Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 132 NO. 33 50 PAGES 5 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50« COPY
- inside - boC postpones action on impact fees
Area news: K A. A
•Work Ready grant
intended to attract business
and industry
page 2A
•Hotel proposed for
Jefferson .... page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'The American Phobia
page 4A
To be discussed at county retreat next week
BY ANGELA GARY
THE JACKSON County Board of
Commissioners postponed action on
implementing impact fees Monday
night and decided to discuss the mat
ter further at its board retreat next
week.
The retreat will be held Monday
through Wednesday, Jan. 28-30, at
the Fairfield Inn, Macon.
Monday night, commissioner Jody
Thompson expressed reservations
about implementing impact fees at
this time. He said that builders are
already struggling due to the housing
bust. He also questioned the county
spending additional money on con
sultants about impact fees.
A contract was presented with Ross
& Associates to proceed with imple
menting impact fees. The cost for the
first phase of the project is $27,601.
The total fee will be $78,301, accord
ing to the contract.
BOC chairman Pat Bell also said
she has concerns about impact fees.
“The timing bothers me,” she said.
Impact fees will be
on the agenda for
the commissioners’
retreat next week in
Macon. At Monday
night’s meeting,
BOC chairman Pat
Bell expressed some
reservations about
instituting county
impact fees now.
BELL
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the BOC:
•appointed Ken Botts to serve
on the county airport authority. He
replaces Bill Wamell, who asked not
to be reappointed.
•appointed Jeff Perry to serve on
the county planning commission.
He replaces Catherine Daniels, who
asked not to be reappointed.
continued on page 2A
Sports:
•Dragons earn seventh
championship in a row
page 1B
Features:
•Jefferson man celebrates
100th birthday . .. page 1C
• MLK event held in
Jefferson . . . page 14A
Other News:
•School News
pages 9-12 B
•Public Safety
pages 8-9A
•Legals
pages 7-2 OC
•Church News
pages 10-11A
•Obituaries
pages 12-13A
Three wrecks occur after
traffic signal turned on
BY ANGELA GARY
THREE WRECKS were reported within days of the
new traffic signal being turned on at the Kroger intersec
tion on the Damon Gause bypass in Jefferson.
On Tuesday of last week, Jody Hammond of Cumming
was traveling south bound on the bypass when he lost
control of his dump truck and overturned. According to the
incident report, Hammond was unaware the traffic light was
turned on and swerved when he realized it was red.
On Jan. 17, Roy Watson of Jefferson
was driving north on the bypass when
he shuck a vehicle driven by Winfield
Ward of Jefferson. Ward had been
traveling west on the Old Pendergrass
Road when Watson struck his vehicle.
On Jan. 18, Milton Muse of Jefferson
was attempting to turn left onto Old
Pendergrass Road from the bypass
when he struck a vehicle driven by
Royston Slayton of Jefferson. Slayton
was traveling south on the bypass at
the time of the incident.
The intersection has been the scene
of many wrecks and three fatalities in
the last two years. In 2007, area citi
zens demanded a traffic signal at the
dangerous intersection. The Georgia
Department of Transportation eventu
ally agreed to the signal and it was
installed under the direction of the
Jackson County government.
FBC rezoning on agenda
BY ANGELA GARY
THE JEFFERSON City Council
will consider a controversial zon
ing change for the First Baptist
Church of Jefferson to allow a
church food
Jefferson
City Council
• 6 p.m. Mon.
at the Jefferson
Civic Center
bank to contin
ue to operate.
The meeting
will be held at 6
p.m. Monday at
the civic center.
The rezoning
request would get the church’s
food bank in compliance with city
regulations.
The church is asking to rezone
0.40 acre located at 192 College
Street from R-4 (Medium-High
Density Residential) to O-I
(Office-Institutional). The church
is also asking for a variance to
reduce the minimum site acre to
rezone to the O-I from 0.5 acre
to 0.4 acre. A third request from
the church is for a conditional use
to allow a food bank in an O-I
District.
The issue involves a house the
church owns from which it runs a
food bank. The use is not allowed
in a R-4 zoning classification.
The Quad Cities Planning
Commission recommended
approval of the requests when it
met in December. The Jefferson
City Council held a hearing on the
request Jan. 14 and a large num
ber of area residents both for and
against the change attended.
The city council is also slated
to vote on the following zoning
requests at its Jan. 28 meeting:
•a request from Raco
Acquisitions to rezone 1.25 acres
on Washington Street from R-1 to
C-2. Raco is also asking to annex
the property into the city and for
a variance to reduce the buffer
along the rear property line. Billy
Norris spoke on the plans to con
struct two buildings, with a total of
14,000 square feet, for office and
retail use.
•a request from Larry J. Smith
and William Silverman to rezone
four acres at 3406 Winder Hwy.
from A-2 to C-2 for office/stor
age space for an events planning
company.
