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The Lamar Lady Trojans (16-5) are in action here today in the first round of the GHSA Class AA softball playoffs. The locals are Region 5AA champs and a #1 seed.

They will host Washington of Atlanta in a best of three series at Aldora Field. The Lady Dogs are 5-10 and the #4 seed from Region 6AA.

Game one starts at 3 p.m. with game two to follow. Game three will be played Thursday if needed.

UPDATE: LC rolled in game one, winning 19-0 in three innings. Lamar won game two 25-1. [Full Story »] 

A boy, about 12 years old, drowned Tuesday morning at High Falls State Park. The victim and another, older boy vanished and a search helicopter was called in.

The crew in the chopper spotted the body of the younger boy and the older one stranded in the river at the base of the falls. At 1:30 p.m., a water rescue was underway to move him to safety.

UPDATE: VICTIMS IDENTIFIED:

Monroe County EMA Director Matt Perry has identified the victim as 12-year-old Christian Burdette.

Crews were able to rescue his brother, 17-year-old James Burdette, thanks to the efforts of agencies from multiple surrounding counties.

UPDATE: THE TEEN STRANDED ON THE ROCK IN THE RIVER HAS BEEN RESCUED ALIVE.

STATEMENT FROM MONROE COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES:

MCES units are on scene at High Falls State Park for a water rescue.

The initial dispatch was for 2 people in the water below the falls.

MCES Rescue 2 was first on scene and located the 2 children. Sadly, one is deceased.

The other child is alive on the rocks, but due to current water conditions, fire-rescue is unable to reach him at this time. They are continuing to try. MCES has called for a GSP helicopter and the Macon-Bibb swift-water dive team to assist in the rescue.
Please avoid the area if you can, to allow plenty of room for rescuers and equipment.

Also, please keep the victims, their family, and our first-responders in your prayers during this difficult time.

More updates as they become available.

More to follow.....

The LC Lady Trojans routed Heard County 14-4 Saturday at Aldora Field to take the Region 5AA title.

Lamar won by run rule in the sixth.

State playoff action begins Wednesday here.

The threat of rain and wind from Hurricane Nate for the weekend prompted changes in the schedule for the Region 5AA softball tournament which is being played at Aldora Field here. Action was to begin Saturday morning but began Friday afternoon due to the rain threat.

UPDATE: In Friday's action, the top-seeded LC Lady Trojans routed #4 Temple 16-2 while #2 Heard narrowly defeated #3 Callaway.

Second round action begins Saturday morning with the third place game featuring Callaway and Temple at 11 a.m. followed by the title game pitting Lamar against Heard at 1 p.m.

Lamar is playing in the postseason without star catcher Cayla Bishop who broke a bone in her hand in Wednesday's game. Bishop underwent surgery Thursday for the fracture.

The LC Lady Trojans (14-4, 7-0) dispatched Temple 14-0 Tuesday to set up a showdown with old nemesis Heard County today at Aldora Field for the Region 5AA softball title.

UPDATE: LC made critical errors, could not get the clutch hit, lost star catcher Cayla Bishop to a finger/hand injury and lost 5-4 in eight innings. They are still the #1 seed and host playoff action here Saturday.

It will be LC’s Senior Night. Festivities begin at 5 p.m. with first pitch at 5:30 p.m.

The winner will take home the region crown and own home field advantage for the playoffs which begin this weekend.

Lamar has moved into the #2 slot in the most recent Class AA softball rankings behind Rockmart. Heard is unranked.

National Night Out observances are set for this afternoon at Barnesville's Summers Field Park and Milner City Park. Both events run from 5-8 p.m. and offer food, fun and entertainment.

The Barnesville event is hosted by city public safety agencies. The Milner event is handled by county agencies.

Both are free and open to the public.

A violent collision involving a Toyota Scion and a tractor-trailer rig at the entrance to Buggytown Auction on Hwy. 341 South Friday afternoon drew crowds of sale patrons who watched as emergency personnel cut one victim from the car.

The call went out at 4:41 p.m. Initial reports indicated two cars were stopped in the northbound lane when the Toyota came up behind them too fast. The male driver of the Toyota lost control, swerved into the southbound lane and the compact car was hit in the passenger side by the truck. The female in the front passenger seat had to be extricated and was lifeflighted from the scene to a trauma center.

The occupants of the Toyota, which bore a Clayton County tag, were reportedly students at Gordon State College. The tractor-trailer was owned by S&W Transport of Butler.

The flagpole dedication originally set for September 11 but disrupted by Hurricane Irma will be held at noon Wednesday at the civic center. The remembrance is sponsored by the local Woodmen Life chapter.

In addition to honoring the 9-11 victims, law enforcment officers, firefighters and other first responders will be celebrated.

