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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JUNE 4, 2009 — PAGE 3A Pastor puts on walking shoes Stimulus funds tagged for resufacing Hwy. 98 The Rev. Douglas Lee treks across state to raise funds for needy families, local youth The Rev. Douglas Lee (left) was accompanied on part of his walk by Chris Ramsey (right) and Joshua Lee (not pictured). Submitted photo By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com P astor Douglas Lee felt the blisters turn to calluses, watched his walking shoes give out, saw one hill give way to another hill. But the preacher of Freedom Church of God off Commerce Neese Road walked the final mile of his 201-mile trek across Georgia around lunch time Wednesday, completing a journey he said the Lord called him to make. "Back about last August I was having to do a lot of walking to get ready for some stomach surgery,” said Lee. "And the Lord just laid it on my heart to do a walk-a-thon and walk across Georgia.” Lee said he saw people "scrimpin' and scrapin'” for food during these tough economic times. And he cre ated the "Young and Hungry Walk-a-thon” to raise money for food services for those in need and to generate funds for the church’s youth pro grams. Lee’s trek began Monday, May 25, in Cedar Bluff, Alabama, outside of Rome on Hwy. 20 at the Alabama state line and continued 201 miles to Starr, South Carolina, To make a donation to the food bank min istry or the youth min istry, call Kathy Elrod at 706-335-6035 or Gloria Basset at 706-546-4874. just outside of Hartwell. He walked every day except Sunday, with his longest daily trek at 34 miles. The walk wasn’t easy. “It takes a mindset where you see hill after hill in front of you,” said Lee. "And you can't look at it as hills. You have to make little goals. And once you accomplish that little goal, you feel good that you made it there. So you press on to the next.” Lee said that half of the money raised will go toward feeding needy people in the Madison County area. The fund-raising goal is $3,000 and Lee said Monday that the walk had raised roughly $2,000. Lee noted that Freedom Church of God, along with Erastus Christian Church, Rogers Baptist Church and Galilee Holiness Church is serving numerous families in the Madison County area with groceries. The churches have served 255 families over the past two months. “It costs about $500 for this and we get it through the USDA and a couple of other food bank organizations,” said Lee. “We’re able to give these families chicken, pork, beef, milk, canned goods, bread and things like that. We give it till it’s all gone. We give it on a first-come, first-served basis. They have to fill out a USDA questionnaire form and it’s all done with USDA guidelines.” Lee said that the other half of the money raised through the walk-a-thon will go toward church youth programs. “It will be used for schol arships for children of all ages to go to youth camps and summer camps that will be starting in two weeks,” said Lee. “Then the rest of the funds will be used for older teenagers to go to what is called a Winterfest. Last year, there were 26,000 teen agers gathered together in Knoxville for four days of services.” Freedom Church of God member Don Nix said he appreciates Lee's effort. “I think it’s a great thing,” said Nix. “He's walking that extra mile we've all talked about walking. Colbert using old community fund to improve ball field Buckle up. It’s the law! The Georgia Department of Transportation recently awarded seven American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) federal stimulus program contracts, valued at more than $7.5 million, in the state’s 10 th Congressional District in northeast Georgia. This includes one project in Madison County: resurfacing 7.5 miles of Hwy. 98 from Hwy. 29 to Hwy. 72 (Project No. M003906) - awarded to C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., Inc., for $788,936. Construction should begin next month on the projects, all of which are resurfacings of state roads in Greene, Putnam, Banks, Habersham, Franklin, Towns and Madison counties. Details on individual projects can be found on the Department’s ARRA Web page at www.dot.ga.gov/gastimu- lus. Foreclosures remain up in ‘09 Madison County's foreclosure rate remains up in 2009. There are 24 foreclosures in Madison County for June, down from 35 in May. In the first six months of 2009, there were 143 foreclosures in the county, with Madison County on pace for 286 on the year. In 2008, there were 260 foreclosures in Madison County, up from 150 in both 2006 and 2007. Locke honored Madison County commissioners passed a resolution Monday night honoring Gary Locke (L), who is step ping down as chairman of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services. BOC chairman Anthony Dove (R) praised Locke’s service on the DFCS board and the audience offered a standing ovation. By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com Colbert leaders will use $11,000 in community-col lected funds to finance a much-needed overhaul of the restroom facilities at the city's ball fields. “We need to do the rest rooms and get that build ing in decent shape,” mayor John Waggoner said. Colbert, which made the decision Monday, owns the park but leases it for recre ation department use. The rec dept., in turn, maintains the fields. The city landed $25,000 in state grant money last year to refurbish the ball field restrooms, but the governor froze those funds. So Colbert opted to use money collected by a now-defunct community park committee. The com mittee disbanded about a decade ago, leaving the city $11,653 for city park use. Colbert will pay for the upgrades out of this fund once it has seen the final ized plans from the recre ation department. The recreation depart ment will coordinate the project, but the city will pay contractors directly for the work. Colbert approved the arrangement after talking with Darrell Woods, chair man of the advisory board for the recreation depart ment, at Monday's meet ing. Woods said he’s trying to improve the maintenance of the Colbert park, something city leaders have com plained about in the past. “To me, it's your park,” Woods told the council. “We’re just the caretakers over there.” Woods also mentioned the possibility of walking trails around the ball fields. However, revamping the restrooms remains the first priority. “The restrooms are the main thing,” Waggoner said. “And if we could get the day-to-day maintenance upgraded, then I think we could work from there.” The Madison County Journal is your source for local news. Call 706-795-2567 to Fareha Rahim, MD Internal Medicine We are now located at our new office at 613 Hospital Road Commerce, Georgia 30529 subscribe. Founder’s Corner Buhl Cummings COMMENCEMENT...Athens Christian School’s High School Graduation was held Friday evening, May 22, in beautiful Eagle Stadium. Hundreds of parents, grandparents, relatives and friends were on hand for the happy occasion. ACS has worked with the parents of these fine graduates to train them academically, culturally, and spiritually. Our goal for these young people was not only to sharpen their God-given tools to help them make a living, but it was also to help train them how to live. Knowing the Lord and living for Him is Life with a capital “L”. 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