About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2025)
APRIL 9, 2025 Madison County Journal Merged with The Corner News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006 < U MadisonJournalTODAY.com Merged with Vol. 42 No. 14* Publication No. 1074-987* Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633* A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *36 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements $1.00 Former MC Sheriff Kip Thomas hired as safety specialist for schools By Caleb Rollins caleb@mainstreetnews.com The Madison County Board of Education recent ly approved the hiring of Kip Thomas, who served as Madison County’s Sheriff from 2009 to 2017, as the school system’s new safety specialist. The position of safety specialist is a new position the school board created as a measure to increase school safety following the Apalachee Higli School shooting in September 2024. In other personnel news, the BOE approved the hiring of Katliryn Garner as assis tant principal for Colbert Elementary and the hiring of Daniel Schuster as a school counselor for Madison County Higli School. OTHER BUSINESS In other business, the BOE: • Approved a price increase for adult scliool meals for the 2026 scliool year from $4.50 to $5.25. Increased food costs, supply costs and labor costs were cited as reasons for the increase. • Approved a contract witli Karis Reliabilitation Services to provide school psychologist services to the county’s scliools. The con tract states tliat a contracted psycliologist will be com pensated at $90 per hour witli the expectation that the psycliologist will receive full-time hours. • Discussed a draft of the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. Madison County man arrested after road rage incident in Elbert County On Thursday, Marell 28, local law enforcement agen cies from across the region responded to a situation involving a dangerous sus pect from Madison County on the run in Elbert Coun ty. The incident led to a soft lockdown at Elbert County Scliools, delaying student dismissals and bus routes as autliorities searched for the suspect. According to a press re lease from Elbert County Sheriff Jamie Callaway, deputies were initially dis patched to Jones Ferry Road following a vehicle accident involving two veliicles. It was initially reported to law enforcement tliat the driver of one veliicle had gotten out of his vehicle and fired a gun at the driver of the other veliicle. Upon arrival, autliorities found a small car in a ditcli witli significant damage, but the driver had fled the scene. Witnesses also reported seeing a black SUV witli heavy damage and a wheel turned side- ways driving along Jones Ferry Road. Deputies located the sec ond veliicle, liidden in a “clearcut,” but the driver liad also fled. To assist witli the search, K-9 units from Hart and Wilkes Counties, drone teams from Elbert County EMA, and a heli- Index News — 1A, 3A, 5A, 6A Opinions — 4A Crime — 6A Socials — 2A Schools — 7A-8A Churches — 3A Obituaries — 3B-4B Sports —1B-2B Classifieds — 7A Legals — 5B-8B MAILING LABEL 4879 1 4144 copter from the Georgia State Patrol were deployed. As the investigation pro gressed, the Madison Coun ty Sheriff’s Office informed Elbert County deputies that the incident might be related to a recent case in Madison County. They reported that a woman liad been found deceased in Madison Coun ty and tliat her son, Josliua Sewell, miglit be headed to Elbert County witli the in tent to harm a woman there. Soon after, Wilkes Coun ty K-9 teams located the driver of the black SUV in a wooded area, along witli her one-year-old child. Investi gators learned tliat Sewell liad intentionally struck the woman’s car on Jones Ferry Road, causing her to crash. He then approached the woman’s vehicle witli a sliotgun, sliattering the win dow and tlireatening her, thougli the gun was never fired. The woman and her cliild were able to escape and hide until Sewell fled the scene. Elbert County law en forcement later received reports of a sliirtless wliite male asking for help at liomes on Grady Cleveland Road. Camera footage from one of the liomes confirmed that the man was Josliua Sewell. Hart County’s K-9 unit began tracking liim as he fled, and the pursuit led officers across Higliway 72, onto Sweet City Road, then onto Cliris Franklin Drive, then back onto back onto Sweet City Road and down to a creek. Sewell was final ly apprehended after cross ing back over Higliway 72, witli assistance from a liomeowner who liad been speaking to liim. Josliua Sewell is now facing multiple cliarges, including two counts of ag gravated assault, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, pointing or aiming a gun at another, reckless conduct, obstruction, crimi nal trespass and liit and run. According to Sheriff Cal laway, the investigation is still ongoing and additional cliarges could be added. Sheriff Callaway tlianked all involved agencies for their coordination and ef forts in liandling the case. Special thanks were given to Elbert County Dispatch, the Elberton Police Depart ment, the Elbert County Scliool System, Georgia State Patrol, as well as the Hart, Wilkes, and Madison County Sheriff’s Offices. Agencies from Franklin, Lincoln and Ogletliorpe Counties also offered assis tance during the search. 