About Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016 | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2009)
Barrow Journal www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over... Wednesday, March 25,2009 Vol. 1 No. 22 22 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY — Inside — Area news: •'A Place Where Art Thrives' page 1C •Another Cook of Barrow County page 1C •Auburn approves new city charter page 2A •Water authority suit hangs in balance page 3A Opinions: •Something has to change and soon page 4A •We gave you tax cuts...where are the jobs page 4A •Session reaches Crossover Day page 5A Sports: •Diamond Doggs sport perfect region mark page 1B •AHS baseball battles defending state champ page 2B •WBHS wins Battle of Barrow in tennis page 4B Also Inside: •Classifieds page 6C •Church News page 7B •Letter to the Editor page 5A •Public Safety pages 6-7A •Obituaries pages 4-SC To subscribe, call today: 770-867-NEWS (6397). The Barrow Journal is delivered every Thursday. Guard leaves Monday Public invited to line route for local sendoff BY SUSAN NORMAN Next week, 250 soldiers based at the Georgia National Guard Armory in Winder will leave their families, homes and jobs for what is expected to be a “challenging” deployment to Afghanistan. Headquarters Company and Echo Forward Support Company - two of the six companies in the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team - will be “federalized” Thursday and leave Monday from the armory for training, then deployment. Just before 9 a.m. Monday, the Winder-based soldiers will board chartered buses at the Georgia National Guard Armory on Maynard Street. They will have a sheriff’s department escort as they drive south on Hwy. 82 to Ga. Hwy. 316 en route to Camp Shelby in Mississippi. The public may join friends and family members along the route for the sendoff. PART-TIME WARRIORS Two Winder police officers - Andy Smith and Mike Russo - are among those who are being deployed. Smith is the brother of Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith. The 238 men and 12 women being deployed from the Winder companies are mostly part-time warriors who have put on hold their educations or jobs for the next year. The soldiers range in age from 18 to early 50s. Some are students at area colleges. Others work in a variety of fields, from the trades to teaching or law enforcement or the health care field. About 40 percent of the Winder- based guardsmen heading to Afghanistan are combat veterans from previous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last summer, a third of the 48th battalion went to the Republic of Georgia for a training exercise and were embedded with those soldiers for three weeks. TRAINING After leaving Winder, the unit will undergo two months of training at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Hattiesburg, Miss., then leave in late May for a 10-month tour of duty. continued on page 3A LT. COL. SMITH COUNTY NEW FACILITY The new Barrow County Courthouse, which costs $52 million, will be open to the public Monday, April 6. Historic Courthouse closes April 2 BY SUSAN NORMAN A new chapter in Barrow County's history begins April 2, when the historic 1914 court house in downtown Winder closes and its furnishings, files and staff are moved to the new Barrow County Criminal Justice Center off Hwy. 211. The coun ty’s new $52 million showpiece on Barrow Park Drive north of the city will open to the public Monday, April 6. All that will be left behind at the old courthouse will be the Sheriff’s staff, who for the next year will operate out of temporary offices in the original part of the building while their offices in the 1990 courthouse annex undergo renovation. The impressive structure has four large courtrooms, addi- The Barrow County Courthouse in downtown Winder will be closed April 2-3, but staff will be availble to stamp time-sensitive documents. They will be set up near the security screening area on the main floor. tional hearing rooms, records and storage rooms, and office suites for the staffs of the district attorney, the clerk of superior court, the public defender, and for the judges and staffs of the magistrate, probate, juvenile and superior courts. Elected officials who have been contending with cramped office space, inadequate court room facilities and miseries that include a leaking roof and mold are plainly thrilled to be mov ing. Many said in interviews this week that the new center would provide enough space to accom modate their needs for years to come and should create a more seamless criminal justice system for the county. OUT WITH THE MOLD District Attorney Brad Smith said his staff actually had to vacate their offices ahead of the planned move because of the growth of mold following the recent snowstorm. “Eve got five employees shar ing one office in the old part of the courthouse, three using offices in the county adminis trative building, two working in Jackson County offices and some working from their home,” Smith said. continued on page 8A BOC to study cutting retirement plan BY SUSAN NORMAN The Barrow County government plans to study cutting back on its employee retirement plans. The Barrow County Board of Commissioners appoint ed a three-member committee Tuesday night to consider making cuts in the program. Commissioners Larry Joe Wilburn, Isaiah Berry and Ben Hendrix were appointed by BOC chair man Danny Yearwood to study the county’s retire ment plan and report back at the April 14 meet ing. Wilburn raised the possibility of paring down the county’s retirement benefits. He noted that the required payment for 2008 was nearly $1.3 million, that the plan currently is under-funded by $3 million, and that 100 employees soon would be eligible to participate in it, further driving up annual costs based on future liability. “If we plan to make any changes, this is some thing we need to start discussing,” Wilburn said, adding that the discussion also should include whether offering early retirement incentives would save the county money or not. “I want to make sure we have enough input to make the right decision,” Yearwood said. “We’re affecting the future of peoples’ lives and we need to put as much consideration into this as pos sible.” The BOC also voted Tuesday night to approve the $1.3 million retirement and disability payment for 2008. The program is administered by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. The payment was $70,722 more than in 2007, but was less than had been budgeted in the current fiscal year, according to chief financial officer Beth Horacek. continued on page 3A Fire chief back at work BY SUSAN NORMAN After weighing his options during his unpaid suspension last week, Barrow County Fire Chief Robert Post decided to come back to work Tuesday morning. “I think anytime something like that happens, you have to weigh all your options,” Post said in an interview. “In the end, I felt I needed to continue on with the program and do everything I can to improve emergency services delivery to the citizens of Barrow County.” County Chairman Danny Yearwood suspended Post on March 16 for not following directives on overtime work for his employees. Post said he came back to work Tuesday morn ing at 7:30 a.m. and, in addition to catching up on e-mail and correspondence, spent time with firefighters. “I told the guys that I came to work here to try to improve the department for the citizens and for the employees of the department,” he said. “I’m not trying to build a kingdom or anything. All I am trying to do is make things better for the people that live here and keep my people safe.” Commissioners to become ‘liasions’ Members of the Barrow County Board ol Commissioners will soon have another duty on their agenda — serving as a liaison between county departments and BOC chairman Danny Yearwood. Commissioner Ben Hendrix made the proposal al the board’s Tuesday night meeting. In the absence of top administrators and several managers whc have either resigned or been fired, Hendrix said he believes the departments would benefit from the experience of the commissioners. “I don’t want to give staff or department heads the impression that any of us want to micromanage what is going on in the departments,” Hendrix said to the sound of audible chuckles in the audience. “That is not what this is about. We just hope to ease the workload and be someone the staff can come tc as a buffer... We’re all on the same team.” continued on page 8A School officials begin new budget process BY CHRIS BRIDGES And so it begins. The Barrow County Board of Education held a 90-minute work session Tuesday to begin sorting through its 2010 fiscal year budget, which begins July 1. Assistant superintendent for business services Ken Cato, who conducted the meeting, presented a preliminary budget of approximately $99.5 million. School board members were given a 50-page booklet to sort through before the next financial planning session, which has been scheduled for April 9. “This is just our first look at it,” Cato said. “Just about the time we think something is settled, it changes. We still have a lot of hard work to do.” continued on page 3A
