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Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Mill Creek, West Jackson and Barrow County
Gi* £
Member of the
Georgia Press Association
250 copy
Wednesday, April 16,2008
Vol. 3 No. 52 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. BraseltonNews.com BarrowJournal.com 24 pages, 3 sections
Inside
Saturday events
include car show, chili
cook-off and art festival
page 8A
JACKSON COUNTY
•Company to lease
school system’s unused
airwaves
page 2A
BARROW COUNTY
•Everett re-elected chair
man of airport authority
page 5A
Sports:
Mill Creek gets two
wins after tough loss
page 1B
Opinion:
•’Tour de Georgia an
opportunity for area’
page 4A
Public safety:
•Braselton cop breaks
hand during chase
page 6A
•Church events
page4B
•Obituaries
page5B
Tour de Georgia coming to Braselton next week
Road Atlanta to host team time trial event April 24
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Braselton’s Road Atlanta will be a host site for one of
the state’s largest sporting events next week — the Tour
de Georgia.
Now in its sixth year, the Tour de Georgia is a seven-
day professional cycling event that will span more than
650 miles through the state. Twelve communities have
been selected as host venues.
The tour starts on Monday, April 21, in Tybee Island,
and ends on Sunday, April 27, in Atlanta.
On Thursday, April 24, stage four of the tour will
be featured at Road Atlanta, where the team time trial
event will be held at the Braselton racetrack. The team
time trial competition is a new stage for the Tour de
Georgia.
Tour de Georgia officials expect 15 teams to compete
in this year’s event. Each team includes eight profes
sional cyclists. The teams include a number of interna
tional athletes. The Tour de Georgia is considered the
premier cycling event in the United States before July’s
Tour de France.
“The introduction of the team time trial is new, it’s
Details on Tour de Georgia
• What: Tour de Georgia team time trial at Road
Atlanta, 5300 Winder Highway (Ga. Hwy. 53),
Braselton
•When: Thursday, April 24. The team event
starts at 1 p.m. Other activities will be offered
prior.
• Costs: Free for spectators. In-field parking at
Road Atlanta is $8 with parking outside the track
being free.
• Also: Spectators are welcomed to bring their
bikes to Road Atlanta for in-field riding.
•Information: Visit www.tourdegeorgia.com.
or www.roadatlanta.com.
exciting for the fans,” said Will Frischkorn, winner
of the “Most Aggressive Rider” at the 2006 Tour de
See TOUR on page 9A
PRACTICE RIDE
Cyclists practice at Road Atlanta during a recent event. The Tour
de Georgia will be held at Road Atlanta, Braselton, on Thursday,
April 24. Road Atlanta will host the team time trial event.
Photo by Charlie Roeber
‘Bread breaking’ marks fresh start
OPENING CEREMONY
Officials from the Town of Braselton and Whole Foods mark the opening of the company’s new
regional distribution center in Braselton with a “bread breaking” ceremony last week. The facility is
located on Ga. Hwy. 124. Photo by Susan Treadwell
Whole Foods opens Braselton center
Facility serves 32 stores
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Whole Foods Market — a natural and organic foods
grocer — has officially opened its regional distribution
center in Braselton.
And the 111,000 square-foot facility on Ga. Hwy.
124 has plenty of “green” features — which ties to one
of the company’s core principles of sound environmen
tal practices.
“Everything here has a purpose,” said Mike Hardy,
facility team leader of Whole Food’s south distribution
center in Braselton.
Whole Foods not only promotes the practices of
recycling, reuse and reducing waste at its 270 stores
in North America and the United Kingdom, it also
designed the Braselton building with the environment
in mind.
One of the key features of the Braselton facility is a
10,000 gallon cistern, which is considered the largest
of its kind east of the Mississippi River. The cistern
collects rainwater for Whole Foods to reuse throughout
its property.
“The irrigation system we have provides water for
our landscaping,” Hardy said of the cistern. Whole
Foods will not use town water for landscaping, he
added.
Other features include a roof designed to reflect heat
to keep the building cooler, plenty of natural light
ing for employees, a solar-powered water heater, and
motion-detecting lights and faucets.
The Braselton center will also be Whole Foods’ com
post facility, where its stores will send biodegradable
TOUR OF NEW BUILDING
A group looks at some of the boxes stored
at Whole Food Market’s distribution center in
Braselton. The building is 111,000 square feet
and replaces a 35,000 square-foot facility the
company used in Gwinnett County.
Photo by Kerri Testement
material that can be converted into compost for the
company’s farmers, Hardy said. Whole Food expects
to process 2 million pounds of compost a year at the
See CENTER on page 9A
West Jackson overlay
hearing draws a crowd
Tougher development standards proposed
you want,” said Jackson County
commissioner Bruce Yates, who
represents the Braselton-Hoschton
area.
Overlay districts impose more
stringent zoning standards in a spe
cific area. The standards in an over
lay district are included in the exist
ing zoning regulations and typically
address architectural standards, buf
fers, lighting, signage and parking.
Jackson County is proposing two
overlay districts along Hwy. 124
and Hwy. 53 for unincorporated
properties.
See OVERLAY on page 9A
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Jackson County officials are pro
posing an overhaul of how new
commercial developments along
two key roads in Hoschton and
Braselton will look - but they are
asking for the public’s help.
A standing-room only crowd
packed the Hoschton Depot Tuesday
night to listen to the county’s plans
for overlay districts on Ga. Hwy.
53 and Ga. Hwy. 124. The audi
ence also provided plenty of com
ments about the how new commer
cial projects in the emerging area
should look.
“We’re finding out tonight what
DISCUSSING PROPOSALS
Jackson County commissioner Bruce Yates speaks to the audi
ence at the Hoschton Depot on Tuesday night about proposals to
establish an overlay district along Ga. Hwy. 124 and Ga. Hwy. 53.
Photo by Kerri Testement
Police: Man tries to kidnap
child playing in Braselton yard
A man tried to kidnap a child playing in his front yard last week, accord
ing to Braselton police.
The child was playing with three other children in the front yard of a
Mossy Oak Landing residence in the Mulberry Park subdivision.
A man walking through the neighborhood tried to grab the arm of the
child, who pulled away and ran inside the house. The man first walked past
the children and then returned to the yard before trying to grab the child. The
other children confirmed the story with police.
The man was described as being in his 30s or 40s with dark skin, possibly
Hispanic, with a thin mustache and goatee. The man was wearing a grey hat,
a white shirt with some unknown writing and grey jogging pants.
Braselton police searched the area, but didn’t find the suspect.
