Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, February 24, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 36 50 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•BJC deal to be done
within 45 days
page 2A
•STAR students and
teachers honored
page 8A
Op/Ed:
•'SPLOST effort will
be uphill'.... page 4A
Sports:
•Mat Dragons take
state title page 1B
•Recreation teams
pages 9-10A
Features:
•Peace Place ball,
silent auction raises
funds for shelter
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 7-260.
•Church News
pages 6&11B
•Obituaries
pages 7&10B
•School News
pages 11 A, 12B
Chamber to promote SPLOST vote
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County Area Chamber
of Commerce signaled its intentions
Friday of taking a lead role in promoting
extension of the Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in a vote
later this year.
By the time the current tax expires June
30, 2011, it will have brought in as much
as $55 million to city and county govern
ments. To keep the funds flowing, voters
will have to renew the tax in a referendum
July 20 or Nov. 2.
The directors voted unanimously to
support the effort. President Shane Short
indicated that he will have a resolution
to that effect to be voted on at the March
meeting of the directors.
Five years ago, the chamber was the
conduit through which funds to promote
the referendum could be gathered for
advertising and public relations. Local
governments are prohibited by law from
spending public funds to promote — or
oppose — ballot issues.
“SPLOST is important not only for
our county, but also for many of our
municipalities,” Short told his board. “A
lot of the county's debt service is based
on SPLOST.”
Hunter Bicknell, chairman of the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners,
confirmed Short’s comments.
“It is important,” he said. “We all realize
it is going to be very important to com
municate to our citizens the worthiness of
our projects.”
For the county, most of its share would
go to pay down debt. Bicknell said the
county hopes to use about $12.6 million
to make payments on its new jail, and
it would like to use SPLOST proceeds
BOC to meet on
THE JACKSON County Board of
Commissioners will have a called meet
ing on Thursday, February 25, at 6 p.m.
to discuss calling for a special pur
pose local option sales tax (SPLOST)
5 vote and HB 489, the Shared Service
Delivery Strategy.
instead of General Fund revenue to make
the county's annual debt payment on the
Bear Creek Reservoir and water treatment
plant.
To do the latter, Bicknell said the
SPLOST proceeds allocated in this round
of SPLOST to the Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority for capital proj
ects would go to Jackson County for debt
service in the new round.
SPLOST, HB 489
Representatives from the nine towns
in the county have been invited to attend
the meeting.
The meeting will be held in the Jury
Assembly Room of the Jackson County
Courthouse, located at 5000 Jackson
Parkway, Jefferson.
“They (water and sewerage authority
officials) have indicated they could elimi
nate any further plans and just depend on
developers (to build new lines),” Bicknell
said.
A portion of the SPLOST would also
go to parks and recreation and roads.
“We need it very seriously,” Bicknell
continued on page 3A
An Arbor Day planting
GIVING ROOT TO NEWLY-PLANTED TREES
Students from the Boys and Girls Club of Jackson County help place mulch around
a newly-planted tree at the Rev. V.S. Hughey Park in downtown Jefferson. The city
celebrated Arbor Day on Friday with a ceremony marking the planting of the trees
and an announcement that Jefferson has received a $50,000 state grant to provide
more trees in the city. Photo by Kerri Testement
Jefferson gets another tree project grant
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THERE’S A light-hearted warning for children
playing in a downtown Jefferson park—enjoy the
new trees, but don't climb on them.
That's because the 10 trees — including vari
eties of elm, oak and dogwood — are some of
the first in an effort to maintain and improve
Jefferson's tree canopy in the city.
The Jefferson Heritage Tree Council celebrated
Arbor Day on Friday with a ceremony marking
the planting of the trees in the Rev. V.S. Hughey
Park. Students from the nearby Boys and Girls
Club of Jackson County — who frequently use
the Gordon Street park — helped place mulch
around the newly-planted trees.
“All of these were planted here as part of a
grant we received from the Georgia Forestry
Commission,” said Mary Dugan, chairman of the
Jefferson Heritage Tree Council.
The Hughey Park project received a $2,000
“Making the Shade” grant from the state agency
in August 2009 to provide a healthy, cool place for
children to play.
The Georgia Forestry Commission also gave
the Jefferson group a $19,565 grant to inventory
the city's trees, conduct a tree study and review the
city's tree ordinance, among other things.
Another grant for $4,780 in 2008 was used in
part for an inventory that determined that Jefferson
has 1,400 potential sites to maintain large tree
canopies.
