Newspaper Page Text
Your only locally-owned community newspaper
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Mill Creek, West Jackson and Barrow County
250 copy
Wednesday, July 23,2008
Vol. 4 No. 14 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.comBarrowJournal.com 22 pages, 3 sections
Inside
•Winder couple helping
children, horses
page 6B
JACKSON COUNTY
•Potential reservoir sites
narrowed to three
page 2A
BARROW COUNTY
•Proposed skate park
meets opposition from
Auburn City Council.
page 3A
Sports:
•Five Mill Creek players
named to elite softball
club page 1B
Opinion:
• ‘Water sales dilemma
a reality check’
page 4A
Public safety:
•Couple works out dif
ferences with sex act in
parking lot
page 6A
•Church events
page 9A
•Obituaries
page 8A
Hoschton gets first look at 2009 budget
Expenses far outpace expected revenue
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
Hoschton officials will have to consider
some major cutbacks before the council adopts
its 2009 budget by the end of the year.
And one of the biggest hurdles for city
officials is a possible general fund budget
that shows expenses surpassing revenue by
$447,661.
On Monday, the city’s fiscal resources com
mittee got its first look at the 2009 budget,
which would become effective on Jan. 1.
Four of the six council members and the
city’s mayor attended the committee meeting.
Hoschton’s committees typically include three
council members as committee members.
Council member Tom Walden cautioned
that the budget is not a “proposed” budget, but
a “working budget” since it isn’t a balanced
budget, as required by state law. The budget
is also not being proposed to council now, but
the council is expected to discuss the budget in
September, he added.
“It’s not final by any means,” said Walden,
who chairs the fiscal resources committee. “It
is not ready to be discussed by council.”
Hoschton’s “working budget” shows that
while revenue is expected to decrease 7.4
percent from $852,491 to $788,660 for the
2009 general fund budget, expenses are slated
to rise 45 percent to $1.2 million. The council
last amended its 2008 budget in June.
Walden said the difference marks some “sig
nificant changes” from the 2008 general fund
budget to the 2009 budget.
Mayor Bill Copenhaver said the 2009 bud
get figures are based on minimal residential
growth.
Hoschton is estimating that building permit
See HOSCHTON on page 5A
What’s Next
•In August, the council’s fiscal resources
committee is expected to discuss the budget
during two meetings, which haven’t been
scheduled to date.
• The budget will be presented to the full city
council in September.
• The city council will continue to discuss
the budget and hold public hearings until it
is adopted in December.
• The 2009 budget will become effective in
January 2009.
A need to give
BLOODMOBILE ROLLS INTO HOSCHTON
The American Red Cross’ bloodmobile rolled into the parking lot at Hoschton First Baptist Church on
Monday afternoon. Due to a summertime shortage, the Red Cross urgently needs blood, especially
donors with blood types O positive, O negative, A negative and B negative. Blood collector techni
cians Colette Hunt and Ron Veal are shown taking donations from Megan Bryan, Braselton, and
Carolyn Bragg, Hoschton. Photo by Kerri Testement
Candidates hit on taxes, county layoffs
GARRISON YEARWOOD
BY KRISTI REED
With two hotly contested races
being decided in the August 5 runoff,
the primary season continues for the
Barrow County Republican Party.
Members of the Barrow County
Republican Party heard a final pitch
from the commission chairman can
didates at the Monday night meeting
of the Barrow GOP.
Incumbent candidate Doug
Garrison took the opportunity to
remind voters of his record as chair
man and reiterate his platform as
chairman of Barrow County.
“I pledge to keep Barrow County
taxes low,” he said. “I support eco
nomic development and economic
growth. I support public safety.”
Garrison, whose experience
includes service as the chairman of the
Barrow County Board of Education;
president of the Barrow County Farm
Bureau and member of the Barrow
County Chamber of Commerce, said
he wants to continue to serve as
chairman of Barrow County.
“I think leadership is what’s impor
tant in this position. I think that’s
what I offer,” Garrison said.
