Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
(M
W
H Wednesday, April 7, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 42 48 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
Qualifying ahead for summer elections
JACKSON COUNTY voters will
have plenty on their political plates in
2010 between county, state and national
elections.
The primaries are July 20. All general
and non-partisan elections are Nov. 2.
Qualifying for the July primaries runs
from April 26 at 9 a.m. to April 30 at
noon.
Qualifying for the November general
elections and non-partisan elections runs
from June 28 at 9 a.m. to July 2 at noon.
The voter registration deadline for the
July primaries is June 21. The deadline
for the November elections is Oct. 4.
Here’s a rundown of what's on the bal
lot this election year:
Two commission spots are up for grabs
— those currently held by Bruce Yates,
District 3; and Dwain Smith, District 4.
Three Jackson County Board of
Education seats are up for election —
those currently held by Tim Brooks,
District 2; Kathy Wilbanks, District 3;
and Jill McEver Elliott, District 5.
Both of Jackson County’s state repre
sentative seats are up for election: District
31, currently held by Tommy Benton
(R); and District 30, held by Tom McCall
(R). The Senate District 47 seat is also
up for grabs. Incumbent Ralph Hudgens
(R) is running for state insurance com
missioner.
Commerce will hold a special election
March 16 to fill the unexpired term of the
late Richard Massey, who represented
Ward 5 on the city council.
At the state level, voters will decide
elections for both governor and lieuten
ant governor this year. Other state elec
tions include secretary of state, attorney
general, state school superintendent, state
agriculture commissioner, state insurance
commissioner and state labor commis
sioner.
Nationally, U.S. senator Johnny
Isakson is up for re-election, as is District
10 U.S. Congressman Paul Broun.
U On the ballot
LOCAL ELECTIONS
•Commerce Council Ward 5
•Board of Commissioners, Districts 3,4
•Board of Education, Districts 2, 3, 5
NATIONAL ELECTIONS
•United States Senate
•United States Congress, District 10
STATE ELECTIONS
•State Senate, District 47
•State Senate, District 49
•State Representative, District 31
•State Representative, District 30
•Governor
•Lt. Governor
•Secretary of State
•Attorney General
•State School Superintendent
•State Agriculture Commissioner
•State Insurance Commissioner
•State Labor Commissioner
ELECTION CALENDAR
•July 20 — general primary, special election date
•Aug. 10 — primary runoff, special election runoff
•Sept. 21 — special election date
•Oct. 19 — special election runoff
•Nov. 2 — general/non-partisan election, special election date
•Nov. 30 — general/non-partisan election runoff
Some CB&T branches to close
)
MAYSVILLE BRANCH TO CLOSE
The Maysville branch of Community Bank & Trust,
shown here, is one of 10 of the bank’s locations to be
closed in late May. The branch in the Jefferson Kroger
will also close.
Photo by Sharon Hogan
Three qualify for State
Senate seat in District 49
— Inside —
Area news:
•Proms coming up
page 2A
•Men charged by JPD
for gun transport
page 3 A
Op/Ed:
•'On their shoulders
rode a county'
page 4A
•JHS takes a win
page 1B
•SuperbikeShowdown
coming to Road Atlanta
page 1B
Features:
•Scenes from Ag Day
page 1C
BRANCHES IN Maysville
and in the Jefferson Kroger are
among 10 Community Bank &
Trust locations to be closed in
late May.
The company could not
immediately say how many jobs
will be lost in the closings.
“I don’t know but just two or
three that will exit the company,”
said Bill Loyd, senior vice presi
dent. “Most of the folks will be
transferred to other branches or
can apply for other positions as
they become open.”
The reorganization follows
the February acquisition of
Community Bank and Trust by
South Carolina Bank and Trust
through an agreement with the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
(FDIC).
Community Bank & Trust
currently has 36 locations in
northeast Georgia; the move will
leave it with 26.
“Our first priority is to return
Community Bank & Trust to
a sound and profitable bank so
that we can continue to serve
the financial needs of the citi
zens of North Georgia and at
the same time offer a strong
and stable work environment for
our employees,” said Loyd, in
a company news release. “Each
branch closing was carefully
considered and was determined
after extensive study.”
Seven of the 10 offices to be
closed are “supermarket banks”
— branches in space leased
inside of stores like the Jefferson
Kroger. In Commerce, the bank
has such branches in Quality
Foods on the west side of town
and in Ingles on the east side.
There is another in the Banks
Crossing Walmart.
According to the news release,
the bank will retain at least one
office in each of the 10 counties
it serves.
continued on page 3A
THREE candidates have qual
ified for a special election to fill
the unexpired state senate District
49 term of Lee Hawkins.
Those who qualified last
week for the seat are: Brandon
Givens, a Libertarian who lives
in Gainesville; and Republicans
Butch Miller and Jimmy
Norman, both of Flowery
Branch.
A special election will be held
on Tuesday, May 11, in Hall
County and a portion of Jackson
County. Polls will be open from
7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Hawkins resigned from the
post to run for U.S. Rep. Nathan
Deal’s seat. Deal recently
resigned to run for governor.
