Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 132 NO. 24 42 PACES 5 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•JHS drama cast set to
perform "Treasure Island"
page 2A
Opinions:
• Thanksgiving proclaimed
page 4A
Sports:
•Dragons headed to
Warrenton for second round
of state playoffs on Friday
... .page 1B
Features:
•JMS Walking Club offers
girls fitness and fun
page 1C
Other News:
•School News
pages 7-12B
•Public Safety
pages 8A
•Legals
pages 8-14C
•Church News
pages 9A
•Obituaries
page 10A
s -e
Officials plan for worst-case water shortage
WHAT WOULD happen if the drought
worsens, the Bear Creek Reservoir and Lake
Lanier run dry and hundreds of shallow
Jackson County wells dry up?
That’s what local and state officials tried
to anticipate in a “tabletop drought emer
gency exercise” last Wednesday morning at
Jackson County’s Emergency Operations
Center (EOC).
The point of the exercise — attended by
about 30 city, county and state officials —
seemed to be as much to acquaint participants
with each other and to get them thinking ahead
as it was about making definite plans for han
dling the drought.
Jackson County does not have a drought
management plan, Carpenter pointed out, nor
a priority list for water service.
“The purpose of the exercise is to show our
weaknesses and to build training,” he said.
“One of the biggest disasters is nobody being
on the same page.”
With nine municipalities, at least seven pub
lic water suppliers, a host of private water sys
tems, a county government, the Environmental
Protection Division, various law enforcement
agencies, healthcare professionals and the
Georgia Emergency Management Agency
(GEMA) all with roles to play should the
drought become severe, communication will
be the backbone of any coordinated response.
One of Friday’s first goals, said Carpenter,
was “to bring together the public and private
team players.” “Gosh, we’ve already met that
goal,” he quipped early in the process.
Other objectives including identifying and
bringing together “key players” and clarify
ing the roles of various agencies, orienting
those people to the EOC (some did not know
Jackson County had an emergency operations
center), identifying resources that will be
needed and methods of distributing them and
stressing the importance of having a single,
reliable point of contact for information.
Dan Yeargin, with GEMA, stressed the
importance of every group having someone at
the table who can make decisions.
“In a disaster, the worst thing to do is to
exchange business cards and try to figure
out who’s who,” he said. “You cannot send a
warm body in here to represent you. You need
someone who can make a decision, commit
resources and spend money.”
Much of the local management will begin
with Steve Nichols, Jackson County’s new
EMS director, who will be in charge of the
EOC and the key contact for state and federal
agencies.
“He will be the liaison between you and
county government. Please, please work
through him,” Yeargin pleaded.
Yeargin said GEMA already is responding
to the drought, but he warned local officials
that they must “take responsibility for your
own preparedness. The state and federal gov
ernments will come in and help you meet your
objectives.”
Key to tapping state and federal resources
are official declarations of emergencies, from
the governor on the state level, to the president
for federal assistance. Similarly, said Yeargin,
local governments must declare states of emer
gencies to activate local emergency plans and
emergency ordinances.
continued on page 3A
City radio
again in
the red
No new sales
shown in Oct.
JEFFERSON’S controversial
city-owned radio station floated
in red ink again in October, los
ing $8,558. The station only had
$2,757 in revenue for the month
compared to $11,315 in expenses.
The radio venture was approved
by the Jefferson City Council in
April and is run by the city’s recre
ation department. The low-power
AM station was supposed to be a
profit-making program earning the
city some $300,000 in advertising
profit per year.
But since it went on in August,
the station has struggled with low
revenues, bad technology and
questions about whether or not
the city should have diverted city
SPLOST funds to underwrite the
venture.
So far, Jefferson has spent
$139,200 on the station, but only
generated $7,785 in income. Of
the total amount spent, $94,600
has gone to the consulting firm
that sold the city on the idea last
spring.
No new advertising sales con
tracts were sold in October,
according to city officials. Many
of the current advertising contracts
are slated to expire in November.
It had been rumored that the city
was applying for an FM frequen
cy, or that a FEMA grant would
be forthcoming to underwrite the
venture. But city officials said
this week that no applications had
been made for either an FM fre
quency or any federal grants.
Radio Jefferson
YTD Finances
Income $7,783
Expenses $139,185
Net Loss -$131,400
October Finances
$2,757
Income
Expenses
Salaries
Kevin Copp
Kale McMillian
Tamera Philabaum
Shannon Petering
Ben Dillard
Caleb Thurmond
Jeff Bush
Cole Gardner
Adam Laird
Total Salaries
Equipment
Supplies
Phone Lines
Cable
Total Expenses
Net Monthly Loss
$150
$150
$27
$646
$475
$1408
$444
$358
$982
$4,640
$5,483
$88
$812
$290
$11,315
-$8,558
FLORAL DESIGN
Ladies gathered at the Harold Swindle Public Library in Nicholson for a lesson in floral design
Tuesday night. The group put together Christmas arrangements. Pictued are: (L-R) Angie Brock,
Shanda Jones, Dana Kitchens and Gail Maxwell.
