Page 6A
i orter
September 18, 2019
I N LO V I N G
George Lee Batchelor
December 25, 1949 - September 12, 2019
Forsyth George Lee "Buddy"
Batchelor passed away Thursda
September 12, 2019. Services were
held Monday September 16, 2019 at
Monroe County Memorial Chapel.
Entombment followed in Macon
Memorial Park Cemetery with full
military honors. Rev. Carl Gregory
officiated.
Buddy, the son of the late George I H|LOR
Washington Batchelor and Maxine
Floyd Batchelor was born Decem-
ber 25, 1949, in Macon, Georgia. His brother, Terry
(Luke) Allen Batchelor and his son George Lee Batch-
elor Jr. preceded him in death. He was retired from the
United States Marine Corps, serving during Vietnam
and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple
Heart Medal.
Buddy is survived by his wife, Peggy Diane Batchelor,
children, Diane Batchelor, Cindy Linares (Miguel),
Randy Lee Batchelor, Jennifer Lord (Alan) and Chris-
tina Rich (Charlie) all of Forsyth. His 12 grandchildren
Jasmyne Justice, Jaycee Justice, Braxton Lord, Saul
Batchelor, Tyler Batchelor, Esmerelda Linares, Chyanna
Batchelor, Rylan Masterman, Kayden Batchelor, Hunter
Batchelor, Hayden Lord and Rebecca Mccormick. Sis-
ters, JoAnn Caldwell (Charles) of Roberta, Beth Jones
(Larry) of Warner Robins and Jan Hutto of Fitzgerald;
brothers, Jack Batchelor (Cyndi) of Crawford County
and Roy Batchelor (Lynn) of Twiggs County; and nu-
merous brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Please visit www.monroecountymemorialchapel.com
to express tributes.
Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of ar-
rangements.
Charles Smallwood
July 3, 1944 - September 15, 2019
Forsyth - Charles Smallwood passed away Sunday,
Sept. 15, 2019. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m
Sunday, Sept, 22 at Forsyth City Cemetery. The family
will greet friends following the service at the graveside
Charles, the son of the late Robert Lee SmaUwood
and Clara Bell Griffin Smallwood, was born July 3,
1944, in Gainesville. His wife, Frances Zellner Small-
wood, preceded him in death. He was a retired owner
and operator of a Starter and Alternator Shop.
Survivors include his son, Thomas Smallwood
(Amanda), sisters, Dorothy Keller and Anna Bell Gray;
brothers Mark Smallwood and Clarence Smallwood;
grandson, Jon-Warren C. Smallwood; and good frien&
Arthur Bonilla.
Please visit www.monroecountymemorialchapel.com
to express tributes.
Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of ar-
rangements.
Gloria Watkins
September 16, 1971 - September 12, 2019
Forsyth - Funeral services for Mrs. Gloria Jean
Watldns, 47, were held Monday, Sept. 16 at Union Hill
Missionary Baptist Church, Forsyth. Pastor Rufus J.
Whatley officiated. Burial was in Rest Haven Cemeter
Freeman Funeral Home, Forsyth was in charge of ar-
rangements.
Mattie Jo Phillips
May 21, 1946 - September 1.1, 2019
Forsyth - Funeral services for Mrs. Mattie Jo Phillips,
73, will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at Saint
Luke A.M.E. Church, Forsyth. Pastor Charles Dumas
Sr. will officiate. Burial will be in the Forsyth City Cem-
etery. Freeman Funeral Home, Forsyth was in charge of
arrangements.
your local Monroe Count/representative
Scott Harre
478-256-3586
or toll free: 800-551-1102
3250 Y nevi!!.e.Avg,GA 3 !208 (
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymc~net
Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson used
his time on the city council agenda
on Sept. 16 for his Mayor's Report to
express his displeasure with articles
in the Sept. 11 Reporter about For-
syth's stance on solar energy. He said
that "three columns and one edito-
rial" were "fake news" He said the
reporter lacked journalistic integrity.
