About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2023)
$1.00 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2023 Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 12 Pages, 1 Section Plus Supplements Vol.57 No. 47 Lula Ladies plan meal; to honor area veterans The Lula Ladies will be holding a free community meal veterans celebration from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Lula Depot, located at 5911 Wall Street, Lula. The Lula Ladies will be cooking up chili and hot dogs with all the fixings. “Come out and join us at the Lula Depot for a free community meal and help honor our veterans,” orga nizers state. “Please bring chairs, blankets, an empty stomach and an open heart.” Legion to hold breakfast for veterans Breakfast will be served for all veterans on Novem ber 8 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the American Legion Hall in Homer. All area veterans are in vited to attend. BASKETBALL SEASON PREVIEW Lexie Ayers tries to dodge Addison Hoard’s block while running a practice drill. See page 7 for a preview of bas ketball season. MAILING LABEL B USY WEEK FOR FIREFIGHTERS The Banks County Fire Department has been extremely busy the past week with four structure fires, which included two residential fires, a shop fire and a chicken house fire. Firefighters are shown in the chicken house fire. For more on this fire and photos on other fires, see page 6 in this week’s edition of the Banks County News. GBI arrests former detention officer, BOC member for violation of oath by public officer The GBI has arrested and charged Sammy Reece, age 67, a former detention officer with the Banks County Sher iff’s Office, with three felony counts of Items prohibited for possession by inmates and one felony count of viola tion of oath by public officer. On September 27, 2023, the Banks County Sheriff’s Of fice asked the GBI to investigate the allegations that Reece was providing contraband to the work release inmates that he oversaw. The investigation indicates that Reece had pro vided prescription medication, alcohol, and unauthorized use of a cell phone to the inmates on his work crew. . Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Banks County District Attorney’s Office. Reece is a former member of the Banks County Board of Commissioners. New mayors elected in Baldwin, Alto Incumbent wins in close race in Maysville BY ANGELA GARY Two new faces will be serving as mayor following Tuesday’s election, with an incumbent winning in a close race in another town. In the Maysville may or’s race, incumbent Rich ard Presley won with 171 votes, while challenger Wil liam McLeish Jr. had 167 votes. In the Maysville Ward 4 race, Brodriche D. Jackson had 42 votes, while Roy Dean had 36. BALDWIN In Baldwin, Stephanie Almagno will be the new mayor. She has served on the city council. Almagno had 134 votes, while challenger Tom Whit ney had 78 votes. ALTO In Alto, Patricia Armour was the winner in the may or’s race over incumbent PJ. Huggins. Armour had 27 votes, while Huggins had 19 votes and John Smith received 3 votes. LULA In the Lula City Council District 4 race, incumbent James Garnett Smith won over challenger Roy Hall Jr. Smith had 277 votes, while Hall had 54. In the Lula City Council District 5 seat, which was vacant, Juliette Talley was the winner with 268 votes. Debbie Parker-Presley had 35 votes, while Joseph Headrick had 26 votes. Barnes to serve as Election Supervisor Banks County Rotary Club holding Thanksgiving food drive Kelsey Barnes has been named Banks County Election Supervisor, to replace Andra Phagan, who is retiring at the end of this year. Barnes has served as elections coordinator in Jackson County since June 2020. Prior to that, she was an account ing technician in the finance department for Jackson Coun ty government. She is a graduate of Commerce High School and the University of North Georgia. She has Georgia Election Official Certification and Georgia Registrar Official Cer tification. Homer planners to meet on zoning request The Town of Homer Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at Town Hall on Thursday. November 30, at 6 p.m. to receive public comments on the application of Leigh Scales Allen and Douglas Allen for a proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance of the Town of Homer to zone property located at 125 Waco Drive, Homer, from R-l to Highway Business (HB). Copies of the application are available for public inspection at the Homer Town Hall. The public hearing of Homer Town Council on this request will be on Tuesday, December 12, at 6 p.m. The Town Council will consider adoption of the zoning request at the regular meeting immediately following the public hearing. The Banks County Ro tary Club is sponsoring a Thanksgiving food drive. ‘We are calling all citi zens with a heart for service to assist with the food drive events and/or donate food to our project,” Rotary Club president Doug Cheek stat ed. Volunteers are needed to staff collection events, assist with organizing and transporting food donations. Email sandrag5959@gmail. com to sign up as a volun teer. Food collection will be held at the Homer Fire De partment, 217 Sycamore Street, Homer, on Wednes day, November 15, from 1 p.m. to 6 p m. and on Wednesday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. DONATION BARRELS Donation Drop-Off Bar rel Locations include the following: •Banks County Chamber CVB Office - 106 Com merce Commons, Com merce. •Michael Housworth Ed ward Jones Office - 1953 Homer Road, Commerce. •Bountiful Hills Senior Living - 200 Bolton Drive, Commerce. •Rock Springs Baptist Church - 747 Rock Springs Road, Lula. •Banks County Tax Com missioner’s Office - 150 Hudson Valley Drive, Ho mer. •Document Destruction Services - 2160 Damascus Road, Homer. •Banks County Middle School - 712 Thompson Street, Homer. •Town of Homer - 943 Historic Homer Highway, Homer. “With food prices soar ing, our focus is on support ing our neighbors in need to ensure that food is available for everyone as we go into the holiday season,” Cheek states. Homer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary plan yard sale on Nov. 11 The Homer Fire Depart- fire department located at will be inside if there is rain, ment Ladies Auxiliary will 243 Sycamore Street Ho- All proceeds from the be hosting a yard sale on mer. event will benefit the Ho- Saturday, November 11, The event will be held mer Volunteer Fire Depart- from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the “rain or shine. The yard sale ment. TAX COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE ON A ROLLERCOASTER FOR HALLOWEEN The Banks County Tax Commissioner’s office dressed as a rock and rolling roller coaster on Halloween Day last week. o
