About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2023)
O O $1.00 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 12 Pages, 1 Section Plus Supplements Vol.57 No. 42 Former Alto council member dies Former Alto city council member, Carolyn Cabe died Friday, September 29, 2023. She served for several years as a member of the Alto City Council, as well as serving as vice mayor. Bom on July 9, 1947, in Tennessee, she was the daughter of the late Beve ridge and Dorothy Henegar Sanders. Mrs. Cabe worked as a home health aide for over 20 years and worked at Global Tech for five years. She was the owner and op erator of Heavens Touch Florist for 15 years. Survivors include her sons, Lee Cabe of Alto and Scott Cabe of Kansas; grandchildren: Michael Cabe of Mt. Airy, Amanda Cabe of Alto, Ayla Cabe of Alto, and Abbie Cabe of Kansas; great-grandchild, Carson Cabe of Mt. Airy; brothers, Fred Rohabach of Morrow and Lee Rohabach, Jr. of McDonough; and sev eral nieces and nephews. A private service will be held at a later date. Peanut Butter Wars to be held The second annual Pea nut Butter Wars is being planned by the Banks Coun ty Rotary Club. School children are asked to bring in jars of peanut butter for the competition. The winning school will be presented with a trophy. The winning class from each school will receive a pizza party. All donated items will be given to families in need. Legion plans toy ride on Oct. 14 The Post 215 American Legion in Homer will hold a toy ride on Saturday, Oct. 14. The rain date is Oct. 21. Registration will be at 10 a.m. Kickstands up at 11 a.m. The ride will leave from 1350 Historic Homer Highway, Homer. There will be raffle items, barbecue plates, 50/50 raf fle. The entrance fee is one toy per rider. Vehicles are welcome. For more information, call 706-713-7906 MAILING LABEL This Lula chicken house was destroyed in a fire with approximately 20,000 chickens killed. Chicken house destroyed in fire; 20,000 chickens killed BY ANGELA GARY A fire in Lula last week destroyed a chicken house and killed 20,000 chickens. The Banks County Fire and Emergency Services responded to 131 Emory Chambers Road on a re ported structure fire. Upon arrival, firefighters found a chicken house fully in volved with fire and expo sures to the nearby house. “The exposures were quickly covered and the fire was contained to the origi nal house,” fire chief Steve Nichols stated. “The chick en house was in operation at the time and did have chick ens in it. The house was list ed as a total loss.” No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is listed as accidental at this time and is still under inves tigation. 56th annual Maysville Autumn Leaf Festival set this weekend Events also planned in Gillsville, Baldwin The 56th annual Mays ville Autumn Leaf Festival is coming up this weekend, as is the annual Gillsville Pottery Festival. A fall festival is also planned in the City of Bald win for Oct. 21. MAYSVILLE The Maysville Autumn Leaf Festival will be held Friday-Saturday, Oct. 6-7, at Veterans Park in down town. Homs on Friday will be 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The festi val will be open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. The schedule each day is as follows: FRIDAY 3 p.m. Festival opens with music 4- 5 p.m. Music 5- 6 p.m. MES Cake Walk 6:30-7:30 p.m. Garrett Lott 7:45-9 p.m. Richard Grif fith 9 p.m. Festival closes SATURDAY 9 a.m. Festival opens 10 a.m. Parade 11 a.m. Opening cere mony: Welcome by Mayor Richard Presley, National Anthem by Lee Hill and Prayer by Lee Hill Noon Commerce School of Dance 1:30-2:30 p.m. William Dodd 3-4 p.m. Dog contest 5-6 p.m. Rail Town 6:10 p.m. Raffle drawing 7:30-10 p.m. Dirt Road Revival 10 p.m. Festival closes For more information on the festival, email mays- ville.comclub@gmail.com or text Brittney at 706-499- 7565. GILLSVILLE The Historic Gillsville Fall Folk Pottery Show will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7. The event is hosted by the Craven-F erguson-Hewell families, who have a long history working in pottery in North Georgia.. The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Craven Pottery Inc., located at 6640 Highway 52, Gills ville. BALDWIN The City of Baldwin will host its sixth annual Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 21. The event will kick off at 9:30 a.m. at city hall with a “JEEPers Creepers Monster Bash Decoration Contest and Currahee Fall Crawl.” Starting at noon, local food, crafters, live music, a visit from Heroes in Force and Barbie, games and more will be offered at the Farm er’s Market. There will be a fireworks show at 7:30 p.m. Vendors are being ac cepted by emailing bald- wine vents @cityo fb aldwin. org or by calling 706-778- 6341. Seven cases of rabies reported in Banks County so far this year Second highest number in state BY ANGELA GARY Banks County has the second highest number of rabies cases so far this year, with seven being reported. However, public health offi cials say this doesn’t mean there are more cases in this area; it just means more are being reported. “We can confirm that Banks County has recorded seven rabies cases in 2023 as of last week,” said Eric Jens, with the Georgia De partment of Public Health. “This is based on prelimi