THOMASVILLE — A location near Pavo where people practice an activity known as bogging has supporters quick to speak out in defense of the site and the sport — muddy activity voted down by Thomas County commissioners

Bogging is fun, and people like to go there and ride “wide open,” said Colby Weeks, a 15-year-old Thomas County Central High School student.

Weeks’ father, Al Weeks, takes his family to the bog once monthly. They arrive on Friday, bog and watch bogging Saturday and return to their Metcalf home on Sunday.

Phillip Lewis, owner of the 152 acres at Ione Road and Highway 33 on which the bogging takes place, went before county commissioners two weeks ago and lost his official bogging rights in a 5-3 vote to disallow the activity in an agriculturally zoned area.

Lewis had advertised a Saturday, April 17, bog in a large advertisement in a national magazine. Although commissioners said no to the April event, it appears to be on.

Weeks and his boys, Colby and Alex, 12, along with Adam Calhoun and Shelby Lawrence, plan to be there.

Lewis, who has obtained legal counsel, does not want to comment on the situation. After the March 9 commission vote, he said he did not know whether he would proceed with the April event.

Weeks said people asked Lewis if they could bog on his property after a crackdown on New Hope Road, a popular bogging spot.

“It’s just like drag racing or anything else,” said Adam Calhoun, who also attends bog-ins on Lewis’ property. Vehicles used in the bogging are not street-legal, Calhoun explained.

Bog-ins take place in other Southwest Georgia communities, but Calhoun, who bogs a truck, said he would rather spend his money in Thomas County.

Cars, four-wheelers and pickup trucks that cost in excess of $150,000 bog at the Lewis site near Pavo. Anyone who wants to bog may do so.

Even a swamp buggy bogs. “It gets you right out there in the mud,” Weeks explained.

Lewis told commissioners he has spent about $50,000 on the bog-in site, including installing a well to flood the spot.

Weeks, Calhoun and Lawrence, all of whom work at the lumber company in Metcalf, said that if someone becomes stuck in the mud or injured at Lewis’ bogs, someone is there to help.

Calhoun drives dirt Lower Boston and New Hope roads from his Boston home to his Metcalf job. “I’ve been doing that every day for five years now,” he said.

Calhoun is familiar with the shape the roads get in when people who want to bog have nowhere to carry out the activity and bog on county dirt roads.

As many as 1,500 people attend the Lewis bogs, which take place once monthly. Lewis does not have a set price for admission, but Weeks pays $10 to $20.

Families who spend the weekend at the event prepare meals at their campsites. A Pavo church has a food booth at the events. “And the church keeps all the money,” Weeks explained.

Alex Weeks, 12, a student at Thomas County Middle School, likes bogging his four-wheeler.

Al Weeks would like for county commissioners to permit bog-ins on the Lewis property five or six times a year. Lewis did not move here from Florida to establish a bogging spot, Weeks explained, adding that people asked him to allow it on his land.

Bogging supporters are listed under new business at a county commission meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at Thomas County Emergency Services Center, 1202 Remington Ave.

Weeks pointed out that people who conduct yard sales at their homes and others who charge people to fish on their land do not have business permits and are not required to rezone their land.

While some people who attend the bog-ins stay on bog-in grounds, others stay at Thomasville motels and eat at local restaurants.

Lewis’ bogging activity is good, clean, family fun, said Lawrence, a Thomas County resident. Parents can watch their children and participate in a family activity, Weeks added.

“I am not a parent taking my children to the YMCA and dropping them off. I’m with them,” said Weeks, adding that his family has a YMCA membership.

“I feel like the guy ought to be able to do it,” said Alfred Weeks, Al Weeks’ father. He thinks the community should work together to allow the activity.

Weeks questioned whether Lewis might be able to continue the bog-ins if those attending paid on a donation basis.

It is “too bad,” Lewis did not apply for rezoning earlier, Weeks said. “Now everybody’s prepared and got their guns on him,” he added.

Weeks, a Thomas County resident, has attended two bog-ins. He will attend the April 17 one — “if he has it.”

Calhoun said his father, a Mobile, Ala., resident, drives to Thomas County to attend bog-ins on Lewis’ land.

Perry, Fla., is the site of a large, regularly scheduled bog-in attended by Thomas County bogging fans.

If Lewis’ bog-ins remain outlawed, Weeks, Lawrence, Calhoun and their families will continue to attend Perry bog-ins, as well as ones in Norman Park, Mitchell County, Miller County and Sylvester.

“They can’t stop us from coming to play on his (Lewis’) property,” Al Weeks said.

“I wish people would come in and make it like Perry and make it bigger than the Rose Show,” he added.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820.