Newspaper Page Text
AUGUST 17, 2023
Merged with The Comer News and The Daniclsvillc Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
Vol. 40 No. 28* Publication No. 1074-987* Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
BOE
ILA
BOE
rolls back
millage
rate to
15.25 mills
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreetnews.
com
On Aug. 10, the Madison
Board of Education voted
to roll back its millage rate
to 15.25 mills, a decrease
from the current 15.49
mills.
The new rate is the low
est since 2000, board chair
man Robert Hooper said.
The board voted for the
new millage rate 4-1, with
District 2 board member
Dan Lampe casting the dis
senting vote.
Lampe said in follow-up
that the full rollback rate
was determined to be 13.64
mills, which was needed
to bring in the budgeted
amount of roughly $16.4
million from property tax
es. He said that the new
millage rate will bring in
approximately $2 mil
lion above the budgeted
amount.
“The budget in my opin
ion was already inflated,”
he added about his vote
against the new rate. “[In]
2017-2021, our budget
went from roughly $12
million to $13 million,
See Millage, page 2A
INSIDE
Football
preview 1-8B
Index
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4A
Crime — 6A
Socials — 5A and 7A
Schools — 7A
Churches — 5A
Obituaries — 8-9A
Sports — 1-8B
Classifieds — 10A
Legals —11A
Contact
Phone: 706-367-5233
Email: hannah@mainstreet
news, com
Web: MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
MAILING LABEL
PROJECT: Ila looking to replace its city hall
By Alison Smith was constructed in 1975, have been more modem structure. person, the new building would be
Progress in Ila may include a unsuccessful. The estimates to re- City officials recently approved an updated and modest replacement
new city hall during the next year, place the roof are expensive enough the advertisement for hiring an ar- of the current one. The spokesper-
Repeated attempts to repair the that city officials are looking to chitect that would help in designing son said the new building would be
roof of the current building, which replace the entire building with a the building. According to a spokes- S ee Ila, page 2A
ANIMAL SHELTER
MOAS at ‘max capacity 5
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreetnews.
com
If you have seen the
Madison Oglethorpe Ani
mal Shelter’s social media
pages recently, “we are
out of space” and “we are
overflowing” seem to be
the common theme.
Since MOAS is a non
profit open-intake shelter,
it tends to ran full, but late
ly the shelter has seen a
definite uptick in numbers.
“Our dog runs are full,
with many at double occu
pancy, and our puppy pits
and cat cages are full as
well,” director Erica Hen
drix says. “Our wonderful
foster homes are also full
and we are constantly re
cruiting more. One way to
look at trends is to compare
our year-to-date numbers.
For example, in 2022, we
had 1,300 animals surren
dered to us between Janu
ary and the end of July, but
this year it was 1,493 in
this same period, which is
almost a 15% increase.”
“Last month, we had one
day where we had 31 pup
pies surrendered in a span
of two hours,” she contin
ues. “We sent 42 dogs to
an adoption event last May,
and before our transport
team even arrived at the
event, all the runs we had
just opened were full again
with dogs. We have not had
one empty ran for more
than eight hours in the past
15 months.”
The typical animals seen
include injured ones and
several who have been
starved or have skin issues
due to flea/mite infesta
tions.
These animals end up
dumped in people’s drive
ways or near their homes
in isolated country loca
tions and are then brought
into the shelter. Others are
surrendered because peo
ple can’t afford to care for
them or are losing their
homes and can’t take pets
with them.
“It has been very sad to
witness,” Hendrix says.
“People are abandoning
their pets in record numbers
these past few months.”
She encourages the use of
multiple shelter programs
put in place to help the stray
animal population, save ani
mals and provide better care
for family pets — all part of
the shelter’s mission.
One example is the
trap-neuter-retum (TNR)
program where people can
trap feral cats humanely
and MOAS will spay/neuter
and vaccinate the cats at no
charge as long as they can be
safely returned or relocated
elsewhere. Those interested
in learning more about TNR
can visit https://www.moas-
pets.com/feral-animals.
MOAS has received
many grants for its Spay it
Forward program as well,
which enables them to spay/
neuter the community’s pets
for free. The program and
application can be found at
https://www.moaspets.com/
spayitforward.
“What I really want our
community to know is that
spaying or neutering their
pets not only prevents un
wanted babies but also
helps decrease the spread of
disease,” Hendrix adds. “I
cannot tell you how many
people bring in litters of
puppies or kittens that are
sick.”
Other services offered to
provide better care include a
community pet food bank to
help those who can’t afford
pet food, monthly low-cost
vaccine clinics and low-cost
heartworm treatment.