And the Jefferson Heritage Tree Council
announced that it has received a $50,000 grant
from the Georgia Forestry Commission’s Georgia
continued on page 3A
Nicholson continues with comp plan update
BY SHARON HOGAN
THE NICHOLSON City
Council continued with work
on its comprehensive plan at
Thursday's council meeting.
Jerry Weitz, Jerry Weitz &
Associates, Inc. Planning and
Development Consultants,
presented the council with the
city’s community assessment
and community participation
program.
Weitz and Joel Logan,
Jackson County GIS manager,
were on hand with land use
maps for the citizens to review
as part of the comprehensive
plan update.
The city will hold a pub
lic hearing on the comprehen
sive plan update at 7 pm. on
Monday, March 1, prior to the
regular monthly council meet
ing. At the hearing, the city will
continued on page 3A
LAND USE MAPS REVIEWED
Jackson County GIS Manager Joel Logan (C) and
Jerry Weitz, Jerry Weitz & Associates, Inc. Planning
and Development Consultants (R) were on hand at
Thursday’s Nicholson City Council meeting to discuss
the city’s land use maps. Nicholson resident Faye
Wilbanks (L) is shown looking over the maps.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
Jefferson to seek state
funds for new library
BYANGELA GARY
JEFFERSON leaders agreed
Monday night to seek a state
grant to help fund a new library
for the town.
Jefferson will seek $2 mil
lion through Georgia’s public
library capital outlay grants
program. If approved, the city
would have to fund the remain
ing $2.8 million.
At a work session held earlier
this month, Amy Carlan, branch
manager of the Jefferson Public
Library, said the library's pub
lic meeting room is too small
to host larger children’s events
and thousands of books have
been taken off limited shelf
space.
The existing library, locat
ed at the intersection of Old
Pendergrass Road and Hoschton
Street, is within a short walking
distance of four city schools and
is 5,000 square feet. The coun
cil has discussed swapping the
land with the Jefferson Board
of Education and building a
new 15,000 square foot facility
elsewhere in the city.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Monday
night, the Jefferson City
Council:
•denied a request from
Andrew Pieplow, a parent who
asked that the city waive the
mandatory $35 fee for non-city
residents to participate in recre
ational activities.
•amended the building regu
lations to meet new state codes.
•amended the wrecker service
ordinance to change require
ments regarding screening of
storage lots.
•declared a 2000 Mercury
Grand Marquis used by the
police department as surplus.
•agreed to transfer $20,000
from the general fund to be
used as demolition funds for
nuisance abatement.
Benton: Budget coming
up for General Assembly
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
REP. TOMMY Benton is
getting a two-week vacation
from the Georgia Legislature,
and he has reason to hope that
once the General Assembly
reconvenes March 8 that the
rest of the session might be
shortened.
The major item on the legis
lative horizon is the approval of
the 2011 budget. According to
Benton, the General Assembly
is taking a new approach to that
most critical bill.
“Both appropriation com
mittees from the House and
the Senate are meeting jointly
to hear requests from agency
heads,” Benton noted. “I think
they hope to come up with a
budget without all the yea-yea-
back-and-forth and come up
with something pretty quick. If
we can do that, we'll go home,
I think.”
Typically, the House approves
a budget, sends it to the Senate,
and the Senate approves it, typi
cally with changes. Then a con
ference committee is formed
to hammer out a compromise
between the two versions, after
which the House and Senate
must each approve the revised
version before it goes to the
governor for his signature. The
new approach, Benton said, is
aimed at getting to a bill both
branches of the legislature can
live with a lot sooner.
“If we can get it and get it
passed, it would not surprise
me if we don’t go home,” said
Benton, whose 31st House
Contact Rep. Benton
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 rep
resentatives, U.S. Congressmen,
Senators and other officials, visit
Benton’s Web site at www.tom-
mybenton.com.
District covers most of Jackson
County. “It's the only thing
we’re required by law to do.”
While Gov. Sonny Perdue
issued a revenue estimate pro
jecting four-percent growth in
the fiscal year. Benton says the
appropriations committees are
not buying Perdue's optimism.
“I don’t know anyone in
the House who believes it will
increase four percent,” Benton
said. “I think they're looking
at it (revenue) being stagnant.
I think there’s going to be a big
(revenue) hole to fill.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has
yet to approve the supplemen
tal budget, the House version
of which was approved last
week.
Benton said the Senate
changes appear to be minor,
but there's always a chance
that Perdue will again revise
continued on page 3A