ONE YEAR AGO, SEPT. 9, 2021
In the upcoming Eatonton City Council election, while Ward 3 is the only city council seat where the incumbent has a challenger, Ward 1 is the only seat where an incumbent chose not to run for re-election. The qualified candidate for Ward 1 is Mylle Mangum, who is running without opposition.
Incumbent William C. Mangum Jr., Mylle’s husband, has held the seat for over 10 years and decided it was time to move on.
FIVE YEARS AGO, SEPT. 7, 2017
Requests made in recent public hearings in Putnam and Baldwin counties for additional protection during the dewatering process at Plant Branch were met with disagreement by the Environmental Protection Division, The Messenger has learned. After the organization received public comments at town hall meetings held this past June, Georgia EPD advised the House Natural Resources Coal Ash Ad Hoc Committee Aug. 29 that those methods suggested by affected residents would significantly delay the closure of the ponds and would likely result in no improvements to the environment.
25 YEARS AGO, SEPT. 11, 1997
A proposed 1-cent sales tax, if approved by the voters, should raise about $12.5 million for county schools, but in deciding whether to vote for or against the tax, Putnam County voters still don’t have much information about how the majority of the money will be spent. Putnam County Schools Superintendent Al Reaves said a little more than $4 million will pay the principal and interest on bonds the county sold two years ago to pay for construction of the new elementary and middle schools, but that leaves more than $8.3 million unaccounted for.
50 YEARS AGO, SEPT. 7, 1972
Dr. Paul G. Mayer has been gentling the mighty Oconee River with baby powder. It’s all in his labs at Georgia Tech, where he has built models of the new Wallace dam that will be upstream from the Lake Sinclair reservoir between Eatonton and Sparta. Along with baby powder, he has been spilling bright red food dye into the water around the two models to clarify currents and edify eddies. “We’re doing to water what they do to air in wind tunnels,” Dr.
Mayer says. He’s professor of civil engineering at Tech and has been studying models for more than a year now.
75 YEARS AGO, SEPT. 11, 1947
Premium books for Putnam County’s Fair, scheduled for Oct. 13-18, will be issued within the next 10 days or two weeks, Major W.D. Candler, commander of the American Legion, Putnam Post No. 19, announced this week. Committees are winding up work on the premium book this week, he said, and plans are being laid for booth arrangements.
100 YEARS AGO, SEPT. 8, 1922
The fall term of the Eatonton High School opened Monday morning with a large attendance marked by a well filled auditorium where pupils, patrons and well-wishers gathered to participate in the launching of the year’s work.