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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
DFCS in need of donated baby items, furniture
By Sharon Hogan
Nicholson Water Authority
turns down GEFA loan
JACKSON County
Department of Family and
Children Services director
Jacqueline Franklin reported to
board members at the monthly
meeting on Wednesday, Aug.
26, that baby items and furni
ture are needed.
“We need four car seats, two
booster car seats, one infant car
seat, one playpen, a highchair
and some furniture for the visi
tation room,” she said.
The items are needed to help
with the transportation of foster
children and to use with the
foster children when they come
into the office, Franklin added.
“The furniture is old and
things have been spilled on it,”
she said. “It is time for some
new furniture.”
Items can be dropped off at
the DFCS office located on
Athens Street in Jefferson.
Monetary donations are also
being accepted to help pur
chase Christmas gifts for the
foster children. Checks need to
be made payable to Jackson
County DFCS.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the
monthly meeting:
•board members unanimous
ly approved the July financial
report showing total expenses
of $3,103.
•Franklin explained the rules
that the board must follow when
holding a closed session. Only
items of personnel, real estate
and litigation can be discussed
during a closed session.
•a letter to re-appoint Jennie
Parham to serve through June
30, 2013, was received. The
board tabled until September
any action on a letter of re
appointment for board member
Betty Waller.
•Franklin reported that 1,146
people came into the DFCS
office during July. This is down
from the 1,288 in June.
•Franklin reported plans are
under way for the Employee
Appreciation program to be
held in October. Franklin said
she is seeking a motivational
speaker for the event.
•Franklin presented the July
social services report showing:
64 foster care cases, 12 inves
tigations, 52 child protective
service ongoing cases, 25 diver
sions, two interstate compact
cases, five CPS safety resources,
and 24 out of town inquiries.
•Franklin presented the July
family independence report.
228 Food Stamp applications,
196 Medicaid applications and
40 applications for Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) were received.
•board members Carolyn
Thurmond, Parham and James
Deaton made plans to attend the
Georgia Association of DFCS
Boards annual meeting on Sept.
17 in Atlanta for training.
The next regularly sched
uled DFCS board meeting is
set for 10 a.m. on Wednesday,
Sept. 23, at the DFCS office in
Jefferson.
By Brandon Reed
THE NICHOLSON
Water Authority voted last
week to send a letter to
GEFA refusing a loan to
aid in updates to the water
system.
After meeting in August,
GEFA granted the NWA the
loan with the stipulation
that the authority creates a
separate bank account con
taining $86,000. GEFA also
stipulated that the author
ity add over $8 to each
customer’s bill to generate
more revenue. The board
chose not to accept the
stipulations. The motion
to authorize the letter of
refusal was made by Tom
Graham, and was approved
unanimously.
The authority has also
researched the price of
fluoridation for the wells
on their system. They
found there is a start up
cost of $5,000 per well and
a charge of two cents per
million gallons of water to
add fluoride to the system.
The board also approved
a motion to get prices on
connecting pipes on Old
Athens Drive and Antioch
Church Road to eliminate
dead ends.
Huber plans expansion; seeks permit
By Mark Beardsley
HUBER Engineered Woods
will seek a modification of its
air pollution permit this fall to
more than triple the amount of
nitrous oxide it emits from its
plant on Highway 334.
“They are requesting to use
a new type of resin in their
board press,” explained Eric
Cornwall, manager of the
Stationary Source Program at
the Environmental Protection
Division. “Burning of the wood
with the new resin would result
in higher nitrous oxide emis
sions from their wood-fired
boiler.”
Those emissions would
exceed the limits of Huber’s
current permit.
If the EPD grants Huber’s
request, Huber would be
allowed to emit 730 tons per
year of NO, compared to 233
currently allowed.
“That’s the real big increase,”
Cornwall noted.
The permit would also allow
Huber to emit 40 percent more
carbon monoxide (from 27 tons/
year now to 333) and would let
it emit 87 percent more volatile
organic compounds (from 242
tons/year to 453), but would
result in a 23 percent reduction
in its emissions of particulate
matter (from 221 tons/year to
170).
Under law, the permit change,
if granted, would also require
Huber to use the best available
control technology, Cornwall
said.
EPD received the application
on July 1. It is now undergoing
management review, according
to Cornwall. If there are no
“showstoppers” in the applica
tion, Cornwall said the matter
will be open for public review
in November or December.
“They will have to do air
quality modeling to make sure
the new rates won’t cause a
detriment to air quality in the
area,” he said. “There are two
things we have to examine, the
emission unit-specific standards
that may apply — does the boil
er comply with EPA emission
standards. Also, the big picture.
the national ambient air qual
ity standards. If so many more
pounds are coming out, what is
the concentration of pollutants
on their neighbors and does it
exceed EPA regulations?”
Cornwall said the EPD has
had requests for public meet
ings. Those will probably
be held in late December or
January and will be advertised
in The Jackson Herald, the
county’s legal organ.
“The purpose of the permit
is to increase our operational
flexibility by allowing us to use
any combination of currently
approved resins which are used
in the production process,” said
Robert Currie, vice president
and chief communications
and public affairs officer for
Huber, via email from Huber’s
Edison, NJ, corporate office.
