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Barrow g Journal www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over... Vol. 3 No. 32 26 PAGES 3 SECTIONS Wednesday, June 1,2011 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250 COPY Community: •Carnival rolls into Winder page 4C •Columns by Britt West, Shelli Bond Pabis page 2C Opinions: •'Time for important things' page 4A ,'A pirate's life' page 5A Sports: •WBHS, AHS soccer players recognized page IB •Local baseball players named All-Region page IB •Cheerleaders earn award page2B •AHS hosts volleyball, basketball camps pages 3-4B Also Inside: •Church News page 6C •Classifieds page 7C •Obituaries page5C •Opinion page 4A •Pets of the Week page 3C •Public Safety pages 6-1OA Online: Follow us on Facebook by becoming a fan of the Barrow Journal today. www. Barro wJournal.com To subscribe, call today: 770-867-NEWS (6397) The Barrow Journal is delivered by mail every Thursday. 'Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance.' FAMILY RECOGNIZED Connie Wascovich and Brittany Giese, mother and wife of Lance CpI. Joseph Ryan Giese, were honored at Monday morning’s Memorial Day Service at Rose Hill Cemetery. Giese died in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Photo by Jessica Brown Heroes honored on Memorial Day By Chris Bridges cbridges@barrowjournal.com W ith a steamy Georgia pre-summer morning as the backdrop, Barrow County honored those who have paid the ultimate price for America’s freedom dur ing a ceremony at Rose Hill Cemetery Monday. “We are here for a special reason,” said Ed Grealish, who helped coordinate the event with the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1187 and its Ladies Auxiliary. “Sacrifice is meaningless without remem brance.” A special presentation was made to family members of Winder's Lance Cpl. Joseph Ryan Giese, who died in the line of duty while conducting combat opera tions in Afghanistan. His wife, Brittany, and mother, Connie Wascovich, both received memorial plaques during the local Memorial Day ceremony. The names of all Barrow County natives who died in the line of duty were read dur ing the ceremony. See Memorial Day on Page 12A SPECIAL TRIBUTE Joel Ash and Carol Ann Grealish bring forth the red, white and blue wreath honoring Barrow Countians who gave their lives on the battlefield. Photo by Jessica Brown Winder chief rips county 911 center Mattison says too much delay in dispatching emergency calls By Susan Norman snorman @ barrowjournal. com Winder’s fire chief blasted Barrow County’s E-911 center this week over what he said were unnecessary delays in dispatching emergency calls. Winder Fire Chief Ray Mattison pointed to two recent incidents where he said dispatching help was delayed because E-911 opera tors took too much time taking a long list of data and typing it into a computer rather than getting help on the way. “It’s all about training and being held accountable, and those two things have not happened there (at the 911 center),” Mattison said. See Emergency Calls on Page 11A Orr avoids felony, will keep firefighter’s license By Susan Norman snorman @ barrowjournal. com A former Barrow County Emergency Services lieutenant who was involved in the acci dental shooting of his preg nant daughter last Christmas has avoided a felony convic tion and will be able to keep his state firefighters license. A Barrow County Grand Jury indicted 46-year-old Donald Todd Orr of Winder on Feb. 14 on one felony count of child cruelty in the second degree due to the pres ence of an underage daughter in the house at the time of the TODD ORR 2010 incident. The grand jury also indicted him on one mis demeanor count of reckless conduct. See Orr Hearing on Page 11A Statham man arrested on molestation charges A Statham man was charged last week for allegedly raping a 13-year-old special needs girl after plying her with beer and drugs. William Carlton Bennett, 36, of Statham, was charged with cruelty to children in the first degree, child molestation, aggra vated child molestation and enticing a child for indecent pur poses. The juvenile victim was interviewed by investigators at the Treehouse center. She alleged that Bennett had kept her out of school one day and gave her 16-17 beers along with smoking “ICE” before sexually assaulting her. See Statham Arrest on Page 3A Reserves to be used, but no tax hike in BOE budget The Barrow County Board of Education is slated to give ten tative approval next week to a proposed $132.5 million FY2012 budget. The proposed budget does not call for a tax hike with the millage rate staying at the cur rent 18.5 mills. But the proposed budget does call for a lot of red ink in FY2012 with the system’s main fund, the General Fund, dipping over $5.1 million into reserves. That will leave the system’s reserves criti cally low at only $5.5 million at the end of next year, less than one month’s expenses. The school system’s General Fund looks to spend $90.6 mil lion next year, but officials only expect to take in $85.5 million in revenues. That’s because of a lower tax digest and other rev enue cuts in state and federal funds. The system has approved a number of spending cuts, includ ing having six furlough days in FY2012. The BOE plans to give final approval to its budget at 6 p.m. June 28. City of Auburn ends FY2010 in the red By Katie Cofer katie @ mainstreetnews. com The Auburn city government’s general fund was in the red nearly $900,000 at the end of FY2010, due mostly to a large drop in city revenues. It is the third year in a row that the city’s general fund has seen red ink. In FY2009, the city was $630,000 in the red and in FY2008 it was $746,500 in the red. The city has been able to absorb the shortfalls since it had built up a huge pool of reserves in 2007. The city took in $2.6 million in reve nues during FY2010, but spent $3.2 mil lion. It also transferred another $340,800 from the general fund to the city’s capi tal projects fund. Auburn had originally budgeted $3.5 million in projected revenues, but a drop in tax income along additional low income sources, hit the city for nearly $900,000 less than projected. One of the main shortfalls was in sales tax revenue which was anticipated to be $1.38 million, but which actually garnered only $977,000 in revenue for the year. The city did cut spending in FY2010 except for public safety, which saw expenses go up over what had been budgeted. Public safety, mostly the city police department, accounted for 50 per cent of the city’s general fund expenses in FY2010. The city used its reserves to cover the shortfall in FY2010 and at the end of the year, was still left with a healthy $1.9 million reserves balance in its general fund. City administrator Ron Griffith pre sented the FY2010 report, completed by Hubert A. Brisoce CPA firm out of Winder, on May 19 to the mayor and council. PROJECT EXPENSES In FY2010, the city spent $546,000 for its downtown sewer project, $13,000 for a new roof for city hall and $320,000 for the purchase of the Perry Rainey Building, located next to Auburn Elementary School. Additional special projects includ ed a $63,000 project on Saddle Creek drainage and roads in Gwinnett County, $124,000 in road repair and resurfacing, and $15,000 in improvements to Burel Park. See Auburn Finances on Page 11A r Look for ^ our insert in today's ^aper^ $$ Savings Deals! Piggly Wiggly® Express 95 N. Broad St. Winder, Ga. V ✓