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HOGANSVILLE, GA
PERMIT NO 35
NO. 25
HOGANSVILLE, GEORGIA - THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2002
8 PAGES • 1 SECTION • 50€
Spradlin in, Odom Out
As City's Police Chief
By Bryan Geter
TALL - This sign, along with one
the on Hwy 54 near 1-85 at
Key West Inn and a billboard on
helped to boost business in town over the
Business owners gave much credit to
signs being in place.
Signs Credited
Sudden Crowds
Did you notice all the people in town last
According to Emmett Askew, 'rhere were more
in town Saturday than at any time since the
gbird Festival."
Maybe it's the new billboards and signs recent-
erected. On May 27 the billboard promoting
on Interstate 85 went up.
last--Twsd__ay many local merchants had
erected on the two boards on either side
near McDonald's and the Key West Inn.
The billboard on Interstate85 is sponsored by
Grand Hotel, Victoria Belle Special Event
v and the Hogansville Antique Mall.
The Main Street boards are sponsored by, in
the above, Askew RealW, Clemens & Co.
Dianne's Country Cooking, Ray Cheatham
Bank, Mack Reynolds, Attorney and
Hogan's Heroes,Van Byars Auction and
and William & Mary's Antiques & Sports
The signs also promote the city and the
Festival.
Bill Stankiewicz, Festival Chairman and
Hogansville Antique Mall said, "We
the increased traffic at the businesses at
Interstate and we needed a way to get those
downtown. The signs appear to be doing that."
Glenda Gordon, proprietress of the Grand Hotel
the billboard on 1-85, "So many visitors to
City told us we had a beautiful and charming
but they had never heard of Hogansville. The
Interstate seemed to be part of the
to that problem."
Cheatham, who has owned a business on
Street for the past 68 years stated, "It's won-
to see the bustle again. I remember when
ha't walk on the sidewalk on Main Street
afternoon. I'd like to see that again."
"Advertising and promotion is the key," opined
Cotmcil member and business owner Jack
"We are competing with towns like
that has done a superior job with the
Town Program," he continued. "We
to our tax base by adding new homes in
our financial challenges. And having
visitors shows them that Hogansville is a ter-
#
the Hogansville City
Voted in to give consent to
the Cable
to AT&T Comcast
the board had several
for AT&T Broadband
LeVoyd L Carter, II.
Charlie E Martin
the city's service is going
"I have been disgusted
I missed the NBA play-
to the fact the cable was
"he said.
the first that
problems here
back
decision makers, which
s the company's vice-pr'esi-
said, "It is no way you
By Bryan Geter
The Hogansville City
Council last Friday named
Investigator Guy Spradlin to
serve as interim police chief
for the next six months.
The action came a day
after Chief Hilton Odom
announced his retirement.
Hogansville City
Manager David Aldrich said
he hated to see Odom leave.
"He is a good man," Aldrich
said, "I have enjoyed work-
ing with him and wish him
the best on his retirement."
Odom, 60, was questioned
during the Hogansville City
Council meeting two weeks
ago by Councilman Bobby
Joe Frazier concerningthe
police department.
Frazier asked Odom if the
patrol cars were equipped
with certain necessary items
such as car jacks, first-aid
kits, flashlights and guns.
Then, Frazier asked him
when was the last time his
department made a drug raid
without outside help.
But Councilman Jack
Leidner id he di't know
of anyone who didn't like
Odom and wishes him well on
his retirement.
Leidner said it is time for
HPD to move on and into new
things.
He said the city spends
$600,000 annually on police
protection and "if we are
going to get our money's
worth, we'll have to move on
and use a more innovative
management process."
After 35 years in law
enforcement, Odom retired
last Thursday and headed to
the mountains to relax and be
initiated into the Shriners at
Helen. Then he will attendhis
son's wedding this week in
Gatlinburg.
Odom started his career
in law enforcement in
PJEADY TO - Hogansville new im Police Guy n is no r .to
the depadrnent. He has been a Hogansville policemen as well as a department inv.e.-
gater for more than four years. Spradlin took the reins last week after former Chief Hdton
Od¢ retired.
LaGrange and spent the past
25 years in Hogansville.
He joined the Hogansville
Police Department in August,
1977 after being an officer
for the LaGrange PD for
more than 10 years.
He became the Chief in
1997, overseeing a depart-
ment of ten officers and four
di
Aldrich said he didn't
think the council was in any
tremendous hurry to hire a
new chief.
