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PAGE 2A
THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008
County airport authority
votes to reopen runway
BY WILLIAM BUTLER
IN A unanimous vote,
the Jackson County Airport
Authority voted last week to
double the projected cost of
a nine-acre land acquisition
in fiscal year 2011, as well as
make repairs and reopen run
way 09-27 in fiscal year 2010.
This was part of the five-
year capital improvement
program for the airport called
“...the most aggressive in
Georgia” by Airport Manager
Bob Stapleton.
Also addressed at the meet
ing was an intergovernmen
tal lease agreement between
Jackson County and the airport
authority. Pending approval by
the board of commissioners,
this agreement would allow
the authority to lease prop
erty and hangar space without
having to sign an agreement
with every new lease by the
authority.
At present, all leases go
from the airport to the county,
an approval is signed by the
county, and then is returned
to the airport.
This agreement would
streamline the administration
of the airport.
In his report to the author
ity, Stapleton said aviation
fuel sales at the airport are up
2,000 gallons from November
2007 to a level of 9,240 gal
lons.
Along with the increase in
fuel, the airport has secured a
new fuel truck free of charge
through the Surplus Property
Program. Stapleton also stat
ed in his report that the airport
terminal operations will be
moving into a recently vacat
ed hangar office space.
COLLECTS TOYS FOR HOLIDAYS
The 1-85 North Board of Realtors and its 500-plus members have been collecting
toys for needy children since October. They have had over 1,700 toys donated from
the members and the public. The toys were distributed to the Department of Family
and Children Service offices in Banks and Jackson counties this week. The DFACS
staff distributed the toys to foster children. In addition to this, the organization is
giving toys to local individual families who were not able to get on the DFACS list.
Bus changes may include new approach to breakfast
School system looks at
longer elementary day
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
IT MAY TAKE an “out of the
box” approach for the Jackson County
School System to solve some of its
transportation issues.
The school district is eyeing solu
tions to revamp its bus transportation
system, which hasn’t changed since
1990. One of the possibilities that an
advisory committee of school princi
pals is considering is a longer school
day for elementary students, starting
next school year.
The latest proposal calls for the dis
trict’s eight elementary schools to start
class at 7:40 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m.
Currently, elementary classes start
between 7:50-8:00 a.m. in the county
school system.
“None of the elementary schools
are exactly the same,” said Vicky
Evans, transportation coordinator for
the county school system. “They all
have their own times.”
But with a possible start time of
7:40 a.m., elementary bus riders
would have to arrive early enough to
eat breakfast. It is estimated that up
to two-thirds of the district’s 7,100
students eat breakfast at school.
“If you drop off at 7:30, which is
what’s dropping now, but school starts
at 7:40, you can’t get kids through
breakfast to start in time,” said Diane
Carr, principal of West Jackson
Intermediate School.
South Jackson Elementary School
principal Pam Johns estimated that
students may wait up to 10 minutes
in the cafeteria to be served breakfast,
when multiple busses arrive at once.
But if school busses drop off ele
mentary school students earlier — it
would mean that drivers would pick
up middle and high school students
earlier, too. And that would leave the
possibility of students arriving much
earlier before classes start. The school
system is not considering changing its
starting and ending times for middle
and high schools.
“It’s going to take an outside the
box answer and may be with break
fast,” said superintendent Shannon
Adams.
Revamping how students eat break
fast could give more time for classroom
instruction in elementary schools.
The committee discussed a range
of possibilities in how the district
serves student breakfasts — including
from carts in hallways and eating in
classrooms.
But without district nutrition director
Wanda Oliver available for questions
at last week’s meeting, the committee
opted to hear from her in January.
That’s also when school council
presidents from the district are wel
comed to join in the transportation
discussion. Adams said the school
system wants parent input in how the
district busses students.
Evans said one of the major com
plaints among parents is that student
bus riders get home too late in the
afternoon. Some students get home
around 5 p.m., she said.
The proposals being considered by
the committee are based on the current
number of buses and drivers, Evans
said. The county school system will
not add new buses next school year.
“We’re trying to stay in what we
have now to make it work,” she said.
The committee will meet again on
Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m., at the
central office in Jefferson.
Former warden Underwood files federal lawsuit
FORMER JACKSON County
Warden Vickie Underwood has
filed a federal lawsuit against the
board of commissioners claiming
her firing was sex discrimination.
She is seeking $2 million.
Underwood, who does not have
an attorney and is representing
herself, wrote in the lawsuit that
she was fired by interim county
manager Leonard Myers, who she
claims was “taking direct orders from
chairperson Pat Bell and any deci
sions made were based on what the
chairperson wanted.”
Underwood was fired in
August 2007 for improper
use of inmate labor. In
the lawsuit, she states that
items were moved from
the home the county pro
vided for her to her new
home by an inmate crew
while she was in the hos
pital.
“I did not find out until I returned
from the hospital a few days later,”
she states. “I never ordered the detail
to do this, but I got blamed for it.”
Underwood had worked for the
county since 1990 and was named
warden in 2001.
