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Barrow ... Journal
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Wednesday, December 17,2008
Vol. 1 No. 8 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 25c COPY
Statham
cuts staff
hours
Is Barrow airport for sale?
No offer yet, but suitor shows interest in privatizing controversial facility
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The tough economy has
found its way to Statham.
Mayor Robert Bridges said
the city's work force has had
to cut back to 32 hours per
week. The adjusted work
schedule went into effect this
week.
“Our rev
enues have
slowed down
quite a bit,”
Bridges told
the Barrow
Journal prior
to Tuesday
night’s coun
cil meeting.
“We hope
this will only
be for a short amount of time.
We decided to go this route
instead of layoffs.”
The reduction from 40 to 32
hours will not affect employ
ees' benefits, the mayor said.
Statham has 20 full-time
employees, including a police
department and workers for
the city.
“We are a full-service city
including police, water, sewer
and garbage,” Bridges said.
“We don’t expect any interrup
tions in any of these areas.”
Barrow
planners to
meet Thurs.
The Barrow County Planning
Commission’s regular meeting
for this month will be at 7
p.m. Thursday in the Board of
Commissioners meeting room
in the administrative annex on
East Broad Street.
One item is on the agenda.
James Rex Palmer and
Margaret Ann Palmer of 410
Kilcrease Road are requesting
that three acres be rezoned
from AG to R1 to allow their
land to be split into three tracts
for residential use.
Other News:
•School News
page 6B
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Church News
page 5B
•Obituaries
page 7 7 A
BRIDGES
•Sports
pages 7-4 B
A proposal to possibly sell the
Northeast Georgia Regional Airport
in Winder to a private investment
firm has generated considerable con
troversy since it was revealed late last
week. That controversy continued
at Tuesday’s meeting of the Barrow
County Airport Authority, even
though the matter was not a formal
part of the agenda.
As the authority discussed com
pleting the ILS system at the airport,
incoming chairman of the Barrow
board of commissioners, Danny
Yearwood, questioned the need to
spend money to complete the project
with a potential sale of the airport in
the works.
“We’ve got a private business that
has already contacted us to buy the
airport,” Yearwood said. “The money
you're spending (on the ILS) is going
into something that is going to be
torn out.”
After some back-and-forth debate
over county airport financing, author
ity chairman Sammy Everett told
Yearwood to stick to the ILS subject.
“Did you come in to chastise the
airport or to discuss the ILS?” Everett
said. “What you are saying is not rel
evant to our discussion. I am asking
for discussion on the ILS.”
Yearwood responded, “I’m tell
ing you the position you are putting
the county in. I will deal with it in
January.”
NO OFFER YET
This latest skirmish in the ongo
ing war over the future of the air
port began last month when a pri
vate investment firm from New York
contacted Barrow County leaders
about the possibility of buying the
Northeast Georgia Regional Airport
and making it into a regional facility
for “light” passenger aircraft.
No offer has been made and the dis
cussions are in the very early stages,
said those involved in the situation.
Brett Smith, one of the principles of
Propeller Investments in New York,
said his firm would not be reviewing
any proposal until mid-January.
Smith said that the firm had been
evaluating several sites in Georgia
and that Barrow was just one of sev
eral locations. He said no site studies
had been done and that the discussion
was just preliminary in nature.
Smith also said his firm would “not
do anything without the support of
the community.”
continued on page 3A
Santa and Sparky
FIRE DEPARTMENT EMPTY STOCKING FUND DRIVE
Santa and Sparky the fire dog along with Ian Givexis, 6, and Mason Spinis, 4,
take a quick break during last week’s toy drive conducted by the Winder Fire
Department. See more photos from the event on page 12A.
Photo by Jessica Brown
Barrow gets two new firetrucks
READY FOR SERVICE
Winder’s newfire truck was manufactured by Florida-
based E-ONE and purchased through Fireline, Inc.,
a new Barrow County distributor of fire equipment.
Photo courtesy of the Winder Fire Department
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Two aerial ladder trucks
with a combined price tag
of $1 million arrived within
10 days of each other last
month in Barrow County.
