Newspaper Page Text
Barrow Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, January 14,2009
Vol. 1 No. 12 18 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
\j
•Century-old building
to be moved Thursday
page 3A
•Zoning approved in
Braselton
page 3A
•Braselton begins
work on 20-year plan
page 3A
Opinions:
•State political eyes
begin looking to 2010
page 4A
•BOC: Don't build a
camel
page 4A
Sports:
•WBHS, AHS wrestling
teams battle at area
teams duals
page 1B
•Wildcats, Lady
Bulldoggs post win
in rivalry contest
page 1B
•Bulldoggs hold off
fourth quarter rally by
Red Raiders
page 2B
Other News:
•Birth Announcement
page 7B
•Church News
page 7B
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Obituaries
pages 7B
•School News
pages 5B
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Animal control puts down wrong dog
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The Barrrow County Animal
Control office accidentally put to
death the wrong dog last week.
The Jan. 8 incident came to light
in an email from an anonymous
source that raised questions about
the quality of care at the shelter.
Assistant Barrow County adminis
trator Michael Fisher acknowledged
the staff’s mistake Tuesday. He said
the black lab, which had been in an
incident with another dog, was in
the shelter for a 10-day quarantine
to watch for rabies.
Euthanizations were scheduled for
last Wednesday and a different black
lab was to be put down.
“There were three black labs in
the shelter all on that same day
going through this process; that’s
part of the paperwork confusion,”
Fisher said. “This dog, through
some issues with paperwork, was
brought in with the other dogs. We
inadvertently euthanized the wrong
animal.”
Fisher said animal control direc
tor Stephen Eades called the dog’s
owner, who then talked to the
employee who handled her animal’s
intake.
“Of course, we offered to help out
in any way to see if she wanted to
replace the dog or adopt one. At this
point, she’s got a couple of other
dogs at the house and she declined
to worry about getting another dog
right now,” Fisher said.
The owner has not filed a com
plaint with the county over the inci
dent, he said.
"I think the people there feel very
badly," said Fisher. “They’re very
upset that it happened, and rightly
so. They should be. But I don’t think
it reflects that animals at the shelter
are treated badly in any way."
Barrow tax delinquents
2007 Barrow delinquent taxes
Barrow Taxes Due From 2007 Billing
(Amounts over $10,000 including interest and fees)
Name
Town
Location
Amount
Appalachee Place LLC
Winder Haymon Estates Subdivision
$13,800*
Castle Homes Pointe South LLC
Bethlehem
Ponte South
$32,672*
Clack Construction LLC
Bethlehem
Multiple
$13,951*
Cooks Landing LLC
Winder
Multiple
$16,136*
Crown Park Homes
Lawrenceville
Ashebrooke
$50,878*
Custom Dream Homes LLC
Dacula
Ashebrooke
$13,765*
Douglas Harwell
Winder
Multiple
$16,782*
Kilcrease Partners LLC
Auburn
Kilcrease Rd.
$11,642
Mark 1 Developers Inc
Athens
$38,360
McLintack Construction Corp.
Winder/Beth.
Multiple
$16,293*
Montana Land Development, Inc.
Loganville
Stonewilde
$90,459*
PanozAuto Development
Hoschton
Tower on parcel
$28,730
Preston Properties Inc.
Winder
$14,900
Russell Towne Self-Storage LLC
Winder
Atl. Hwy.
$13,540
Sims Crossing LLC
Winder
$14,565*
Star Home Builders Inc
Bethlehem
Multiple
$51,321*
The Falls LLC
Suwanee
Falls Braselton
$76,394*
Towne & Country Homes LLC
Lawrenceville
Stratford Manor
$10,965*
Treemont LLC
Buford
Treemont
$15,242*
Vannoy Partners LLC
Buford
$42,392
*Denotes total of multiple tracts by owner.
Total Amount owed = $1.6 million
Builders,
developers
top list
BY SUSAN NORMAN
uilders and land devel
opers left holding stag
nant real estate during
the economic downturn have
become the biggest tax delin
quents in Barrow County.
In response to a request
from the Barrow Journal, Tax
Commissioner Melinda Williams
released a list of all properties for
which property tax bills are at
least one year past due.
There are 1,416 properties on
the list totalling $1.6 million in
taxes is due from 2007. Williams
said her office is about to initiate
legal action to sell every one of
the properties to collect the taxes.
With a few others dating back to
2004, the total number of proper
ties facing tax sale is closer to
1,500.
“I think this probably would be
the largest number I have to start
on at one time,” Williams said.
Those with the most to lose
include 20 property owners who
together owe almost $600,000
just for 2007. Eighteen of those
are involved in the real estate
industry. The largest amount
owed is $90,459 by Montana
Land Development Inc. of
Loganville, which does business
as Damascus Homes.
Williams said some of builders
on the list had previously always
paid on time.
