Newspaper Page Text
LOCA^SOUTHEAST
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Monday, December 3, 2018 7A
Hunt for hellbenders is part of protection plan
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Researchers are
donning wetsuits and wading into
north Georgia streams to conduct
an underwater search for giant
salamanders known as hellbenders.
The effort is part of a survey
designed to get a sense of the state
of the hellbender in the north Geor
gia mountains.
Scientists have come to realize
that the big salamanders might be
in peril — and the federal govern
ment is now considering whether
to protect them, WABE Radio
reported.
Hellbenders can grow to nearly
2 feet long and might live as long
as 20 or 30 years, spending much
of their time beneath rocks in cold,
clean streams.
They have flat, round heads and
a wide mouth that makes them look
like they’re smiling.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot
going on in a hellbender’s head. But
it’s a face a mother and a herpetolo
gist can love,” said Thomas Floyd,
a wildlife biologist with the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources
who’s leading the survey.
They also have many nicknames.
“I’ve heard a few, most common
in this portion of the southern Appa
lachians is probably mud dog,” said
Floyd.
There’s also snot otter.
He continues: “Water dog, gram
pus, grumpus, mollyhugger, horny
head, devil dog.”
And finally, old lasagna sides, in
recognition of the curvy flap of skin
that runs down hellbenders’ torsos.
In north Georgia, the group of
researchers is looking for hellbend
ers because the species seems to
be in trouble, so they’re trying to
learn more about where they live
and how they’re doing. They check
Georgia streams every few years
for hellbenders to get a sense of
their demographics.
After just a few minutes of look
ing, they find one. It’s a young hell
bender, which is especially exciting,
said Floyd.
“It’s neat to see an adult, but it’s
even neater to see a small juvenile, ”
he said.
That’s because in streams where
hellbenders aren’t doing well,
researchers only find the adults,
meaning, for some reason, they’re
not reproducing well, or the eggs or
young salamanders aren’t surviv
ing. A stream like that will eventu
ally lose its hellbenders.
Across their range, hellbenders
are in decline, scientists say. Their
range generally covers the Appa
lachian Mountains, from southern
New York to North Georgia.
“So historically, hellbenders
occurred in about 15 states and
probably across more than 500
streams,” said Bill Hopkins, a pro
fessor at Virginia Tech who studies
hellbenders.
Researchers began realizing in
the 1980s that hellbender numbers
were dropping, Hopkins said. Since
then, they’ve figured out that about
40 percent of hellbender popula
tions are either totally gone or
about to be. Another 40 percent are
declining.
“It’s really bad, and I think hell
bender biologists across the nation
would agree with that,” Hopkins
said. “That’s something that we’re
all really, really worried about, and
we’re trying to understand what the
causes are.”
The biggest problem for hell
benders is damage to those clean
streams they live in; when forests
get cut down, or roads are built, or
an area gets developed, that can
pollute or silt up a stream and make
it bad for hellbenders.
Sometimes people intentionally
kill hellbenders, so that’s a prob
lem, too. Disease could be an issue.
And then there’s climate change,
“something that we’re very worried
about,” Hopkins said.
Climate change could affect them
in a few ways. Those cold streams
the hellbenders like could get too
warm. The forests around the clean
cold streams could change and
potentially not shade the streams
as much or filter the water as
effectively. And extreme weather
— heavy storms or drought — can
also affect the streams, either by
drying them up, or flooding them
and washing away the rocks the
hellbenders live under.
“It’s almost like climate change
is this accelerator that really ampli
fies the effects of all the other
threats that this animal experi
ences,” Hopkins said.
COLUMBIA, S.C.
Indictment: Inmates used dairy, State House to smuggle items
Inmates and their accom
plices used bread deliveries,
a prison dairy and inmate
work crews at the South Car
olina State House to smuggle
drugs, cigarettes, cellphones
and other items into state
prisons, according to recently
announced indictments.
Seventeen people were
charged in what the attorney
general’s office described
in Friday’s indictments as
“sophisticated and highly
lucrative conspiracies” to
smuggle large amounts of
contraband into state prisons.
Authorities said an inmate
known as “Christ” oversaw
the network that relied on
people inside and outside
prison walls.
A prison dairy farm at the
Wateree Correctional Institu
tion in Sumter County was a
key location in the scheme,
authorities said. The farm
provides milk to the institu
tions within all of the prison
system.
According to the indict
ment, people outside prison
would hide duffel bags
stuffed with items on the
farmland property at night.
Inmates working at the
dairy would tuck the items
in secretly marked milk
crates that were “ultimately
trucked to all of the institu
tions with the system.”
Similarly, items were
stashed adjacent to a Colum
bia bakery that provides
bread for state prisons.
Inmates accompanying truck
drivers on deliveries would
sneak the items into prisons.
