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Just exactly how much work Carolyn Parker does as city clerk is best summed up by the fact that it will take four people to divide up her current duties. Her spacious office is filled with boxes of paperwork involving 25 accounts she maintains manually. In another corner is a still-operable IBM Selectric typewriter that she used to write checks when she first went to work for the city in 1980.

“That’s not my original typewriter but a refurbished one Jason Shirey found for me,” Parker said referring to the late assistant city manager Jason Shirey.

Parker is retiring at the end of the month after 38 years with the city. Prior to that she spent 11 years at Carter’s in the data processing department. ‘J.U Little hired me out there,” she recalled.

She started out at city hall as a bookkeeper and billing clerk and moved steadily up the ladder, becoming city clerk in 1993.

Tammy Folson will follow her as clerk, handling council meetings, records and business licenses and serving as the qualifying officer for elections. Niki Sappington will take over credit card processing and council member training.

Tammy York will take over accounting. “She has an accounting degree and that’s good. A lot of what I have done has involved accounting,” Parker said. [Full Story »] 

From Niki Sappington, City of Barnesville

The current frequency and length of discolored water incidents throughout the City of Barnesville’s distribution system has been caused by the higher than normal rainfall the City has experienced in the past two months.

The heavy rainfall has caused the contents of City Pond to experience a higher consistency of the chemical element manganese (Mn). Manganese is a naturally occurring element in rocks and minerals that under normal conditions settles at the bottom of bodies of water.

Disturbances of the pond by heavy rains and a possible turn-over have caused manganese to be more thoroughly mixed in the pond and it is entering the City’s distribution system. The presence of manganese itself does not discolor the water so the water is completely clear when it leaves the treatment plant. However, as the water is distributed through the City in the distribution system, the manganese oxidizes. The oxidized manganese discolors the water and the discoloration can range from yellow to darker brown.

To deal with these occurrences in the short-term, the City will go to affected areas and flush the hydrants to let the discolored water flow out of the system. If there are incidents in your area, contact City Hall at 770-358-0181.

It is important to note that even though the water is discolored it is still completely safe for normal use and the manganese levels in the system are well below any health related limits.
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Visitation for Coach Oscar Wimberly will be held tonight from 5-9 p.m. at Trice Funeral Home. Wimberly, a local legend, died June 5. He was 84.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Fine Arts Center. Rev. Craig Ogletree, one of Wimberly's former players, will officiate. Burial with full military honors will follow at Greenwood Cemetery.

Wimberly is survived by a son, Jamall (Jennifer) of Moreland; two grandchildren and three brothers.

HBO's series "Sharp Objects' which was filmed in large part here last summer, opened the ATX Television Festival in Austin June 7 and drew rave reviews.

After the screening, cast and crew conducted a panel discussion.

This report comes from HBO's Ashley Morton...

The show’s creators, and executive producer and star Amy Adams, sat down at ATX Festival to explain why a limited series was the only option for Gillian Flynn’s dark novel.

“You’ve seen nothing tonight,” director Jean-Marc Vallée told the audience at ATX Television Festival’s world premiere of Sharp Objects. The audience laughed, understanding they had seen only the first episode of the dark new series, and journalist Camille Preaker’s journey would only get more intense.

Joining Vallée post-screening was executive producer and star Amy Adams, writer Gillian Flynn, showrunner Marti Noxon, executive producer Jason Blum, executive producer Pancho Mansfield, and Executive Vice President of HBO Programming David Levine. The talk was moderated by Bill Keith, from Entertainment Weekly, where Flynn herself was working when she wrote the series’ source material, a novel of the same title.
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Funeral services for legendary local coach Oscar Wimberly will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the school system's Fine Arts Center.

Wimp, as he was affectionately known, died June 5 after falling ill at his home June 1. He was 84.

He impacted the lives of countless young people during his long career. He coached basketball at LC for decades but his long coaching run began back at the old Booker School in Barnesville. A groundswell of support for naming the gym at the new LCHS campus, now under construction, is growing.

Survivors and other details will be announced by Trice Funeral Home. Monitor barnesville.com for updates.

From Lt. Lawson Bittick, MCSO:

On June 7, 2018, at approximately 3:19 P.M., Monroe County deputies engaged in a traffic stop on Interstate 75 north near mile marker 192 (1 mile south of Johnstonville Road). Shortly after deputies approached the vehicle and smelled a strong odor of raw marijuana, the driver immediately fled the scene. The vehicle, a 2007 silver Toyota Camry, exited Interstate 75 and turned east on Johnstonville Road. The pursuit reached speeds of 100 miles per hour. The Toyota then turned south on Georgia Highway 42 towards the city limits of Forsyth.

