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Legal Organ Lor Peach County, ( it\ ol I oi l Valiev and ( ilv Of Byron Another Drug Honoring Wl-ER'S-OV-IS -JUNE-171H f Mal<e Dealer off the Peach Schools' 1 A $ streets • • • Retirees i A m i m see pg. 7A ; see pg. 3 A __ m n ****** ***** GEORGIA "ALL for ADC 301 ilVnlHTTnVVfliiWlR fsa NEWSPAPER WWW ONI V OF GA PROJECT % k ATHENS GA 30602 % Vol. No. 119 Issue 22 June 13, 2007 2 Sections, 18 Pages 50# Serving Peach County For Over 100 Years a 1! The Festival Two Great Weekends of Fun!! June 16 - Byron June 22-23 - Fort Valley Take the family to Byron this Saturday for a day of fun at this year's Peach Festival. Enjoy carnival rides, games and food located at the Peach shops of Byron. The Official Festival Kick Off begins at 7 p.m. At 8 p.m., Terence Lonon & The Untouchables will be performing. This will be a free concert and dance event. To top the evening off, fireworks will illuminate the beutiful citv of Bvron. \4^£fOauNiY ^GEORGIA Next Week: The Georgia Peach Festival Special Tab. Get your copy! fjfTrWjLX Local Weather Thu 87/64 6/14 •vs Slight chance of a thunderstorm. Fri 89/65 6/15 Partly cloudy, * chance of a thunder¬ storm. Sat 90/67 6/16 Partly cloudy with a stray thunder¬ storm. Sun 95/68 6/17 Partly cloudy with a stray thunder¬ storm. Mon 96/66 6/18 \ Slight chance of a thunderstorm. WiSaS liiSm World History .....2A Social >•••••••• 5A Faith Matters....... 6A Sports IB Crossword Puzzle / Directory >•••• 2B Legals.............. 3- 3 B Classifieds.......6-7B A Special Tribute to Fathers - pg. 6A as £ L i newspaf; 7 to By Brian Shreve News Editor Though it hasn’t been easiest season for Peach farmers, this year’s Festival is set to make its phant return this weekend. Celebrating the area’s acclaimed natural resource, tivities are scheduled to this Saturday in Byron and include all-day events with “official kick-off’ at 7 before Terence London and Untouchables plug in for DDA works to save former FV school By Brian Shreve News Editor The Fort Valley Downtown Development Authority/Fort Valley Main Street announced plans last Tuesday which aim to restore the former Fort Valley High School. Addressing the Peach County Board of Education during its regular meeting, DDA execu¬ tive director Lorraine Khoury introduced the endeavor, under¬ scoring the Knoxville Street school’s historic significance. “Besides churches, schools are the most important [insti¬ tutions] to our history,” said Khoury. I’ve been worried about how to save this build ing. With that, Khoury turned the podium over to Andrew Ham, co-founder of Community Development Partners, a McDonough-based company which specializes in the reha¬ bilitation of historic properties for pragmatic purposes that fos¬ ter economic development. Ham began by presenting a slideshow of similar CDP proj¬ ects undertaken throughout the School board releases annual By Brian Shreve News Editor Dollars and cents were the pre¬ vailing theme during the Peach County Board of Education’s regular meeting last Tuesday, with the unveiling of a $43.9 million spending plan. “This is the first reading,” Superintendent Tommy Daniel reminded those in attendance. “There may be some adjust¬ ments necessary before [the board] makes its final approv al.’ The first draff of the FY2008 budget will be available for public review at the BOE Web site and will be published in The Leader-Tribune for the next two weeks—the required “advertising” period before the board can take a vote. As for the system’s revenues, the document states that feder¬ ally funded grants are expected to drop by 10 percent with sev¬ eral state grants already abol¬ ished, resulting in the utilization of local funds to make up opening concert complete with fireworks. All Byron events will take place at the former property of Peach Outlet Mall. On Wednesday, June 20, the jubilee will make its way to Fort Valley with an array of events slated as follows: Wednesday, June 20 7:00 a.m. - Khoury’s annual “Walk for Health” Thursday, June 21 6:00 p.m. - Downtown streets close as the yearly “Painting of southeast, the goals of which he added were angled to trans¬ form deteriorated properties into housing units, office space, retail stores or other business es. If approved, the school board would relinquish the building’s title to the development author¬ ity, signing a memorandum of understanding with the DDA as well as CDP; the school’s potential uses would be deter¬ mined once CDP completes a feasibility study. Under that document, financ¬ ing would coincide with cer¬ tain “performance milestones” achieved by CDP, and all plans would have to be approved by the development authority before any construction begins. “We have to perform to receive any financing,” Ham said. At this time, there is no estimate of the venture’s total costs; according to Ham, such CDP restorations have ranged between $4.8 and over $7.2 million in project expenses. see SCHOOL, Pg-7^ the cuts. Daniel said approximately 85 percent of the budget concerns personnel, which grows with increases in student enrollment. In that category, all employ¬ ees received a three-percent increase in base salary over the past year. Rates of certified substitute teachers increased by $10 per day, $55 a day to $65; pay for non-certified substitutes was raised from $50 per day to $60. The system further added nine new teaching positions in accordance with state regula¬ tions for maximum class size; in what the draft calls an effort to expand the schools’ fine arts program, a music teacher was also hired for the county’s ele¬ mentary schools. Other additions include two graduation coaches, a technolo¬ gy specialist, as well as two new school buses, new copiers and math textbooks for elementary and middle school students. For a copy of the newly released budget, see page 8B. the Peaches” begins 8:00 p.m. - The Community Choir performs at downtown’s newly renovated Austin Theater Friday, June 22 8:00 p.m. - the music con¬ tinues with a concert from Still Cruzin’ Saturday, June 23 7:00 a.m. - Annual Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Fine Arts Show at Austin Theater see PEACH, pg. 7A c f m-'im i * Photo by Brian Shreve / L-T Tp e deteriorated building of the former Fort Valley High School located on Knoxville Street in the city’s historic district The morning after 0 0 0 Photo by Brian Shreve / L-T An enormous tree uprooted across the front lawn of Mayor John Stumbo’s West Church Street resi¬ dence in Fort Valley\ . / ; following torrentiall Monday J5 night's thunderstorms. On Tuesday morn¬ ing, there were scattered reports of fallen trees, power lines and damaged property throughout Fort Valley. ■i. _ Photo by Brian Shreve / L-T Ricky Jackson trims down a tree that fell across the home of his daughter, Kimberly Jackson, as a result of Monday’s storms. Kimberly was inside the residence — locat¬ ed on Green Street In Fort Valley—with her 7-year-old son. sT ■ L-T Archives