Newspaper Page Text
10A
♦ WEEKEND, OCTOBER 4-6, 2003
FARMS —
From page 1A
Moseley said Friday as he
was about to receive a
Centennial Family Farm
award at the Georgia
National Fair. “We love the
farm.”
Moseley, a 44-year-old
retiree from Robins Air
Force Base, attended the
ceremony with his wife,
Teresa, and mother,
Frances. The couple has two
children, Martin 111, 14, and
Katlyn, 7.
Moseley’s dad, Martin
Moseley Sr., inherited the
farm from his father, Judge
M.C. Moseley.
By the time Martin
Moseley Jr. came along, he
recognized that it would be
tough to make a living on a
small farm, so he went to
work at Robins as an air
craft electrician.
Now that he’s retired
from Robins, Moseley coach
es baseball, basketball and
soccer for the Peach County
Recreation Department and
serves on the county’s board
of tax assessors.
His mother, a local artist,
asked him to point out that
they are all lifelong mem
bers of the Byron Methodist
Church. His father died five
years ago.
“I’m back running the
family farm,” he said. “I’m
taking care of my mom and
family, taking care of the
business and enjoying life.”
Their farm covers 460
acres, but only 222.5 acres
qualified for the award.
They lease a 70-acre pecan
orchard and another 200
acres for soybean farming.
“We’re fortunate to be
here, to have the farm
bought and paid for and not
wanting to sell it,” he said.
“We get occasional offers
because the farm is right on
the edge of Byron and this is
a growing area.”
Families who receive the
awards have to document
the histories of their farms
to the satisfaction of a com
mittee made up of represen
tatives of the Historic
Preservation Division, the
Georgia Farm Bureau, the
Georgia Department of
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State Rep. Larry Walker hugs Katie Kezar, a member of the fifth generation of Kezars,
whose 1874 family farm in Elko was honored with a Georgia Centennial Family Farm
Award at the Fair Friday.
BLUE BIRD
From page 1A
The company also will lay
off about 300 workers at its
school bus plant in
LaFayette in northwest
Georgia.
“The layoffs at Blue Bird
create a difficult situation
for the workers and their
families, and for the Peach
and Walker County commu
nities,” said state Labor
Commissioner Michael
Thurmond. “I want them to
know that they are not
alone in dealing with the
problem. We will help to
assist them.”
Thurmond said his staff is
working with Blue Bird and
the community to determine
how the state can best assist
the affected employees.
“We will help the employ
ees file claims for unemploy
ment insurance and give
them access to services
designed to get them back to
work as quickly as possible,”
he said. “We will also assist
workers who need addition
al skills to find appropriate
training.”
Peach County is served by
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Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner
Tommy Irvin presents Kate and Charles Kezar with their
Centennial Family Farm Award. The Kezar farm has been
owned and operated by their family since 1874. It was
one of 16 so honored at a luncheon as part of the Georgia
National Fair opening ceremonies.
Agriculture, the Georgia
Forestry Commission and
the Georgia National Fair
and Agricenter.
“It took a lot of research,”
Moseley said. “I did it to
honor my ancestors.... I’m
just proud to carry on their
tradition.”
Centennial Family Farm
Awards recipients for 2003
are Kezar Farm in Houston
County, the Moseley-
Crawford Place in Peach
County, Dekle Farm in
Candler County, Ransom
Farms in Dooly County,
Whitsett-Morgan Farms in
Dooly County, Jane Barwick
Farm in Emanuel County,
Parrish Settlement in
Emanuel County, Sutton
Family Farm in Emanuel
County, Cloverhurst Farm
in Forsyth County, White
Farm in Franklin County,
Oak Grove in Heard County,
Smith-Cotton Farm in
Jenkins County,
Humphreys-Sampler Family
Farm in Murray County,
Longwood Plantation in
Screven County, Battle
Prong Farm in Walton
County and Foster and
Brady Farm in Walton
County.
The Centennial Family
Farm Award recognizes
farms that have been owned
the Georgia Department of
Labor’s Houston County
Career Center, 96 Cohen
Walker Drive, Warner
Robins. The telephone num
ber is (478) 988-7130.
Hudson said employment
at the Fort Valley plants
should return to its current
level of 1,500 to 1,600 by
April as a new production
line begins operating at full
capacity. He said that
Wanderlodge should be back
up to its current level of
employees in January.
It is unclear, though, how
many employees who are
laid off will be rehired.
“We will consider every
one who will be laid off,”
Hudson said. “Our intent is
to bring back as many as
possible.”
The layoffs, which have
started already, will include
semi-skilled, skilled and
white-collar workers.
The Fort Valley bus plant
makes commercial buses
and chassis for school buses.
The Wanderlodge plant
builds motor homes.
Blue Bird included the
by members of the same
family for 100 years or
more.
Recipient of the
Centennial Heritage Farm
Award was Zach and
Camilla Hubert Farm in
Hancock County. To qualify
for that award, a farm has to
be owned by members of the
same family for at least 100
years and have a listing on
the National Register of
Historic Places.
