By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Members of the Buckhead City Council heard a request from pastors of Buckhead Worship Center to use the city park and outdoor facilities for a youth block party.
Pastor Cathy Blount and Youth Pastor Skip Brumbelow said they plan to offer refreshments, games and three to four performances of holy hip hop during the May 18 event set for 2 to 6 p.m.
Brumbelow said that the hip hop artists are “Christian rappers, strictly religious and geared for the younger generation.”
“If this goes well we hope to do it again next year,” he said.
Blount and Brumbelow requested the $50 charge to use the park and facilities be waived.
Buckhead Fire Chief Randy Ross said he didn’t see a problem with waiving the fee for a church: “As long as it’s cleaned up.”
Chuck Jarrell came before the council in March to request the city help the fire department pay for new light fixtures in their shared meeting room.
“High efficiency fixtures should reduce the number of fixtures required,” he said, adding that the fixtures cost $136 each.
Buckhead Mayor Ricky Walker said the city may have some Special Purpose Local Option Sales tax (SPLOST) money to contribute. “We did put in for firehouse upgrades,” he said.
In other news, Walker said they had a good turnout for Old Buckhead Days this year. “People enjoyed it,” he said, adding that this is the first year the event turned a profit.

Printed in the April 25, 2013 edition

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Members of the Morgan County Planning Commission heard from Morgan County Planning Director Chuck Jarrell, who shared details of a new sanctuary for True Gospel Lighthouse Church, located at 1340 Greensboro Highway.
He said they plan to attach a 40-by-120-foot building attached to the existing church by a breezeway. Occupancy load will be 230 people, which means sprinklers will not be required.
“It meets the definition of a neighborhood church,” he said.
He added that while the church does not meet the two-acre lot minimum, the church has been there for many years. The church will meet all setback and parking space requirements.
Due to cost considerations, Jarrell said the church has requested that they be able to leave their parking lot as gravel instead of having to pave it.
“They currently have gravel and grass,” he said. “You have allowed other existing churches to remain gravel.”
Jarrell also shared details about a text amendment pertaining to automobile sales lots in the county.
“We have received a formal complaint,” he said, noting that the Georgia State Patrol passed on the complaint to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office who in turn gave it to Jarrell’s office.
He said there have been “numerous” accidents and near-accidents, due to individuals, especially on Highway 441, selling automobiles at their homes.
Jarrell said many people misunderstand state law and explained that people may sell their personal vehicles that they personally own without the intent to make a profit.
“We’re in the process of drafting letters to send to known violators,” he said, adding that this law will be enforced. “This is a cut-and-dry change to correspond to state law.”

Printed in the April 25, 2013 edition

By Kathryn Schiliro
Managing Editor

At their April 8 meeting, School system Director of Technology Jay Cawley let the school board know that the application for E-Rate funding, obtained through the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Services Fee (see your phone bill), has been submitted to the tune of $500,000.
It's hoped that funds received would help to get better equipment, increase the system's bandwidth from 50 to 200 megabytes per second and help to pay for the network connectivity that Charter is making the system pay for. (Communicom had been in Morgan County for some time, and had a deal worked out with the school system providing free access to their facilities for the middle and CrossRoads schools. Charter is not game for this deal.)
Because the primary school has the greatest number of students in the free and reduced-price lunch program, it's Cawley's hope that the school will get a higher rate of funding as E-Rate is based on free and reduced-price lunch percentages. The primary school could see the E-Rate funding of their telephone service jump from 70 to 82 percent.
"It could save us literally hundreds of thousands of dollars," Superintendent Dr. Ralph Bennett said.”

Staff Reports

The city's 16th annual MadisonFest – a gardening, arts and crafts, and music festival – is set for this Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Town Park.
Numerous handmade craft and food vendors, including a beer garden, will be located in booths in the park.
There is no charge to attend.
Drop-in lectures and demonstrations include: at 11 a.m., Dr. Allan Armitage, Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, will present "Let's Get Kids (and Grandkids) in the Garden;" at 12 p.m., Mimi Maumus, the chef and owner of Athens-based home.made catering, will present "Inventive Ways to use Pickles;" at 12:30 p.m., Jeff Johnson, Madisonian and Master Composter, will present "Composting: Make your own Superdirt!"; and at 1 p.m., of Creative Containers and Citizen columnist, will present "Creating beautiful and successful containers for your garden."
As far as live music, the Morgan County High School Jazz Combo performs at 10 a.m., the Laura Monk Duo at 11 a.m., Nathan Sheppard at 12:30 p.m. and Johnny Roquemore and the Apostles of Bluegrass at 2 p.m.
Sponsors for this year's festival include: Big Green Egg, the Morgan County Citizen, Natural Gas, Dock 103.9 WDDK FM and Solar Sun World. Festival partner is the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy.

Printed in the April 25, 2013 edition

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

The Antebellum Trail Pilgrimage, held April 18 through 22 this year, was created five years ago in hopes it would bring more business and more overnight stays to the seven communities it links, according to Madison Conventions & Visitors Bureau Director Ellen Ianelli.
The pilgrimage website describes the event as “a 100-mile trek through seven communities that escaped (Civil War Union General William Tecumseh) Sherman’s burning march through Georgia.”
Those seven communities, from north to south, include Athens, Watkinsville, Madison, Eatonton, Milledgeville, Jones County, and Macon.
In Madison visitors on the pilgrimage could take in Heritage Hall, the Rogers House, Rose Cottage, and Hilltop.
Ianelli said that when the pilgrimage was created it was with the understanding that it would be reassessed after five years, which happens this year.
“There have been no high ticket sales,” she said, adding that the communities may instead offer a tourism pass for discounted admission to places on the trial valid year round.

Printed in the April 25, 2013 edition

By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

The 77th Annual Masters not only brought golfers and visitors from around the world to Augusta, it also brought them to Morgan County. Many hotels and restaurants in the county benefitted from these visitors last week.
Robin Shuman, the general manager at Comfort Inn, said they “absolutely” saw a difference.

“They were very wonderful people who filled us up every day, Sunday through Sunday,” she said. “We were close to sold out every night.”
Another hotel that did well: Hampton Inn Madison. Liz Stiles, who works the front desk there, said, “We sold out all week long.”

Business also was good at the James Madison Inn, according to Jake Grant, general manager.
“There’s very much of an impact,” he said. “It’s one of our top-grossing weeks of the year. From the hotel perspective, it’s great.”
It’s also great from the restaurant perspective.
Lauren Caldwell, a server at Amici Italian Cafe, said, “It was definitely a good week. We’re still feeling the impact on Monday.”

As for previous years, Caldwell said the Masters “always has helped our numbers.”
Vicki Bryan, a server and barista at Perk Avenue Cafe, agreed.
“We have had a lot of Masters traffic,” she said, adding that they even had some on Monday. “We had a pretty good bit of traffic this past week.”

Rutledge merchants also felt an impact. Ed Hogan, owner of The Caboose in Rutledge, said they always see an impact during that week.
“The Caboose always does; it’s the start of our season,” he said. He added that a lot of golfers stayed and played at Hard Labor Creek State Park, “We got them every day. It was great.” 
Not all businesses felt the benefit, though.