ADOPTIONS AND
VOLUNTEERING
MOAS has been running
several adoption specials
since it’s still at “max ca
pacity.” But most recently
Roddy Sturdivant, a donor
and supporter, offered to
pay for all adoption fees for
animals adopted through
Sept. 8.
One dog searching for
her “furever home” is
Canella, a nearly three-
year-old Labrador mix
who arrived at the shelter
in February with an older
dog named Canello.
Both were owner-sur
rendered and spent time in
foster care before coming
back to the shelter. Canel
lo has since been adopted;
Canella was adopted but
returned to the shelter at no
fault of her own.
Canella is known as the
“most adorable and af
fectionate” pup and loves
every human. She is also
well-behaved, dog-friend
ly, walks great on a leash
and does well with cats
and small critters. She is
spayed and up to date on
all her vaccines and heart-
worm prevention.
Available animals like
Canella can be viewed
on the shelter’s website
at https ://www.moaspets.
com/adoptionapp, or vis
ited in person Sunday —
Tuesday noon to 4 p.m.
and Wednesday to Satur
day noon to 5 p.m.
Can’t adopt? There are
many options to help the
shelter’s animals whether
it be donating necessary
supplies, or volunteering.
Volunteering can include
laundry and other chores,
socializing the animals, or
taking photos so they can
be added to animals’ adop
tion profiles.
“We love community
involvement and are al
ways looking for more
volunteers,” Hendrix says.
“Folks can stop by anytime
the gate is open to fill out
a volunteer form and get
started helping.”
Learn more about how
to help animals find their
furever homes at https://
www.moaspets.com/ under
the “Ways to Help” tab.
CARLTON
Carlton takes
up urgent matters
By Alison Smith
Two urgent matters
moved forward last Thurs
day with a special called
meeting by the Carlton
City Council.
Stormwater run-off on
Ninth St. is creating pos
sible septic and foundation
issues for up to three citi
zens and the council voted
to seek emergency funds
from the Georgia Environ
mental Finance Authority
(GEFA). By declaring the
issue an emergency, the
city can access loans with
lower interest rates than reg
ular infrastructure projects.
“Heavy rains we’ve had
have taken a toll on these
properties and it continues
to happen again and again,”
Mayor Cynthia Hobbs told
the council before the vote.
The council will apply for
up to a $39,000 loan with
the authority with terms
at 1.9% for 20 years. City
councilwoman Amanda
Willis, who has headed the
research into the loan, told
the council that another rea-
See Carlton, page 2A
911
911 dispatchers
weather the storm
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreetnews.
com
On July 13, a storm hit
Madison County and dam
aged property, trees and
power lines in its wake.
The summer shower’s
chaos ensued, but like
always, 911 dispatchers
weathered the storm to an
swer calls.
“We had an extra dis
patcher come in to help
and in a 2.5-hour period we
fielded more than 115 calls
for service, which is more
than an average entire
day’s call volume with four
dispatchers,” 911 director
Brenan Baird said. “They
handled the workload bril
liantly, prioritizing calls
and routing deputies, fire
men, EMS, power compa
nies, the road department,
DOT and others to the most
pressing then least pressing
incidents, getting help to the
person and locations that
needed it.”
With storms being com
mon this time of year, that
storm response has been a
frequent occurrence in the
daily lives of those working
at the 911 center.
Other common incidents
dispatchers hear about in
clude wrecks on Hwy. 72
with multiple vehicles in
volved.
“We will get five to ten
calls and send five to six
agencies,” Baird says. “That
means the dispatchers (three
at the most) will field five
to ten phone calls while
talking on three to four ra
dio channels while paging
the entities to go help all
in a minute-and-a-half. Not
many people can do that,
even fewer can do it well.”
Those and other emergen-
See 911, page 2A
DANIELSVILLE
Danielsville
approves repairs
for Strickland well
By Alison Smith
A year is long enough.
That’s what the Georgia
Environmental Protection
Division has told the City
of Danielsville about its
Strickland well.
The city council vot
ed Monday to approve
$38,000 in ARPA funds to
repair the well and bring
it back online to produce
potable water. The pump in
the well has been in disre
pair since last year and the
EPD told the city it need
ed to abandon the well and
cap it or repair it and begin
submitting water samples
again.
Mayor Michael Wide-
man told the council that he
thought the better invest
ment in infrastructure was
to repair the well rather than
looking at the risks involved
in prospecting for a new
well location, which he said
might cost up to $200,000.
Records indicate the Strick
land well is at least 700 feet
deep and produces at least
15 gallons per minute be
fore the pump replacement.
“With the demand keeps
going up, we’re best suited
to put [the Strickland well]
back online,” the mayor told
the council.
Agreeing, the council
voted to have Fortson Well
replace the outdated pump
and also install a new alarm
system, required by the state
for its standards.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the
council:
See D’ville, page 2A
o