About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 2023)
PAGE 2A BANKS COUNTY NEWS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023 Fire that destroyed Alto mobile home possibly heating-related A possible home heating fire destroyed the home of an elderly woman at 425 Harrison Trail near Alto Monday morning. Habersham County E-911 dispatchers received a call from a neighbor at 7:35 a.m. Monday reporting the fire. The caller reported seeing flames and said smoke was coming from the house. Habersham County Emergency Services Engine 12, Med 12, Tanker 13, Battalion 1, and Captain 1 responded, along with Baldwin Fire Department Engine 42 and units from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. HCES Med 2 also responded to handle rehab. Command on scene requested at 8:22 a.m. that Cornelia Fire Department respond for manpower. An investigator from Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King’s Fire Investigations Unit re sponded to the scene. The fire’s cause is listed as undetermined. A space heater in the home was plugged into a power strip at the time the fire started and cannot be eliminated as a possible source. The female resident and one dog escaped the fire, and the American Red Cross was contacted to assist her with immediate needs. The 30-year-old, single-wide mobile home was de stroyed, and the fire claimed the lives of at least two dogs. 1 *- T Firefighters arrived to find a 30-year-old mobile home well-in volved by fire. 18 arrests reported by sheriffs office The Banks County Sher iff’s Office recently charged 18 people, including: •Amber Wilmoth Redd ings, 42, 133 Ridgeland Court. Maysville, disorderly conduct and animal control violation. •Shannon Lamar McDou- gald, 40, 324 Hwy. 326, Commerce, probation vio lation. •Cameron Lee Tipton, 40, 70 Belton Drive, Toccoa, probation violation. •Rashaad Lamar Hillian, 40, 4112 Villa Club Drive, Winston-Salem, N.C., driv ing while license suspend ed or revoked, obstruction of a law enforcement offi cer, possession of cocaine, possession of metham- phetamine, possession of a controlled substance, pos session of marijuana and crossing guard lines with weapons, intoxicants or drugs without consent. •Brenda Hill Barker, 59, 1100 Berea Road, Com merce, failure to appear. •Adam Joseph Lee, 34, 399 Webbs Creek Road, Homer, failure to main tain lane, driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUI), obstruction of a law enforcement officer, flee ing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer and possession of marijuana. •Daniel Clark Neal, 40, 105 Sanford Drive, Nichol son, probation violation. •Adam Cecil Workman, 37, 359 Queen Road, Gills- ville, probation violation and aggravated assault. •Mandy Marie Bales, 39, 122 West First Avenue, Col bert, theft by taking. •Dexter Lamonz Benson, 35, 400 S. Convers Street, Spartanburg, S.C., driving while license suspended or revoked and speeding. •Tammy Latrell Car ter, 49, 221 Hebron Road, Commerce, hindering the apprehension of a criminal, possession of methamphet- amine and possession and use of a drug-related object. •Kathy Lee Grissom, 41, 221 Hebron Road, Com merce, hindering the appre hension of a criminal. •Jonathan Keith Moore, 39, 526 Boxer Lane, Toc coa, possession of amphet amine and possession of a drug-related object. •India Monique Reid, 37, 152 Eisenhower Drive, Commerce, burglary and obstruction of a law en forcement officer. •Daisey Denee Watkins, 42, 3034 Watkins Wilkin son Road, Oxford, N.C., speeding and driving while license suspended or re voked. •Samuel Murillo-Villan- ueva, 42, 501 Dixie Drive, Anderson, S.C., driving without a valid license and speeding.. •Brent Allen Howing- ton, 36, 2385 North Broad Street, Commerce, simple assault. •David Shelton Tobey, 49, 170 Chandler Street, Bald win, theft by taking. Incidents reported to sheriffs office listed Recent incidents reported 'pedestrian under the in- dress. to the Banks County Sher- fluence of intoxicants at a iff’s Office including: West County Line Road, •simple assault dining a Lula, location, domestic dispute at Hem- 'domestic dispute at a •battery and obstructing an officer during a domes tic dispute at an Apartment Street, Homer, residence. Drive, Alto, location. •dispute at a Mt. Sinai Road, Lula, address. •damage to property at a Hwy. 441, Commerce, busi- bree Road, Maysville. School Street, Homer, ad- 'simple battery at Walnut ness. Maysville street project to provide more parking downtown By HANNAH CAUDELL The Maysville City Council addressed citizen concerns at its October meeting about the use of the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant to ren ovate Alley Street. The council received a Local Maintenance and Im provement Grant to provide more parallel parking along Alley Street, but concerns arose when the council pro posed that the street go to one way. The proposed road will go one way off of Georgia Avenue and continue to Brevard Street. An issue also arose as to the location of handi capped parking along Short Street and whether more handicapped parking areas should be provided along Brevard Street. The council plans to use the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant in or der to both help downtown businesses with parking and allow citizens easier access to those businesses without having to cross the road. As of now, the Local Maintenance and Improve ment Grant will provide $89,870 to the project, but the council is also consid ering the use of SPLOST money. The council is hoping to get bids back for the project before winter. Julie Duncan also pre sented to the council a bud get for the funds from the Piedmont Regional Library for the Maysville Public Library. The funds total $8,823. Scott Harper mo tioned to amend the library budget, but the council has decided to table the propos al for next month. OTHER NEWS: •The council is still wait ing for bids for the public utility building. •Mayor Richard Presley discussed the potential use of drones for search and rescue operations, fire fight ing, car accident reports, and the like. The council did not vote on such tech nology, but the mayor did sign a memorandum of un derstanding. •The estimated price for the new pavilion in Mays ville City Park is $33,485. However, the