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Barrow ... Journal
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Wednesday, December 3,2008
Vol. 1 No. 6 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 25c COPY
— Inside —
Barrow foreclosures continue to climb
Area news:
•Winder Police offi
cers receives recogni
tion
page 7A
•Auburn to hold pub
lic hearing on city char
ter
page 2A
•BOE approves
Mariachi class. page 6A
Opinions:
•Part of our past gone
in minutes
page 4A
•Readers have their
say: Letters to the
Editor page 5A
Sports:
•WBHS Lady Doggs
begin season with wins
page 2B
•A look at Apalachee
2008 football playoff
season
page 3B
•Apalachee basket
ball teams continue to
work
page4B
Other News:
•School News
pages 5B
•Public Safety
pages 7-8A
•Church News
page 10A
•Obituaries
page 9A
Foreclosures in Barrow County have
jumped the last five months of 2008
by 80 percent over the same period last
year.
Barrow foreclosures topped 654 for
the period Aug.-Dec., a huge climb from
363 in 2007 for the same five-month
period.
The largest single month for foreclo
sures in Barrow County was October this
year when there were 157. Every month
in 2008 except January, June and July
have seen 100+ foreclosures in Barrow.
For the year 2008, Barrow has logged
1,395 total foreclosures as the economic
situation has worsened across the coun
try.
Barrow County
Foreclosures 2008
January 76
February 117
March 121
April 115
May 128
June 91
July 93
August 128
September 115
October. 157
November 131
December 123
Total 1,395
BIDDING ON PROPERTIES
L. Gordon Blackwell (L) of Blackwell Realty in Winder
was the only bidder among the handful of attorneys
Tuesday morning at the monthly sale of foreclosed
properties. Photo by Susan Norman
Judge weighs
motion to \stay 9
zoning case
‘Tis the season
HOLIDAY SEASON ARRIVES
The Winery at Chateau Elan was all alive with lights last Friday evening as the
holiday season officially arrived at the Barrow resort. Photo by Jessica Brown
60th annual...
Winder Christmas parade Sat.
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Come one! Come all!
On Saturday, Winder’s
century-old downtown will
offer a glimpse of vintage
small-town America, as the
community comes together
to celebrate Christmas.
The festivities begin at 11
a.m. with caroling by youth
groups from local churches,
street sales of cotton candy
and other treats, a holiday
contest at downtown busi
nesses, and free activities
for kids, including a 70-foot
maze and other inflatables.
The sounds of Christmas
will fill the air beginning at
noon, when Christmas music
is played over a professional
sound system being brought
to the city by Jerry Golden
of Golden Productions Inc.
Golden and Sherrie
Miller, the parade producer,
will emcee the event from a
mobile stage at the gazebo
park across from the Barrow
County Courthouse. And
Laughing Pizza, a family
band that writes and per
forms pop music for fam
ily audiences, will perform
from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
All of that fun is just a
prelude to Winder’s 60th
annual Christmas parade,
which will have more than
70 units and 700 participants
this December.
The parade begins at 2 p.m.
Its theme is “A Beadland to
Barrow Christmas,” a refer
ence to a historical book
about Barrow County, said
Miller, who also is the direc
tor of Main Street Winder.
“All of the judged floats
will have a historic theme.
They have to represent a
period of history since the
Indians settled the area,” she
said.
The parade’s grand mar
shals are two centenarians
- Mr. Roy Rice and Mrs.
Evelyn Randolph.
continued on page 6A
Lawyers for the Town of
Braselton argued Tuesday that
a controversial zoning suit
against the town should be
stayed pending the outcome
of a related court matter.
Saying the town’s motion in
the on-going Century Center
zoning dispute “presents
some very interesting ques
tions,” Superior Court Judge
David Motes said he would
issue a ruling within 30 days
on whether or not to allow the
case to move forward.
The lawsuit involves a high-
profile development in Barrow
County on Hwy. 211, just
south of the 1-85 interchange.
The area is a major gateway
into Barrow County from the
interstate, but it’s also inside
the Town of Braselton. The
Century Center project is
owned and managed by Dick
and Chris Gray.
The underlying issue
between Century Center and
Braselton revolves around
some of the town’s zoning
rules that Century believes
are unreasonable. Several
requests for changes and vari
ances were turned down by
the town and Century Center
sued in early 2007.
