Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - Pike County Journal Reporter - Page 3A
Bull Bash set for May 7-8
The Chestnut Oak Bull
Bash will be held Friday, May
7 and Saturday May 8 and will
include open professional
bull riding and free style bull
fighting as well as entertain
ment throughout the event.
Gates open at 6 p.m. and the
event starts at 7:30 p.m. at the
Chestnut Oak Arena at 943
Sandefur Road in Meansville.
“The Pike County Agri-
Business Authority, in con
junction with MisFit Bucking
Bulls and Rocking 8 Bucking
Bulls, are bringing you a bull
riding extravaganza,” said
Agribusiness Authority chair
Mark Camp. “There will be
two action packed nights. Not
only will you see 25 of the na
tions top adrenaline seeking
cowboys competing for the
title of champion, but we also
have Colt 45 coming to spend
the weekend. He’s one of the
top entertainers in rodeo to
day across the country. That’s
not all, the UBF (Ultimate
Bull Fighters) will be there
freestyle bull fighting in a jaw
dropping competition you
don’t want to miss. We look
forward to seeing you there!”
Tickets can be purchased
ahead of time at the Pike or
Upson County Farm Bureau
offices, Circle R Feed in Zebu-
Ion, online at Facebook.com/
ChestnutOakArena or by call
ing 678-603-3815.
SPECIAL PHOTO
The Chestnut Oak Bull Bash will
be held Friday, May 7 and Saturday,
May 8 and will have vendors and
entertainment for the entire family
as well as professional bull riding
and free style bull fighting.
Commission holds retreat to discuss growth in Pike County
Commissioners attend
ed a day-long retreat April
20 as they discussed the
future of Pike County and
heard from several local
leaders as well as depart
ment heads in the county
about needs and changes.
“Due to COV1D-19, the
increase in new business
es, and overall growth of
Pike, many things have
had to change over the
last year and we are
anticipating more changes
in the future,” said county
manager Brandon Rogers
“This meeting gave the
board a good idea of the
current state of each de
partment and their future
needs so we can col
lectively plan and move
forward together.”
District 131 Rep. Beth
Camp informed the board
about House Bill 81, the
fiscal year 2022 budget
which will include an
increase of $2.34 billion
from the previous year
and provide $10 million to
the OneGeorgia Authority
for the broadband infra
structure grant program.
Camp also informed the
board about state efforts
to expand broadband
infrastructure and provide
high-speed internet across
the state.
District Attorney Marie
Broder told the board
about Pike County’s
crime rate which is only
at 5% with 255 open
cases (including felonies,
misdemeanors, probation
revocations and juvenile
cases). Pike is consider
ably lower than other
counties in the circuit
with Spalding at a 48%
crime rate with 2,328 open
cases, Fayette County at
26% with 1,245 open cases
and Upson County at 21%
with 1,048 open cases.
She said there are three
employees in the Pike
County District Attorney’s
Office, including herself,
Chief Assistant District
Attorney David Studdard
and Senior Assistant
District Attorney Michael
Rogers and noted many
of the office’s duties and
responsibilities. Broder
stated there has been
an increase in property
crime cases and there is a
need to continue to watch
the number of gang and
property crimes in Pike
County. She said Michael
Rogers handles not only
Pike Superior, but Pike
and Upson Probate, and
Pike and Upson Juvenile.
She noted that if numbers
increase as expected,
there will be a need to add
an additional attorney in
the next 3-5 years.
Pike County schools su
perintendent Dr. Michael
Duncan discussed school
funding and a traffic analy
sis held for the school
system. He said the E-
SPLOST renewal will be on
the November 2021 ballot
and said results from a
traffic study could reduce
congestion during school
drop off and pick up times
on Highway 19 and Old
Meansville Road. He noted
that the traffic study
would analyze traffic on
the school campuses as
well as access locations
and 13 recommendations
were made as a result and
divided into three tiers.
Tier 1 suggestions include
low or no cost recommen
dations to immediately
impact the flow of traffic.
Tier 2 includes small scale
projects with minimal gov
ernmental coordination
and Tier 3 are projects
that would require large
financial investments
and/or significant govern
mental coordination. Dr.
Duncan asked the county
to partner with the school
system for the projects to
be most efficient.
Board members heard
from department heads
after the special guests.
