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o o MAY 11, 2023 Madison County Journal Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006 MadisonJoumaITODAY.com Vol. 40 No. 14 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements $1.00 EVENTS Taste of Madison Co. set for May 13 The annual Taste of Madison County will be held Saturday, May 13 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at J. Cliff Yarbrough Memorial Park in downtown Comer. Admission is $5 at the gate and children under 12 get in free — cash or check preferred. Proceeds benefit the Madison County Chamber of Commerce (madisoncountyga.org). “Enjoy samples from five food and beverage vendors of your choosing with the ability to purchase lunch and non-perishable prod ucts,” organizers said. Parking is available at Comer Baptist Church and throughout downtown Comer. “Bring a chair and blan ket and enjoy live music from The Country River Band," said organizers. Portable restrooms are available. Local eats and treats include Chunky Brothers BBQ, Cosmic Candies, Iron Pin Ranch, JB Catering, Kona Ice, KT Fish Joint, Leggacy Farms, Madison County Cattleman’s Association, Soldier of the Sea Distillery, Taco Mountain, The Kitchen Crew LLC, The Naked Farmer and Wing House Grill. Local makers include Alyssa Filkins Photography, Bold Springs Blooms, Comer Lions Club, Grace Layne Hat Co., Honey Pond Garden Club, Let’s Get Crafty, Maddie’s Keychains, NTH, Proverbs 31 Farmstead, Pryo-Amy-A, Sarah Stitches, Sawdust and Honey, Scented by Sarah, Simply Made and Ten8 Woodworking. The event will be held rain or shine. Index: News — 1-3A Opinions — 4-5A Crime — 6A Church — 7 A Social — 7-8A Features — 1B Sports — 2B Obituaries — 3-4B Classifieds — 5B Legals — 6-8B Contact: Phone: 706-367-5233 Web: MadisonJournal TODAY.com News submissions: zach@ mainstreetnews.com EDUCATION PUBLIC SAFETY Supplies supplied All Madison County students will get ‘back-to-schooV kits for 2023-24 By Zach Mitcham zach@ mainstreetnews.com The school year is wind ing down, and it won't be long before the next one is ramping up. That means school supplies will be on parents’ minds. Well, Madison County moms and dads can relax a little in that regard. The county school board has to utilize federal funds this summer to supply every Madison County student with a “back-to-school kit’’ to start the year. “That will include things that parents would be expected to buy their students at the beginning of the school year,” said assistant superintendent Amanda Wommack. “I don’t know if it will be (distributed) at open house or the first day of school, but every kid will have a kit.” The money to cover the expense comes from the "Elementary and Second ary School Emergency Relief Fund,” (ESSER), a federal program adminis tered by the Department of Education in response to the COVID-19 pandem ic. The program provides emergency financial assis tance to public school dis tricts across the country. “We wanted to use that (ESSER) to offset some of the costs that the parents are feeling,” said Wom mack. DISTRICT BEHAVIORAL SPECIALIST The county school board held two meetings Tues day, a budget hearing in the morning, and a regu lar business meeting in the evening. At the budget hearing, the group discussed behav ioral issues that teachers often face in the classroom and how disruptive that can be to other students. Madison County school leaders want to give teach ers more guidance on how to deal with such problems. So the county school board is discussion the potential creation of a district-wide behavioral specialist. The group took no action on the matter but agreed to have Superintendent Michael Williams provide them with costs for such a position. “This individual would have specific training on dealing with behavioral strategies for teachers,” said Williams. Board member Dan Lampe said he didn’t know how much impact a behav- See ‘BOE’ on 3A COUNTY SEAT Water projects moving forward in D’ville By Alison Smith Water projects are coasting forward in Danielsville. The City Council approved several pro posals Monday to assist the system in better serving its citizens. Property owner Jerry McEachin, who recently purchased land off Hwy. 29 to construct a wedding venue, has requested the city extend its water line to the property near the city limit. The current water line is poorly designed, needs multiple repairs, and will be replaced from approximately the Golden Pantry to the end of the line near the South Fork of the Broad River. The council approved a bid of $6,800 from Marc Perry to make the repairs and add a fire hydrant on the line. According to Mayor Michael Wideman, McEachin