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770-214-9900 • P.O. Box 680/961 Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30117
NOVEMBER 7, 2010
500 StarNews monthly publication /StarNews Online www.starnewsga.com
VOLUME 16 NUMBER 10
Wilson reelected with strong win; Forecast for the economy:
Butler next state labor commissioner; real estate still in decline; not
Morris defeats Burton-Calloway
enough personal spending
by Sam Gentry
The election summary report
from the General Election in
Carroll County revealed incumbent
Republican John Wilson as the
winner of the District 4 commis
sion seat. All results were incom
plete and unofficial at the time of
our press deadline.
Wilson technically ran unop
posed in the race, but write-in tea
party candidate Jim Watters cam
paigned against him in the months
leading up to the election.
In the District 4 race, 4,022 votes
were cast, with Wilson receiving
2,765, or 68.75 percent. Write-in
votes totaled 1,257, or 31.25 per
cent. Although the elections report
does not specifically name Jim
Watters as a candidate, early voting
and absentee ballot information
provided by the elections board
showed the majority of the write-in
votes to be for Watters.
Both candidates were at the
county Board of Elections and
Registration at the David Perry
Administrative building on College
Street to await the results. Watters
congratulated Wilson on his win
while some precincts’ votes were
still uncounted, but the numbers
were undeniably in favor of
Wilson. Watters said he is disap
pointed with the results, but that he
learned a lot from running a
campaign.
“We had a valiant effort by a lot
of people who wanted to see some
changes in local government,” he
said. “We knew the write-in proc
ess was going to make it tough, but
it was tougher than we thought it
would be.”
Watters said Wilson “ran a good
campaign and he absolutely won
hands down.” Watters also said he
looks “forward to him [Wilson]
being my commissioner for the
next four years.” He added, “We’ll
be watching him.”
The biggest complaint he heard
about Wilson during the campaign
process, Watters said, was that he
did not communicate well with the
people in his district, and he hopes
Wilson will do a better job of get
ting to know his constituents during
his next term.
Watters said he will stay active in
the local tea party and in the Carroll
County GOP. As for a future in
politics, Watters said he has no
plans for anything currently, but
added, “We’ll see.” He also said he
is thankful to those who voted for
him.
“I just want to say thanks to all
ELECTIONS page 16
by Carole Scott
At the annual Economic Forecast
Breakfast held on the campus of
the University of West Georgia on
October 26, 2010, Dr. William
“Joey” Smith, an Associate
Professor of Economics at West
Georgia, provided a “Georgia and
West Georgia Economic Outlook”.
Also, Dr. Martin A. Regalia, Senior
Vice President for economic and
tax policy and Chief Economist of
the United States Chamber of
Commerce, presented the “U.S.
Economic and Financial Outlook”.
This event was sponsored by the
Department of Economics,
Richards College of Business,
University of West Georgia and the
Carroll County Chamber of
Commerce.
Too little personal consumption
spending, which accounts for the
See ECONOMYpage
District 4 health director, Michael Brackett, to resign amid
allegations of being hostile and getting physical with employees
by Sam Gentry
The Carroll County Board of
Health met on September 8, 2010,
at noon at the Carroll County
Recreation Department facility.
Among the many items on the
agenda was a description of a “di
sruptive event at the Health
Department on 9/2/2010” involving
Dr. Michael Brackett, District
Health Director of District 4.
The material concerning the
occurrence, which is labeled as
“facts and events,” includes 15
items that outline allegations
against Brackett, including item 13,
which states that “on Sept. 2, 2010,
Dr. Brackett appeared at the Carroll
County Health Department in a
hostile manner commanding the
staff to follow his orders or be held
responsible as a threat to their job
security.”
Item 13 further states that “he
became aggressive to the point of
forcibly grasping the arm of our
director” and that “his actions dis
rupted the operation of the health
department.”
In addition, the document states
that when the BOH Chairman, Dr.
Jack Birge, contacted Brackett con
cerning the issue, Brackett replied,
“I didn’t dismpt the health depart
ment, I saved it, and it’s my health
See BRACKETT page 27
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERIES
Cimex lectularius (bedbugs): Carroll County’s got ‘em
by Sam Gentry
Unless you’ve been hiding under
a mattress for the last few months,
you’ve probably heard that bed
bugs are making a comeback in the
United States, especially in big cit
ies. Now, they are showing up in
Carroll County.
Bed bugs, or cimex lectularius,
are flat-bodied, oval insects that
feast on human blood, according to
Jake Holloway, environmental
health specialist for Carroll County
Department of Environmental
Health. Often carried from place to
place by bats and birds, the bugs
appear to spreading around the
United States rapidly. Hatchling
bed bugs are about the size of a
poppy seed, and adults are about
1/4 of an inch in length, according
to IdentifyUS.com, a website
designed to help recognize and
manage pest control problems.
Their color ranges from nearly
white to light tan, deep brown or
burnt orange. The insects cannot
fly, but can crawl, ran and climb,
the website says. Also, each female
may lay up to 200 eggs in a life
time, which ranges from 10-18
months.
Bed bugs “were very common in
the United States and everywhere
in the world up until the 1930s,”
Holloway said. The use of DDT
(dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)
See BEDBUGS page 29
Bedbugs do not fly, but can crawl, run and climb; each
female may lay up to 200 eggs in a lifetime, which lasts from
10 to 18 months.
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