council de cided to table the project for another meeting. BOC split... Continued from Page 1 •heard from Claydean Coker about conditions on Coker Road and Derrick Williams about conditions on Grant Mill Road. The commissioners agreed to look into these issues and determine the options. •approved the annual lease for Boy Scouts to use the Uchee Lodge. •heard from Cindy Levin, chief executive officer of Avi- ta Community Partners about the services the organization provides. There have been 211 Banks County residents served by Avita in the past year. Carol Williams and Bo Garrison represent Banks County on the Avita board of directors. •heard from Lonnie Robinson with the City of Com merce about natural gas mains the city provides to the county. He presented a comprehensive plan of services provided. •approved a request from Dianne McQuillan for a fami ly subdivision of property on McDonald Circle. Commis sioner Ausbum voted against this and said he wasn’t sure the request was handled properly. He questioned wheth er it should have gone before the planning commission. Chairman Turk said the BOC hears hardship cases such as this. •approved a resolution urging the governor and General Assembly to continue efforts to reform and improve men tal health services for the citizens of the state. •agreed to set a joint work session with the planning commission to discuss their proposed code amendments. The vote to do this was 4-1, with Garrison voting against it. •agreed to purchase a side-by-side ATV, with special purpose local option sales tax revenue, for use by the pub lic utilities department. •held a closed session to discuss litigation. The meeting lasted 15 minutes and no action was taken when it was opened back up to the public. Retired federal employees to meet The Northeast Georgia Chapter of the National Associ ation of Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) will feature two of the area’s popular health benefits plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FE- HBP) for the 2024 Open Season on Monday, October 16, at 10:30 a.m. at the XFactor Grill in downtown Toccoa on Doyle Street. Representatives from AETNA and GEHA will be pro viding information about the additions, changes, cover age per option and cost at this important meeting. All ac tive and retired employees as well as survivor annuitants and spouses are welcome to attend. No reservation is re quired. The program begins promptly at 10:30 a.m. and the informational session will be completed by 11:30 a.m. This timeframe was chosen to provide active employees to attend by adjusting their scheduled lunch on this day. The program will be followed by a dutch-treat lunch, then a Questions and Answer session will provide time for specific information. Active and retired federal civilian employees do not have to be a member of NARFE to attend. For more in formation, contact the local president at mjfarmsl00@ aol.com. The Banks County News Homer, GA 30547 Founded 1968 The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga. Mike Buffington Scott Buffington Angela Gary Co-Publisher Co-Publisher Editor BanksNewsTODAY.com (SCED 547160) Published weekly by MainStreet Newspapers, Inc., P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, Ga. 30549 Yearly subscription rate: $45 Regular Seniors £40 Periodicals postage paid at Homer, Ga. 30547 (547-160) Postmaster: send address changes to: MainStreet Newspapers, Inc., PO Box 908, Jefferson, Georgia 30549-0908 Banks Rotary Club sponsors Food 2 Kids Program for Banks County Schools The Banks County Rotary Club is sponsoring the Food 2 Kids Program in the coun ty school system. “School isn’t just a place for learning,” organizers state. “For some of our most impoverished kids, it’s also the only reliable source of food in their lives.” Food 2 Kids is a program that helps bridge that gap for some of the communi ty’s neediest kids. Sacks of kid-friendly food—enough for at least six meals—are handed out every week to children identified by school teach ers, counselors and officials as being most in need, orga nizers report. The dispos able sacks will have approx imately seven to 10 pounds of food—enough for two days of meals. The food is in easy-to-open packaging and doesn’t require any cooking. To donate or for more information, contact Becky Carlan at 706-540- 3828. Mail in contributions for the program to: Banks County Rotary Club Food 2 Kids, P.O. Box 54, Homer, Ga., 30547. PUBLIC MEETINGS ... FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH you can list your group’s meetings! Banks County News • Jackson Herald Madison County Journal • Braselton News Call 706-367-5233 to list your meetings! Sfc COMMERCE IjP AMERICAN LEGION Post 93 • Meets 2nd Thurs., 7:00 p.m. Wayne Brown, Commander Phone (404)310-7177 Commerce Civic Center, Commerce, GA 12971 MADISON COUNTY DEMOCRATS Meet Monthly For Time, Date & Location: Facebook: MadisonC ounty GaDemocrats Or mcgademocrats .wixsite .com/mcdp JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays 12:00 Noon Jackson County Historic Courthouse 85 Washington St., Jefferson Traci Bledsoe, President 678-227-8417 i 26 2 6 4660 St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church Mass Schedule: Sat. 4:00 p.m. Sun. 10:00 a.m, Tues. 12:10 p.m. Mon,, Wed, Thurs. & Fri. 10:00 a.m, Spanish Sun. 8:00 a.m. Website: www.stcatherinelabourega.org 706-367-7220 BANKS COUNTY 13004 HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. Meets first Monday each month 7:00 p.m. in the Banks County Historical Courthouse at 105 U. S. Hwy 441 North in Homer, GA 12972 JL, ROCKWELL 7W\ LODGE F& AM No. 191, Hoschton, GA 2nd Tues. at 7:30 p.m. • Dinner at 6:30 p.m. www.rockwelllodgel91 .com Two blocks behind Larry's Garage West Broad at Hall Street 12969 . Tri-County J Shrine Club 3rd Thurs. of each month 7:30 p.m. Rockwell Lodge 191 12619 JEFFERSON fgp AMERICAN LEGION Post 56 • Meets 3rd Tues, 6:30 p.m. Joe Ruttar, Commander Phone (860) 949-4037 309 Lee St., Jefferson, GA KIWANIS OF JEFFERSON Meetings every 2 nd & 4 th Monday at Noon Cream & Shuga Contact Darryl Gumz at 770-605-6656 for more info. Pilot Club of Jefferson Meets 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m. Jefferson City Clubhouse 706-367-9313 or 706-693-4715 12M5
