About The Braselton news. (Jefferson, Ga) 2006-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2008)
Page 2A The Braselton News Wednesday, January 2, 2008 Braselton Zoning board of appeals to meet Jan. 10 The Braselton Zoning Board of Appeals will meet on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. Mary and Marvin Stover are seeking a variance for property located at 5257 Ga. Hwy. 53. The purpose of the variance request is to seek relief from the minimum rear yard requirements of the Braselton Development Code. The property is zoned R-1. The Braselton Zoning Board of Appeals meets at the Braselton Police and Municipal Court Building, located at 5040 Ga. Hwy. 53, Braselton. FAMILY — continued from page 1A That day, Taylor picked up the children’s Christmas wish list. Vickie said she thought the kids might get one or two items off their lists. She never expected the surprise that awaited her and the children on Christmas Eve. Taylor and his friends arrived at the Ledfords with Santa Claus and a large pile of wrapped presents. Vickie said she kept the children inside while Santa sorted the pres ents and got ready to pass them out to the children. Much to everyone’s surprise, the children received almost everything on their lists. The children’s gifts included toys, clothes and books. Eleven-year-old Cora said she received Hannah Montana paja mas, a Hannah Montana Barbie and other related items. Four- year-old Faith brought out one of her favorite presents, a life sized Barbie that she hugged tightly to her chest. The boys were most excited about the new game sys tems they received including two Xbox systems, three Playstations, a GameCube and a Nintendo Wii. Even Keith and Vickie had presents from Santa. “It was just a fantastic Christmas,” Vickie said. “It was just more than anyone could ask for. I know there is not a kid alive who had a bet ter Christmas than these kids did. They got new clothes, new shoes, and all kinds of toys. I just thought, how will we ever repay them.” There was still more to come though. The Activity Zone donated a day in their gym. “The kids had a blast,” Vickie said. The Ledfords also received an anonymous $200 gift in the mail. “We don’t know who sent it,” Vickie said. “They just signed it ‘Merry Christmas.’” Universal Auto Center in Hoschton fixed the brakes on the family’s small bus at no charge. Vinnys NY Pizza and Italian Grill in Hoschton also provided a gift certificate. Vickie said with so many chil dren, buying presents can get very expensive. For birthdays, the children are allowed to choose a $10 gift and have a birthday cake. Christmas is a different story. “Christmas we always try to do big,” Vickie said. “This year, we had help and it was fantastic.” LOVE HAS NO BOUNDARIES Keith and Vickie Ledford never imagined they would be parents of 22 children. “I never thought I’d have four,” Vickie said referring to her four biological children. Twelve years ago, the Ledfords became foster parents. After sev eral years, Keith and Vickie felt it was time to give their foster chil dren permanent homes. Since that time, they have adopted five sets of siblings and two other single children. Vickie said the decision to adopt so many times and build such a large family has not been as difficult as one might think. “Love has no boundaries,” she said. “Kids come in and you fall in love with them,” Vickie said. “You just can’t let them go.” Keith Ledford is a foreman for Vulcan Materials and Vickie is a full time mom. Both work hard each day to provide for their large family. Cleaning, cooking, laundry and homework take hours every day with so many children. Vickie said grocery shopping alone is normally a twice a week activity. Vickie also keeps busy driving the children to various activities. Currently, she has one child playing high school bas ketball, one playing middle school basketball, three playing recreation league basketball, two participat ing in middle school wrestling, five in band, one in chorus and two about to start karate lessons. “It’s a full time job,” Vickie said. Two of Vickie’s older children live next door. Without their help, getting everyone to practices and running errands would be much more difficult, Vickie explained. With such a chaotic schedule, Vickie said the only way everything gets done is that the whole family pitches in to help. Each child is assigned chores at the beginning of the year and is responsible for picking up after themselves. “The kids all work great togeth er,” Vickie said. “They all do great.” While being the parents of 22 children definitely has its chal lenges, Vickie said she would not have it any other way. “I’m always busy and I love every minute of it,” she said. “I love being a mom. They don’t know it, but their accomplishments are my accomplishments.” Vickie and Keith said they are grateful for their family and thank ful for the help they received this year from Taylor and the others. Vickie said it was a huge financial help for her family. Despite the financial and logisti cal difficulties involved with man aging such a huge household and parenting so many children, Vickie said she feels very blessed. “It’s what I felt like I was put here to do,” Vickie said. “I want them to have every dream they could ever hope for. I love every one of them. Each one of them is dear to me; each one is precious to me. I know this is where they were supposed to be.” SEWER — continued from page 1A allocations in June, when it granted 72,375 gallons a day of sewer capacity to nine developments, includ ing residential projects. Those projects were slated to pay the town $856,438 in tap fees at the time. The council also earmarked 190,650 gallons a day of sewer allocation to 16 projects, which became available in October. Those projects were expected to pay Braselton a total of $2.2 million in tap fees. OTHER BUSINESS In other business during the called meeting, the Braselton Town Council: •awarded two bids for the phase five water system improvement project. The town council awarded a $1.1 million bid to Strack, Inc., Fairbum, to install a total of 19,700 feet of 12-inch water lines and 2,846 feet of eight-inch water lines. The council also award ed a $1.4 million bid to Caldwell Tanks of Louisville, Ky., to install a one million gallon water tank on New Liberty Church Road. Braselton was awarded a $4.3 million loan from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA) in September for the project. •accepted the FYE 2007 audit •approved budget adjustments to the FYE 2007 budget for actual