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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 4, 2010 — PAGE 3A
Road maintenance an issue as wet weather persists
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
County road maintenance
remains an issue as bad
weather persists.
With one deluge fol
lowed by another, Madison
County’s 120 miles of dirt
roads have taken their hits.
Roads are frequently closed
due to the nasty conditions.
Residents of two dirt roads.
Waggoner’s Grove Church
Road and Davids Home
Church Road, appeared
before county commission
ers Monday seeking some
relief from the bad driving
conditions.
While they would ultimate
ly like their roads paved, they
said they want gravel put
on their roads to keep them
passable.
BOC chairman Anthony
Dove said the road depart
ment is working hard to keep
all dirt roads in decent shape,
but he said the rains have
overwhelmed road mainte
nance efforts.
“Right now, we’re just try
ing to keep people going,’’
he said. “... When you get
50 inches of rain in a six-
month period, I don’t care
what you do, you’re going to
have problems.”
The chairman said there is
no way the county can apply
a thick layer of gravel to all
120 miles of dirt roads in a
short time.
A Davids Home Church
Road resident told Dove that
he understood there were a
number of roads to cover.
but he said his road hasn’t
received gravel in five years.
Gina Ward of Waggoners
Grove Church Road has
appeared at several BOC
meetings in recent months,
urging the county to make
repairs to at least a 1.6-mile
portion of the more than
three-mile road. She told the
board that she is concerned
about emergency vehicles
having a hard time getting to
residences on the road.
While dirt roads remain
muddy, the county’s road
funding future is murky at
best. State funds for roads
have been cut drastically.
And the county allocated
$3.95 million in sales tax
money for roads for six
years, compared to $8.6 mil
lion tagged for roads in the
previous five years.
So, county commission
ers will meet soon to try to
clear a path ahead when it
comes to road maintenance
and road paving.
Dove asked each commis
sioner to submit a road prior
ity list for their district. The
chairman said he will get
projected costs for each road
and then the BOC will meet
to determine the county’s top
road needs.
Commissioner Bruce
Scogin said the county
should consider alternative,
low-cost paving methods,
noting that there are some
materials other than asphalt
used in some Georgia coun
ties.
No date for the BOC road
meeting was set Monday.
Search for new EMS director continues
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County leaders
will soon narrow the search
for a new EMS director.
Board of commissioners
chairman Anthony Dove
said Monday that he recent
ly conducted 11 interviews
with potential directors,
which lasted 45 minutes to
an hour each.
The chairman said no deci
sion has been reached on
a replacement for long-time
director Dwayne Patton,
who resigned in January.
“There’s been so much
speculation and I’ve heard
so many rumors out there of
who’s this; there’s nobody,”
said Dove. “These 11 have
been put up against each
other. We’re going to com
pile all this information.”
Dove said the safety
advisement board, composed
of local citizens knowledge
able about EMS, will meet
Thursday at 3 p.m. to dis
cuss the applicants.
“We’ll bring them togeth
er and reduce it down (the
applicant list),” said Dove.
“Then we’ll probably have
the final few applicants
come in for an interview
with the board.”
Dove said there are “a lot
of qualified applicants” for
the job.
Brain awareness
proclamation approved
In other business Monday,
the board approved a Pilot
Club resolution naming
the third week in March as
“Brain Awareness Week,” to
draw attention to prevent
ing brain injuries and seek
ing cures for Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s disease and
other brain-related illnesses.
Meeting room
upgrades paid for
Dove announced that meet
ing room upgrades are fully
paid for. Dove paid for his
own training as BOC chair
man and used training funds
to cover meeting room
upgrades.
“I want to say if nothing else
is my legacy here, I’m proud
of this room,” said Dove, not
ing that upgrades cost $1,950.
The chairman said the meet
ing room is something “that
everyone wants to use now.”
“We have a hard time sched
uling for it,” he said.
Hearing set for Thurs.
A hearing on a proposal to
move the county firing range
from Colbert-Danielville
Road next to the animal shel
ter to Hwy. 98 next to the
sheriff’s office will be held
today (Thursday) at 6:30 p.m.
in the county government
complex.
BOC to consider five-day week at transfer station
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County commis
sioners may consider open
ing the transfer station an
extra day each week.
County commission chair
man Anthony Dove told
BOC members Monday that
he doesn’t think the current
Wednesday-Saturday sched
ule provides the most effi
cient setup. He said the sta
tion is often under-utilized
early in the morning and late
in the evening. He suggested
the county open the transfer
station on Tuesdays. He said
a switch from 7 a.m. to 5:50
p.m. hours of operation to
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seems fea
sible.
“The transfer station is a
service, a place for citizens
to take their trash and I just
don’t think it’s being used
efficiently,” said Dove.