Roof work began Monday at the Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson, signaling the start of a repair
and stabilization project at the museum. Masonry and interior plaster work is slated to begin within
the next month to six weeks, and exhibit upgrades are also anticipated. See more on the extensive
museum projects and a grand re-opening planned for later in the year in next week’s “Friends” sec
tion of The Jackson Herald. Photo by April Reese Sorrow
BOC approves rezoning
for SJ car dealership
Feb. 1 pretrial
conference set
in Madison case
BY ANGELA GARY
A REZONING request for a
repair shop and used car dealer
ship in South Jackson was approved
by the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners in a 3-2 vote
Monday night.
David Archer asked that his 6.03
acres at 129 Harrison Johnson Way
be rezoned from A-2 to HRC for
the business. Commissioners Dwain
Smith and Tom Crow and chairman
Pat Bell voted in favor of the request,
while Jody Thompson and Bruce
Yates voted against it.
Archer purchased the property
after the Georgia Department of
Transportation widened Hwy. 129
and took the land where his shop
was located. The business had been
located on Hwy. 129 since the
1960s.
“I just want to replace what I had
up the road,” he said.
Archer said he has asked all of the
property owners in the area if they
oppose the business locating on his
property and no one does, he said.
The planning staff and planning
commission had recommended
denial of the rezoning.
“That railroad being there makes
it a commercial-industrial area,” said
Crow.
The approval came with the condi
tions that there be a 100-foot buffer
between the business and residences;
that there be no work after 11 p.m.;
continued on page 2A
A PRETRIAL conference has been set
for Feb. 1 in the theft case of former
Piedmont Judicial Circuit
District Attorney Tim
Madison.
Madison, along with his
wife and a former assis
tant district attorney in the
circuit, were indicted last
August in Banks County
on theft charges.
The Georgia Attorney
General’s Office began
an investigation into the DA’s office last
March following a series of investigative
stories published in The Jackson Herald.
The articles outlined questionable financial
dealings in the DA’s office.
MADISON
Trial set Feb. 4 for student
who took bomb to school
BY ANGELA GARY
THE TRIAL OF Andrew
Criswell, the student who took
a bomb to Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
last April, will get under way
on Monday, Feb. 4.
Criswell, who was 15 at the
time of the incident, will be
tried as an adult. He is now 16
years old.
Criswell was charged with
possession of a destructive
device, possession of a destruc
tive device with intent to intimi
date, false imprisonment and
terroristic threats and acts.
Criswell, who had a live bomb
strapped to his body, surren
dered to authorities at JCCHS
after a tense two-hour standoff.
He was taken into custody after
meeting face-to-face with sev
eral law enforcement officials.
After his surrender, authori
ties used a bomb squad robot to
remove the explosive device and
detonate it outside the school
building. Bomb dogs were also
brought into the school to clear
it for any other possible devic
es.
Officials immediately evacu
ated the school when the inci
dent began, with some students
routed across the parking area
to the agriculture barn on the
north side of the campus and
others sent to the auditorium on
the south side.
GBI investigation of Bell continues
Arcade to interview top four chief candidates Thurs.
BY ANGELA GARY
A GEORGIA Bureau of Invest
igation probe into
allegations of mis
conduct by former
Arcade police chief
Dennis Bell is still
under way.
John Heinen, spe
cial agent in charge of
the GBI’s Athens field
office, said Tuesday
that the GBI is con
tinuing to look into allegations against
Bell.
“It is still an active inquiry for us,”
Heinen said of the case. “We have noth
ing new to report at this time.”
Meanwhile, the Arcade City Council
will interview the top four candidates for
police chief on Thursday. The council
is not expected to name a replacement
until its February meeting, which will
be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, at
city hall. Randy Williams is continuing
to serve as the interim police chief.
The GBI investigation began in
November and, at that time, Heinen
declined to get into specifics about the
allegations against Bell.
“It is our policy not to talk about
suspects,” Heinen said at the time. “We
only comment when we bring charges
against someone.”
Allegations of ticket fixing, gambling,
corruption, and falsification of work
hours were made against Bell in anony
mous letters sent to the city of Arcade
and the state attorney general’s office
back in October. Several weeks later,
Bell resigned following more than 11
years on the job after reaching a $25,701
settlement with the city.
Arcade conducted its own internal
investigation of Bell in November.
According to a report, no corroborating
evidence regarding the gambling allega
tion was found. As for the allegation
that the former chief falsified his work
hours, investigators were still looking
into that matter at the time the report
was released.
The city report also stated that fur
ther allegations of criminal culpabil
ity against Bell “may be referred to the
district attorney’s office.” Arcade police
Sgt. Greg Maddox signed the report,
which was released on Nov. 14 fol
lowing an open records request by The
Jackson Herald.
▼
BELL