Winder’s 75-foot ladder
truck, along with 1,200 feet
of 5-inch hose and other
equipment, cost the city
$511,000, said Winder Fire
Chief Ray Mattison.
Barrow’s 75-foot lad
der truck cost the county
government $508,711, said
Barrow County Fire Chief
Robert Post.
The chiefs acknowledged
that some might question
why both fire departments
purchased their depart
ments’ most expensive piec
es of equipment at the same
time and during a down
economy.
But they said it was not
competition between depart
ments that precipitated the
purchases; it was the fire
suppression standards set
by the Insurance Services
Office (ISO), a private firm
whose ratings affect the cost
of property insurance premi
ums in communities around
the United States.
“ISO, which regulates
us for fire insurance rates,
requires us to have a certain
amount of ladder trucks,”
Mattison said. “It’s based on
having so many buildings
over three stories in height.
“Whether it was one or
two departments, we would
still have to have two lad
der trucks. We're required
to because of the city (build
ings), and Barrow County's
required to because of build
ings they have.”
Winder's new truck is
replacing a 75-foot ladder
truck the city has used since
1975.
“Every year, we're
required to have an aerial
test on this truck,” Mattison
said. “For the last several
years, we've held our breath.
This past year, it failed the
aerial test and was going to
cost in excess of $30,000 to
repair the truck, and it was
not worth the repair. We
could have spent that money
and we would still have a
very old truck.”
He said he and his staff
looked around for a newer
truck in good condition,
but could not find one that
would be of good value to
the city.
continued on page 3A
Barrow wins
hospital lawsuit
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A judge’s decision on
Monday could put plans for
a new hospital in Braselton
in doubt.
Superior Court Judge Bob
Adamson ruled in favor of
Barrow Regional Medical
Center in a lawsuit that cha
llenged the state's granting of
a Certificate of Need (CON)
to Northeast Georgia Medical
Center for a new 100-bed
hospital in Braselton on
Thompson Mill Road, near
Chateau Elan.
While an attorney for the
Winder hospital hailed the
ruling, an official from the
Gainesville-based health
system said plans to build a
hospital in Braselton are still
moving forward.
“Our resolve — relative to
the hospital, relative to the
development of a signifi
cant number of positions in
the South Hall marketplace,
bringing sophisticated ima
ging and surgical services to
that marketplace — remains
absolutely unchanged,” said
Jim Gardner, president and
CEO of the Northeast Georgia
Health System.
Gardner said the health sys
tem anticipated that Barrow
Regional would oppose a new
hospital in South Hall and
accounted for an appeals pro
cess in the development time
line of the Braselton facility.
“Because we built this into
our timeline for the new hos
pital — in the 2011 or 2012
timeframe — we anticipated
this trip,” he said. “It takes a
certain amount of time. We
built that amount of time into
our timeline (for construc
tion). We expect to prevail
through the court of appeals
and life will go on.”
Former state attorney gene
ral Mike Bowers — who is
representing Barrow Regional
— said the ruling is an econo
mic boost to Winder.
“For Winder, it's a
huge positive economic
development to block a hos
pital from locating 11 miles
away with no analysis having
been done,” he said.
Adamson ruled that the
state’s review process of the
CON application had been
“arbitrary and unreasonable.”
Adamson said the events lea
ding up to the state gran
ting a CON for the Braselton
facility had not been handled
correctly.
“The actions of the (state)
Board in affirming the grant
of a CON under these cir
cumstances is inconsistent
with the rationale of the CON
program,” Adamson said. He
ruled that state's process “was
without adequate review”
and had not allowed Barrow
Regional an opportunity to
fully respond.
The judge also said the state
had “recklessly” assumed that
the fast growth in the North
Georgia area would be enough
to support the hospitals busi
ness plans.
continued on page 5A
COURT HEARINGS
Barrow Regional Medical Center Chief Operating Officer
Brent Burish and Chief Executive Officer Joe Clancy
leave the Barrow County Courthouse after the Nov. 24
hearing. Photo by Susan Norman
