Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
p*T
H Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 133 NO. 25 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50<J COPY
•Chamber awards pre
sented page 2A
•School nurse funding
topic for Rep. Benton
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'The Bush legacy'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Lady Panthers take
region win page 1B
Features:
•Jefferson woman
tells of journey to the
Inauguration
page 1C
Other News:
•School News
. pages 10-12A, 5&10B
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Legals
pages 9-28C
•Church News
page 11B
•Obituaries
pages 8-9B
Q -R
Local banks see re-fi surge
But qualifying for loans requiring more paperwork
By Mark Beardsley
THE HOUSING market may be mired
in a slump, but interest rates south of five
percent are causing a spike in mortgage
refinancing applications, local bankers
say.
Late last year, interest rates on 15 and
30-year loans fell under the five-percent
mark. After months of almost no mort
gage activity, lenders’ telephones started
ringing.
‘This week, I have probably given refi
nance packages to six customers,” noted
Debbie Williams, senior vice president of
United Community Banks. ‘‘For the pre
vious three months I’d given out zero.”
For homeowners who qualify, it’s a
chance to save some money in a time
when everyone’s trying to reduce their
expenses.
“Actually, I had some interest from peo
ple wanting to build,” said Susan Bruce,
vice president and mortgage originator
for First Georgia Banking Company. “It
started slowing down in June and July,
was really slow in the fall and picked up
in November when rates began to come
down.”
Community Bank and Trust's mort
gages are handled by a subsidiary,
Community Banks Mortgage.
“I had a loan originator tell me they’d
been bombarded with refinance requests,”
said Jud Trapnell, vice president. “I’ve
probably had a half dozen calls in the past
two weeks.”
The situation is similar at First
Commerce Bank.
“We weren't seeing much of anything
until the first of the year,” said Larry Cole,
president. “Since the rates have come
down to the present level, we have seen
a pretty good interest in re-fi’s. We have
not seen an increase in purchase applica
tions.”
Borrowers are finding a different cli
mate, however. Banks want more finan
cial data, credit ratings must be higher and
borrowers must have more equity than
has been required in recent years.
At First Covenant, the first refinance
applications were still in process. Cole
said, adding that applicants tend to have
the necessary credit score, but some prop
erties have declined in value and may not
have the equity required to qualify.
“The question is going to be how those
appraisals come in,” he said. “I still think
appraisals here (in Jackson County) will
be within the market.”
Williams has encountered that prob
lem.
“Some appraised values are down 20 to
30 percent,” she said. “Some people who
want to do a re-fi are not able to because
the values on their homes are down.”
Bruce agreed.
“I have seen people who did loans two
and a half years ago who have seen their
values drop $30,000,” she said. “Most of
continued on page 5A
TWO FATALITIES IN TUESDAY WRECK ON 1-85
A rollover wreck of a full-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) at the Jefferson exit on
Interstate 85 closed the southbound lanes of the interstate around 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Two people were ejected from the SUV. One person was pronounced dead at
the scene and another person died later at Athens Regional Medical Center.
Jackson County EMS, Jackson County Rescue and the Jefferson Fire Department
responded to scene. The cause of the wreck is being investigated by the Georgia
State Patrol. No names on the victims were available as of press time.
Photo by Justin Poole
Sales taxes tumble
SALES TAX revenues in Jackson County fell sharply in
November, dropping 28 percent from November 2007.
That decline was the worst monthly drop in 2008 for the county.
Officials said if December shows another large decline, the county
could end 2008 $575,000 under what had been anticipated for the
year. The county had budgeted $6.3 million in anticipated sales tax
income.
November’s sales tax number was the weakest for the month
since 2003. Sales tax revenues peaked in Jackson County in 2007
with a total of $6.3 million. But the economic downturn in 2008 has
battered sales and resulted in lower revenues for local governments.
Jackson
Countv Sales
Taxes
(In Millions)
2007
2008
%Chanae
First Qtr.
$1.38
$1.4
+1.4%
Second Qtr.
$1.64
$1.53
-6.7%
Third Qtr.
$1.73
$1.47
-15%
Fourth Qtr.
$1.55
Schools may serve breakfast in classrooms
28 laid off
at Huber
HUBER ENGINEERED
Woods laid off 28 employees
at its Commerce strand board
(OSB) plant last week.
That amounted to about a
quarter of the plant’s labor
force.
“Due to the ongoing world
wide financial crisis and the
significant downturn in the
U.S. housing market which
have adversely affected our
business, we have unfortu
nately had to lay off 28 of
our employees at the Huber
Engineered Woods LLC
(HEW) plant in Commerce,”
said Robert Currie, vice presi
dent and chief communica
tions and public affairs officer.
“A decision like this is never
easy — especially in view of
the overall job market. Huber
Engineered Woods has made
every effort possible to avoid
this action. However, the dras
tic decline in housing starts
and overall economic down
turn has created unprecedent
ed challenges to Huber and
the overall housing industry.”
