Members of Reclaim Gumlog Georgia to Meet with Local Leaders This Evening

The group Reclaim Gumlog Georgia is holding a public meeting this evening at Poplar Springs Baptist Church Fellowship Hall for all citizens concerned with the amount of blight and rising crime in the area.

Beverly Folsom is the founder of Reclaim Gumlog Georgia.

She says the Gumlog Community faces issues that other parts of Franklin County don’t deal with and tonight’s meeting is an effort by her group to hear from county leadership regarding what they’re doing to clean up the blight and keep crime down.

Originally a backwoods area where bootlegging was the main industry back in the 1920s, Gumlog began to change after the reservoir lake was put in in the 1960s.

Today, because of the lake, Gumlog is rapidly becoming an attractive area for people to retire or build lake homes.

One problem however, according to Folsom are the abandoned properties left by people who bought in the area originally in the 1970s and ‘80s.

“What we see are properties that were purchased in the 70s, 80s, 90s, even 20 years ago that have passed hands generationally. We see a lot of distant owners; people that are not connected to Gumlog. They may still have owners that are within the county but a lot of them are not within the county and they (owners) just don’t have an interest in Uncle Bob’s mobile home that’s been sitting in the woods for decades. And really these issues should have been addressed decades ago. And so now, unfortunately, it’s compounded and we’re having to put in a concerted effort into cleaning up our community,” she explained.

Those abandoned properties Folsom said have become squat houses for drug users with little or no help from the County courts or law enforcement to clear them out.

That has led to a rash of crimes across the Gumlog area from the homeless and drug users such as home break-ins and thefts.

Residents have repeatedly come before the County Commission asking for tougher measures to remove the dilapidated trailers but to little or no avail.

One example is an old trailer in the Fishermen’s Cove neighborhood that was being used as a trap house by drug users.

After repeated citations from the County Marshal, the mobile home was ordered boarded up by County Magistrate Judge Cody Grizzle. Hours later it was burned to the ground.

The owner, who was living on the property without electricity or running water, was also barred from living there until it was cleaned up. However, WLHR News has learned the owner has reportedly returned in violation of the court order and is living in an adjoining shed but has made no attempt to clean up the property.

Meantime, the fire was declared arson and despite a $10,000 reward offered by the Georgia Insurance Commissioner, there has been no arrest made.

Folsom said the Magistrate Judge is allowing problems like that to continue in Gumlog by not cracking down with tougher measures.

The County has been working to develop a blighted property ordinance but it is only directed at owners who actually live full-time on the property. It does not affect absentee owners.

At tonight’s meeting, Commissioner Kyle Foster who represents Gumlog, and County Commission Chair Jeff Jacques are expected to be available to answer questions and give those in attendance an update on what is being done to clean up the drug nests.

Also expected tonight is County Marshal Freddy Aiken who has been working on getting blighted properties in Gumlog cleaned up.

Again, tonight’s meeting takes place at 5:30p at Poplar Springs Baptist Church fellowship hall and is open to the public.