In a community meeting held on Saturday night, Teloga area Residents questioned Pilgrim Ministries founder and Executive Director Andy Pilgrim over plans to build a Faith Based Drug Rehabilitation Facility.

The meeting was called over area residents concerns about the facility. Pilgrim Ministries already has one campus in Clarkesville, Georgia, and saw what they thought was a need for a similar program in Chattooga County. Andy Pilgrim has stated that a large portion of Pilgrim Ministries occupants are from Chattooga County. The land for the facility was purchased by Shannon Tucker, who then sold a portion of the tract to Pilgrim Ministries. Tucker, a former resident in Pilgrim Ministries now serves as its Ambassador.

Teloga Residents were first told that the facility to be built would be an on-site retreat for troubled kids. When asked about the change from kids to a drug rehab for adult males, Pilgrim stated that as far as he knew Tuckers portion of the land would still house such a place. Pilgrim declined to answer when asked to build elsewhere.

Commissioner Elsberry attended the meeting and area residents have asked him about zoning the area as residential and agriculture use only. They also raised concerns that the current infrastructure, such as the water lines, are not able to support the need of such a facility.

The meeting ended with not many solid answers but Commissioner Elsberry did agree to talk to residents about zoning and to further speak with Pilgrim Ministries. When asked about this meeting prior Commissioner Elsberry did state that the area residents had valid concerns and felt that the meeting should have been held prior to the purchase of the property.