“Woodmen Life is proud to salute America’s heroes in this special way on the 16th anniversary of an event that forever changed our nation,” local chapter president Maxine Gibson said.

As of 9 a.m., Thursday morning 2313 members remain without power. We have 106 linemen working to restore power across our entire system. Yesterday morning we started with 7109 outages and crews restored power for approximately 4796 members. We hope to make a lot of progress today at which point we should be able to make a better prediction about when we expect full restoration to occur. Crews are encountering countless trees on lines in areas that are difficult to reach with bucket trucks and broken poles, each of which takes an average of four hours to replace.

Breakdown by county:
Bibb - 304
Crawford - 148
Lamar - 401
Meriwether - 171
Monroe - 266
Pike - 746
Spalding - 109
Upson - 41

From Erin Cook, SRE:

More than 80 percent of our members (12,391) are currently without power from #HurricaneIrma across Bibb, Crawford, Lamar, Meriwether, Monroe, Pike, Spalding and Upson counties.

Crews have been working steadily on restoration efforts since yesterday afternoon and all through the night. We ask for your patience as we temporarily suspend work due to unsafe conditions for our linemen. Our dispatch and rehab team are currently assessing damage and once the storm leaves affected areas, we will continue power restoration efforts as soon as conditions are safe to do so and our crews have rested. The safety of our linemen is our top priority.

We appreciate your patience and ask you to please call the outage hotline at 1-866-244-4890 to report your outages.

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Meanwhile, Irma has picked up speed and the track continues to trend westward. There is some clearing in southeast Georgia which is headed this way. The worst should be over by dark with a rain chance continuing through noon tomorrow. Winds should also diminish overnight.

Hurricane Irma hit Florida as a Cat. 4 storm overnight and is headed our way, packing wind and rain.

Rain will begin about midnight tonight with four to seven inches possible Monday. Winds Monday will hit 40 mph. with gusts up to 60 mph.

With the westward shift of the storm, folks who evacuated the Georgia coast and came to this area may actually experience worse weather here. Such is the nature of hurricanes.

Local dangers remain flash flooding, downed trees and power lines, blocked roads and short track, spinout tornadoes.

Be prepared.

Latest tracking data shows Hurricane Irma shifting to the west which is good news for the Georgia coast but this is still a dangerous storm.

LOCAL FORECAST (8 a.m. Saturday):

Clouds will roll in Sunday afternoon.

Rain will begin about 1 a.m. Monday. Rainfall totals expected to be about four inches.

Windspeeds at dawn Monday about 19 mph., topping out at about 42 mph. at 8 p.m. Monday. Higher speed gusts and short track, spinout tornadoes a possibility.

Rain moves out by 2 p.m. Tuesday.

At present only localized flooding a threat here.

Forecasts are fluid and can change. Prepare accordingly.

Barnesville's transformation over the summer into Wind Gap may have been prophetic as the vast majority of the Hurricane Irma tracking data from early Friday morning brings the storm directly over our area.

GRAND JURORS: Those summoned for duty on the Lamar County grand jury and traverse jury Monday and Tuesday need not report until Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. Watch for further developments on this.

Chamber officials have canceled the Buggy Days Almost Anything Goes and Kids Night events that were set for Tuesday evening here.

Gordon State College is shutting down at noon today and will be closed Monday and Tuesday. A lengthier shutdown of the campus is possible.

UPDATE: LAMAR COUNTY SCHOOLS WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY AND TUESDAY. St. George's in Milner will close Monday but has deferred any decision on Tuesday classes.

UPDATE 2: STATEMENT FROM SRE:

Southern Rivers Energy is closely monitoring the path of Hurricane Irma and contingency plans are in place. Trucks and materials are stocked and our crews are ready to respond to outages. Rest assured we are prepared but we urge our members and the community as a whole to take this seriously and have a plan in place in the event that Irma causes extensive damage and widespread outages.

We will release a schedule for providing updates to the media the membership on Monday after we have a better idea of how our territory will be affected. SRE members need to save the Outage Hotline in their phones and use it to report outages or downed power lines: 866-244-4890. Please stay away from any downed power lines or trees/limbs that are touching them. We appreciate everyone’s support and cooperation as we brace for Hurricane Irma.

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UPDATE 3: All Lamar County government offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

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Irma is a large, dangerous storm. Though it is likely to weaken before it gets this far, it may still cause problems.

Rain will roll in here late Sunday night or very early Monday with just under four inches forecast. Wind speeds will build Monday, with the current forecast topping out with winds of 53 mph. at dusk.

Models can and will change but it is time to take this seriously. Those of us at The Herald Gazette and barnesville.com will be constantly monitoring the situation. Check back often for updates.