Newspaper Page Text
Sports: IB
Community: 4B
Leopards look to get
on winning track
Young exhibitors
attend goat show
— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
5(K • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 5
Teen dies
after wreck
A Banks County High
P— . 1 School senior
Lgt died Tuesday
Ti evening after
J ■* “m being serious-
Jr ly injured in a
wreck Sunday
H night on Old
BUSH Tyler Bush,
17, Commerce, was a passenger
in a Jeep when he accidentally
fell out of it. Bush fell onto the
road from the vehicle while it
was traveling 30 to 35 miles
per hour.
Bush was taken by LifeFlight
to Grady Memorial Hospital in
Atlanta.
Little-Ward Funeral Home is
in charge of arrangements.
Mayor's race
set Tuesday
in Baldwin
Four candidates qualified to
seek the mayor’s seat in the
City of Baldwin.
Baldwin residents Mike
Kelley, Jerry Neace, Thomas
Loudermilk and Mark Reed
qualified for the special election
to be held on September 16.
The special election will be
held at the Baldwin City Hall
located at 130 Airport Road,
Baldwin.
Funds cut
for DFACS
building
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County
Department of Family and
Children Services officials
have been waiting patiently
for funding for a new head
quarters for years.
That wait will have to
continue as county officials
learned last week proposed
funding has been cut for a
new facility.
Banks County chairman
Gene Hart said Governor
continued on page 5A
News -2-3A
•Art in Park coming
up Sept. 20-21
— page 2A
•Q&A with Baldwin
mayor candidates
— page 3A
• ‘Taking time to
stop, be thankful for
little things’ — page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 5-6B
• School News — 4B
• Public Safety — 6A
•Legals — 8-11A
•Church — 7B
•Obituaries — 7A
Alto home to 15 Louisiana evacuees
LOUISIANA EVACUEES STAYING IN ALTO
Fifteen extended family members from Marrero, La. have been staying in Alto for the past week. Shown
(not in order) are: Bertha Rudolph, Glen Bayhi, Sr., Kailee Billiot, Beo Billiot, Katherine Billiot, Brinden
Billiot, Carol Bayhi, Justin Williams, Traci Williams, Tommy Williams, Clarence Rudolph, Albert Domangue,
Stetson Dean and Nicholas Bayhi. Not pictured: Glen Bayhi, Jr. The family fled from their home ahead of
Hurricane Gustav.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
BY SHARON HOGAN
Alto has been the home
for 15 people over the past
week who evacuated from
Marrero, La., located on the
west bank of New Orleans,
ahead of Hurricane Gustav.
The group members range
in age from eight months to
82-years-old.
Beo Billiot said the fam
ily chose Alto because he
became friends in Louisiana
with Justin Smith, who
is originally from Banks
County.
Billiot said, “Justin said
if we ever had to evacu
ate we could go to Banks
County.”
And that is just what
Billiot along with his family,
eight-month-old Brinden,
four-year-old Kailee, wife
Katherine and 11 extend
ed family members did on
Saturday, Aug. 30. The trip
from Marrero, La., to Alto
took the family 25 hours to
complete. Glen Bayhi said
the trip should have taken
eight to nine hours. Bayhi
said it took the family five
hours to travel from New
Orleans to Slidell, a nor
mally 45-minute drive.
Bayhi said as they were
driving out they saw a lot of
people broken down on the
side of the road. Billiot said
coming through Alabama
and Georgia if you saw
someone broken down on
the side of the road, there
was always someone there
helping them.
“This is not something
you see in Louisiana,”
Billiot said.
When the family arrived
in Alto, Tim and Sherry
Tanksley were working to
get a rental mobile home
they own on Rice Street
ready for the family.
Bayhi said, “Tim worked
for 48 hours non-stop to get
the home ready for us.”
His wife also helped out,
Bayhi said.
Alto Mayor Audrey
Turner said, “The commu
nity has really come togeth
er to help with this. Several
local churches have provid
ed meals for the family.”
Bayhi said, “Mr. Glen
Davis, The Warehouse
Restaurant, Cornelia, has
brought food and ice for us
and we are thankful.”
Billiot said, “We’ve been
treated like family since
we’ve been here. People
have brought us grocer
ies.”
Katherine Billiot said,
“Everything we have need
ed has been taken care of.”
Bayhi said when the fam
ily arrived in Alto, Kailee
was disappointed because
she didn’t have any toys.
“I found a baby doll she
had dropped under the seat
of my car and that is all she
had,” Bayhi said.
Alto Police Officer A.K.
Kidd brought Kailee a bag
of toys to play with, Bayhi
said.
Bayhi said as they left
their homes they were able
to gather up important
papers and some clothes.
“We grabbed important
papers and some clothes,”
Bayhi said, “things like our
birth certificates.”
Billiot said the tough part
of the trip was traveling
for this extended period of
time with two little ones.
“It was rough having two
young kids on the road,”
Billiot said.
Bayhi said the family had
four near miss accidents
during the trip.
The eldest family mem
ber, Clarence Rudolph, said
he didn’t want to evacuate.
“But they were making
us,” Rudolph said. “And if
I had to leave I wanted to
go with my family.”
Rudolph said he stayed
in Louisiana during hur
ricane Katrina.
Billiot said, “It’s not
fun to evacuate every two
years.”
Billiot and Bayhi are
both machine operators in
Louisiana.
“We thread pipes used in
oil drilling,” Billiot said.
“We have our jobs to go
back to.”
The family said on
Thursday they were hoping
to leave either Saturday or
Sunday going back home.
Billiot said, “Storm or no
storm, we will come back
for a vacation.”
Katherine Billiot added,
“We definitely want to
come back.”
Bayhi said he had been in
contact with his neighbor
on Thursday and the neigh
bor said they were allowing
fuel trucks and food trucks
in. The power was restored
on Wednesday afternoon,
but the water was possi
bly still contaminated, the
friend had informed him.
BOC approves variance
Chairman speaks out against action
BY ANGELA GARY
The Banks County Board
of Commissioners approved a
request at a meeting on Aug.
26 despite being cautioned by
chairman Gene Hart that the
action did not follow the coun
ty’s ordinances.
Rickey Cain and Joe Barefoot
voted in favor of a request from
Michael and Kay Butcher for
a conditional use permit to
expand the sales staff for their
Internet business.
Hart said the the business
would no longer be consid
ered a home occupation due
to the number of employees.
He questioned Bill Ross, who
is reviewing the county codes,
about the request and the con
sultant agreed that the business
is a commercial use.
In other business at the meet
ing, the BOC:
•heard a complaint about a
business sign being located on
a truck. Hart said this issue
was being reviewed and that
a county ordinance is already
in place restricting advertising
from vehicles.
•heard a request from Bob
Blackwell for a variance to
change a property line between
two lots on Stirling Drive in the
Windy Knoll Subdivision. The
request was tabled until the
next BOC meeting.
•agreed to allow the board of
education to use the GIS infor
mation for bus routing.
•named Gram Hodgkins to
serve a term on the develop
ment authority. He will replace
Dennis Brown, who resigned
recently.
•approved a resolution sup
porting the formation of a
Banks County Citizens Corps
Council. This group is com
prised of volunteers who serve
continued on page 5A
BALDWIN LADDER TRUCK ARRIVES
Baldwin City Council member Beverly Holcomb is shown looking over the city’s
fire department’s ladder truck that arrived last week. The city purchased the lad
der truck recently from a fire department in Winter Park, Colorado. The truck has a
95-foot reach. The Baldwin Fire Department expects to have the truck in use soon,
fire officials said. Photo by Sharon Hogan