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APRIL 13, 2023
Madison County Journal
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
Vol. 40 No. 10* Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 32 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
Inside:
CITY NEWS
Ag insert
MADICO MADE
Agriculture is Madison Co. ’s economic seed
ENVIRONMENT
‘Spring Recycling
Event’ set for April 22
A “Spring Recycling Event” will be held from
10 a.m. to noon, Saturday. April 22 at the Madison
County Government Complex at 91 Albany Avenue in
Danielsville.
There will be document shredding, medication take
backs, shoe recycling, clothes recycling, book recycling.
Batteries, cell phones, chargers and ink cartridges will
also be received.
“Please join Keep Madison County Beautiful to cel
ebrate Earth Day and take advantage of these free pro
grams,” organizers said.
For more information, call 706-795-5151.
Statute of limitations
approaches on GRP
By Alison Smith
Is the time to fight nearly over? That’s
the message Drago Tesanovich, Co-Chair
of Madison County Clean Power
Coalition conveyed to the Colbert City
Council at its last meeting.
According to Mr. Tesanovich. the group
has mailed over 100 letters to county and
city residents who live near the Georgia
Renewable Power Plant (GRP) located
just outside Colbert city limits concern
ing a meeting it will sponsor Sunday,
April 23.
The group has repeatedly wrangled
with the plant over environmental and
noise complaints since its opening nearly
four years ago. That time frame is import
ant in possible litigation related to the
ongoing grievances.
Tesanovich said the statute of limita
tions for lawsuits against the owners
or operators of the GRP Plant under
Georgia’s nuisance law will expire in
May of this year.
The MCCPC Co-Chair explained in
the letter to citizens and the city coun
cil that the meeting in April will host
attorneys from the law firm of McRae,
Smith, Peek, Harman, & Monroe (MSP)
to explain and discuss options about
legal rights related to potential lawsuits.
The Coalition’s letter states the law firm
is involved in litigation with 24 clients
in connection with the GRP Plant in
Franklin County.
The informational meeting will be held
at the Colbert Municipal Auditorium, 60
GEORGIA
RENEWABLE POWER
First Street, Colbert. Sunday. April 23, at
3 p.m. Any impacted citizens are invited
to attend.
MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
“It’s going to be fabulous!” That’s the
claim the organizer of Colbert’s new
municipal library room reported to the
city council at its last meeting.
Flo Hix explained that she has overseen
new plaster in the room designated for
the small library, new windows have been
ordered, and a new mini-split system will
be installed soon.
She is hoping to have an open house for
the new library by the summer. However,
City Attorney Dale Perry clarified to the
council that his research indicated the
city must approve a new ordinance before
officially opening the library.
State code specifies that the city must
See ‘Colbert’ on 2A
COUNTY SEAT
Danielsville
council OKs
townhome
rezoning
By Alison Smith
A Danielsville town-
home development got
the go ahead from city
leaders Monday.
Only two citizens
spoke, but the consensus
was largely positive on
the Danielsville public
hearing to rezone 12 lots
on Spring Lake Drive
from DV-B to DV-R3.
The rezoning application
would allow for a new
townhome development
on the lots with over 100
units.
Both nearby landown
ers spoke largely in favor
of the rezoning.
“I think this will be a
very good thing to get
in Danielsville for the
businesses,” one adjacent
landowner said. “They
need patrons and people
to spend money in them.”
April Hitchcock-Wat
son questioned the
absence of the sewer and
water report as her main
concern with the project.
“While I'm not against
the townhouses, I do
think it needs to be in
phases,” she said. Hitch-
cock-Watson encouraged
the city council to con-
See ‘D’ville’ on 2A
SCHOOLS
Red Raider Resource
Fair set for April 21
A “Red Raider” “glow-with-the-flow” block party — a
resource fair for high schoolers — will be held from 3:30
to 5:30 p.m., Friday, April 21 in the MCHS freshman gym
in Danielsville.
There will be free food and giveaways, including
AirPods, gift cards and more.
INSIDE
Index:
News — 1-2A
Church — 2A
Crime — 3A
Opinions — 4-6A
Social — 6A
Sports — 12A
Classifieds — 7A
Obituaries — 8-9A
Legals — 10-11A
Contact:
Phone: 706-367-5233
Web: MadisonJournal
TODAY.com
News submissions:
zach@
mainstreetnews.com
Opinions:
Food, the globe
and support of
local business
— See Page 4A
Public safety:
Woman charged
after throwing
brick through
window
— See Page 3A
On the Money
Madison County’s Brayden Culberson hits an approach shot close Monday
while shooting par during the Red Raiders’ win over Mountain View at Double
Oaks Golf Course. See more photos at MadisonJoumalTODAY.com. Photo by
Zach Mitcham
ECONOMICS
Poverty
simulation
event set for
April 27
A poverty simulation
event will be held in April
for local community and
business leaders.
The event is planned by
the Madison County Area
Non-Profit Roundtable, the
Madison Area Resource
Team (M.A.R.T.) and the
University of Georgia UGA
Extension Service from
9 a.m. to noon, Thursday,
April 27 at Colbert Baptist
Church and is sponsored
by Jackson EMC and
MedLink Georgia.
"The Community
Action Poverty Simulation
(CAPS) is a unique tool
See ‘Poverty’ on 2A
STATE
Affordable housing: Lots of talk,
little action under the Gold Dome
Environment:
MOST
receives award
from Georgia
Adopt-a-Stream
— See Page 6A
By Rebecca Grapevine
Capitol Beat News Service
Despite agreement among lawmak
ers and advocates that Georgia needs
more quality affordable housing, the
General Assembly this year took few
steps to address the shortfall.
Most of the bills aimed at housing
problems failed to pass, foundering
on the shoals of inter-chamber dis
agreements and controversy about
the extent to which the state govern
ment can limit local housing regula
tions.
House Bill 514, the “Housing
Regulation Transparency Act,” spon
sored by state Rep. Dale Washburn,
R-Macon, would have prohibited
local governments from extending
moratoriums on building new hous
ing beyond 180 days, with some
limited exceptions.
The Senate version of the bill -
which passed on the last day of
the legislative session - would have
prohibited extended local moratori
ums on both single- and multi-family
housing.
But the House disagreed with the
Senate version, pushing the bill to
a last-minute conference committee.
With just hours left on the legislative
clock, there simply wasn’t enough
time to hammer out the differences.
Washburn said he is optimistic the
bill will pass next year, the second
year of the current two-year legisla
tive term.
“I’m trying to make it easy to
develop and to build housing for
Georgians, whether it’s multifamily
or single family,” said Washburn, a
veteran real-estate agent.
Local government advocates -
mainly represented by the Association
County Commissioners of Georgia
(ACCG) and the Georgia Municipal
Association (GMA) - did not oppose
HB 514.
But they balked at another bill
Washburn proposed that would have
prohibited local governments from
regulating a long list of housing
design elements, from roof design
to building materials to minimum lot
See ‘Affordable’ on 2A