The Dodge County News

The Eastman Police Department reported the following arrests in the previous week.

Korey Lowrey, age 19, of 5335 Manhasset Cove in Atlanta was arrested for obstructing law enforcement officers and possession/ purchase alcohol under 21.

Hannah Davis, age 26, of 279 Highway 165 in Milan was arrested for criminal trespass, business.

Melinda Long, age 48, of 1623 Belleview Road in Dublin was arrested for driving while license suspended or revoked and failure to stop at stop/ yield sign.

Leonidas De La Cruz, age 42, of 334 5th Avenue Apartment C in Eastman was arrested for driving while unlicensed or expired new resident.

John Holder, age 37, of 395 Lee Street in Milan was arrested for probation violation.

Jennifer Coons, age 22, of 2661 Dublin Highway in Eastman was arrested for driving while license suspended or revoked.

Martrell Brown, age 33, of 306 South Road in Wauchula, Florida was arrested for driving wile license suspended or revoked and speeding.

Juan Felipe Reyes, age 39, of 5918 Asbury Drive Lot 5 in Eastman was arrested for driving while unlicensed or expired new resident.

Juvenile, age 12, of 120 Holder Place in Eastman was arrested for juvenile runaway.

Prophet Thomas, age 51, of 525 Plaza Avenue Apartment F28 in Eastman was arrested for terrorizing threats and acts.

Laurie Ethridge, age 64, of 5239 Smith Avenue in Eastman was arrested for failure to yield while turning left and driving under the influence of alcohol. [Full Story »] 

An Eastman police officer pulled an Eastman man from his vehicle, saving his life, just moments before a train hit the vehicle. According to the Georgia State Patrol report, Noe Ciriaco Enriquez Olivera, age 31, was driving his 1996 Ford Explorer on 14th Avenue at approximately 3:05 a.m. on Wednesday, June 15. The driver missed the railway crossing and drove down the left side of the tracks on the gravel before pulling onto the tracks. Eastman Police Officer Kale Dunn saw the Explorer and went up to the vehicle where he found Enriquez Olivera asleep at the wheel. Dunn pulled Enriquez Olivera from the vehicle just moments before a southbound Norfolk Southern train hit the vehicle, knocking it approximately 170 feet off the train tracks.

If Republicans have any sense (debatable) they should push an all-out anti-amnesty program in the November election, making it a part of the party platform. It’s American jobs vs. third world illegal invaders competing with law-abiding working American citizens who were already here.
“Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out.”
FrontPageMag.com
Bumper sticker of the day: Press 1 for English  Press 2 to Learn English.
Angry White Dude, on AngryWhiteDude.com, calls us “the United States of the Offended.” Yes, the offense industry is huge in the USA. Angry White Dude has a good read on current events in what used to be America. You should check him out. He’s actually pleasant, intelligent and polite in interviews.
Any time you have to rely on the word of a politician you’re in trouble.
A majority of married women vote Republican. The highly hyped gender gap is distorted by the overwhelming number of black females still buying into Democrats’ promises and reflexively voting Demoleft.                                                                         
Do you actually want to fundamentally transform America downward with Obama?
Perhaps a downside to having an impenetrable cockpit door in commercial airliners: It’s very possible the pilots have met for the first time on the plane.
Think your vote doesn’t count? Republican conservative Martha McSally won the disputed Arizona House seat in 2014 over liberal Democrat incumbent Ron Barber by 167 votes. Ron Barber had won the seat over Martha McSally in 2010 by just 2,454 votes. Of course, as we on The Right Side say, if you win by one vote, you win.
[Full Story »] 

On Monday, June 13 at approximately 10:11 a.m., a Norfolk Southern Railway train struck a tractor trailer’s lowboy trailer that was stuck on the track crossing at Fifth Avenue in Eastman. There was an excavator on the lowboy. The 2005 Kenworth that was pulling the lowboy trailer was not hit by the train. No one was injured in the crash, but traffic had to be diverted around the crossing until approximately 4:30 p.m. (Above) Eastman Fire Chief Carl Johnson surveys the damage. (Photo by Chuck Eckles)

By Taelor Rye
Eastman Dodge County Chamber of Commerce President Charles Williams approached the Eastman City Council at its June 13 meeting to present information regarding Georgia Read for Accelerated Development (GRAD) sites and funding for the chamber.
Williams opened his presentation with statistics, noting that Dodge County has decreased in population by 560 people over the past two years and that the projected population decrease by 330 is by 2,208 people to reach approximately 18,513 people, the lowest number since the 1950s. However, nearby counties Laurens, Coffee and Toombs are projected to increase in population.
“Of course, the reason is jobs,” Williams said. “We’re not attracting the industries that we’re going to have to attract in order to make our community grow.”
“In 1958, Coffee County instituted… $1 million set aside in its county property tax base to support directly the development authority… This year, that $1 million generated $800,000.00 to fund development in Coffee County,” Williams explained.
He continued, “In 1992… (Toombs County) city officials and county officials elected to add a $1 million tax increase to their property owners in the county… That results in $650,000.00 annually that they spend to promote the development of their county through the development authority.”
Additionally, according to Williams, Laurens County “funds the development authority with $300,000.00 as a cash contribution direct from the taxpayers as a result of property owners. They also give the development authority 25 percent of the collected SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax) every year so Laurens County is operating with $3.4 million every year toward development.” Williams noted that these are examples of necessary investments in the future.
Currently, the Eastman Dodge County Chamber of Commerce gets just under $80,000.00 in combined city and county funds, according to Williams; the development authority gets no regular funding from either the county or the city. However, “to grow, it’s going to take an investment on the part of the city and county for us to move forward,” Williams stated. “It’s something we’ve got to do.”
One particular investment opportunity, Williams proposed, is to set aside $1 million for GRAD sites. When calculated, that amount is only $22.01 per parcel within the city limits per year and only $29.00 per parcel for all properties in the county. Total, those who own property within the city limits would pay around $50.00 more per year.
With this money, GRAD sites could be set aside on property in the city or county. A GRAD site is in lieu of a spec building, which is built to a specification. Eastman has one, but Williams noted that businesses seeking to come to Eastman may not be interested in particular aspects of an already constructed building. Eastman’s has not been used in 10 years.
A GRAD site, on the other hand, requires outside hiring for legality as well as 50 acres of land already cleared for ecological questions. A road must be built into it, it must have water and sewage lines, and it must have electricity and natural gas, among other usual requirements.
This plot could then be sold to an interested business, as construction of the preferred building could be done within 120 days, Williams stated. With a spec building, however, a business has to decided whether to buy or refuse what is already built.
There are only around 45 GRAD sites available in the state of Georgia; all three regularly improving counties that Williams mentioned earlier in his presentation, Toombs, Coffee and Laurens, utilize GRAD sites.
“It will demonstrate a community willing to invest in itself rather than just sitting back. It’ll be the difference in simply trying to hold on to where we are versus building a road to a much brighter future. This is an idea that will work,” Williams said.
[Full Story »]