Newspaper Page Text
THE
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ACKSON
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H Wednesday, January 20, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 31 44 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Braselton swears in
new mayor, council
page 9A
•School furlough days
not yet determined
page 8A
•Escaped inmate
found in Banks County
page 8A
Op/Ed:
• 'The Nicholson
travel machine'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Dragons undefeated
in region play
page 1B
Features:
•'The Odd Couple'
opens this week
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-23 C
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
page 11A
•School News
. .pages 5, 6, 24C & 6B
Q -R
Benton doesn’t support Perdue’s pay plan
Governor proposes ‘pay for performance’ based on student test results
Contact Rep. Benton
Rep. District 31 Rep. Tommy Benton can be
reached by phone at 706-367-5891 (home)
or at 404-656-0177 (office); or by e-mail at
tommy.benton@house.ga.gov. For daily updates
on legislative action and links to Georgia repre
sentatives, U.S. Congressmen, Senators and
other officials, visit Benton’s Web site at www.
tommybenton.com.
ir H
BENTON
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
WHEN THE Georgia House
of Representatives debates Gov.
Sonny Perdue’s new proposal for
paying teachers, he won’t be able
to count Rep. Tommy Benton
among his supporters.
“I’m not real fond of the
governor’s proposal for pay for
teachers,” Benton acknowledged
Monday.
In his state of the state address,
Perdue proposed partially link
ing pay to student achievement,
as measured on standardized
tests, instead of on a teacher’s
education level.
Benton takes issue with
that “pay for performance”
approach.
“It leaves out a large portion
of teachers,” he complained. “It
doesn’t take care of any support
teachers like media, art, band, PE
or vocational. They are not part
of that equation for testing. If
you’re not part of the curriculum,
you’re left out of the incentive
pay.”
The District 31 Republican
also complains that the gover
nor’s approach “treats students
like factory products” who
should all be alike.
‘Technically, you would want
your best teachers to teach stu
dents at the low end of testing
scores to try to pull them up,” he
said, something that isn’t likely
to happen if pay is tied to stan
dardized test scores.
Benton expects the governor’s
proposal to be the subject of
sharp debate as the legislative
session unfolds.
As an early supporter of Rep.
David Ralston for speaker of
the House, Benton found him
self with some new committee
assignments.
He was taken off the Natural
Resources Committee and added
to the Rules Committee and the
Ethics Committee. He was also
promoted from secretary of the
Retirement Committee to vice
chairman, and he retained his
seats on the Education and
Transportation committees.
“I had requested to be put on
Rules,” said Benton. “The Ethics
Committee was a surprise, but
I think that’s an important com
mittee, so I’m pleased to be on
it.”
The Rules Committee ulti
mately decides which bills go to
the full House, where Benton said
he “might have the opportunity
to shut down bills I don’t want to
go to the House floor,” such as a
couple of education-related bills
he opposed last year.
Even more than usual, the
budget process will take center
stage this year. The legislature
continued on page 10A
Martin Luther King Jr. remembered
THE DREAM KEEPER’S PLEDGE
Myra Lester led the audience in the reading of the Dream Keeper’s Pledge during
the 26th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Birthday Celebration in
Jefferson. See page 12A for more on the event. Photo by Katie Huston
Hoschton police to end this month
Council makes dept. ‘dormant ’ to keep city alive
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
HOSCHTON POLICE will
stop patrolling the city by the
end of the month, the town’s
council decided Friday.
The decision to make the
Hoschton Police Department
“dormant” for an unknown
amount of time came as a
result to pass a “survival” bud
get to keep the city alive amid
troubling financial news laid
out at recent council meet
ings.
Last week, the council held
two called meetings to dis
cuss its budget and outline the
administrative changes in the
amended budget.
In a 4-1 vote on Wednesday,
Jan. 13, the Hoschton City
Council adopted its amended
2010 water and sewer, and
general fund budgets that
forecast no money for the
police department.
Council members Sandie
Romer, Jim Higginbottom,
Theresa Kenerly and Scott
Butler voted to approve the
amended budgets after an hour
and a half of heated discus
sion between the council and
citizens at the called meeting
on Wednesday night.
Council member Richard
Shepherd voted in opposition,
and Jim Cleveland wasn’t
present while still recover
ing from injuries in a recent
motorcycle accident.
