Ernest Hemingway Biography
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Overhaul for a little town's star attraction
The star of Bethlehem has just about burned itself out.
Continue to Athens Banner-Herald - Overhaul for a little town's star attraction
Leaders in the Barrow County city best known for its Christmas connection are working this month to rebuild the old luminary and return its healthy glow.
A Georgia Power Co. crew retired the star from its perch atop a 45-foot telephone pole overlooking the town's square in March.
Now, a group of welders and electricians are trying to figure out how to fix the old figure or scrap it and remake the iron frame.
"We're looking at totally rebuilding it, because it's in foul shape," said former Mayor Thomas Bell. "Anything that's been up in the weather that long - even though it is steel - it don't work."
A star should shine bright over the town, which postmarks more than 130,000 letters, cards and packages by hand between Thanksgiving and Christmas each year, though only 1,054 people live there.
City officials actually planned to take down the star before last Christmas season but decided to let it shine one last time. In its more than 40-year life span, the star has needed fixing only a handful of times.
Six or seven years ago, Georgia Power workers strung Christmas lights around the star after most of the lights built into the ornament burned out.
Since then, locals have wanted to increase the star's wattage to help direct more visitors into Bethlehem from Thanksgiving to New Year's, Bell said.
"We're not happy with the brightness of it, 'cause it don't show up good, so that's what were looking at now," Bell said. "Since we're the little town of Bethlehem, we like to think that we can do something at Christmas to show a little bit about our town and have a good show for people from out of town."
A Methodist men's group has pledged $1,200 to $1,500 to repair the star, while city councilmen are trying to figure out how to raise the fixture higher off the ground, said Mayor Sandy McNab.
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