The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current, January 06, 2016, Image 1

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The wiregrass farmer., January 06, 2016, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextLetters to the Editor Judges, DA get raises. Page 2 Basketball report THE Wiregrass Farmer Wednesday, January 6,2016 ASHBURN,GA, 31714 VOL 109 - No. 1 • 500 www.thewiregrassfarmer.com ^Around Town N Subscribe to The Wiregrass Farmer Delivered in your mail every week Call 567-3655 for information. Chamber banquet Tickets for the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet in January are on sale now at the Chamber of fice. Tickets are $30. Call 567-9696 for more infor mation. Open House Open House/Parent Con ference. Turner County El ementary SchoolandTurner County Middle/High School will be Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016. Each school will be open from 4-6 p.m. for parents to pick up report cards and talk with their child's teacher. TCES PTO Turner County Elemen tary School PTO will be held on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016 right after open house in the lunchroom. Literacy night Turner County Elemen tary School Family Literacy Night. Parents and Teachers Working Together to Help Children Enjoy Reading January 26, 2016 from 4:30-6 p.m. Enjoy: Story Time, Teacher Led activi ties, Reading books with your child. 2nd-5th graders may take AR test. Take home activities to help your child with Read ing. Blue tickets will be given to students who at tend with their parents. Music classes Music classes for guitar, bass, drums and piano are being held each Saturday at 6 p.m. at Christ Foundation Assembly of God church in Roger's plaza. Donations are requested to help cover expenses. Obituaries Mr. Royce Hanner, 86, Ashburn Bobby Neil Clower, 67, Fitzgerald Complete obituary information Page 5 V J Serving Turner County Since 1902 Hudgins is interim Co. Mgr I look forward to working with the citi zens of Turner County. I hope we can get some good things happening in Turner County. Horace Hudgins, best known in Turner County as the Georgia Power area manager, is now the interim County Manager. He takes office in February. The Commissioners unanimously voted Mr. Hudgins in at last week’s meeting. “I am ready to make a mo tion to hire him,” said Com missioner Nick Denham. Commissioner Brad Calhoun asked if the candi date was going to be named. “Horace Hud gins,” Mr. Den ham replied. Mr. Hudgins comes to the job after many years with Georgia Power and an extensive list of public service work in Irwin County. He served as Mayor of Ocilla and ran for the Georgia State House in a special elec tion earlier this year. Mr. Hudgins is retiring from Georgia Power. “I look forward to working with the citizens of Turner County. I hope we can get some good things happening in Horace Hudgins Turner County,” he said. “Turner County is a good county. I appreciate the Com mission allowing me the op portunity to serve as County Manager.” Mr. Hudgins is the interim county manager. A permanent (See MANAGER Page 2) Hudgins CHRISTMAS HOOPS The Lady Rebels took top honors in the 3rd annual Ronalda Pierce Holiday Hoopfest tournament at the Civic Center over the Christmas break. The boys took 3rd place. Brad Christian provides the details in sports. Now easier to hunt wild hogs in Georgia Among the new laws that took effect in Georgia on Jan. 1, the state’s law on wild hogs also changed. The major changes are: • Allows hog hunting at night with a spotlight, except during deer season. • Allows hogs to be hunted from a vehicle. These two provisions appar ently mean you can drive around at night with a spot light to hunt and kill wild hogs. The law does say in another part that a hog depredation per mit is needed to hunt from a vehicle. Wild hogs are major nui sance in Turner County and most of Georgia. The most recent completed study, 2011, showed hogs caused $57 million in crop damage in the 41 counties that make up Southwest Georgia said Will Gay, co-director at the Turner County Extension office. Another study is under way. “I get more homeowner calls. Most of the farmers know what there is to do about (See HOG Page 2) Two big changes to the law •Allows hog hunting at night with a spotlight, except during deer season. •Allows hunting from a vehicle. Kelly Wupper with a wild hog she shot over the week end. The hog was donated to the local food bank. 2015: Year in Review part 2 Part 1 appeared in last week’s newspaper. July Week 1 County Manager Mary Wynn was feted by the County Commission on her retirement. Turner County Young Farmers hosted its first canning class at the Canning Plant. Dr. Tyrone Kellogg, assis tant principal at the high school and boys head basketball coach for the past five years, has resigned. He is taking a po sition as principal at Dublin High School in Dublin, Geor gia. Week 2 JROTC gets muddy during its Summer Leadership Train ing at Ft. Benning. Social media erupted this week in Turner County over the high school mascot, the Rebel. An online petition set up to have the mascot changed to something else. Within a day or so a competing petition was launched to keep the mascot as is. The matter was brought up at a BOE meeting by board member Cornelius Ball and asked if the mascot could be on the agenda for a "dialogue. He and a number of other people thinks the mascot should be changed saying it is offensive. In other BOE news, the Board has given it's approval to con tinue participation in the REACH Scholarship program. Rec director Mike Coker says the Holley Pavilion at the Rec Dept, needs a lot of work. He pitched the idea of com pletely gutting and redoing the building at last week's work shop meeting. Turner County Connections Board of Directors voted to end the relationship with the Communities In Schools and return to roots as Turner County Connections. Turner County High School Baseball Team had a 50 inning fundraiser in late June. Week 3 Ashburn City Manager Dan Bollinger resigns saying it was for "personal and professional reasons". The BOE hires an inde pendent search company to help find a new permanent school superintendent. The de cision was 3-2. This will cost the School Board $4000 and must come from the general fund. Week 4 An armed robbery at a con venience store in Sycamore ends with two being charged See YEAR Page 2) APD gets The Ashburn Police De partment is pleased to an nounce it has received a $10,000.00 grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). There were 25 small agency incentive grants given across the state and the Ashburn Police Department was one. These grants are awarded based upon the part nership with The Governor's Office of Highway Safety in helping to reduce crashes, in juries, and fatalities across the State of Georgia. The grant, which will con tinue through September of 2016, will help finance in creased use of child safety seats, update the equipment utilized by the traffic units to more efficiently complete acci dent reports and enforce traffic safety for the residents of Ash burn, and to keep the traffic Officers safe while performing their traffic duties. The Ash- bum Police Department will be purchasing Child safety seats, updated Mobile Data Termi nals for the traffic units, as well as body cameras. "The Governor's Office of Highway Safety is committed to keeping everyone safe on our roads and highways, from the smallest precious cargo to the most seasoned drivers," said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood. Lt. Purvis advised, "We greatly appreciate the Gover nor's Office of Highway Safety offering these grants to assist small agencies like ourselves. These grants assist communi ties by allowing the Ashburn Police Department to purchase needed items and this will save the tax payers money and in crease the safety of our resi dents." Ashburn Police Department enjoys providing a safe envi ronment for the residents to live and work. The Ashburn Police Department is struc tured to handle patrol, traffic, investigations, drug enforce ment, and canine operations in order to serve thepublic with more effectiveness and effi ciency. For more information on the APD's award, contact Lt. Richard Purvis at (2567-2323 or ashbumpolice@gmail.com. For more information on GOHS and its highway safety programs visit www.gahigh waysafety.org. Wed Partly Cloudy Thur Mostly Cloudy Fri AM Light Rain PM Rain Showers G 70 53 Q Sun Mostly Cloudy When we know as much about people as hog specialists know about hogs, we'll be better off. Lewis B. Hershey