Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 11A
Winder Election 2011
Government Change continued from 1A
Appeal: Cooley claims denied again
By Susan Norman
snorman@barmwjournal.com
Superior Court Judge
Joseph Booth on Friday morn
ing upheld the Oct. 4 decision
of the Barrow County Board
of Elections & Registration
to affirm the residency of
Winder City Councilman
Charlie Eberhart.
At the end of an hour-long
hearing on the appeal filed by
Eberhart’s political opponent,
Jim Cooley, the judge said
there is “ample evidence” to
support the soundness of the
board's decision, and he said
the court “will not substitute
its judgment for the board of
elections...”
Little actual evidence was
presented at the hearing in
Barrow County Superior
Court. The judge spent about
10 minutes going through the
“unofficial minutes” of the
BOE's earlier hearing and
spent most of the rest of the
hour listening to arguments
about several motions made
by Eberhart’s attorney, Lauren
Ellison.
She asked the court to dis
miss Cooley's claim because
he had not followed the cor
rect legal procedure in filing
his appeal. She also asked the
court to dismiss any claim
that Eberhart should be taken
off the Nov. 8 ballot. And
she asked that the board of
elections be named a party
to the action. Then she pre
sented a fourth motion asking
the judge to throw out all of
Cooley’s evidence, because
he had not laid the proper
legal foundation for introduc
ing it.
Cooley, who argued his
own appeal, said he had fol
lowed the instructions of the
BOE’s attorney about where
to appeal the board’s deci
sion.
He also told the judge that
although he had sent copies
of his appeal to the parties on
Oct. 6, he had not seen any of
the motions that Ellison had
filed this week or had just
brought to the hearing.
Ellison said last week’s
unexpected re-scheduling of
the hearing 10 days before the
original Oct. 31 date had not
allowed her enough time to
get all of her motions written
and mailed prior to the hear
ing. She completed her fourth
motion Thursday night and
brought it, not yet fded in the
clerk’s office, to court.
The judge did not rule on
the motions but simply listed
the grounds the court could
consider in throwing out the
board of elections’ decision.
He asked Cooley if he had
any evidence based on those
grounds.
He also allowed Cooley to
make any major points he
would provide evidence for,
if a full hearing were con
ducted.
In the end, the judge agreed
with Ellison’s argument that
without strong evidence to the
contrary, he had to consider
the decision of the elections
board to be “presumptive.”
After the hearing, Eberhart
declined to comment. Cooley
said he believes the judge
erred and he said he would
take the case to the Georgia
Supreme Court if necessary.
Less than an hour later, he
sent the newspaper a copy of
a request he sent to Winder
city administrator Don Toms
asking that the City of Winder
government “challenge Mr.
Eberhart's qualifying applica
tion” because the living quar
ters the councilman says he
has inside his funeral home
on King Street does not meet
the minimum standards for a
“dwelling” in the city code.
“Mr. Eberhart's staff lunch
room does NOT meet the city
of winder code to be qualified
as an Apartment. Therefore
violating Winder city code
and falsifying his (candi
date) qualifying application,”
Cooley wrote to Toms.
There is no indication that
anyone at Winder City Hall is
taking any further action.
“If somebody is hired
who is accountable to the
board and the chair — and
is accountable to the public
because they put pressure on
the board — if they miss
stuff, then they are answer-
able for that,” he said.
Some local residents have
expressed strong reservations
about the cost of creating a
county manager position that
would become effective at the
start of the next chairman’s
term on Jan. 1, 2013.
The manager position
requires a minimum of five
years of progressively respon
sible city or county man
agement experience and a
bachelor's degree in business
administration, public admin
istration or another related
field, with a master’s degree
preferred. The salary range is
$87,179-$ 135,127.
However, Rep. England
said as he sees it, “if they
get the right person, they will
more than save us what it
costs us to hire them.”
Now is a good time to find
a county manager because of
the current economic climate,
he said.
“Right now is a really good
time, because there are folks
that have been at one place or
another and for whatever rea
son, maybe due to downsiz
ing, they are available,” Rep.
England said. “Or they were
the No. 2 person in a bigger
operation than what Barrow
is and are perfectly suited to
come to Barrow County and
run it with their background.
I think it’s a good opportunity
to go out and find some very
good talent at an affordable
price and let the person try to
prove themselves.”
GINN: LOOKING AT
IT FROM THE
MANAGER’S SIDE
Sen. Frank Ginn has an
unusual perspective on this
issue, because his profession
al background is in local gov
ernment. He, in fact, served
as the first city administrator
of Royston and the first coun
ty administrator of Franklin
County after their moves to
professionally managed gov
ernments.
“I’m not saying that all
county managers and all city
administrators are the best
Tailgate Barrow set for Thursday afternoon
Event serves as lead-in for football game Friday
The annual Tailgate Barrow event is sched
uled to begin Thursday at 5 p.m. in front of the
Barrow County Board of Education office.
Tailgate Barrow is used to help promote each
year’s football clash between Winder-Barrow
High School and Apalachee High School. The
WBHS Bulldoggs will host this year's contest
Friday at 7:30 p.m. at W. Clair Harris Stadium.
WBHS is looking to win against AHS for the
first time since the 2007 season.
Events scheduled for Thursday afternoon
include:
•5 p.m., welcome
•5:10 p.m., Apalachee High School competi
tion cheerleaders to perform
•5:20 p.m., AHS football team introduced.
Wildcat head coach Shane Davis will also
introduce his seniors.