“This flexibility will help us
to remain competitive in spe
cialty engineered wood prod
ucts. The plant desires this
change to take effect during
the first quarter of 2010 for the
permit.”
Submit your social or school news by e-mailing news@mainstreet-
news.com, faxing items to 706-387-5421 or calling 706-367-5986.
Talmo okays
By Katie Huston
THE QUAD Cities Planning
Commission has been officially
renamed the Jefferson-Talmo
Planning Commission. The
Talmo City Council agreed to
the change when it met last
week.
The QCPC, established in
2002, formerly served Jefferson,
Arcade, Pendergrass and Talmo.
The cities are all located along
U.S. Hwy. 129, in Jackson
County. The name change is
overdue, since the commission
has no longer been serving four
cities for half a decade.
In 2004, Pendergrass decided
it could function better solo and
pulled out of the joint endeavor.
Earlier this year in April, Arcade
also pulled out, but for cost sav
ing efforts.
The City of Jefferson will
have five members and Talmo
will have one. Also, once the
amendment is in place, officers
may succeed themselves with
out limitation as opposed to
serving only one term.
new planning board name
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at last
week’s council meeting:
•Talmo officials discussed the
100th anniversary of the town.
Upon closer examination, it was
realized that the city will actu
ally not be 100 for another 10
years. The charter was estab
lished in 1920, not 1910 as orig
inally thought.
•it was reported that Talmo’s
library had 188 visitors last
month, with 140 books checked
out and 267 checked in. In addi
tion, three new patrons joined.
•it was announced that the
Piedmont Regional Library
System purchased Brainfuze for
all the libraries the organization
operates, including the Talmo
Library. It’s a live, online tuto
rial service for students in third
grade through 12th. The service
is free and is available from 2
p.m. until closing time at the
library.
•it was reported that PRLS
recendy purchased a license
for one year allowing movies
to be shown at public libraries.
Piedmont will soon supply a list
of approved videos.
•it was announced that the
State of Georgia recently sup
plied all public libraries with a
kilowatt meter kit that allows
patrons to measure the amount
of energy that general household
appliances use to determine if
the appliance is energy efficient.
Annexation ad Rezoning Applications:
Notice of Public Hearing
City of Nicholson, GA
Please take notice that the City of Nicholson has received the
following application for annexation and applications to amend the
official zoning map of the City of Nicholson. The Nicholson City
Council will conduct a public hearing on these applications on October
5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., at the Community Center, 129 Lakeview Drive,
Nicholson, GA.
RZ 2009-02 Rezone: James Ronald and Gail S. Maxwell, property
owners, to rezone 5.357 acres with 514.27 feet of frontage on the
west side of U.S. Highway 441 which is a part of Map/Parcel 013/021,
from ARR1, Agricultural Rural Residential District, to C-1, General
Commercial Business District. Proposed Use: Storage Buildings.
RZ 2009-03 Annexation and Rezone: Stan Patrick Hodsdon,
property owner, to annex part of Map/Parcel N01 004, and to rezone
two contiguous parcels constituting 4.68 acres more or less, property
fronting on the west side of U.S. Highway 441 (5044 U.S. Highway 441
South. That unincorporated part of Map/Parcel N01/004 is proposed
for annexation). Map/Parcel N01/004 is proposed for rezoning from
A2 (Agricultural Rural Farm District) (Jackson County and R-1,
Residential District to (that part in city limits) to C-1, General
Commercial Business District. Map/Parcel N01/004A is proposed for
rezoning from R-1, Residential District, to G1, General Commercial
Business District. Proposed Use: Commercial (storage buildings and
convenience store).
Interested persons are invited to attend the public hearing.
Complete applications are on file and available for public inspection in
the Office of the City Clerk in City Hall, City of Nicholson, 175
Lakeview Drive, 30565, during normal business hours. For more
information, please call 706-757-3408.
Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
PUBLIC HEARING
The Jackson County Board of
Commissioners will hold a public
hearing at 6:00 p.m. on Monday,
September 21, 2009 at the Jackson
County Courthouse in the Jury
Assembly Room at 5000 Jackson
Parkway, Jefferson, Georgia, to
consider the following matter:
Track Properties, LLC, has applied for
a license for the sale of beer and wine at
500 Lyle Field Rd., Jefferson, GA (Tax
Map & Parcel - 065/23F & 66/4A) for the
Gresham Motorsports Park. A copy of
the application is available for
inspection at the Jackson County Public
Development Department during
normal office hours, Monday through
Friday, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. All
interested persons are invited to attend.
Anyone desiring to speak in opposition
to one of the above cases shall file a
Campaign Contribution Disclosure
form at least 2 business days prior to
the September 21, 2009 Public Hearing.
The H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu) is in our area but is very similar to the typical winter flu.
For most people, emergency care is not necessary.
Flu testing and/or prescription medication is only needed for certain high risk patients
and can be provided by your primary care physician or local clinic.
Please do not come to the emergency department unless you are having severe symptoms.
It is best to stay home and avoid spreading the virus to others.
Visit www.cdc.gov or www.publichealthathens.com for more information.
This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by:
Athens Regional and A ST. MARY’S
MEDICAL CENTER " E » L T H C»re system