The chairman noted that
the transfer station spent
$159,000 less than projected
last year, but revenue short
falls nearly ate up all of the
savings. He said he believes
the revenues were down pri
marily because the station
was closed on Mondays and
Tuesdays, which were busy
days for trash haulers before
the county switched in recent
years to a four-day week at
the transfer station.
“I would like for the board
to start looking at that (chang
ing hours of operation) and I
will bring that before you at
next month’s meeting,” said
Dove.
Colbert becomes fourth city to pledge funds to animal shelter
Supporting United Way
COUNTY
Madison County Chamber of Commerce president
Marvin White and Madison County’s United Way
campaign chair Bonnie Knight stand next to the
United Way “thermometer” showing that Madison
County reached its fund-raising goal of $65,000 for
this year’s campaign. Margie Richards/staff
Comer woman faces
numerous animal
control violations
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
A Comer woman faces numerous animal control viola
tions after local authorities removed numerous diseased
dogs and cats from her Madison Street residence.
According to county animal control director Jack Huff,
Sheryln Walker Puleo said she provided food and water
for strays thrown out in her area. But Huff said she failed
to take proper care of the animals and diseases spread
among the dogs and cats. The animals did not have rabies
vaccinations. They were not spayed and neutered. The
dogs had mange. The cats had severe eye and respiratory
infections.
All animals seized at the property had to be euthanized
at the Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter. Between Feb.
18-26, the animal control department, captured 27 dogs
and 20 cats at the residence. Huff said Monday he still had
a couple of dogs to capture. Most of the dogs were chow
and chow mixes. The cats were domestic short and long
hair felines. Huff said.
Shelter director Susan Fomash said the dogs and cats
were in terrible condition, with some cats blinded by her
pes and some puppies with mange.
Puleo will face multiple citations for failure to provide
humane care and failure to provide rabies vaccinations.
Huff said he didn’t feel the Comer woman was intend
ing to be cruel to the animals but that she had taken on
more than she could handle.
“They were being fed regularly but not being treated for
health problems,” wrote Huff in his report on the matter.
“This caused diseases to spread among the animals.”
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Not to be outdone by the
charity of its fellow municipali
ties, the city of Colbert pledged
$500 to the Madison Oglethorpe
Animal Shelter Monday.
Hull, Comer, Danielsville
and now Colbert have all sent
money to the non-profit, two-
county shelter, which is strug
gling financially.
“We do use them a lot,”
Colbert Mayor Chris Peck said,
“with “(Animal control officer)
Jack (Huff) picking animals.”
All cities donating thus
far have given $500, except
Danielsville. It gave $1,000.
Hull started the trend in
December when it pledged
$500 to the shelter after hearing
of the facility’s financial crisis,
then urged the rest of the cities
in the county to do the same.
INTERSECTION
TO BECOME
FOUR-WAY STOP
All traffic will soon have to
halt at the intersection of South
Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue in
Colbert.
The city council voted
Monday to make that junction a
four-way stop due to “a couple
of fender-benders there over the
years,” Peck said.
The city will add a stop sign
to Fifth Street to stop the traffic
traveling north and south.
“People going north and
south tend to be running faster
than those going east and west,”
Peck said.
Council members agreed.
“I’ve had some close misses
(there),” councilwoman Evelyn
Patton Power said.
Councilman Tim Wyatt also
said the crossing was danger
ous.
“I’ve seen several close calls
there,” he said.
Councilman Bert Robinson
noted that another stop sign
would fit well at that intersec
tion.
“ft feels natural to stop there,”
he said.
In other business during
Colbert’s Monday night meet
ing, Peck asked the city council
to advocate the 2010 Census
effort to its constituency given
the funding dollars that are at
stake.
The more citizens counted,
the more dollars it could mean
for Colbert.
“We need to explain to them
that this information is going to
stay within the Census Bureau
and they need to be accurate
because that drives tax dollars
back to, not only our region, but
to our county and our cities,”
Peck said.
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Colbert City Hall will even be
used as a census site for worker
to answer questions.
Peck stressed that this is an
important process.
“It’s got ramifications for the
next 10 years for what we get,”
Peck said.
The city will include census
information in its March news
letter.
In separate matters, the coun
cil learned that it all city files
have been automatically backed
up on a remote server.
“If anything were to happen
up here at night and the place
was to catch on fire or some
thing, we’ve got a way to go
back and get that information,”
Peck said.
Public safety advisory
board to meet Thurs.
The Madison County Public Safety Advisory Board will
meet at 3 p.m., today, Thursday, March 4, in the county
government complex.
Agenda items include:
•consider appointing a chairman and vice chairman for
the public safety advisory board and future public safety
board.
•consider EMS director applications.
•closed session to discuss personnel matters (if need
ed).
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