About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2025)
APRIL 16, 2025 Madison County Journal Merged with The Corner News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006 • U MadisonJournalTODAY.com Merged with Vol. 42 No. 15* Publication No. 1074-987* Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 * A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *16 Pages, 2 Section Plus Supplements $1.00 BOE recognizes Young GA Author winners The Madison County Board of Education recognized the county’s Young Georgia Author winners from across the county’s schools at an April 1 meeting. The winners are pic tured alongside Superintendent Joseph Goodroe. Front row from left to right: Fifth Grade — Eden Etheridge, Hull-San ford Elementary; Fourth Grade — Harper Boswell, Daniels ville Elementary; Third Grade — Trip Etheridge, Hull-San ford Elementary; Second Grade — Brooks Youngblood, Comer Elementary; First Grade — Paislee Lopez, Daniels ville Elementary and Kindergarten — Felicity Bryant, Dan ielsville Elementary. Back row from left to right: Twelfth Grade — Turley Best; Eleventh Grade — Georgia Meddings; Tenth Grade — Aurthur Ayotte; Eighth Grade — CJ Bolton and Seventh Grade — McKenna Westbrooks. Not pictured: Sixth Grade — Aubri Wallace. Public libraries in danger How IMLS funding cuts will affect communities Carlton approves over $49K for Maintenance Building Project By Caleb Rollins The City of Carlton re cently approved multiple quotes for companies to be gin work on two city proj ects: a project to restore the city’s maintenance building and a project to repair and clean up Fifth Avenue. A quote of $38,961 was approved for MLW All Phase Construction and Roofing, an Athens-based company, for work on the Maintenance Building Project. Work the company will provide includes the re moval and disposal of an attached rear shed, remov al of an existing door and Index News — 1A, 3A, 2B, 3B Opinions — 4A-5A Crime — 6A Socials — 2A Schools — 7A-8A Churches — 2B Obituaries — 4B Sports — 1B Classifieds — 7A Legals — 5B-8B MAILING LABEL 4879 14144 filling in of the opening, replacing plywood above the garage with Hardie plank siding, removal of dirt along the foundation and application of water- proofing, grading to cre ate a swell to direct water away from the building, roof replacement and wa terproofing, installation of 26 gauge standing seam panels, installing of metal coping as needed, replace ment, painting and sealing of fascia at the lower roof and the installation of gut ters and downspouts. A quote of $10,449 for Branch Environmental Inc. to conduct mold remedi ation on the building was also approved. FIFTH AVENUE PROJECT Separately, a quote of $1,450 was approved for ABE Consultants to per form a survey on Fifth Av enue. As a part of the same project, a $2,700 quote was also approved for Armour Tree Service to undertake the removal of trees along the road. OTHER BUSINESS In other business, Mayor Cynthia Hobbs announced that Spectrum will be doing some construction work in the city soon. She said that there are maps of the pro posed work at Carlton’s City Hall for those interest ed in seeing what is being planned. Hobbs said that most of the work will be aerial using existing Geor gia Power poles. According to Hobbs, the work is set to begin roughly around June 30. In a separate matter, Council Member Mark Sta ley mentioned that he was pleased that both the city’s water account and general account revenues for 2024 were higher than budgeted, while expenses were lower than budgeted. The Athens Regional Library System (ARLS) serves residents in Clarke, Franklin, Madison, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties. In these counties, 44% of the population has a library card. Nearly half the resi dents in these five counties would be directly impacted A literary prodigy Local eleven year-old Kyra Lloyd authors 8 books, inspires others By Caleb Rollins caleb@mainst:reetnews.com The literature world often celebrates seasoned writers who have spent years hon ing their craft. For one local young au thor however, age is just a number. Kyra Lloyd, an eleven- year-old Madison County native and Hull-Sanford El ementary student, already has eight published books, with plans for more on the way. AN EARLY START Kyra, who has been read ing since the age of three, began her journey to be coming an author in Pre-K. During naptime, while most students were resting, Kyra would spend her time reading. Her parents also learned from her teacher that she had taken up an in terest in writing in class. “After that, we made sure she had access to plenty of paper to write on,” said her mother, Koy. According to Kyra’s fa ther, Kerry, her vibrant imagination has also con tributed to her knack for writing. “Kyra has always been imaginative and growing up had around twenty pre Honey Pond Garden Club completes Senior Center landscaping Submitted photo The Honey Pond Garden Club of Comer recently put the finishing touches on two weeks of landscaping work at the Madison County Senior Center in Danielsville. The HPGC expressed its gratitude for all the volunteers who contrib uted to the landscaping project. Those photographed at the finish from left to right were: Betsy Gandy, HPGC Pres ident Franki Horrocks, Pat Hancock, Jack Carlson, Bruce Gandy and Nastya Gandy. by the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Last year, the Athens Regional Library System loaned 1,020,972 books and other items. This would not have been possible with out the Public Information Network for Electronic tend characters in what she called ‘Invisible Life’, ‘Lava Land’ and ‘Crystal Islands’,” said Kerry. “It’s been a natural progression to include lots of imagery in her writings.” At the age of five, Kyra won the Young Georgia Au thors Writing Contest for her school district, igniting a passion for storytelling that is still going strong eight books later. “I like being able to ex press myself in what I write, but I would say that most of all, I like being able to use my imagination for something cool,” said Kyra. Kyra’s love of reading has helped her find inspira tion for her books. She shared that Carolyn Keene’s “Nancy Drew” books and Mary Pope Osborne’s “Magic Tree House” were some of her favorites. “That made me want to incorporate mystery and magic into my books,” she said. She has also been inspired by the humor of James Pat terson’s books and recently by Lisa Fipps’s poetry nov el “Starfish,” which moti vated Kyra to write more poetry. Kyra, who is also bilin- Services (PINES). PINES is a public library lending network that connects over 300 libraries in Georgia, al lowing library cardholders to borrow books or items beyond what is available on the shelves at their home libraries. This means that Georgians with a PINES Submitted photos Kyra Lloyd is pictured recently holding up all eight of her published books. LiHe The Kyra is pictured giving a presentation about the power of writing to South Jackson Elementary students. 2 gual in English and Thai, said that the concepts for her works come naturally. “Most ideas for my books are just there,” she said. “Some books are based on the adventures I want to BOE recognizes State Literary Championship placers The Madison County Board of Education recently recog nized three Madison County High School students who placed in the State Literary Competition in March. The winners are pictured, alongside Superintendent Joseph Go odroe and school staff members, from left to right: Nevaeh Farley — Sth place in State Literary Solo; Elijah Bacon — 4th place in State Literary Argumentative Essay; and Mary Grace Watson — 2nd place in State Literary Domestic Ex temporaneous Speaking. card have access to over 10.6 million items that can be delivered to their home libraries, free of charge. PINES is a program pro vided by the Georgia Public Library Service at no cost to local libraries. This lending See Libraries, page 6A have, or my life and what’s in it.” One of her most recent books, “The Poem of Kiki, the Irish Water Spaniel,” See Prodigy, page 3A
