Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
H9
—
H Wednesday, July 22, 2009
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 133 NO. 49 46 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 50<J COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Historic courthouse
projects approved
page 2A
•Maysville looks at
pouring license
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Dr. Obama putting
on the glove'
page 4A
Sports:
•Mat Dragons to be
honored by Hall of Fame
page 1B
Features:
• 'Steel Magnolias'
opens Friday
page 1C
Other News:
•School News
pages 8-10A
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-28C
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
page 7B
Which are Jackson County’s best schools?
2009 CRCT Failure/Exceeds Rates* — The chart below and those on page 5A show to the left the percent of students who
failed to meet state standards in a subject and to the right the percent who exceeded state standards in the subject. Low numbers
on the left are best while high numbers on the right are best.
Jackson County 3rd Graders By School
Reading
Eng./LA
Math
Science
Social Studies
STATE RATE
12%/30.8%
13.5%/31.7%
22.1%/37.4%
20.3%/32.2%
24%/14.9%
1. Gum Springs
5.6/42.1
4.7/43
8.4/55.1
9.7/59.8
8.4/27.1
2. Jefferson Elem.
6.2/44
7.2/49.3
11.5/45.9
5.7/48.3
15.3/20.6
3. Commerce Elem. 3.9/30.1
3.9/36.9
8.7/47.6
8.7/53.4
7.8/26.2
4. North Jackson
5.5/38.2
9.1/45.5
12.7/49.1
17.3/48.1
7.5/22.6
5. East Jackson
6.8/28.8
10.2/37.3
15/60
16.7/46.7
15.3/18.6
6. West Jackson
6/29.9
10.3/32.5
17.9/41
8.5/51.3
19.8/7.8
7. South Jackson
8.2/21.9
11/24.7
24.7/37
16.4/41.1
27.4/4.1
8. Benton Elem.
10/25
15/41.7
28.3/33.3
5.6/46.7
15/23.3
9. Maysville Elem.
15.6/21.9
17.2/18.8
26.6/28.1
8.2/32.3
21/14.5
THAT QUESTION is difficult to answer, given
the myriad of ways to evaluate a school. Academic,
social, athletic
and other fac- I See P a S e 5A for more CRCT
tors all come to I breakdown by grade and by
the table on the | school for Jackson County,
issue.
But in an effort to evaluate Jackson County’s elemen
tary and middle schools, The Jackson Herald analyzed
the recently released CRCT results for 2009 in the three
key grades: 3rd, 5th and 8th.
Two pieces of data were compared from the CRCT
results: The percent of students failing to meet state
standards across the five subject areas by grade and the
percent of students who exceeded state standards in
those subject areas. The span between those numbers
was factored into the evaluation.
The schools were then evaluated against each other
and the overall state averages to create a ranking of
each school by grade level. If schools were close in
results across the board, Reading and Math results were
weighted heavier than the other subject areas since
those are the two key classes the state considers in its
evaluations.
The results are as follows:
THIRD GRADE
1. Gum Springs Elementary School
Gum Springs had a combination of low failure rates
continued on page 5A
ZJCFf DEAH BASECALL
FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH
The Jackson County Force moves down past the crowd during Thursday’s opening
ceremonies for the Dizzy Dean 11-year-old World Series, held at East Jackson Park in
Nicholson. The Force was the only Jackson County team to make the double elimination
tournament that will decide the World Series champs. Photo by Brandon Reed
Winder’s First Piedmont Bank fails
Other local banks struggled in 1 st Quarter
LAST WEEK’S closure of
Winder’s First Piedmont Bank
by the FDIC and Georgia
Department of Banking
underscores just how hard the
Area Community Banks 1st Quarter 2009 Results
Bank Stars* Asset Profit/ TAR A Liquidity** Capital
Size Loss Ratio
economic turmoil continues to
hit some area banks.
First Piedmont was taken
Mountain Valley Bank
3
$156
million
$78,000
13.07
S
over Friday evening by regu
lators. First American Bank
NEGABank.
2
$414
million
$1 million
52.53
M
and Trust of Athens assumed
the bank’s deposits. The bank
reopened Monday as a branch
Pinnacle Bank
2
$603
million
$723,000
24.22
W
of First American Bank and
Trust Company.
First Piedmont was the
Fidelity
2
$1.8
billion
-$$2.7
million
55.86
W
second bank in the Barrow-
Jackson County area to fail this
Hamilton State
2
$283
million
-$524,000
29.04
M
year. Freedom Bank, based
in Commerce with branches
in Jefferson and Winder, was
First Georgia Bank
1
$813
million
-$1.1
million
52.69
W
taken over by the FDIC in the
spring.
