Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 117 NO. 17 Millen, Ga. 30442 LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY SINCE 1903 Wednesday, October 25, 2023 • 750
SpooK-tacular
puMpKim!
Raylan McClain, 8, and Millie McClain, 4, are ready for Halloween and are enjoying
their pumpkins.They are the children of Alexi and M.J. McClain.
29 take advantage
of Saturday voting
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Twenty-nine City of Millen voters
went to the polls this past Saturday
to cast their early ballots in the city’s
Nov. 7th General Election and Special
Election.
There are 1,978 registered voters in
the City of Millen, and, as of Tuesday
morning, 253 have voted in-person,
including the 29 who voted on Sat
urday; 17 have voted by mail; and
3 provisional ballots have been cast.
The following seats are being de
cided in the General Election. 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 fill the District
#1 Millen City Council seat vacated
by Giovanni Shumake is being 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
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, until 5 p.m. onNov. 3rd.
Saturday Advance In-Person voting
will be held again on 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.
YOU ML..
we get the answer!
Occasionally, the newspaper is
asked questions from concerned
citizens about a community issue
or problem. You want the answers,
and we will try and get them for you
through the proper channels of com
munication.
This week, we received inquiries
and concerns as to the in
creased smell being emitted SEE
from the Jenkins County ASK,
Landfill on Paramore Hill 3
Chong Un Kim
Body of woman found in 1988 identified
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
For 35 years the identity of human
remains found in a dumpster in Jen
kins County has been a mystery. On
Monday of this week, the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation (GBI) an
nounced that the mystery has been
solved. Advances in DNA testing
technology enabled the identification
of the body as that of Chong Un Kim
of Hinesville, GA.
Kim moved to the U.S. in 1981 and
was 26 years old when her body was
found on Feb. 14, 1988, in a county
trash dumpster at the intersection of
Kaiser Road and Old Perkins Road.
A local resident was picking up alu
minum cans around the site when he
detected a strong odor and notified
law enforcement.
Then Sheriff Bobby Womack re
ported that the badly decomposed
body appeared to be that of a female
of either Hispanic or Caucasian de
scent. He said the county had emptied
the dumpster at 11 a.m., and it was
believed the body was placed in the
dumpster Friday afternoon. Sheriff
Womack believed that the death of
the woman occurred several days
before the body was placed in the
trash dumpster. He also believed
that the body was not that of a local
resident; but had been dumped in
Jenkins County by someone passing
through due to the site’s proximity to
U.S.Hwy. 25.
Sheriff Womack was
correct in his assump- SEE
tions. The GBI deter- IDENTITY,
mined that the victim had g
Jenkins County EMS declares “medical emergency!”
DEBORAH BENNETT
Millen News Editor
Jenkins County Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) is declaring a “medical
emergency”. The agency is in need of
employees!
Currently, the EMS has six full-time
and five part-time employees. Adequate
employment needs to be at 14 full-time
and 14 part-time employees, said Henry
Young, EMS director.
Young, who has been with the EMS for
40 years, says the shortage of employees
is the worst he has ever seen.
“The shortage has been progressively
getting worse for about eight years with
some employees retiring and others just
leaving the profession. And, the problem
is not exclusive to Jenkins County; but is
nationwide. People are just getting out of
public safety and public health in general.
Some decide they don’t like it, that it is
not for them and others move up to other
professions like nursing,” Young said.
The ideal schedule for EMS staff is 24
hours on duty with 48 hours off. Currently,
at times, the situation is reversed with staff
working 48 hours and 24 hours off.
“This is not good for them. They get
fatigued, and there is employee burnout,
too. I have to just tell them to stop working
at times,” Young said.
The EMS has two 24-hour vehicles but
finds it difficult to staff both trucks. And,
this means that if the Jenkins County Medi
cal Center needs to transfer a patient, there
may be times when Young has to ask them
to call another agency if the patient cannot
wait until the following day to be moved.
“If it is a medical emergency like a heart
attack, we will transfer them, though,”
Young explained.
To address the issue, the Jenkins
County Commissioners have recently
upgraded the pay scale for county EMS
employees, and have been advertising
job positions in the newspaper. But, this
has not resulted in any new employ
ment. Young said that in the past, the
county has also offered to pay for the
necessary training classes as well as
travel expenses for anyone who applies
for a job with the EMS, but there were
no applicants.
The only solution Young sees for the
problem is to create more interest in
emergency medical services as a held
of employment, and he has a “thought”
that could become a “possi- g^
bility.” The county currently
offers hrst-responder courses
for medical/fire/law/safety ®
At right, Jenkins County Emergency Medical Services Direc
tor Henry Young is shown with one of the two ambulances the
service operates. The EMS is currently taking applications for
EMTs, Advanced EMTs and paramedics.
