Newspaper Page Text
o
o
The
NOVEMBER 21,2019
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
$1.00
Vol. 36 No. • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Section Plus Supplements
ACCIDENT
Infant
dies in
Hwy. 98
wreck
Madison County downs Ridgeland in
first round of Class AAAA state playoffs;
Raiders hit the field again Friday
— Page IB
INDUSTRIAL AUTHORITY
A 5-month-old male has
died from injuries sustained
in a two-vehicle accident on
Hwy. 98 Tuesday, Nov. 19.
A 5-year-old female also
suffered life-threatening in
juries. An 8-year-old boy
was seriously injured and a
34-year-old Madison Coun
ty resident, Tela Wood, was
also injured in an accident that
occurred shortly after 3 p.m.
Tuesday when Wood turned
her 1998 4Runner in front of a
1998 Peterbilt buck driven by
Dallas Fordham, 51. Carlton.
Fordham was not injured in
the accident.
The Georgia State Patrol
has not yet released identities
of the deceased infant or the
two children injured in the ac
cident. A GSP spokesperson
said charges are pending.
CITY NEWS
Early voting
starts Nov. 25
in Comer race
Early voting for the Comer
District 3 city council runoff
Dec. 3 between Laura Minish
and Tommy R. Appling will
begin Monday, Nov. 25 at the
county board of elections of
fice.
District 3 Comer residents
can vote early from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. at the elections office at
94 Spring Lake Drive. Daniel-
ville. Voters must show proper
identification.
INSIDE:
Index:
News: 1-3A
Opinions: 4-5A
Crime: 6A
Socials: 7A
Schools: 8A
Sports: 1-2B
Churches: 3B
Obituaries: 4-5B
Classifieds: 8B
Legals:6-7B
Contact:
Phone: 800-795-2581
Mail: P.O. Box 658,
Danielsville, Ga. 30633
Web: MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
MAILING LABEL
a
IDA discusses late GRP bills
CRIME
Armed
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
The new Georgia Renewable
Power (GRP) plant in Colbert has
been causing a great deal of envi
ronmental and quality-of-life con
cerns among neighboring residents
over the past few months. And now
the plant is also behind on its bills
to the county industrial authority
(IDA).
IDA members discussed the mat
ter Tuesday, noting that GRP owes
$206,500 in construction costs and
another $173,000 in past-due wa
ter bills, which includes $64,000 in
past due fees.
IDA director Frank Ginn said
Wednesday morning that GRP
paid $101,000 on its water bill that
morning. He said Tuesday night
that he has spoken to plant officials
about the unpaid bills and has “no
question or concern’' that GRP will
settle its debt, though he offered no
timeline on when that might hap
pen. He did say the plant has a new
investor, but that he couldn’t say
much about it at this point.
Authority member Pat Mahoney
questioned what that had to do with
the plant’s debts, but Ginn declined
to explain further.
The authority agreed, after a sug
gestion by acting board chairman
Josh Chandler, to send a letter to
plant officials asking for a “good
faith” statement from them on the
debt repayment.
Chandler said that the plant prom
ises to be a huge revenue asset to the
county.
“We just need to clean things up
a little by getting something in writ
ing,” he said.
In another matter, the authority
postponed a decision on another
water line project presented and
recommended by Ginn. The pro
posal involves issuing a change
order to the IDA’s current contract
with Griffin Brothers engineers
to engage in a proposed $461,000
project using Georgia Environmen
tal Finance Authority (GEFA) loan
funding to incorporate a well on
the site of the Columbia feed mill
on Hwy. 72 between Carlton and
Comer as an added water source for
the county water lines. The project
would also include extending those
water lines across the rail line from
the well and into the City of Com
er, with Comer paying to connect
See IDA, page 2A
ELECTIONS
Georgia Secretary of State
meets with county election office
The Georgia election system is
being overhauled with a switch to
a voting paper trail as a presidential
election year approaches. And Sec
retary of State Brad Raffensperger
is traveling to all 159 Georgia coun
ties, meeting with election officials
to hear any concerns they have
about implementing the system.
On Friday, Raffensperger visited
Madison County, where he met with
election board chairperson Tracy
Dean.
“We’re out here talking to the
counties, getting feedback, what do
they need, so we can help prepare
them for the presidential primary,”
said Raffensperger.
A primary concern for Dean is
storage space. The new system in
cludes ballot scanner machines with
ballot holding bins that are about
the size of a washing machine.
Madison County Board of Elec
tions Chairperson Tracy Dean
is pictured with Georgia Secre
tary of State Brad Raffensperg
er at the county elections office
Nov. 15.
Storage space at the elections office
isn’t sufficient for the large ballot
bins. And Dean said she would like
to have the back wall of the storage
room knocked out and the room ex
panded. Raffensperger said the state
is working with counties on their
needs and when asked about poten
tial help with storage space, he said
that he is looking at potential grants
for such issues.
The new system includes a touch
screen for voters to make their deci
sions. Once a voter has decided on
candidates, they print a paper ballot,
review it, then when they are satis
fied with their decision, they put it
into a large ballot scanner, which
scans the paper and drops it into a
large bin, which isn’t opened until
the polls close. If they want to make
See Elections, page 2A
PUBLIC SAFETY
Child Safety Day held in 11a
“Child Safety Day” was held Nov.
16 at the Ila Volunteer Fire Depart
ment off Hwy. 98.
Allison N. Craig, Regional Coor
dinator for the Child Occupant Safe
ty Project, said 11 families used the
services of the child-safety event.
Technicians checked 18 seats in the
11 cars that came. Fifteen of the seats
were replaced or issued. One child
showed up with no seat that needed
to still be in a seat and that child was
issued a seat. Seats were replaced for
reasons ranging from missing labels,
being expired, being involved in an
accident, unknown history and not
being compatible in the vehicle or
the child not being within height and
weight requirements for the seat they
arrived in.
Volunteers from the Pilot Club Adam Arnold works to secure a car seat for 5-year-old Mason Parten,
who attends Danielsville Elementary School.
See Safety, page 3A
robbery
reported at
Tiny Town
An armed robbery
was reported at Tiny
Town convenience store
off Hwy. 72 in Carlton
at 10:18 p.m., Nov. 13.
According to a re
port from the Madison
County Sheriff’s Office,
two men in ski masks
took cash from the store
clerk at gunpoint. The
suspects were described
as black males wearing
dark pants, light grey
hoodies, both wearing
ski masks, one with
white gloves. Both had
dark shoes with white
on them. Both had hand
guns. According to sur
veillance video, they left
the store on foot headed
away from the highway
toward the old part of
Carlton.
No arrests have been
made. Anyone with
information about the
crime is encouraged to
call the sheriff’s office
at 706-795-6202.
SPORTS
Colbert to
host Madison
Co. Little
League
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County Little
League is still alive, just
in a different place.
County commissioners
recently ended the recre
ation department’s “fa
cilities use agreement”
with Little League, and
now youth baseball and
softball at the recreation
department are being run
by the department itself.
But Madison County
Little League has a new
home, Colbert Commu
nity Park. The organiza
tion has moved its op
eration from the county
recreation facilities to
two fields owned by the
City of Colbert. The Lit
tle League and the City of
Colbert reached an agree
ment recently for the
youth baseball and soft-
ball games to be played
at the Colbert ball fields.
The agreement includes a
four-year lease for $10 a
year, with 60-day written
notice from either par
ty to end the agreement.
Electricity costs will be
covered by Little League.
The lease agreement will
be signed at Colbert’s
See Little League,
page 2A
14 14 4