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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. JULY 21.2016 — PAGE 3A
Drought
• • • continued from page 1A
with the dry hole its left in the
middle of one of his fields.
Lord has four chicken houses
and fields on his 45-acre farm on
Macedonia Church Road, but he
leases other land, giving him a
total of about 300 to 400 acres in
hay and soybeans.
He’s only gotten one cutting
off the hay this year and doesn’t
know if he'll manage to get
another before winter.
“It's just not growing,” he said,
looking at a greenish brown hay
field that should be growing high
since its spring cutting. And he
says a lot of his fellow farmers
who have cattle are already feed
ing their spring hay, and winter is
still months away.
Over near Colbert, cattle
farmer David Whitehead is one
of those farmers. He and son
Matt mn about 500-head of beef
cattle on their 1,200-acre farm.
“We've been feeding them hay
since about the first of June,”
Whitehead said. And like Lord,
he’s only gotten in one cutting
of hay and usually by mid-July
he’s gotten two, maybe three,
cuttings in.
“We’ll have to bring hay in
from somewhere this fall,” he
said.
And he also knows he may be
looking at thinning his herd.
Whitehead said thinning out
herds will flood the market with
beef, driving the prices that
farmers can get for their ani
mals lower. Likewise, a shortage
of hay this fall will drive feed
prices up.
So the short term issues of
the drought will have some long
term effects.
“It’s what is on all our minds,
and it is the main topic at Gina
Belle’s," farmer Charles Gordon
confirmed.
Gordon leases about 175 acres
of land north of Danielsville for
cattle and hay. His current herd is
down to about 80 as he’s already
sold some off due to the dry con
ditions. “I’m getting about half
what I could have gotten (for a
cow) about 18 months ago,” he
said. And his hay production is
also way down - with only one
cutting so far this year - which
he has now been feeding to his
cows for about six weeks.
“It's a double whammy and
none of us knows the future,” he
said. “It’s the worst it’s been in at
least the last two or three years.”
Gordon said he doesn’t think
his area of northern Madison
County has gotten much over an
inch of rain since April.
“I really don’t know what to
do - whether to go ahead and
sell a lot more cows, or wait and
hope for rain and another hay
cutting,” he said. And he knows
that either way - he’s looking at
losing money.
Like most farmers, Gordon
does have insurance on his
leased fields, but that compen
sation mns a year behind in pay
ments, so any losses this year
won't be paid out until 2017.
“We can get out here and do
everything right, but if it doesn’t
rain, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“A lot of people don’t realize
that.”
Madison County's cooperative
weather observer Mark Jenkins
said Madison County is currently
considered in extreme drought.
“Our current drought actually
began in March when we had
less than half of our normal rain
fall,” Jenkins said. “Every month
since has featured well below
typical rainfall, averaging about
one-half of normal. The drought
has now reached level 4 out of 5,
or ‘extreme’ for the area rough
ly from Walhalla, SC over to
Clayton in Rabun County and
south to Commerce to Elberton.
These areas are the majority of
the watershed that feeds Lake
Hartwell and the Savannah River
Valley, so expect these lakes and
rivers to continue to lose vol
ume."
Jenkins said other extremely
dry areas are south of Atlanta and
the northwest comer of the state
north of Rome, while moderate
to severe drought covers loca
tions from central Mississippi to
Charlotte, NC.
“The major culprit in our
drought is the rapid collapse
of the El Nino in the Pacific,”
Jenkins said. “This has hap
pened several times before, with
similar results as this year, most
notably in 1983, 1988 (most
similar to this year), 1995, and
2007.”
But Jenkins thinks there are a
couple of reasons to be hopeful
that changes are in the wind later
in the summer.
“In 1995, the tropics got
cranking in August and we got
drenched by storms named Erin
and Jerry. In 1988, the stubborn
high pressure area finally shift
ed out west in August (anyone
remember the Yellowstone Park
fires that summer?) and left us
in a /’downstream eddy’ of low
pressure, bringing more plentiful
rains. Either scenario is possible
to happen again this year.”
But Jenkins also warned that
farmers shouldn’t be surprised
— See “Dry” on 12A
BOC to meet on budget July 28
The Madison County Board of Commissioners will meet
to discuss the 2017 budget at 9 a.m., July 28. The public is
invited to attend and offer input.
■x
With our upcoming runoff on July 26th I wanted to reach
out to the citizens of our county. I feel that communication
is key in any enterprise, especially government. I have
tried hard to visit each citizen, but it is tough. In the spirit
of better communication if you have concerns or would
like information on the future of Madison County, please
feel free to email me! I want to be your voice, and with
all the ways to communicate these days communication
should be the least of our issues. Thank you again for
your continued support and your involvement in our coun
ty! Let's let our voice be heard on July 26th! God bless!
Lee
Allen
District 1
"Vocuted on Cux Vntuxe!"
LEEALLENDISTRICTONE@GMAIL.COM
Elections...
continued from page 2A
"My wife and I attend
Gordon’s Chapel UMC.
I have been very active in
Madison County as a com
missioner. I have regular
attendance to most and all
ACCG and UGA Institute
of Government training and
legislative meetings. I was
awarded the Gold Standard
of Excellence in 2014 by the
ACCG and the UGA Institute
of Goverment. I have worked
on Watson’s Mill State Park,
Seagraves Mill Lake, and the
red light at Ingles intersec
tion projects. I also helped to
secure grants for sheriff cars
and ambulance purchase. If
elected chairman, I will fully
devote my time to serving
Madison County and its cit
izens.”
Thomas said that he is
always looking for ways to
cut spending.
"When I went in office in
2005, we started cutting our
budget and worked to get
about $5 million in reserves,"
he said. "We now have almost
$3 million in reserves and
about $1 million owed to the
county from other depart
ment’s SPLOST accounts.
