Anniversary approaches for one of Chattooga County’s deadliest fires

SUMMERVILLE — As the anniversary of one of the deadliest fires in Chattooga County approaches, some firemen are getting a little emotional as they remember 5-year-old Clair McKenzie Jones, a former Summerville pre-K student.

One Oct. 23, 2016, a mobile home fire killed Clair, 29-yearold Marion Bradley Jones, 22-year-old Demi Josephine Jones, 5-year-old Jada Marie Kendrick, 3-year-old Lola Rosanna Jones and 3-month-old Olivia Josephina Jones. Summerville Fire Chief Robbie Lathem said he doesn’t want to repeat that tragic month again.

He remembers Clair alive and well, just four days before the deadly fire.

His department took one of the fire trucks to the pre-K school as part of Fire Prevention Month.

Volunteer firefighter Chuck Cox put on his full turnout gear to let the children see.

Clair was one that was inquisitive enough to approach the fireman. He kneeled and she placed her small hand into the firefighter’s rough textured glove and looked him in the eye.

Another firefighter spotted the tender moment and took a photograph.

But somewhere between that fire prevention demonstration and an improperly installed wood furnace, Jones now places her hands with God.

The Summerville News

Fort Oglethorpe looking at dog park

FORT OGLETHORPE — The city of Fort Oglethorpe is inching closer to adding a dog park to the community, assuming it can find the additional funding needed for the project.

The mayor and City Council first discussed the project in the summer of 2016, but Public Works and Recreation Director Jeff Long said the project has progressed over the past few months.

“We’ve looked at three or four different places, and one location we found is city-unused property that is pretty much undevelopable for anything else,” Long said. “It’s at Van Cleve Street and Patterson Avenue. We’ve talked to TVA about it already about some power lines there, and there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Long explained the park would be a little larger than a football field.

“This park would be about 400 feet long and about 150 feet wide,” Long said. “It would also be divided into two areas for the smaller dogs and the larger dogs. To do everything that would need to be done, the estimated amount would be $40,000.”

Long says the project will also include cutting in a driveway area for parking, seeding and strawing the park area, removing some trees that have overgrown the site, and then the fencing in of the actual park.

City Manager Jennifer PayneSimpkins said the city already has $15,000 from its 2017 adopted budget set aside for the project, and that there’s been discussion about trying to hold fundraisers or secure donations for the remaining $25,000.