COURT
FRAUD
But the underlying routine
zoning dispute was over
shadowed last summer when
Judge Motes issued a scathing
ruling against two Century
Center lawyers, saying attor
neys Barry Armstrong and
Jeremy Moeser had “perpe
trated a fraud upon the court”
at an earlier hearing.
Motes ruled that the two
lawyers had “knowingly and
willfully present(ed) an inac
curate and false survey to the
court in an effort to defraud
the court” and issued sanc
tions of $17,980 to be paid to
Braselton.
This week, Century Center
had a new lawyer making
their case in court, former
Georgia Attorney General
Mike Bowers, who attempted
to deflect Braselton’s motion
to stop Century’s legal pro
ceedings against the town.
COMPLEX
LITIGATION
The litigation between
Braselton and Century Center
revolves around two lawsuits,
one filed in January 2007
under a combination of three
Century corporate names.
That suit claimed the property
had been improperly annexed
into Braselton.
A second suit was filed
under just one Century cor
porate name in June of this
year.
That suit challenged
Braselton’s having turned
down Century’s requests for
zoning variances.
It was in the first lawsuit
that Judge Motes ruled fraud
had been committed by the
two lawyers. After the law
yers failed to pay the sanc
tions, Motes dismissed the
suit in October.
In November, Century
filed an appeal to the Georgia
Supreme Court in the case.
TUESDAY
Tuesday’s hearing in
Jackson County revolved
mostly around the status of
the second lawsuit. Braselton
attorney Kelly Hundley argued
that the second suit should not
be heard by the court until
the first lawsuit is completely
resolved.
He said that allowing the
second lawsuit to proceed, in
light of what happened ear
lier, would “undermine and
tarnish” the judicial system.
continued on page 6A
Firm says tax break will lure tenants
Managers of the Braselton Logistics
Center warehouse on Hwy. 124 said this
week that the large tax abatement granted
the company by Barrow County will be sav
ings passed on to potential lease clients.
Jeb Brees, spokesman for Commonwealth
Properties, which developed the center, said
the firm is using the tax abatement to help
market the property.
“Commonwealth fully intends to pass on
this tax incentive to our eventual tenants,” he
said. “In fact, we have already integrated the
tax abatement benefit into our advertising.”
Last week, Braselton Mayor Pat Graham
criticized Barrow County’s granting of a
seven-year tax abatement program for the
firm, in part because it did not require the
owners to pass along the savings. Graham
was also critical of the county giving such a
tax break on a speculation building without
immediate jobs being created.
But Brees said the abatements are impor
tant for luring tenants.
“Given current market conditions, every
landlord will need to provide every incentive
possible to attract potential tenants,” he said.
Brees said the area northeast of Atlanta is at
a rate disadvantage compared to other coun
ties in the metro Atlanta area.
Barrow County has a standard seven-year
tax abatement that it gives to a variety of
new businesses, but unlike many other area
counties, it does not impose strict perfor
mance requirements on the firms.
The tax abatement is a phased-in amount
where firms only pay five percent of the
taxes in the first year and a gradual increase
each year reaching a 100 percent payment
in year eight.
According to marketing material on the
Baselton facility, a tenant who leased the
entire 439,350 sq. ft. facility would save
$136,200 in property taxes the first year.
“With rising unemployment in Atlanta
and across the country, it is smart for Barrow
County to proactively offer this incen
tive to help ensure jobs are not attracted
elsewhere,” Brees said.
Graham said last week that she believes
the Braselton area is an attractive location
and doesn’t require tax abatements to lure
firms to the area.
Hagemeyer center closing
equates to 100 lost jobs
Hagemeyer Distribution Center in Auburn near Hwy. 316 is
closing and laying off 100 employees. The firm filed its notice
of closure with the Georgia Department of Labor in October.
In recent weeks, staff with the Northeast Georgia Regional
Development Center and Lanier Tech have been working with
the firm to offer retraining and to explain the process of unem
ployment benefits to employees.
Hagemeyer North America, Inc. is a distributor of products
and services focusing on business-to-business markets in elec
trical materials, safety products, and industrial products and
services throughout North America, according to the firm’s
website. It has several locations in the Metro Atlanta area and is
headquartered in Charleston, S.C. It is a wholly-owned subsid
iary of Sonepar, headquartered in Paris, France.
