Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 116 NO. 51 Millen, Ga. 30442 LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY SINCE 1903 Wednesday, June 21, 2023 • 750
Transportation turmoil - federal grant for overpass denied
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Blocked railroad crossings in the
City of Millen and on the Millen
By-pass may continue indefinitely.
Hopes for improvements were dashed
last week when word was received
that a federal grant application hied
in September, 2022 by the Georgia
Department of Transportation for con
struction of the overpass was denied.
The grant would have provided the
funding for the project.
“It was devastating news,” said
Mandy Underwood,Executive Direc
tor of the Jenkins County Chamber
of Commerce and Jenkins County
Development Authority.
“Chatham, DeKalb and Gwinnett
counties got the grants,” Underwood
said.
The funding would have come from
the bipartisan infrastructure spending
bill that Congress passed two years
ago. Underwood is unsure what the
next step to address the issue might be.
“We are just going to have to sit
back down at the table and try and
figure out where to go from here,”
she said.
For some time now traffic on the
Millen Bypass has been blocked
for long periods of time by Norfolk
Southern trains stopping on the rail
road tracks. There was a report this
past weekend of the railroad crossing
being blocked for 32 hours.
This disrupts the travel and delivery
schedules of truckers hauling freight
and delays other vehicles traveling
through the county. It also creates
safety hazards as traffic backs up
along Hwy. 25, on the Bypass and
on Barney Avenue where the Jenkins
County Schools are located. This
necessitates direction of traffic by the
Millen Police Department and Jenkins
County Sheriff’s Office on occasions.
States do not have the right to
limit the time trains can block railroad
crossings, and there are no federal
laws governing the matter at this time.
Numerous requests from local offi
cials to Norfolk Southern requesting
that the railcars be unhooked, leaving
at least one crossing open have been
unsuccessful. In the past, the railroad
has been receptive to unhooking the
railcars.
Both Sen. Raphael Warnock and
Sen. Jon Ossoff have been actively
addressing the problem of blocked
railroad crossings in Georgia. Last
month, Warnock secured passage of
two provisions in the Rail
way Safety Act of 2023 SEE
that addressed stalled TRAIN,
trains trapping Atlanta 3
residents in their neigh-
Sam Black, 9, son of John and Terri Black of Millen, is shown with the
Letter to Editor he wrote to The Millen News. Editor Deborah Bennett
said it is the first letter the newspaper has ever received from
someone of Sam’s age. (Read Sam’s letter on the editorial page.)
MPD assists in major
armed robbery arrest
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Observant Millen Police Depart
ment (MPD) officers recently spot
ted an individual in Millen wearing
similar clothing as that of a person
suspected of involvement in two
Emanuel County robberies and re
ported the information to the Emanuel
County Sheriff’s Office (ECSO). This
tip, along with others received dur
ing the course of the investigation,
led to the arrest of Cordell Cobb
of Burke County on Monday, June
19, by the Burke County
Sheriff’s Office (BCSO)
SWAT team.
Cobb is suspected of
SEE
MPD,
8
Suspect who fled GSP
road block still at large
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Anthony Lamar Brown of 503 Bry
ant St., Waynesboro, remains at large
following his arrest in connection
with a June 11th accident in Jenkins
County.
Brown, who has outstanding war
rants from several different counties,
was driving a 2018 Nissan Sentra
when he encountered and fled a rou
tine Georgia State Patrol (GSP) road
block on W. Old Savannah Road. A
GSP trooper pursued Brown and initi
ated a PIT maneuver that sent Brown’s
vehicle crashing into a wooded area.
Brown and a passenger in the
vehicle, Jeremiah Watkins of 444
Corbett Street, Millen, were arrested,
handcuffed, and placed into a sheriff’s
department vehicle. Brown managed
to slip his handcuffs and escape.
Watkins was arrested on Investiga
tive Hold and is in the Jenkins County
Jail.
Jeremiah Watkins
Anyone who has any information
on Brown’s location should contact
the Jenkins County Sheriff’s Office
at 478-982-1570 or 478-982-4211.
- a%weef cxop, anij way you aif if!
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
According to the University of
Georgia Cooperative Extension
Service, (UGACES) watermelons
are grown on approximately 35,000
acres per year in Georgia. One acre
can yield 20,000-40,000 pounds. Lo
cal farmer Clarke Jenkins joined the
industry this year, planting 70 acres
of watermelons on land along Hwy.
23 North.
While Jenkins may be new to the
industry, he is well-prepared for the
venture.
“I worked at Too Soft Farms in
South Carolina for two years learn
ing how to do it. And then came back
home to get started,” Jenkins said.
Why watermelons?
“I just wanted to learn to do some
thing new,” he said.
After the melons are planted, work
ers cover the ground, entire fields,
in thick plastic mulch. Twenty-five
percent of the melons produced in
Georgia are grown using the mulch
method.
“The plastic keeps the ground hot
so the melons will grow,” Jenkins
explained.
It takes approximately 75 days from
planting to harvest. Varieties planted
by Jenkins include Amarillo, Black
Sweet Gem, and Cracker Jack.
Jenkins uses contract labor to
harvest his melons, employing 36
workers at the sorting station located
at Hanging Rocks.
The melons are trucked from the
nearby fields to the sorting station
and unloaded onto a conveyor belt.
Workers remove the melons from the
conveyor belt and place them in card
board boxes according to size. The
boxes of melons then go to a nearby
loading station where they are cooled
down and shipped out.
The UGACES
reports that wa- SEE
termelons will WATERMELONS,
continue to be an 2
important part of
At right, Clarke
Jenkins is
shown with one
of the melons
harvested from
the 70 acres
he planted this
year.
