By Colby Dunn
News Writer

Confusion over exactly what will be memorializing late county commissioner Walter Curtis Butler continues, as both the county and the City of Madison received letters this week asking them to pay up for any signage that will mark their chosen bridge.

County commissioners voted late last year to name the bridge on 441, in Butler's former district, for the long-time public servant after refusing the family's request to name the Creamery building for Butler.

Shortly thereafter, the City of Madison put forth its proposal to name a separate bridge--one that spans I-20--for Butler, when his family also approached them.

Both requests were forwarded to the legislature who must approve any naming, but state lawmakers, squeezed by budgetary cutbacks, decided that the local government who sponsored the naming should pay for the signs if it's approved.
For each bridge, the signs will cost $500, and while county commissioners elected to pay the fee themselves, Madison City Council member Michael Naples approached Georgia's chapter of the NAACP, who, he said, gladly agreed to foot the bill for the Madison bridge.

Both requests will now go back into the state's hands, who must choose what bridge--or bridges--if any, will honor Butler's service to the county.

Commissioners made the decision at their Tuesday, Feb. 1 meeting, where they also elected to make the penalties for late beer and wine licensing applications much more stringent, prohibiting sales of alcohol for 15 days on the first offense and 30 days after the second.

The decision came after several local businesses failed to get applications in on time, a problem chairman Mack Bohlen said has been going on for years.

Previously, the penalty was a fine and a few days without sales until the next commissioners' meeting or work session.