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BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011
o
o
NOT IN ATTENDANCE
The seat of chairman Danny Yearwood sits empty at Tuesday night’s meeting of the
Barrow County Board of Commissioners. He was at a training conference on St.
Simon’s Island during the meeting, which occurred on the night that voters funda
mentally changed the role of the county chairman’s position.
Photo by Susan Norman
BOC approves EMS requests Tuesday
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal. com
At a brief meeting held on the night of the
local elections, the Barrow County Board of
Commissioners approved a package of requests
by the chief of emergency services.
The board voted unanimously to participate
in a state-funded program that will provide at
no cost to the county equipment that tracks the
location of ambulances as well as at least one
year of Wi Fi service at a cost of $55 per month
per ambulance.
Chief Dennis Merrifield said the value of the
program for Barrow County would be about
$26,370 in the first year.
The BOC also agreed to allow the chief to
increase the department's roster of on-call part-
time firefighters/emergency medical technicians
from 24 per shift to 36 per shift and to increase
the roster of part-time 911 operators from five
to eight.
Merrifield said having larger pools of part-time
personnel would make it easier for his department
to fully staff all shifts. He said part-time employ
ees are called on only to maintain approved staff
ing levels, not to add additional staffing. He said
it is cheaper to utilize the services of part-time
workers than to pay overtime to full-time staff.
The board also agreed to allow the department
to spend $270 in unspent funding from a 2008
Community Emergency Response Team grant
that must be utilized by Dec. 15.
The only other board action during Tuesday
night’s 25-minute meeting was a vote to bid out
a patching job for bumpy areas on Highway 8
between Highway 53 and the Oconee County
line.
Commissioner Eva Elder, who requested the
work, said it is more of an annoyance than an
emergency. One vendor estimated the cost of
the repair at just over $17,000. The county also
would have to provide the asphalt for a total
project cost of more than $22,600. The bids will
be on the agenda of the BOC’s Dec. 13 meeting
for consideration.
All of the board’s votes were unanimous.
Chairman Danny Yearwood was out of town and
did not attend the meeting.
In Braselton, Hoschton
Voters say ‘yes’ to Sunday alcohol sales
By Kerri Testement
kerri@mainstreetnews. com
Voters in Braselton and Hoschton voted over
whelmingly to allow stores to sell alcohol on
Sundays — although voter turnout for the special
election on Tuesday was light to moderate in the
neighboring cities.
In Braselton. 220 people who cast a ballot in
Tuesday's special election voted in favor of allow
ing stores to sell beer, wine and distilled spirits on
Sundays, while 47 people voted in opposition.
Overall. 82 percent of those who voted in
Braselton said “yes” to the measure and 17
percent said “no.” The town has about 4,550 reg
istered voters — meaning about five percent of
those people cast a ballot in the special election.
Now that voters have approved the measure, the
Braselton Town Council is expected to discuss on
Thursday changing its ordinance to allow Sunday
alcohol sales at stores. A vote on the changes —
including an effective date — could come during
its voting session on Monday, Nov. 14.
From there, stores will have to ask the Braselton
Town Council to amend their alcohol licenses to
allow them to sell beer, wine and/or distilled spir
its on Sundays.
In Hoschton, 67 percent (103 people) who
cast a ballot in Tuesday's special election voted
in favor of allowing stores to sell beer and wine
on Sundays and 32 percent (50 people) voted in
opposition. Of the city’s 768 registered voters, 19
percent cast a ballot in the special election.
The earliest that stores in Hoschton could start
selling beer and wine on Sundays is Dec. 18.
When the Hoschton City Council amended its
ordinance in June, it specified the potential sale of
beer and wine at stores on Sundays — provided
that the measure was approved by voters.
Now that it has been given the OK from vot
ers, the ordinance will become effective 10 days
after the city council certifies the election results
at its voting session on Monday, Dec. 5, accord
ing to city clerk Cindy George. That means the
first Sunday that the revised ordinance could take
effect is Dec. 18.
NO CONTESTED COUNCIL
SEATS ON BALLOTS
Neither Braselton nor Hoschton had contested
seats on their city councils for the general elec
tion, as mostly incumbents qualified in August for
additional terms.
In Hoschton. Scott Butler (Post 5) and Theresa
Kenerly (Post 6) qualified for their current city
council seats, while David Poteet qualified for
the Post 4 seat. Richard Shepherd, who currently
holds the Post 4 seat, didn't qualify.
Butler and Kenerly will be sworn into office for
their next terms during the city council’s voting
session on Monday, Dec. 5 — when Poteet will
also be sworn in for his inaugural term.
In Braselton, incumbents Richard Mayberry
(District 1) and Tony Funari (District 3) quali
fied for additional terms on the Braselton Town
Council. They didn’t face opponents in the gen
eral election. Mayberry and Funari will be sworn
into office for their next terms in January.
Housing continued from 1A
Last year, Yarbrough and his wife were both
found guilty of misdemeanors stemming from
one of their domestic disputes, and each was sen
tenced to 12 months’ probation and fined $500.
Because the couple has never applied for a
business license or a special use permit to oper
ate a personal care home, county officials do not
know how long they have been renting rooms to
people with mental illness.
But this year alone, there have been four
emergencies involving their renters, according to
sheriff's office documents obtained this week by
the Barrow Journal.
The first emergency was on Jan. 13, when
Narquitta Street reported that a 25-year-old
woman in the home had assaulted her. The
woman reportedly had been released the previ
ous day from a mental health facility and was
unstable. She asked to be returned to the hospital,
which is what happened.
Then on July 4 Yarbrough reported a 50-year-
old male resident missing. He later returned to
the home.
On Sept. 11, Yarbrough reported a 19-year-old
youth missing from the home and told the deputy
he and his wife operated a facility for troubled
teens in their house.
The deputy found the distraught young man
walking on Parkway Pointe and pulling his suit
case behind him. He told the deputy he wanted to
kill himself because no one wanted him. He was
transported to a local hospital for evaluation.
The most recent incident involved a female
resident of the Otis Drive home who had possibly
overdosed on her prescription medication.
Because of the criminal history of Yarbrough
and Street, and the incidents involving their rent
ers, the sheriff said he is meeting this week with
planning supervisor Rebecca Whiddon and Petty
to decide what to do.
Whiddon told the newspaper on Tuesday that
she had spent days searching for someone at the
state level that has oversight of such facilities or
their clients.
According to a spokesman for the Georgia
Department of Behavioral Health and
Developmental Disabilities, the state is unaware
of the homes.
“I’ve checked with our list of providers and
with the Regional Office, and we have no records
of this organization, people, or addresses as being
providers of behavioral health services through
DBHDD,” wrote Tom Wilson, director of the
office of communications.
“One of the biggest concerns is for the welfare
of these people - not only for their safety but for
the safety of the general public, because people
sometimes misunderstand mental illness," the
sheriff said.
“It’s unfortunate, and it is going to be my mis
sion through License & Permits — and if we’ve
got to involve anybody at the state level — to
make sure these people are well taken care of
and are not taken advantage of, and that is what
appears to be happening here,” Smith said.
Deputy Petty said Tuesday that it is illegal to
rent out multiple rooms to renters. She urged
anyone concerned about questionable activities
of a similar nature elsewhere in the county to call
the county’s license and permits office.
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