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JULY 13, 2017
Madison County Journal
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
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Vol. 34 No. 25 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Section Plus Supplements
FINANCES
BOC to
approve
2018 budget
Tuesday
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
The talk about next
year’s county budget,
which will include a rev
enue shortfall and require
a tax increase, is winding
down.
Madison County com
missioners will approve
the 2018 county budget at
9 a.m., Tuesday, July 18,
in the BOC meeting room
in the county government
complex.
County commission
ers held a public hearing
Monday on next year's
budget. The meeting was
brief and only one person
addressed the board.
Gene Lurwig asked
the commissioners about
several line items in the
budget, such as overtime
pay in 9-1-1 and EMS
departments. He said
they seemed excessive.
BOC chairman John
Scarborough said that the
departments require 24/7
coverage and that the
overtime is an result of the
shift schedules for con
tinuous coverage. Lurwig
questioned a cable bill for
the government complex
and suggested some cell
phones could be elimi
nated, along with a lawn
maintenance contract.
“If you could sharpen
your pencil a little bit,
I’d appreciate it,” said
Lurwig.
Commissioner John
— See “Budget” on 2A
INSIDE
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-5A
Crime — 6A
Socials — 8A, 8B
Obituaries — 7A
Sports — 1-3B
Churches — 4B
Classifieds — 5B
Legals — 7B
Contact:
Phone: 800-795-2581
Mail: P.O. Box 658,
Danielsville, Ga. 30633
Web:
MadisonJournalTODAY.
com
Mailing
Label Below
COUNTY REGULATIONS
Moratorium is over
BOC sets new guidelines on poultry houses, subdivisions
Madison County commissioners set new guidelines on poultry
houses and subdivisions Monday.
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County’s four-month
moratorium on development is
over. And new regulations on
poultry houses and subdivisions
are in place.
County commissioners met
for four hours Monday, with a
majority of discussions centering
on regulations on poultry houses.
Terry Chandler talks to com
missioners Monday.
Poultry is Madison County’s top
industry. And a number of poul
try farmers stood at the podium
Monday, urging leaders not to hurt
the industry by passing regulations
they feel are too stringent.
Matt Whitehead of Colbert said
America elected a man who prom
ised to do away with a lot of regu
lations. And he said he didn’t want
to see more regulations imposed
locally.
“I feel like I need to fight for my
friends, family and neighbors,”
said Whitehead. “Our lives are
going to be influenced by these
regulations. I believe it’s overkill.”
Existing poultry houses or ones
already being developed will be
“grandfathered in” or exempted
from rule changes.
But a number of established
poultry farmers responded to
proposed BOC regulations, say
ing they seemed too harsh. Lor
instance, a proposed ban on new
chicken houses within one mile
of city limits in the county was
very unpopular with poultry farm
ers. County commission chair
man John Scarborough noted that
Oglethorpe County has a one-mile
buffer on poultry houses around
municipalities and he said such a
regulation would be in line with
county plans to have commercial
and residential growth around cit
ies. But he didn’t argue to keep the
buffer at one mile.
Partners said a one-mile buffer
would be overly broad and arbi
trary. One farmer noted that there
are about four miles from Ila to
Danielsville, A buffer around both
towns would eliminate about two
miles between the two cities for
poultry houses.
Gerry Burdette said his large
tract of property near Comer
would lose tremendous value if
— See “BOC” on 2A
COUNTY SEAT
ACCIDENT
D’ville approves amendments to zoning ordinance
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
Danielsville council
members voted unani
mously Monday night to
approve amendments to
their zoning ordinances.
Mayor pro-tem Michael
Wideman, who was sit
ting in for Mayor Todd
Higdon, said the council is
working to move the city
into the 21 st century.
Wideman pointed out
to several residents who
were in attendance for the
public hearing prior to the
meeting that the city was
found to have multiple
ordinances that directly
contradicted each other.
“We didn’t make any
of this up.” Wideman
said of the changes they
were adopting. “We cop
ied and pasted a lot from
other cities’ ordinances
what we wanted to see in
Danielsville.”
He added that the coun
cil and staff also took state
and health codes into con
sideration as well.
“The issue here is not
that this (zoning ordi
nance) contains something
new, it’s just it’s never
been enforced before.”
Wideman added. “Going
forward we are going to
enforce what we have
always had.”
The principal changes
to the zoning ordinance
included the following.
