Marshals shore up Shorewood

    The Shorewood neighborhood on Lake Hartwell is looking much better than it did when Marilyn Bathen and her husband moved there 15 years ago.
    Bathen, who hails from California and is the president of the Shorewood Homeowners Association, attributes the cleanup to work spurred by the Stephens County Marshal's Office.
    "We were told by our realtor that Stephens County had enacted some new laws," Bathen said. "It just seemed much of it (Shorewood)  was getting run down."
    So, Bathen said she contacted chief marshal Tony Addison about the blighted areas in her community and the marshal's office went to work.
    "It has really turned out well," Bathen said, "So far, (the marshals) haven't had to issue one citation."
    Bathen said that such progress wouldn't have happened for her back in California.
    Not that everything is rosy in Shorewood just yet, but Bathen said that Shorewood's aesthetical value is moving in the right direction.
    "Not everyone's happy, but the majority of people are," Bathen said.
    Like a lot of Shorewood, Stephens County Marshal Jim Smith said the marshal's office sees some 80 percent of the property sites they work with come into compliance after they contact the property owner.
    Smith said, however, it might take some prodding as only about 20 percent of property owners start working on their sites after first contact.
    He said some 60 percent of the marshal's office cases have to be taken to court before cleanup work begins on homeowner properties.
    "Of the ones we deal with, only 20 percent (don't comply)," Smith said.
    Smith said property owners can avoid court if they're progressing on their site cleanups.
    But after about a month or so of no progress, citations come into play, he said.
    "A majority (of cleanups) are rentals," Smith said.
    In addition to site cleanups, he said the marshals have additional duties such as animal control and lending the assistance to county government operations when needed.
    "We're out of the office most of the day," Smith said.
    Smith said the marshal's office generally begins contacting property owners about their need to clean up their lot after the marshal's office is contacted by local residents, such as Bathen, about unseemly sites.
    "The majority is complaint-based," Smith said during an Aug. 12 ride-along to some of the sites where the county code is being enforced.
    He said  numerous complaints are received via the county's non-emergency 911 line at 706-779-3911 while others call the marshal's office at 706-886-9491.