Newspaper Page Text
February 16, 2022
Page 7A
iReporter
EMAILS
Continued from 1A
said Wattum was planning to
register three companies in
Georgia. Hewitt urged those
to whom he sent the email
that “it would be in your
best interests to proceed as if
the 3 documents have been
received.”
Hewitt even outlines exactly
how the cities should do so
by locating a site, asking the
landowner if he would be
willing to sell or lease, check
ing out covenants on the
property and determining ac
ceptable noise levels, which he
said would probably be 70-80
decibels at 100 feet.
Apparently Jackson and
Barnesville weren’t as im
pressed as Forsyth. Nathanial
Persky of Wattum told the
Reporter that Barnesville
“decided to go another route”
and Jackson never got back
with him.
Six weeks later, on Oct. 26,
Forsyth electrical superinten
dent Mike Batchelor emailed
Leverett with new urgency,
and worried, correctly it turns
out, that city council might
kill the project.
“I really think that now is
the time to bring Janice into
the loop on this project and
I would like for you to reach
out to her. I had no problem
handling the preliminaries
on this project, but she really
needs to be involved from
this point on. She and I were
speaking about the project
and agreed that we would
hate for this to got to (sic) far
along and city council decide
to shut it down.”
On Dec. 14 Hall contacted
Leverett because she hadn’t
heard from Wattum. Lever
ett replied that Wattum was
having difficulties finalizing
purchase terms for the land
with property owner Wes
Cone. He asked her to “please
keep this info confidential
as Nate [Nathaniel Persky
representing Wattum] asked
me not to talk about it.” Hall
replies that she will keep it
confidential and that she was
trying to schedule a Planning
& Zoning meeting. She said a
quorum of Planning & Zon
ing members weren’t available
for the regular meeting on
Dec. 27.
When this newspaper
reported the bitcoin mine’s
rezoning application to the
city on Dec. 29, city man
ager Janice Hall immediately
alerted Mayor Eric Wilson
and council members by
email.
“If you haven’t seen it yet,
Will Davis ran a front page
article about the bitcoin
project. Of course the article
has inaccuracies in it—I know
you are shocked!!” wrote Hall
on Dec. 29. She also sent a
copy of the Reporter article to
the Wattum representative.
Some city officials objected
to the article’s insinuation that
the city was recruiting the bit-
coin mine. Cone, the property
owner, had told the Reporter
that he was first approached
by the city about selling the
property for the bitcoin mine.
On Jan. 5, the Reporter
emailed to determine how
much revenue Forsyth gets
from its partnership to supply
power to its bitcoin project in
Adel and how much revenue
it expected to get from the
Wattum bitcoin mine. City
clerk Regina Me answered
that the city took in $2 million
from the Adel mine in 2021,
but the city never answered
questions as to how much is
profit.
Meanwhile, Batchelor
emailed Hall on Jan. 6 with
new urgency: “Natha
nial [Persky of Wattum] has
resumed contact with me
now, and they are full steam
ahead with their ears pinned
back again now! I have a
phone meeting scheduled
with him at 2:00 pm today
to discuss construction issue.
He is asking about the 4 to 5
week build out schedule that
I previously estimated for
them. I have stressed that time
table for construction is still
valid but the main issue on
the project will be procuring
the need [sic], materials in a
timely manner, most notably
the paramount transformers!
I will call you after my con
versation with him to fill you
in on the details if you want.
Nathanial sent me a rough’
site plan so Jason is coming
here this morning so we can
start planning on how we are
going [sic] deliver the needed
power to the site at the most
efficient way to meter it and
get us PAID! Lol.”
In the same email Batchelor
talks about gathering pay rate
data from surrounding areas,
with linemen at $36 to $43/
hour. He said he could have
someone speak to council.
But then a local bitcoin
opponent told the city that
someone with the city’s elec
trical department, thought to
be Batchelor, told concerned
residents that the deal had
already gone through and that
the mining facility is coming
regardless.
Hall confronted Batchelor
by email on Saturday, Jan.
22, “Did you speak with her
CHAMP
Continued from 1A
County and won 6-0. Man-
nella had already beaten
Jacinto at Sectionals so his
confidence was understand
able.
Mannella said it was
special to see his teammates,
who call him “Tone”, in the
crowd to watch his state title
match. He said at Baylor he
was just another wrestler, but
at MP he had the opportu
nity to be a leader. Mannella
said he’s not sure where he
got his wrestling talents,
but his uncle wrestled at the
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University of Pittsburgh.
His brother graduated
from Woodward Academy
and attends the University
of Pennsylvania, while his
younger sister is in seventh
grade at ACE in Macon.
His father Phillip is a
dnropractor in Dublin while
his mom works at Ortho
Georgia in Macon.
Already a state champion,
Mannella still has his senior
year ahead to win another
one. He said he may try to
add some muscle and go up
to the 170 lb. weight class.
Of course there are other,
more established sports at
Mary Persons that would
love to use Mannellas talents.
He said MP football coach
Brian Nelson has tried many
times — unsuccessfully so
far — to get him to play
football.
Mannella said he and his
family went out to eat to
celebrate his state champion
ship.
“They were definitely
proud of me,” said Mannella.
“It was a big deal.”
He said he’s excited about
the future of MP wrestling.
“Everybody on the team
got along and Coach Ham
brought the team together]’
said Mannella.
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or anyone after the meeting?
If so was anything said that
could have been miscon
strued to sound as what she
has stated by ‘an electric em
ployee?” There was no reply
in the documentation.
There was documentation
that Batchelor was registered
for the 2021EDG Crypto
Data Center Information
Webinar on Sept. 30 and that
Hall provided Batchelor con
tact information for the city
manager of Adel on Oct. 28.
Emails indicate that Hall
was asking city electrical
consultant Mike Leverett in
September what the potential
electrical load would be for
the Bitcoin project and Lever
ett was telling Hall in October
that Wattum was reviewing
Forsyth’s noise ordinance to
determine if it could work
within it.
The text messages and
emails raise some questions
regarding who knew what
and when about Wattum and
cryptocurrency mining and
regarding how transparent
city officials were with citizens
about what it was approving
for their neighborhood.
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