Newspaper Page Text
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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009
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Letters to the editor continued from page 5A
Teacher salaries: Is this considered news?
Dear Editor:
I am writing on behalf of your recent posting of
employees of the local county school system’s sala
ries. Do you consider this news?
I purchased your paper to review pages of more
less busy-bodying? As the current status of our
country’s economical crisis is in distress, don’t you
find the timing in poor taste? Is this something you
are required by law to publish?
I myself find teachers and folks in the educational
field the most underpaid employees in our country,
right up there with law enforcement. I am sure folks
are gonna complain about what some folks make
because they are close minded or just jaded.
But let me ask some of those folks to volunteer
to do anyone in the educational field whose job was
posted for a year. That would require getting the
education, paying for the education, student teach
ing, doing all the paperwork, and the continuing
education. Most teachers’ job don’t end at 3:00
p.m., they are continuing their education, grading
papers, and mainly volunteering in the community.
Go to church, teachers are volunteering, go to
local sports event, they are volunteering, go to a
fundraiser for a person in need, it is usually a teacher
behind the scenes. Teachers from what I have seen
give up more of their “free time’’ to better other’s
lives. I think it is a gift to teach and I don’t know if
I could handle 20 kids all day for what they make
and then to have to put up with pleasing parents and
juggling my own family.
Most of us when we leave our job, we leave it
there. The employees of a school system deal with
their job throughout the community and publishing
their pay I find completely humiliating. Why didn’t
you add their weight and credit score while you
were posting? Could you not have just posted by
position and NOT by name?
I would see it also creating negative tension
between co-workers knowing what your co-workers
salary was. I don’t believe anyone in the educa
tional field needs extra stress added into their day
and knowing what your co-worker makes can only
create bad vibes. I beg the parents of this com
munity to thank the folks that educate and care for
your children and if you have any manners please
communicate to your child that it is in poor taste
to discuss someone’s salary. I can imagine that the
way some children are raised in today’s society, they
will go to school and comment on, that is extremely
distasteful.
We may have a right to know this, but some
things are better just left unknown. It is called stir
ring the pot. Children are a gift and I want the best
for mine and embarrassing their leaders I do not
believe is very constructive or positive. If you had to
do it could you have not waited until summer when
everyone is on vacation?
I would suggest you post next the profit you made
of the sale of the newspaper with along with your
salary and your staffs and specify exactly what they
do. At a time when it is depressing enough opening
a newspaper to read all the local foreclosure, why
add insult to injury?
I enjoy reading your editorials and look forward
to your views but was surprised to see this from this
newspaper and find this in poor taste and disrespect
ful.
Sincerely,
Blake and Tara Anderson
Movie continued from page 1A
selected to be a part of the movie.
Early Monday morning, before 4 a.m., crew
members arrived at Heritage Village, located
between Maysville and Jefferson, and began set
ting up the cameras and equipment needed for the
all-day shoot.
Filming began around 9 a.m. Monday and
Duvall filmed scenes inside the church until
around noon. The cast and crew took a break for
lunch at a catering tent set up at Hurricane Shoals
Park and filming began again around 1 p.m.
Filming inside the church ended around 5 p.m.
Before ending filming for the day, a scene was
shot outside the church at an antique hearse with
Duvall and actor Lucas Black filming a scene.
During the day Monday, two members of
the Tumbling Waters Society, Helen Gunnels
and Becky Perry, were present for the filming.
Recreation department director Rick Sanders and
assistant Cathy Robinson were also present during
some of the day. No other locals were present.
Earlier filming for “Get Low’’ was done in
Newnan, Georgia, and the next stop is Dallas,
Georgia. Extras are needed to film a funeral
scene in Dallas on Feb. 28 and anyone interested
in participating is asked to apply online at extras-
castingadanta @ gmail.com.
“Get Low’’ is based on a true story and Duvall
portrays Tennessee eccentric Felix “Bush’’
Breazeale, a man who planned his own funeral
in 1938 while he was still alive. Black portrays a
funeral director.
The movie also stars Sissy Spacek, as Duvall’s
wife, and Bill Murray, as a funeral director.
Spacek and Murray did not film in Jackson
County.
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Gainesville, GA
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Reader comments on salary coverage
Dear Editor:
Over the past two weeks you have published an
editorial and an article expressing a concern that the
educators of our county are overpaid and suggest
that this is a possible area to cut in order to save our
precious tax dollars.
This is the kind of mindset that has kept many
of the rural school systems in Georgia lagging
far behind the metro counties in regard to student
achievement and academic success. For the record,
I am not employed by any of the Jackson County
School Systems; I am a parent of two children who
attend schools in Jackson County. My children’s
academic success is a high priority and I, for one, am
willing to pay for a top quality education!
This is a question that Mr. Buffington and the staff
at The Jackson Herald might want to ask themselves.
To suggest that the teachers of our county make too
much money is almost unthinkable! These teachers
have earned advanced degrees and spent tireless
hours educating our children! My children have
been blessed by many quality teachers who have
helped to shape their fives and have created memo
ries that they will carry with them forever. How do
I put a price tag on the educators who have done so
much for them?