Tax Assessor Greg
Hobbs, Chief Appraiser,
noted the ad valorem
property tax is probably
the most widely discussed
and misunderstood part
of the local governmental
system. He said the ad va
lorem property tax is, by
definition, a tax according
to the value of the proper
ty owned. It is a local tax
levied by local authorities
to pay for the operation of
local government. He said
it is, in fact, the largest
source of revenue for the
funding of local govern
ment and all their citizens.
“Only the assessor can
determine how the tax
burden is to be divided
among all taxpayers, that
is, what each share of the
tax will be. Only the Tax
Commissioner for each
county can prepare the
digest and then bill and
collect for taxes. Too often
there is confusion about
who is responsible for
which tax. County com
missioners are apt to be
blamed when school taxes
increase. Assessors may
be unjustly blamed for
higher taxes when in truth
all they did were to appor
tion the tax burden, not
to determine its amount
or the milage rate the
commission would levy
against those individual
assessments,” he said.
Fire Chief Rick O’Barr
said in March volunteers
were dispatched a total of
122 times to wrecks, medi
cal calls, fires and more
and responded to 54 of
those calls.
“This is a response of
44% of the time help was
given from fire depart
ment volunteers,” he said.
“During the next year,
there are four matters that
stand out as urgent. The
fire department needs
to grow to deal with the
growth in the county. We
need to keep our dedi
cated volunteers and need
to add additional person
nel. The fire department
needs funding to support
this growth including
for new personnel train
ing, personal protection
equipment, sufficient
equipment to address the
emergencies and emer
gency vehicles that are
reliable. The Emergency
Management Agency
needs a completed op
erations center to include
furniture, a keyless entry
system and additional
AV items. The fire depart
ment needs a better way
to communicate its needs
with the commission
board.”
Planning and devel
opment director Brad
Vaughan requested a sec
ond clerical position for
his office. He noted the de
partment’s revenue from
July 2020 to April 20 this
year was $572,298.75 and
there were 447 permits
issued during that time.
Registrar Lynn Vickers
stated the Board of Elec
tions and Registration be
gan July 1, 2019 and since
then the board has voted
to change three polling
place locations, entered
agreements with the five
cities within Pike County
to run the city elections
and started using new
voting equipment from
Dominion Voting Systems,
which was purchased by
the state of Georgia. The
next election is November
2, 2021 with city elections
and an E-SPLOST option.
She said the next big
election will be the May
2022 governor’s election
and that advanced voting
needs to be moved out of
the office of the Board of
Elections.
“Having advanced
voting and the office in
the same room is very
distracting and inefficient
not to mention incredibly
stressful during advanced
voting and on election
night,” she said. “The staff
has been looking for a
space that would accom
modate three weeks of
advanced voting with no
space found.”
She noted that Senate
Bill 202 was passed during
this year’s assembly. It is
a bill that was designed
to ensure proper voting
equality. The full version
of the bill can be found
on the General Assembly
website. Absentee ballot
rules changed to require
driver’s license number
and birth date on enve
lope to validate ballot;
no longer need signature.
Timelines for requesting
and returning absentee
ballots have changed.
Absentee ballots will have
to be printed on special
security paper. Drop box
now must be inside the
advance voting site. Daily
postings must be made on
the office website before
10 a.m. during advance
voting with the number
absentee ballots issued,
received and rejected and
the number of provisional
ballots issued, received
and rejected. On Election
Day, if more than 2,000
are in a precinct vote or
the wait is more than one
hour, at the next election,
the size of the precinct
must be adjusted or more
machines and poll work
ers must be added.
Public Works direc
tor Todd Goolsby said
culvert replacements hit
the county hard this year
with $300,000 spent in
culvert replacements. He
noted that Public Works
installed more than 5,000
feet of water line for the
Water Authority at Chapel
Hill to Fox Tales and
Peachstate Airport. He
said keeping employees
is a challenge due to pay
being an issue.”
Animal Control officer
Tanya Perkins stated
her duties as an Animal
Control Officer is cap
turing and impounding
dangerous or vicious
dogs, investigating cases
of animal cruelty, issuing
citations, providing expert
testimony in court cases,
writing incident reports
and providing care to
animals under her super
vision. In 2020, citations
were issued for four dan
gerous dogs, 15 nuisance
dogs, 11 no rabies issues
and two impounded dogs.