Butler said the amended
budget will cut $300,000 in
public safety expenses and
COUNTY TO TAKE OVER
Hoschton council member Richard Shepherd dis
cusses the “zones” covered by the Jackson County
Sheriff’s Office, which will soon take over law enforce
ment protection in the city. Photo by Kerri Testement
Sheriff Evans: County will
respond in timely fashion
EVANS
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
NOW THAT Hoschton’s police department will
go “dormant” for an unknown amount of time, the
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office will be providing
law enforcement services in the city.
During two called council meetings last week,
citizens and business owners raised concerns about
the switch from city law enforcement protection to
county services.
Some of the questions centered on incident
response times — the amount of time it takes an agency’s officer to
arrive to a scene after being sent by emergency dispatchers.
MainStreet Newspapers talked to Jackson County Sheriff Stan
Evans on Monday about the county’s services for Hoschton.
MainStreet Newspapers: What is your current response time to
Hoschton, if there’s an incident in Hoschton?
Evans: Our response time county wide is just over eight minutes, I
believe. We don’t have it broken down, as far as Hoschton itself.
MainStreet Newspapers: Do you expect that (response time) to be
continued on page 10A
continued on page 10A
Sales tax vote needed
to continue projects
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THERE ARE two choices
if taxpayers don’t approve the
next round of sales tax proj
ects — cut services or raise
property taxes, according to
one official.
Jackson County voters are
set to go to the polls some
time in 2010-2011 to decide
if they’ll continue the one-
penny Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
The current SPLOST —
approved by voters in 2005
— has been used to fund a
new county jail and health
department in Commerce,
along with a number of water
and sewer, road, recreation
and public safety projects in
the county and its cities.
“If we don’t have the sales
tax to support these capital
projects, then what hap
pens is you’re forced to find
ways to either cut the bud
get — which would mean
that we’d have to cut services
— or we’d have to raise the
millage rate,” county finance
director Hulsey warned dur
ing a town hall meeting spon
sored by commissioner Bruce
Yates on Tuesday, Jan. 12, in
Hoschton.
But people who visit and
“If we don’t have
the sales tax...
you ’re forced
to find ways to
either cut the
budget...or we’d
have to raise the
millage rate. ”
- County finance
director John Hulsey
make purchases in Jackson
County contribute to the sales
tax fund, Hulsey said. He
encouraged citizens to con
tinue to support SPLOST.
In 2005, the county estimat
ed that the six-year SPLOST
would generate $51 million.
While voters overwhelming
approved extending SPLOST
then, only 12 percent of the
county’s registered voters
cast a ballot in the March
election.
SPLOST remains the sec
ond single-largest income
source for Jackson County,
Hulsey said. By Georgia law,
sales tax funds can only be
used on capital projects.
The county’s general fund
budget has taken a hit with
the recession, Hulsey said.
Jackson County’s 2010
general fund budget is $35.1
continued on page 10A
Wheeler calls for more
Nicholson travel dollars
BY SHARON HOGAN
A NICHOLSON
councilman called for
the addition of more
travel dollars for city
officials in the proposed
2010 city budget.
At a meeting held
last week, Chuck
Wheeler said he thought the
budget needed to add $10,000
for more city travel.
“I think we need to add
$10,000 to travel, we are going
places,” he said.
Wheeler suggested adding
the $10,000 to travel and sub
tracting it from machinery.
Mayor Ronnie Maxwell
presented a proposed budget
totaling $405,000 for 2010.
“I cut 28 to 32 percent from
the previous budget,” Maxwell
said.
The proposed budget includ
ed $4,000 for travel, $3,500
for education and training and
$42,632 for machinery.
Maxwell said he was against
Wheeler’s idea to add more
travel funds.
Wheeler made a motion to
add $10,000 to travel and edu
cation expenses.
In the 3-1 vote, coun
cil members Howard
Wilbanks and Lamar
Watkins voted with
Wheeler in favor of the
change.
Council member
Bobby Crawford voted
against the motion.
“I will reserve the right
to look at this if revenues
don’t come in as projected,”
Maxwell said.
Watkins said, “I think we
need to cut back on what we
spend on fireworks. $5,000 is
a lot to blow up in the air.”
Maxwell advised the city
spent approximately $3,500
last year on the event. Most
of the money came from
the Daisy Festival revenues,
Maxwell stated.
Wheeler also questioned
$26,000 in the budget for
library books, DVDs and
books on tape.
“I think that is a little high,
$26,000 for books and peri
odicals,” Wheeler said.
continued on page 10A
WHEELER