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■1 9 M9 / t m Kf ' took for our 111 ise/ts inside -TI 1 i i he .Millen % VOL. 117 NO. 15 Millen, Ga. 30442 LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY SINCE 1903 Wednesday, October 11, 2023 » 750 Advance Voting in City of Millen election begins Oct. 16th DEBORAH BENNETT Millen News Editor The City of Millen will hold a Gen eral Election on Nov. 7th to fill the fol lowing seats: Mayor, City of Millen, to succeed incumbent, King Rocker; Millen City Council Member, District #1, to succeed incumbent Robin Scott; and Millen City Council Member, District #2, to succeed incumbent Darrel Clifton. A Special Election to bll the District #1, Millen City Council seat vacated by Giovanni Shumake will be held in conjunction with the General Elec tion. Mr. Shumake is seeking the posi tion of Mayor in the General Election. Advance Mail-Out-Absentee voting begins at 9 a.m. on Oct.16th and ends at 5 p.m. on Nov. 7th. Advance Absentee In-Person voting will be held at the Jenkins County Courthouse, 611 E. Winthrope Av enue, Millen, beginning at 9 a.m. on Oct. 16th and ending at 5 p.m. on Nov. 3rd. Saturday Advance In-Person voting will be held on Oct. 21st and Oct. 28th from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Jenkins County Courthouse. On Election Day, Nov. 7th, all vot ing will take place at the Millen City Hall, 919 College Avenue, Millen. Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Should a run-off election be re quired, it will be held on Dec. 5th. Anyone who was registered to vote as of Oct. 10th may vote in these elections. Lee Wilson, director, and Lisa Dailey, assistant, are shown with the Jenkins County Senior Citizens Center’s float in the Fair-on-the- Square parade held Saturday. Seniors riding the float were also dressed in “sock hop” attire. City of Millen Election Superintendent Wanda Burke and Patricia Rich are shown testing the poll pads that will be used in the City of Millen’s General Election and Special Election. Voting equipment pass tests DEBORAH BENNETT Millen News Editor Testing of new voting equipment that will be used in the Nov. 7th City of Millen’s General Election and Spe cial Election was conducted last week at the Jenkins County Courthouse. City of Millen Election Superin tendent Wanda Burke and staff began with Logic and Accuracy (L&A) Testing which creates election media cards. These include tech cards, poll worker cards, and memory cards. Security keys, flash drives, ballot accuracy and ratification codes were verified. The election ballot was loaded into the Ballot Marking Device to test that all scanners were reading SEE TESTS 3 Bidding on Kirkland building DEBORAH BENNETT Millen News Editor The City of Millen is accepting bids for the renovation and restora tion of the Kirkland building located on Cotton Avenue for the third time. During the Millen City Council meeting held Oct 6th, City Manager Jeff Brantley reported that bids re ceived during the first bidding period were way over the projected costs. And, the second bidding was hindered by the tropical storm that passed over the county “A pre-bid walk-through will be held Oct. 18th,” Mr. Brantley said, noting that he has spo ken with one person who indicated he would bid on the project. In other business, Mr. SEE BIDDING, 5 New Dollar General under construction DEBORAH BENNETT Millen News Editor A new Dollar General store is currently under construction at the intersection Hwy. 23 and Hwy. 21 on the Millen By-pass. Matt Morrow, project manager with Teramore Development LLC of Thomasville, said that the concrete for the project will be poured during the night this week, and the building will begin going up on Saturday of this week. “It’s just easier to pour the concrete and work through the night. There is less traffic, and the sun doesn’t affect the temperature of the concrete,” Mr. Morrow said. There are approximately 15 em ployees working on the project. Mandy Underwood, Jenkins Coun ty Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, confirmed that the new store will operate independently of the Dollar General store located on Winthrope Avenue. “We will have two Dollar General stores,’ she said. Dollar General was founded in 1939 and currently has 19,000 stores in 47 states, according to its website. The retailer executed 800 retail projects in the third quarter of 2022, and plans to execute an additional 3,170 projects this year. These efforts include 2,000 remodels, 120 store relocations, and up to 35 stores in Mexico. “We believe the addition of each new Dollar General store presents positive economic growth for the communities we proudly serve. We demonstrate our commitment to being a positive business partner through the creation of local jobs and numerous opportunities for employee develop ment and career advancement, as well as through grants provided through the Dollar General Literacy Founda tion (DGLF) that positively impact literacy and education initiatives at schools, nonprofits, and libraries,” the company website reports. “The DGLF was founded 30 years ago by Dollar General’s former CEO, Cal Turner, Jr. in honor of his grand father and Dollar General co-founder, J.L. Turner, who was functionally il literate. The Foundation continually supports schools, libraries g^ and non-profit organizations and their efforts to enhance quality classroom instruc- 5 The site of the new Dollar General Store at the intersection of Hwy. 21 and Hwy. 23 on the Millen By-pass is shown.