The Baxley News-Banner

Amanda Allen and Jeffery Levi Ammons of Baxley proudly announce the birth of their son Jeffery Levi Ammons, Junior.  [Full Story »] 

Ashlyn Jo-Marie Lucas and Barrett Franklin Noland of Baxley proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Kaley Lynn-Marie Noland. [Full Story »] 

Brittany Hopkins and David Kirk Hopkins of Baxley proudly announce the birth of their son, David Kirk Hopkins, Junior.  [Full Story »] 

Dear Editor,

When we first heard about the possibility of a landfill close to my home, we thought it was a bad idea. Now, we’ve learned a lot more about it and we can see it’s a terrible idea; and not just for us, but for the whole county.
Appling County isn’t looking for landfill capacity. Our trash is handled by Sullivan Environmental which uses landfills that will last until at least 2050. Instead, a private company wants to process trash from surrounding areas and this requires our county commissioners to amend a ban on additional landfills. The idea (as best I’ve been able to determine personally) is to set up a recycling center using trash mainly from Jacksonville and then create a landfill with what they can’t recycle. The landfill will remain a permanent eyesore for generations. [Full Story »] 

By Bill Wilson

In the State of the Union Address, Barack Obama attempted to convince the American people that the economy has turned the corner, things are getting better, and “we’ve come too far to turn back now.”
Reading Obama’s speech carefully, he noted the 8 million jobs that have overall been lost in the recession. [Full Story »] 

When my sons were students at Georgia Southern, they were both involved in music, especially Calvin, who earned a degree in music. Josh’s degree is in English, but he played on the indoor drum line and still plays several instruments for fun. Often the boys would call me and tell me to put a particular date on the calendar and come to Statesboro for a night of classical music. We heard music teachers and students in concert, as well as traveling groups. Once we had the pleasure of seeing and hearing a Russian group perform. How we enjoyed these outings. It never bothered me that I got back home late and had to rise early the next morning. [Full Story »] 

I am an avid bird hunter and have been all my life. When I was young it was nothing to walk out the back door with my Daddy’s 20 gauge Browning auto and Red, the red speckled setter, and by noon have twenty wild Bob White quail in my coat. Man, those were the days. I loved quail hunting and miss it sorely, but now that the wiregrass and old timber is gone and the habitat has completely changed, hunting wild Bobwhite is nearly impossible for us ordinary folk. Most quail hunting now is done on plantations where the birds are pen raised and released just ahead of the hunt. This is fun to some people but to those of us that were here when it was real; shooting a pen raised quail is like kissing your sister. [Full Story »] 

Love Etta Davis Kent, died Jan. 18, 2012. She was born to the late Mitchell Davis and Elizabeth Simmons on May 10, 1950 in Baxley. Ms. Kent attended Appling County High School. After high school she furthered her education in the medical field as a Nurse Practitioner. She had two children, Joe Davis and Joyce Davis. Later she married James Kent and to this union one child was born, Charles Kent. Ms. Kent was preceded in death by a brother, James “Jimmy” Davis and a sister, Charlotte Harris. [Full Story »] 

By Jamie Gardner
(Taken from video recording of meeting)

The first meeting in 2012 of the Mayor and Council of the City of Graham was held on Monday, Jan. 23 and was interesting to say the least. The meeting featured six votes by council members and six vetoes by Mayor Lonnie Crosby on three action items and one shoving match between attendees at the meeting. [Full Story »] 

Sheriff Benny DeLoach would like to report the following activity of the Appling County Sheriff’s Office.

On Jan. 25, answered a call to Glory Hole Road in reference to suspicious activity. A log truck was found to be stolen from the City of Baxley. Investigation led to the arrest of Kesha Lynn Meeks, 34, of Baxley, Michael Calvin Meeks, 54, of Baxley, Ronnie Smith, 57 of Hazlehurst, and Ricky Stewart Love, 40, of Hazlehurst. All four subjects have been charged with theft by taking. [Full Story »] 

On Thursday, January 26, Superintendent Scarlett Copeland, principals and employees of Appling County Primary School and Appling County Middle School met with various dignitaries to officially cut the ribbon on new facilities at both schools. [Full Story »] 

The Appling County Pirates (10-9 Overall, 5-8 Region 2AA) started the week hosting the Pierce County Bears (1-18, 0-12) on Friday, January 27. The Pirates were able to end a three game losing streak winning by a score of 71-55.

Leading scorers for the Pirates were Ibn Sumner 17, Kevin Johnson 17, Jordan Vann 13, Ronald Handsome 10, Anthony Rayner six, Heisman Johnson five, LeShawn Mobley two and Travis McNeil one. [Full Story »] 

The Appling County Lady Pirates (9-12 Overall, 4-11 Region 2AA) had three games scheduled over the past week with the first being in Savannah on Tuesday, January 24 against the St. Vincents Academy Saints (9-12, 6-9).

The Lady Pirates were not able to get the win losing 31-36. [Full Story »] 

By Jamie Gardner

The Appling County Board of Education (BOE) held a regular monthly meeting on Monday, January 23. During the meeting Superintendent Scarlett Copeland submitted a priority list for the proposed Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax IV (ESPLOST). The priorities include intermingling technology, textbooks, and transportation and establishes the following project priorities: 1. Technology (system-wide); 2. Altamaha Elementary projects; 3. Appling Primary/Elementary Complex projects; 4. Appling County High School projects; 5. Appling County Middle School projects; and 6. Bus Shop/ Bd. Office. [Full Story »]