Challenger Daniel Yearwood’s first
order of business was to address
rumors that he would lay
off county employees.
In an interview pub
lished in the July 11 spe
cial election edition of
the BarrowJournal.com,
Yearwood said surrounding
counties were cutting back
while Barrow County con
tinued to hire new employ
ees.
“Everybody else is cut
ting back, we’re still hir
ing,” he said. “This has got
to be, I hate to say approached from
the standpoint of a cutback, but we
can’t continue paying the debt that
we pay and keep the people we’ve
got employed there.”
When asked if cutbacks includ
ed layoff of county employees,
Yearwood replied; “If it has to come
to that. You know I hate to say that,
but all the other counties around us
are doing it. I don’t know why we
should have to be any different.”
During his address Tuesday night,
Yearwood denied that layoffs were
part of his plan to cut spending.
“I would like to assure all the
employees of Barrow County that
I am not in favor of any job cuts,”
he said.
Yearwood said his main concern
was to get county spending back
on track.
Yearwood repeated his campaign
slogan that he intended to see that
tax dollars were spent on “what we
need, not what we want.”
Promising to run the county like
a business, Yearwood said Barrow
County needed to control its spend
ing.
“In order for our county to grow
and to protect its employees, we
have to get back to basics and solve
basic problems,” he said.
Barrow County voters will decide
between the two candidates during
the August 5 runoff.
Authority: Please water
your lawns (once a week)
After months of warning custom
ers not to water their lawns due to
the drought, the Jackson County
Water and Sewerage Authority has
changed course.
It not only allows the watering
of yards, but encourages it. In fact,
officials are all but begging their
customers to turn on their sprin
klers.
Recovery of the Bear Creek
Reservoir, extremely effective con
servation measures and cash flow
problems from lack of water sales
all contribute to the reversal.
On July 1, the authority got the
go-ahead from the Environmental
Protection Division to reduce the
level four water restrictions that had
See WATER on page 5A
More Details
The following schedule pro
vides for one-day-a-week water
ing of yards and landscapes
for customers of the Jackson
County Water and Sewerage
Authority. It is based on the last
digit of the property’s address.
Watering with sprinklers and
irrigation systems is permis
sible from midnight to 10 a.m.
on the appropriate days.
Address Day
0-1 Mondays
2-3 Tuesdays
4-5 Wednesdays
6-7 Thursdays
8-9 Fridays
D.A. candidates trade barbs
Qp * 4p
k.i
SIKES SMITH
BY KRISTI REED
With the runoff just two
weeks away, the candidates
for District Attorney have
become more aggressive in
their attempts to cast doubt
on their opponents’ quali
fications.
Candidates Brad Smith
and Donna Sikes had just
two minutes to address the
Republican Party faithful
at the Tuesday night meet
ing of the Barrow County
GOP.
With an effort worthy of a high
stakes closing argument, Sikes and
Smith made their case for election
as the next District Attorney of the
Piedmont Judicial Circuit.
Sikes fired the opening salvo in
the night’s confrontation between
the two attorneys.
See DA on page 5A
Barrow commissioners unveil
plans for county’s future
BY KRISTI REED
After 18 months of work,
the 20-year Barrow County
Comprehensive Plan for 2007-2027
is complete.
All governments within the state
of Georgia are required to adopt a
comprehensive plan. Once Barrow
County’s comprehensive plan is
adopted by the municipalities within
the county, it will come before the
BOC for final adoption. The board
is scheduled to vote on the plan at
its August 26 meeting.
Barrow County Commission
Chairman Doug Garrison said the
plan is a valuable resource for man
aging the county’s growth.
“Tonight is a culmination of a long
process that began in 2006 when we
started down this road for renewing
the comprehensive plan,” he said.
“We need this road map because of
how fast we’ve been growing. This
will be an excellent tool for us to use
in the future as we grow.”
The purpose of the plan is to
present a community vision for the
See PLAN on page 5A
