News

By Renee O’Quinn

City Manager Jeff Baxley made a recommendation that the city enter into a contract, subject to the city attorney’s approval, with Contract Callers, Inc. of Augusta at the Baxley City Council meeting held Nov. 8. Councilwoman Betty Livingston made a motion approving Contract Callers contingent upon the city attorney’s approval. Tim Varnadore seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. The following four companies presented proposals for collection service of water and sewer delinquent accounts, as follows: I.C. Systems, Inc. of St. Paul, MN; Conrad Companies of Escondido, CA; Client Services, Inc. of St. Charles, MI and Contract Callers, Inc. of Augusta. [Full Story »] 

Dawn Melton would like to remind everyone about the Fall Fitness Run to be held this Saturday morning, November 19, at the Elementary Complex in Baxley. Although the name indicates “Run,” there will be walkers and runners of all ages and ability levels for the mile and the 5K. A t-shirt will be given to ALL participants. [Full Story »] 

The 2011 Appling County Farm Tour was held Oct. 25. This year’s tour began with a visit to the Wilbur Murray Farm and featured “The Pecan Harvest” at 9:00 a.m. At one time Wilbur row cropped about 50-60 acres of corn and soybeans. In 1987, after watching his grandfather’s pecan orchard produce more return per acre than he was taking in row crops, Wilbur decided to plant 23 acres of pecan trees. Ten years later he planted seven more acres of pecan trees when the family saw the potential of the first 23-acre orchard. Around 2004 they planted another 40-acre orchard in a different spacing than the original orchards. The new orchard was planted so that the row crops could be interplanted. Different varieties were planted in different fields for many reasons such as disease resistance, yield and cross-pollination. [Full Story »] 

The American Legion Post 26 and The Vietnam Veterans 981 will have a memorial service on Veterans Day, Nov. 11 at the Appling County Courthouse at 11:00 a.m. [Full Story »] 

By Matt Gardner

The Appling County Board of Commissioners held their regularly scheduled meeting at the Appling County Courthouse Annex on Tuesday, November 1 at 5:30 p.m. During the meeting County Manager Lee Lewis informed the commissioners that due to the gate valve at Lake Mayers not being opened in 19 years, and the potential for it not to close, no water has been drained. [Full Story »] 

The Appling County High School Choral Department will be presenting its annual HEE HAW at the Appling County High School Fine Arts Center Saturday, November 12 at 7:00 p.m. [Full Story »] 

The City of Baxley, Baxley-Appling County Chamber of Commerce, and the Arts Council of Appling County invite all local churches to attend and participate in a community wide Christmas celebration to be held at Water Works Park on Wednesday, December 14, at 6:00 p.m. The goal of this service is to bring all members of our community together to celebrate the meaning of Christmas. [Full Story »] 

By Jamie Gardner

That’s the question Willard Bennett, of Hazlehurst, has raised about the structure that spans across the Altamaha River. Bennett asked this reporter to go with him to take a look at the bridge a few weeks back. To the average eye, the issues with the bridge that Bennett showed to this reporter do give an appearance to cause concern. [Full Story »] 

Flu vaccine is still available at the Health Department. The cost is $25.00.

Any person six months old or older should get vaccinated. Because it can take two weeks to develop full immunity after receiving the flu vaccine, Public Health officials urge residents to get vaccinated now. [Full Story »] 

The Fall Fitness Run will be held on Saturday morning, November 19 at the Elementary Complex in Baxley. [Full Story »] 

Young Harris College sophomore music major Caitlin Davis, trumpet, of Baxley, will perform at the Young Harris College Jazz Band concert on Monday, Nov. 14. The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Glenn Auditorium of the Clegg Fine Arts Building on the Young Harris College campus. Davis is a graduate of Appling County High School. [Full Story »] 

Appling County Middle School will conduct a parent session entitled “Teen Issues and How Parents Can Help” on Tuesday, November 15 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the Discovery Place Parent Resource Center located behind FNB South Bank. [Full Story »]