Newspaper Page Text
Serving the communities of Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Mill Creek, West Jackson and South Hall
Wednesday, February 27,2008
Vol. 3 No. 45 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. BraseltonNews.com 22 pages, 3 sections
Inside
•Hoschton mayor’s
work to be featured at Art
Trax festival
page 10A
JACKSON COUNTY
•Pat Bell not seeking
another term as commis
sion chairperson
page 2A
•Georgia Shakespeare
group performs at Mill
Creek High School
page 7B
Sports:
•Track season begins
for Hawks page 1B
Opinion:
•‘Secret Barrow BOC
meeting wasn’t a smart
move’ page 4A
Public safety:
•Ecstasy tossed from
vehicle during traffic stop
page 6A
•Church events
page 5B
•Obituaries
page 7A
Hoschton city clerk resigns
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Hoschton’s city clerk for almost three
decades resigned from her job last week.
Cindy Edge submitted a resignation let
ter on Monday, Feb. 18. The city council
accepted her resignation following a 50-min
ute closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Feb.
20 to discuss personnel.
Edge’s career with Hoschton started in
October 1979, when she was named an assis
tant city clerk. Within two years, she was
appointed to city clerk.
Mayor Bill Copenhaver read Edge’s resignation letter
following the closed-door meeting.
“I have come to a crossroad in my life where I feel
it is time to change course, re-evaluate my life and
career, and experience different ventures and
options,” Edge wrote.
“I know that there is no better place to live,
work, and play than in Hoschton, Georgia
because I have been fortunate enough to
experience all of these features,” she con
tinued. “I feel the current staff is more than
capable of carrying out the day to day activity
of the city in a professional and efficient man
ner. Therefore, I am respectfully requesting
my resignation be effective immediately.”
Mayor Copenhaver said in a statement that
Edge “will be greatly missed and it will be a significant
loss to the City.”
See HOSCHTON on page 5A
EDGE
Top priorities for Braselton
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CHECKING THE LIST
Council members Ralph Richardson Jr. (left) and Tony Funari (right) mark their top priorities for
Braselton during the town council’s retreat on Friday. Each council member marked what they
believed should be the top priorities for the town for the next 12-18 months. Photo by Kerri Testement
Braselton may ask fire district to support TAD
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
If Braselton council members
could wave a magic wand, how
would the town look in a few
years?
Mayor Pat Graham said she’d
want the intersection of Ga. Hwy.
124 and Ga. Hwy. 53 in downtown
Braselton to be completed and the
“town green” established.
It was a sentiment the other coun
cil members shared during Friday’s
all-day retreat at the town’s planning
and development and public utilities
building.
Among the top priorities for the
town council for the next 12-18
months: Start construction to re
align the two state highways in
downtown Braselton.
Another major goal for the town
council: Get the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners to sign a
consent agreement for Braselton’s
Tax Allocation District (TAD).
TADs provide a mechanism to
freeze tax revenue in a blighted
or economically under-utilized
area, where incentives are needed
to attract or enhance private invest
ment, according to the Georgia
Municipal Association.
In November 2007, voters
approved Braselton’s ability to cre
ate a TAD in downtown, but the mea
sure still needed the approval of the
Jackson County BOC and Jackson
County Board of Education.
However, the Georgia Supreme
Court recently decided that school
property taxes can’t be used to fund
TADs.
Mayor Graham has said that
despite the ruling, Braselton is
still moving forward with its TAD,
although its funds will be slashed in
More Inside
Downtown Braselton
intersection project may
start this year.
See page 3A
half from an estimated $5 million to
$2.5 million.
“I guess the top priority in my
mind is getting the consent resolu
tion signed,” said council member
Ralph Richardson Jr. during Friday’s
retreat.
“That’s the keystone,” Graham
said. “We don’t have anything else
to build on without the keystone.”
But, the town is eyeing another
See BRASELTON on page 5A
CITIZENS QUESTION AIRPORT UPGRADES
A standing-room only crowd packed Monday’s meeting of the
Barrow County Board of Commissioners and the airport authority
to discuss expansion plans of the airport in Winder.
