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Barrow i Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, February 25,2009
Vol. 1 No. 18
20 PAGES 3 SECTIONS
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250 COPY
•Pet lovers lend a help
ing hand
page 1C
•Another Cook of
Barrow County
page 1C
•BOO review budget
next month
page 2A
•Stimulus bill impact
unknown locally
page 3A
Opinions:
•Local papers will sur
vive, prosper
page 4A
•Isakson should have
an easy road ahead
page 4A
•It's my environment,
stupid
page 5A
Sports:
•High school baseball
returns to Barrow
page 1B
•Sheppard takes third
at state wrestling
page 1B
•WBHS boys coach
steps down
page 1B
Also Inside:
•Church News
page 5B
•Letters to the Editor
page 5A
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Forging ahead
Barrow Crossing opens next week
PAVED AND READY
The parking lots at the new Barrow Crossing are ready for use. The
first retail business to open will be McDonald’s on March 3.
Photo by Jessica Brown
BY SUSAN NORMAN
After years of anticipation, the first
two anchor stores in the county’s first
regional shopping center will open
next week.
The on-schedule openings of Target
and Belk at Barrow Crossing are
welcome news not only for county
residents who will be able to shop
closer to home, but also for the local
economy.
The 60-acre complex with about
500,000 square feet of retail space
is bringing hundreds of new jobs to
the community and is expected to
yield $100,000 a month in sales tax
revenue for the county government’s
operations alone this fiscal year.
“We are thrilled that those folks
have chosen to locate here in Barrow
County,” said Tommy Jenkins, presi
dent of the Barrow County Chamber
of Commerce. “We’re equally pleased
that they have chosen to open on time
and on schedule rather than delaying
with the economic conditions as they
are.”
Mike Cohn, regional manager
of the Atlanta office of developer
Faison Enterprises, said in an inter
view that the only change to the
Barrow Crossing development after
the economy began to sour last year
was to develop it in two phases.
continued on page 2A
Target hires
130 people
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The first retail business to open
at Barrow Crossing next week will
be McDonald’s, which opens foi
breakfast at 6 a.m. Tuesday, March
3.
The following day, on March 4,
the 128,000-square-foot Target store
will open its doors at 8 a.m. for a
“soft" opening. Its official opening
is at 8 a.m. Sunday, March 8.
Jerry Thurmond, manager of the
new Target store, said in an inter
view that Barrow residents comprise
his entire management team.
“I’m a local Barrow countian
myself, and all of my management
staff is from this area,” Thurmond
said.
continued on page 2A
Wednesday accident
ACCIDENT WITH INJURIES
A three-vehicle accident occured Wednesday morning at approximately
11:30 a.m. near Ft. Yargo Elementary School. One of the vehicles involved
was a van transporting children. Reports indicated several people were
taken to area hospitals following the wreck. See www.barrowjournal.com for
updates. Photo by Susan Mobley
Back taxes
County collects nearly $200,000
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Delinquent taxpayers
have begun responding to
the 4,700 tax-lien notices
they received from Barrow
County’s tax commissioner
last Friday.
On Friday and Monday,
the office collected
$190,000.
“The phone has been ring
ing,” said Tax Commissioner
Melinda Williams in an
email responding to ques
tions from this newspaper.
Some callers have said
they want to break into two
payments what they owe.
Others have said they would
pay what is due before
March 19, when writs of
fieri facias are to be printed
and filed with the Clerk of
Superior Court - the first
step in the process leading
to a tax auction.
And others are saying
their mortgage companies
were supposed to pay their
overdue tax bills.
“So we are getting a
response, whatever it may
be,” Williams said.
Two of the county’s high-
profile taxpayers - school
board chairman William
Bramlett and board of com
missioners chairman Danny
Yearwood - also have
responded to the notices.
Bramlett paid his $21,551
bill for tax years 2007 and
2008 on Feb. 18.
