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ONE DOLLAR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2023 www.pikecountygeorgia.com Newspaper to continue publication, office to close The Pike County Journal Reporter of fice on the square in downtown Zebulon will close Dec. 29. The newspaper will continue to operate as it does currently but composition and other pre-press work will be consolidated with its sister publication, The Herald Gazette. Staff members Rachel McDaniel and Jennifer Taylor will continue with their present responsibili ties. The phone number will remain same at 770.567.3446. Mail will continue to be received at RO. Box 789, Zebu- Ion, Ga. 30295. “We are not going anywhere. Our report ers will still cover all the meetings and events they currently cover and the Journal Reporter will remain a local fixture,” Geiger said. E-mails will also remain the same. Mc Daniel can be reached at news@pikecounty- georgia.com. Taylor’s e-mail is jennifer@ pikecountygeorgia.com. Those with ques tions regarding the change may contact Geiger at news@ barnesville.com or by calling 770.358.6397. Early deadline set for Dec. 28 Due to the New Year’s holiday, the Pike Coun ty Journal Report er will have an early deadline of Thursday, Dec. 28 at noon for the Jan. 3 edition. Dec. 30 concert to rebuild FFA barn BY RACHEL McDANIEL news@pikecountygeorgia.com A special Dec. 30 con cert at the Concord Cafe will help raise funds to repair fire damage at the high school’s FFA barn and allow animals to once again be cared for by students. The New Year’s Eve weekend concert to ben efit Pike County FFA will feature Montgomery Pike from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Concord restaurant. Harrison Pugh and The Kampfire Collective will perform from 8 to 11 p.m. The event is hosted by the Pike County FFA Alumni group and donations are requested to help with FFA barn repairs. The Pike County High School FFA livestock barn caught fire just before 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, killing two pigs and one goat. Three teachers were walking nearby the morn ing of the fire and they saw the smoke and quick ly alerted authorities. Pike County firefighters were nearby completing training and were able to respond quickly to save SPECIAL PHOTO These two pigs, Bill and Night Ninja, survived the fire. the barn. The fire started from a heat lamp keeping the animals warm. Due to fire damage, students are currently unable to keep their show animals in the barn. FFA advisor and Ninth Grade Academy agri culture teacher Brandi Baade said the barn is an important part of the program. It allows students who may not otherwise be able to raise and show animals to participate in FFA programs and competi tions. She said raising an animal teaches students important life lessons. “To me, showing hogs means learning how to be responsible, respect ful and a team player. You have to care for your animal, respect your animal and other show men, as well as lend a helping hand to others in need,” said tenth grade FFA showman Makenzi Prince. Eleventh grade FFA showman Walker Davis agrees. “FFA gives us a way of showcasing the worth of these animals and devel ops us, the students, into disciplined, empathic and hard-working indi viduals,” he said. “You have to have grit to show livestock!” PHOTOS BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER Fiber internet was installed off New Hope Road early in 2023. By the end of the year, all Southern Rivers Energy customers in Pike County had access to high-speed fiber internet. SRE connected more than 1,194 miles of fiber across several counties. See more of 2023’s top stories in the special Year In Review section on pages 1-8B. Year brings fiber internet, new rec. facilities HONE OF THE 20I9 AM BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONS Pike County school sports saw big changes in 2023 as baseball head coach Don Hanson retired and the GHSA moved Pike athletics from AAA to AA where they will be the 15th largest out of the 59 schools in the division. In addition to a new Community Center in February, the Pike County Parks and Recreation Authority saw upgrades at all facilities, along with new fields in the softball complex. PCPRA also got a new director, Ray Wilkerson. Although it started out with destructive weather, the year 2023 brought high-speed internet access to most Pike citizens, a new Community Center and additional softball fields at the recreation depart ment and a new nature trail at the elementary school in memory of the late Buddy Brown. Changes at the recre ation department includ ed a new Community Center with an official ribbon cutting on Feb. 3 and a new Parks and Recreation Authority director as Ray Wilker son took over after the resignation of former di rector Farry Moss. Many upgrades were made to the recreation facilities throughout the year, including the field used by the middle school baseball