We last raised the mill rate
in 2006. The state stopped
the local assistance money
and the $500,000 tax relief
money to the county. We
had major problems with our
economy and housing values
in 2008. We are now seeing
an increase in values.... I will
work with constitutional offi
cers on our budgets to prevent
a mill increase. I would sup
port a increase if there was
a major decrease in public
safety in order to keep our
citizens safe.”
Thomas said he’d like to
see more farm-related busi
nesses in the county, “such
as farm equipment sales, a
hatchery, or cattle barn...busi
ness that provides jobs related
to farming.”
“We must also work to get
other business in our county,"
he said. “With an industrial
park, rail, and all the state
highways, we should be able
to get business.... We should
be working to provide jobs
for our children, rather than
moving them away to find
employment. It will soon be
time to work on our man
dated county land use plan,
and I welcome public input
from all Madison County cit
izens. We must be respectful
of business, agriculture and
commercial in order to pro
vide more jobs and a better
tax base.
The candidate said he'd like
to have two-to-three meet
ings a year with county, city,
school and other officials.
“This would be a good time
to collaborate with the pur
pose of sharing ideas and dis
cussing problems we face,”
said Thomas. “We all need to
pull together, because there
is strength in numbers. We
need to be proactive, rather
than reactive after a problem
arises.”
Thomas said he feels the
county must do a better job
planning for road paving and
maintenance, establishing
three-to-five year plans.
“There are 556.2 road miles
in Madison County,” said
Thomas. “There are 142 dirt
roads, totaling 109.08 miles.
The estimate to pave a dirt
road to asphalt is $425,000-
to-$450,000 per mile. Total
SPLOST for the road depar-
ment budget is $1 million per
year. A large number of our
paved roads need repair. We
must look at repairing these
roads to avoid a more costly
repair in the future. Only a
$23.06 per $1,000 in proper
ty tax revenue is allotted for
road department revenue. We
must prioritize our road proj
ects as a county need above
a want."
SHERIFF
Michael Moore
Michael Moore was born
and raised in Madison County
and has lived here almost all
of his life, graduating from
Madison County High School
in 1992. He grew up in the
Neese/Sanford community
where he recently returned.
He was introduced to the
volunteer fire service in the
Neese community and began
volunteering at 18. After grad
uation, he relocated to the
Colbert area where he lived
for 20 years and operated
his own business, J. Moore
Trucking.
"I began my law enforce
ment career in 2002 at Athens
Clarke County Sheriff’s
Office where I obtained a
vast knowledge of jail man
agement and operations,” said
Moore. “I knew my ultimate
goal was to return home and
serve the people of Madison
County. I began working for
the Madison County Sheriff’s
Office in 2004 as a Deputy
Sheriff. During my tenure, I
was able to work in multiple
fields of the department and
gained a valuable working
knowledge of this department.
Prior leaving the department
in 20141 served as the training
officer for the new employees
and patrol shift commander
with the rank of Sergeant.
While I continued serving as
a volunteer firefighter, I also
served as arson investigator
for Madison County.”
Moore said he wants to get
computers back in patrol cars.
"This would keep the dep
uties out in your community
and not in the office,” he said.
"Currently, deputies return to
the sheriff’s office after calls
to write their reports. Madison
County has approximately
3,000 reports written each
year. Any available oppor
tunity to keep our guys in
the community and not at the
office will reduce the crime
rate in Madison County great
ly. At times there is overtime
being paid to deputies because
they’re too busy to return
to the office and write the
report. They have to stay away
from their families to com
plete their paperwork after an
already long 12-hour shift.”
He said he can cut the pay
roll too.
“As a former employee, I
have seen where the current
administration has placed
ranking officers in positions
that are unnecessary,” said
Moore. “That has created a
higher payroll budget that can
be reduced by restructuring
their responsibilities. Madison
County citizens need a sheriff
who will spend by necessity
and control the spending, not
someone who spends without
limitation to the outlined bud
get and available funds.”
Moore said every law
enforcement decision comes
with a price.
“One of the most common
budget line items that’s typ
ically over spent or uncon
trolled is the overtime bud
get,” he said. "My plan to
correct that issue is simply
become a working sheriff to
help offset the cost of over
time. My administration will
be on patrol as well as han
dling their daily duties. You
will see more manpower on
the streets of Madison County
with less overtime paid."
The sheriff’s candidate said
he will fight to make Madison
County “a drug free location.”
“I believe the battle is great
but we have to fight with all
we have,” he said. "We all
have family members that
are good people with a bad
addiction, but we know our
family members make very
bad choices every day. Drugs
typically are the root cause
for the majority of property
crimes. Reduce drugs then we
reduce thefts, burglaries and
assaults. Unfortunately, a drug
free county is certainly a chal
lenge but we have to fight.”
— See “Candidates”
on 12A
Madison Co. BOC to meet July 25
The Madison County
Board of Commissioners will
meet at 6:30 p.m., Monday,
July 25, in the county gov
ernment complex.
Agenda items include:
•Business involving guests,
groups or multiple visitors.
•Chairman’s report.
•Report from industrial
development and building
authority. (Marvin White)
•Statements and remarks
from citizens on an agenda
item.
•Consider property and
casualty insurance policy.
(Dan Home)
•Consider tractor trade-
ins and purchase. (Theresa
Bettis)
•Consider filling vacant
position in buildings and
grounds department.
(Chairman Dove)
•Roads update.
•Urgent matters.
•Review Aug. 1, 2016
agenda for regular business
meeting.
•Statement and remarks
from citizens.
•Closed session to discuss
land acquisition, personnel
matters and/or potential liti
gation (if needed).
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