Newspaper Page Text
Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, West Jackson and Barrow County
Thursday, January 5,2012
Vol. 7 No. 38 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com
Member of the
Georgia Press Association
250 copy
12 pages, 1 section
Inside
News
Tax Reform?
Local legislators have dif
ferent views on potential
tax reform in Georgia this
year
See 3A
A New Year
Jackson County holds its
85th annual New Year’s
Day program
See 3A
Editorial
‘America’s strength is found
in her families’
See 4A
Public Safety
S.W.A.T. gear stolen from
officer’s garage
See 5A
Index
News
1-3A
Public Safety
5A
Social
6-8A
Obituaries
9A
Classified
10-11A
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A Look Back at 2011
Major projects, election among top stories
15-year-old accused
of killing her mother
A 15-year-old teenager who
shot and killed her mother
in Braselton in April has had
her case resolved in juvenile
court, according to Gwinnett
County District Attorney
Danny Porter.
Dominique Perryman was
due to have her case heard
in Gwinnett County Superior
Court — possibly as an adult
— but the case was settled
in December by the juve
nile court. Porter said after
a review of the facts — and
at the request of the girl’s
stepfather — the case was
disposed of in juvenile court.
He declined to provide addi
tional details about the teen’s
sentence.
The Braselton Police
Department wrote in an inci
dent report that Perryman and
her mother — 1st Sgt. Karen
Moore — had an argument on
the evening of April 6 about
her 17-year-old boyfriend,
Christopher Nieves.
After getting her mother’s
gun from an upstairs closet.
Perryman took it to her room,
then came downstairs. Nieves
had allegedly told Perryman
that if she didn’t pick him
by 10:30 p.m., that he would
break up with her.
Perryman repeatedly asked
her mother what time it was
before shooting her in the
back of the head and running
out the door, police said. After
picking up Nieves in Sugar
Hill, the couple returned to
Perryman’s house in The Falls
of Braselton subdivision,
where they had sex.
Perryman and Nieves went
to a nearby pizza restaurant
the following morning to eat
and later asked a neighbor to
help jump start the girl’s vehi
cle. When the neighbor asked
the teenager about her mother,
Perryman said she “wouldn’t
wake up” and the neighbor
called 911.
Braselton police initially
believed that the case was a
suicide, but soon found the
murder weapon and con
tacted the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation for the homi
cide.
The girl’s mother, Moore,
was a commanding officer
at an Army recruiting center
in Athens. Her husband and
her son — also both in the
military — were stationed in
Alabama at the time of the
shooting.
Nieves was charged with
statutory rape, but wasn’t
charged in connection with
Moore’s death.
Mayfield Dairy
closes visitors center;
Mitsubishi closes
Braselton plant
One of the key tourism spots
in Jackson County closed its
doors to guests in October.
The Mayfield Dairy Visitors
Center had welcomed an esti
mated 200,000 guests a year
to its milk production facility
in Braselton when an offi
cial from its parent company
pointed to the slow economy
as a reason for closing the
center. The milk production
facility remains open.
Mayfield Dairy opened its
Braselton visitors center —
one of two such facilities for
the company in the nation —
in 1997. The center featured
tours of the milk plant, gift
shop and ice cream parlor
— all of which were popular
among visiting school, civic
and church groups.
After announcing that the
visitors center would close,
Mayfield Dairy’s parent
company — Dean Foods —
received hundreds of com
ments from people who want
ed it to remain open.
That included officials from
Braselton, who asked the
company to consider a six-
month reprieve to look at eco
nomic sustainability issues or
a temporary closing through
the winter months with plans
to re-open in 2012.
Tours ended at Mayfield
Dairy on Oct. 14, and the
visitors center closed on Oct.
31.
Another plant closure
announced in 2011 was
also once a major economic
engine in Braselton.
