On Monday, May 21st, the Southern Farmer’s Association (SFA) had their annual farmer’s picnic for the local farmers of Ellijay and to award four $500 scholarship awards. Also with the May 25th qualification approaching, and the July 31st Election lingering, several of the primary’s candidates made it out to the event.SFA presented four high school students with senior scholarship awards. The scholarship winners were Savannah Elmore, Jessica Payne, Casey Ellis, and Collan Sanford.

Tim Parks, Vice President of the Southern Farmer’s Association said of the scholarships,

“We’re just glad to get to give these scholarships with the help of the Association. We appreciate all of the support and would like to increase the membership and get more people to join the organization. This is all about the kids and it helps them growing up.”

At the event, the local farmers also had the surprise opportunity to hear many of the upcoming July 31st Election candidates speak about how they could benefit Gilmer County.

Each of the candidates who were at the event was given two minutes to explain what makes them the best candidate for the job. Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, who is running for reelection this year, said in his speech,

“I was elected in 2004. I’ve been the Sheriff for the last 8 years and I’m in my 21st year with the Sheriff’s office…When I took the Sheriff’s office over in 2004 it had some really good folks in it, but nobody was going in the same direction. In less than three years, I brought that direction to the Sherriff’s office and in 2008 we received our State certification…It’s a completely voluntary program, but it says a lot about the professionalism of the Sherriff’s office. We do strive for more professionalism every day, but at the same time I’m still your Sherriff. If you got a problem, you can come to me. I’m in the office everyday and answering phone calls…”

Tommy Hunter, also a candidate for Sheriff in the upcoming July 31st Election said in his address,

“I have 32 years in law enforcement. I started when I was 24 years old. I am currently employed with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s office. I have worked here in Gilmer County under Ferman Stanley, Larry Henson, and then with the Gilmer County Police Department. I feel like there are some issues that need to be addressed. I’m going to address those issues, and I’m actually going to bring our budget back under control.”

Also speaking at the event were District Attorney Candidates Incumbent Joe Hendricks and Alison Sosebee, Probate Judge Candidates Incumbent Anita Mullins and Lou Jean Hill, Chief Magistrate Candidate Incumbent Ronald Newton and Gilmer County Sheriff Candidates Incumbent Stacy Nicolson and Tommy Hunter. Other candidates included Tax Commissioner Candidates Becky Marshall, Merle Howell Naylor, Charlie Paris and Ermelleana Lambert, School Board Candidates Jim Palmer and Angie Thomas, Clerk of Superior Court Candidate Incumbent Glenda Sue Johnson, and County Commissioner Post 1 Candidate Jerry Tusso.

Southern Farmer’s Association President Mark Hice said of the event,

“It’s an annual picnic we do every year on the farmer’s behalf. Most of the time we do it in June, but this year we decided to do it in May.”

Hice said that the event was also a chance for many of the farmers to get together and talk about rules and regulations that are important to farmers. When asked if there had been anything passed recently in legislation that the farmers were concerned about, Hice said,

“No, there really hasn’t been anything passed recently that we are concerned about statewide. We are more concerned with County zoning than anything else.”

Hice further explained that he didn’t want the county’s farmers to be prohibited from farming because of County zoning laws.

“We just want to do everything we can do to protect the farmers,”

Hice said.