Newspaper Page Text
OPEN HOUSE!
Students and parents will meet
with teachers Friday and Monday.
See page 2A
FLAGS. FLAME!
A record number of flags
were honorably retired recently.
See page 1B
PIKE COUNTY
JOURNAL REPORTER
ONE DOLLAR
www.pikecountygeorgia.com
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2023
PIKE'S PEEK
Raccoon
confirmed
as rabid in
Concord
Pike County Animal
Control announced
July 26 that a raccoon
was confirmed as hav
ing rabies after a July
24 fight with dogs near
the Wildwood Farms
lake on Concord Road
just before the inter
section of Bottoms
Road in Concord.
“The raccoon
was taken by Animal
Control officers to be
prepared for rabies
testing and turned
over to the Health De
partment in Zebulon,”
said Animal Control of
ficer Scott Meyers. “On
July 26, Animal Control
received confirmation
the raccoon tested
positive for the rabies
virus. Fortunately, the
dogs that had interac
tion with the raccoon
had already been
vaccinated and were
immediately taken to
receive a booster shot.
The two dogs will have
an observation of 45
days.”
Water service
in Molena may
be interrupted
Due to the replace
ment of the damaged
hydrant on South Main
Street in Molena, there
might be an interrup
tion of water service
between 8 a.m. and
noon Thursday, Aug.
3. Molena city officials
are asking citizens to
plan accordingly.
School lunch debt is at $47,000
BY RACHEL McDANIEL
news@pikecountygeorgia.com
Pike County board
of education members
heard that the cafeteria
debt across all schools
for the past school year
is around $47,000. It was
noted that for years due
to COV1D, students were
allowed to eat free and
to prevent shaming and
embarrassment, Pike
students are not denied
meals regardless of
cafeteria debt. Another
factor is the increasing
cost of breakfast and
lunch foods. Promissory
notes will be completed
at Open House and pay
ments can be made for
families owing money.
Donations are accepted
from local businesses or
families who would like
to pay the debts of local
students and graduat
ing seniors with positive
balances can donate the
funds to help for their
fellow students. If any
one would like to donate
to help pay down the
student debt, they can
contact Tammy Bell at
bellt@pike.kl2.ga.us or at
770-567-8489.
In neighboring Lamar
County, school adminis
trators were facing a sim
ilar situation when ear
lier this year, Tyler and
Shelby Young, owners of
Hines Prescription Shop
in Barnesville, made a
substantial donation to
pay off accumulated past
due school meal fees.
“We are glad we could
help with a need in our
community. This will not
fix the problem long term
but we hope it provided
relief. We hope to inspire
others to look for needs
within our community
and help where they are
able,” Tyler Young said.
In Pike, automated
school calls are sent out
weekly and emails sent
twice a week to families
with debt. Letters are
mailed to families with
outstanding debt. Certi
fied letters are mailed to
families with excessive
debt warning that they
will be referred to Magis
trate Court if not re
solved by a certain date
and when all procedures
have been exhausted,
families are referred to
Magistrate Court for as
sistance with collection.
School Nutrition
Program director Tammy
Bell asked board mem
bers to allow the pursuit
of a collection agency to
assist with collecting the
excessive debt.
It was noted that in
one case in Pike, the cost
to file the case in Magis
trate Court is $106 and
the sheriff’s office made
attempts to serve the
parent with court papers
but the case was referred
back to the district
because no contact was
made with the parent.
“We feel we have
exhausted all means of
collections at this point,”
said Bell. “This would give
us a better opportunity to
help collect the debt that
has been accrued.”
According to the As
sociated press, 76% of
school districts in the
U.S. have lunch debt.
See SCHOOL page 3A
SPECIAL PHOTOS
Above left, fourth grader Paisley Williams traces a message that says, ‘Be-Leaf In Yourself.’
Above right, Pike County Elementary School teacher Kim Carden and her daughter Ellie
Carden work together to paint a cactus with the message ‘Bloom Where You Are Planted.’