Mitsubishi Digital
Electronics America, Inc.,
announced in March that it
would close its Braselton
distribution center — end
ing the company’s 25-year
presence in Jackson County.
The California-based com
pany announced its Braselton
facility — located in the Park
85 at Braselton develop
ment on Braselton Parkway
— would close, along with
another plant in Ontario. Calif.
The Braselton closure affect
ed 35 employees and took
place over a three-month
period — ending in July.
Before moving in early
2009 to the warehouse it
once shared with Progressive
Lighting, Mitsubishi was
See Review 2A
Sheriff’s race in
2012 expected to
draw lots of interest
Commission chairman seat also on ballot
Jackson County voters will go to the polls multiple
times this year, from the March 6 Presidential Preference
Primary to a possible General Election runoff Dec. 4.
While the early attention will be on the March 6
Republican Presidential Preference Primary, local can
didates will begin qualifying in May for constitutional
offices where some high-profile offices are up for grabs,
starting with the Republican and Democratic primaries
July 31 and culminating on Nov. 6
in the General Election.
Voters must select a replacement
for retiring sheriff Stan Evans, as
well as for board of commission
ers’ chairman Hunter Bicknell, who
has announced plans to run for
Congress in the newly formed 9th
Congressional District.
Five candidates have already
announced their intentions of run
ning for sheriff, and a number have
also expressed interest in the Congressional seat.
Other offices to be filled include those of the District
1 and District 2 seats on the board of commissioners,
the Post 1 and Post 4 seats on the Jackson County Board
of Education, clerk of court, tax commissioner, probate
judge, state court judge, state court solicitor, county
surveyor, magistrate court judge and coroner. Then there
will be elections of state senators and representatives as
well as the 9th District seat in the U.S. Congress.
Winners will be on the ballot Nov. 6 in the General
Election, but in Jackson County local races are typically
decided in the Republican Primary and primary runoff,
since few candidates offer as Democrats.
During the primary on July 31, Jackson County voters
will also help decide the fate of a new one-cent regional
transportation tax. The so-called T-SPLOST is expected
to generate close to a billion dollars in the 12-county
region over 10 years and is considered by many elected
officials (those dealing with roads) to be crucial to fund
ing roads and other transportation projects.
During the General Election, voters will fill the three
Superior Court judgeships in the Piedmont Judicial
Circuit. Those will not be on the primary ballots because
they are nonpartisan positions.
The 2012 election cycle will also introduce Saturday
voting. In addition to “advance” and "early” voting,
the polls will be open on Saturday, Feb. 25, for the
Presidential Preference Primary, Saturday, July 21 for
the General Primary Election and Saturday, Oct. 27, for
the General Election.
Election Calendar
Here’s the calendar of elections for 2012:
•March 6: Presidential Preference Primary and special
election (if needed)
•May 23-25: Qualifying period for General Primary
Election
•July 31: General Primary Election, T-SPLOST refer
endum
•Aug. 21: General Primary Runoff Election
•Sept. 18: Special election date (if needed)
•Oct. 16: Runoff date for special election (if needed)
•Nov. 6: General Election
•Dec. 4: General Election Runoff (if needed)
Voter Registration Deadlines
•Feb. 6: Presidential Preference Primary
•July 2: General Primary Elections
•Aug. 20: Special election/runoff
•Oct. 8: General Election
Evans
Town hall meeting to
feature T-SPLOST talks
Jackson County Commissioner Bruce Yates will
host a town hall meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 11,
at 7 p.m. in Braselton to discuss the proposed
transportation sales tax.
Doug Callaway, director of the Georgia
Transportation Alliance, will be present to provide
information and answer questions.
Voters will go to the polls in 2012 to decide on
the 10-year Transportation Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST). A number of pro
posed road projects in Jackson County are on the
list for the T-SPLOST.
The meeting will be held at the Braselton Police
and Municipal Court Building’s community room
(lower level), located at 5040 Ga. Hwy. 53.
