old
Zebulon Road.
Food Distribution
for families in need will
be held in Christ Cha
pel Student Center.
There will be a short
church service before
distribution.
Registration
for Pike Pre-K
underway
Registration for the
2021-22 Pre-K school
year are underway
each week day from
8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
through March 31. Ap
plications are available
at the Pike County Pre-
K building or online at
pike.kl2.ga.us. Instruc
tions are included with
the packets and they
must be submitted by
4 p.m. on March 31.
The drawing to
determine who is ac
cepted into the Pre-K
program will be held in
April and each appli
cant will be notified by
phone and/or mail if
their child has a space
in the program or if
they are on the waiting
list. All applications
received after March
31 will be placed on
the waiting list.
For more informa
tion, contact Tammy
Bell at 770-567-4769.
Vaccine to be offered to new group
Effective March 8, new
groups will be eligible for
vaccination, including
educators and school
staff (public and private),
adults with intellectual
and developmental dis
abilities and their care
givers and parents with
children with complex
medical conditions.
A website - MyVaccine
Georgia.com - has been
set up by the state to help
citizens register for the
COV1D-19 vaccine. Those
who don’t qualify for the
vaccination at the time of
registration will be noti
fied when they qualify for
the vaccination.
Confirmed cases of
COV1D-19 in Pike have
dropped considerably to
28 in the past two weeks,
compared to 41, 67, 86
and 93 in the previous
two-week periods, ac
cording to the Georgia
Department of Public
Health COV1D-19 Daily
Status Report on March
1. There have been 21
deaths due to the illness
in Pike and a total of 977
confirmed cases since
March 2020.
According to the Pike
County school system,
the number of current
positive students had
dropped from 19 to 0 as
of Feb. 26, compared to
Feb. 12 numbers. The
number of positive adults
in the school system
dropped to one from four.
The number of those
currently quarantined for
close contact to CO-
V1D-19 positive students
dropped to only nine
from 201 and those quar
antined for close contact
with adults dropped to 0
from six. Since the school
year started, there have
been a total of 190 CO-
V1D-19 positive students
and 84 positive adults in
the school system with
a total of 2,403 students
returning from quarantine
and 185 adults.
Gov. Brian Kemp
signed an executive
order Feb. 26 extending
the Public Health State
of Emergency through
April 6.
See VACCINE page 2A
PHOTOS BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER
Animal control officer Tanya Perkins (right) and her assistant William Owensby stand outside
the new animal shelter which is under construction on County Farm Road.
Animal shelter under construction
BY RACHEL McDANIEL
news@pikecountygeorgia.com
The construction of
the new Pike County
Animal Shelter Facility on
County Farm Road is well
under way despite set
backs due to the global
pandemic and inclement
weather.
When finished, the
shelter will cost a total
of around $300,000 (with
$225,000 donated by the
CLC Foundation) and
provide 2,950 square foot
of space with 10 separate
kennel runs in addition
to two separate isolation
runs and quarantine runs
for animals who might be
sick or too aggressive to
be around others.
It will also include
an office, break room, a
visiting sitting room for
Gail Garrels bends pipe in
side the new animal shelter.
volunteers and those
adopting pets and a
veterinarian/animal exam
room.
“Once the building
and grounds department
has a guaranteed com
pletion date, the county
will start planning a
ribbon cutting event for
the citizens to come out
and tour the new facil
ity,” said county manager
Brandon Rogers.
While the county’s
animal control office and
the animal shelter are
two separate entities,
animal control officer
Tanya Perkins is one of
the seven members on
the Pike County Animal
Shelter board.
Other board members
include Ruth Chandler
on behalf of the CLC
Foundation, David Al
len, former Pike animal
control officer, Suzanne
Aaron, president of
Coco’s Cupboard, police
chief Novin Darsey of the
Molena Police Depart
ment, Chad Morris of the
Zebulon Police Depart
ment, veterinarian Daniel
Roberts and citizen Julie
Smith.
See ANIMAL page 3A
Wisteria Festival
and Talent Show
planned for April
The Williamson
Wisteria Festival will be
held Friday, April 2 from
5 to 9 p.m. and again
Saturday, April 3 from 9
to 4 p.m.
at the
Benson
Hilley
Walking
Trail
Park in
down
town Wil
liamson.
The
festival
will include arts and
crafts, collectibles,
antiques, children’s
activities and festival
foods and drinks.
The Williamson
Wisteria Festival Talent
Showcase will feature
area talent starting at 7
p.m. Friday, April 2 with
a $100 prize going to
the top act. All family-
friendly acts are wel
come.
Call
770-227-
8380 or
go to
City Of
William-
sonGa.
org for
more
infor
mation
about the talent show,
the festival or to be
come a vendor.
See page 3A for the
most recent Williamson
city council meeting at
which the festival was
discussed.
Carol Berry was the emcee for the first ever Williamson
Wisteria Festival’s Talent Showcase. The show was held the
night before the first ever festival. Last year’s festival, which
would have been the second, was cancelled due to the
pandemic but this year’s festival is planned for April 2-3.
Sailor from Zebulon aboard USS Iwo Jima, gets vaccinated
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVY
Petty Officer Third Class and Zebulon native Kaitlyn Dublin gets vaccinated for COVID-19
aboard the USS Iwo Jima. She serves as a hospital corpsman aboard the ship.
A Zebulon native is
serving aboard USS Iwo
Jima, an amphibious
assault ship conducting
training in Norfolk, Vir
ginia, where she recently
received the COVID-19
vaccine.
“The vaccine will
shortly become a ne
cessity in the military
to continue being able
to protect the ones we
love,” added Dublin. “We
are responsible for both
protecting our loved ones
from the front lines and
deadly diseases.”
Petty Officer Third
Class Kaitlyn Dublin is a
2015 Pike County High
School graduate. Today,
Dublin serves as a hospi
tal corpsman.
“A hospital corpsman
is basically a medical as
sistant,” said Dublin. “I as
sist with seeing patients,
helping procedures and
doing screenings.”
Dublin joined the Navy
more than five years ago
to further her knowledge
of the medical field.
Iwo Jima is the seventh
Wasp-class amphibious
assault ship and the
second ship in the U.S.
Navy to bear that name.
The ship was named for
the Battle of Iwo Jima of
World War II.
According to Navy
officials, guided-missile
destroyers are tactical
multi-mission surface
combatants capable
of conducting anti-air
warfare, anti-submarine
warfare and anti-surface
warfare, as well as hu
manitarian assistance.
Fast, maneuverable, and
technically advanced,
destroyers provide the
required war-fighting
expertise and operational
flexibility to execute any
tasking overseas.
With more than 90 per
cent of all trade traveling
by sea, and 95 percent of
the world’s international
phone and internet traf
fic carried through fiber
optic cables lying on the
ocean floor, Navy officials
continue to emphasize
that the prosperity and
security of the United
States is directly linked to
a strong and ready Navy.
According to Chief of
Naval Operations Adm.
Mike Gilday, four priori
ties will focus efforts on
sailors, readiness, capa
bilities and capacity.
“For 245 years, in both
calm and rough waters,
our Navy has stood the
watch to protect the
homeland, preserve
freedom of the seas, and
defend our way of life,”
said Gilday. “The deci
sions and investments
we make this decade will
set the maritime balance
of power for the rest of
this century”
See VACCINATION page 3A