Co-conspirators would hide
items “at various locations
around the State House and
the state office buildings”
and inmates on State House
work duty “would obtain it
and return it back within
the prison walls for delivery
throughout the system.”
The indictment alleges
a prison inmate Baraka
Ramos, who is nicknamed
“Christ” was behind some
of the smuggling operations.
Local news outlets report
that Ramos told a judge Fri
day that the accusations are
untrue.
Ramos’ lawyer said the
charges were announced
on the same day Ramos was
scheduled to be released
from prison for a previous
drug trafficking conviction.
Meet the painter behind some of Macon’s great buildings
OBITUARY
Howard Lee Carnes
Died Dec. 2,2018
Howard Lee Carnes, age
83, of Gainesville, passed
away Sunday, Dec. 2,2018.
Mr. Carnes was born in
Forsyth County to the late Sol-
oman Robert and Margaret
Self Carnes. He was preceded
in death by sisters and broth
ers, Martha Carnes, Ausbon
Carnes, Leota Carnes, John
Carnes and Marshall Carnes.
Mr. Carnes was a textile
worker at New Holland Mill
for 45 years.
Survivors include son and
daughter-in-law, Randy and
Margaret Renee Carnes,
Gaffney, South Carolina; son,
Vince Carnes, Gainesville;
daughter, Sony Jones Lopez;
grandchildren, Victoria
Carnes, Justin Carnes, Jessica
Carnes, Casey Jones, Heath
Jones, Cody Lopez, Dallas,
and Angel; sister, Kathleen
Dorsey, Gillsville; brothers,
William Carnes, Cleveland,
and Robert Carnes, Banks
County.
Funeral services will be
held 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec.
4, 2018, at the chapel of Bar
rett Funeral Home. Inter
ment will follow in Concord
Baptist Church Cemetery in
Cumming. The family will
receive friends from 6-8 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, at the
funeral home.
Barrett Funeral Home,
Cleveland
Sign the online guest book
at gainesvilletimes.com.
The Times, Gainesville, Ga.
Dec. 3, 2018
DEATH
NOTICES
Helmut Paul Feller
Jan. 2, 1934-Dec. 2, 2018
Helmut Paul Feller, 84, of
Alto died Sunday. Funeral
service, 11 a.m. Tuesday,
Dec. 4, funeral home chapel.
McGahee-Griffin & Stewart
Funeral Home, Cornelia.
Linda HtJtter Frankum
Oct. 23, 1944-Dec. 1, 2018
Linda Trotter Frankum,
74, of Demorest died Satur
day. Funeral service, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 4, funeral
home chapel. Whitfield
Funeral Home & Crematory,
North Chapel, Demorest.
Myrtle Poole Lewallen
Aug. 4, 1927-Dec. 2, 2018
Myrtle Poole Lewallen,
91, of Baldwin died Sunday.
Funeral service, 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 4, Line Baptist
Church. Whitfield Funeral
Home & Crematory, South
Chapel, Baldwin.
Curtis Charles Loggins Jr.
Died Nov. 30, 2018
Curtis Charles Loggins Jr.,
64, of Gainesville died Fri
day. Memorial Park Funeral
Home, Gainesville.
Geneva Fletcher Weldon
Died Dec. 1,2018
Geneva Fletcher Weldon,
92, of Jefferson died Satur
day. Funeral service, 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 4, funeral
home chapel. Evans Funeral
Home, Jefferson.
BY JENNA EASON
Associated Press
MACON — Walking
through some of Macon’s
most prominent struc
tures, the history flows
through the halls, but few
people hear the story of
the man responsible for
those buildings and the
beauty they still possess.
Tony Long has been
involved with painting
and maintaining buildings
since the 1950s, and he
has won many awards for
his preservation efforts
including the Excellence
in Preservation award at
the annual Georgia Trust
Preservation Awards cer
emony in 2017.
“Once they’re gone,
they can’t ever come
back,” Long said. “I know
there’s some fantastic
new stuff, but when I go
somewhere, I go to muse
ums, old churches, his
toric buildings. I don’t go
into new skyscrapers. ”
Long’s painting busi
ness, A.T. Long & Son Inc.,
was started by his father,
A.T. Long, after his return
to Macon at the end of
World War II.
“I must’ve had a gene
that I enjoyed being
around construction,” he
said. “The most fun that I
had was just getting in the
truck and going with my
dad everywhere.”
Long said he didn’t
really start painting
houses until he graduated
high school in 1957.
“I must have painted
a thousand closets learn
ing how,” he said with
a laugh.
Long said he graduated
from Mercer in 1964 with a
degree in math and econom
ics, and his dad made him a
partner in the business.
Long has since been
involved with painting mul
tiple buildings in Macon
including the Grand Opera
House and St. Joseph’s Catho
lic Church. He said he loves
decorative painting.
Maryann Bates, a free
lance photographer and artist
who has worked with Long,
said he has more energy than
anyone she knows.
