Tax increases, budget cuts facing local voters

It's tax time again. Not for you and me -- that it's in April. But it's the time of year when state and local governments decide on their budgets for the coming fiscal year, and that includes deciding whether to raise taxes.

• Jefferson County residents are slated to go to the polls June 21 to vote on a one-cent sales tax increase to fund additional fire protection, economic development and recreation, according to the News and Farmer. The $3M in fire money would buy eight new fire engines, five tanker trucks, two rescue trucks and other equipment.
• Putnam County is looking at a sales tax increase to fund several local projects; this story in the Eatonton Messenger specifically talks about improvements to the local hospital.
• The Washington County school board is trying to trim its budget proposal. They'll have to pay out more this year because of a state mandated raise for teachers; at the same time, they've lost $500,000 in state and federal funding, and the kaolin companies are fighting to pay less property taxes, according to the Sandersville Progress.

Strange case: Jefferson Co. man and his grown daughter charged with incest

The father is 63 and the daughter is 35, according to the Jefferson News and Farmer. The man's wife and the woman's mother fatally drove her Cadillac into a nearby pond about two months ago, and police are now investigating whether the possible suicide was related to the incest case. They live near Moxley, Ga. Read WJBF-TV's version of the story here.

Sunken CSS Georgia may be brought back to land

But it sounds like there's not much left of it. It's been sitting in the Savannah harbor since it was scuttled there in 1864 to avoid Sherman taking it. It was an ironclad.

Seems like there's a big push in the past few years to bring up old ships on the sea bottom. Made me wonder about what happened to some others:
+ They resurrected the Confederate submarine the CSS Hunley a few years ago off the South Carolina coast and buried the remains of its crew.
+ The most famous of the Civil War ironclads, of course, were the Union Monitor and the Confederate Merrimac, also called the Virginia. It sounds like The Monitor is being brought to the surface one piece at a time over the course of several years -- the Mariners' Museum is planning to open the U.S. Monitor Center in Newport News, Virginia, where the Monitor sank, in 2007. You can buy your own "Property of the U.S.S. Monitor" t-shirt through their online gift shop. As for the Merrimac, it didn't last too much longer after its famous battle with the Monitor; its crew blew it up to keep the Union from getting at it. It was salvaged not long after the Civil War ended. Some parts of it are at the Mariners' Museum, some at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, and other pieces are elsewhere. The Museum of the Confederacy Web site is here.
+ The Titanic was found in 1985 off the coast of Nova Scotia. Wikipedia says more than 6,000 artifacts have been removed from it. A team from NOAA visited the wreckage in 2003. For an interesting piece about someone upset that people would make money off the removal of Titanic artifacts, check this out.
+ The Edmund Fitzgerald, made famous in song by Gordon Lightfoot, is still on the bottom of the big lake they call Gitcheegumee, er, Lake Superior, where it sank in 1975. In 1995, a consortium of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, the families of the Fitz's crew and others had the ship's bell removed and brought back to the surface, where it was rung in honor of the dead at a memorial service. Divers put a new bell back on the shipwreck with the names inscribed of those who lost their lives on the ship. (This was done with the permission of the Canadian government and the ship's owners.) Who was Edmund Fitzgerald, anyhow? He was the head of an insurance company. That and other interesting facts here.

Warren County 2nd-highest unemployment rate in state

Our rate was 10.5%, just under Macon County's at 10.4%, for April of this year. That's twice the statewide average of 4.7%. Warren and Macon appear to be the only counties in double-digits. Some of our neighbors: McDuffie, 7.4%; Washington, 5.9%; Hancock, 7.3%. (Link goes to PDF file from the state Labor Dept)

Oral arguments later this month on small schools lawsuit

McDuffie, Jefferson counties are among 51 rural school districts suing the state over how it doles out education money. The hearing had been put off because of the big courthouse shooting in Atlanta.

Warren County has more cows than people

Warren County had 6,860 cattle and calves when the last federal Census of Agriculture was taken, and had 6,336 human inhabitants when the last federal people-census was taken. The numbers are a tad outdated; the Ag Census was last taken in 2002, and the people-counting was done in 2000.
Meanwhile, we also had 531 goats, 316 horses and ponies and 157 hogs and pigs. (Link goes to PDF file)

Five members of one family killed in Greene County holiday weekend wreck

The members of the Carter family, from Atlanta, were on I-20 on their way back from Myrtle Beach when the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel.