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SEPTEMBER 14, 2023
Merged with The Comer News and The Daniclsvillc Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
Vol. 40 No. 32* Publication No. 1074-987* Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
COMMUNITY
National
Diaper
Need
Awareness
Week
coming up
Athens Area Diaper
Bank marks National Dia
per Need Awareness Week
(Sept. 18-24) with diaper
drives, volunteer sessions,
an open house and more.
National Diaper Need
Awareness Week is a week
dedicated to raising aware
ness of diaper need in the
United States. Nearly one
in two U.S. families strag
gles to provide enough dia
pers to keep a baby or tod
dler clean, dry and healthy.
During National Diaper
Need Awareness Week,
Athens Area Diaper Bank
will have opportunities for
the Athens area community
to:
• Donate diapers at the
numerous special drop-off
sites throughout the com
munity. (The diaper bank
accepts new diaper packag
es as well as opened pack
ages).
• Volunteer at the diaper
bank.
• Learn more and spread
the word from our social
media outlets.
• Attend an open house
reception at Athens Area
Diaper Bank on Sunday,
September 24, 2-3 p.m., at
130 Conway Drive, Suite
E, Bogart (not far from the
Athens mall). The diaper
bank will offer tours, light
refreshments, celebrate
community and more.
Visit https://www.ath-
ensareadiaperbank.com/
events.html for more infor
mation and to get involved.
Index
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4A
Crime — 6A
Socials — 3A, 3B and 8B
Schools — 5A
Churches — 3B
Obituaries — 5B
Sports — 1-2B
Classifieds — 7A
Legals — 6-7B
Contact
Phone: 706-367-5233
Email: hannah@mainstreet
news.com.
Web: MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
MAILING LABEL
PUBLIC SAFETY
CRIME: Man reportedly charged with
endangering more than 200,000 chickens
Huy Vihn Dang Nguyen, 32,
was recently charged with felony
aggravated cruelty to animals and
cruelty to animals after alleged
ly turning off the water supply to
bams housing more than 200,000
chickens at a farm located at 5667
Hwy. 191, Comer.
Nguyen was employed to tend
to the chickens but after problems
with Pilgrim’s Pride and farm own
ers which included drag concerns
and threatening messages, he was
let go on Aug. 21. He was also told
to leave both the poultry farm and
the residence on the property where
he had been staying.
The owners alleged that Nguyen
was mad and cursing but did pack
up some of his things and leave the
residence.
Later the same day, a Pilgrims
Pride broiler field supervisor re
ported that a signal on his computer
alerted him to temperatures rising
significantly in the six chicken hous
es. He called the owners to advise
they check on the poultry houses
for the chickens’ welfare and it was
found that water supply for both the
drinking water and cooling cells to
cool down the inner temperature of
the houses had been turned off.
The water supply was immediate
ly turned back on and the owners
tended to the chickens, according to
the incident report.
The supervisor said that if the
incident had not been noticed, the
See Chickens, page 2A
SCHOOL
BROAD RIVER
Photos submitted
Cadets visit Moten Field Municipal Airport, home of the Red Tail Flight Academy.
MCHSJROTC takes flight
An opportunity of his
torical epic proportion and
creative uniqueness pre
sented itself to the Madi
son County High School
JROTC program on Aug.
25 and 26. Nine out of 153
cadets were selected to at
tend the Red Tail Flight
Academy in Tuskegee,
Alabama, by their JROTC
instructors Colonel (Ret)
Robert Stuart and First
Sergeant (Ret) Francisco
Ramey.
The cadets were received
with an introduction from
the Red Tail Flight Acad
emy staff, led by Johnny
Montgomery, director of
flight operations, and Ste
phen Barlow and Kaleem
Santos, certified flight in
structors (CFI). Their brief
ing included: flight simu
lator training, basic single
and dual-engine aircraft and
their basic operational func
tions, Global Positioning
Systems (GPS) and Preven
tive Maintenance Checks
and Services (PMCS) be
fore and after all aircraft
maneuvers.
A brief history lesson was
provided to the cadets on
the rigorous training that the
pilots of Tuskegee Institute
had to endure to become
military pilots and become
some of the first African
American commissioned
officers in the United States
Army Air Forces.