Wilson said the Reporter did not
allow him to respond before last
week's edition, then said that when he
was asked to respond in an interview
and given the opportunity to write
his own response for this week's edi-
tion, he declined. He said the Report-
er was "lobbing" stories and trying to
keep the issue going.
Wilson said the Reporter conduct-
ed no research, in spite of the articles
reflecting interviews with four differ-
ent people and attendance at the city's
work session as well as information
on the solar policies of three other
local power providers and the Middle
Georgia/Clean Air Coaltion 2019
promoti6n of solar panels. One story
reported that Casfleberrv Dm,
spent $42,000 on solar panels and the
city refused to let them be used.
Wilson said city manager Janice
Hall said Castleberry Drugs was not
issued a permit for solar distribution
although they may have been issued
a building and/or electrical permit
to install solar panels. Although the
Castleberry building is across the
street from the city's Welcome Center
and its second floor offices over-
look the unused solar panels on the
Castleberry roof, Wilson acknowl-
edged that no one from the city told
the installers that the panels could
not be used until they were already in
place. He said the owner should have
known that he had to get a different
permit to turn on the solar panels
than to operate them.
Wilson took issue that the reporter
who wrote the story contacted the
building owner, business owner and
company that installed the solar pan-
els after council members referred to
the situation with Castleberry in their
work session on Aug. 19. Although
there was no agenda published for
the work session, Wilson said its
purpose was to consider adjusting
the solar policy. During the work ses-
sion city utility engineer John Hewitt
reiterated that the city did not have
to buy any more solar power and
should not accept solar power from
its customers.
Wilson said he has never seen a
newspaper article that did not ask
for a comment from others involved,
at least to say that they declined to
comment.
Wilson proposed the city begin live
streaming all of its meetings so that
the public can watch them without
waiting to read about them in The
Reporter. Council member Melvin
Lawrence asked if Forsyth Cablenet
wasn't recording and broadcasting
council meetings. Hall said Forsyth
Cablenet was supposed to be record-
ing and broadcasting the meetings
but was not coming regularly any
more and the person taping the
meetings often left before they ended,
saying they were out of tape.
Council member John Howard
said even when the Cablenet record-
ings aired, it was hard to hear what
was said in the meetings. Council
member Julius Stroud said some of
the meetings were put on YouTube
and asked how that had worked. Hall
said it was also hard to hear anything
See MAYOR Page 7A
Continued from Front
at Anderson Stadium en
route to a 35-21 win. MP's
Quen Wilson and J.T.
Hartage were the stars in
the 2018 showdown with
Wilson accounting for 210
total yards (134 rushing
and 76 receiving) and two
touchdowns and Hartage
totaling 267 total yards
(175 passing and 92 rush-
ing) and two touchdowns.
MP also scored a pair of
defensive touchdowns in
the victory with Daniel
Lavelle taking a fumble 32
yards for a score and Des-
mond Williams returning
an interception 42 yards for
another TD. However, the
Trojans dominated in their
most recent visit to Forsyth
in 2017, scoring 35 unan-
swered points to erase an
early 14-0 deficit en route
to a 35-14 win.
Although the Trojans,
2-1, are coming off of a dis-
appointing 32-31 overtime
road loss against AAAAAA
Houston County last Fri-
day; Peach County retained
the No. 1 ranking in Sun-
day's Atlanta Journal-Con-
stitution (AJC) AAA poll.
The Trojans squandered
a 24-10 second-half lead
against the Bears, falling
on a HoCo game-winning,
two-point conversion.
According to the Hous-
ton Home Journal, Peach
County running back
Noah Whittington scored
the go-ahead TD for the
Trojans in overtime, but the
Bears' Eric Williams an-
swered with his own score
to draw HoCo to within
31-30. Houston County
then unexpectedly ended
the classic showdown
when Bears' quarterback
Max Rigby connected with
receiver laylen Mills on a
game-winning two-point
try to complete a stunning
upset.
