Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 132 NO. 40 42 PAGES 5 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Staff approved for new
elementary school
page 3A
•Airport expansion work
slated for April
page 3A
•Jefferson lifts water ban
page 3A
Op/Ed:
•'Legislature continues to
play games'
page 4A
Sports:
•Jackson County continues
region games
page 1B
Features:
•Jefferson students join
cast of ACT's Peter Pan
page 1C
Other News:
•School News
pages 11 -12 A
& 6-1 OB
•Public Safety
pages 7-9A
•Legals
pages 7-13C
•Church News
pages 11-12B
•Obituaries
pages 6A&10A
in 1 st quarter
FORECLOSURES IN Jackson
County were up 93 percent in the
first quarter of 2008 with a record of
220 foreclosures for the period. That
compares to 114 foreclosures the first
quarter of 2007 and 109 in 2006.
The number also topped the fourth
quarter of 2007 which had 162 fore
closures. For all of 2007, there were
548 foreclosures in Jackson County.
The only bright spot in the numbers
was the fall of foreclosures in March
to 45 for the month, just slightly above
last year’s monthly total of 41. Some
economists have warned, however,
that nationwide all of 2008 will see
a large number of foreclosures due to
the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Frank Norton Jr. of The Norton
Agency isn’t surprised by Jackson
County’s foreclosure rate. His
Gainesville-based real estate and
insurance company closely monitors
development and real estate trends in
Northeast Georgia.
“We’ve been expecting it for some
time,’’ Norton said of the higher fore
closure rates. “The pain is not over.
However, we do believe the market
has hit bottom. But more houses are
selling everyday.’’
Norton said the region is expe
riencing two types of foreclosures
— those of banks foreclosing on
properties from builders and develo
pers, and a few from subprime and
borrower foreclosuers.
The industry of banking and mort
gage lending, however, is “cleaning
itself up,’’ Norton said. He predicts
continued on page 2A
Foreclosures
Jackson County
Month
2006
2007
2008
January
38
46
82
February
37
27
93
March
34
41
45
QTR. TOTAL
109
114
220
Spring sports in full swing
SPRING SPORTS ACTION
Above, Cason Thurmond of
Jefferson High School’s tennis
team takes on an opponent. At left,
Blake Brumbelow of the Jackson
County Comprehensive High
School golf team studies a putt.
Madison transferred to state prison
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
FORMER PIEDMONT Judicial
Circuit District Attorney Tim Madison
was transferred
Monday morn
ing to the Georgia
Diagnostic Center in
Jackson, located in
central Georgia.
Madison, who was
sentenced to serve
six years following a
guilty plea in Banks County Superior
Court last week, turned himself in at
the Banks County Jail Saturday morn
ing, sheriff Charles Chapman said. On
Monday morning, two BCSO depu
ties transported Madison to the Butts
County facility to begin serving his
term. Chapman said it is possible he
could be transferred again.
“There were no incidents here
this weekend,’’ Chapman said of the
former district attorney’s stay in the
Banks County jail. “He was isolated
from other prisoners and when he
went outside the rest of the jail was on
lock down.”
Chapman said the extra precau
tion was necessary since Madison
prosecuted some of the inmates in the
Banks County jail.
In addition to his six-year sentence,
Madison was ordered to pay $40,000
in restitution for the money he took
from the Piedmont Judicial Circuit,
the majority of which was taken
from Banks County. The circuit also
includes Jackson and Barrow coun
ties.
Madison resigned last June as dis
trict attorney following a series of
investigative articles published by
The Jackson Herald and Mainstreet
Newspapers. The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation Special Agent in Charge
John Cagle and Special Agent Brian
Whidby handled the investigation.
Madison’s wife, Linn Jones, and
former assistant district attorney Brett
Williams have also been charged in
the case. Their court dates will be held
March 25 in Banks County.
Chapman said Madison thanked
Banks County law enforcement offi
cials for his good treatment during his
brief incarceration there.
