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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009
The Year in Review
A look back at the top Jackson County news stories in 2009
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SNOW STORM HITS IN MARCH
Jefferson High School student Hal Jarrett hit the sled
ding slopes in early March while school was out and
snow remained on the ground.
LARGE CROWD ATTENDS MEETING
More than 120 people crowded into the Maysville Fire Station in September for a
hearing on a proposed beer and wine ordinance.
JANUARY
•Elected officials were sworn
in at a New Year’s Day program
at the county courthouse.
•Two adults and three students
were taken to an area hospital
following a bus wreck.
•The Jackson County Board of
Commission approved spending
$218,668 to get orthophotogra
phy and contour elevations of
the county.
•Jackson County government
launched an online mapping ser
vice.
•BJC Medical Center officials
announced 45 layoffs, including
many long-time employees.
•Several countians shared their
experiences of attending the inau
guration in Washington, D.C., of
President Barack Obama.
•Randall Pugh was named
chairman of the Jackson County
Water and Sewerage Authority.
•The 25th annual Martin
Luther King Jr. celebration was
held in Jackson County.
•Huber Engineered Woods laid
off 28 people at its Commerce
strand board plant.
FEBRUARY
•The opening of the new
Jackson County Jail will be
delayed until next year in an
effort to save money. The jail
was slated to open this summer
but that was moved back to early
2010.
•A citizens' committee over
seeing restoration of the historic
courthouse in Jefferson made a
recommendation that the 1966
addition be removed from the
structure.
•A report compiled by the
newspapers showed that the
school systems’ yearly salaries
topped $64 million.
•The Nicholson City Council
approved a new town charter.
•First Covenant Bank, the
parent firm of First Commerce
Bank, was given 90 days by the
FDIC to raise additional capital
or seek a merger or sale.
•Jackson County School
System Superintendent Shannon
Adams warned personnel of a
strong possibility of cutting the
work force for the next school
year.
•Actor Robert Duvall filmed a
movie scene at Heritage Village’s
historic church.
•The Jefferson City School
System began looking at the pos
sibility of moving to a charter
school system.
•The Nicholson Water
Authority approved a $370,000
budget.
•Six positions in the Jackson
County Planning and Building
Department were cut due to the
slow down in the building indus
try.
•The Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office is the first agency in the
county to have a fleet of hybrid
vehicles rolling on county roads.
Nine patrol cars were outfitted to
run on propane gas and plans are
to add 16 more.
MARCH
•A mistrial was declared in the
trial of former Arcade mayor Joe
Sikes after a jury deliberated for
more than 10 hours. Sikes was
on trial on charges that he made
terroristic threats against Arcade
city officials in 2005.
•A winter snowstorm brought
several inches of snow to the
county and resulted in schools
closing, power outages and
wreck reports.
•The Jefferson City Council
annexed 49 “islands” into the
city limits.
•Freedom Bank of Georgia,
based in Commerce, became the
nation’s 17th bank failure of the
year when it was taken over by
federal regulators.
•The Jefferson Caterpillar plant
announced plans to close in June
due to the economy.
•Ron Johnson was named
as head of the Jackson County
Republican Party.
•Joe Sikes agreed to plead
guilty to charge of making ter
roristic threats and pay a $500
fine. An earlier trial ended in a
mistrial.
•The Jackson County Board
of Education approved a sweep
ing set of financial cutbacks,
including cutting positions and
programs in an effort to save $4
million.
APRIL
•The number of foreclosures in
Jackson County for the upcom
ing April sale date dropped
slightly from March, down to 97
from 108.
•After a one-month investiga
tion, two employees of the coun
ty planning and building depart
ment returned to work and a third
found another job.
•The Nicholson ISO rating
was reduced due to efforts of the
fire department.
•A South Jackson man was
given the go-ahead to continue
to operate a used car lot on his
property but he will have to pay
$5,000 in code violations on the
site.
•More Jackson Countians than
usual — 2,218 people — filed
a property tax return this year
with the county tax assessor’s
office disputing the value of then-
property.
•A portion of Jackson County’s
new lire safety training complex
was designated for use by the
county’s emergency manage
ment department.
•The Jackson County Board
of Education agreed to spend
$205,000 in sales tax revenue
to renovate the Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
gym.
•A series of strong storms
moved through the county caus
ing power outages, downed trees
and wrecks.
•The Jefferson Board of
Education agreed to seek charter
school status.
•The City of Arcade pulled
out of the Quad Cities Planning
Commission.
•A dispute over the renaming
of a road in Jefferson stalled the
county’s plan for a state-required
agreement between Jefferson and
Jackson County.
•The Jackson County School
System received word it would
receive $22 million in federal
stimulus funds to be used for
special education and Title 1 pro
grams.
•The Jefferson City Council
heard concerns from neighbors
of a downtown bar about noise.
•A Nicholson man was charged
in the murder of his father.
•Plans for a $40 million gro
cery distribution center in the
Dry Pond area were announced.
•The 1999 death penalty given
to Donnie Lance on two murder
charges was overturned by the
Georgia Supreme Court.
•Long-time Hoschton police
chief Dave Hill was hired by the
Jefferson Police Department as
second in command.
MAY
•BJC Authority leaders asked
the BOC to guarantee and repay
75 percent of a $5.2 million loan,
as well as guarantee 75 percent
of a $1 million line of credit. No
action was taken by the BOC.
