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o o 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