Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
MW.
H Wednesday, April 21, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 44 48 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75c COPY
•JCCHS holds prom
page 12A
Op/Ed:
•'Abuse is larger
than Catholic Church'
page 4A
Graham withdraws; Wilbanks won’t run
WITH QUALIFYING looming next
week, two high profile political leaders
announced this week that their names
won’t be on the ballot.
Former Braselton Mayor Pat Graham
has withdrawn as a candidate for State
Senate District 47 seat and Jackson
County Board of Education chairman
Kathy Wilbanks is stepping down after
12 years on the board.
GRAHAM
Citing personal reasons, Graham said
she won’t seek the District 47 state
senate seat — which includes Barrow,
Madison and Oglethorpe counties, and
portions of Clarke. Elbert and Jackson
counties.
Qualifying for the seat — currently
held by Ralph Hudgens, who is running
for state insurance commissioner — will
begin April 26, with a primary election
set for July 20 and general election
GRAHAM WILBANKS
ahead on Nov. 2.
Candidates Kelley Gary, Hoschton;
Shane Coley, Winder; and Doug Bower,
Oglethorpe County have announced their
plans to qualify for the District 47 seat.
Graham didn’t ran for a third term as
mayor of Braselton in November 2009,
and instead announced her plans to ran
for the state senate seat.
She cited her parents’ ailing health as
the reason for her withdrawal from the
campaign on Monday.
“Since last fall, my brothers and I have
been grappling with difficult decisions
with respect to our aging parents.” she
said in a statement. “Declining health
issues have affected them in the past
few months, and although they live in an
adjoining state, I am the closest child to
attend to their needs. Medical informa
tion received last week leaves no doubt
that my parents need my time, support
and assistance now. Family has always
come first.”
“I am thankful to all of my campaign
supporters who worked tirelessly on my
behalf,” she continued in the statement.
“I am truly humbled by the support
throughout the campaign and wish the
best to the remaining candidates.”
“I am a competitor, as many have
come to know; however, compet
ing against life-challenging health and
aging issues will take my full energies,”
Graham added. ‘That is what my parents
deserve.”
Graham, a Republican, was elected
mayor of Braselton in 2001, and later
served on a number of regional and state
boards. In 2009, she was featured on the
cover of Georgia Trend magazine.
WILBANKS
Citing the need for change after serv
ing the District 3 seat for 12 years and 10
years as chairperson of the school board,
Wilbanks said she wants someone else to
serve the school system.
“I feel like it’s time for me to step aside
and let someone else see what they can
do with it,” she said on Tuesday. “And I
believe good things can happen. I believe
the (school) system will continue to keep
moving forward.”
continued on page 3A
Sports:
\
•Dragons continue on
winning streak
page 1B
Features:
*
•Chamber chili cook
off includes 18 teams
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 11-28C
•Church News
page 5B
•Obituaries
page 8-9A
•School News
. . . pages 10-11 A, 6-8B
O -s
JHS BOYS WIN REGION
The Jefferson High School Boys Tennis Team won the Region
8AA Championship last week with a 3-2 win over North Oconee
High School. Here Zach Bost drives a forehand during the cham
pionship match with NOHS.
Animals taken by county to
be given to humane society
BYANGELA GARY
A POLICY change to allow the
animals taken to the county Animal
Control Division be given to the
Jackson County Humane Society
was approved by the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners Monday
night.
The humane society will house the
animals until they are adopted. The
former county policy called for the
animals to be euthanized if they were
not adopted or claimed by the owner
in five days.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the BOC approved
the following:
•a request to update the drug and
alcohol policies to provide for more
guidance in the administration of the
policies and to make the guidelines
consistent. Earlier, commissioner
Dwain Smith spoke on his concerns
of the proposal to use a consultant to
handle some of this. When the motion
was approved this week, Smith said
continued on page 3A
BOC meets behind closed doors
Votes to move on purchasing property
BY ANGELA GARY
AFTER MEETING behind closed
doors for almost two hours Monday
night, the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners unanimously voted
to move forward with buying prop
erty. But specific details on where
the property is located or what it will
be used for were not discussed.
The motion, made by commis
sioner Bruce Yates, was to “proceed
with the acquisition of real estate for
transportation purposes under the
terms and condition” discussed in
the closed session.