4 Photo by Michael Lafountain Volunteers of the Danielsville Community VFD stand for a photo with Chief Marc Perry in the center. Danielsville Community VFD celebrates 55 years of service This April, the Daniels ville Community Volunteer Fire Department is celebrat ing 55 years of service to the city of Danielsville and the broader Madison Coun ty area. Established on April 1, 1970, the department has been a cornerstone of com munity safety, responding to countless emergencies and protecting homes, busi nesses and lives throughout the region. Over the de cades, the department has grown from a small, volun teer-based organization to a robust and reliable volun teer force of over 18 mem bers, helping to ensure the well-being of the citizens in Q&A on bird flu with Dr. John A. Bryan By Caleb Rollins Dr. John A. Bryan, a wildlife veterinarian based in Danielsville, recently answered a series of ques tions pertaining to the re cent outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influen za (HPAI): Q: Where does the vi rus come from? A: • “Categorization: To begin from the 30k ft. per spective, it’s good to start with the fact that there are two general “categories” of influenza viruses; e.g., Influenza A viruses and In fluenza B viruses. Both are ubiquitous; i.e., they ex ist worldwide. And while humans are susceptible to infection with either, the current “bird flu” epidem ic involves an Influenza A virus. And within the Influenza A group, there are many, many strains (types); each further cat egorized by two surface proteins; e.g., Hemagglu tinin (H) and Neuramini dase (N). In other words, flu viruses in the Influenza A group have both an H Danielsville. Fire Chief Marc Per ry, who has served with the department since its beginning, and has been the Chief since 1981, ex pressed his pride in the de partment’s continued com mitment to excellence and safety. “We’re honored to have served our communi ty for the last 55 years and look forward to continuing this tradition of service for many more.” A LITTLE HISTORY 1970: The Fire depart ment remodels the old vo cation al cannery to be used as the fire station. The first fire engine was built by the volunteers from that first and an N protein on then- surface. And it is these H and N proteins that facili tate the viruses’ entry into a host cell; i.e., Influenza A viruses use these surface proteins like a “lock & key” mechanism to get into (infect) the cells of suscep tible hosts, including hu mans. The current bird flu strain is H5Nl; or Influen za A virus, strain Hemag glutinin 5/Neuraminidase 1. Many other strains also exist; e.g., H1N1, etc., but it is the current H5N1 that concerns us now. Further more, these strains can in-turn be categorized as Highly Pathogenic (ca pable of causing serious disease in poultry), or Low Pathogenic (less ca pable of causing serious disease in poultry) strains of H5N1 influenza A vi rus. Thus, the full name of the current bird flu virus is Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A H5N1 virus, or “HPAI H5N1” for short. • “Reservoir Host & Dis persal: Like most viruses, See Bird flu, page 5A crew because the City of Danielsville truck could not be used outside the city limits for training. It was built from an army surplus two and one-half ton truck provided by the Georgia Forestry Commission, an old Amoco Oil Tank to hold water and a Wisconsin ir rigation pump powered by a Chevrolet engine. That truck served the department well until the mid-nineties. 1976: The department added a tanker with a self-contained “fire knock er” 950-gallon tank, 150 gpm pump and system at tached to a Chevrolet C60 truck chassis. It was in ser vice from 1976-1980. BOC discusses healthcare plan renewal for county employees, approves zoning requests By Caleb Rollins At its March 7 meet ing, the Madison County Board of Commissioners heard from representatives of Mark III Employee Benefits, a brokerage and consulting firm, about the 2025-2026 Madison Coun ty Employee Insurance Renewal Plan with Cigna Health Insurance. Cigna provides medical, dental and vision insurance for county employees. According to the Mark III representative Josh Nel son, the previous term year of the insurance plan ran at a 90% loss ratio. This means that for every $100 collected in premiums, $90 was paid out in claims by the insurer, resulting in a 10% profit for the insurer. Nelson said that, due to this ratio, Cigna wanted a 16% increase in premi ums. Through negotiations, Mark III was able to get the increase down to 6% for the 1980: The fire depart ment had its new and cur rent residence built at the location at 60 Government Circle, behind the Daniels ville City Hall and Police Department. This 3200 square foot building housed all the trucks and equip ment for the department until the addition of another approximately 4800 square feet of building was added in 2007. 1983: Danielsville hosted its first Chicken Mull. The department has since spon sored the Chicken Mull ev ery year since 1983, except for the two years during See VFD, page 3A total cost of all plans. RENEWAL OPTIONS Nelson provided the county with two options for implementing the renewal, both of which result in an overall increase of 6%. One option would sim ply be a 6% increase for all three types of plans offered to employees (Cigna Low, Cigna High and Cigna Lo- calPlus). The second option pro vides different rates for each of the plan types, re sulting in a 6.37% increase for Cigna Low plans, a 7.23% increase for Cigna High plans and an 11.68% decrease for Cigna Lo- calPlus Low plans. The benefit of this option is that it provides lower rates for those on Cigna LocalPlus plans. LocalPlus plans are designed to offer lower cost plans that pro vide access to a limited See BOC, page 3A
