Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Braselton News
Page 5A
Jackson County Board of Commissioners
South Hall
Jackson Countv
New zoning map approved
BY ANGELA GARY
A new digital zoning map was
approved by the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners Monday
night.
The map replaces 200 tax maps
that were used by county offi
cials in the past. Planning director
Scott Carpenter reported that it
took staff 10 months to work on
this project. The update included
pouring over the old maps that
had hand-written notes on them.
Carpenter added that these maps
were “tattered.”
County staff also met with city
officials to make sure municipal
boundaries and annexations are up
to date. Thousands of inconsisten
cies and errors were corrected.
“This moves us into the digital
mapping age,” Carpenter said.
In other zoning business at the
meeting, the BOC:
•approved a request from Neil
Koelbl with The Knight Group to
change the conditions on the zon
ing of 150 acres on Hwy. 124. The
condition requiring that a fence
be located along the property line
with White Plains Baptist Church
was eliminated. Instead, a 25-foot
vegetative buffer will be required.
•approved a request from Terry
Rowe to rezone 4.69 acres on
Pond Fork Church Road from
A-2 to A-R. He asked for this in
order to combine the tract with an
adjacent lot that is already zoned
as A-R.
•approved a request from James
Owens of Double O Bonding
to rezone five acres on Jackson
Parkway from A-2 to CRC to
locate a commercial office.
•approved a request from
Beatrice Stewart to rezone five
acres at 355 Brockton Loop Road
from A-2 to A-R to locate all of
her property into a single zoning
district.
•approved a request from Matt
Miller to rezone 3.37 acres at 303
Brooks Road from A-2 to R-1 for
a second residential lot.
•approved an amendment to
the unified development code
that addresses the maintenance
of storm water detention ponds in
subdivisions. The ordinance now
requires these to be maintained by
homeowner’s associations.
MAIL — cont’d from page 1A
Hoschton Post Office, while eBay
customers continue to keep carriers
busy with plenty of boxes, Puckett
said.
“It’s kinda busy,” she added.
In Braselton, postmaster Derrell
Smith said his office is handling “a
lot” higher volume — an estimated
three times higher the number of
packages the Braselton Post Office
typically handles during the non
holiday season.
The Braselton Post Office usu
ally handles 150 packages a day
during the rest of the year, but has
been processing 290 packages a
day for Christmas, according to a
U.S Postal Service spokesperson.
The higher volume of packages
sometimes means that carriers have
to make two trips because their
delivery vehicles don’t have enough
space, Smith said.
“With the growth, it increases
the mail volume growth,” Smith
said. The Braselton Post Office has
been experiencing about 14 percent
growth a year, until the recent mar
ket slowdown, he added.
Smith said the Braselton Post
Office has had short waits for cus
tomers inside the store — typically
about two minutes.
“We move them pretty quickly,”
he said.
And what about those letters sent
to Santa?
Puckett said those letters get a
reply from Santa, thanks to the help
of the local post offices.
The Braselton Post Office has
nine routes in the 30517 zip code,
with more than 20 employees. The
Hoschton Post Office has 11 routes
in the 30548 zip code, with 18
employees. Neither post office has
hired seasonal workers to help with
the holiday crunch.
The U.S Postal Service says the
Braselton Post typically handles
30,000 letters, magazines and enve
lopes, but is expected to handle
60,000 letters, magazines and enve
lopes during the holiday season.
In Hoschton, the post office typi
cally handles 580 packages a day
during the non-holiday season and
1,000 packages a day during the
holiday season.
The U.S. Postal Service recently
sought bids for a carrier annex in
the Braselton-Hoschton area that
will serve both post offices. The
post office is still reviewing poten
tial sites, according to a spokes
person.
Smith said when that facil
ity is built, customers won’t notice
a difference. The Braselton and
Hoschton post offices will remain
open for retail customers when that
facility opens.
PROJECT — cont’d from page 1A
“They want the modular plant built and in operation before any build
ing permits are issued,” Buchanan said.
“The big issue for us is because we’re looking at a $2 million to $3
million investment, is the interest,” Buchanan said. “If we build the plant
early, the plant would sit idle for a year before it would get any use.”
