Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 25 No. 9 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 38 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements
Inside this issue:
The Madison County Journal’s
special agriculture insert
Ag Day set for March 20
Madison County’s third-annual “Ag Day” will be held
Saturday, March 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the
Madison County Freshman Academy. There will be
a parade with antique equipment, cars and trucks
at 11 a.m. There will also be antique and new farm
equipment, a mobile dairy classroom, farm animals,
information on farm history and a hayride. Tommy
Irvin, the Georgia Agriculture Commissioner, will be
the grand marshal for the parade. For more informa
tion, call 706-795-3473.
STATE BUDGET CRISIS
Ax looms over 4-H,
extension service
... County agent says support for programs has been widespread
Some notable proposed cuts:
•eliminate 1,418 currently
filled positions, reducing bud
get by $58 million.
•eliminate academic pro
grams, reducing budget by
$5.2 million.
•eliminate all Georgia 4-H
programs, including 116 filled
positions, including 94 county
4-H agents, reducing budget
by $6.3 million.
•close half of UGA's county
extension offices, eliminating
169 filled positions, reducing
budget by $5 million.
•close the State Botanical
Gardens, eliminating 29 posi
tions, reducing the budget by
$875,688.
•elimination of WUGA— FM
and Georgia Magazine, reduc
ing budget by $1.2 million.
•reduce state support to
Veterinary Medicine Teaching
Hospital by 66 percent, elimi
nating 13 positions, reducing
budget by $500,000.
•reducing state support to
the Georgia Press by 44 per
cent, eliminating 15 filled posi
tions (approximately 94 per
cent of the workforce), result
ing in the “first closure of a
university press in the country,”
a $400,000 budget reduction.
•reduce state support to
The Georgia Review by 33
percent, eliminating five filled
positions, reducing budget by
$200,000.
•reduce state support to the
Georgia Museum of Art by 16
percent, eliminating six posi
tions (20 percent of workforce),
reducing budget by $200,000.
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
A great big ax is
hanging over the
University of
Georgia. And everyone is
watching to see who and
what will face the cut.
Of course, Madison
County's extension service
and 4-H programs could
face the chopping block if
the state government fol
lows through on a pro
posed $300 million in cuts
proposed by the Board of
Regents. Agriculture pro
grams are among the hard
est hit in the proposal, with
the total elimination of 4-H
suggested, along with the
termination of 94 extension
agent positions.
Madison County
Cooperative Extension
Agent Carl Vamadoe said
last week’s revelation that
4-H and extension services
could be eliminated was a
tough thing to take.
“Obviously there was
shock, and oh my gosh,
what are we going to do
now?” said Vamadoe.
The extension agent, who
now serves in a part-time
capacity after serving as the
county’s full-time coordina
tor for many years, said he
has seen bad state budget
situations before, such as in
the mid 1980s and 1991. But
this year is obviously worse.
He said cuts are inevitable,
but he felt ag services were
unfairly targeted.
— See “Cuts” on 2A‘
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
Time to ‘spring forward’
It’s time to “spring forward”
into Daylight Saving Time
(DST) again.
The time change occurs
Sunday morning at 2 a.m.. when
the time will "spring forward”
one hour to 3:00 even though
spring itself follows a week
later.
The principal effect - aside
from losing an hour of sleep that
day - is that the sun will rise and
set one hour earlier than it did the
day before.
Daylight saving time will last
until Nov. 1.
COUNTY GOV’T
EMS director search
nearing an end
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County’s search
for a new EMS director will
soon draw to a close.
The county public safety
advisory board, which was
created to help find a new
director, will interview can
didates today (Thursday), the
second time the board has
spoken with candidates this
week. The group also spoke
with candidates Monday.
“We really narrowed the
field and will probably make a
decision soon, probably in the
next week or so if everything
checks out on all the back
ground checks,” said Madison
County commission chairman
Anthony Dove Tuesday.
Dove presented information
to the board on 11 candidates
for the county ambulance ser
vice director last Thursday.
