Headlines

First United Methodist Church will host a Live Nativity Saturday, Dec. 6 from 6-7 p.m. Visitors are invited to drive or walk by the nativity and leave non-perishable items for local food banks to distribute during the Christmas season.

For more information, call 770.358.1494.

Young volunteers (l-r) Seth Smith, Camille Mercer and Katie Bankston load gift boxes for shipping as part of the Operation Christmas Child effort at First Baptist Church. Coordinator Nancy Cloudt reported the church collected 3680 boxes from Barnesville, Thomaston, Jackson and the surrounding area. Operation Christmas Child sends gift boxes to children in 110 countries around the world.

While Lamar County had only one contested local race - that for county coroner - on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, the special election to fill the post of chief magistrate has drawn a host of potential candidates who are kicking the tires and considering entering the fray. [Full Story »] 

A female patient was lifeflighted Wednesday after her Ford Taurus hit a dump truck head-on on Hwy. 41 South near its intersection with Oliver Road.

The woman was driving east bound in a Ford Taurus bearing Baldwin County plates when she hit a guardrail in front of the home of Bobby and Faye Walker and then careened into the westbound lane where she was hit by a dump truck driven by Darren Sumner of Barnesville. She had to be cut out of the car by Lamar firefighters and other first responders. Drivers behind the woman had called 911 to report her driving erratically, possibly from a medical issue, just before the collision. Sumner was shaken but unhurt.

The crash, which happened about 11:20 a.m., closed Hwy. 41 from Fredonia Church Road to Bush Road for about two hours.

More to follow...

The story of the high-impact crash here that ended a chase that began on I-75 in Monroe County Sunday night has taken a bizarre twist. The driver is apparently not who law enforcement thought he was. [Full Story »] 

By Walter Geiger

“Things always find their way home,” Barnesville assistant city manager Tim Turner repeated multiple times as he returned three hard-earned medals to Patsy Rabuck. The medals, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart, belonged to her son, MSGT. Davy Nathaniel Weaver who was killed in action in Afghanistan over 12 years ago.

The medals did, indeed, find their way home but they took a circuitous route. [Full Story »] 

Chief magistrate judge Karen Rhyne Henson died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. Survivors include her husband, Sgt. Wayman Henson of the LCSO.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Veterans Day Observance set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. has been moved to the civic center due to inclement weather. There is a 70% chance of thunderstorms.

The event will be live streamed on the VFW Post 6542 Facebook page. The luncheon will be available at the VFW Lake side.

Vulcan Materials personnel continue to evaluate the quarry site off Hwy. 36 East, doing test drilling and engineering where exactly the entrance off the highway would be as they mull over the go/no go decision there. [Full Story »] 

THESE ARE LAMAR COUNTY RESULTS ONLY: (unofficial, all districts reporting)

PRESIDENT:

Joe Biden (D): 2503
Donald Trump (R): 6163

CORONER:

Jim Smith (D): 3002
Clay Tillery (R): 5602

MILNER CITY COUNCIL:

Michael Floyd: 235
Helen Palacios: 145

US SENATE:

Doug Collins (R): 2523
Kelly Loeffler (R): 3150
Raphael Warnock (D): 1906

US SENATE:

David Perdue (R): 6123
John Ossoff (D): 2411

US CONGRESS DIST. 3:

Val Almonord (D): 2348
Drew Ferguson (R): 6193

STATE SENATE DIST 16:

Marty Harbin: 6197
Cinquez Jester (D): 2314

GA. HOUSE DIST 130:

Sheila Henley (D):953
David Knight (R): 3829

GA. HOUSE DIST: 131:

Chris Benton (D): 1459
Beth Camp (R): 2372

By Walter Geiger
[email protected]

Multiple residents of the Little Tobesofkee Creek Ranch fly in and equestrian community appeared before the county commission Oct. 20 to air grievances about commercial dove shoots held on the runway, taxiways and common areas there. Redbone Farms and the Moye family have hosted dove shoots in the area for generations.

The contingent of residents was led by Elaine Hallada who argued the area is zoned estate residential and that the common areas were deeded to the homeowners association by Floyd Moye. Lot owners pay $360 per year, per parcel to maintain those areas.

“The common areas were not to be developed and to be used for recreation. Commercial hunting was never mentioned,” Hallada told the commission. She said hunters routinely shoot across driveways. “They have no regard for the safety of the residents. They have shot out the power, cable and internet,” she added. [Full Story »] 

Reports surfaced last week that Vulcan Minerals would be opening its long-mothballed rock quarry off Hwy. 36 East but that decision is not yet set in stone.

“It’s not a done deal. We are trying to do our due diligence to see if we are going to open it,” company spokesman Jimmy Fleming said Friday. [Full Story »] 

The Vulcan Minerals rock quarry on Hwy. 36 East will go operational in the second quarter of 2021, according to county commissioner Nancy Thrash.

A meeting of the NE Lamar Community Association will be held Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. to discuss the matter. [Full Story »] 

Three people were arrested following a high speed chase that roared southbound on Ga. Hwy. 7, into downtown Barnesville and finally ended on Five Points Road Friday. [Full Story »]