nary data that has yet to be finalized. Six of the seven were in wild animals includ ing skunk (3), racoon, bat, and bobcat. The other case was a goat.” He added, “Regardless of the number of cases in any given county, it does not mean that rabies is more prolific in that county. Ra bies is endemic throughout all of Georgia, and higher numbers could be the result of higher reporting or more encounters. The best advice to reduc ing the threat of rabies is for people to keep themselves and their pets away from wildlife as best possible, and to have pets vaccinated for rabies.” WHAT IS RABIES? Rabies is a viral disease of mammals, usually occurring among wild animals such as raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. The rabies virus trav els from the site of the bite up through the nerves until it reaches the brain, causing encephalopathy and ulti mately death. In the United States, ra bies occurs primarily in wild mammals (e.g., skunks, rac coons, coyotes, foxes and bats). Sometimes, these wild animals infect domes tic cats, dogs, and livestock. Rabies is rare in small ro dents such as squirrels, rab bits, beavers, chipmunks, rats and mice, muskrats, hamsters, gerbils, porcu pines and guinea pigs. When an infected animal bites another animal the ra bies virus is transmitted in the infected animal’s sali va. Rarely, rabies is spread when infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, comes into contact with mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound. SYMPTOMS Early symptoms of rabies in humans are non-specific and may include fever, head ache, and general malaise. Later, signs of encephalop athy such as insomnia, anx iety, confusion, paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water) may appear. Death usually occurs within days of the onset of symptoms. It is a misconception that rabid animals are spotted easily because they drool and foam at the mouth. These symptoms may nev er occur or may occur only at the very last stages of the disease. Any non-domes- ticated or stray animal that acts abnormally should be suspected of having rabies. Rabid animals may stagger, appear restless, be aggres sive, have difficulty walk ing, seem overly friendly, or appear to be choking. The length of time be tween the bite and the symptoms of rabies depends on the strain of rabies vims, how much rabies vims was introduced into the wound, and the distance from the site of the bite to the brain. Usually, the incubation peri od is quite long and may be one to three months. TREATMENT There is no known, ef fective treatment for rabies once the symptoms of the illness have developed. Ra bies can be prevented in humans if medical care is sought soon after an expo sure to the rabies vims. If left untreated, rabies is al ways deadly. Continued on Page 2 Last day to register to vote for town elections is Oct. 10 Election Day is coming up on Nov. 7 and sever al town elections will be on the ballot. There are no county-wide offices up for re-election this year. A mayor’s race is on the ballot for Maysville, Alto and Baldwin voters. Lula also has a town election this year. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 10. Absentee ballot requests may be sub mitted until Oct. 27. On Election Day, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. MAYSVILLE In Maysville, incumbent mayor Richard Presley will face challenger William S. McLeish Jr. One council seat in Mays ville will also be on the bal lot. In Ward 4, Brodriche D. Jackson and Roy Dean will face off. In Ward 2, Aman da Farley was the only one to qualify. Ward 2 and 4 in cumbents, Junior Hardy and Scott Harper, are not seek ing re-election. ALTO In Alto, incumbent PJ. Huggins, Pattcia Gail Ar mour and John Smith will be on the ballot in the may or’s race. In Post 2, incumbent James M. Tinner was the only one to qualify. In Post, 4, incumbent Ed die Palmer was the only one to qualify. BALDWIN In Baldwin, Stephanie Almagno and Tom Whit ney are seeking the mayor’s seat. The mayor’s seat current ly is held by acting mayor Alice Venter and will be elected for the remainder of about two years and one month, beginning around Dec. 1, 2023, and run through Dec. 31,2025. Ven ter serves as Post 5 Coun- cilmember and will return to that seat once the new mayor is installed. In Baldwin, only one person qualified for each of the council seats: Post 1, Erik Keith (incumbent; Post 2, Joseph Satterfield (incumbent Theron Ayers did not qualify); Post 3 Ker ri Dianne Davis (incumbent Stephanie Almagno did not qualify) LULA In Lula, incumbent Gar nett Smith and Roy Henry Jr. qualified for District 4. In District 5, which is va cant, Juliette Leone Talley, Joseph Michael Headrick and Debbie Parker-Presley qualified. Incumbent Tony Cornett was the only one to qualify in District 1. NO ELECTION IN HOMER An election will not be necessary in Homer as only one candidate in each coun cil seat qualified. Inside this issue: •News-Page 2 •School-Page 3 •Sports—Pages 4, 5,12 •Crime—Page 6 •Church and Social—Page 7 •Obits-Pages 8-9 •Classifieds—Page 10 •Legals—Page 11 BCMS Teacher of the BCMS girls’ tennis team Latisha Marcus organized a Year Stephanie Kinsey headed to state play-offs- Cancer Walk in honor of fam- featured—Page 3 Page 12 ily -Page 7 14 14 3