The chairman declined to
— See “EMS” on 2A
INSIDE
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-5A
Crime — 6A
Socials —7-9A
Obituaries —12-13A
Schools — 10A, 16A
Churches —11A
Sports— 1-3B
Classifieds —4-5B
Legals — 6-12B
Contact:
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Mail: P.O. Box 658,
Danielsville, GA, 30633
Web:
MadisonJoumalTODAY.
com
New grocery
coming to lla
A new grocery store, which
will employ six to 10 people,
is planned in the old sewing
plant in lla.
— Page 3A
Lady Raiders
fall at state
Madison County’s girls’
basketball team fell to
Northwest Whitfield in the
quarterfinals Friday.
— Page 1B
New firing range site
Major Shawn Burns stands where the new shooting range will be
located next to the sheriff’s department. The land will be graded to cre
ate a 22-foot berm. Leyland Cypress trees will also buffer the shooting
range. Margie Richards/staff
Madison County Sheriff
Dept, eyes new shooting range
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County law officials want to
see the county’s shooting range moved
next to the county jail, rather than in
the sights of the animal shelter where
it currently sits.
They say the move to the sheriff’s
department/jail complex will leave the
animal shelter out of harm’s way and
prove more convenient for the sher
iff’s department, not just because of
its locale, but because of the access to
bathrooms and electricity, which aren’t
available at the current range.
But several homeowners around the
sheriff’s complex aren’t thrilled with
the proposal, saying they worry about
the noise and the possibility of stray
bullets coming their way.
Madison County Sheriff Kip Thomas
stood in the commissioners’ meeting
room Thursday before a crowd of about
20 people, including several who live
near the proposed range. He sought to
assure residents that the range will be
safe and that the move is necessary.
“Right now, we’re shooting at the
shelter,” said Thomas. “At 50 yards
we’re just about even with the animal
shelter when we’re shooting.”
Thomas said the new range, which
will be on the left side of the jail, if
you’re looking at the front entrance of
the facility, will be an outdoor facility,
with a 22-foot berm. Leyland Cypress
trees will also buffer the range. The
sheriff said he had a company design
the range to be as safe as possible, with
a downward slant for gunfire into the
bank. He said the berm will be seven
feet higher than required and that the
sound of gunfire should mostly travel
up, not out.
The sheriff was asked if he could
guarantee that a bullet would never
leave the range.
“I can’t absolutely guarantee that a
bullet won’t get out of there,” he said.
“... There’s no perfect design for any
gun range.”
But Thomas added that he is confi
dent the range will be safe.
“We can sit here and what if it, but
with the berm there will be enough
where it shouldn’t be an issue of a
bullet getting out,” he said. “... We
had this thing designed as safe as pos
sible.”
The sheriff was asked if he had con
sidered an indoor range, but he said
such a facility would prove far too
costly.
— See “Range” on 2A‘
CRIME
Decatur man
charged with
vandalizing
church
A Decatur man was arrested
last week for allegedly bur
glarizing an lla church.
Carey Durrett, 71, 1487
Conway Road, was charged
with one count each of bur
glary, vandalism to a place of
worship and criminal dam
age to property in the second
degree.
According to the incident
report, the church, Light
House Tabernacle, was ran
sacked sometime between
4:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 and noon
on Feb. 13, when the damage
was discovered. Several areas
of the church were damaged
severely. The area of entry
was the rear side door where a
hole had been knocked in the
fiberglass door to gain entry
to the locks, according to the
report.
EDUCATION
School officer
approved at
MCHS
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County High
School will have an in-house
deputy next year.
The Madison County
Board of Education (BOE)
approved an agreement with
the Madison County Sheriff’s
Office Tuesday for a school
resource officer (SRO) after
being presented with the pro
posal in February.
The agreement underwent
minor changes after being
reviewed by BOE members
and the BOE’s legal counsel
for the past month.
“The substance of this agree-
— See “Officer” on 2A‘