team as well as concrete pads covered with artificial turf for the batting cages. Mem bers of the community helped with some of the cost and labor for those projects and at the end of the year, two new softball fields were constructed. Buddy’s Trail at the elementary school was another new addition for the year, opening in honor of the late ‘Buddy’ Brown, a former teacher at the school. The nature trail connects to the other walkways that connect the different school campuses and Buddy’s Trail used in October as a Haunted Trail as well as being used by students, staff and community mem bers since its creation. Initial work was done to clear the underbrush by a team of hungry goats and volunteering stu dents and their families . The county pur chased around 256 acres for $3 million in the Zebulon city limits which will provide the space for a new jail and sheriff’s office. The land purchased includes property from High way 18/Concord Street behind the city’s water treatment lake all the way to the south side of County Farm Road. The county heard an ultimatum on return ing funding that was donated for the creation of an animal shelter. Commissioners decided to return the $225,000 to the CFC Foundation and it was then donated to local animal rescue Coco’s Cupboard. The Animal Shelter sign on County Farm Road was changed to say Animal Control instead and the facility continues to only house dangerous or vi cious animals. Wild weather was part of the news cov erage by the Journal Reporter throughout the year, including freezing conditions early in Janu ary and tornadoes mid way through the month, followed by flooding and flash freezes in March. The year 2023 started out with an arctic winter storm that left many citizens without power as they welcomed in the New Year. In mid-Janu ary, five tornados struck in northern Pike and several struck Spalding County, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake that took many months of recovery efforts on the part of the county and local citizens. In March, a suc cession of days with freezing temperatures dropping into the 20s decimated the peach crops in Pike, causing Gregg Farms to close for the season instead of opening as usual in the spring. Other crops were damaged as well, including pears, pecans and others. There were big chang es for sports in Pike County as the school’s athletic teams were dropped from AAA to AA competition by the Georgia High School As sociation. Pike will com pete as AA through the 2026 school year and will be the 15th largest team in the division out of 59 schools. Jackson will join Pike in AA while Mary Persons, Peach County and Upson-Fee will remain in AAA. Fegendary coach Don Hanson retired from coaching the Pirates baseball team after 20 years. He won more than 400 games with the team and under his leadership the Pirates picked up two state championship titles. Blake Parrott, a former Pirates baseball player and assistant coach for the past seven seasons, was announced as the new head coach in June. During his time with the team, they earned six consecutive region championships and two state titles. Pike athletes com peted well - both at the school and recreation level - with some ath letes earning state and even national honors. See YEAR IN REVIEW page 3A County holds UDC workshop Commissioners held a UDC (Unified Develop ment Code) workshop Dec. 21 and discussed many issues with several proposed changes over the two-hour meeting. Members of the board heard from locals Matt Bottoms, Kacie Edwards, Benny Evans, Steve Reeves and Brooklyne Wassel. No official action was taken at the meeting although several planned draft changes were dis cussed. The board agreed to make changes to the proposed UDC update, noting they did not want agricultural limits on lots over five acres. They don’t want to require building permits for 4-foot or smaller fences and they also agreed to remove paved roads and parking requirements for rural event centers. See WORKSHOP page 2A Thomaston Milk Co. buys lot in industrial park The Pike County Development Author ity held a short meeting Dec. 20 to approve the purchase of 3.2 acres in the industrail park by the Thomaston Milk Com pany. Development Author ity director Kyle Fletcher said that the company showed intertest in the property months ago and would like to close on the property by the end of the year. She noted that they would be covering all closing costs and noted that they did request assistance with getting the water line to the property. Zebulon mayor Joe Walter noted that the company can officially notify the city of Zebulon to provide their justi fication for waiving of the impact fees. He also said that the city does not waive connection fees unless the property owner does that them selves. The final item of busi ness by the board was to cancel the Jan. 3 meeting since there was no ac tion on the agenda. The next meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 7.