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FEBRUARY 23, 2023
Madison County Journal
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
Vol. 40 No. 4 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
2023
Magazine inside!
Our annual ‘Explore
Madison County’
publication is
included in this issue
Jace Jachimski takes
third in Class AAAA
state wrestling
tournament
— Page IB
EDUCATION
New principals hired
Christy Epps hired to lead
Madison County High School
Brian Turner returning home to
guide Madison Co. Middle School
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews.com
Christy Epps, the next
Madison County High
School principal, says she's
looking forward to building
relationships at MCHS.
She said she wants to be a
part of a “team atmosphere.”
“The number one thing
I want to do is build rela
tionships with the students,
the faculty and staff, the
community as a whole,”
said Epps. “Those are very
important to me. If we can
build those relationships,
that lays the foundation for
CHRISTY EPPS
anything that we decide we
want to reach for.”
Epps, who has bache
lor’s, master's and doctorate
degrees all from the Uni
versity of Georgia, did her
student teaching at Madison
County High School under
Sabrina Bennett. She then
began her education career
as a family and consumer
sciences teacher at Com
merce High School before
moving on to become
the system’s work-based
learning coordinator. After
relocating to Rome, Epps
worked as an assistant prin
cipal, associate principal,
and ultimately principal at
See ‘Epps’ on 2A
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews .com
For Brian Turner, there's
no place like home.
The Madison County
native has worked outside of
his home county for years,
but that will soon change.
The 29-year education vet
eran was hired last week as
the new principal at Madi
son County Middle School,
replacing Georgie Bullock,
who is retiring.
“I’m just excited to come
back to Madison County,”
Turner said. “I was bom
and raised here in Madi-
BRIAN TURNER
son County, graduated from
Madison County, and I'm
just grateful for the opportu
nity to come back home to
be with my kids at a school
system that is a phenomenal
school system.”
Turner spent the first
part of his career teaching
social studies and coaching
several sports in Franklin
County. He then went to
Elbert County for six years,
where he got his first bas
ketball head-coaching job.
He went to East Jackson
and spent close to a decade
there, moving out of the
classroom and into the role
of graduation coach while
See ‘Turner’ on 2A
COUNTY LANDMARK
INFRASTRUCTURE
Exterior upgrades
...but nothing in the works for
renovations inside old courthouse
New shrubbery and trees have been planted on the
county courthouse square.
MC leaders seek
water/sewer study
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews.com
Madison County leaders are seeking a grant for a
water/sewer feasibility study to help determine where
future infrastructure should be located in the county.
“What this does, it takes the guessing out of where we
put water lines and where we’re going with sewer,” said
county commission chairman Todd Higdon at the Feb.
15 county industrial authority meeting.
Industrial authority members expressed support for a
study, and Higdon said he’d request that the Northeast
Georgia Regional Commission assist in drafting a
grant application for a 50-50 matching grant from the
Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for funds for
a water/sewer study. Higdon estimated that the county’s
portion of that grant would be in the $40,000-to-$50,000
range.
Higdon said the comprehensive plan will also be fac
tored in to the study.
“I think that (the comp plan) will steer some of this
and make it easier for the feasibility study,” he said.
BOC and IDA attorney Mike Pruett said the feasibility
study is noteworthy.
“Having been here 22 years, this water/sewer feasibil-
See ‘IDA’ on 3A
TERIDRAKE-FLOYD
COURT
Man convicted
of murder
for selling
lethal di ngs
Colbert man convict
ed of murder for selling
lethal drugs
A Madison County jury
convicted a Colbert man
of murder Feb. 16 after
he sold illegal drugs to a
Colbert woman who ulti-
See ‘Murder’ on 2A
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-5A
Crime — 6A
Social — 8A
Sports — 1-3B
Church — 3B
Obituaries — 4-5B
Legals — 6-7B
Classifieds — 8B
Contact:
Phone: 706-367-5233
Web: MadisonJournal
TODAY.com
News submissions:
zach@
mainstreetnews.com
8 ■■0 4879 14144* o
By Alison Smith
It may be old, but the
historic courthouse in
Danielsville continues to
see renovations to its exte
rior.
Former Magistrate
Judge Harry Rice, the only
living member of the orig
inal planning committee,
is leading the improve
ments to the grounds and
Veterans Garden around
the courthouse grounds.
According to Rice, the
committee has spent about
$7,000 on the landscaping,
including new shrubbery
and trees on the square.
He also has plans for the
Veterans Garden itself.
“We’re really working
with what’s already there,”
By Zach Mitcham
zach @ mainstreetnews.com
There is actually a time
machine in this world
— the human imagination.
And Madison County
author Teri Drake-Floyd
likes to take her own rides
into the past, creating
fictional tales tied to real
places and times.
Her new book. “So
Long, Bobby,” pub-
he said.
The intention is to better
arrange the existing bricks
to disperse them around
three sides of the court
house and allow more
room for expansion. He
lished by Sword & Silk
Publishing and released
Feb. 14. is a work of his
torical fiction that presents
said some bricks were
damaged a few years ago
when a motorist missed
the turn at the courthouse.
See ‘Courthouse’
on 2A
the narratives of three
women — Bobbi. Ella and
Kasey — from 1968, 1995
and 2018. The stories take
place in Athens. Seattle
and Colbert.
“It just goes back and
forth with their points of
view, as their timeline is
progressing.” said Drake-
Floyd, who uses the pen
name, Lillah Lawson.
“It’s kind of a novel about
generational trauma and
how no matter what time
period you're in, we’re all
more alike than we are
different.”
She said Bobbi is living
in 1968, “dealing with the
fallout of the Vietnam War,
See ‘Drake’ on 3A
WRITING
‘So Long, Bobby 9
Madison County author takes
readers on generational journey
