Georgia structure named on historic list

A barn in Pike County, near Molena, Ga. has been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The yellow-bricked barn, also known as the the William Barker Whiskey Bonding Barn has stood in the south end of Pike County since late in the 19th century.

William Barker built the barn around 1870 as a bonding house for at least five whiskey distilleries in Pike county.

Chris Curry of Pike Historic Preservation says the organization bought the barn in 2003. She says whiskey once was stored in bonding barns for three to five years to circumvent the payment of federal excise taxes while the whiskey aged.

Barker died in 1902, and the barn was used to store cotton, a store for tenant farmers, a turkey farm warehouse, and for a short time, a school.

Guilty plea for animal cruelty

A west Georgia man facing 101 counts of animal cruelty, has pleaded guilty. Roger Lee Prater will pay $35,000 in fines, serve 100 hours of community service and be confined to his home for 120 days. In February, officials found more than 200 starving horses, cows, goats and dogs on Prater’s Pike County farm. 24 of the surviving horses will be auctioned in a month.

Abused horses sold at auction

54 abused horses have new homes. They were sold at auction Saturday by the Department of Agriculture. The horses are among hundreds of animals rescued earlier this year during a raid on a farm in Pike County. Many of the animals were starving and diseased. The Department of Agriculture says volunteers and donations were responsible for rehabilitating the animals.

Neglected animals need new homes

Horses and donkeys that have been nursed back to health after being discovered neglected need new homes.

The state is auctioning about 50 of the animals off on Saturday. They and hundreds of other animals were rescued from neglect and abuse in February from a farm in Pike County.

They had been under quarantine, but experts say they have recovered well and now need loving homes.

Photos of the animals will be available at the Department of Agriculture’s website www.agr.georgia.gov.

Neglected horses are healthy, ready for auction

The state is auctioning off horses rescued from neglect earlier this year. They are among the more than a hundred horses and dogs found diseased and starving in February on a Pike County farm. The state Department of Agriculture and volunteers have nursed many of the horses back to health. The number of horses that will be auctioned Saturday will be announced Friday. For more information on Saturday’s auction, contact Pony Express Sales in Covington, Georgia.