Health board wants more county funding
BY BRANDON REED
THE JACKSON County Board of Health will soon
request an increase in funding from the county gov
ernment.
Manager Beth Heath told the board that the health
department received only $30,000 in county funding
increase rather than the $140,000 requested.
Heath said more money was needed because of a
decrease in fees and Medicaid reimbursement. Heath
said the priority has to be to keep clinic services going
and to keep employees in the system.
Board chairman Henry Slocum asked for figures
on what funds are needed and said he will go to the
January meeting of the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners to ask for a funding hike.
FEE HIKE DISCUSSED
The board also heard a request on increasing envi
ronmental health fees. With the adoption of new food
service regulations by the state, more time is needed
to perform inspections.
District environmental health director Todd Johnson
asked the board to consider a fee increase to com
pensate for the increase in time the inspections are
expected to take.
WATER SHORTAGE
The board also heard from District Health director
Claude Burnett about water shortages in the area.
He told the board that counties using Bear Creek
Reservoir are in a tight situation. He said he thinks the
reservoir will be down to one quarter full by the third
week in January and Athens may be out of water by
early in February without more rain.
The board did not vote on any items in the meeting,
due to a lack of a quorum.
Kids photos
due Nov. 26
THE DEADLINE for accepting pho
tos for MainStreet Newspapers’ annual
children’s Christmas section will be
Monday, Nov. 26, at 5 p.m.
The special section will be in the
news stands of The Jackson Herald, The
Commerce News and The Banks County
News on Wednesday, Dec. 19.
The newspapers will be accepting
photographs of children age 8 years
and younger. The child must live in
Jackson or Banks counties. Photos of
grandchildren will be taken only if
the child resides with the grandparents
(which must be stated when submitting
the photo).
Please submit the following informa
tion along with the photo: The first and
last name and age of each child shown,
as well as the parents’ names, their city
of residence and phone number.
Black and white or color photos can
be used, but no Polaroids or photographs
printed out from a laser printer. Digital
photos with the above information may
be e-mailed to news@mainstreetnews.
com. The e-mail MUST contain the
subject line “Christmas Kids Photo.”
The photos may be dropped off at any
of the newspaper offices and may be
picked up there after Dec. 19.
WORK CONTINUES ON BYPASS
The traffic light installation project on the bypass in Jefferson contin
ued this week with the continued closure of the Jefferson side of Old
Pendergrass Road. The two detour routes are Holders Siding Road
and Old Swimming Pool Road. This side of the bypass will be closed
for a minimum of three weeks, weather permitting. Crews will be grad
ing and removing pavement this week. Plans for next week include
hauling dirt to build the fill sections. Crews also plan to install drain
age.The intersection is being upgraded with turning lanes and a traffic
signal off Old Pendergrass Road at the bypass.
Photo by April Reese Sorrow
‘Not crisis mode ’
says chamber
leader of water
ARE PEOPLE overreacting to
the severity of Georgia’s historic
drought?
That was the discussion
when the Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce board of
directors met last Friday.
“We’re not in a crisis mode,”
chairman Jim Yarborough said,
“not in a mode where we’re shut
ting down businesses.”
Yarborough told his board of
directors of concerns that new
business or industry might “cross
us off’ their list of potential sites
because of the current drought
and that people are overreacting
to media reports of the drought’s
severity.
Yarborough said that locally
there is “no reason to worry”
and pointed to the “long-term
availability” of water in Jackson
County.
The matter first came up as Roy
Stowe, chairman of the chamber’s
economic development commit
tee, discussed a recent commit
tee meeting and its members’
thoughts on the drought.
Stowe said the chamber should
get the message out that, relative
to other areas, “we’re in good
shape waterwise” and “proactive”
about dealing with the drought.
He said all of the media reports
of the drought “are beginning to
resonate with the people looking
at this area.”
Pat Bell, chairman of the
Jackson County Board of
Commissioners, didn’t take such
a glass-half-full approach to the
drought, but she did suggest that
Jackson County is handling it
well.
“This is one thing that has real
ly drawn us together,” she told
the chamber board. “The water
authority has done a tremendous
job. This county was way ahead
of everyone else.”
The interim, however, is anoth
er story.
“The biggest problem is going
to be June, July, August and
September of next year,” she said.
Adding that she’d been told how
many inches of rain it would take
to fill the reservoir, she said, “It
can’t be done in the next year.”
Bell’s comments echoed those
made two days earlier by David
Stooksbury, the state’s climatolo
gist who told a group that the real
worry is the status of local water
sources next July, August and
September should Georgia go
through the expected dry spring
and winter.