The Georgia Centennial
Farm Program has honored
more than 250 farms since
the program began in 1992.
“They deserve recognition
for their historical impor
tance,” said Helen Talley-
Mcßae, spokeswoman for
the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources’ Historic
Preservation Division.
“With all the sprawl and
growth all over the state -
not only in the Atlanta area
- the number of farms is
dwindling and the number
of farms that are corporate
ly owned are increasing. You
hear that more and more
farms are being bought up
by corporations.
“We’re not only recogniz
ing them, but documenting
them,” she said.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
layoff announcement in a
new release that highlighted
what it termed “two signifi
cant improvement projects”
with a sl2 million invest
ment in its Fort Valley and
LaFayette facilities.
The projects will transfer
some school bus assembly
work from LaFayette and
Brantford, Canada, facilities
to Fort Valley.
A new assembly line also
will be installed at
LaFayette, the company
said. Blue Bird plans to
reduce its LaFayette work
force of 600 to 700 to about
300 to 400 between October
and April.
In a news release, Blue
Bird president and chief
executive Jeff Bust said:
“The investment and
improvement projects in
Fort Valley and LaFayette
are important decisions for
Blue Bird. In 2002, we intro
duced too much model com
plexity and volume into the
LaFayette facility, causing
productivity and delivery
issues. Not only are we
addressing these aggressive-
LOCAL
Talton appointed to Board of Public Safety
HOUSTON COUNTY -
Houston County Sheriff
Cullen Talton has been
named to the Board of
Public Safety by Gov. Sonny
Perdue.
That announcement was
made this week through the
governor’s office.
Talton, 70, has been sher
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The tenant farmer in the sculpture is accompanied by a boy carrying a pail of water.
The boy was inspired by a passage from the former president’s book, “An Hour Before
Morning."
STATUE
From page 1A
autumn wind caressed the
fairgrounds and a bright,
blue sky canopied the activi
ties.
Clad casually, Carter
spoke of writing the autobi
ography that inspired
Walker to seek to have the
bronze statue placed at the
Agricenter.
He told the crowd he
wrote about the years after
the Civil War.
Once the “millstone” of
segregation was removed,
the state of Georgia expand
ed greatly and became pro
gressive, he said.
He also spoke of his child
hood, growing up on a farm
and going to the fields, and
daybreak.
Life on a farm in the
South included what he
called “one of God’s special”
creatures - the mule.
Walker praised Carter
during the event, recalling
the first time he met the
Georgian destined to
become the president of this
ly, we are moving Blue
Bird’s school bus manufac
turing process to the next
level.”
Blue Bird, founded in
1927, is a division of Henlys
Group pic. and has about
3,000 employees.
About 200 Fort Valley
Blue Bird workers were laid
off in 2001 and another 90
in late 2002.
In May, the state’s
One Georgia Authority
awarded the Peach County
Development Authority, on
behalf of Blue Bird, a $2.5
million grant, part of sl7
million in incentives the
state offered the company to
help keep jobs in Georgia.
Plans called for a major
expansion and an additional
630 jobs.
The One Georgia
Authority administers the
state’s portion of a huge set
tlement with the tobacco
industry.
In June, Dan River Inc.
announced it would shut
down its textile manufactur
ing plant near Fort Valley,
taking with it 447 jobs.
ifl for Houston County for
the past 30 years.
In the past, he managed
the Talton family dairy farm
for 20 years.
He is a member of the
Georgia Sheriffs
Association and director of
the Georgia Sheriffs Youth
Homes.
country.
“I was impressed with his
intelligence, his vision and
tenacity,” Walker said. “He
makes me proud to be a
human being.”
Walker said the statue is a
tribute to the memory of the
men and beasts of burden
that labored the fields years
ago.
He said the economy of
the state prior to 1950 was
built on the backs of the ten
ant farmer and mule.
The statue is a fitting way
to remember that way of life
at the Agricenter, which was
built with a focus on the
state’s young people and
agriculture.
Sculptors Donald Haugen
and his wife, Teena Marie
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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
He and his wife, Peggy,
have four adult children.
Other appointments to
the Board of Public Safety
include Rooney Bowen, a
reappointment, of Vienna
and Louis Dekmar of
LaGrange. Dekmar is a for
mer employee of the Perry
Police Department.
- From staff reports
Stern, of Atlanta, made the
bronze statue.
It depicts a tenant farmer
holding a plow behind a
mule. A young boy - some
said he resembles a young
Carter - is shown with
water for the farmer in the
field.
Georgia Agricultural
Exposition Authority Vice
Chairman Foster Rhodes
said “this is a great day for
Georgia and southern her
itage.”
Meanwhile, thousands of
people poured through the
gates of the Georgia
National Fair as it kicked off
a ten-day run of fair food,
rides, exhibits, a laser light
show and fireworks.