She noted the new animal
shelter is near completion
and once complete, will
follow the same proce
dures for animal control
as now.
J. Joel Edwards Pub
lic Library manager
Rosemary Bunn said the
library reopened for
regular hours on April 5
and the library is finan
cially stable. She said
future goals for the library
include striving toward
meeting minimal Georgia
Public Library Standards,
hosting Library-facilitated
webinars (ZOOM), build
ing an outdoor meeting
space (with picnic tables
and an enclosed pavilion),
increasing STEAMroom
area (maker space),
having private rooms
for studying/tutoring/
meetings, offering a drive-
through and increasing
adult/senior program
ming.
Building and grounds
director Ken Lulamiere
said the department has
two full time employees
and one part time em
ployee. Projects for the
department include a fire
station to be constructed
on Blackmon Road and a
roof for the annex build
ing which will cost around
$20,000. He said the jail
has many problems in
cluding old copper water
lines, issues lighting, no
space and inadequate
HVAC systems to name a
few. He said the depart
ment’s vehicles are in
bad shape. One truck has
300,000 miles and cur
rently is not working. One
truck has 350,000 miles
and is a daily driver. He
said the county has spent
$3,156 this year alone in
repairs.
“The more Pike County
continues to grow, it is
building and ground’s job
to plan for that growth
and grow with it,” he said.
Agribusiness Author
ity chairman Mark Camp
noted the Bull Bash event
at Chestnut Oak is set for
May 7-8 and the annual
barrel racing event will
take place in November
2021. Chestnut Oak has
two big projects: the
bleachers costing ap
proximately $25,000 and
the concession stand to
include an office, costing
approximately $80,000
to $100,000. He said the
Downtown Development
Authority would like the
Agribusiness Authority to
take over the Wednesday
and Saturday markets.
Parks and Recreation
director Kevin Teate said
spring baseball and soft-
ball has 641 kids playing
and spring soccer has 255
kids playing. The depart
ment hopes to be done
with the complex at the
soccer fields by February
2022. The complex will
have offices, a conference
room, bathrooms, a room
that will be utilized as
an art room, an aerobics
room with a special floor,
a warming kitchen and a
large meeting room with a
divider that can be made
into two meeting rooms.
Sheriff Jimmy Thomas
noted that since Novem
ber 2020 when Flock
Cameras were installed,
the department has ar
rested around 10 people
for stolen vehicles. The
jail was built in 1998 and
is starting to need mainte
nance.
Thomas noted employ
ee salaries and the county
retirement benefits are
challenging for his depart
ment. Pike County cannot
compete with surrounding
counties and employees
are leaving doing the
same job with better pay
and retirement.
Superior Court Clerk
Pam Thompson said
salaries are also a prob
lem in her department.
Salaries range from $11
to $14, with the longest
employee being employed
eight years. The small
courtroom has no back
door access the room and
it poses a problem when
court is taking place in the
big courtroom.
Probate Judge Ginny
Blakeney said immediate
needs for the Probate
Court includes comput
ers, a scanner, storage
space, office space,
furnishing and fixtures,
camera and signature pad
and staff as well as traffic
court improvements, staff
and additional technology.
Magistrate Judge
Marcia Callaway-lngram
noted the court handles
small claims ($15,000 or
less), minor criminal of
fenses, county ordinance
violations, preliminary
hearings, arrest & search
warrants, and check
fraud. As of April 20, the
court had 135 cases and
331 warrants.
On Call 24-7-365
Rough winter weather can be tough on your roof. We have crews on
standby with tarps ready to respond at any time of the day or night and
save your belongings if you experience a problem.
Call us and talk to a live dispatcher, not a recording!
Aicetaed & 'hrnvted OVER 15 YEARS EXPERIENCE!
CALL TODAY! 678-521-9747
www.advancedroofingandinteriors.com
LORD POUR OUT YOUR
LOVE, LIFE,
AND LIBERTY
2021
NATIONAL DAY
OF PRAYER
THURSDAY
MAY 6,2021
Sponsored by
Prayer Power of Georgia
www.prayerower4u.net
NOON
Pike County Courthouse
2 CORINTHIANS 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirt, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom.