Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2015
THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
PAGE 5A
Baldwin council approves two repair projects
BY SHARON HOGAN
The Baldwin City Council, at the month
ly meeting on Aug. 10, approved two repair
projects for its utility services.
The council approved spending $9,377
out of the wastewater operations and main
tenance reserve fund for Griffin Brothers,
Inc. Maysville, to repair leaks in the influ
ent pipe at the wastewater treatment plant.
Aaron Akemon told the council during
the Aug. 6, work session meeting there
were two holes in the gravity flow pipe.
“The pipe has rusted and is now leak
ing,” Akemon said.
The council also approved spending an
amount not to exceed $17,000 to replace
turbidimeters at the city’s river intake loca
tion and the water plant. The work will
be done by Aqua Summit, Suwanee, and
the funds will come out of the water plant
capital improvement account.
OTHER BUSINESS
in other business at the council meet
ing:
•city clerk Janet Van Hook advised
the council that The Pantry Kangaroo
Convenience Store, 3951 Highway 365,
Baldwin, had recently been sold and
would be changing to a Circle K. She said
all fees are currently up to date, the pro
cess would just be a name change.
•the council met in closed session
for approximately 25 minutes to discuss
real estate acquisition, but no action was
taken.
•Mayor Jerry Neace announced the
following upcoming events to raise funds for
Baldwin Fire Chief Joe Roy, who was injured
in July when he was stmck by a tmck: Benefit
Ride on Sat., Aug. 15. Registration begins at
8 a.m., riders leave Baldwin City Hall at 9
a.m. Open to motorcycles, cars, and trucks.
Yeti Cooler Giveaway, tickets are $5 each.
Chicken-Que from noon until 2 p.m. on Sat.,
Aug 22, at Mitchell Gailey Park, Tickets are
$8 per plate. Proceeds from all three events
will go to Roy to help with expenses while he
recovers from his injuries.
Local author wins
literary award
Canterbury House Publishing Ltd. recently announced that
the fourth and final novel of local author Denise Weimer’s
Georgia Gold Series, “Bright as Gold,” has won the 2015 John
Esten Cooke Fiction Award. This prestigious annual award, con
ferred previously on three New York Times bestselling authors,
honors fiction depicting southern history or the “War Between
the States” era in a balanced and accurate manner.
“Bright as Gold” depicts the Randalls and Rousseaus, families
series readers have followed from the 1830s, as they rebuild
their lives on the coast and in the mountains of Georgia after
the Civil War.
“Denise Weimer has crafted a sensitive, realistic, and con
flict-ridden story that clearly delineates the temptations and
struggles of reconstruction,” Viviane Crystal of The Historical
Novel Society said of the novel earlier this year. “Add to the
conflict a treasure of gold found and secretly used. “Bright as
Gold” is a vigorous, entertaining and engaging story of the
mettle required to survive disaster. Notable historical fiction.”
Beginning with “Sautee Shadows,” The Georgia Gold Series
follows four families whose lives intertwine through romance,
adventure and mystery, linking antebellum Georgia’s coast and
mountains in the mid-1800s, according to Weimer. Orphaned
daughter of a Cherokee mother and a man murdered for his
gold, Mahala Franklin grows up unraveling the clues left in her
father’s strongbox and wondering if his killer still lives in the
town of Clarkesville, where she helps her grandmother run
an inn. When Savannah entrepreneur Jack Randall, whose
northern origin brings an often-controversial perspective to
his family’s shipping firm, buys a competing hotel, sparks fly.
Meanwhile, shy and unwilling socialite Carolyn Calhoun, one
of the coastal elite who build summer homes in Habersham,
must choose between two very different brothers, rice planter
Devereaux Rousseau and his minister brother Dylan.
In “The Gray Divide,” book two of the Georgia Gold Series,
sibling rivalry and romance threatens relationships, according
to Weimer. Hidden loyalties are exposed and the lives of the
four families and the nation are endangered as Georgia seeks
to become its own republic, only to be plunged into civil war.
In book three, “The Crimson Bloom,” the suspense heightens
as the women run an inn and a farm in the absence of the men
they love, a perilous wagon journey fleeing Sherman ensues,
and revelations of long-hidden truths about the murder and
missing gold all come to a head.
A staff officer of Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, John Esten Cooke
was a prolific 19th century biographer and novelist in the tra
dition of Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper. The John
Esten Cooke Fiction Award is presented by the Military Order of
the Stars and Bars.
Native Georgia resident Denise Weimer earned her journal
ism degree with a minor in history from Asbury University. Her
magazine articles about northeast Georgia have appeared in
numerous regional publications. Weimer is currently working
on The Restoration Trilogy set in modern-day Georgia with links
to three different centuries.
“By weaving the fictional stories of characters from various
backgrounds into the framework of real history my goal
is to provide a well-rounded sense of Georgia’s past, while
at the same time giving the reader an exciting story,” said
Weimer, who now resides near Athens after living ten years in
Habersham County.
For more information about The Georgia Gold Series and
The Restoration Trilogy and a list of local retailers, visit the
author’s website at www.deniseweimerbooks.webs.com. The
novels are also available online and through national bookstore
chains.
Weimer grew up in Jackson County and her books are car
ried at The Bookstand of Northeast Georgia.
Pottery festival set Sept. 5
The Folk Pottery Museum
of Northeast Georgia will
hold its seventh annual
show and sale on Saturday,
Sept. 5, also marking the
museum’s ninth anniversary
as the only museum in the
southeastern United States
devoted exclusively to dis
playing the 200-year heritage
of folk pottery. The event
will operate from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. throughout the
museum and the campus
of the Sautee Nacoochee
Center, where the museum
is located.
“We will present north
east Georgia folk potters
in the historic gymnasium
and have studio, art and
self-taught potters from
the region and neighbor
ing states on the grounds,”
said museum director
Chris Brooks. “Hawg Wild
Barbecue from Clarkesville
will offer food and bever
age options during lunch
hours in the community
hall, and old time mountain
music will be performed
on the porch. Our African-
American Heritage Site will
feature the only known
restored slave cabin in the
northeast Georgia moun
tains, with demonstrations
of 19 ,h -century crafts and
skills, including a working
blacksmith forge and shop.”
The Sautee Nacoochee
Center includes a museum
of local history and two
galleries featuring work by
northeast Georgia artists in
a variety of media.
The Folk Pottery Museum
of Northeast Georgia is locat
ed on Georgia Highway 255,
1/4 mile north of the inter
section of Georgia Highway
17 and four miles north
east of Alpine Helen. The
museum is open Mondays-
Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. and Sundays from 1-5
p.m. Admission is $5 for
adults, $4 for seniors and $2
for children. Admission to
all events and areas will be
free on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Maysville DDA plans fall activities
BY ALEX PACE
The Maysville Downtown
Development Authority is planning
several fall activities. The authority
discussed plans for a raffle, informa
tion table and yard sale at its Aug. 10
meeting.
The authority plans to set up a table
at the city’s Autumn Leaf Festival, with
information material on the DDA. The
DDA also plans to sell tickets for its
Nov. 12 raffle at this time. The raffle
item has not been decided.
Chairman Catherine Daniel said the
authority is also planning a yard sale
on Saturday, Nov. 7. The DDA will have
a designated space at the yard sale to
sell donated items, but citizens can
“rent” yard sale spots and sell their
own items. Proceeds will go towards
improvements at the city’s Veterans’
Park.
Daniel said the authority is also look
ing into making school supply dona
tions to Maysville Elementary School.
OTHER BUSINESS
Also at its meeting, the authority:
•voted to elect Daniel as chairman,
Danielle Miller as co-chairman and
Thomas Whalen as treasurer. Miller
and Daniel will also serve as secretary
until filled.
• discussed plans to clean and paint
tires for children to play on at the park
in front of city hall.
• changed the authority’s meet
ing date to the third Monday of each
month at 6:30 p.m.
•learned the authority needs two
Maysville business leaders to join the
authority, per the authority’s bylaws.
•discussed plans for a fundraiser
that will allow people to donate money
to the DDA and have their name includ
ed on a sign at the city’s gazebo. The
authority is looking into sign possibil
ities including a large rock, wooden
sign and painted names inside the
gazebo.
•learned the authority will have
training on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Gillsville council approves gutter installation
BY SHARON HOGAN
At the monthly meeting on Aug. 4,
the Gillsville City Council approved the
closing of Wilson Street.
Traffic using Wilson Street will be
re-routed behind the downtown build
ings to come out on Bryant Quarter
Road.
The city plans two public hearings
on the street closing. The dates will be
announced later.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the monthly
meeting:
• the council approved the low bid
of $468 for Doug Bagwell to install six-
inch gutters on the downtown build
ings.
•the council unanimously approved
the city’s general election for Nov. 7,
with qualifying Aug. 31, through Sept. 4.
•the council approved the
November council meeting date for
Nov. 10, due to the city election on
Nov. 3.
• Mayor Larry Poole reported Knott
Construction was waiting on the seal
er for the pavers and the lighting for
the streetscape project. “We are hold
ing payment on an invoice until the
contractor comes back,” Poole said.
Council member Jim Butler asked
Poole to contact the contractor and
have them come and open up the
handicap ramp for use.
•Poole advised the council that
some Georgia Municipal Association
training was coming up in Sept, and a
GMA workshop was being offered in
Jefferson later this month.
• Poole reported that Gillsville would
be hosting the Hall County Chamber
of Commerce Wisdom Project
Government Day on Oct. 9 at the city
park building.
Homer council to discuss pay increase
BY CINDY R. EDGE
Homer city employees
will have to wait another
month to see if and when
they will receive a pay
increase. The city coun
cil was slated to discuss
employee raises at a meet
ing on Tuesday, August 11,
but due to the absence of
three councilmembers,
Chris Tucker, Jerry Payne
and Sandra Garrison, the
remaining councilmem
bers were unable to act on
agenda items due to lack
of a quorum.
Other business sched
uled for discussion includ
ed sign approval for Homer
Food Market. Andy Patel
is requesting the council’s
approval to place signage
at his business located at
977 Historic Homer Hwy.
According to city attorney
David Syfan, if the sign
application meets all the
regulatory requirements,
permission may be grant
ed and the council may
ratify the decision at the
next council meeting.
The next meeting of the
council is scheduled for
Tuesday, September 8.
For me, it’s just a general well-being, a general wellness: I have no pain, I feel good every day, and
I attribute it to the Mind Body Institute. I am so impressed with Athens Regional for having and
supporting this Mind Body Institute. There ought to be a line out the door to get in. The Mind
Body Institute really does mean that I go in that door instead of the emergency room. I certainly
don’t have to go in on a gurney.
Martha deBeaugrine
To make an appointment with the
Mind Body Institute, please call 706.475.7330
See Martha’s story
and share your own at
AthensHealth.org/YourStory
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