revenues to expenses, based on the 2007 audit. Sewer service approved The Braselton Town Council approved sewer alloca tions for the following projects: Developer • Halvorsen •Brand Properties • Mayfield Dairy •Duke •Braselton Hospitality • Mulberry Walk Properties • Derek Smith • Kincaid Development Project • Mixed retail, office behind Publix • Mini storage, bank, retail on Thompson Mill Rd, Spout Springs Rd. • Dairy expansion •Warehouses at “Park 85 at Braselton” • Hampton Inn hotel on Chardonnay Trace Dr. •Additional retail, restau rant at Mulberry Walk •Office, retail on Braselton Highway •Retail, office at 5373 Thompson Mill Rd. To place a classified ad, call 706-367-5233 CARHARTT-LARGEST INVENTORY LOWEST PRICES ANYWHERE! One of Georgia’s largest Carhartt dealers. Winter clothes just arrived! CARHARTT COATS, PANTS, BELTS, CAPS, GLOVES, VESTS, THERMAL UNDERWEAR, INSULATED & UNINSULATED OVERALLS & COVERALLS Carhartt IF CARHARTT MAKES IT, IRVIN’S HAS IT! Sizes from 2T for kids to 60 and 4XXXL IRVIN’S STORE & HUNTING SUPPLY Located 6 miles South of Baldwin on Old 441. Look for the signs. 4964 Hwy 441 N, Baldwin • 706-778-6116 Hours 9:00-5:00 Mon-Sat, December Hours: Sun 10:00-4:00 STORIES — continued from page 1A LOOKING FOR ARMED ROBBER Police draw their weapons as they search the Peoples Bank on Ga. Hwy. 211, where an armed robbery took place on Jan. 31, 2007. Photo by Steven Beardsley did it would just give himself up. Because they keep running like this, it ain’t doing them no good.” And two days after that anniversary, police made an arrest in the case. Henry Lee Stringer, father of the two murdered children, was arrested on June 1, 2007. A second grand jury on Dec. 3 indicted Stringer on 16 counts related to the deaths of the Strickland family. Stringer had pled not guilty to the earlier charges. The Stringer case will mark the first death penalty case by new dis trict attorney Rick Bridgeman, a resident of Hoschton. In the year after the deaths of Strickland family, the case remained one of the top priorities of the Hoschton Police Department. No additional court dates have sched uled in the case at this time. 3. DEPOT MANAGEMENT BECOMES HOT TOPIC When the Hoschton City Council announced plans to have a private company manage, promote and maintain the historic depot, it started an uproar in the community. Citing lagging funds to manage the depot, the council first approved a professional management agree ment of the depot with Yesway Enterprises in September. But after a public outcry, the council extended the deadline to receive bids for man aging the depot until October. Meanwhile, the Hoschton Women’s Civic Club was asked by the council to give an answer if the organization would remove its items from the depot or donate them to the city. A number of members of the civic club — which was largely respon sible for remodeling the depot sev eral years ago — began organizing another non-profit organization that would submit its own bid to manage the depot. Signs prompting residents to “Save the depot for us” were also placed throughout Hoschton. A city committee reviewing the bids of the private company and newly-established non-profit group recommended to the city council in October to keep the manage ment of the depot in city hands. In December, the council unveiled its plans to have city officials promote, market and manage the depot. 4. HOSPITAL PLANS MOVE FORWARD A drive along Thompson Mill Road (Ga. Hwy. 347) near Ga. Hwy. 211 reveals a major project in the works — a medical campus that will include a 100-bed hospital in Braselton. In September, the Northeast Georgia Health System marked the beginning of construction at its future Braselton campus, River Place, with Medical Plaza I. The 105,000 square-foot building is the first structure on the 119-acre site. Medical Plaza I will include medical office space for 40-50 physicians representing eight to 10 medical specialties, along with other healthcare services. Medical Plaza I is slated to be completed in fall 2008. In April, the health system received state approval for the medical cam pus in Braselton — after collecting more than 1,000 letters from area residents and businesses in support of the project in 2006. The new hospital is expected to open in 2011 or 2012 — to coincide with the widening and re-alignment of Ga. Hwy. 347. In the meantime, the construction of the medical campus will con tinue to have a major impact in the Braselton area — attracting more physicians and related healthcare services to the community. 5. BANK ROBBER REMAINS AT LARGE It didn’t take long —just 16 days — for a bank robber to strike again in Braselton in 2007. In January, an armed suspect robbed the Peoples Bank on Ga. Hwy. 211. In February, authorities believe the same suspect robbed the Hometown Community Bank on Ga. Hwy. 53 in Braselton. In both robberies, the suspect wore a ski mask and gloves, brandished a semi-automatic gun and stood on the teller counter to demand money. And in both cases, the suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of money. After hitting two area banks within a short period of time, law enforce ment authorities remained on high alert for the suspect — believing he would soon rob another local bank. TAD — continued from page 1A On the existing route of Hwy. 124 in front of the Braselton Antique Mall, the committee recommended a “town green” for the center of the town that could provide a place for festivals and other social events. To help fund the infrastructure improvements, Braselton officials proposed creating a TAD for the downtown area. Local governments may create TADs to include “economically and social depressed areas” that can be redeveloped using bonds to finance infrastructure and redevelopment costs in the TAD. A TAD provides a mechanism to freeze tax rev enue in a blighted or economically- underutilized area, where incentives are needed to attract or enhance private investment, according to the Georgia Municipal Association. Atlantic Station is one of the most- widely known uses of a TAD in Georgia. In November, voters approved “redevelopment powers” for Braselton to create a TAD in down town. The Jackson County of Board of Education and Jackson County Board of Commissioners must also approve the TAD for Braselton to implement the measure. Braselton’s proposals to improve downtown received a boast last month, when the town was awarded a $500,000 state grant to install sidewalks, trees and pedestrian lights along Hwy. 53. 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