Spradlin, 34, said the
council told him that at the
end of six months, they will
re-evaluate him for possibly
becoming the new chief.
Spradlin, who is married
and had two children, has
been in law enforcement for
14 years.
He worked for the
Newnan PD for more than
eight years, came to
Hogansville for one year and
then worked for Coweta
County Sheriffs Department
for eight months before
returning to Hogansville PD
four years ago.
Spradlin said his goal is
to bring the moral up at the
police department and
enforce the city ordinances.
"My goal is to get drugs
out of town and get the crime .
rate down in Hogansville.,"
he said.
"I want a safe environ-
ment for our kids to grow up
in," he stated.
"I am asking the citizens
of Hogansville to help by call-
ing when there are burgla-
ries, thefts and drug prob-
lems," he added.
Spradlin said he also plan
to establish an in-house drug
unit to fight this crime.
Spradlin said this promo-
tion came as a "big surprise."
Parker said this house
contained several items that
belonged to her brother,
Jinuny Parker of Tampa Fla.,
who is helping his sister re-
model her house.
She stated a neighbor saw
a man who he identified as
one who was helping Parker's
brother as the one he saw
walking around the house
while they were gone.
When questioned, the
man, Josh Sherrer, said he
only came to get gas but his
brother, Jermey Shorter, told
Parker the knife was at his
grandmother's house, but he
didn't know anything about
where the gun went. The
value of the firearm is $250.
The ease was turned over
for investi_gation.
' Councilmen Grill Cable TV Attorney
should be out of service from Friday
until Monday. Federal law say no
one should be out for more than 24
hours."
Mayor Wilson St. Clair said,
"Some of the problems with our
cable is that we are at the end of the
line and we can't get any coopera-
tion."
Carter, who works for AT&T
BroadBand, said he will commit to
the citizens and the City of
Hogansville to solve the cable prob-
lems. He said he can't get it done
over night, but he said he will solve
the problems.
Carter said this Franchise will
send a representative to this area
who will know what is going on so
we can provide better service.
Councilman Jimmy Jackson
asked Carter what he would do about
the bill when the server is off-line.
Carter said he would address the
problem with the city manager to
get the people's credits to them
when the problems do occur.
One citizen complained that the
cable line stayed unburied in her
yard for a year before her husband
took it out of the yard.
Carter said the company has 10
days to bury the cable after it is
installecL
Former Councilman Ezra
Whitmore asked Carter what the
merger of AT&T Broadband and
complete, citizens will be able to get
through for service much quicker.
• In other business, Aldrich told
the council that his departments
have been busy fixing water leaks
all over town. He said the cause of
these breakage is that the ground
is heating up and expanding and
pipes are bursting. .
He asked the citizens when they
Comcast Corp. do for Hogansville
HeassuredWhitmorethatare "headway" in the area of water,"
resentative will be in Hogansville . Aldrich stated, "and the yffld
to get things done. is in better shape, also."
Carter said the merger should St. Clair told Aldrich that his
be completed by the end of the year. departments are going a great job.
He said the merger has already
taken nearly a year. -Jackson asked the city manag-
Carter said once the merger is er how the inventory at theeity barn
was coming. "We have no idea what
we l'ave over there," Jackson said.
Martin said the city has pastdue
utiET bill dating as far back as I0
years and asked Attorney Dan Lee
how far could they go back to col-
lect.
Le anmvcn'ed, four years.
said he thinks the city
should get involved to try and col-
lar since the firm they hired is not
see water leakages, to call city doing to good of a job.
He ff the ty collected the
and let them know so th could get pastae premiums, they could save
them repaired_
"We are making significant on what are paying the firm.
Martin also asked ff it would be
legal to have the community work-
ers help with the trash and limb
pickup over the city.
Councilman Bobby Joe Frazier
asked what could be done with the
tractor/trailer rigs coming through
town making so much noise.
The Hogansville Police
Department handled several
calls over last week includ-
ing two burglaries.
.On Tuesday, Mary Nell
Rosser of 100 Cranston Drive
told police someone entered
her house and took seven bed
covers valued at $45 and five
By Bryan Geter
pair of socks valued at $3.
This incident was turned
over for investigation.
*In a separate incident,
Debra Parker of 104 Maple
Drive told police that two
months ago, her family went
to Atlanta to visit friends and
upon returning, she noticed
a hand gun and a knife were
missing from a rooming
house behind the main heuse.
Police Probing Two Burglaries
