Newspaper Page Text
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VOL. 133 NO. 16 46 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•JCCO holds awards
banquet page 3A
•Chamber names
new officers .. page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'This, too, shall pass'
page 4A
Sports:
•JHS basketball gets
under way page 1B
Features:
.
tit |
k. 4*
•How to cook a turkey,
and words of thanks
page 1C
•Jefferson Corey Smith
concert to benefit JHS,
town page 2C
Other News:
•School News
.. pages 10-12A, 4&8B
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-24C
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
page 8A
FORECLOSURES IN Jackson
County climbed steeply in 2008 nearly
doubling over the previous year. Jackson
will finish the year in December with
96 foreclosures on the agenda.
For the year, Jackson had 1,051
foreclosures, up 503 from 2007, a 92
percent jump.
The rate may not have hit bottom
yet. The largest quarter for foreclo
sures was the current quarter when
313 foreclosures were processed in
the county. The third quarter saw 278
foreclosures.
The rise in foreclosures began in
September 2007 when the average
number doubled from the previous
month and tripled from the year before.
The trend has been steadily moving up
since that time.
Jackson County foreclosures
Quarter
2006
2007
2008
1 st Qtr.
109
114
259
2nd Qtr.
79
124
201
3rd Qtr.
88
148
278
4th Qtr.
104
162
313
Totals
380
548
1,051
STANDING-ROOM ONLY CROWD FOR QCPC MEETING
A standing-room only crowd turned out for the monthly meeting of the Quad Cities
Planning Commission last week at the Jefferson Civic Center. Tim Cornelison
(front, standing) addressed the commission on a request from Jefferson First
United Methodist Church. Commission members Brant McMullan and Faye Griffin
(front, right) are also shown. Photo by Sharon Hogan
Jefferson agenda
BY SHARON HOGAN
IN A 4-1 vote last week,
the Quad Cities Planning
Commission recommended
denial of a rezoning request
from the Jefferson First United
Methodist Church to expand
the church's parking and build
a new hall.
The church is seeking to have
an 1.83-acre parcel rezoned
from R-2, medium density resi
dential, to O-I, office-institu
tional.
QCPC member Scott
Thompson was the only plan
ning board member to vote in
favor of the church. The request
now goes before the Jefferson
City Council for consideration
at its work session at 6 p.m. on
Monday, Dec. 8.
Thompson first made a
motion to recommend approval
of the request with with an
increase in the buffer from 10
to 20 feet. Fay Griffin seconded
that motion. The motion died
and board member John Swaim
made a motion to deny the
request. Members John Motley,
Brant McMullan and Griffin
voted in favor of the denial
motion.
Tim Cornelison, Commerce,
represented the church and
spoke in favor of the rezon
ing. Cornelison said the church
wants to purchase property
adjacent to the current church
continued on page 9A
Employees get
5% raise, two
positions created
BYANGELA GARY
IN A 4-1 Vote, the Jefferson
City Council agreed Monday
night to increase the water and
sewer rates. Councilman Bosie
Griffith voted against the action
while C.D. Kidd, Steve Kinney,
Roy Plott and David Vamedoe
voted for the increase.
In addition, the council
approved the city’s water and
sewer budget in a 3-2 vote.
Griffith and Kidd voted against
the new budget, which includes
salaries for two new employees
and a five percent pay hike for
other employees.
With the water rate increase,
customers who use less than
2,000 gallons of water per
month will see no change to
their water and sewer bills.
Those who use less than 6,000
gallons per month will see
their bill increase by $8.45 per
month, or about 16 percent.
Officials said two-thirds of all
users use less than 6,000 gal.
per month.
The biggest increase will be
for major commercial users.
A commercial user, such as a
restaurant, that uses 22,500 gal
lons per month will see its rate
increase from $244 to $345, a
41 percent jump.
A very high commercial user
that uses 975,000 gallons or
more per month will see its bill
go from $10,618 per month to
$13,912 per month.
The water rate increases are
expected to generate 22 percent
more in water sales revenue to
the city next year to $3.2 mil-
ion, up from $2.6 million in the
2008 budget.
continued on page 9A
Maysville council hopes to approve budget Mon.
By Mark Beardsley
THE MAYSVILLE City Council con
tinues to work on its 2009 budget, with
the goal of approving it at its Dec. 1 meet
ing. The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the
Maysville Public Library.
While the council has agreed on the tax
rates, there are two main issues yet to be
resolved.
One is water and sewerage rates; the
other is the appropriation for the Maysville
Fire Department.
The city council discussed both at a work
session last Thursday night; another work
session was planned for Tuesday night.
Details of that meeting were not available
by press time.
The tentative millage rates are .81 for
Banks County residents and 1.764 for
Jackson County residents. The Banks
County rate is the same as last year, while
the Jackson County rate is down slightly.
Facing a projected water and sewerage
revenue shortfall of $184,000, the council
had discussed raising water rates as much
as 40 percent. But last Thursday, council
man Stephan Lewis suggested that fig
ures presented by Chip McGaughey from
Engineering Management Inc. at a prior
work session “just didn’t add up for me.”
Lewis and Councilwoman Lynn Villyard
have been working on the figures and hoped
to have a recommendation by Tuesday
night’s work session. McGaughey was
expected to attend that meeting as well.
“We’ve just got to figure out what to do
with water and sewer and push forward,”
urged Mayor Jerry Baker.
“We’ll work on it,” promised Villyard.
Lewis also balked at the budget request
from Fire Chief James Lyle for $23,000.
That figure is an increase of almost $3,000
continued on page 9A
Maysville awards bids
THE MAYSVILLE City Council
awarded a pair of bids at a called meet
ing last Thursday night.
The first was for a fence for the res
cue building. Chatham Fence, Jefferson,
won with a low bid of $3,746.97, which
edged out the second-lowest bid by
$29.
The second was for patches to Jade
Way in preparation for resurfacing by
the Department of Transportation under
the LARP program.
Boswell Enterprises submitted the
low bid of $2,000, beating out J.D.
Paving by $25.
Funding for that project will come
from the 2005 Banks County spe
cial purpose local option sales tax
(SPLOST) revenue.
QCPC recommends denial of church rezoning
Issue on Dec 8
Jefferson
hikes water,
sewer rates
FIRE DESTROYS HOUSE
Fire consumed a house on Doster Crest Drive, Jefferson, on Saturday. Flames
were seen coming from the house’s attic and bonus room. A report of the cause
of the fire was not available by press time. The house is located in the Clover Mill
subdivision, located off Ga. Hwy. 124.
EJES named a School
of Excellence by state
EAST JACKSON Ele
mentary School has been
named a 2008 School of
Excellence by state school
superintendent Kathy Cox.
EJES is one of 26 schools
in Georgia that has shown
the greatest improvement or
highest achievement across
the state.
“These schools are get
ting great results from all
students in many different
areas,” Cox said in a state
ment. “The teachers, stu
dents and administrators at
these schools truly represent
excellence. Congratulations
to our 2008 Georgia Schools
of Excellence.”
EJES was honored as
a school that made the
greatest gains in student
achievement for the past
three years, as measured by
assessments in reading and
math.
EJES is also one of 275
schools being recognized
by Gov. Sonny Perdue and
state school superintendent
Cox for improvement and
achievement during the
2007-2008 school year.
EJES was honored as
a “highest performance”
school for demonstrating
the highest achievement on
the CRCT.
The schools were recog
nized underGeorgia’s Single
Statewide Accountability
System (SSAS), which
awards schools based on
their performance on state
curriculum exams and
Adequate Yearly Progress
status.