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Formerly The Hogansville Herald
Serving the HogansviUe-Grantville Area Since 1944
PRSRT STD
AUTO
U. S. POSTAGE PAID
HOGANSVILLE, GA
PERMIT NO. 35
OL. 60, NO. 2
HOGANSVILLE, GEORGIA- THURSDAY, JAN 9, 2003
8 PAGES • 1 SECTION • 50€
S
00SFigures.
orc/
,00,!mprove
JiX£y ROB RICHARDSON
The unemployment rate
reproved in November for
ost of the four-county West
, r, 7 Central Georgia area.
, , According to figures just
Pt:O.eleased by the Georgia
. epartment of Labor, the
arris-Troup-Meriwether-
L--'-- Palbot area showed an aver-
"'ge jobless rate of 4.3 per-
eat for November, com-
pared to the 4.7 percent
hown for October.
eg And the region is in bet-
r shape than it was a year
o, when it averaged a 4.8
rcent unemployment rate
n November of2001.
. The area'#fiumbers con-
-'5,,tnUO-to a • llttllt ....
ierthan the statewide unem-
ployment average, which
as 4.5 percent in
t, ,.fiNovember, down from the
.tmc 0 t"7 recorded for October.
ii.. i The state rate was 4.2 in
pie NOVember of 2001.
Jobless rates improved
in Meriwether, Talbot and
Oup. In Harris, the rate
!tayed the same as in
5Ctober.
Although pleased with
e numbers, State Labor
,:Oramissioner Michael
I?hurmond is concerned
bout unemployment bene-
fits that were cut off at the
md of December.
"I am concerned for the
Ousands of Georgia's long-
erra unemployed workers
who are exhausting their
aeaefits without being able
find jobs. I strongly urge
esident Bush and the U.S
:Oagress to extend benefits,"
said Thurmond.
• Troup improved to a .6
Percent rate in November
#rona a 4.9 rate in October.
vv In November of 2001,
PrOup had a 4.5 rate.
• The lowest rate of the
tDJkfOtir,,_, local counties
during
-Ovember was the 2.7 per
recorded in Harris, the
as Harris record-
October.
A year ago, Harris had
L3.1 jobless rate.
; *Meriwether's rate
with a 5.8
compared to
percent in October.
In November of last year,
jobless rate for
was 6.1 per
*The Chattahoochee-
til, c ,t region, which includes
riwether Troup, Carroll,
bweta and Heard, had a 4.5
rte for November, com-
E ,ed to a 4.7 percent rate in
0(ltfiober. In November of
01 it was 4.2 percent.
By Frances Robinson
RIDING TIME - Hank Butler (front) and Wesiey Able began the new year with a ride
Truck Stop Reopens Monday
By BRYAN GETER
• After eing closed for
several months, Nobles
Truck Stop will reopen next
Monday under the name of
SBS American Truck Plaza.
Adarsh Kumar, a native
if India, purchased the busi-
ness from the Noble fami-
ly, recently.
Kumar brought a busi-
ness, Elder's Grocery locat-
ed on E. Main Street, a year
ago and sold it to another
Indian businessman,
George Joseph.
Kumar plans to change
from Marathon to Phillips
66 oil products.
He is leasing the restau-
rant to Anthony Smith, who
has hired his aunt Faye
Smith, to operate the eatery.
Kumar said he paid $1.8
million for the truck stop.
He added that he has
never ran a truck stop
before but he likes busi-
nesses that he and his fam-
ily can operate. %Ve are look-
ing forward to the chal-
lenge," he stated.
Another business is
expanding its ways.
The International Cafe,
owned by Ricky Banks of
Hogansville, presently
located at the
Hummingbird Station, is
hoping to be relocated by
the springtime.
Renovations are under
way on the old Wayback
Steakhouse located on the
backside of the
Hummingbird Station for
the move.
Steven Wilson, Jr., who
owns the Hummingbird
Station, is overseeing the
construction.
The Great Wall of China
has been purchased by Guo
Xiu Huang and expects to
open as soon as a food per-
mit is issued by the county.