The cadets were also
chaperoned throughout the
campus of Tuskegee Uni
versity by the Army ROTC
who highlighted several
engineering majors that are
available to the students
including mechanical,
aerospace, aeronautical,
astronautical and space en
gineering.
Nevertheless, the high
light that most of the ca
dets were waiting for was
taking flight on one of the
single-engine aircraft and
they did not disappoint,
MCHS JROTC leaders
See JROTC, page 2A
Pictured from left to right: Cadets Lukas, Fowler, Hosley, Means, Wood, Hauto-Morales,
Williamsom, Bracken and Irvin.
ELECTIONS
Qualifying: Colbert, Ila to
not hold municipal elections
The cities of Ila and Col
bert will not hold munici
pal elections in November.
In Colbert, only the in
cumbents qualified for the
positions of mayor and
councilmember post 1.
Tim Wyatt will continue to
serve as mayor and Rog
er Fortson will continue to
serve in the councilmember
post 1 position.
Michelle Cole was the
only person to qualify to
fill the councilmember post
2 position which was left
vacant after Jonathan Pou
resigned, so Cole will serve
in post 2.
In Ila, only the incum
bents qualified for each
seat available.
Mike Coile will continue
to serve as mayor and Troy
Butler and Brian Kelly will
continue to serve as coun-
cilmembers.
Co. group seeks
designated use
change for South
Fork Broad River
By Alison Smith and
Hannah Barron
Almost 200,000 visitors
a year enjoy the Watson
Mill State Bridge Park. On
a sunny day, the shoals be
low the historic bridge are
filled with people wading,
sliding and swimming.
Bigfoot Kayaking also pro
vides kayaking excursions
below Watson Mill. Yet
the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources lists the
South Fork Broad River
as one utilized chiefly for
fishing.
Ruth Ann Tesanovich, as
a representative of Madi
son County Clean Power
Coalition (MCCPC) and
The Savannah Riverkeep-
ers (SRK), is hoping to
change that designation.
She is also a certified water
quality monitoring volun
teer with Georgia Adopt-
A-Stream.
Every three years, the
state reviews its waterways
for changes in use designa
tion. Last September, Tesa
novich and the groups she’s
working with applied to
change a 5.5-mile segment
of the South Fork Broad
River from “fishing” to
“recreation.” This area in
cludes the South Fork from
Watson Mill Bridge State
Park to the Lexington-Carl-
ton Road Bridge.
Tesanovich says she no
ticed portions of the Broad
River had been designated
“recreation” in the state’s
last review and thought the
change might better reflect
the current use of the river
that encompasses the Mad-
ison-Oglethorpe County
line. Tesanovich also says
the park is important to her
family, who has enjoyed the
site since the 1980s.
“We felt that we could
show that part of the river
is already being used for
recreation,” the advocate
explained. “We’re using
it for this purpose. We’re
growing.”
“The South Fork Broad
See River, page 2A
BOC
Animal control
to start once again
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreet-
news.com
With recent moves by
the Madison County Board
of Commissioners, animal
control will be starting up
once again in the county.
Planning and code en
forcement director Christo
pher Roach and the county
recently started respond
ing to emergency calls of
aggressive dogs as stop
gaps required by the state,
but action approved at the
BOC’s Sept. 11 meeting
will help bring the depart
ment to fuller and more of
ficial capacity.
“We need to have some
body on the road ready to
go because if we don’t, we
are going to turn Madison
County into a Wild West
show where folks shoot
other people’s dogs just be
cause they’re there,” Dis
trict 1 commissioner Den
nis Adams said about the
need for animal control.
Roach brought before
the board several items to
address for the department
including structure, chain of
command, start date, train
ing, location of offices, field
safety measures, equipment
needs and a priority call list.
He said the department
will need at least two full
time animal control officers
and one part-time animal
control officer to be consid
ered fully staffed. He plans
to send three, including
him, to an officer training
in Royston starting on Oct.
2 and Oct. 5. The county
has also received other of
ficer applications to look
through. He also noted that
the code enforcement clerk
will likely also be the ani
mal control clerk.
A FY24 budget amend
ment is likely needed to
cover the operations and
equipment for the depart
ment, with numbers and a
full equipment list coming
soon.
The commissioners voted
to allow Roach to get start
ed working on the items
See BOC, page 2A
