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The Braselton News
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Opinion
What Jackson County needs...
Growth has pretty much got a death grip on Jackson
County. There are a few places that continue to have the
rural ambiance that once dominated the community —
the east side of the county has not yet seen the kind of
hyper-growth that’s happening in the west side.
Still, the die is cast. Jackson County is quickly be
coming a suburban county with all the good and bad that
implies.
There’s no changing the
arc of growth once it begins.
There is no real way to control
any of that, either, no matter
what the populist cry of “con
trolled growth” implies. No
local government has either the
resources or legal authority to
control growth. At best, commu
nities can nudge and respond to
growth, but never really control
it.
There are upsides to this
suburbanization: Local jobs are
now plentiful, and the stan
dard of living has increased;
local schools have overall improved from the influx of
wealthier students and investments in new facilities; and
the expanded industrial tax base has helped somewhat
to balance the tax digest from being heavily reliant on
residential taxes.
But there are downsides as well: Increased traffic,
crowded schools, increased crime, soaring home prices
and higher property taxes.
I’ll leave it to history to determine how all that balanc
es out decades from now.
mike
buffington
For the immediate future, however, Jackson leaders
should not just discuss the growth, but also ask the ques
tion: What’s missing?
It won’t be long until Jackson County hits 100,000
people. Communities change as population density
increases; old systems begin to falter and new demands
get placed on communities. (For reference, see “recre
ation” issues currently floating about around the county
where recreation has become a lot more than high school
football in the days of yore.)
I suppose there are a lot of ideas people have about
what the county needs, but here’s my list of community
assets the Jackson County community needs as it moves
into suburbia:
1. A community college. Higher education institu
tions have a number of positive impacts in a community
beyond the increased accessibility to higher education
for local students. Colleges bring a degree of econom
ic stability and higher paying jobs with an educated
workforce. They enrich local arts and entertainment
both from their own student plays, music and art and
also from the draw they bring of outside businesses that
want to be close to a college campus. Jackson does have
a small campus from Lanier Tech and the community
is surrounded by nearby colleges of all sizes, but given
its growth and geographic location, the county needs its
own college campus to serve its growing population.
2. A hospital. I realize that small, independent
community hospitals are dying as consolidation into
larger facilities has been necessary for many health care
systems to survive. And Jackson is sandwiched between
Athens and Gainesville, both of which have large re
gional medical centers, including one in Braselton on the
county line. Still, as the county grows and growth con
tinues up 1-85, it would make sense for Jackson to have a
regional hospital facility in the Commerce area to serve
a multi-county growth region (Jackson, Franklin, Banks,
Madison). As with community colleges, a community
hospital brings a lot of positive intangibles to a com
munity, including the development of nearby ancillary
medical services. The closure of BJC Medical Center a
few years ago has left a void. Seems like an opportunity
for a large health care system to fill that in the area.
3. A community-based arts program/musuem.
There are a lot of artists in Jackson County, but there’s
no art museum or consistent cultural focus. That may
sound too artsy-fartsy for a lot of people, but commu
nities are enriched by their arts and having outlets for
local artists to showcase their work and for education
outreach. This is a huge gap in the community that needs
to be filled.
4. Green space downtown. Ok, Braselton has a nice
green and Pendergrass is building one with its new
downtown development. But Jefferson and Commerce
desperately need open green spaces in their downtowns
to host festivals and events. This won’t be easy given
the amount of existing development in both downtowns,
but there are some opportunities in both communities to
develop some public green spaces. If you want to save
traditional downtowns, make them a place people want
to go and gather. The area’s growing millennial popula
tion will flock to vibrant downtowns.
5. More passive parks. Jackson County is currently
investing in developing passive parks for public use and
its Hurricane Shoals Park is often at capacity. Braselton,
too, has a passive walking park. But more such parks are
needed in a county geographically as large as Jackson.
People like rural green spaces for walking, family events
and just to enjoy. Now’s the time to buy available land
for the future for these; it ain’t gonna get any cheaper.
6. An expanded ag facility. I was an early skeptic
about the county’s ag center, but it has proven to be
very successful. Now’s the time to build on that with an
affiliated open-air facility where a county fair, rodeos
and other similar rural-based events could be held. If
you want to have a sense of “community” in a rapidly
growing county, and to preserve some of its rural history,
this is one way to help do that.