George Joseph, of India,
has purchased R&S
Convenience Store and a
license for retail alcohol
was issued by the-
Hogansville City Council
on Monday evening.
BACK IN BUSINESS - Nobles Truck Stop will open on Monday under a new name
and ownership. The owner, Adarsh Kumar (R), is pictured above with his son, BenSingh
Kumar (C) and brother, Sam Kumar. The new name will be SBS American Truck
Plaza and is located at Bass Crossroads at 1-85.
Creekside
Seeks $58k
For i00es
City Is Asked to Pay
'Part or All' for Work
By BRYAN GETER
Patrick Gehren repre-
senting Creelside
Developers told the
Hogansville City Council
Monday evening that it would
cost $58,000 to install under-
ground electric lines in the
subdivision.
Gehren said that only
$30,000 was budgeted for the
installation and the owners
have instructed him that they
were not going to spend
$58,000.
"I am asking the city to
pay part or all of this since it
will be in the best interest of
the city," Gehren said. "Pay
what you would pay if it was
to be overhead les."
"I think the CiW would
save money," he added.
Gehren said he thinks the
project is worth the $58,000,
but the owners say it doesn't
make economic sense.
"They have spent more
money to rejuvenate the sub-
division than was expected,"
He stated, "and now we are
making progress on the
acceleration and decelera-
tion lanes."
"I think we can do what
we said we would do with the
overhead lines," Councilman
Jimmy Jackson stated.
"Other developers will come
and ask us for the same thing."
Mayor Wilson St. Clair
said he wanted to see what it
will cost to go overhead with
the lines and underground as
well.
Jackson stated that he
would like to see the propos-
al on paper.
The subdivision was orig-
inally named Village at
Huntcliff, The new owners
changed the name to
Creekside.
Gehren said the first
phase will consist of 60
homes.
When completed, there
will be 460 homes, he added.
°The City of Hogansville
was fined recently $1,250 by
the Georgia Environmental
Protection Division for a
60,000 gallon sewage spill
that occurred between
November 8-11 at the
Creekside Subdivision.
Aldrich said there was a
blockage in a line causing the
spillage and the city quickly
responded and corrected the
problem.
By Bryan Geter
PROGRESS IN THE MAKING - The subdivision that has
been plagued by problems from its beginning, Huntcliff
which is now Creekside is seeing some head way DOT
workers are busy installing the acceleration and decelera
tion lanes at the entrance to the subdivision
Police Rescue Abused Dog;
Arrest Humans for DUI
By BRYAN GETER
The Hogansville Police
made several arrests over the
Christmas and New Year hol-
idays.
On December 29, police
answered a call and about a
dog that had gotten away.
They were trying to find a
cable for e dog that had
gotten out of a fence on
Dickinson Street.
Officer Summerlin came
across a cable and pulled
upon it only to find a small
English Bulldog attached to
the other end.
Officers observed the
animal and said its ribs were
showing and couldn't walk for
falling down.
Police put the dog into the
patrol car and took it to the
police station.
A veterinarian was called
in LaGrange. The dog was
observed for several days
and taken to the vet where it
was diagnosed as malnour-
ished, dehydrated and very
See POLICE, Page 2A
,5,,,. Police Investigate 23 Theft 18 Burglaries in December
BRYAN GETER
The Hogansville Police had a
..' ',, y monm auri g December as
))P,ltlll
y had a number of calls for serv-
Police made 70 escorts, assist-
ed motorists 27 times and answered
noise complaint 27 times.
There was one assault call, four
battery calls, 16 disorderly conduct
and 14 domestic violence calls.
The police department investi-
gated 23 thefts, 18 burglaries, seven During December, police issued
entering auto., six criminal trespass 128 citations and another 86 warn-
cases and one forgery, ings.
They made 37 alarm calls and Officers arrested 33 for misde-
had 25 suspicious person calls and meanors, 10 for felonies and two
15 suspicious vehicle calls in juveniles, :
December. Some 59 incident reportswere
made and 12 accident reports were
made.
The department served 34
state/bench warrants and four
city/probation warrants.
The refuse ordinance was bro-
,,ken by six people.
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