“It’s just since the economy has
gone so bad; I think they’re all in
the same boat,” she said.
Property owners with bills at
least one year past due soon will
receive a “writ of fieri facias” that
orders a levy on the belongings
of a debtor to satisfy the debt,
Williams said.
continued on page 3A
School’s handling of attack questioned
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Winder police are questioning
how school officials handled a
Jan. 7 assault of a Russell Middle
School student.
According to a police report
of the incident, the 14-year-old
student was in gym class when
another student came up to him
and asked him if he wanted to
fight.
Before he could answer the
question, the other student hit
him in the left side of his face.
According to police reports,
another student pushed him into
the gym bathroom, where the
victim was repeatedly hit “on the
back of his head, the side of his
head and also on his hands while
he was trying to protect his head,”
the report states.
The victim said he yelled out
that he didn't want to fight and
that’s when his assailants stopped
hitting him and left.
The boy said he told a male
coach and a female coach about
the incident. The coaches told
them they would “write up” one
of the attackers and the female
coach “told him to wash the blood
out of his mouth.”
When the student got home and
told his mother what had hap
pened, she took him to Barrow
Regional Hospital, where police
were called.
Officer N. Bilik, who wrote the
incident report, said he photo
graphed “visible injuries located
on (the victim’s) hand, left jaw
and behind his right ear.”
Capt. Lamar Reynolds,
commander of the Criminal
Investigation Division, said in an
interview Tuesday that the police
department’s school resource
officer is following up on why
the school personnel did not call
police.
“I do know Capt. (Dennis)
Dorsey went to the school to talk
about it,” said Reynolds. Dorsey
is commander of the uniform
patrol division and was out of the
office Tuesday.
“We had some concerns about
it, about the way it was handled.
On the surface, it appeared it
was not handled right,” Reynolds
said.
Charges against one or more
students are pending the outcome
of the school resource officer's
investigation, he said.
Job Seekers
EMPLOYMENT SOUGHT
With a new Target scheduled to open in Barrow County in coming weeks, those seeking
jobs turned out in large numbers last Friday. Officials said approximately 1,000 people on
Friday showed up but some were turned away because of a lack of applications. Another
335 people applied Saturday with 355 online applications completed, officials said.
Photo by Susan Treadwell
BOC delays
hours cut
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A cost-saving plan proposed by Barrow County
Board of Commissioners Chairman Danny
Yearwood was sidetracked Tuesday night after
questions were raised about its impact on employ
ees and on public’s safety.
At its first meeting as a new board, the BOC
voted unanimously to post
pone action on reducing
employee hours a total of 18
hours per month until after
a called meeting sometime
next week.
The BOC did approve a
resolution allowing the chair
man to move county employ
ees among departments on a
day-to-day basis as the work-
flow requires.
But the board delayed
votes on two possible plans
- one by Yearwood to reduce
hours and another by newly-elected District 3
Commissioner Steve Worley to instead reduce pay
on a sliding scale.
Yearwood's plan would reduce by half the
projected budget shortfall of $2.5-$2.7 million.
Worley’s plan would reduce it by a fourth.
In three meetings last Wednesday, Yearwood
told Barrow County employees and managers
that he wanted to reduce their workweeks to 37.5
hours per week and to furlough them one day per
month.
The net effect on employees would be a 10-per
cent reduction in pay. Yearwood acknowledged
at the time that services, including those of the
sheriff’s office, would be affected.
Yearwood cautioned his colleagues Tuesday
night that delaying action would only make the
financial situation worse. But he appeared accept
ing of the board’s unanimous vote to postpone
action.
SMITH SPEAKS
Sheriff Jud Smith was the only person who
addressed the issue during the public comment
period at the beginning of the meeting.
He said his employees are in life-and-death situ
ations and that their safety would be jeopardized
by furloughs that would force him to keep at home
seven employees per day.
“I understand we’ve got to do something, but I
believe this would be putting citizens in jeopardy
and putting my employees at risk of being injured,
maimed or killed,” Smith said.
continued on page 5A
Airport Authority
members booted
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners
voted Tuesday night to boot the majority of the
members of its controversial Airport Authority.
Sent packing were at-large member Don
Holliday, District 1 appointee Joel Mitchell,
District 2 appointee Sammy Everett, and District
3 appointee Lee Barnett.
Appointed to replace them were Frank Nocero,
James Moore, Quinn Moore and Scott Miller.
Only one appointee received any dissenting
votes. Commissioners Isaiah Berry and Billy
Parks voted against Nocero, the nominee of BOC
Chairman Danny Yearwood.
Reappointed to the authority were District 4
member Johnie Wendel, District 5 member Jerry
Thompson and District 6 member Robert Cartmill.
They were all nominated by BOC members who
were not up for re-election last year.
The new appointments were made with no
comments from the commissioners and were not
unexpected because of controversies over planned
improvements to the airport.
continued on page 5A
SMITH
