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The Pirates soccer team is ranked second in the state in AAA at 10-1-1. The Lady Pirates are seventh. Senior Night for both teams is this Friday. See page 5B JOURNAL PIRATES PREVA Despite a tough start to the season as they faced 5A and 7 A teams, the Pirates are undefeated in the region play with a 4-0 record. See page 5B ONE DOLLAR www.pikecountygeorgia.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021 PIKE'S PEEK COVID-19 cases still dropping Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pike continue to drop, with 15 cases over the past two weeks, compared to 22, 24, 28, 41, 89 and 93 in the previous two week periods. Pike County has had 1,006 confirmed cases since last March with 23 deaths, 11 probable deaths and 67 hospital izations. Pike County schools have seen consider ably fewer cases of COVID-19 in the past several weeks as well. See COVID-19 page 2B Grand jury returns True and No Bills The March 2020 Term Grand Jury con vened March 10 and returned the following presentments. A no bill is a legal procedure dismissing charges against a defendant because the grand jury does not find enough evidence to charge the defendant with violat ing a law. A true bill is a bill of indictment found by a Grand Jury to be supported by sufficient evidence to justify the hearing of a case. Spe cial presentments are when the District Attor ney obtains a warrant or charges a suspect by taking those charges directly to a Grand Jury without an initial arrest on that specific charge. TRUE BILLS: Javier Chaves-Guer- rero, child molestation, aggravated identity fraud, special present ment child molestation. See GRAND JURY page 3A Fiber internet likely to take 4-5 years Southern Rivers Energy recently announced a formal partnership with Conexon, a full-service broadband consulting firm, that will provide high-speed internet to every SRE member across its nine-county service territory, including around 5,000 accounts in Pike. “The project in Pike includes more than 460 miles of fiber for a total investment of more than $12.5 million. We are still working out details with Conexon including the network design and construction timeline but will share those details as soon as they are available,” said Erin Cook, SRE’s director of marketing and member services. “We are also in discussions with Pike County and the Develop ment Authority about how they may be able to assist with the project.” Conexon Connect, the internet service provider, will offer two symmetri cal (same upload and download speed) inter net speed packages: 100 Mbps for $49.95/month or 1 Gigabit for $79.95/ month. Information on how to pre-register will be available soon. Mem bers can find updates at SouthernRiversEnergy. com or ConexonConnect. com or follow Southern Rivers Energy and Conex on Connect on Facebook and Twitter. Fiber construction for high-speed internet in Pike is expected to begin in mid-2021. Services will be offered through Conexon Connect in col laboration with SRE. The project will provide new broadband service to more than 15,000 unserved loca tions in SRE’s service ter ritory where, currently, there are no options for connectivity. SRE will invest approximately $53 million to construct more than 2,100 miles of fiber that will strengthen their electric grid and improve reliability. Conexon will invest a total of $6.5 mil lion in electronics to pro vide broadband service to all of SRE’s members. SRE will own the fiber and lease excess capac ity to Conexon which has agreed to serve every SRE member with fiber- to-the-home internet with speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. The internet ser vice will be powered by EMC fiber, but Conexon Connect will provide the retail service to homes and businesses, managing account set-up, customer service and billing. Those who are not SRE customers cannot change electric providers unless they move into an other provider’s territory but according to Cook, some non-SRE members will be able to receive service depending on where they live. See INTERNET page 3A PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEITH EDMONDSON This painting by Keith Edmondson shows the single-lane bridge that spanned Flat Shoals prior to the 1950s when a newer bridge was built. He hopes to help preserve memories of Pike County places and history through his artwork. Paintings preserve Pike history This painting by Keith Edmondson shows Barnesville Street in Zebulon in the 1920s, including the current Pike County Journal Reporter office (left) on the southeast corner of the square. BY RACHEL McDANIEL news@pikecountygeorgia.com Scenes from Pike’s past are being recreated and the area’s history preserved by local artist Keith Edmondson who decided to focus more of his time on paint ing after the pandemic postponed his concert photography career. His most recent his toric painting shows the old bridge at Flat Shoals that spanned the widest part of the shoals before the state built a new bridge in the 50s. The painting features two boys on the bank near the bridge. One boy has a dog by his side and the other has a slingshot in the back pocket of his overalls as their bob bers float in the Flint River. “When the pandemic hit, concerts stopped and that’s when I picked up a paint brush again and it just kind of took off. The old Flat Shoals bridge is a lost Pike county treasure. The state built a new one just north of the old one in 1955 and the original one-lane bridge was dis mantled. The only thing that remains are the ce ment and stone founda tions,” said Keith who credits his family and his upbringing for mixing art and history. “I’ve been painting ever since I was little and I learned how to mix paints at my aunt’s ceramic shop. Even as a kid, I always loved hang ing around with older people and listening to their stories and that’s one reason I love to rec reate historic scenes.” Keith and his wife Darlene moved to Pike around five years ago and their neighbor Ken neth Clarke has lived in the area since the 40s, with family ties back to the mid-1800s in Pike. See HISTORY page 2A 100,000 eggs get dropped April 2 Many traditional Eas ter celebrations will be held again this year after most were cancelled due to the pandemic, includ ing the biggest egg drop event in middle Georgia, hosted by Christ Chapel Community Church on Friday, April 2. The egg drop will include several areas sectioned off for different age groups and 100,000 eggs will be dropped from a helicop ter as children watch and wait to scoop them up. “We are just trying to be the light in our community and show Jesus to those around us, even through an egg hunt event. It’s been kind of a dark year for everyone and we want to do whatever we can do for the community to be the light they need,” said Christ Chapel’s Chad Loyd. “Seeing people smile and families enjoy ing time together is a big deal and we are choosing to shine that light!” Egg hunt participants are asked to be lined up and ready for the egg drop at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 2 at 68 Old Zebulon Road. Age groups will be separated for tod dlers through fifth grade and there will also be a special needs area. The event is completely free and all are invited. Lowery enlists in U.S. Army Pike County senior Trayvis Lowery recently enlisted in the U.S. Army with a special signing ceremony held at Pike County High School. SUBMITTED PHOTO At right, pictured are (front row l-r) PCHS teacher Kayla Dennis, se nior and enlistee Trayvis Lowery, PCHS teacher Stephanie Faulkner (back row l-r) American Legion Post 197 commander Bryan D. Richardson, 1st Lieutenant Nieves, Staff Sergeant Hansen, Staff Ser geant Ponce, 1 st Staff Sergeant Maize and PCHS assistant princi pal Mandy Osbolt.