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VOL. 117 NO. 1 Millen, Ga. 30442 LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY SINCE 1903 Wednesday, July 5, 2023 • 750
County and City to sell properties with delinquent taxes
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Approximately 53 property owners
in Jenkins County and 38 in the City
of Millen, as of June 30th, will have
their properties sold on August 1st if
they fail to pay their delinquent prop
erty taxes. The sale will take place on
the Jenkins County Courthouse lawn
beginning at 10 a.m.
Jenkins County Tax Commissioner
Tina Burke said that the majority of
the county and city delinquent taxes
date back to 2021 and 2022, but that
a few are older due to legal issues
that prevented those sales for previ
ous years.
Property owners may pay their de
linquent taxes, including interest and
penalties, up until the auction begins
Aug. 1st.
Even if the properties are sold on
Aug. 1st the original owners have
a year to come up with the cash to
redeem their properties from the pur
chasers. To do so they must pay the
purchaser the amount of the winning
bid paid at the tax sale, any taxes
paid on the property by the purchaser
after the sale, any special assessment
on the property, plus a 20% premium
for the first year or fraction of a year,
and a 10% premium of the amount for
each additional year or fraction of a
year, that has elapsed since the date
of the sale.
During the 12 months redemption
period, the purchaser of the tax deed
cannot take actual possession of the
property, receive rents or make im
provements to any structure on the
property or grade any lot.
If the original owner fails to redeem
the property within a year, it is advised
that the purchaser consult an attorney
to foreclose on the right to redeem,
said Mrs. Burke.
All properties to be sold on Aug. 1 st
are listed in the Legal Ads section of
this issue of The Millen News.
CTTD
m (Mil©!®© m ® ElQ
' Charleigh and Weslee Sasser are
shown as 7 months old, shortly after
narleigtl's accident.
Charliegh and Weslee Sassers today still thriving and resilient as
ever.
TARA SASSER
The Millen News
As our nation celebrates the Fourth of July this week, Indepen
dence Day, my family is celebrating another type of independence
- the independence and resilient nature of my twins, Charleigh
and Weslee.
Charleigh was severely injured in an accident in July, 2013, that
left her fighting for her life in a hospital. And, Weslee was subjected
to numerous changes in his routine due to that accident, changes to
which he adjusted and thrived.
We as adults are responsible for the protection and health of our
children. As a nurse and a former employee of the Jenkins County
Elementary School, I have personally gotten to know some of the
most courageous and, frankly, life changing children. The same
thought pops into my head every time I think of them, “The resil
ience of a child.”
Children are mini heroes. They are heroes and never even know
it. I have two heroes of my own. My twins were born prematurely
at 32 weeks. Though small, they were already strong. After a few
short weeks in NICU they were able to come home with some pre
cautions. Of course, as a new mom I went above and beyond those
precautions for a while, and, of course, as parents
we learned and realized that hand sanitizer is not SEE
always needed, first. A few germs are good for the RESILIENCE,
immune system* The twins grew with Weslee hit- ^ q
milestones'then Charleigh. My moth-
f v> nM
Georgia anti-gangs bill
came into effect July 1
DAVE WILLIAMS
Capitol Beat News Service
Controversial legislation imposing
mandatory minimum prison terms for
gang recruitment in Georgia came
into effect July 1.
Senate Bill 44 is one of dozens of
bills the General Assembly passed
this year that will become law with
the start of a new fiscal year.
Passed by the legislature’s Repub
lican majorities along party lines, the
bill requires judges to impose prison
sentences of at least five years on
those convicted of recruiting gang
members. It also mandates tougher
penalties for recruiting to a gang any
one under age 17 or with a disability,
requiring at least a 10-year sentence.
“Come after our children, and we
will come after you,” Gov. Brian
Kemp warned in January during his
annual State of the State address to
members of the Georgia House and
Senate.
The governor made Senate Bill 44
part of his agenda for this year’s leg
islative session and signed it during a
ceremony in April.
“There’s no room for street gangs
in Georgia,” Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-
Cornelia, one of Kemp’s Senate
floor leaders, said when the bill
was debated on the Senate floor in
March. “[Senate Bill 44] is going to
help prosecutors across the state. It’s
going to help children. It’s going to
really provide serious penalties for
someone that tries to recruit a child
into a life of crime by asking them to
join a street gang.”
When the bill reached the House,
Republican leaders amended it to
restrict judges’ abilities to
allow suspects accused of
certain crimes to be released ’
q
without posting a bond if
Local man charged in the
kidnapping of five youth
Patrick Casey, of Perkins, is
charged with aggravated assault, 5
counts; kidnapping, 5 counts; ter
roristic threats and acts, 5 counts;
aggravated sodomy, 5 counts; and
possession of a firearm during the
commission of a crime, one count.
Casey’s arrest is in connection
with a June 25th incident in which
five victims, all 18-19 years of age,
state they were assaulted by a white,
male who held them at gunpoint and
attempted to force them to perform
sexual acts on each other. One of
the victims was able to disarm the
offender and all five victims were
able to flee the scene to a safe area
where they called 9-1-1.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched
to their location in Perkins and a
search for the suspect began. The
suspect was quickly identified as
Casey, who was arrested and trans
ported to the Jenkins County Jail.
Patrick Casey
None of the victims were from
Jenkins County.
Karlson Bell, U.S. Postal Service mail carrier and a Good Samaritan
Good Samaritan mail carrier
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
The phrase "Neither snow nor rain
nor heat nor gloom of night stays
these couriers from the swift comple
tion of their appointed rounds." has
long been associated with the Ameri
can postal worker. Karlson Bell, a
Jenkins County mail carrier, can add
another phrase to this description -
that of “Good Samaritan.”
Bell never thinks of himself as
a Good Samaritan, but his actions
Wednesday, June 28th, may have
saved a postal patron’s life and
earned him the recognition.
Bell was running his normal route
for the U.S. Postal Service, and mak
ing good time, running his schedule
an hour earlier than ususal. This, as
it turns out, put him in the right place
and the right time.
“I was delivering on Stacy Road
and came up on a disabled gentle
man lying out by the dirt road, near
his mailbox. I think he may have
been coming to the mailbox and got
tripped up in the rut in the road, fell
and couldn’t back get up,” Bell said.
The gentleman was clearly disori
ented and in need of assistance. Bell
helped him up and attempted to get
him to his home, but the gentleman
was unable to walk that far.
“So, I propped him up by his car
and called 9-1-1. Then, I went inside
his home and got him some water
and some cushions to make him more
comfortable. I don’t know how long
he had been lying there, and if I had
been an hour later arriving, I don’t
know how things might have turned
out,” Bell said.
Bell said he was with the gentleman
for 45 minutes and no one came by
during that time.
When emergency medi- SEE
cal service personnel ar- BELL,
rived, Bell even helped 3
