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Barrow Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, March 11,2009
Vol. 1 No. 20 22 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•A look at downtown
Winder by night
page 1C
•Another Cook of
Barrow County
page 1C
•Belk set for ribbon
cutting, grand opening
page 3A
•England introduces
own stimulus plan
page 3A
Opinions:
•You know you're get
ting older when...
page 4A
•We're rolling down a
bumpy road
page 4A
•You ain't getting
that
page 5A
Sports:
•Track Doggs spring
into new season
page 1B
•AHS weight lifting
team wins area crown
page 1B
•WBHS baseball team
faces tough foes
page4B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 6C
•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.
BOC shuffles departments
More layoffs from combining duties
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The Barrow County Board of
Commissioners approved the reor
ganization of small departments to
shave about $140,000 in salaries
from the county's annual payroll.
The reorganization approved
Tuesday night by a 4-2 vote dissolves
the Risk Management Department
and moves those functions to the
Human Resources Department.
It also merges the Stormwater
Management Department with Keep
Barrow Beautiful. Four employees
arc affected by the changes.
District 4 Commissioner Isaiah
Berry and District 5 Commissioner
Billy Parks voted no on the plans.
Former Risk Management Director
James Terrell was officially named
the new director of Animal Control.
His relocation represents a demo
tion with a pay difference of about
$1,000, but the removal of his risk
management position will save the
county about $54,000 annually in
pay. Terrell is replacing former ani
mal control director Stephen Eades,
who resigned in February after
County Chairman Danny Yearwood
stripped him of his management
position.
Handling the county’s risk man
agement responsibilities will be Lisa
Gunter, currently an executive assis
tant in the Purchasing Department,
who will now report to HR Director
Norma Jean Brown.
Laid off as of March 21 will be
Stormwater Management Director
Jennifer Toler and stormwater inspec
tor Tony Key. The savings from the
removal of their positions will total
about $85,000 plus benefits.
With half of the fiscal year over,
the salary savings in FY2009
will amount to about half of that
amount.
The job duties of the stormwater
staff are to be absorbed by the cur
rent KBB manager, Shannon Young,
who will manage the combined
Stormwater/Keep Barrow Beautiful
Department.
continued on page 2A
In Auburn...
New charter
would allow
city debt
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The City of Auburn is
one step closer to adopt
ing a new city charter — a
charter that would allow
the town to take on bonded
debt without a vote of its
citizens.
The Auburn City Council
voted 3-1 last week to
approve an updated ver
sion of the town's char
ter. Council member Sally
Brown voted against the
measure, saying she want
ed voters to have a chance
to address the bonded debt
issue.
The next city council
hearing on the new charter
will be Thursday, March
19.
Language was put in the
Auburn charter in 1997
that had limited the town's
ability to issue debt with
out first holding a pub
lic vote. Mayor Linda
Bechinger said that lan
guage should never have
been put in the charter and
she was opposed to hold
ing another referendum to
address the matter.
continued on page 2A
One-act performance
DRAMA PERFORMANCE
The Apalachee High School drama depart
ment recently presented Christopher Durang’s
“Medea” at the Colleen O. Williams Theatre in
Winder. The play is a satire on the traditional
Greek tragedies. Here the chorus is played by by
Alexia Zarco, Anette llus and Ana Durango. See
more photos from the performance on page 8B.
Photo by Jessica Brown
Officers shoot one suspect
Winder woman recovering from robbery attempt
KETCHAM GREEN BONAR MANNING
BY SUSAN NORMAN
The female restaurant
manager who was beaten
with a baseball bat during
an armed robbery in Winder
last Friday night is recover
ing from her injuries and is
back at work.
The woman, who did not
want her name published,
said in an interview four
days after the attempted
robbery that she is OK.
“I am OK for now,” she
said with halting English.
"Dizzy... headache...”
Asked if she is afraid,
she responded: “Yes. So
afraid.”
She said she was struck
three times with the bat
before Gwinnett and Winder
police officers on March
6 interrupted the attempted
robbery of the China Wok
at 39 E. May St.
“He hit me in head two
times and in the neck one
time,” she said.
