Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
M
H Wednesday, March 11, 2009
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 133 NO. 30 46 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50« COPY
•Car company eyes
Braselton site
page 2A
•More bickering on bar
band noise
page 3A
Op/Ed:
•'Bank's demise a sad
sign of the times'
page 4A
Freedom Bank seized by FDIC
FREEDOM BANK of Georgia based in Commerce
became the nation’s 17th bank failure in 2009 when it
was taken over by regulators last week. The bank was
taken over Friday evening at 6 p.m. by state and fed
eral banking officials. All deposits of the bank were
acquired by Northeast Georgia Bank of Lavonia.
The bank had four branches: Jefferson, Homer,
Commerce and Winder.
“Depositors of Freedom Bank of Georgia will auto
matically become depositors of Northeast Georgia
Bank,” said a news release from the FDIC about the
closure. “Deposits will continue to be insured by the
FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change
their banking relationship to retain their deposit
insurance coverage. Customers of both banks should
continue to use their existing branches until Northeast
Georgia Bank can fully integrate the deposit records
of Freedom Bank of Georgia.”
The action is believed to be the first closure of a bank
based in Jackson County since the Great Depression.
Calls to both Freedom Bank and Northeast Georgia
Bank for comments about the matter were not
returned this week.
Freedom Bank, which was organized in 2004, is the
second bank in Georgia closed this year and the sev
enth in the state since the middle of 2008 when bank
failures begin to rise due to the economic downturn.
It is the only bank seized so far in Jackson County
in the wake of the housing bust, which has devastated
the area’s real estate and construction market.
In December, Freedom Bank was issued a cease
and desist order by regulators, which instructed the
bank to take certain actions to shore up its financial
standing.
At the end of the third quarter in 2008, the bank
had 11 percent of its loan portfolio, $12 million, in
default. The bank lost $8.5 million in 2008, according
to the FDIC.
The bank had total assets of around $173 million
and deposits of $161 million as of March 4. Northeast
Georgia Bank agreed to purchase $167 million in
assets at a discount of $13.6 million.
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit
Insurance Fund will be $36.2 million. Northeast
Georgia Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was
the “least costly” resolution for the FDIC's Deposit
Insurance Fund compared to alternatives, said offi
cials.
Sports:
•Navas to leave JHS
page 1B
Features:
•Remembering days of
the CCC page 1C
Other News:
•School News
. . . pages 11 -12A, 7-8B
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-26C
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
pages 8-9A
Q -R
BUSINESS IN DISPUTE
This used car lot in South Jackson is under dispute by the Jackson County Board
of Adjustments, as it does not meet all the county requirements for that type of
commercial development.
Dispute draws ire of BOA
BY ANGELA GARY
A used car lot in South Jackson is ready to open,
but a business license can’t be issued until some
buffer and landscaping violations at the site are
addressed.
David Archer appeared before the Jackson
County Board of Adjustments last week to ask
for variances to allow the used car lot to open at
129 Harrison Johnson Way. A building, fence and
parking lot are already in place on the property; the
problem, however, is that they do not meet all of
the county requirements for a commercial develop
ment.
Members of the board of adjustments questioned
Archer and county planning staff members about
the property for one hour last week, but tabled tak
ing action on the matter until next month’s meeting.
That meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April 2 at the
Administrative Building in Jefferson.
The meeting had been advertised, as dealing
with landscaping and tree conservation variance
requests, but Archer also needs a building setback
variance. Since that was not part of the legal adver
tisement, the requests must be advertised again and
another hearing held.
MISTAKES MADE
Board of adjustors chairman Joe Holt said, “The
way I view this is that he put the building in the
wrong place. He put his fence in the wrong place.
He has a lot of mistakes.”
The site also does not have the landscaping and
tree conservation in place that is required for a com
mercial development. Archer is asking that these
requirements be waived.
A building on the property has a 39-foot setback
from the right-of-way, which doesn’t meet the
50-foot requirement. Archer is asking for a variance
to allow the 39-foot setback.
“I can’t figure out how you got away with this,”
said BOA member Mark Palmer. “The rules are
put down.”
He added that the builder is responsible for mak
ing sure that all codes are met.
Palmer also questioned why Archer was not
required to pay the $250 fee to the county for his
variance request. Archer said that he did not ask
for the fee to be waived. However, county man
ager Darrell Hampton sent a memo to the planning
office stating that the fee was to be waived at the
request of one of the commissioners.
Board of adjustment member Don Segraves
added that the decision to waive the fee was “made
arbitrarily” and not by the full board of commis
sioners. Holt said the board of adjustment should
make decisions on waiving fees.
On another matter related to Archer’s business,
the county had paid for “technical assistance”
for the project, but the money has since been
reimbursed to the county, according to the county
manager.
continued on page 5A
School board eyeing changes to calendar
School make-up days listed
The Jackson County School System will use two planned student
holidays as make-up days for the recent snow days.