•The 1966 addition was
removed from the old county
courthouse as part of the restora
tion project.
•A settlement bid from for
mer county warden Vicki
Underwood for $465,000 was
rejected by the board of com
missioners. Underwood filed a
lawsuit against the BOC in 2007
alleging sex discrimination in
her firing.
•The Jackson County Airport
Authority got approval from the
BOC for a $436,000 loan from
the county to continue with
improvements at the airport.
•The Jackson County Board
of Education seeks a $14.5 mil
lion short-term loan to operate
until tax funds are due.
•General Motors’ decision to
phase out its Pontiac line and
reduced sales due to the reces
sion led to Cole Buick-Pontiac-
GMC to shut down.
•The Jefferson City Council
changed its noise ordinance to
address concerns from residents
in the downtown area.
•The Jackson County
Correctional Institute will be
expanded by housing inmates
in the former state I.W. Davis
Detention Center.
•A Jefferson man was charged
after alleging firing shots at a
Jefferson residence and then
being chased by officers.
JUNE
•Jackson County’s lawsuit
over the Bear Creek Reservoir
proceeds after Judge Joe Booth
rules against a motion presented
by the Upper Oconee Basin
Water Authority asking that the
case be dismissed.
•Local high school juniors
who took the Georgia High
School Graduation Test for the
first time this year passed at
about the same rates as then-
peers across the state.
•Tax commissioner Don
Elrod says homeowners with
homestead exemptions should
be prepared for additional prop
erty taxes this year and next.
This is due to the state not giv
ing tax relief for homeowners
with homestead exemption.
•After cutting $4 million in
its proposed 2009-2010 budget
through layoffs, furloughs and
closing the Regional Evening
School, the Jackson County
school system began looking for
ways to cut another $3 million.
•The BOC hired Jerry Weitz
to take over its comprehensive
plan update.
•A Commerce man shot and
killed his grandson reportedly
over a dispute about a water
melon.
•Gina Mitsdarffer was named
the county planning director.
•A hold up on the update of
the shared services agreement
between the county and cities
was resolved when Jefferson and
the county resolved a dispute
over who renamed roads in the
town. Jefferson will do this in
the future.
•The new county lire training
center will not have the large
driving course that had been
included in the original plan fol
lowing a 3-2 vote by the BOC.
JULY
•Jackson County’s tax digest
growth is flat with a projected
one percent increase.
•Renovations were under way
at Crawford W. Long Museum
in Jefferson.
•In a measure to save the
Jefferson City School System
$202,000, the board of educa
tion voted to suspend meeting
employment retirement fund
contributions.
•A large renovation project
at North Jackson Elementary
School, as well as technology
upgrades, security entrance doors
and a music storage cabinet at
other county schools are among
the items to be funded with spe
cial purpose local option sales tax
revenue.
•All schools in Jackson County
made Adequate Yearly Progress
this year except for Jackson
County Comprehensive High
School. JCCHS did not make
AYP due to having the county
Regional Evening School data
included in its numbers.
•The parents of the Jackson
County child who died in
September 2008 while in fos
ter care received $492,792 in
a settlement with the State of
Georgia.
•The Jefferson City School
System cut two pre-planning
days and one teacher work day in
response to the governor’s state-
mandated furlough.
•The Pendergrass City Council
eliminated half of its work force,
including dismissing its city
clerk.
•Negotiations continued
between a Tennessee compa
ny looking at purchasing BJC
Medical Center.
•The City of Maysville received
$750,000 in federal funds to
finance sewer infrastructure.
AUGUST
•Three City of Pendergrass
employees allege that the town
has corruption and that they pre
sented evidence to the mayor
who did nothing. Instead, two of
the employees were fired.
•A large crowd of citizens
attended a Maysville City
Council hearing to opposed a
proposed pouring license.
•Pendergrass Mayor Monk
Tolbert settled a sexual harass
ment case against the city by
a former female police officer
without consulting the council.
•Rob Russell, who is city man
ager/police chief in Pendergrass,
resigned as city attorney in
Nicholson following the contro
versy and allegations of corrup
tion in Pendergrass.
•The City of Arcade celebrated
its 100th birthday with the unveil
ing of a war memorial.
•Three towns in the coun
ty, Hoschton, Arcade and
Pendergrass, slashed funding due
to the downturn in the economy.
•The lawyer for the three
Pendergrass whistleblowers met
with the district attorney and
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
to discuss pursuing the allega
tions of corruption.
•County government leaders
projected a $3.3 million deficit
in the 2010 budget. Refinancing
its 2008 economic development
bonds is one of the efforts of the
Jackson County government to
address the projected deficit.
•The Pendergrass City Council
attempted to hold an illegal
closed meeting following a regu
lar council meeting.
•Several public hearings were
held on a proposed beer and
wine law ordinance in Maysville
with large crowds attending and
speaking in opposition.
SEPTEMBER
•Pendergrass officials were
caught having an illegal closed
session.
•District attorney Brad Smith
asked the GBI to only investigate
the possible misuse of funds.
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continued on page 8A
RENOVATION CONTINUES ON COURTHOUSE
Exterior restoration work on the historic Jackson County courthouse in Jefferson
was largely under way in September — just a week after county commissioners
approved two contracts totaling almost $800,000 to install a new roof and restore the
windows, exterior doors and exterior of the 1879 building. Photo by Katie Huston
in Commerce
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