Commissioners' foregone conclusion on road naming 'quite a shock'

Editor:

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I attended the April 17 meeting of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. I was on the agenda, which had been approved. It therefore came as quite a shock to me and some others in attendance to be told by Chairman Ron Cross, before I made the presentation regarding the renaming of Oak Street to Jowers Drive, that the commissioners had already decided not to rename the street in honor of Dr. Ronald Jowers.

Dr. Jowers, in the late 1960s, was recruited to become the Columbia County physician. At the time there was no doctor in Columbia County. Dr. Jowers moved to Columbia County and opened his office. He initiated physical exams for school bus drivers, was physician for all county employees, did workman's compensation for county employees and was on call for them. He served as a volunteer physician for the Evans High School football team. He was certified by the state of Georgia as medical examiner for the coroner of Columbia County.

He is a member of the Columbia County Board of Health and has served for 40 years. He has been in practice in Columbia County for 40-plus years.

Am I to understand that the cost of business cards and stationery with a new street name, by a few businesses in the West Town Office Park, outweighs in the commissioners' view the recommendation by Probate Judge Pat Hardaway to rename this street in honor of Dr. Jowers?

Faye Jowers

Martinez

Faye Jowers is the wife of Dr. Ronald Jowers.