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The
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Formerly The Hogansville Herald
I
Serving the HogansvillelGrantviUe Area Since 1944
PRSRT STD
AUTO
U. S. POSTAGE PAID
HOGANSVILLE, GA
PERMIT NO. 35
60, NO. 28
HOGANSVILLE, GEORGIA-THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2003
10 PAGES • 1 SECTION • 1 INSERT • 50€
Clue:
Cable TV
Smoker
CLAYBROOK
A thief who hit the
Chevron
in Hogansville on
2 must have been a
r smoker.
Or maybe he had a bunch
f fireworks to set off on the
July holiday.
According to a police
two men walked into
station at 1879 Main
"walked around for a
then while one
the on-
cashier, the other made
with "a Zippo lighter dis-
with lighters."
"the suspect removed the
r case and walked out
door and put it into
1990s Toyota, pickup"
to the police
"got in the truck and
away."
• In an unrelated incident,
Cato reported that
took a red
from underneath
Cato's Restaurant on
r 29 South.
told police he'd been
from under the
and left the
Checks,
Graves
CostMore
It CLINT CLAYBROOK
Folks who write hot
to the City of
will pay more in
check charges" in
The
Council voted
Monday night
the fee from $20
And folks who want
ed on weekends
see a higher charge for
service.
The City Council gave
approval at its regular
night meeting to
that fee from $200 to
The "grave opening"
will remain $200
By Cllnt Claybrook
TIMBER! - Professional Tree Surgeon employees were hard at work Monday after-
noon, felling some of the 20 trees they were removing from the Head Housin!;I
Complex property in Hogansville. The removal of the diseased trees will make wa'/
for playground equipment, said Johnny Nunis, owner of the LaGrange company.
Complaints
Continue
City Officials, Residents
Unhappy With Service
of a free long distance num-
By CLINT CLAYBROOK
Hogansville residents-
at least a handful of them -
at a Monday night City
Council meeting let a repre-
sentative of Comcast, the
Cable TV provider for the
city, know just what they
think of the reception and
service they get.
And none of them had
anything good to say.
Mayor Wilson St: Clair
'has recently been a some-
what vocal critic of the Cable
TV service.
He said Monday night, for
example, that maybe with the
coming of a high-tech fiber
optic system to the city, "We'll
get a cable s£stem that the
city can be prod of, becasue
we haven't had one yet."
City Council has agreed to let
Comport LLC build a new
fiber-optic system here that
will, in time, provide those
who choose its service with
telephone, Cable TV and
high-speed Internet service.
Comport LLC and
Scientific Atlanta represen-
tatives were at the council
meeting, as was Andy Macke,
who is director of govern-
ment and community affairs
for Comcast Atlanta.
Scientific Atlanta will pro-
vide engineering services for
the system Comport will
build.
Macke acknowledged
that it was prior news stories
about Comport LLC's plans
that attracted him to the
meeting -the fiber optics sys-
tem Comport plans would be
a competitor for Cable TV
subscribers in Hogansville.
Macke assured the crowd
that his company intends to
give good service, and said
he'd take complaints about
poor reception and the lack
ber for service problems
back to Atlanta with him.
As for the mayor's com
plaints?
"He's entitled to them,"
Macke said, emphasizing that
Comcast's goals include
becoming a part of commu-
nities the company serves.
A FEW PEOPLE at the
meeting said they have trou-
ble with reception on three
different channels and then
have to pay for telephone
calls when they want to com-
plain.
Macke promised to have
the complaints looked into
this week. He said free phone
calls had been eliminated by
mistake.
Cable subscribers here
"deserve a little attention and
'rmJ.£nake sure it
i ppen-s/'h said, addingthat
the issues enumerated at the
meeting would be addressed
this week.
AS FOR Comport's plans,
the council was told that it
might take two years to get
that system up and operating
completely. The system will
serve the whole city, but indi
vidual residents would have
to "opt in" to receive its serv-
ices.
Prices would vary
according to service each
customers wants, Craig
Thigpen said.
Hogansville will be only'
the second Georgia city with
a complete fiber optic sys-
tem, the council was told.
Dalton is the only other
Georgia city with compara-
ble service, Comport and
Scientific Atlanta represen-
tatives said.
Reliable TV service
wouldbe welcomed, said City
Councilman Jimmy Jackson:
'"Ne've got all the high-prices
and poor service already."
'Auto' Matic Prosperity
HogansviUe, Troup Would Benefit from Ford Plant
By Clint Claybrool
Kip Purvis is optimistic that Ford will pick Meriwether, but knows that the
and the one near Madison both have pluses and minuses: "Our rural nature" is
and a potential drawback, he says.
By CLINT CLAYBROOK
Grantville and Luth-
ersville would apparently be
the biggest immediate bene-
ficiaries of a new manufac-
turing plant that Ford Motor
Company is said to be con-
sidering, if that plant ends up
on a 1,300-acre site near
Luthersville.
But other area towns and
counties would also benefit
from the arrival of a plant
that might employ 2,000 peo-
ple and attract hundreds of
other jobs to firms that would
supply the Ford facility.
Hogansville and Troup
County would be high on that
list, says Hogansville City
Manager David Aldrich, who
like other city and county offi-
cials in the area, is eagerly
awaiting Ford's decision.
The prospective plant
sites have been narrowed to
Morgan County and the one
near Lut hersville/Grantville.
CENTER OF ATTENTION- Meriwether's site is in the
extreme northwest comer of the county next to 1-85 and
actually spills into Coweta.
The coming of Ford
"would not only be good for
Hogansville, it would open up
all of NortlTroup County" to
• developmenfi Aldrich said.
• Perhaps more important-
ly, he noted, such develop-
ment would add significant-
ly to the county's tax base.
That would mean more rev-.
enue to the county treasury
without the necessity of new
property taxes having to be
generate by millage rate
increases.
Meantime, "The rumors
See FORD, Page 2A
