Newspaper Page Text
Transportation Turmoil
it’s personal
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
(Editor’s Note - This is the second
article in a series of three.)
Blocked rail crossings may be an
inconvenience and a loss of income
and time for truckers, but there is
more at risk.
The knock on the office door
startled Mandy Underwood, Jenkins
County Chamber of Commerce Ex
ecutive Director. She was working
late recently and had the office door
locked.
“It was around 7-8 at night, and I
heard this knock on the office door.
When I went to the door a child
around 10-12 years of age was stand
ing there,” Underwood recalls.
So, she opened the door and asked
if she could help him.
“I can’t get home. The train is on
the tracks,” a scared voice told her.
“I need to get home.”
Underwood said the incident is
etched into her memory.
Jenkins County Emergency Medi
cal Services (EMS) Director Henry
Young related an incident of concern
encountered by EMS personnel re
cently.
“We had a call that a child had fallen
off a 10 ft. fence at the recreation
department’s ball field on Gray Street
Extension,” Young said.
The ball field is located a block
behind the EMS headquarters which
is on Winthrope Avenue. Getting
there should have been quick and
easy. It wasn’t. The rail crossings on
Winthrope Avenue and Gray Street
Extension were both blocked by a
stopped train.
“We had to go around and use the
overpass by the school,” Young said.
Millen Public Safety Director
Dwayne Herrington also sees other
aspects of the congested traffic.
“Blocked rail crossings definitely
delay the response times for our police
and fire departments. It is to the point
now that we just use the overpass,
rather than taking a chance on the
rail crossings being blocked at other
locations,” Herrington said.
He also noted that the school sys
tem’s buses normally drop students
off at the back of the
SEE
school on North Avenue.
When the rail crossing is TRAIN,
blocked the buses have 3
At right, a
school bus is
shown caught
up in the traf
fic congestion
at the Jenkins
County Schools
when Norfolk
Southern trains
have all other
crossings in the
city blocked.
Officers of the
Millen Police
Department are
also shown di
recting traffic.
nrARKEiTj
“Transformers Rise of the Beast’’ is a huge hit at the movie theaters, and
Bobby Inman, manager of B&T Fresh Food Market, is incorporating the magic
of the movie into the store displays. But his enthusiasm doesn’t stop there.
Inman purchased a “Transformers” car which created a stir when it was
spotted in the parking lot by customers.
Honoring Millen’s George Toby on Juneteenth
The Juneteenth Federal Holiday
has its roots in Galveston, Texas. On
June 19,1866, one year after 250,000
Texas African Americans learned of
their freedom due to the Emancipation
Proclamation and Thirteenth Amend
ment, the first Juneteenth celebration
was held. It’s a time to reflect on the
path to freedom and the steps still
needed to achieve equity.
George Toby was born in Millen
in 1833 when the community was
still considered to be a part of Burke
County. According to the 1880 cen
sus , his occupation was farmer. How
ever, he had the notable achievement
of being one of the first Blacks to vote
in 1867. He voted for convening the
First Georgia State Legislature under
the Reconstruction Constitution.
Black men participated in Georgia
politics for the first time during the
Congressional Reconstruction. Be
tween 1867 and 1872 sixty-nine Af
rican Americans served as delegates
to the constitutional convention or as
members of the state legislature until
1872. However, in September 1868
the legislature, dominated by Repub
licans, expelled its African American
members. Energized, the Black legis
lators successfully lobbied the federal
government to reseat them.
George Toby was one of 3,403
people in Burke County, registered
by Burke County’s Black Register
Malcolm Claiborn. Claiborn later
served as a delegate to the Georgia
Convention held in Atlanta in 1868,
created to write a new constitution.
Burke County native John Warren
also served.
George Toby and his wife Lucrecia
had seven children. George Toby died
at the age of 91.
William Toby, Jr. is a descendant
of George and Lucrecia. He became
the New York Regional Administrator
of the Healthcare Financing Admin
istration (HCFA) in 1977 and served
as the agency’s Acting Administrator
in 1992.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan
selected William Toby Jr. for the
Presidential Meritorious Rank Award.
Source: The Royal Toby Legacy
compiled by William Toby Jr.
Two suspects run from
roadblock, one at large
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
A Georgia State Patrol (GSP) rou
tine road block near Brinson’s BBQ
Sunday night turned into a chase
when a vehicle approaching the road
block turned around and sped away
on W. Old Savannah Road.
GSP Troopers and Jenkins County
Sheriff Department deputies gave
chase. The fleeing vehicle ran off the
road and crashed in the woods when a
GSP trooper initiated a PIT maneuver.
Jenkins County Sheriff Robert
Oglesby said that the suspects fled
because one had several outstanding
warrants from other counties.
Both suspects were
apprehended and
placed in a Jenkins SUSPECTS,
County Sheriff’s patrol 7
Deceased City Councilman Walter Thomas, left, is shown with Judge
Hubert Reeves III during Thomas’ last swearing in ceremony as a member
of Millen City Council in 2018. Council approved the naming of Williams
Street in honor of Thomas during its June 5th meeting.
Street named after Walter
Thomas for his service to city
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Walter Thomas, a member of
Millen City Council for 26 years,
now deceased, will be honored
for his service to the City of Mil
len. During city council’s June 5th
meeting the group approved honor
ing Thomas with a street name.
Councilman Dr. Giovonni Shu-
make presented the formal request.
Shumake called attention to
Thomas’ contributions to the com
munity, noting that in addition to
serving on city council, he was
also a businessman. SEE
He noted that Thomas WALTER
was an automobile ^
mechanic and oper-