Chairman Hunter Bicknell concurred with Buchanan’s reasoning.
“It seems kind of foolhardy to build a plant that’s going to sit idle for
a year,” he commented.
The authority’s manager, Eric Klerk, pointed out that components of
the waste plant would start breaking down if it stood idle. He suggested
that the authority recommend to the planning department that Buchanan
be allowed to defer construction of the plant until he begins building
houses.
The authority approved a motion by member Alex Bryan to authorize
Bicknell to draft a letter to that effect.
TOYS — cont’d from page 1A
And what happens when one
of the patients receives a donated
toy?
“They forget they’re in the hospi
tal,” Austin said. “They forget that
they’re hooked up to machines.
They forget that they can’t do
things that other little kids can
do.”
Jackson can be poked for blood
draws several times, but when he
gets a toy out of the toy box at the
hospital, his mother says every
thing seems “restored” for him.
Jackson is still receiving the
treatment involved in battling can
cer. He is now in “long-term main
tenance” for treatment. And while
Jackson does get some colds, he is
still a regular kid, Danielle said.
Danielle said some of the toys
may be stored in a hospital ware
house, since Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta receives so many dona
tions during Christmas. She said
she may help to organize another
local toy drive for the hospital dur
ing the summer.
The toys are slated to be deliv
ered to the hospital this Saturday.
Need Printing?
Call 706-367-5233
Convenience store robbed
‘Hoax bomb’ found at JCCHS
A South Hall convenience store
in Chestnut Mountain was robbed
at gun point on Monday night,
according to the Hall County
Sheriff’s Office.
A white male dressed in blue
jeans and a white T-shirt robbed
the Golden Pantry on Ga. Hwy. 53
at Tanners Mill Road. The suspect
robbed the store’s clerk at gun
point and fled with an undeter
mined amount of cash. He fled in
an older model, red Ford Mustang,
according to deputies.
After the suspect had taken the
money, he pointed the gun at the
The fifth annual community
Holiday Share the Blessing Feast
will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 25,
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Winder-
Barrow Middle School.
The event will include a hot
meal, toy shop, food pantry, clothes
closet and information available in
clerk again, as if he intended to
shoot the clerk, deputies said. The
clerk pulled his own pistol and
fired several rounds at the suspect
as he fled.
Hall County sheriff’s deputies
don’t believe the suspect was struck
by any of the rounds that were fired
at him
No one has been arrested as of
press time.
Those with information on the
robbery are asked to contact the
Hall County Sheriff’s Office’s
criminal investigation division at
770-531-6879.
the community.
To volunteer, or to make a dona
tion, contact Cassandra Harris at
770-725-8159 or e-mail cassan-
draharris @ windstream.net.
Winder-Barrow Middle School
school is located at 163 King
Street, Winder.
BY ANGELA GARY
A bomb squad was called
to Jackson County
Comprehensive High
School for the second time this
school year after a “suspicious
package” was found at the school
Monday evening.
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation bomb disposal unit
was called to the school. The
device was not a bomb and no one
was injured.
Jefferson police chief Joe
Wirthman said the “suspicious
package” was found in the gym by
the janitorial staff Monday night.
He said a Jefferson police officer
went to the scene and evacuated
the school after seeing the pack
age.
“The sergeant on shift looked
and it appeared to be an explosive
device,” the chief said. “He cleared
the building. There were some kids
there but they were away from the
gymnasium. No one was close by
but they were evacuated.”
Fire and EMS crews and the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
bomb disposal unit were called to
the scene.
“They got the device outside and
destroyed it,” Wirthman said. “It
was what you would call a hoax
device. It looked like a circuit
board with a battery wrapped in a
lot of wire. There was no explosive
material.”
The police department is investi
gating the matter further. The chief
pointed out that final exams were
held on Tuesday and that someone
could have placed the package in
the gym to delay the tests.
“We can only speculate on that,”
he said. “We are continuing to
investigate.”
To place a classified ad, call 706-367-5233
‘Share the Blessing Feast’ ahead
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