Peach County has already
defeated in 2019 the two
teams that squared off
in the 2018 AAAAAA
state title game, defend-
ing champion Lee County
(40-17 on Sept. 6) and
last year's runner-up
Northside-Warner Robins
(21-13 on Aug. 31). The
Trojans are no stranger to
state championship games
themselves, having lost
each of the past two AAA
championship games in
heartbreaking fashion. In
2017, Peach County fell to
Calhoun 10-6 largely as a
result of an controversial
officiating call that wiped
away a go-ahead Trojans'
score. Then in 2018, Peach
County lost 14-13 to Cedar
Grove when the nation's
top receiver recruit ]adon
Haselwood made a contest-
ed game-winning 22-yard
touchdown catch with four
seconds to play.
The Trojans' 2019 offense
is led by senior quarterback
Jaydon Gibson, who com-
pleted 11 of 15 passes for
83 yards against Houston
County while adding 85
more yards on the ground.
Gibson, a 2nd Team All-
State selection as a junior,
completed 23 of 33 passes
for 231 yards with one
touchdown and one inter-
ception in last year's loss to
ME He also led the Trojans
in rushing with 38 yards
and a score on 17 carries.
In addition to Gibson and
Whittington, the Trojans'
offense features one of the
state's top recruits in 6'4".
282-pound junior offensive
tackle Terrence Ferguson,
who is deciding between
some of the country's top
programs including Ala-
bama and Georgia.
On defense, Peach
County features stars at
all three levels with 6'4'
253-pound senior defen-
sive end hqualin McGhee
anchoring the defensive
line, 6'0", 217-pound inside
linebacker Sergio Allen, a
Clemson commit, lead-
ing the Trojans in tackles,
and 6'0", 195-pound senior
safety Talique Allen, a
Western Kentucky com-
mit, providing stability in
the defensive backfield. In
addition, the Trojans also
have an all-state caliber
return man in senior Justin
Harris on special teams.
Meanwhile, MP, which
has not lost more than two
regular season games in a
single year since 2010, is off
to a wildly uneven 2-2 start.
All four contests so far in
2019 have been decided by
seven points or less, and
MP's season point differ-
ential is exactly zero with
113 points scored and 113
points allowed.
The Bulldogs' offense,
averaging 28.3 points per
game is right on pace with
every other MP offense
under head coach Brian
Nelson prior to last year's
offensive juggemaut, which
broke every major single
season program record.
However, the MP defense,
yielding 28.3 points per
game, is on pace to be
the Dogs' worst scoring
defense post World War
II. The previous record for
highest single game points
allowed average came in
1961 when Dan Pitts' 0-10
squad surrendered 25.3
points per game. In fact,
only four MP teamssince
World War II have given
up more than 19 points per
game.
The Bulldogs are ex-
pected to be without
all-purpose standout Rico
Harden for the second
straight week. Harden,
who injured his foot in
the Dogs' Sept. 6 win over
Morrow, is anticipated to
return after MP's bye week
when the Bulldogs travel to
Spalding to begin Region
2-AAAA play on Oct. 4. In
Hardens absence, junior
William Stewart had one of
the top offensive nights in
program histor5 amassing
214 rushing yards and two
touchdowns in MP's 29-27
loss at Lover on Saturday.
MP trails the all-time se-
ries with Peach County 7-8
with the first meeting com-
hag in 1972. Between 1949-
1969, the Bulldogs faced off
with Peach County's pre-
decessor school Fort Valley
each year with MP winning
9 of the 21 meetings.
Peach County head coach
Chad Campbell is in his
13th year at the helm, hav-
ing led the Trojans to a 134-
27 mark, including a AAA
state championship during
a spotless 15-0 campaign in
2009. The Trojans have not
missed the state playoffs
since 1990 and have won
fewer than eight games in
a season just twice in the
last 29 years. Peach County
has put nine players in the
NFL, including current
Kansas City Chiefs receiver
Demarcus Robinson, who
scored a pair of touch-
downs on Sunday against
the Oakland Raiders.
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