Newspaper Page Text
Region roundup
Page 4C ^ Barrow Journal M Wednesday, October 26, 2011
BANKS
COUNTY
Owner’s request
for events denied
The Banks County Board of
Commissioners denied a request at its
October meeting for a conditional use
permit for Ted Havlik to operate an
outdoor event center on Sol Drive.
Commissioner Sammy Reece made
the motion to deny the request; the
vote was unanimous.
Havlik proposed offering his prop
erty to rent for special events through
out the year. Along with questions
about a septic system, commissioners
also had concerns about traffic and the
width of the road.
Three nearby property owners spoke
in opposition to the request, citing
similar traffic concerns.
BARROW
COUNTY
Barrow firm wins
$37M contract
The Georgia Department of
Transportation has awarded G.P.’ S
Enterprises Incorporated, a Barrow
County-based company, the con
struction contract to build an inter
change on State Route 316 at Collins
Hill Road and at State Route 20 in
Lawrenceville, according to WDUN.
The project is the next step in
improving Ga. 316 by extending lim
ited access from its current end at Ga.
120 to east of Ga. 20.
Once the project is completed,
motorists on will access Ga. 316 via
ramps instead of the existing inter
sections. The project will build one
interchange or exit to allow traffic
from 316 to access 20 or to access
Collins Hill Road using a system of
long ramps, called collector distribu
tor lanes, according to Georgia DOT
District Engineer Todd McDuffie. The
existing intersections at Ga. 20 and at
Collins Hill Road will be removed as
the interchange is finished.
The contract was awarded for $37.3
million and includes 2.237 miles of
new roadway and two new bridges
over State Route 316.
Road work is expected to begin
next spring as weather permits and
is scheduled to conclude by the end
of 2014.
CLARKE
COUNTY
County seeks
tree donation
The Athens-Clarke County
Landscape Management Division is
seeking a privately-owned tree for
donation to the community as a public
Christmas tree.
The tree will be displayed in front of
City Hall during December.
The tree should be a cedar tree and
needs to be about 20 feet in diameter
and 35 feet tall, symmetrical, with a
single trunk.
The ideal candidate tree would be
one that will need to be removed at
some point in the future by the prop
erty owner due to its location, size or
other factor.
Landscape Management will evalu
ate trees and handle tree removal and
transportation at no cost to the owner.
Potential donors should contact Rita
Brown in the Landscape Management
Division of the Central Services
Department at 706-613-3561 or rita.
brown@athensclarkecounty.com by
Nov. 15.
Future uncertain
for historic forest
Local and state conservationists
hope to save what they believe may be
the largest chunk of undeveloped pri
vate land in Athens-Clarke County, or
maybe in much of Northeast Georgia
— a 570-acre tract slated to go on the
real estate market next year.
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
According to the Athens Banner-
Herald, the land is partly bounded
by Tallassee Road and the Middle
Oconee River. It is remarkable for
features such as century-old forests,
dozens of butterfly species and clear
streams.
The oldest available aerial photo
graphs of Athens-Clarke County show
the land was forested back in 1938,
when much of the county, and the rest
of Northeast Georgia, was covered in
eroding cotton farms.
The owners want to see the land
preserved, and contacted the Athens
Land Trust earlier this year to tell
them about their plans and hopes that
the land could stay in its natural state,
said Nancy Stangle, the trust's execu
tive director.
She praised the family for its will
ingness to work with conservationists
to keep the land undeveloped — and
offering the tract at a low price of $1.5
million.
What happens next is still not clear.
Stangle and others have met with
the Athens-Clarke County govern
ment, which has money set aside
for greenspace acquisition. Meetings
also have been held with the Georgia
Conservancy.
Battle continues
over coal plant
For the University of Georgia’s chap
ter of the Sierra Student Coalition's
Beyond Coal campaign, the past two
and half years have been a long and
fruitless struggle.
