Newspaper Page Text
The
Vol. 3 No. 41
Your only locally-owned community newspaper
Serving the communities of Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Mill Creek, West Jackson and South Hall
Wednesday, January 30,2008
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. BraseltonNews.com
Member of the
Georgia Press Association
250 copy
22 pages, 3 sections
Inside
•President Bush sends
letter to Mill Creek High
School students
page 8A
GWINNETT
•Design-build team
named for minor league
baseball stadium
page 2A
HOSCHTON
•Construction on mixed-
use project next to WJPS
begins
page 2A
Sports:
•Hawks to face Collins
Hill Eagles page 1A
Opinion:
• ‘Schools should
reconsider block sched
ules’ page 4A
Public safety:
•Yogart on car wind
shield spurs fight
page 6A
•Church events
page 5B
•Obituaries
page 7A
Sunday pouring, bond issues top area ballots
Presidential primary also on next Tuesday's ballot
While the rest of the nation is focusing on next
week’s “Super Tuesday” voting impact on the presi
dential races, Jackson County voters are also looking
at two key local referendums.
On Tuesday, Jackson County voters will decide
the fate of a $15 million bond referendum to expand
the county’s recreation facilities and voters will also
determine if alcoholic beverages can be poured on
Sundays in unincorporated areas of Jackson County.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Advance voting will continue through Friday of this
week. Advance voting will be in the Administrative
Building in Jefferson. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 7
p.m.
Gwinnett County Public Schools is also asking vot
ers to approve school bonds to sell up to $750 million
in tax-exempt, general obligation bonds. The issuance
of the bonds will not require a tax increase, as the
bonds will be paid off using property taxes collected
under the current debt-service millage rate, according
to the school system’s website.
The bonds will be used to fund eight new schools
and additions at 10 schools in Gwinnett. More than
520 classrooms will be added to the school system.
RECREATION BONDS
Among the projects to be funded from the proposed
recreation bonds would be a county-wide recreation
center, land for more parks and improvements at
current facilities. Recreation director Rick Sanders
said the facility plans were developed by a citizens’
committee.
“If we can get this done, that will get us in good
shape for the next 15 to 20 years,” Sanders said.
The projects would start soon after the bond
approval and would be completed in 24 to 36 months.
If the bonds are approved, recreation staff estimates
See VOTE on page 3A
Vote MO
to SUNDAY Sales
Feb. 5th
OPPOSITION TO SUNDAY SALES VOTE
Signs opposing the move to bring Sunday alcohol sales to unin
corporated Jackson County have been posted throughout the
county in recent days. This sign is located at the intersection of
Ga. Hwy. 124 and Ga. Hwy. 11.
New school construction continues
GUM SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Construction continues at the new Gum Springs Elementary School, located next to West Jackson
Middle School. The new elementary school will have a capacity for 875 students, but the county
school system expects to open with 650 students next school year. Gum Springs Elementary will be
the first two-story elementary school in the Jackson County School System.
DA: Backlog to be cleared by end of March
District Attorney Rick Bridgeman
expects his office to clear the backlog of
uncharged criminal cases by the end of
March. Bridgeman said in a recent report
that his office filed accusations or indict
ments in 952 cases from Oct.-Dec. 2007 in
an effort to clear the backlog.
Bridgeman took office as DA in the
Piedmont Judicial Circuit in August, hav
ing been appointed to the position by Gov.
Sonny Perdue following the resignation of
Tim Madison. The Piedmont Circuit covers Jackson,
Barrow and Banks counties.
In his report covering the last quarter of 2007,
Bridgeman outlined several policy changes in the
DA’s office, including:
• the pursuit of bond forfeitures when a
defendant fails to appear in court. During
the last quarter, $200,000 in appear
ance bond hearings were scheduled. The
money from the bond forfeitures will go
to the county where the case is being
prosecuted.
• accusations will be filed in felony
cases where legal rather than taking all
cases to the grand jury. Bridgeman esti
mated that this move will cut the number of cases
heard by the grand jury by half.
See DA on page 3A
BRIDGEMAN
Poor economy benefiting local government projects
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Braselton’s civic engineer wasn’t
expecting the town’s latest water
line project to generate so much
interest from contractors.
While the town typically
receives three to five bids for its
government-sponsored projects,
35 contractors submitted bids in
November to install 25,000 feet
of new water lines and an elevated
water storage tank on New Liberty
Church Road in Braselton.
And with the competitive
bids, Braselton saved an esti
mated $400,000-500,000 on the
$4.3 million project, accord
ing to Jerry Hood, vice presi
dent of Engineering Management
Incorporated of Lawrenceville.
It’s a trend that Hood said he’s
seeing in other governments
around Northeast Georgia.
As the economy worsens and
private construction projects
diminish, contractors are focusing
their efforts to attract government-
funded projects.
“People are very interested in
bidding on government projects,”
said Jennifer Scott, Braselton town
manager and clerk.
Governments don’t go out of
business and they still have to pay
the bills, Scott said.
“Labor is more competitive as
people are not as busy,” Hood
said, while adding that construc
tion projects for new subdivisions
have slowed. Hood also includes
Jefferson and a number of cities
and counties in Northeast Georgia
as his clients.
See PROJECTS on page 2A
B0C outlines goals
at retreat in Macon
BY ANGELA GARY
The possibility of Jet Blue locat
ing a maintenance facility at the
Jackson County airport, improve
ments in operation of the emer
gency services department and
a planned employee evaluation
were among the reports given by
county manager Darrell Hampton
Monday night during the first day
of a Jackson County Board of
Commissioners retreat in Macon.
The BOC had a full day of meet
ings on Tuesday and was set to
met three hours on Wednesday.
During the two-hour meeting
Monday afternoon, Hampton gave
an update on several county depart
ments since he took over as county
manager several months ago.
As for the county airport,
Hampton said several plans have
been discussed for the facility after
the 5,000 foot runway expansion
is completed. He said this includes
the possibility of Jet Blue locating
See BOC on page 2A
DISCUSSING ISSUES
Jackson County commissioner Bruce Yates (left) discusses an
issue during a retreat held in Macon this week for the board of
commissioners. Commissioner Dwain Smith is shown next to
Yates. Photo by Angela Gary
Barrow B0E considering
new charter schools
BY KRISTI REED
Barrow County’s next high school
may be a charter school.
Board of education members met
Tuesday night to discuss the ben
efits of creating a charter school
to meet the needs of students in
rapidly-growing Barrow County.
Over the next few months, board
members will consider starting a
charter school or possibly a clus
ter of schools to provide techni
cal education for interested Barrow
County high school students.
Mark Whitlock, chief executive
officer of the Central Education
Center charter school in Newnan,
told board members that charter
schools play a vital role in ensuring
a viable 21st century workforce.
Now in its eighth year, the Central
Education Center (CEC) serves
800 Coweta County students each
semester. Whitlock said students
See BOE on page 3A