The plant has continued to
manufacture products used
primarily in homebuilding,
but sales could not keep apace
with production as home-
building across America has
come to a virtual halt.
“This action is in no way
a reflection on the work that
was performed by the terrific
people we will be losing,”
Currie said by email. “Our
company considers layoffs a
last resort, and we are sad
dened by the fact that this was
action was necessary.”
The plant will continue to
operate with a staff of 86.
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
MILK AND muffins in the
classroom every morning?
That's a possibility under one
proposal being considered by the
Jackson County School System
for the 2009-2010 school year.
The district is looking at ways
to revamp its transportation sys
tem — and one of its goals dur
ing the process is to find a way
to add more instructional time to
the elementary school day.
Superintendent Shannon
Adams said Wednesday that an
answer may rest with how the
school system handles breakfast
each morning.
“We pretty much decided that
if there is a solution, it’s with
breakfast,” he said.
Under a proposal, elementary
schools would start their instruc
tion time at 7:40 a.m. next school
year. Morning bell times cur-
“None of this is
definite. We’re
very much in
the investigative
stage.”
—Superintendent
Shannon Adams
rently vary from 7:50-8:00 a.m.
across the district.
That would require that bus
riders be dropped off at school no
later than 7:30 a.m. — although
most would arrive around 7:15
a.m. Some principals said some
bus riders already arrive that
early for class.
Elementary school days would
also end later — allowing up to
30 additional minutes of instruc
tion time each day.
But to get those extra minutes
in the classroom, school leaders
say making breakfast more effi
cient may be the key.
One plan includes serv
ing breakfast in the classroom.
School system nutrition director
Wanda Oliver said the district
won’t have to re-invent the wheel
for the concept.
“Many, many school systems
in the nation do breakfast in
the classroom and it works,” she
said.
One of those school systems
includes the San Diego Unified
School District. A Jackson
County committee reviewing
transportation plans watched a
video from the California district
on how it successfully serves
breakfast in classrooms.
The video featured a cafete
ria worker gathering packaged
food and milk, and placing them
in a cooler designated for each
classroom. The coolers are then
placed on rolling carts and deliv
ered to each classroom by a des
ignated student.
Other students in the class
room help set up the meals, while
others share the responsibility of
ensuring the room is clean after
breakfast.
Students eat their breakfasts
for 10-15 minutes — usually
while listening to the morning
school announcements or watch
ing an educational program.
Trash is collected in specified
garbage cans and removed from
the classroom to prevent pest
control problems.
Educators say ensuring a stu
dent eats breakfast every morn
ing improves concentration lev
els, reduces visits to the school
nurse and controls discipline
issues.
“We can make it a useful
continued on page 5A
Humane Society gives meeting times, adoption days
THE HUMANE Society of Jackson
County has changed the day of its board
meetings for 2009, now meeting Tuesdays
instead of Mondays. Member meetings
are held every other month on the second
Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. in the
Jackson EMC auditorium.
“There were two compelling reasons we
moved them to Tuesdays,” said Roxane
Rose, spokesman for the Humane Society of
Jackson County. “First of all, meeting on the
first Monday of the month conflicted with
the county board of commissioners meeting,
which some of us like to be able to attend.
We also had been getting input that it was
hard to make it to a community meeting on
the first day of the week, right after getting
back to work on a Monday.”
The first member meeting of the year
will be Tuesday, Feb. 10, and will feature a
panel of veterinarians and a trainer who will
take questions from the audience. The board
will also share a presentation it has created
for speaking engagements. The remaining
member meetings of the year will be April
14, June 9, Aug. 11 and Oct. 13.
The Humane Society also announced
regular monthly adoption days at the Kroger
in Jefferson, beginning in January. They will
be held one Saturday each month from 11
a.m.-3 p.m.; all but two of the months have
adoption days on the third Saturday of the
month. For the rest of the year, the adoption
days will be Feb. 21, March 21, April 18,
May 23, June 20, July 18, Aug. 15, Sep. 19,
Oct. 24 and Nov. 21.
Additional adoption days at other loca
tions are being scheduled. The board soon
will announce the dates of its two annu
al fundraisers, PetFest in the spring and
Mimosas for Mutts in the fall.
For 2009 Humane Society board members
and officers are: Angela Gosnell, president;
Roxane Rose, vice president; Cheryl Iski and
Anne Roberts, co-treasurers; and Beverly
Jackson, secretary. The remaining board
members are Teresa Brown, Diane Mcguire-
Byard, Paige Young, Anne Holifield, Wayne
Adams and Debbie Adams.
The new board plans to grow the momen
tum it has gained in the past two years.
Adoptions increased by more than 400 per
cent from 2007 to 2008, and income was up
about 35 percent for 2008, said Rose.
The Humane Society of Jackson County
operates with an all-volunteer group, Rose
noted.
“We do not have a single paid staff mem-
continued on page 5A