She bled from a head
wound that a Barrow
Regional Medical Center
doctor closed with a sta
ple. she said. The vic
tim’s fate might have been
worse, if not for the efforts
of Gwinnett and Winder
officers. Gwinnett Police
Cpl. David Schiralli said
officers with his depart
ment's Crime Suppression
Unit had been tipped off by
robbery investigators that
the car and the five teens
inside had been involved in
a string of armed robberies
in that county.
continued on page 2A
During snow storm...
Drunk mother leaves toddler in car
BY SUSAN NORMAN
A 26-year-old Auburn mother was
arrested last week for getting drunk and
leaving her toddler in a parked car while
the city was blanketed in snow.
Mary Vilayvahn Vorasith of 316 Carter
Road was arrested March 2 and charged
with cruelty to children and public drunk
enness. She was still in the Barrow County
Detention Center as of Tuesday.
According to an Auburn Police
Department report, police learned what
had happened after she called police to
report her child missing. Vorasith told the
responding officer that her stepfather had
taken her 2-year-old daughter and had not
brought her back.
continued on page 2A
Unemployment rate
tops 10 percent in Jan.
The unemployment rate in Barrow County shot up to 10.2 percent
in January, up from 8.6 percent in December.
The statewide unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in January.
According to the State Department of Labor, some 3,478 Barrow
Countians are unemployed. That is almost double the number from
January 2008 when 1,778 were unemployed.
Barrow's unemployment rate was among the highest in Northeast
Georgia, with only Franklin, Hart and Elbert counties higher.
Unemployment Rates
Jan.
Dec.
Jan.’08
Barrow County
10.2%
8.6%
5.2%
State
8.8%
7.8%
5.3%
Jackson County
9.5%
8.1%
5.2%
Gwinnett County
7.9%
6.9%
4.7%
Clarke County
6.6%
5.7%
4.3%
Hall County
8.3%
7.0%
4.3%
Franklin County
11.0%
8.7%
6.1%
Madison County
7.7%
6.5%
4.5%
Banks County
6.7%
5.7%
3.7%
Oconee County
5.3%
4.5%
3.5%
County continues to
struggle with finances
BY SUSAN NORMAN
How bad is the county’s
financial picture? That was the
key issue Tuesday morning
when Barrow County chairman
Danny Yearwood called an 8:30
a.m. meeting with department
heads and other elected officials
to discuss where the county’s
finances stand.
The chairman led a frank
discussion about the county's
financial situation, saying he is
doing everything he can to con
trol spending and to figure out
where the county’s finances will
be by the end of this fiscal year
and beyond.
“Everybody says, ‘How much
are we down?’” he said. “It's
hard to judge. We are basing our
projections on revenues. Thank
God taxes came in, because our
revenues stopped. Our permits
and the infrastructure of Barrow
County have come to a stop.
The only thing for sure is it's not
looking good, and I don't think
it’s going to get any better.”
He instructed department
managers and elected officials
to spend from their current bud
gets only what is absolutely
necessary and to be ready for
more cuts when work on the
EY2010 budget begins in the
next few weeks.
“What I am trying to do this
year is balance this budget if
there is any way possible,” he
said. “A lot of peoples' feelings
are going to be hurt next month
when we start working on (next
year’s) budget. There are going
to be some people that we are
not going to have the money
to fund. If it keeps going like it
is, the money is not going to be
there.”
UNEXPECTED COSTS
District 3 Commissioner Steve
Worley said some unanticipated
costs are undoing the progress
the board of commissioners
has attempted to make through
recent cost reductions.
continued on page 8A
County pays Hall, Oconee,
$550,000 for inmate housing
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners paid two inmate
housing bills Tuesday night that totaled over $550,000.
The bills were from Hall and Oconee counties for housing
Barrow County inmates between September 2008 and January. The
commissioners approved payments of $537,310 to the Hall County
Sheriff's Office and $12,780 to Oconee County’s government. They
also approved inmate medical cost reimbursements of $7,430 to
Hall and $55 to Oconee.
But those amounts exceeded the $400,000 allocated in the county
budget for inmate housing, forcing the BOC to dip into its cash
reserves by $157,600 to make up the difference. And more invoices
are coming for the months of February, March and a portion of
April. The county plans to open its new criminal justice facility by
the first of May.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith and his staff have worked to
reduce costs since January, so the additional monthly costs are not
expected to be as high as the fall expenses.