7. An outdoor music venue. Ok, this may be a little
pie-in-the-sky, but outdoor music festivals are a boom
ing trend in rural areas all around the country. Some are
more rustic than others, but outdoor stage venues with
ample parking can bring in top talent. Athens is building
such a facility, Barrow County has its Innovation Am
phitheater, and Gainesville has Ivester Amphitheater at
the botantical gardens, so maybe the area is too saturated
for another such venue. Still, large outdoor venues with
good access could be a community asset.
8. A larger retail sector. This is a decades-old need in
the county where there is a lack of retail shops, restau
rants, and other businesses. The data is clear on this and
it’s something that citizens are increasingly demanding.
Look at the response to the new Chick-fil-A in Jefferson.
Today, people travel to Athens, Gwinnett and Gaines
ville to shop, something that hurts the county’s sales tax
income and that will increasingly become problematic
as the community grows. Governments can’t do much
about building retail establishments, but they should
maybe make the zoning and approval process easier
and quicker as an inducement to bring in these kinds of
projects. (Just do them smartly so that the county doesn’t
become strip-mall central like so many other suburban
counties.)
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspa
pers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
Grocery shopping
The one who has always managed the grocery shopping
at our address has been incapacitated lately with a bad knee
which means it has become my role to serve as a surrogate.
Designated hitter, if you will.
Kroger, about a mile away, with
its grand space offering everything
from red roses to Kleenex, gets
our patronage, and has for years
owing to convenience, friendly
employees, and an ambience that
makes your day.
However, for a neophyte, there
are complications. I don’t know
where anything is even though
every aisle is marked with what is
available for all shoppers.
As an example, on the list
which was prepared for my bene
fit was a necessary item, “Farm
house” bread. I looked up and saw
that I was a little more than arm’s
length from the bakery. Quickening my pace, I pushed my
grocery cart over to where many items were on display, but
no “Farmhouse” bread.
I sheepishly sidled up to a nice gentleman in close proxim
ity to the meat department and asked him for assistance. He
was flummoxed, too, but asked me to standby. He engaged
the lady lined up behind a display of pork chops, asked for
an assist. She smiled and said, “Try Aisle 15 or 16.” That is
something else that I appreciate about Kroger. If the floor
rangers or other roving employees don’t know the answer to
your question, they will find one post haste with the greatest
of hospitality and smiles.
When I asked about the whereabouts of coffee, a smiling
lady, who was stocking shelves nearby, grinned and pointed
to sign over my head which literally screamed, “coffee.”
She didn’t shake her head in dismay, but I concluded that
she must have been thinking, “There is a reason there are
signs on every aisle to ‘aid and abet blockheads such as you.”
It didn’t take all that long to find each item on my list and
in the process, I conducted a little creative shopping spree. I
found a container of peanut butter cookies. This item includ
ed too much sugar, but I rationalized that it would be okay for
one weekend.
Next, I sought out a few bottles of “red” Powerade. We are
Coca-Cola people, and I am convinced that Powerade had
something to do with Geoigia winning back-to-back National
Championships. There was no red Powerade but assorted
other colors. Reluctantly, I had to settle for a non-patriotic
color.
Starting my day, following coffee, usually involves a cup
of yoghurt with a fruit mixture—from peach to banana to
strawberries to coconut. Then these additives: a fistful of
blueberries and a packet of walnuts and almonds. Nothing
tastes better and every health expert in the land would agree
that is a healthy start not to be taken for granted.
Next as I made my way to the flower nook where I pur
chased a dozen red roses in tribute to the one who has been
doing the grocery shopping for over 50 years to thank her for
what she has meant to our household for five decades, I spied
the cooler which contained mushrooms.
I learned about sauteed mushrooms from traveling to the
British Open for many years, hitermittently, I get sauteed
mushrooms for breakfast. Made me think of the nice family
that provided me with a home away from home when I
crossed the pond.
This family, who lived in Kent, was one with whom we
enjoyed a forty-year relationship, stopping for a stay for most
of those summers until COVID derailed our routine.
As soon as we got settled, we would always make a
grocery shopping trip to Tesco’s, the biggest grocery chain in
the U. K. Tesco’s first opened its doors in 1919. If we were
guests for a week, the least we could do was to underwrite
the grocery bill which would include at least one big cookout
on the weekend with our hosts and several of their friends. In
addition, we brought along duty free wine.