Eight people qualified for
Deal’s Congressional District 9
seat. A special election for that
seat will also be held on May 11
in Hall County and other north
east Georgia counties.
Benton to seek re-election
REP. TOMMY BENTON has announced that he
will seek election to his fourth term in the Georgia
House of Representatives from District 31.
Benton, 69, represents most of Jackson County
and small parts of Barrow and Hall counties.
Qualifying for the July primaries will take place
the last week of April.
Benton, a Republican from Jefferson, is vice
chairman of the House Retirement Committee,
secretary of its Education Committee and serves on
the Retirement and Rules committees.
f fy
, -*■■
iJ
BENTON
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 5-24C
•Church News
page 8B
•Obituaries
page 10A
•School News
pages 8, 9, 11 A, 5-7B, 12B
Hoschton council holds illegal meeting
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE HOSCHTON City
Council met behind closed
doors on Monday night to
discuss pending litigation —
but didn’t follow state law to
properly publicize the meeting
beforehand.
Before Monday’s 7 p.m.
regular meeting, the council
members went into a called closed-door meet
ing starting at 6:30 p.m. and remained in the
executive session for 30 minutes.
Typically, the council holds its closed-door
meetings — if needed — at the end of the meet
ings that start at 7 p.m.
Hoschton Mayor Erma Denney said after the
meeting that a public notice was posted at city
hall about the 6:30 p.m. meeting change on
Monday morning. The city didn’t contact news
papers about the called meeting in advance —
which is required by Georgia’s Sunshine Laws.
Denney said the called meeting at 6:30 p.m.
on Monday was needed because one of the
council members was slated to leave that eve
ning for an out-of-town trip.
On Saturday, there was a new development
in a pending lawsuit that required the city’s
action on Monday for an upcoming deadline,
she said.
All of the council members attended the
called closed-door meeting, Denney said. City
attorney Thomas Mitchell was seen outside the
depot, where the meeting was held, minutes
before the doors were officially opened to the
public waiting for the 7 p.m. council meeting.
Monday’s closed-door meeting followed
another one held on Thursday night for 35 min
utes to also discuss pending litigation.
That closed-door meeting — which ended
after 10 p.m. — followed the regular council
meeting that started at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
The council took no action after either closed-
door meeting.
Bernardi hired by chamber
THE JACKSON County Area Chamber of
Commerce has announced that Courtney Bernardi
has been hired as its new director of economic
development.
Prior to joining the chamber. Bernardi was with
the Georgia Department of Community Affairs
(DCA) where she was once a regional representa
tive covering Jackson County. She holds a bach
elor of arts degree from Presbyterian College
and a master’s of public administration from
Kennesaw State University. She and her husband live in Atlanta.
Bemardi’s hiring was approved by the chamber’s board of direc
tors at a meeting on March 19.
BERNARDI
Sales taxes up in Jackson
SALES TAXES in Jackson County for January were up over
last year, but were running below budget for 2010.
Jackson collected $412,300 in January sales taxes, up 6.8 per
cent from January 2009.
While this is good news, the rate is 4.3 percent below the pace
budgeted for 2010 with just one month’s report.
Smith against consultant updating drug policy
Tom Bailey
drowns during
Cozumel trip
JEFFERSON business
man Tom Bailey, 46, died
Monday while snorkeling
in Cozumel. He was in
Mexico on a cruise with
his family.
Bailey’s family has
owned Jefferson Motor
Company for many years.
Funeral arrangements are
being handled by Evans
Funeral Home, Jefferson.
BYANGELA GARY
JACKSON COUNTY com
missioner Dwain Smith supports
enforcing the drug policy, but he
is opposed to hiring a consultant
to update the document.
At the board of commissioners
meeting Monday night, Smith
questioned human resources
director Melanie Thomas about
the $6,500 price for the consul
tant to do the update.
“I can’t see us wasting that
kind of money for something we
can do ourselves,” Smith said.
“We are having to penny pinch
on everything else and I feel
like we can do this ourselves...
I’m for a drug policy, but I just
don’t see us spending that kind of
money on a consultant. I’m for
drug testing 100 percent.”
Smith said the Association
County Commissioners of
Georgia has a drug policy that
the county could use as a guide.
“I question why pay $90 an
hour for a consultant to write up
a policy,” he said. “I just can’t see
spending that kind of money on a
consultant.”
No action was taken on the
recommendation from Thomas
to move forward with the update.
The item will be on the agenda
for a vote when the BOC meets
at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 19, at
the courthouse.
At this week’s meeting,
Thomas said the recommenda
tion is an effort to consolidate
policies that contradict with each
other.
“We are trying to get them
consistent,” she said. “We are
trying to bring some consisten
cies in these policies.”
The updated policy would also
require 260 additional employ
ees be tested.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the BOC
discussed the following items
that will also be on the agenda at
the April 19 meeting for a vote:
•a request from Hoyt and
Delores Love to move a 1985
mobile home from Fair Play,
S.C., to property they own on
Wilhite Road.
•a policy change to allow
the animals taken to the county
continued on page 3A