Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Page 5C BARROW COUNTY Costume raises pageant’s hackles A Barrow County woman is catch ing heat after her 3-year-old daughter appeared in a beauty pageant dressed as Julia Roberts’ character in “Pretty Woman.” Wendy Dickey has appeared on a number of national news shows recently to defend the outfit, which is a replica of the one worn when Roberts played a prostitute in the movie, according to WDUN. “I tried to figure what kind of char acter I could do ‘Pretty Woman’ to be non-sexual, just funny, hilarious and comical, and this is the routine I came up with,” Dickey told Joy Behar on Headline News. The costume garnered national attention after Dickey and her daugh ter Paisley appeared on the TLC pro gram “Toddlers & Tiaras.” CLARKE COUNTY Housing to be razed, rebuilt The Athens Housing Authority will demolish a Hawthorne Avenue housing project and replace it with mixed-income housing, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Jack R. Wells Homes, commonly known as Pauldoe, was slated for renovation over the next few years. Instead, AHA officials decided to work with a private company to com pletely redevelop the 40-acre, 125- unit apartment complex built in 1967. AHA Executive Director Rick Parker described the project as a transforma tion, rather than a modernization. AHA is working with Columbia Residential, an Atlanta-based company that has redeveloped five other public housing projects in Atlanta, Marietta, Columbus and New Orleans. The redevelopment would double the number of affordable units at Pauldoe. UGA toughens harassment policy The University of Georgia has adopted a new, tougher sexual harass ment policy that for the first time explicitly defines sexual violence as a violation of UGA policy. The university’s cabinet, a group of high-ranking administrators, adopt ed the new Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policy with little discussion in a meeting last Thursday, according to the Athens Banner- Herald. The new policy also takes jurisdic tion over student-on-student harass ment complaints away from the UGA Student Affairs office and places it under the UGA Equal Opportunity Office, which already handles cases involving UGA workers. Under both the old and revised pol icy, UGA professors and graduate teaching assistants are flatly prohib ited from sex with their students, or even dating them. Mayor mulls tax cut for seniors Athens-Clarke Mayor Nancy Denson introduced a proposal let week to give senior homeowners a break on their taxes, a key campaign promise in 2010, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. Faced with projections of $10 mil lion in budget cuts or tax increases over the next four years just to main tain current services, though, com missioners gave the plan a lukewarm reception. Denson wants to let seniors freeze their homes’ tax values when they turn 65 so their taxes don’t rise with high er assessments. The Clarke County School District instituted a similar policy, known as a floating homestead BANKS HALL • Homer • Gainesville Commerce MADISON Flowery Branch JACKSON • Danielsville • Braselton v • Hoschton • Jefferson • Bufori • Winder CLARKE • Athens GWINNETT BARROW Lawrenceville Watkinsville • Loganville OCONEE • Monroe WALTON exemption, in 2002. About 5,000 homeowners are eli gible for the floating homestead exemption on school taxes — a third of the owner-occupied households in Clarke County — and about 3,000 have taken advantage of it, county Tax Commissioner Mitch Schrader said. GWINNETT COUNTY Tolls on 1-85 Start Oct. 1 On Oct. 1, the new managed-lane system — and a toll — will replace Interstate 85's high-occupancy lanes from Chamblee-Tucker Road to Old Peachtree Road, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. The date, which is two months after the original plans to open, is contin gent on weather and testing. Until then, crews will work to add the final touches to the lanes, includ ing signage about the tolls. But driv ers will not be charged until Oct. 1, officials said. Tolls will vary from 10 cents to 90 cents a mile based on the congestion at the time. The lane will remain free for motorcyclists and alternative fuel vehicles, but while the carpool lane once allowed cars with two people, the toll will only be waived after October if there are three people in the car. Everyone, even those driving in the lane for free, must have a Peach Pass. To sign up for an account, go to www. peachpass.com or call 1-877-PCH- PASS. 2 high schools top SAT stats Newly released SAT scores show test takers from Dacula High School and Mill Creek High School exceeded county, state and national averages, according to Patch.com. In 2011, Dacula High School stu dents had a combined SAT score of 1525 and Mill Creek students scored an average of 1535. Gwinnett County Public Schools as a whole averaged 1511 compared to 1445 statewide and 1500 nationwide. The SAT is a college entrance exam that includes three sections — criti cal reading, mathematics and writ ing. It is designed to assess whether students possess the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in college. Possible scores range from 200 to 800 for each section. The highest possible composite score is 2400. In Gwinnett, students scored an average of 501 in reading, 521 in mathematics and 489 in writing. Students at Dacula High School averaged 510 in critical reading, 522 in mathematics and 493 in writing. Mill Creek students scored an average of 508 in reading, 530 in mathematics and 497 in writing. Buford woman dies on 1-85 A Buford woman is dead after attempting to cross 1-85 early Friday morning. Police say 39-year-old Jade Christensen of Buford crossed the northbound lanes of 1-85 just south of Buford Drive and was attempting to cross the southbound lanes at approx imately 12:45 a.m. when she was struck by a 2004 GMC Envoy driven by a 64-year-old Georgia man. Christensen died at the scene as a result of injuries sustained in the col lision. Officers with the Gwinnett County Police Department Accident Investigation Unit (AIU) believe Christensen was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. The accident remains under inves tigation. Students learn business skills The Dacula Coffee Shop on the campus of Dacula High School is open for business — and business is booming. “It started out kind of small. We just started out in the