_d
MADISON
[DAMAGE
DEPARTMENT
Vandals
Uefferson Police
Department
the glass
damage
around
Repairs were
at press
door. The
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Public charter school
could be on horizon
County looks at ‘Career Academy’
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A PUBLIC CHARTER school
focusing on students’ careers is the
latest project for the Jackson County
School System.
The county school system is seek
ing a $5,000 grant from the Georgia
Department of Education to begin
planning a proposed Career Academy.
The grant would fund planning activi
ties prior to a charter being approved
by the state board of education.
Superintendent Shannon Adams
said Thursday that the Jackson County
School System’s chances of landing
the grant are “excellent.”
A Career Academy in Jackson
County would be a partnership
between the county school system and
Lanier Technical College.
The academy would provide dual
enrollment programs for high school
students in a career-oriented class
room.
“Kids will be able to get credit for
vocational classes, which they can do
now, but they would have a chance
to get dual enrollment,” Adams said.
“We would hope that it would create
a lot of interest outside of our school
system for other kids to come in as
well.”
Proposed programs include: auto
motive, public safety, digital design,
early childhood education, healthcare
“Kids will be
able to get credit
for vocational
classes...to get
dual enrollment.”
— Superintendent
Shannon Adams on
proposed partnership
with Lanier Tech
science, manufacturing, marketing,
professional foods, ag bio science and
cosmetology. An alternative school
and a Nova Net Lab for non-tradition-
al students may also be included in the
academy.
The proposed Career Academy may
call the existing Gordon Street Center,
Jefferson, its home. The Gordon Street
Center currently houses the alternative
school, Regional Evening School and
several classes for students at Jackson
County Comprehensive High School.
Adams said opening the Career
Academy at the Gordon Street Center
would require major renovations to the
labs at the facility.
On a related matter, community
leaders are taking a look at the finan
cial costs of the Gordon Street Center,
which is educating fewer out-of-sys-
tem students through the Regional
Evening School.
continued on page 2A
More art, music, P.E. classes
approved by school board
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
JACKSON COUNTY elementary
school students will have the opportu
nity to expand their artistic and musi
cal abilities, and their physical activity
next school year.
The Jackson M More
County Board of BOE news
Education appro
ved a budget
plan on Monday ^ a S e ^A:
that will increase County BOE
classroom ins- t0 c ^ an g e
truction of art, .
music and phy- m eetingSlte
sical education
(P.E.), starting next school year.
Kindergarten students will poten
tially benefit the most from the move
— art, music and P.E. haven’t been
offered to those students for an estima
ted eight years. Recess, however, has
been available to kindergartners.
The changes will allow kindergart
ners to have 30 minutes of art and
P.E. each, and 40 minutes of music a
week.
The move will also allow first
through fifth grade students in all
elementary schools to have equitable
access to art, music and P.E.
“It is critically important that the
students have access to these areas,”
said April Howard, assistant superin
tendent for teaching and learning.
Principals from Jackson County’s
seven elementary schools asked the
board to approve a plan that would
include hiring six new teachers to pro
vide additional art, music and P.E. ins
truction. The plan also includes Gum
Springs Elementary School, which
will open next school year in West
Jackson.
The plan calls for the six new tea
chers to share teaching duties among
the elementary schools. It’s a tight
schedule that will require some of
the teachers to teach at more than one
school a day.
“This is very conservative,”
Jane Scales, principal of Maysville
Elementary School, told the board of
the initial plan.
Adding art, music and P.E. classes
to Jackson County elementary schools
may cost an estimated $300,000 to
$350,000 a year, according to BOE
chairperson Kathy Wilbanks.
“I really think the community wants
kids exposed to that — art, music and
P.E.,” Wilbanks said.
Sarah Greene, director of personnel
for the county school system, asked
the board to move forward with the
proposal now to begin hiring the best-
qualified teachers. Other area school
systems have begun hiring new tea
chers for next school year, she added.
“If we don’t look at this minimal
plan, we’ll lose out,” Greene said on
Thursday.