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It's homecoming week at LCHS with events ongoing throughout the week. The annual homecoming parade will wind through downtown Barnesville this afternoon at about 4:30 p.m.

The 2017 homecoming queen will be crowned during halftime festivities during Friday’s matchup with Morgan County. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Trojan Field.

Seniors on the homecoming court are Ashley Haddock, Alyssa Maisonet, Ja’Kyra Shannon, Kevoni Summers and Cheyenne Wyatt.

The court is rounded out by underclass representatives including junior Kamya Foster, sophomore Hope Stone, and freshman Faith Branham.

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.

Sheriff Brad White reported just before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday that Dan Hamrick has been arrested for false report of a crime.

Hamrick claimed he was robbed Aug. 31 at his place of business, Hamrick's Trading Post on Hwy. 341 South.

More to follow.

The Lamar County Trojans (0-2) traveled to Jackson Friday nightand dropped a 38-23 decision to the Red Devils (1-2).

Realtime scoring from the game was compiled by Walter Geiger.

6:58 1st qtr.: LC 2 Jackson 0: Jackson bad snap on punt for LC safety.

End 1st qtr.: LC 2 Jackson 0

11:05 2nd qtr.: Jackson 3 LC 2: Jackson 43-yd. FG.

9:11 2nd qtr.: Jackson 13-yd. TD run. PAT good. KEY PLAY: Jackson interception of pass by LC's Jonah Stout.

3:16 2nd qtr.: Jackson 16 LC 2: Jackson 6-yd. TD run. PAT good.

2:24 2nd. qtr.: Jackson 17 LC 9: Rondez Fletcher 6-yd. TD run. Dawson Davis PAT.

0:32 2nd qtr.: Jackson 24 LC 9: Jackson 61-yd. TD run. PAT good

6:34 3rd qtr. Jackson 31 LC 9: Jackson 29-yd. TD pass. PAT good.

1:24 3rd qtr.: Jackson 31 LC 15: Stout 1-yd. TD run. Two-point PAT failed.

7:14 4th qtr.: Jackson 31 LC 23: Rondez Fletcher 6-yd. TD run. Quay Parks run for two-point PAT.

4:09 4th qtr.: Jackson 38 LC 23: Jackson 21-yd. TD run. PAT good.

FINAL: 38-23

Colonial Pipeline has shut down in gasoline pipeline that services this area due to issues from Hurricane Harvey. The last time this happened there were fuel supply issues locally.

Lines are already forming at local gasoline retailers.

Plan accordingly.

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A Barnesville police officer was hurt Aug. 25 when his service weapon went off while he was cleaning it.

Patrolman Michael Blankenship will be out of commission for some time after he was shot in the left hand. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Chief Craig Cooper called Blankenship an "outstanding officer".

'We expect a full recovery and look forward to his return to work.This is a prime example of the importance of gun safety, even involving experienced and trained individuals," Chief Cooper said.