mornings on little carts, selling, and then we come to where now we have our own room and it’s kind of like a little Starbucks,” Special Education teacher Cheryl Gardner told Fox 5. “And we try to make it like a little coffee shop (where) the kids can come in and relax during lunchtime.” The coffee shop is run by students from one of the school’s special needs classes, and students are getting some practical, hands on experience run ning a real business. “Some of the curriculum is so dif ficult in high school that you really struggle as a teacher telling the kids why you are going to need to learn this,” Gardner told Fox 5. “But when the students can see, ‘This is why I need to learn this concept,’ and they get something out of it and they enjoy it, that’s when they’re going to learn.” HALL COUNTY Flowery Branch seeks light input After only two residents signed up to add their input on Flowery Branch’s streetlight plan last Thursday, city council members have issued a plea for more opinions. According to WDUN, members of the Council said they needed to hear from more residents so they would know what the “will of the people” was. “Call us. Tell us. Get a group of your neighbors together. Invite us somewhere; we’ll meet you...at your house.. .wherever,” urged Councilman Chris Fetterman. The two residents who signed-up to express their views on the street light ing assessment resolution, Charles Goodwin and Fred Richardson, are directors on the Madison Creek Subdivision Home Owners’ Association. Councilman Kris Yardley attempted to stoke the campaign to arouse more citizen comment, “What we’re look ing at is how to prioritize our spend ing; what services that can we sustain. We want to know what you (the citi zens of Flowery Branch) want.” In order to continue the ordinance a vote was necessary. It passed 4 to 1, with Councilwoman Tara Richards being the sole “no” vote. YMCA moves into S. Hall The Georgia Mountains YMCA appears poised to expand into South Hall. According to The Times of Gainesville, the Oakwood City Council voted last week to move for ward with the Gainesville-based non profit organization, beginning Oct. 1, to develop parks and recreation programs in the city. City Manager Steve Brown told the newspaper that some details still need to be worked out, ssh as membership fees and which programs to offer. The YMCA already operates the swim ming pool in the Oakwood City Park off Railroad Street, between Main and Allen streets, during the summer. The city plans to pay the YMCA up to $12,500 over the next three months. The total cost for the parks and recre ation program next year will be about $50,000. “For what we see as a very moder ate investment, we will be able to offer a lot more opportunities for our citizens, better utilization of our facilities and lay the foundation for a more enhanced parks and recreation program in the future,” Brown told the newspaper. The agreement now goes before the YMCA board of directors for approval. Fire destroys S. Hall home A family of four is homeless but safe after an fire early Friday morning destroyed their South Hall home. According to The Times of Gainesville, Hall County firefighters responded to the call in the 5200 block of Strickland Road in Flowery Branch. Four adults were living in the home at the time but escaped safely. Fire Chief David Kimbrell said in a news release.. Firefighters found approximately 70 percent of the 3,600-square-foot home engulfed in flames. Fire crews were able to put out the fire but the house is a total loss, with damage estimated at $500,000. An investigator has been called to determine the cause of the fire. County 2nd in annual job loss Georgia recorded nearly 34.000 job losses in the past twelve months, but state Labor Commission Marc Butler said there is a “silver lining” to those numbers: an increase in manufactur ing jobs. Meanwhile, as reported by WDUN, Gainesville, percentage-wise, was second in the state in terms of job losses for the period. Gainesville lost 1,800 jobs in the past year, from 73,200 jobs in August 2010 to 71,400 jobs reported last month, or a loss of 2.5 percent, second only to a 2.6 percent decline in the number of jobs in Valdosta. On the other hand, Athens added 800 jobs, a one percent increase, dur ing the period, topped only by Macon, which picked up 1,400 jobs, a 1.5 percent increase. OCONEE COUNTY City OKS Civil War memorial A local camp of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans will erect a small granite memorial and lighted flagpole in the Watkinsville cemetery, the Athens Banner-Herald reported. Watkinsville’s City Council approved the memorial during a meet ing last Wednesday. Council mem ber Brian Brodrick voted against the request. The memorial will mark the Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery. The flagpole will fly the American flag and the “stars and bars” Confederate flag and include a solar-powered light to spotlight the memorial at night. WALTON COUNTY DDA names interim post The Downtown Development Authority has announced an interim director to oversee events through the end of the year. Matthew Chancey, a Monroe native, will oversee what past director Ansley Holder implemented for the year, according to the Walton Tribune. Currently city planner, Chancey will oversee the fall festival, Christmas parade and downtown lights and decorations for the Christmas sea son. Chancey has been city planner since last September and has worked with the city since 2000. He will serve as the interim director for DDA until the city elects a new director for the New Year. Angel Food suspends service Angel Food Ministries, a nonde- nominational nonprofit, has suspend ed food deliveries for September. The program was started in 1994 by pastors Joe and Linda Wingo, who wanted to help families in Monroe affected by industrial plant closings. Starting with 34 families, eventually other churches got involved, and Angel Food began feeding hundreds of fami lies across the southeast. Currently, Angel Food provides food to more than 500,000 families a month in 45 states. A recorded message at the phone number and a written message on the website explain that services have been suspended this month and cus tomers’ money will be refunded. If a credit card was used, the refund should already be back in the cus tomer’s bank account. If an EBT card was used, the refund is still being processed.