Photo by Kristi Reed
Barrow BOC looks at straw
vote on runway extension
BY KRISTI REED
Barrow County leaders may ask
for a straw poll at the upcoming July
primary voting on whether or not to
extend the runway at the Northeast
Georgia Regional Airport.
The move comes after a large
gathering Monday night at which
county officials attempted to quell
what has become a huge backlash
by some citizens who are concerned
the county plans to turn the Barrow
County airport into a facility for
large cargo or passenger jets.
Barrow Board of Commissioners
chairman Doug Garrison told the
group that he would ask his board
at its upcoming March 11 meeting
to endorse a straw vote on a runway
extension to be put on the ballot in
July.
The question would ask voters
if they support a runway extension
for “safety and enhanced economic
opportunities as long as the airport
or airport facilities are not utilized
for cargo distribution and/or com
mercial passenger service.”
Although such a vote would be
non-binding. Garrison said he and
fellow commissioners want to get
direction from the citizens of Barrow
County on the issue.
MONDAY NIGHT
At Monday night’s meeting of
the BOC and airport authority with
area citizens on the airport issue,
Garrison said that there are currently
no plans to extend the runway at the
airport.
Over 170 people both for and
against the idea attended the meet
ing to ask questions and make com
ments regarding the proposed run
way extension. Dozens of concerned
citizens wore red to show solidarity
in their opposition to any expansion
or enhancements.
Among those questioning the
Man files
complaint
over shoving
incident
A Barrow County man filed
a complaint last week against
Northeast Georgia Regional
Airport manager Glen Boyd
over a shoving incident in the
airport hall following a meet
ing between county commis
sioners and airport authority
members.
Danny Yearwood fded the
complaint against Boyd with
the Barrow County govern
ment human resources depart
ment last Wednesday, Feb. 20,
saying that Boyd had called
him “stupid” and then pushed
against him with his chest.
In his written complaint,
Yearwood said airport author
ity chairman Sammy Everett
See SHOVING on pg. 5A
county’s plans for the airport was
Paul Nero of Concerned Citizens of
Barrow County (CCBC), an activ
ist group which has led the fight
against a major airport expansion.
Nero presented highlights from a
feasibility study conducted by
Williams Aviation Consultants. The
study, which was commissioned by
CCBC, concluded that Barrow’s air
port is not in the position to attract
scheduled passenger or cargo ser
vice “now or in the future.” The
See AIRPORT on page 5A
Madison plea hearing set for March 4
A plea hearing has been set for 10 a.m.
Tuesday, March 4, in Banks County for
former District Attorney Tim Madison, who
was indicted in August on theft charges.
Madison and two others, his wife Linn
Jones and former ADA Anthony Brett
Williams, were charged with diverting
public funds while the three worked in
the Piedmont Judicial Circuit DA’s office.
Jones and Williams will also be present
for Tuesday’s hearing, but it is not known
whether they will be entering a plea.
All three pled not guilty to the charges in December,
but next week’s hearing could see a change in those
MADISON
pleas. A pretrial conference was held ear
lier this month between state prosecutors
and the defendants.
DeKalb County Judge Robert Mallis is
hearing the case after all three judges in the
Piedmont Circuit recused themselves.
Madison resigned last June as district
attorney following a series of investiga
tive newspaper articles published in The
Jackson Herald, sister publication of The
Braselton News. Georgia Attorney General
Thurbert Baker subsequently launched an
investigation into the DA’s office. That probe led to
the theft indictments in Banks County last August.
Two die in wreck on Ga. Hwy. 211
Two people were killed in a four-car collision on Ga. Hwy. 211 in Barrow
County on Sunday, the Georgia State Patrol said.
Those who died in the accident were identified by the state patrol as
Nancy Hamrick, 69, and Katherine Collier, 7, both of Winder.
The two were passengers in a vehicle that was struck when another vehi
cle crossed the centerline of the road. Their vehicle took “evasive” action,
but was still struck by another vehicle, the state patrol said.
The wreck, which shut down Hwy. 211 for several hours, occurred near
the intersection of Old Thompson Mill Road, about 10 miles north of
Winder.
The incident remains under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol,
which couldn’t provide information about the other passengers and vehicles
involved in the incident before press deadline.