The BOC met in open session
only 45 minutes before going into
closed session. The reasons given
for the closed meeting were “pend
ing litigation” and “real estate trans
action.” When the meeting was
opened to the public, no mention
was made of the pending litigation
discussion.
Qualifying starts Monday
BOC, BOE seats
to be on ballot
WHO IS really serious about running for
the state Senate seat from District 47? Will
Rep. Tommy Benton have any opposition
for re-election from District 31? How about
commissioners Dwain Smith and Bruce
Yates?
Those questions will be answered start
ing Monday as qualifying for the July
20 Republican and Democratic primaries
begins.
Qualifying starts at 9 a.m. Monday and
lasts through Friday 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 ballot
this year:
•Two seats on the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners are up for grabs - those
currently held by Bruce Yates, District 3;
and Dwain Smith, District 4.
continued on page 3A
Local elections
•Board of Commissioners, Districts 3,4
•Board of Education, Districts 2, 3, 5
State elections
•State Senate, District 47
•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
National elections
•United States Senate
•United States Congress, District 10
2010 calendar of election events
•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/nonpartisan election and
special election date
•Nov. 30 general/nonpartisan election runoff
County near settling reservoir lawsuit
By Mark Beardsley
JACKSON COUNTY is on the verge
of settling its lawsuit against the Upper
Oconee Basin Water Authority.
In fact, the two parties had expected to
reach an agreement Tuesday morning in
a called meeting of the basin authority,
but that meeting was cancelled after the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners
decided to make some changes in the
agreement during a closed-to-the-public
session Monday night.
“We said there were changes we wanted
to make to the agreement before we move
forward,” explained Hunter Bicknell.
chairman, “time tables, a little bit of word
ing — nothing of a deal-breaker nature.”
Jackson County sued the group, which
owns the Bear Creek Reservoir and its
water treatment plant, over the capacity
of the reservoir and the subsequent daily
allocation of water. Jackson County offi
cials believe that the reservoir’s capacity
is less than half of the 58 million gallons
per day upon which its owners’ allocations
are based.
Jackson County owns a 25-percent
stake in the 505-acre reservoir.
The terms of the potential settlement
reportedly call for a recalculation of the
reservoir’s capacity by an independent
consultant and a second calculation of its
capacity during times of a severe drought.
Should the results of the studies con
firm anything close to Jackson County’s
position, the amount of water Jackson,
Clarke, Barrow and Oconee counties
can remove from the lake will decrease
sharply. While that would put additional
pressure on Jackson County to look at
additional sources of water in the near
future, its impact on Clarke County, which
uses most of its daily allocation regularly,
would be immediate, possibly forcing it to
purchase water from its other partners in
the reservoir.
“These changes in text will be put
together and then forwarded to the author
ity for their consideration and comments.”
Bicknell said.
Daisy Festival set April 30-May 2
THE CITY of Nicholson’s annu
al Daisy Festival will be held April
30-May 2.
Music, games, food and a parade
are part of the plans for the three-day
festival.
The festival will open at 6 p.m. on
Friday with entertainment, a cake walk
and arts and crafts booths scheduled.
On Saturday, the parade will be held at
10:30 a.m. Opening ceremonies will be
held at 11:30 a.m. and local politicians
are invited to speak. Entertainment will
be provided throughout the afternoon.
On Sunday, gospel music will be
offered from 1 to 4 p.m.
Applications are no longer being
accepted for booth space.
Fridav Schedule of Events
•6-7 p.m.
Glory Road
•7-7:30 p.m.
Cake Walk
•7:30-9 p.m.
His Vision/Danny Ray
Saturdav Schedule of Events
•10:30-11:30 a.m.
Parade
•11:30 a.m.
Opening Ceremony
•12:20-12:45 p.m.
School of Dance
•12:45-1:30 p.m.
Jazz Ensemble
•1:45-2:30 p.m.
Mellow Yellow Chug Contest
•3-4 p.m.
Hula Hoop Contest
•4:15-5 p.m.
Blue Billy Grit Band
•5-6:30 p.m.
Cake Walk
•7-8:30 p.m.
The Dalton Gang
•9-10 p.m.
Eli Carlan Band
Sundav Schedule of Events
•1-4 p.m.
All day gospel featuring
Clarke Kesler and Friends