Yearwood told Williams
he would pay his $6,128
due for 2008 before the
county’s 10-percent penalty
kicks in.
“He has indicated to
me that he will pay in full
before that 10-percent pen
alty is added, which goes
on the 15th of March,”
Williams stated.
POLITICAL
FALLOUT
Both Bramlett and
Yearwood have been politi
cally hammered over the
issue in local blogs over the
past week.
Yearwood said Tuesday
night that he is just doing
what is available to every
taxpayer.
While he did miss the
December payment date,
his account isn’t really late
until after March 15, he
said.
continued on page 8A
Pay raise to be considered in Bethlehem
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Town of Bethlehem officials will discuss
whether to raise the pay for the mayor
and council members during its regular
monthly meeting March 2 at 7 p.m.
The council agreed last month to look at
increasing the pay, which currently stands
at $20 for council members and $50 for
the mayor per meeting.
These amounts have not been increased
in approximately 10 years. If increased,
the pay raise amounts would not go into
effect until Jan. 2010, the city’s legal
spokesman said.
Yearwood, Smith
take large pay cuts
But other officials so far
mum on voluntary cutbacks
Several Barrow County elected officials, including board of com
missioners chairman Danny Yearwood and Sheriff Jud Smith, have
taken voluntary pay cuts after the county imposed similar cuts on
county staff last month.
But many other elected officials have so far not asked that their
own pay be cut to match the employee cutbacks.
In response to an open-records request, Human Resources
Director Norma Jean Brown said in an email Tuesday that
Yearwood had taken a significant voluntary pay cut since the
county reduced employees’ salaries in late January. Under the
county’s staff cutback guidelines, Yearwood’s voluntary cut would
have been 5 percent. He took a 10 percent cut, twice the amount of
county guidelines.
“His salary was $61,842, and he chose to take a 10-percent
reduction which brings his salary down to $55,658,” Brown said.
“The Chairman should have only taken a 5-percent reduction per
the (county cutback) resolution, however he requested for us to
leave it at the higher reduction.”
According to Brown, four other locally elected officials also took
10-percent pay cuts. They included commissioners Isaiah Berry
(District 4), Eva Elder (District 2) and Larry Joe Wilburn (District
1) - whose cuts were three times larger than called for - and Sheriff
Smith.
Smith’s salary of $84,312 was reduced to $75,881. His reduction
of $8,431 was the largest voluntary pay reduction among all of the
elected officials. The sheriff said in an interview that he couldn’t
ask his staff to take cuts he wasn’t willing to take.
District 3 Commissioner Steve Worley took a 3-percent cut and
asked the county to drop his health insurance coverage, saving the
county $4,500 per year, Brown said.
continued on page 8A
Auburn officials to consider
change in permit fee costs
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Auburn City Council
heard a proposal from city plan
ner Larry Lucas last week con
cerning the establishment of a
minimum permit fee for build
ing and trade permits.
Lucas told council mem
bers at the work session last
Thursday that he would prefer
dropping a current use of North
Metro Building for inspections.
Lucas explained that since a
$100 flat fee is charged, the city
often loses revenue since many
times it is not receiving a permit
fee for inspection costs.
Lucas suggested changing to
Safebuilt which does not charge
a flat rate. This company uses a
calculated fee as a percentage
of the cost it charges. Safebuilt
officials have told Lucas its fee
for inspection is 80 percent of
the permit cost.
There was some question
about what items which require
a permit and whether items such
as making a few changes in
a homeowner’s kitchen would
require one.
Lucas said city ordinances
require a permit for anything
altered, repaired, expanded or
constructed.
A proposed fee schedule for
residents would include cat
egories such as general repair
more than $750, general repair
less than $750, new residential,
alterations and additions.
The council will review the
proposal and possibly vote on
it during a future business ses
sion.
In other business at last
week’s work session the Auburn
council:
•was informed of the grand
opening of the J.D. Withers
Building set for Sunday, March
8, from 2-4 p.m.