A Monroe County deputy then performed a precision immobilization technique (PIT) on Highway 42 near Sutton Road. The Toyota struck several trees on the shoulder and both the driver and passenger were ejected from the vehicle. The driver, Guadalupe A. Garcia (28 y/o) of Arcadia, Florida ,was pronounced deceased on the scene. The passenger, who is a yet-unidentified Hispanic male, is in critical condition at the Medical Center-Navicent Health in Macon, Georgia.

The Georgia State Patrol has been enlisted to investigate the incident. Georgia Highway 42 was closed for several hours while the scene was processed by GSP. Both cocaine and marijuana were located inside of the vehicle following the crash.

The HBO limited series 'Sharp Objects' which was filmed here last summer debuts July 8 at 9 p.m. A new trailer has surfaced for the thriller which is based on the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn.

The trailer is embedded inside this open thread. [Full Story »] 

Following an internal investigation, Sgt. Shannon Williamson of the LCSO has been cleared for his actions during an incident at Reliable Mart May 30 during the violent takedown of ex-convict Caweisi Darnoz Lavelle that was captured on video by a bystander.

For details, see the 6.5.18 print edition of The Herald Gazette.

Widespread severe storms spawned by a cold front moving through the area blasted Lamar County just after 8 p.m. Sunday with high winds, lightning, heavy rain and hail. At 8;35 p.m., Southern Rivers Energy was reporting 2860 members without power - 1056 of them in Lamar.

Stay vigilant. Heavy rain falling on already saturated ground will likely cause flooding. Sheriff Brad White reports multiple trees down from high winds.

UPDATE: At 8:45 p.m., total outages for SRe was 3526 - over 1400 in LC.

Bill Edwards, a banking pioneer in the area, died May 30 after a long illness. He was 87.

A native of Zebulon, he worked in the family canning business Bankston & Edwards Canning Co. which later became Besco. The company processed peaches, pimentos, citrus fruit and vegetables.

Bill joined the Bank of Zebulon, where his father John Joel Edwards was cashier. After Besco was sold in 1969, the family got more involved in banking. Bill became president of the Crawford County Bank in Zebulon. In 1972, Bill and his brother Joe helped organize and open Lamar State Bank. Two years later Bill became president of the Bank of Zebulon.

In 1981, a holding company for the three banks was established and United Bank was born. United Bank has judiciously made acquisitions in the years since and now has operations in 12 counties and more than 400 employees.

In addition to his wife Anne, Bill is survived by three children, Allie Edwards Armistead, Laurie Edwards Fisher and John Edwards Jr.; brother, Joe Edwards; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Monday, June 4 at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Griffin. Visitation with the family will be held Sunday, June 3 from 5-7 p.m. at Moody Funeral Home in Zebulon.

Lamar deputies were summoned for an urgent response to Reliable Mart Wednesday morning regarding a fugitive who was allegedly resisting arrest and fighting with deputies. Customers inside the store captured the takedown of the suspect, 30-year-old Caweisi Darnoz Lavelle, on video.

Sheriff Brad White reported Wednesday he is aware of the video which is inside this open thread. [Full Story »] 

Tropical storm Alberto will bring at least two to four inches of rain to the area this week and those who have been around awhile remember a storm of the same name that dumped 16 inches of rain here in 24 hours in July 1994, causing widespread flooding and destruction.

That system stalled out over the area and there is no indication that the present storm will do the same.

Rain becomes a dominant part of the forecast at 6 p.m. Sunday with showers and thundershowers lingering through 8 p.m. Thursday. All this rain will fall on already saturated ground which makes Alberto 2.0 worth keeping and eye on.

School officials, bowing to the wishes of the senior class, plan to hold graduation exercises outside at Trojan Field Saturday morning.

"After careful consideration of several options, the Class of 2018 overwhelmingly chose to hold graduation outside on the field Saturday. The ceremonies set for 9 a.m. Any change will be communicated through our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Once conditions are suitable, we will hold the event on the field. We ask that all attendees in the stadium not use umbrellas. Ponchos and raincoats are preferred. umbrellas are welcome for guest who are standing on the field," superintendent Jute Wilson reported.

About 166 seniors will march in the ceremony.

Many will go on to continue their studies at state colleges and universities including UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Southwestern, Valdosta State, ABAC, Georgia Military, North Georgia, Mercer, Brenau, Point University and LaGrange College. Some students will stay close to home, attending Gordon State College and Southern Crescent. Other students will cross state lines, attending schools like the Alabama and Covenant College.
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