has pledged to pay a portion of the cost to upgrade the water line. In addition, Perry has told the mayor he will aim to complete the construction without water outage to the property owners. The council also gave approval to upgrade its valve system where it connects with the county supply on Hwy. 98. The new system will allow the city to electronically utilize the county water supply as a backup in high demand or emergency basis. The current system is manual. The cost to the city for the See ‘Danielsville’ on 3A Georgia’s “Paramedic of the Year,” Jen Carter of Madison County, is pictured with Chad Black and Kim Littleton of the Georgia EMS Association. Quality care Jen Carter named ‘Paramedic of the Year’ By Zach Mitcham zach@ mainstreetnews.com Paramedics can face some really tough days and nights working the ambulance. There are wrecks, patients facing cardiac catastro phes, families in crisis on a daily basis. It’s a mental and physical challenge to race to the scene of emer gencies and provide whatever help is needed. Many people can’t take that sort of stress. But some truly thrive in that environment. Madison County’s Jen Carter is one such person. She’s been named Georgia’s “Paramedic of the Year” by the Georgia EMS Association for proving herself as an exceptional caregiver to her patients and support er of fellow EMS workers. Carter remains humble about the recognition. “I don’t do this for the accolades,” she said. “I don’t I never do this kind of thing. It is greatly appreciated. I’m very honored to have received it, but it’s very hard for me to accept it knowing that I just do everything that everybody else would do. I’m not any better or any greater than any other of the medics that I work with.” But Madison County EMS director Bobby Smith said Carter is absolutely worthy of special recognition. “She is very deserving of this award,” said Smith. “She is hardworking, dedicated and has been holding multiple roles such as a paramedic supervisor, training officer, assistant EMA director. We truly appreciate the sacrifice that she has made for our citizens and the service.” Carter, a Nebraska native, spent her early work life as a researcher at the University of Georgia before turning to medicine. She focused on parasitology and the immune response to parasite infections called schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms. During this time she was “going back and forth to Africa” to study the disease. “We were actually studying the immunology of people who were resistant to reinfection,” she said. “We also worked with malaria and tapeworms and a bunch of other things as well, but the focus was on See ‘Carter’ on 2A BUSINESS Home Grown Market keeps it local Emily and Russ Nix Eire pictured in front of Home Grown Market, a business they opened in Colbert to give local residents a one- stop shop for all things local. By Zach Mitcham zach @ mainstreetnews .com Anyone who walks from the spacious front porch into the 1920s home at 42 N 4 th Street in Colbert will be greeted with plenty of goods featuring the MADICO Made and Georgia Grown labels. Keeping it local — that’s the theme of Home Grown Market in Colbert. Owners Russ and Emily Nix recently established the market to give local residents a place to sup port Madison County and Georgia artisans, farmers and small busi nesses. “I knew this community would love something like this,” said Emily Nix, who grew up in the county. “Our community thrives on supporting each other.” When the Nixes began their journey to establish a local market in Madison County, they reached out to other businesses with the hope that they would consider opening locations in Madison County. However, they received the same response each time - the area wouldn’t work for them. Undeterred, the couple decided to take matters into their own hands and create a space for local prod ucts themselves. Home Grown Market currently boasts 96% of its products as made in Georgia, with 16 vendors from Madison County. While the primary focus is on food and supporting agritourism in the county, the market also ded icates space to local art, including metalwork, woodworking and paintings. “We really want to support agri tourism, where our county excels,” Nix said. “But the other part is we do believe in local art and so we do have some of that in here.” The market has played a crucial role in connecting local businesses with each other, fostering partner ships and collaborations. “We want to be able to help people sell their products and put them in connection with other people,” Nix said. The market has already facili tated connections between local See ‘Home Grown’ on 2A