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Barrow Journal
www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over...
Wednesday, May 13,2009
Vol. 1 No. 29 20 PAGES 3 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
•Teacher uses unique
approach to autism
page 1C
•In the kitchen with a
Cook of Barrow County
page 1C
•Bethlehem officials
look at star upgrade
page 2A
•Hospital CEO takes
another position
page 2A
Opinions:
•Technology enables
us to reconnect
page 4A
•Fighting an old war
again
page 4A
•Barrow facing tough
choices
page 4A
Sports:
•Local athletes capture
third at state track
page 1B
•Action returns to W-B
Speedway
page 1B
•Numbers up for
WBHS spring football
page4B
Also Inside:
•Classifieds
page 6C
•Church News
page 5B
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Obituaries
pages 4-5C
To subscribe,
call today:
770-867-NEWS
(6397).
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered
every
Thursday.
Tax hike, more cuts likely
County's fiscal crisis to deepen in FY2010
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Friday was a day of reckoning at
the county administration building
as a new committee of the Barrow
County Board of Commissioners
began work on the budget for the fis
cal year that starts in October.
And the picture wasn’t good.
No decisions were made, but sev
eral options for dealing with the situ
ation were placed on the table.
Based on the discussion, it appears
that reduced employee benefits are
likely, layoffs are possible, and a tax
increase is nearly certain.
Figures presented by CFO Beth
Horacek and county chairman Danny
Yearwood are preliminary, but they
indicate a FY2010 revenue shortfall
of $7 million or more.
That is 20 percent of this year’s
shaved, $34-million budget and
nearly all of what was allocated in
the original FY2009 budget for non
salary operating expenditures from
the General Fund.
“It is probably going to be the hard
est year we have ever went through,”
Yearwood told the 11-member com
mittee comprised of five board mem
bers and six county staff. “The reason
is that our revenues never stopped
before. When revenue stops, you
can’t fund what you’ve been funding.
It’s just that simple.”
WORSENING PICTURE
Friday’s discussion was frank, as
committee members discussed how
to navigate the county through next
year’s treacherous financial straits.
continued on page 3A
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS
Barrow County Board of Commissioners are looking at a wors
ening picture concerning the county’s fiscal crisis.
Photo by Susan Norman
Playing on...
PLAYOFFS CONTINUE
The Winder-Barrow High School baseball team,
coached by Brian Smith, continues its state playoff
trek this week against Starr’s Mill. The Bulldoggs
defeated Dalton in the first round last weekend and
are scheduled to travel to Starr’s Mill in Fayetteville
today for two games. A third game, if necessary,
would be Thursday. Photo by Jessica Brown
Need for paramedic
help arises in Barrow
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Barrow County Fire & Emergency Services has 13 vacan
cies for firefighter/paramedics and the county is not finding
anyone interested in the job.
To help attract applicants, the board of commissioners
voted Tuesday night to increase the starting pay for the posi
tion from $12.50 an hour to $14 an hour.
And to motivate two recent graduates of paramedic train
ing to stay here, the commissioners agreed to roll back their
January salary cuts of 4 percent, raising their pay from
$14.06 per hour to $14.64 per hour.
Human Resources Director Norma
Jean Brown said she has been adver
tising the 13 vacancies for two weeks
and has received only two applica
tions.
“Times are tough and people come
into HR every day looking for a job,
but I can’t get medics right now,”
she said. “At $12.50 an hour, I can’t
do it.”
The department has seven full-time paramedic vacancies
and six part-time paramedic vacancies, said Acting Fire
Chief Mark Melvin.
That represents more than a third of the budgeted para
medic positions. Currently, the county has 19 firefighter/
paramedics and 35 firefighter/emergency medical techni
cians.
Inside:
• Commissioner
questions audit firm’s
comments.
— Page 2A
continued on page 2A
In Auburn...