The district will use a teacher planning day — Friday, March 13 —
and the first day of Spring Break — Monday, April 6 — as the snow
make-up days.
The school system canceled classes on March 2-3, following a
winter storm that dumped at least five inches of snow in parts of
Jackson County.
Jefferson City Schools will make up their one snow day on Friday,
March 13 which had been a teacher work day.
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A LATE winter storm
may lead to changes for the
2009-2010 school year calendar
for the Jackson County School
System.
The district canceled classes
on Monday and Tuesday, March
2-3, after areas of Jackson
County received at least five
inches of snow on Sunday,
March 1.
That late winter storm left few
options for the school system
to make-up missing days in the
classroom, according to district
officials.
The Jackson County School
System will use a teacher plan
ning day — Friday, March 13
— and the first day of Spring
Break — Monday, April 6 — as
the snow make-up days.
The Jackson County Board of
Education didn’t seem to favor
the idea of using one day in
Spring Break as a make-up day.
“It has disrupted a lot of fam
ilies of students and families
of employees,” superintendent
Shannon Adams told the board
on Monday.
Now, the board is considering
proposals to amend its recent
ly-adopted 2009-2010 school
calendar to include additional
make-up days for potential
inclement weather.
“I’d like to see those days
moved to later in the year to
minimize the situation we had
this year,” Adams said.
One of the ideas tossed around
at Monday’s board meeting
included moving the designated
make-up days from February to
March.
“March is typically the month
continued on page 5A
Jan. unemployment
at 9.5% for county
JACKSON COUNTY’S unemployment rate shot up in January to
9.5%, up from 8.1% in December. The rate is significantly up from
one year ago when it stood at 5.2% in January 2008.
The statewide unemployment rate was 8.8% in January.
According to the State Department of Labor, some 2,673 Jackson
Countians were unemployed in January.
In the immediate Northeast Georgia area, both Barrow and
Franklin counties had higher unemployment in January at 10.2
and 11 percent respectively. The highest rates of unemployment
in Northeast Georgia are Hart and Elbert counties, both of which
exceeded 12 percent in January.
Unemployment Rates
Jan.
Dec.
Jan.’l
State
8.8%
7.8%
5.3%
Jackson County
9.5%
8.1%
5.2%
Barrow County
10.2%
8.6%
5.2%
Gwinnett County
7.9%
6.9%
4.7%
Clarke County
6.6%
5.7%
4.3%
Hall County
8.3%
7.0%
4.3%
Franklin County
11.0%
8.7%
6.1%
Madison County
7.7%
6.5%
4.5%
Banks County
6.7%
5.7%
3.7%
Oconee County
5.3%
4.5%
3.5%
Staff cuts may be on
county BOE agenda
CUTBACKS IN the Jackson
County School System may be
on the agenda when the board
of education meets next week.
The Jackson County Board
of Education will have its annu
al “retreat” meeting Thursday
and Friday, March 19-20 at the
BOE office in Jefferson.
At the retreat, the board is
expected to discuss its person
nel options. A called meeting
has been scheduled after the
retreat on Friday, March 20, at
3:30 p.m.
The Jackson County School
System recently told employ
ees there was a “strong pos
sibility” of layoffs for the
2009-2010 school year, due
to a tight financial situation.
On Monday night, the board
held a closed-door meeting for
an hour and half to discuss
personnel, but took no action
when the meeting was opened
to the public.
The board will also discuss
its options for make-up days
for the 2009-2010 school year
during the retreat.
Due to spring break, the BOE
will hold a combined work ses
sion and regular meeting on
Monday, April 13, at 6 p.m.,
at the Gordon Street Center.
The board typically splits the
work session and regular meet
ing between two meetings each
month.
Motes, Booth back at work
SUPERIOR COURT judges David Motes and Joe Booth are both
back at work following earlier health issues.
Both men had surgery earlier and were out for several weeks dur
ing the same time period. The court calendar was not impacted by the
illnesses of the judges. Senior court judges filled in while Motes and
Booth were out.
Church to get more parking
BYANGELA GARY
THE JACKSON County
Board of Adjustment agreed
Thursday night to allow an area
church to have more parking
spaces than allowed under the
county code.
The board agreed to a request
from Steve Matthews, repre
senting St. Catherine Laboure
Catholic Church, to have 30
additional parking spaces at its
new church under construction
at 80 Elrod Road. This will
give the church a total of 120
spaces.
Also at the meeting, officers
for this year were elected. Joe
Holt was reappointed to serve
as chairman and Don Segraves
was named vice chairman.
Other board members are: Mark
Palmer, James Scott Jr. and
Shirley Turner. County attorney
Jane Range also attended the
meeting Thursday night.