The group protests the use of an
aging coal-burning boiler to produce
steam and heat for the school's dorms.
The university pays about $1.2 mil
lion a year on the coal, and by using
the boiler about half the year, it has
reduced its coal consumption by half,
according to The Red & Black.
But now, the student activists have a
new call to action, because the aging
burner is near the end of its life.
As a result, UGA has partnered
with Department of Energy’s regional
center in Raleigh, N.C., and has been
actively seeking solutions, including
looking in to biomass alternatives that
bum waste materials as fuel.
GWINNETT
COUNTY
Brother, sister die
outside church
Officials say a brother and sister in
their 80s were found dead outside a
Grayson church early Sunday morn
ing.
According to the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, police arrived at First
Baptist Church of Grayson, an unin
corporated area of Gwinnett County,
to find the pair — a man, 81, and a
woman, 85 — in the parking lot out
side the church.
Neither victim has been identified.
pending notification of their next of
kin.
And police have not indicated which
person committed suicide, or the man
ner of their deaths.
The pair had been long-time mem
bers of the church, and one of the
siblings reportedly recently returned
from a stay in the hospital, although it
was not clear for which treatment he
was undergoing.
Two leave behind a brother, believed
to be close to them in age, and his
wife.
Libraries start
‘buddy’ system
The Gwinnett Public Library's new
“buddy branch” system began last
week, a reaction to county budget cuts
made earlier this year.
According to the Gwinnett Daily
Post, the “buddy system” pairs librar
ies so at least one nearby location is
opening in the area. Hours are uni
form over the weekend. Last month,
the library board voted to cut from 53
open hours per week to 44 hours.
Although Board of Commissioners
Chairwoman Charlotte Nash called
the system “creative,” she told the
newspaper that she was surprised
library officials waited until the fall
to react to a cut in county funding
that was approved in January. The late
action caused confusion in the public,
who believed another cut had been
made, she said at a meeting of the
Council of Seniors.
Bridge may open
river’s activities
A 44-acre tract that adjoins Georgia’s
longest single-span metal bridge is the
latest acquisition in the National Parks
Service's long-range plan to preserve
48 miles of the Chattahoochee River
below Buford Dam.
According to the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, park officials and elected
leaders in Fulton and Gwinnett coun
ties would like to restore the bridge
for walkers and cyclists.
If successful, the bridge could trans
form recreation possibilities for resi
dents in the metro Atlanta and north
Georgia area, allowing walkers and
cyclists to be able to go from one
side of the river to the other without
having to drive 5 miles around. Plus,
the bridge could open up hundreds of
acres of protected land to neighbors
on both sides of the river wishing to
explore its beauty.
getting even closer to the lake's his
toric low and farther from the normal
full pool, according to The Times of
Gainesville.
The lake has been on a downward
trend for months now, away from the
full pool of 1,071 feet and stirring
memories of the devastating 2007-
2009 drought.
On Sunday, Lanier stood at 1,059.96
feet, or 9 feet and a few inches above
the historic low elevation of 1,050.79
feet on Dec. 26, 2007. After hitting
that low, Lanier's water level slowly
crept up, then dropped again, basi
cally not hitting above 1,060 feet until
March 28, 2009.
The last time Lanier has been lower
than it is now is March 27, 2009.
The last time it was at full pool was
May 1.
Georgia has been dealing with
drought conditions throughout 2010.
The U.S. Drought Monitor’s current
map shows most of Georgia, includ
ing a small portion of South Hall,
in extreme drought. Only extreme
Northwest Georgia has normal condi
tions.
2 more schools
OK charter try
Parents and teachers at Flowery
Branch High School and Chestnut
Mountain Elementary have voted in
favor of having their schools seek
charter school status, according to
WDUN.
Hall County Schools Supt. Will
Schofield says while there has been
a move toward charters for many
schools in the system, not all are on
that path.