Article V - Changes
were made to the descrip
tion and lot sizes for the R1
designation. The descrip
tion includes that lot sizes
must be in line with state
and county codes, along
with the city’s zoning
code. The city building
inspector has the authority
to increase lot size or vary
zoning district develop
ment standards to accom
modate the need to use
septic tanks and health
department regulations.
The GR zoning designa
tion was changed to “R2,”
the BR was renamed
“MU,” and a multi-family
R3 designation was added.
Article VI - Non-
— See “D’ville” on 2A
MEMORIAL
Penn remembered at Tuesday ceremony
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Fifty three years ago Tuesday, a black World War II
veteran and educator in Washington was murdered in
the night by Athens members of the Ku Klux Klan on a
Madison County road.
And on Tuesday, a group gathered in the atrium of the
Athens-Clarke County Courthouse in a show of remem
brance for Lemuel Penn, who was shot to death just nine
days after the Civil Rights Act ended decades of Jim
Crow law in the United States.
Dena Chandler, chairperson
of the Lemuel Penn Memorial
Committee, accepted an award
from the National Black
Congressional Caucus Veterans
Trust on behalf of the Memorial
committee. The group was rec
ognized for its efforts to honor
Penn, which included the instal
lation of a memorial sign at
the site of Penn’s murder at
the Broad River Bridge at the
Madison/Elbert county line on
Hwy. 172.
Chandler stood on the atrium
steps and spoke to the crowd about what happened that
night, how Penn and two other soldiers, Charles Brown
and John Howard, were driving back to Washington
D.C. after Army reserve training at Ft. Benning. Three
Klan members from Athens followed the men into
Madison County. James Lackey drove the car and Cecil
Myers and Howard Sims fired into the soldiers’ vehicle,
killing Penn. Lackey later confessed to what happened,
but the men were acquitted by a Madison County jury.
Myers and Sims later served jail time after being con
victed in federal court for violating the civil rights of
Penn, Brown and Howard.
“There was some justice achieved thanks to some far
sighted men and women in Athens who knew that the
times were in fact changing and that they had to change.
Morocco Coleman of the National Black
Congressional Caucus Veterans Trust presents an
award Tuesday to Dena Chandler and the Lemuel
Penn Memorial Committee for the group’s efforts
to keep Penn’s memory alive.
and people had to learn to live together and give this
country a chance to be all it could be in terms of equality
and justice for all,” said Chandler, after noting the work
that the late Judge James Barrow did in the Penn case.
Morocco Coleman of the National Black Congressional
Caucus Veterans Trust presented an award to Chandler
Tuesday. Coleman thanked the group for its work “to
keep the legacy and the memory of Lemuel Penn in the
hearts and minds of the community.”
He said the veterans trust honors those who positively
affect veterans.
“Each year, we honor different periods of service, from
the Civil War all the way to present wars,” said Coleman.
“This past year, among the groups we honored was the
Lemuel Penn Foundation and Committee. At the time,
Mrs. Chandler was unable to make it to Washington, so
Washington sent me to her.”
Child airlifted
after running
through glass
doors in Comer
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
A Comer child was
airlifted to Egleston
Children’s Hospital
in Atlanta on Saturday
evening after he acciden
tally ran through dou-
ble-paned glass doors at
his grandmother’s home
on West Pine Avenue in
Comer.
Michael "Cash" Pruitt,
8, was playing at his
grandmother’s house
when he ran toward a
back porch addition
that had a new and an
old set of glass doors
separating it from the
house. Those doors were
almost always open.
Comer Police Chief Kyle
Roberts noted, and Cash
was used to running in
and out of the house
through them.
The child simply did
not see the doors closed
and ran right through
them, Roberts said, add
ing that both doors were
double-paned.
“He had very severe
wounds to the left side of
his abdomen and another
piece of glass sticking
out of the back of his
left knee,” Roberts said.
The wound on the back
of the knee was press
ing against an artery, he
added.
Roberts attribut
ed the quick action of
the Madison County
Emergency Medical
Services for saving the
boy’s life.
“They did an amazing
job,” Roberts said. “No
doubt they saved his life.”
Cpl. Josh Smith was
the first on the scene, fol
lowed quickly by EMS
who stabilized the child’s
injuries and called for a
medical helicopter.
“There was bad weath
er wherever the helicop
ter was coming from
and at first they said no,”
Roberts noted. “After a
— See “Injury” on 2A