Painting positivity at PGES
Elementary school staff,
family and community vol
unteers brightened up the
walls for students in the
last weeks of summer.
“This entire project was
absolutely amazing! We
had volunteers of all ages
from the primary, elemen
tary and high school. 1 am
so thankful for friends,
co-workers and community
members who came to
support the process! 1 can
not wait for the students
to see it,’’said teacher
Meghan Lee who organized
the project.
youwtif
AMD DO
At left,
eleventh
grader
Elle
Smith
paints the
first part
of ‘Bee
yourself
and do
your own
sting.’
At right,
this sign
says, ‘Be
incred
ible’ and
‘Be bold.’
County extends
zoning moratorium,
hears annual audit
Pike commissioners
extended the zoning
moratorium 60 days
from Aug. 9 and heard
the county’s audit dur
ing their July 25 meet
ing. At their May 10
meeting, commissioners
established a 90-day
moratorium in order
to allow the planning
and zoning director to
update county zoning
codes and ordinances.
“I’m not in favor of
contracting out this
job, we have someone
in-house who is 100%
capable of doing it, we
just need to slow down
rezoning and subdivi
sion requests so he
can focus on getting it
done,” said county man
ager Brandon Rogers at
the May meeting. “It’s a
lot of work and all of the
codes are interlocked
together. It’s not an easy
and quick fix for sure.”
The moratorium de
lays zoning and land use
decisions such as major
subdivisions, rezonings,
zoning applications,
variances and special
exceptions but does not
stop administrative acts
such as plat review or
minor subdivisions.
Commissioners were
also presented with the
annual audit for Fiscal
Year 2021-22 by Driver,
Adams and Sharpe.
THE COUNTY ALSO:
• Approved use of
the courthouse grounds
for the Friends of the
J. Joel Edwards Public
Library’s showing of
the movie Murder in
Coweta County for the
movie’s 40th anniver
sary. Parts of the movie
were filmed in the Pike
County courthouse.
• Approved use of
courthouse grounds
for the Princess and
Hero Meet and Greet on
Saturday, Sept. 23.
See COUNTY page 3A
Students address board about Val and Sal selection criteria
BY RACHEL McDANIEL
news@pikecountygeorgia.com
Board of education
members were ad
dressed by Pike County
High School student Ma-
rissa Hanson and Class of
2022 graduate McKenzie
Fox during their July 25
meeting about the way
Valedictorian and Saluta-
torian are selected each
year. Hanson is currently
a senior and Fox gradu
ated in 2022.
Fox graduated with a
4.5 GPA, nine Advanced
Placement (AP) classes
and more than six dual
enrollment classes dur
ing high school. She
noted that the school
system selects Valedic
torian and Salutatorian
based only on the SAT
score when other things
should be considered,
especially since the stu
dent with the highest SAT
score is also honored at
the STAR student.
“I’ve been the first
PHOTO BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER
Above left, Pike County High School senior Marissa Hanson asks board of education members to reconsider the way the Vale
dictorian and Salutatorian are selected each year. Above right, the two students addressed school board members and asked
that they no longer base the selection of Val and Sal on SAT scores since the STAR student is selected with that criteria.
in my class since 1 first
checked at the end of
my sophomore year and
1 only dropped down to
fourth one time during
junior year but I brought
it up to first for the en
tirety of my senior year,”
said Fox.
She noted that accord
ing to the high school
counselor, the Valedic
torian hasn’t been the
first in their class in at
least the past five years.
She said Pike is the only
school system in Georgia
that determines Valedic
torian based on SAT.
Fox and Hanson both
asked the board to recon
sider how the Valedicto
rian and Salutatorian for
coming years is selected.
“This is something
completely out of my
comfort zone and 1 would
never do something like
this if 1 didn’t have to but
1 am passionate about
this and feel the need to
speak up,” said Hanson.
“My hope is that you
reconsider the criteria
used to selected Valedic
torian and Salutatorian.
Most school systems in
the state of Georgia base
their choice based on the
highest GPA in the class.”