ARC funds go to county, not city
VOLUNTEER RESPONDERS HONORED
The newest graduates of a 23-hour disaster pre
paredness class offered by Barrow County’s
Community Emergency Response Team were hon
ored at the May 7 meeting of the Auburn City
Council. The free course teaches basic disaster
response skills such as disaster preparedness, fire
safety, medical operations, light search and rescue,
disaster psychology and terrorism. The graduates
now are eligible to apply for membership in the all
volunteer Barrow County CERT, which assists first
responders during disasters and provides other
local services. Presenting certificates to the gradu
ates were Bob Richardson of CERT and Barrow
County Emergency Management Agency Director
Jimmy Terrell. Photo by Susan Norman
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Auburn Mayor Linda
Blechinger announced some
disappointing news last
Thursday night: The $1 mil
lion in funding the city had
hoped to get from the Atlanta
Regional Commission for a
downtown streetscape proj
ect instead will go to the
county government.
Blechinger said she,
city administrator Ron
Griffith and Barrow County
Commissioner Billy Parks
recently traveled to Atlanta
on behalf of the city to meet
with ARC representatives
about the funding.
The trip was the culmina
tion of a low-key battle of
the wills between Blechinger
and Barrow County Board
of Commissioners chairman
Danny Yearwood over the
$1 million that the regional
planning agency pledged
after Barrow County came
under its transportation
planning umbrella in 2005.
Several weeks ago,
Blechinger and her staff
asked the county commission
to support Auburn’s request
to use the $1 million for the
city project. Blechinger said
then that the money has been
available for four years, but
no one from Barrow has
requested it.
However, after the meet
ing, Yearwood said the coun
ty did submit a local road
project for that funding in
2005 and that he also had
renewed the request.
Blechinger told the coun
cil Thursday night that the
ARC would honor its origi
nal pledge to give the money
to the county government.
“They said this is com
pletely separate from any
other funding,” she said.
“Because it was a deal struck
in 2005, that money will go
to county.”
But the mayor said she
believes the three-hour meet
ing at the ARC would prove
fruitful.
“I think we did a great job
explaining what our situa
tion was,” she said. “And
they assured us that our proj
ect and future projects fit
in categories they would be
funding.”
She said the ARC is excit
ed about what is happening
in Auburn.
“I felt it was a very pro
ductive trip,” the mayor said.
“At the least, they’ll remem
ber Auburn.”
continued on page 3A
Arrests net 19 suspected drug dealers
BY SUSAN NORMAN
At least 19 suspected drug dealers from
inside and outside Barrow County have been
arrested during the past two weeks by three
local law enforcement agencies.
The undercover investigation is still under
way, so the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
would not discuss the operation.
“The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office is
conducting an ongoing investigation and can
not comment further for fear of jeopardizing
that investigation,” said Major Todd Druse.
But the Auburn Police Department on
Tuesday issued a press release announcing
the arrests of 10 suspected dealers in that
town and a spokesman for the Statham Police
Department said his investigators had made
two arrests.
The Winder Police Department is not
involved in the operation, said public infor
mation officer Rachel Love.
According to the Auburn press release,
officers seized four pounds of marijuana
and an undetermined amount of powdered
cocaine. The drugs are worth $20,000-25,000
on the streets.
Two guns also were confiscated.
THE SUSPECTS
The 10 suspects arrested in Auburn are from
Dacula, Suwanee, Lawrenceville, Carrollton,
Winder and Auburn. They include:
•Mathew Patrick Anderson, 21, of Dacula,
possession of a firearm during the commis
sion of a felony, and possession, manufacture
or distribution of a controlled substance.
•Curtis Fant of Suwanee, possession of
marijuana with the intent to distribute, and
felony possession of marijuana.
•Melvin Douglas Gray of Auburn, sale of
cocaine.
•Kimberly Lentz of Carrollton, sale of
cocaine.
•Tiffany Ray of Dacula, possession of
marijuana with the intent to distribute, sale
of marijuana, and felony possession of mari
juana.
continued on page 3A
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