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Barrow i Journal
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Vol. 1 No. 17
22 PAGES 3 SECTIONS
Wednesday, February 18,2009
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 256 COPY
•Peace Place holds
annual ball
page 1C
•No pay raises for
Braselton employees
page 2A
•Braselton mayor fea
tured in magazine
page 2A
•Stimulus bill impact
unknown locally
page 3A
Opinions:
•Rock solid: Standing
the test of time page 4A
•There are some vic
tims of the free market
page 4A
•Pick a topic, any topic
— maybe
page 5A
Sports:
•WBHS upset in region
tournament
page 1B
• M iddle school coaches
keep priorities in check
page 2B
•AHS boys fall to
Heritage
pages 3B
Also Inside:
•Church News
page 5B
•Letters to the Editor
page 5A
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Notices being sent
County seeks $6.8 million in back taxes
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Worried about the April 15 federal
tax deadline?
Local taxpayers who haven't paid
their county property taxes had better
pay attention first to March 18. That
is the date that the Barrow County
Tax Commissioner's Office is plan
ning to execute tax liens — “writs
of fieri facias" — against properties
with unpaid property tax bills.
The county is attempting to collect
some $6.8 million in overdue taxes,
most from 2008.
Among the property owners
receiving some of the 4,700 overdue
tax notices are the chairman of the
Barrow County Board of Education
and the chairman of the Barrow
County Board of Commissioners.
Barrow County Tax Commissioner
Melinda Williams said BOE Chairman
William Bramlett has not paid his
property taxes on multiple tracts for
2007 or 2008. He owes a total of
$21,551 in taxes, penalties and inter
est, according to county records.
Bramlett said Wednesday that he
planned to pay the taxes soon. He
said that the economy had caught
him in a bind and that he had donated
a tremendous amount of time to the
BOE’s efforts to improve Barrow
County schools.
“It is our intention to never renege
on our tax responsibility,” Bramlett
said.
“I have always risen above this in
the past and paid the full amount and
the penalties in a responsible man
ner,” he said.
continued on page 8A
m
BACK TAXES
Barrow County property tax clerk Debra Brown prepares notices
this week for overdue accounts. Photo by Susan Norman
YMCA dedication
DOING THE HONORS
City and county officials along with Brad Akins and other Winder YMCA leaders
cut the ribbon Sunday celebrating the facility’s renovation. See more photos
from the event on page 8A. Photo by Jessica Brown
Fourth county official resigns
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A fourth major official in
the Barrow County govern
ment has resigned. Barrow
County Animal Control
Director Stephen Eades
resigned last week after
being asked to step down.
“I told him I thought
we needed a superviso
ry change,” said County
Chairman Danny Yearwood.
Complaints from the pub
lic were one of the precipi
tating factors in the decision
to replace Eades, he said.
Among other issues, the
shelter's staff accidentally
put to death the wrong dog
on Jan. 8.
Eades joins planning
director Guy Herring, who
resigned last week, and
county administrator Keith
Lee and assistant adminis
trator Michael Fischer who
tendered their resignations
the week before.
Yearwood said he offered
Eades a position as an ani
mal control officer, but that
offer was declined Friday
and Eades did not show up
for work Monday.
Yearwood asked James
F. Terrell, the former
chief of the Winder Police
Department and until last
week the county’s risk man
ager, to become the new
animal control director.
continued on page 3A
WBHS fieldhouse fix to cost $100,000
REPAIR NEEDED
The Winder-Barrow High School athletic complex
will need repair work on the roof and other areas.
Photo by Jessica Brown
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Repairs to the new
Winder-Barrow High
School sports athletic com
plex will cost an approxi
mate $100,000, the board
of education learned last
week.
The new complex, or
fieldhouse as it is common
ly called, is approximately
two years old and already
has several areas needing
repair. The building initially
cost $600,000 to construct,
which was paid for up front
by the BOE. That amount
is to reimbursed by the W.
Clair Harris Foundation, a
group that funds projects
within the high school's
football stadium confines.
After a lengthy BOE
meeting last Thursday, the
board asked superintendent
Ron Saunders to contact
the representative of the
W. Clair Harris Foundation
about additional funds for
repair work. The estimated
costs will be from $80,000-
$125,000.
BOARD DEBATES
WHAT HAPPENED
BOE member Connie
Wehunt has been very criti
cal of the process in which
the fieldhouse was con
structed and has expressed
concern that additional
funds will now have to be
used to make repairs.
Volunteers were used to
construct to the facility in
order to save money on the
project.
continued on page 3A
Airport Authority
debates water fees
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Before an audience that
stretched out the door and into
the hallway, the newly config
ured Barrow County Airport
Authority held the first meet
ing of its four-year term on
Tuesday.
The panel, which now has a
new chairman and as well as a
new majority, didn’t appear any
more inclined to pay Barrow
County Board of
Commissioners
Chairman Danny
Yearwood's
recent $1 million
invoice covering
several years
of staff salaries NOCERA
than the previ
ous authority.
continued on page 3A
Statham tables item
on upping city rates
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
A proposal to raise water,
sewer and garbage fees was
tabled by the Statham City
Council Tuesday night.
Mayor Robert Bridges said
the rates have not been increased
since 1991.
“This is a bad time to do
it, but we don’t really have a
choice,” Bridges said during the
meeting.
Council member Betty Lyle
then made the request to table
the matter until it could be stud
ied further.
“I know the city is having a
hard time,” Lyle said. “However,
people are out of work and hav
ing a hard time paying what we
have now. Some people don’t
have a Wal-Mart bag full of
trash each week. It is not fair for
some to pay as much as those
with two cans of trash.”
Lyle said the motion needed
to be tabled until the council
can look at the proposal more
in depth.
Bridges said he would like to
see a study rate done.
Currently, residents pay a flat
rate of $12 for garbage pick up.
Water and sewer rates are by
volume.
“I don’t think enough study
has been done on this,” Lyle
said. “To hit someone at this
time will cause us to see more
and more cut offs.”
The Statham city council then
voted unanimously to table the
matter until next month.
COUNCIL PAY
RAISES FLOATED
The Statham council also
looked briefly Tuesday night at
raising the pay for mayor and
council, although no amount
was settled on.
The council was told by city
attorney Thomas Mitchell that a
decision would have to be made
soon so a first reading could be
held in March with final adop
tion in April.
If raises are adopted, they
would not go into effect until
after the next election.
In other business Tuesday
night the council:
•approved a beer license
application for Sarah’s Mexican
Restaurant.
•denied a request from police
officer Steve Martin to use a
vacant portion of the police
department building as a real
estate office during his off duty
hours.
Unemployment claims in
Barrow drop from Dec.
Total is up from Jan. 2008
Initial unemployment insurance claims in Barrow County went
down in January from December, but were still 70 percent higher
than January 2008
Some 680 Barrow Countians filed for the first time for unem
ployment insurance in January, down from the 763 who filed in
December, an 11 percent drop.
But January’s total was 102 more than in January 2008.
The unemployment insurance filings often foreshadow move
ment of the overall local unemployment rate.
State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said the trend
in unemployment in the state is “the emergence of a ‘Darwinian’
job market.”
“The growing number of layoffs has created a surplus ol
jobseekers who are talented, experienced, educated and well-
trained,” he said.