“During my time of service for this
county, I never had one bad review in
my file. The only thing my personnel
file had in it was positive achieve
ments. I dedicated my time and sacri
ficed my family for over 16 years for
Jackson County. At the end, it stood
for nothing. They simply tossed me
away as if I were nothing.”
The lawsuit also includes allega-
UNDERWOOD
against county
tions about other county employees,
including an elected official hav
ing an improper relationship with
an inmate, elected officials making
racial remarks and county employees
using inmate labor improperly. She
states no action was taken against any
of these officials or employees.
“My belief is the county will attempt
to settle this suit as they did the other
(Crandall Jones),” Underwood wrote.
“They know they are wrong and they
don’t want things to come out. I hold
a lot of secrets and they know it.”
DFACS sees
increase in
applications
BY SHARON HOGAN
LIKE MANY counties in
the state, the Jackson County
Department of Family and
Children Services is seeing an
increase in program applica
tions.
Sid Jessup, acting DFACS
director, said last week the
Jackson County office is see
ing an increase in food stamp
applications.
“We are seeing new people
come through the door,” he said.
“We are seeing people that nor
mally do not come to us for
help.”
During November, the
Jackson County office received
246 applications for food
stamps, 31 applications for
Temporary Assistance for
Needy Family (TANF), 200
Medicaid applications and 50
applications for Aged, Blind,
Disabled Medicaid (ABD),
Jessup reported.
Jackson County DFACS
reported 95 active childcare
cases in November and 71 chil
dren were in state custody for
the month.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, Jessup:
•reported that Jackson County
DFACS averaged 90 kids in fos
ter care during 2007 and food
stamp expenses totaled over $6
million for the same period.
•said two candidates were
going to the state office for
final interviews for the Jackson
County director’s position Dec.
19.
•reported the total county
expenditures for November
were $3,069.
•said 1,385 people visited the
Jackson County office during
November.
The next board meeting will
be at 10 a.m. Jan. 28 at the
DFACS office, Jefferson.
Food bank
hours listed
THE HOURS of operation of
the Banks-Jackson Emergency
Food Bank, located at 111
Atlanta Ave., Commerce, are
from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. The food bank provides
one-time emergency food by
referral.
Renovations to JEMC’s Jefferson offices to be
EIGHTEEN months of
planning and construction on
Jackson Electric Membership
Corporation’s (EMC) Jefferson
District office building will
be wrapped up at the end of
January.
The building now has more
efficient workspace for district
employees, a more customer-
friendly environment for coop
erative members and an updated
William H. Booth Auditorium
for public use, officials report.
Renovations to the building
include workspace consolidated
and reorganized by work group,
more space for the district engi
neering and operations group
that is responsible for the day-
to-day operation of the local
electric distribution system, a
new system control center that
monitors the cooperative’s entire
distribution system, adequate
meeting room and conference
room space, data wiring to meet
present and future state-of-the-
art technology needs and a lobby
that is both more secure and
more customer-friendly.
"We know the community has
been missing the auditorium,”
noted Don Stewart, Jackson
EMC’s Jefferson district man
ager. “We’re pleased to say that
we’re now taking reservations
for February events in the audi
torium.”
The auditorium, which now
has upgraded audio controls and
a large screen for meetings, is
available for civic, community,
non-profit and church events at
no charge.
“We’ve also found an addi
tional way to give back to the
local community by creating
space in the building for use as
a business incubator - a place
where new businesses locating
in this area can begin working
and interviewing personnel so
that they can get a head-start
in establishing their business,”
Stewart said. “We believe this
will be an economic develop
ment tool that can benefit the
entire county and are really
pleased to be able to provide it,”
Stewart said.
PROJECT CONTRACTOR
HAS JEFFERSON TIES
The building renovation
design is the work of Millard
Architects, Inc. of Roswell,
the same firm which designed
Jackson EMC’s recently com
pleted corporate headquarters
building in Jefferson.
“Millard's task was to create
a look for the Jefferson District
building exterior that would
complement the corporate office
next door and interiors that
would be pleasant, productive
workspaces,” said Jackson EMC
Vice President-Customer and
District Service Jim Crawford.
C. M. Kitchens Construction
Company, Inc. of Atlanta and
Charlotte are the general con
tractors on the project. Kitchens’
vice president and CFO Robert
M. Bailey, Jr., who is a for
mer Jefferson resident and 1967
graduate of Jefferson High
School, felt the time had come
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completed next month
for his company to have a proj
ect in his hometown.
“We’re extremely pleased to
see the Kitchens name on a local
project for the first time,” he
said. “It was a great experience
and we hope to have more proj
ects in the area in the future.”
About 43,200 square feet
of space was renovated in the
building, which was constructed
in 1980 as the new headquar
ters for Jackson EMC, replacing
what later became the Jackson
County administration building
on Athens Street.
“Over the years, we added
on to the Jefferson headquarters
building, turned storage rooms
and conference rooms into work
areas, and used all the avail
able space we had,” Crawford
remarked. “We completed the
new corporate headquarters
building in 2006, and then
turned our attention to updating
the existing building for the dis
trict operations.”
Jackson EMC serves more
than 204,000 meters in portions
of 10 Northeast Georgia coun
ties with more than 13,400 miles
of energized wire, four District
offices and 452 employees.
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