Yes, there may be some areas where the budget
can be cut, but to suggest that teacher salaries are
too high is ridiculous! Those teachers who are
making $65,000+ have been teaching for 20+ years
and most likely began their careers making only in
the $10,000 to $15,000 range! When compared to
the private sector with comparable education and
longevity, teachers have lagged far behind in sala
ries and benefits for decades! This newspaper only
printed the salaries of what the teachers make on an
annual basis. You did not “subtract’’ all the money
that teachers spend out of their own pocket from the
salaries that you printed. Trust me, Mr. Buffington,
your numbers would look much different had you
done that.
Jackson County is a great place to educate oui
children! All three school systems have fine teachers
and staffs, so why would we want to endanger oui
children’s education to save a few tax dollars? After
all, it is a fact that education is the best way to help
children reach beyond their life circumstances and
become the individual and community members
that society wants and needs! “You get what you
pay for’’ has often been said and I, for one, believe it.
My children are worth paying for a top notch school
system filled with the finest educators money can
buy! It appears that this newspaper has not placed
the children and their education above the almighty
tax dollar! In closing, I hope that the good people ol
Jackson County will not let the view of a few short
minded, money-focused community leaders shift
their focus off what is really at stake here ... and
that is providing the best quality education for theii
number one priority, their children, and thus theii
children’s future success in fife!
Sincerely.
J. Ryan
Jefferson
EJCHS open house ahead Tues.
A SECOND semester open house is planned for Tuesday, Feb. 16, at
East Jackson Comprehensive High School. The event will begin at 5:45
p.m. and end at 8 p.m.
Fire continued from 1A
clothes had caught on fire after he had spilled something flammable.
“The fire was quickly extinguished and the male patient was treated
on the scene and air lifted to Grady bum unit by Emory Life Flight,’’
EMS director Steve Nichols reports.
The incident is under investigation by the state fire marshal.
Charter continued from JA
“Our number one goal is to
serve the children and serve
them the best we can,’’ Gibney-
Sherman said.
The Jefferson group plans to
travel to Warren County, a char
ter school system, to discuss the
charter school transition, Gibney-
Sherman added. Warren County’s
:
charter system application was
approved by the Georgia Board of
Education in May of 2008.
Hall County has some indi
vidual schools that are charter
schools and both Gainesville City
and Decatur City school systems
are charter schools, Gibney-
Sherman said.
Jefferson shop
damaged Tues.
A JEFFERSON business was
damaged Tuesday when a man
drove through the front window.
Nguyen Van, 83 Elrod Avenue,
Jefferson, said his foot slipped on
the brake and he accidentally
hit the accelerator. His car ran
into the Nail Pro building on
Washington Street but he was
not injured.
The estimated cost of the dam
ages was $11,000.
Read,then
recycle, this
newspaper!
\
Jackson County Planning Commission
PUBLIC HEARING
The Jackson County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at
6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at the Jackson County
Administrative Auditorium, 67 Athens Street, Jefferson, Georgia, to
consider the following matters:
NEW BUSINESS
1. Home Occupation - Fred Willis is requesting a Home
Business License for his home in order to conduct business as
“The Goldworks Dental Lab” that creates dental work. His
home is located at 91 Hunter Drive, Hoschton, in the Antrium
Glen (Unit 1) subdivision. The property is zoned in the
Agricultural Residential District (AR) and is identified as
Parcel 016H on Tax Map 105.
2. Home Occupation - Marvin A. Gaines is requesting a Home
Business License for his home in order to conduct business as
“B&M Welding” to create welded steel products. His home is
located at 1105 Cabin Creek Drive, Nicholson. The property is
zoned in the Agricultural Rural Farm District (A-2) and is
identified as Parcel 016 on Tax Map 025.
3. Home Occupation - Michael O’keeffe is requesting a Home
Business License for his home in order to conduct business as
“North Georgia Oil Exchange” to provide mobile oil change
service. His home is located at 693 Sawdust Trail, Nicholson.
The property is zoned in the Low Density Single-Family
Residential (R-l) District and is identified as Parcel 033A on
Tax Map 028A.
4. RZ-09-02 - John Adams requests to rezone approximately 1.0
acres located at 10216 Commerce Road from “Agricultural
Rural Farm District (A-2) to Highway Retail Commercial
(HRC) for the purpose of creating an storage place for a
construction business (Map 017 Parcels 018A).
5. Unified Development Code Text Amendment to revise Table
2.2 and Table 2.3 in Article 2, Use of Land and Structures, to
clarify the permitted uses in each zoning district.
6. Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Map Amendment to
revise multiple parcels along Hwy. 53 and Hwy. 124 between
Braselton and Doster Road from Community Activity Center
and Neighborhood Activity Center to Residential Growth.
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will address the
recommendations of the Planning Commission at a public hearing on
March 16, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Jackson County Courthouse at 5000
Jackson Parkway.
Complete applications, plats, texts, maps, and public hearing
procedures are available for review in the Planning Division Office, of
the Department of Public Development during regular office hours. All
interested persons are invited to attend.
Anyone desiring to speak in opposition to one of the above cases shall
file a Campaign Distribution Disclosure form at least 2 business days
prior to the February 26, 2009 Public Hearing.