Two other area banks —
The Peoples Bank
1
$518
million
-$588,000
63.42
W
Community Bank & Trust and
Habersham Bank — are cur
Community Bank
& Trust
1
$1.2 billion
-$2 million
95.39
W
rently under cease and desist
orders to correct problems due
to questionable loans.
Habersham Bank
1
$510
million
-$1.6
million
174.6
W
On Monday, the AJC repor
ted that Winder’s The Peoples
Hometown Community 1
$134
million
-$383,000
141.27
s
Bank had been the lead ins
titution out of 67 banks that
participated in a $100 million
syndicated loan for a real esta
First Commerce
1
$190
million
-$460,000
139.65
M
te development in Arizona that
went bust. That property has
First Piedmont
CLOSED 7-17-09
1
$124
million
-$680,000
439.51
M
been foreclosed and is being
marketed for $48.5 million,
less than half its loan amount,
according to the article.
But Chris Maddox, CEO/
President of People’s Bank,
said the loan had only a mini
mal impact on his bank’s
balance sheet.
“First, The Peoples Bank
originated the referenced loan
and then sold it to Silverton
Bank; Silverton Bank, not
The Peoples Bank, then sold
the loan downstream to 66
other lenders from around
the country,” Maddox said.
“Secondly, we made the loan
in good faith. The developer
Exceeds
Exceeds
Exceeds
Exceeds
Subst.
Exceeds
Somewhat
Exceeds
Exceeds
Requirement
In
Compliance
In
Compliance
May Not Be
Compliance
Somewhat
Exceeds
Not In
Compliance
Net Losses = $10 million
Net Profits = $1.8 million
‘Stars are the bank’s rating by Bankrate.com, a leading financial analy
sis firm. Ratings are from 0-5 with higher numbers being better.
A TAR is the Troubled Asset Ratio for the bank. Lower numbers are better; num
bers over 100 are red flags that the bank needs to raise additional capital.
** Liquidity: S=Strong, M=Moderate, W=Weak
Large multi-state or regional banks are not included in this report since those banks
do not reflect NEGAarea market conditions. Banks shown here are based in or have
branches in Barrow or Jackson Counties, with the exception of Habersham Bank
which is located in Hall County, but whose branch is in the Town of Braselton.
was based in Atlanta with local pro
jects as well as projects in Arizona. At
Finally, participation loans were an
excellent tool to mitigate risk by diver-
the time of origination, it was a good sification. Recognizing the risk of an
loan; however, property values have
deteriorated at unprecedented levels.
continued on page 5A
Jefferson cuts 2
pre-planning days
Community breakfast cancelled;
student registration not affected
THE JEFFERSON City School System has cut two
of next week’s scheduled teacher pre-planning days and
one teacher work day in October in response to the gov
ernor’s state-mandated furlough he announced Tuesday.
In addition, the system has cancelled the annual com
munity breakfast originally slated for next Wednesday.
Pre-planning for Jefferson teachers has been cancelled
for Monday, July 27 and Friday, July 31. The school
system’s registration schedule for the week on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday remains unchanged.
In addition to next week’s furlough days, the system
has cancelled a scheduled teacher workday on Oct. 2.
The governor said Tuesday that among other state
cuts, schools should furlough staff members for three
days before the end of the calendar year.
The Jackson County School System has not announced
when its furlough days will be held.
Graham to run for
state Senate seat
Opens Braselton mayor's slot
Mayor Pat Graham won’t run for re-
election this fall and will instead seek
the Georgia State Senate seat cur
rently held by Sen. Ralph Hudgens.
Hudgens will be running for Georgia
Insurance Commissioner, thus open
ing up the Senate District 47 seat.
Graham, a Republican, said her
campaign would be based on “con
servative principles.”
“Over the last eight years, we have
relied on conservative principles and
worked to transform Braselton into a
recognized City of Excellence,” she said. “We have never
raised taxes and yet the city is in solid financial shape. I’ll
rely on those same conservative principles and manage
ment experience to help prevent any tax increase and
make state government more efficient.”
Graham has had a high profile in the state while serv-
continued on page 3A
BRASELTON
GRAHAM
BOC halts action
on airport staff
To vote at Aug. 3 meeting
BYANGELA GARY
ACTION ON hiring two additional staff members at
the county airport was postponed Monday night by the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners.
BOC chairman Hunter Bicknell called for the request
to be postponed until the Aug. 3 meeting in order for the
commissioners to get additional information.
“We will table this item pending a report back from
staff in approximately two weeks,” Bicknell said. “We
will take this up at our next meeting.”
Bicknell didn’t say what additional information the
commissioners are seeking.
Two weeks ago, the BOC heard a request from airport
manager Bob Stapleton to create two new staff positions
at the airport at a cost of $90,000 to the county for salaries
and benefits. Stapleton said the expansion at the airport
will create the need for the additional staff — an airport
continued on page 5/