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Thursday, April 10, 2014
Cleburne Commission gets earful LAURA CAMPER
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Dozens of people crowded into a Cleburne County Commission work session Monday, some to ask questions about a proposed wind energy project on Turkey Heaven Mountain and some to chastise the commissioners for not publicizing the project more. Jamie Forsyth told the commissioners he found out about the proposed project about two weeks ago. “I don’t know why I didn’t know about it,” Forsyth said. “Maybe I just didn’t pay attention to what was going on.” But he begged the commissioners not to allow the project into Cleburne County without more research. “We have no idea what the consequences could be,” Forsyth said. Several people talked about wind turbine syndrome – an illness that some say is related to noise so low it’s not audible to the human ear, but still affects the ear physically. It is controversial, Carolyn Doggett one
of the speakers against the wind turbine project, said. But still, she asked the commissioners, “can you guarantee that people are not going to be made sick, that farmers are not going to be hurt?” Robin Saiz, the developer for Nations Energy Systems, the company considering a wind farm in the county, has worked in the wind energy business for years, he said. Wind turbine syndrome is unsubstantiated, Saiz said. He advised people to not rely on Internet search engines for their research about wind turbines. “Go see a wind farm. Talk to people in the community. Talk to people that live and work around them who have cattle or livestock,” Saiz said. “Go by what they say, because that’s real and that’s factual.” Saiz said neither he nor the companies that he has worked for have been sued for wind turbine syndrome, and he doesn’t know of any company that’s been successfully sued for the syndrome.
Misty Pointer n See Wind farm page 7
Rodney McMichen spoke to the commissioners concerning regulations concerning the wind farm.
Council approve hiring another supervisor Candidates speak at LAURA CAMPER
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The Heflin City Council approved hiring another supervisor for the Parks and Recreation Department at its meeting Tuesday. The council will hire a rec supervisor, who will rotate with other employees for evening and weekend events at the Heflin Recreation Center, said Heflin City Clerk Shane Smith. The position will be hired temporarily and then when the new budget is created the city will review whether they can continue to fund it, Smith said. “I’m only guaranteed six months,” said Tammy Perry, di-
rector of Heflin’s Parks and Recreation Department. “Then we’ll have to re-evaluate the position.” Perry requested the position because of the added work taken on by the department last fiscal year, she said. The department started handling maintenance and rentals of the Heflin Civic Center on Evans Street and the Heflin Community Arts Center on Martin Luther King Drive. The position isn’t really new, Perry said. The department is funded for two inmates to work full-time at the Rec Center and will be going to just one inmate in order to add the full-time employee, she said. A full-time employee will be able to do things an inmate can’t,
Perry said. They can open the building in the morning or close it at night on their own. No one has to go pick them up. They can work more flexible hours, she said. However, a full-time employee receives benefits that an inmate doesn’t and that increases the cost of having the employee about $5 per hour, she said. So, she came to the Council with the request. Councilman Shannon Roberts said the council gave Perry a verbal approval for the hire. Councilman Travis Crowe said the position is necessary and he believes the department will be n See Council page 7
Carjacking and chase end in Heflin LAURA CAMPER
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A carjacking and police chase that began in Carrollton, Ga., ended with a crash in Cleburne County on Tuesday. Carrollton police Capt. Chris Dobbs said the sequence of events started with a house fire.
The Carrollton Fire Department responded to the fire on Adamson Avenue about 1:30 p.m. Rodney Dewayne Smith, 20, Kimberly Rachel Dugger, 20, and a 4-year-old child had been living at the home for just a few weeks, Dobbs said. They had formerly lived in Birmingham. Smith and Dugger called a taxi to pick them up from the home and take them to
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a nearby restaurant, he said. The taxi driver, who Dobbs declined to identify, said the passengers robbed him at gunpoint at the restaurant and then stole the taxi, a minivan. Dobbs said Bremen, Ga., police n See Wreck page 7
Farmers Association LAURA CAMPER
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Fourteen candidates for elected offices in Cleburne County spoke to members of the Cleburne County Farmers Association Tuesday at the Mountain Center about their commitment to serve the public. Service and children, was the theme of the evening, said Mike Harris, president of the association. “It’s all about our children,” Harris said. “Our future is our children.” Harris said the association invited all the candidates to the board’s April meeting to allow board members to meet them and learn about them. A few candidates didn’t attend, but the majority took the opportunity to talk to the roomful of voters. Each candidate had five minutes to introduce themselves and talk about why they were running for office. Many focused on their qualifications, including incumbent Revenue Commissioner Joyce Fuller, who talked about her last 4.5 years in office including earning her certification as a tax ad-
INDEX: Opinion/Editorial . . . . . . 3 Church Sponsor . . . . . . . 6 Sports . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 4
Heflin Highlights. . . . . . 2 Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
ministrator. “I’m one of less than 20 percent in the state to hold that title,” Fuller said. “That’s very much a pledge to you all on how important I think this job is.” Others, including Natasha Horn, who is challenging Fuller for the seat concentrated on changes they would make if elected. Horn would extend the office hours until 5 p.m. - it currently closes at 4:30 p.m. – to give residents a little more time to get to do their business there, she said. Commissioner Emmett Owen, who is running unopposed for his seat in District 2, took the opportunity to explain some of the decisions he’s made while in office. Owen said while he thought the Mountain Center is a beautiful building, he voted against building it and he had it to do over again he would vote against it again. “I believe in taking care of what we already have,” Owen said. “We had a great facility that I think was sufficient for the county.” n See Candidate page 10
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