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32 Pages 3 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50« Copy Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Barrow Briefs Cupid Bash The Winder Square Dance Club “Jug Tavern Squares” will hold its “Cupid Bash” Valentine Dance on Friday, Feb. 10, at the YMCA in Winder from 7:30-10 p.m. No YMCA membership is required. See the group’s website, www. jugtavemsquares.org. for more information, or contact club pres idents Buddy or Sharon Davis at 770-513-1189. Peace Place ball set Peace Place Inc. presents its 17th Annual Ball - Mardi Gras Gala - on Saturday, Feb. 25. Music begins at 6:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 7 p.m. at the Commerce Civic Center. Tickets are $60 each, $110 per couple and $500 per table. The Gala will include music, entertainment, professional pho tography, live and silent auctions. Payments can be made to Peace Place Inc., PO. Box 948, Winder, GA 30680. If you have questions or would like to donate a raffle item(s), please contact Helene at heavi ness @peaceplaceinc.org or 770- 307-3633. Peace Place Inc. is a domes tic violence program that serves survivors of family violence in Banks, Barrow and Jackson coun ties in Georgia, offering emergen cy shelter, transitional and scat tered site housing, outreach and legal advocacy, safety planning, educational presentations and chil dren’s services. Peace Place also operates a thrift store to help fund the operations of the agency. Peace Place Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible. Lunch and Learn The Barrow County Extension Office will be hosting an “Intro to Gardening” lunch-and-leam ses sion from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23. Registration is $10. To reg ister, call 770-307-3029. The office is located at 90 Lanthier St., Winder. Index: Church News 11A Classifieds 3-4C Legals 5-12C Obituaries 10A Pets of the Week 1C Public Safety 8-9A Sports 1-6, 8B ESPLOST revenue growth continues By Ron Bridg'eman News-Journal Reporter It’s not a trend yet, but the Barrow County Board of Educa tion hopes it goes the way 2017 started. “It” is the ESPLOST revenue, which in January was almost $1 million, up 15.7 percent over the same month in 2016. The BOE received $993,277 for the month. That is slightly more than $135,000 more in sales tax rev enue than the board received in 2016. The money is for sales in December because it comes in one month after the sales are made. “I don’t know if we want to get real excited about this,” Houston said, introducing the topic. “We’ll just see if this becomes a trend and that would be wonderful.” The county schools ’ ESPLOST revenue has increased each year for the past four years. The schools received $9.7 million for 2016 and $9,542 million for 2015. The 2016 money was almost $1.1 million more than in 2013. The county started collecting on a new ESPLOST in Sep tember. It will be for five years, through September 2021. The county has collected $3.4 million on the new ESPLOST from October to January. For the past three years, revenue drops in February and March. Houston also reported the schools’ reserve fund as of Jan. 31 was $23,275 million. The district had received about 58.2 percent of its esti mated revenue and spending was at about 47 percent for the fiscal year. OTHER BUSINESS The school board met for about 25 minutes in its regular session. It also approved buying: •50 Epson interactive pro jectors for classrooms and a Hitachie projector for the caf eteria at Winder Elementa ry School from TechOptics of Winder for $93,134. •Commvault licensing for district-wide data backup from Insight of Tempe, Ariz., for $46,862. Insight was the sec ond-low bidder, but it matched the low bid when that company refused to honor its bid. The board also approved hold ing three policy changes until the March meeting to provide time for public comment. The changes deal with over time pay for classified employ ees, rescinding a policy on local school councils and establishing a policy for school governance teams. ALL ON THE LINE Apalachee’s Rashad Eberhart and Winder-Barrow’s Lamonta Mack battle for the tip-off during Tuesday night’s GHSA Region 8-AAAAAA tournament first-round game at Lanier High School in Sugar Hill. The Bulldoggs and Wildcats played the game with a state play off berth on the line and went to overtime in a wild back-and-forth contest. In the end, the Bulldoggs emerged victorious, 71-60. See Page 1B for more. Photo by Scott Thompson Winder council approves new oath procedure By Sk aron Hog'an News-Journal Reporter Winder City Council approved, at the monthly meeting on Tuesday, the first reading of an amend ment to the city’s charter to allow persons elect ed as mayor and council members to attend the first council meeting in January following a regular elec tion for the purpose of tak ing the oath of office prior to the start of the council meeting. The amendment also allows for the mayor and council, at the first council meeting in January follow ing each regular election, to elect from its membership a mayor pro-tem for a term of two years. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at Tues day’s meeting, the council approved: •authorizing the mayor to sign a resolution adopting the five ethics principles to participate in the Certified City of Ethics Program. This certification is valid for four years, expiring in April 2021. The five prin ciples are: 1) Serve oth ers, not ourselves; 2) Use resources with efficiency and economy; 3) Treat all people fairly; 4) Use the See Winder on Page 2A Mailing Label Below o NGMC Braselton becomes first hospital in state to receive eco-friendly design award Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Bra selton campus is the first hospital in the state and among the first 10 in the nation to receive Gold Cer tification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environ mental Design (LEED) for Healthcare Rating System. LEED certification measures NGMC Bra- selton’s innovation, water and energy use, sustainability, indoor environment quality, material and resource use and more, accord ing to a news release. “For all of us at NGMC Braselton, being green means cre ating a quality experi ence for patients and visitors, while also operating as efficient ly as possible” said Anthony Williamson, president of NGMC Braselton. “We hope other businesses will be inspired by the sustainable initia tives implemented at NGMC Braselton and See NGMC on Page 2A ECO-FRIENDLY Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton recently became the first hos pital in Georgia to receive Gold Certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Healthcare Rating System.