“Tony is the first one up
the ladder, the first one up
the scaffolding, and my God,
you better be able to keep up
with him,” she said.
Bates, who also had a stu
dio at the Contemporary Arts
Exchange, said she’s one of
Long’s biggest fans.
“Macon has no idea what
Tony has done for it,” she
said. “To me, he is St. Tony,
and he always will be.”
The recently closed Con
temporary Arts Exchange in
the Washington Block build
ing on Mulberry was another
one of Long’s endeavors. He
allowed artists to have studio
space, and the only cost they
had to pay was the electricity
bill.
“He’s like an old-fash
ioned, huge, beautiful steam
engine that is not locked to
one track,” said Eric O’Dell, a
professor of fine arts at Mer
cer University and one of the
artists who had a studio at the
Arts Exchange. “I’ve always
appreciated knowing that
behind the scenes, his strong
and sturdy shoulders were
always creating space and
room for us to do art.”
In looking at other cities
who had revitalized their
downtowns, it always started
with artists, Long said.
“To me, what started
downtown revitalization
was that group of artists that
people would come and see
and show folks that, ‘Hey, if
we can be downtown without
getting mugged or having any
problems, y’all can too,’ “ he
said.
But, his support for artists
didn’t stop there.
“One reason we moved
here was it had more wall
space,” said his wife, Jenni
fer Taylor. “We have a large
collection of basically local
and regional art, and we love
getting to know artists and
supporting them anyway that
we can.”
Taylor said Long has prob
ably been involved in some
way with around 75 percent
of the buildings downtown at
least.
“He just feels, clearly feels
very strongly, that you need
to leave a place better than
when you got there and do
what you can to improve
everybody’s lot in a com
munity,” she said. “I admire
that a lot, and I think that’s an
important thing we need to
engender in young folks. ”
She said Long’s defin
ing quality is that he knows
everyone and is involved
with everything.
“He’s able to pull in the
needed people or groups or
organizations to get some
thing done, and he’s a real
master at that,” she said.
Long also had a hand in the
Macon Film Festival along
with Craig Coleman and
Tabitha Walker.
Long painted Macon Little
Theater in 1961, which was
the first time he had been
in a theater with live perfor
mances. He began to attend
plays and help backstage
at the different theaters in
Macon. He said he became
involved with the produc
tion of the Nutcracker at the
Grand Opera House in the
mid-1980’s.
“I don’t do any of the danc
ing,” he said with a laugh.
“But, backstage and making
everything happen is me.”
This year’s production of
the Nutcracker starts on Dec.
5 and runs through Dec. 9.
To honor Long’s support
of the theater community,
Theatre Macon named Sept.
8 “Tony Long Day” back in
2016, Taylor said.
“(He) has benefited the
art community, the theater
community, the preservation
community, and downtown
Macon, so we’re lucky to
have him,” Taylor said.
O’Dell said Long has been
one of the firmest believers
in preserving Macon.
“He was the caretaker of
things as they were quiet and
not so well known for many
years to where now I think
they’re having their time
in the sun and can flourish
more, and Tony deserves
an awful lot of credit for all
of those things,” O’Dell said.
“He is woven into the fabric
of what this place is at all lev
els. . He makes a place worth
living in.”
Gene Dunwody Jr., an
architect with Dunwody/
Beeland Architects Inc., said
that he has worked with Tony
for several years to revitalize
downtown Macon. He said he
and Long would buy build
ings to restore that nobody
else wanted.
“I think he’s the most influ
ential person
BRUNSWICK
County wants homeowners
to upload and plot Christmas
displays on online map
As homeowners decorate for the holidays, one Georgia
county is trying to help residents plot tours of their local
Christmas lights.
Glynn County on the Georgia coast has launched an
online map of Christmas displays. Homeowners in com
munities including Brunswick and St. Simons Island can
add their addresses and upload a photo showing how
they’ve decked their walls, roofs and yards.
A handful of people have plotted their homes on the
online map so far, along with the elaborate light display at
the historic district of Jekyll Island state park.
'wtuvciy T/tcCLm®
Auto Insurance
Specialist
• Easy Payments
• Any Driver
• Any Age
NEW LOCATION!
2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE
Next to Rabbittown Cafe
770-450-4500
•Gift baskets
•Embroidery
•Unique gifts
•Screen printing
•Balloons for all occasions
•Full Service Pharmacy
•Free Local Delivery
•Compounding Unit Dose
Packaging
Hiver&ide Pharmacy
935 Green St., Gainesville, GA
770.532.6253 • callriversidepharmacy.com
Call Wolfman Charlie to
keep you warm this winter!
o
LANIER HVfiC SERVICES
WE STRIVE TO SERVE YOU
835 Oak Street, Gainesville, Georgia
http://lanier-hvac.net/
678-943-1351
