Lavonia is pilot city for Safety Check

Are you worried about grandma now that she is living alone since grandpa passed away? Are you worried about your child, who is home alone after school? You can now put your worries to rest because the city of Lavonia is taking looking out for its citizens to another level.

After talking to former Toccoa Mayor Randy Murray, Lavonia Police Chief Randy Shirley brought the idea of initiating the community safety check program in the city of Lavonia to Mayor Ralph Owens and City Manager Gary Fesperman.

“Lavonia is a progressive city. We have quite a number of citizens that live alone or have no family who live here,” Shirley said when he was presenting the program to the Lavonia City Council. “There are some seniors who have no one to call on when they are in need.”

Shirley went on to say there have been instances where the police department has had to forcibly enter into citizen's residences in order to check on their well being.

The council proved Shirley's words about Lavonia being progressive true when they approved the program. Lavonia became the first city not only in Franklin County to adopt the program, but also the first in the state of Georgia.

With the community safety check program, calls are made to subscribers daily between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. If there is no response after six attempts, the clerk calls a designated family or neighbor who has access to the premises. If nobody is available, a law enforcement official checks on the subscriber to ensure that no assistance is needed.

“It's a wonderful program,” Shirley said. “It can only be a win/win situation for the city and its residents. I can certainly see it saving a life.”

The community safety check program is sponsored by The Standards Foundation. The foundation was founded in Neptune, N.J. on Jan. 10, 1946 to conduct a daily check on the well being of injured servicemen who returned home from World War II. Since its creation, the program has expanded to include daily checks on all returning veterans, as well as people who live alone, especially the elderly and disabled.

The best part of this service is that it will cost Lavonia residents nothing and they don't have to sign any contracts or make any long term commitments.

Since the city approved the program before Jan. 31, it has been grandfathered into the program to receive funding from corporate sponsors and Housing Urban Development (HUD). The city only has to pay 1/3 of the cost which includes $850 for the one time set up fee and $450 a month. The Standards Foundation pays all long distance, labor, computer fees and servicing.

“What is a life worth? What is that person who needs help worth?” Shirley asked. “I can see why it was accepted by the council with very few questions after they reviewed the material on the program.”

Shirley isn't the only member of the city who is looking forward to the initiation of this program, Fesperman is also looking forward to the beginning of the community safety check program.

“We have a substantial aging population in the city and it will only keep increasing with the aging of baby boomers,” Fesperman said. “A fair amount don't have children here and that is a concern in this day and age because so much can happen. We don't want anything to happen to any of our residents. I'm glad we were made aware of this program. It is money well spent.”

Within the following weeks, residents will be informed of the program through a voice broadcast system that will be repeated about every six months to keep new residents informed of the program's availability.

Any citizen who would like to sign up for the community safety check program or knows someone that could benefit from the program should call the police department at 706-356-4848 or The Standards Foundation at 877-250-4428.