•5:30 p.m., Winder-Barrow High School
competition cheerleaders will perform
•5:40 p.m., weight loss challenge winners
announced by Anytime Fitness
•5:50 p.m., group music
•6 p.m., tug of war, coaches from WBHS vs.
coaches from AHS.
•6:15 p.m., JROTC Raiders introduction
•6:25 p.m., Humvee pull, WBHS Raiders vs.
AHS Raiders
•6:40 p.m., WBHS football team introduced.
Bulldogg head coach David Wagner will also
introduce his seniors.
•7 p.m., band, AHS band and cheerleaders
one side with WBHS band and cheerleaders
on the other.
•7:20 p.m., senior cheerleaders from WBHS
and AHS introducted by coaches Haley
Mitchell and Meridith Wages.
•7:30 p.m., hula hoop competition
•7:35 p.m., wing-eating contest (one coach
from each school)
•7:45 p.m., push-up contest
•8 p.m., closing
Veader continued from 1A
Veader's presence may not
be known, but the results
are always evident, as she
is instrumental in the opera
tions at the Winder Cultural
Arts Center during events
held there, the press released
stated.
Veader has for years owned
and operated State Farm
Insurance Agency in Winder.
As a Winder native, her cus
tomers have come to trust
her judgment and counsel.
She continues with State
Farm, continually upgrading
her knowledge by attending
seminars, and taking courses
to ensure she stays current
with insurance rules, law, and
trends.
Other nominees for this
recognition were BB Webb,
owner. The Carl House;
CALVARY BAPTIST
CHURCH
Would like to invite you to join us
for an evening with
THE HAYES FAMILY
of Boone, N.C. on
Saturday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m.
Our church is located at 1975 Highway 82
in Statham, GA
(Corner of Hwy. 82 and 330)
For more information call 770-725-5164
■i Pastor Dr. Ronnie Healan e
Susan Litchford of Arbonne
International; Betty Lewis,
owner, Huddle House res
taurant in Winder; Bobbie
Metheny of Fidelity Bank and
Debbie Burgamy, publisher of
The Barrow County News.
Past award winners were
Gwen Hill of Hill's Ace
Hardware and Lumber Center
in 2009, and Betty Jo Maddox
of The Peoples Bank in 2010.
TheBarrowBusinesswoman
of the Year luncheon will be
is scheduled to be held on
Nov. 9, beginning at 11:30
a.m, at The Georgia Club, in
Statham.
NEVER BEFORE OFFERED
TRI-COUNTY GOLD
& SILVER BUYERS, LLC
We accept broken, mismatched & unwanted
gold & silver jewelry, coins, sterling flatware,
hollow ware, tea sets and more!
Located behind Dollar General,
next to Wing Slingers Grill
11 6 Towne Center Pkwy. • Hoschton
Mon. -Thurs. 10am-5pm,
Fri. & Sat. By Appointment
678-824-5773
Voters in the countywide
special election Nov. 8 will
vote “YES” or “NO” in
response to the following
question:
“Shall the Act be approved
which provides the appoint
ment of a county manager
for Barrow County; for a
part-time chairperson with
a reduction in pay; and for
meetings, voting, and quo
rum of the board?’’
thing for every community,
but as a rule I think if you can
get a right fit for your com
munity, it’s a great system
that can work for both the
elected officials and the tax
payers," Sen. Ginn said.
The elected official is pro
tected from personal conflicts
of interest, such as when a
constituent requests a person
al favor, he said.
“Just like I told Danny,
there are times when your
best friends come to you and
want something. They know
you have the authority and
power to do what they want,
but is it the right thing to do?
“With a manager there,
there can be set policies in
place. A lot of times the coun
ty manager may be the scape
goat. This gives the chairman
somebody else that looks at
the picture, and by the same
token, he knows there are
things that need to be done,
and so does the entire board,
and he can say, ‘We need to
look at it and make this policy
decision.""
Sen. Ginn said the elected
officials would still be in con
trol of all county policies. In
fact, he likens the power of
the county manager to that of
a limo driver.
“Danny is always worried
about the power,” he said.
“But who has the power - the
people that ride in the back
of the limo or the driver? The
answer is those in the back
decide everything that goes
on.”
As a resident of Madison
County, Sen. Ginn’s only
vote on this issue was in the
Georgia Senate during the
2011 session. He said if the
Barrow measure passes in
two weeks, the commission
ers should search for “some
one with a good, broad-based
set of skills and who is famil
iar with the regulatory envi
ronment, risk management,
personnel, public works, and
emergency services."
Finding a professional with
that skill set affords a com
munity an opportunity to
have a capable manager at
the helm of county operations
while he remains answerable
to the elected board.
“Those elected officials
are very important in setting
guidelines for how to oper
ate," he said.
Sen. Ginn said he spoke
recently to the county chair
man and told him his posi
tion.
“I said, ‘Danny, you know
when I met you I told you I'm
a proponent for a county man
ager form of government,” he
said. “He understands where
I'm at. It’s not a slap at him.
He was handed some deck of
cards when he came in.”
Want an
EXTRA
BIG
CHRISTMAS
TREE
This year?
Let the Jefferson
Boy Scout Troop
158 help out!
We are taking
pre-orders
now for fresh
cut fraser fir
Christmas
Trees 12 feet
high and
larger.
You’ll get the
prettiest,
freshest tree
available at a
reasonable
price AND
help your
local Boy
Scout Troop.