The head of the house, a delightful chap, did the cooking
but there were frequent forays to their favorite country pub
which dates to the 13 th century.
They once lived in a five-story house in Ramsgate with the
kitchen on the 3rd floor. Following our sojourn to Tesco’s, I
would sit in the window which overlooked the harbor where
hydrofoils and Hovercraft made their arrivals and departures
across the English Channel. Such a delightful scene.
The preferred snack was long stem cherries and French
beer. When I walked by those cherries at Kroger’s I pur
chased a pound and sat on my porch and reminisced about
Ramsgate, cherries, the English Channel and my English
friends who were the consummate hosts with an uncommon
touch in the kitchen.
Going grocery shopping last weekend brought back fond
and pleasant memories.
Loran Smith is a UGA commentator and columnist for
Mains treet Newspapers.
Photo from the past
There is a photo that I discovered a couple of
years ago and immediately I put it on the refriger
ator so I’d never forget who I am. Who I really am.
It is a color photo made with a Kodak Instamat-
ic camera. Remember those? The little silver box
with a flash cube that snapped on top. I still have
one of those sparkly cubes.
That summer I was 15.
I had discovered my first
love and was reading “In
Cold Blood”, the classic
by Truman Capote. I recall
most summers by the books
I read. My ninth-grade En
glish teacher, Mr. Hendricks,
was in the book. When the
Clutter family weren’t at
church in Garden City, Kan
sas, he and the sheriff had
gone to check on them. What
they discovered became
known as the most notorious
murders of the 20th Century.
Thank goodness for that
Kodak moment. It captured the essence of who I
am. Of the sense of place that firmly grounds me.
What brings tears to my eyes is the delighted
happiness that shines in that photo.
I am sitting in an old, gray rocker built and
caned many years earlier by my grandfather.
There, on a ragged porch that sighed visibly with
the weariness of its years, I am holding my two-
year-old niece, Nicole. Behind us is the tarpaper
of the mountain shack that my grandparents called
home. It had a wood burning pot belly stove, two
bedrooms in which seven people slept, and no
running water.
In a folding chair behind my left shoulder is my
precious, simple minded Aunt Bessie. Rheumatic
fever at the age of three had stopped her intellectu
al development. She dipped snuff and always had
Baby Ruth candy bars hidden somewhere. She was
seriously diabetic but she couldn’t resist a Baby
Ruth. This love of candy would eventually lead to
a leg amputation and a slow, painful death.
But on that day. On THAT day, Aunt Bessie
smiled broadly despite the snuff in her lip. She
wore a polyester, flowered dress - a Sunday-go-to-
meeting-dress—and flat black shoes. She had little
money but she dressed her best for the Lord.
Nicole, the baby that she was, is giggling and I
am smiling like the happiest girl in the world.
Because, back then, on that day in the late
1970s, I was happy. No one I loved had died. The
word “sorrow” was not yet in my vocabulary. In
front of me, life sprawled ahead. I only expected
what my parents had - marriage, children, a small
house, a steady job, and regular appearances at
church.
Nicole was a child, in a bubble of happiness,
and Aunt Bessie sweetly accepted whatever came
along. Sometimes, I think of what it must have
been like in that little tin roof, four-room house,
especially when the flu came and they had to run
through the frostbitten night, down a beaten path,
to the outhouse.
I think, sometimes, of the frigid winter morn
ings when they awoke, snuggled under quilts they
had sewn by hand, and had to face another day of
hardship - slopping the hogs, gathering the eggs,
milking the cow. But then, I remind myself: They
knew no better. Buried deep in the Appalachians,
they had as much as anyone else. And they all
shared the Lord which pulled them through.
It never occurred to me that my life would be
grander. That I would experience excitement, stand
on the sidelines of some of life’s most historic
moments, call famous people “dear friends”, and
say a prayer over the dying body of a star actress I
had watched on television every week. And that I
would pray over her grave.
Aunt Bessie has gone home to Jesus. Nicole,
married with five children, is still joyous. And me?
I’m happy and blessed. But too much sorrow and
loss have come and gone. That kind of innocent
smile is just a Kodak memory.
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of the new
novel ST. SIMONS ISLAND: A Stella Bankwell
Mystery. Visit www.rondarich.com to sign up for
her free weekly newsletter.
The Braselton News
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager
Ben Munro Editor
Taylor Hearn Sports Editor
Wesleigh Sagon Photographer/Features
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