“If all of our charters that are in
process right now went through, it
would still only be about one-third of
our schools,” Schofield told the radio
station. “We are encouraging all of
our schools to find their niche and
that’s the activity of getting together
their communities and their staffs and
finding out what it is that is going to
make them different and what it is that
is going to make them special.”
Two weeks ago, parents and teach
ers at Mount Vernon Elementary also
agreed to continue a path toward con
verting to a charter school.
O MADISON
O COUNTY
Families dedicate
wall ball court
HALL
COUNTY
Lanier drops near
its historic low
Lake Lanier dropped below 1,060
feet above sea level last weekend,
Most adults haven't heard of it,
much less know how it's played.
But the new wall ball court at
the Madison County Recreation
Department in Danielsville will soon
be a hot spot for local youths, accord
ing to the Athens Banner-Herald, after
a new wall ball court was dedicated
in honor of three youths who recently
died.
Tyler Moon, 14, was killed in April
in a lawn mower accident in Hull, and
of two 10-year-old Madison County
boys, Evan Escoe and Sam Hart, who
died in a car wreck in June.
The new Tyler Moon Wall Ball
court, with its 15-foot wall, was
recently built near the ball fields at
the rec department, using equipment,
money and labor donated by people in
the community.
On Sept. 24, the families of all three
boys met at the court to dedicate the
wall and place their paint laden hands
on the wall to leave a reminder of
that day.
The game is played mainly using a
tennis ball hit with your hands against
the wall.
Copper thievery
is on the rise
With the price of copper
on the rise in recent years, thieves
have been targeting the wiring inside
air conditioning units in commercial
buildings and vacant homes.
And Hall County isn't immune to
this rash of thievery.
According to The Times of
Gainesville, police say thieves are
stealing the units entirely or unscrew
ing the top and gutting the costly
metals from within. With so many
foreclosures in the last few years,
thieves are finding easy targets in
vacant homes or businesses.
“The thieves are going in stealing air
conditioning units that are primarily at
these vacant residences, and in some
cases with no eyes on them all the
time,” Wilbanks said.
The Gainesville Police Department
has also dealt with the problem of
increasing AC unit thefts, public
information officer Kevin Holbrook
told the newspaper.
Copper sells for about $3.21 a
pound. So far in 2011, the Hall County
Sheriff's Office has worked 131 cases
resulting in 154 stolen air condition
ing units.
Often, thieves target businesses with
multiple units.
The numbers for this year are con
siderably higher than they were for
all of 2010, when the Sheriff's Office
totaled 62 cases and 81 units stolen.
7 WALTON
COUNTY
Father charged
in death of son
The death of a child 10 months
ago is now being considered mur
der, according to the Walton Tribune,
after the Monroe Police Department
arrested the boy's father.
DeAngelo Tremaine Wilson, 32,
of 406-D Plaza Drive, Monroe, was
arrested Oct. 14 and charged with
murder, cruelty to children, posses
sion of a firearm by a convicted felon
and a probation violation in the Dec.
6, 2010 death of his 8-month-old son
from asphyxiation.
The initial report ruled the death
accidental, but police were worried by
certain evidence following the child’s
autopsy.
Based on evidence and information
gained from a recent interview, police
arrested Wilson on suspicion of mur
der, claiming he suffocated the child
with a pillow found in the crib.
City waives trash
fees to curb costs
The Social Circle City Council
voted last week to suspend the fran
chise fees for Advance Disposal in
order to relieve some of the burden of
fuel costs on the trash company.
Due to the hike in fuel rates,
Advanced Disposal officials asked the
council for a 5 percent temporary fuel
surcharge, after which city manager
Doug White offered an exchange of
fees. White asked the council to sus
pend the franchise fee and give that
money back to Advance Disposal for
November and December. The coun
cil agreed and voted to approve the
motion to waive the fees until next
year and adjust accordingly if fuel
prices were to become more afford
able.