Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
MW.
H Wednesday, May 19, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 135 NO. 48 48 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75c COPY
•Graduation section
inside this edition
Area News:
•GBI's Pendergrass
investigation continues
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Government reces
sion just starting'
page 4A
Sports:
•Dragons win state
title page 1B
Features:
•A homecoming from
Afghanistan
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-27C
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
page 6B
•School News
pages 8-1OA
O -S
Jefferson BOE plans 10 furlough days
Elementary, middle school Spanish classes cut for 2010-11
BY KATIE HUSTON
THERE WILL BE up to 10 furlough
days in the Jefferson City School System
next year as part of a larger plan to cut
costs in the system. The days won't be
decided and the calendar set until the city
receives its state funds allotment sheet,
officials said.
In addition to the furlough days, the
Jefferson Board of Education last week
approved cutting all elementary and mid
dle school Spanish teaching positions as
part of a reduction in force program.
Also as part of the plan, one elementary
school counselor position and one kinder
garten teaching position will be cut.
These cuts are not all the cuts the
system plans to make. Other cuts
come in the form of teacher resigna
tions and reassignments.
Among those changes are: Not replac
ing an empty assistant principal position
at Jefferson High School; combining the
principal’s position for Jefferson Academy
(3-5) and Jefferson Elementary School
(Pre-K through 2); and combining some
job functions for the assistant principal’s
position at the middle school.
The reduction in force plan aims to
lessen the impact from the reduction in
state funding of $913,500 it experienced
between Fiscal Year 2009 and FY 2010.
The system is also expecting a further
reduction in state funding of $118,650 for
FY 2011.
EMPLOYMENT
The following resignations were accept
ed by the BOE:
Troy Kasting, JHS assistant princi
pal: Sue Pinion. JHS teacher; Kathleen
A. Springer. JHS teacher; Tobie Bass
Trudeau, JES teacher; Greg Maxwell,
JMS paraprofessional; Bonnie Orr, JES
paraprofessional; and Margaret Pate, JES
paraprofessional.
The following employments were
approved by the BOE:
DeMaris Gurley, principal, Pre-K
through fifth; Brandy Corbett, principal of
Jefferson Middle School; Steven Messig.
JHS teacher; Sid Smith, JMS paraprofes
sional; Gladys Thomas, JES SFS assistant;
and Daphne Aponte; JES SFS assistant.
Employment in JES Plus program
was approved for Kayla Adams, sum
mer and 2010-2011 school year; Timothy
Alexander Holman Jr., summer and 2010-
2011 school year; and Amelia Blair, sum
mer program.
SAFE ROUTES TO
SCHOOL GRANT
The City of Jefferson along with the
Jefferson School System was awarded a
federal Safe Routes to School grant in the
amount of $499,680.
The grant will place sidewalks to
increase safety from the Jefferson Public
Library down to the second entrance of the
Preserve at the Fountainhead Subdivision.
The cost does include construction, and
City Manager John Ward said that the
amount Jefferson received was one of the
largest amounts awarded across the state.
He said that it brings the total amount oi
continued on page 5A
ONE-VEHICLE WRECK
This one-vehicle wreck was reported around 1 p.m. Tuesday on Academy Church
Road. One woman received minor injuries. Further details were not available from
the Jefferson Police Department at press time Wednesday morning.
Photo by Mike Buffington
Health board dips into reserve funds
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Board of Health will spend
almost $40,000 in reserve
funds to maintain services in
the upcoming fiscal year.
Meeting last Wednesday in
Commerce, the board approved
a $970,870 budget for the fiscal
year beginning July 1. That’s a
one-percent reduction over the
current budget.
The board faces a reduction
of almost $15,000 in fee income
and nearly $30,000 less in fund
ing from the state, but the rev
enue from Jackson County is
holding steady at $230,784.
The board banks all fee
income from the current year
and spends it in the following
year. It projects ending the fis
cal year June 30 with $280,000
in fee income, which will be
applied to next year’s budget.
That’s down five percent from
fee revenue of the previous
year.
On the expenditure side, per
sonnel costs will go up one per
cent due to filling a vacant posi
tion, but the board anticipates
shaving more than $19,000 out
of operations.
“It’s a pretty austere budget,”
remarked Dr. Claude Burnett,
director of the Northeast Health
District. He pointed out that rev
enue from the state has dropped
considerably over the past three
years.
“Last year, they cut it 12 per
cent, this year eight percent and
next year it will be 11 per
cent.” Burnett said. “That pretty
well applies to every county in
Georgia.”
The budget must also be
approved by the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners.
Burnett also announced that
the health department has run
out of money for screening
pap smears and mammograms
for women. Mammograms are
being reserved only for high-
risk cases.
The funding shortfall could
affect 30-40 women through
June, when the fiscal year ends
and new funds will be available,
officials estimate.
Last year the department ran
out of money for birth control
pills, he added.
According to Burnett, the
Northeast Health District has
done 10 percent more pap
smears this year than last.
The board also held a first
reading of its amended rabies
protection ordinance which,
when enacted, will add ferrets
to the list of animals - now just
dogs and cats - required to be
inoculated against rabies.
The ordinance tracks state
law, according to Richard
Harrison, environmental health
manager for the county health
department.
Water authority tightens policy on payment
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Water and Sewerage authority
tightened rules for people claim
ing they can’t pay their water
bills because of medical issues.
In amending its “medical need
for water service” policy, the
authority established a limit and
added verification requirements
to deter a couple of customers
who act as if their conditions
mean they don’t have to pay
their bills, according to Judy
Davis, the authority’s finance
director.
Under the amendment passed
last Thursday night, someone
unable to pay their bill due to
a medical need or emergency
must provide notification from
a physician affirming the need
and must authorize the authority
to contact the physician to verify
the need.
The amendment does not
authorize the authority to solicit
medical information from either
the customer or the customer's
doctor.
In the event that the doctor
confirms a need, the authority
will give the customer an extra
15 days to pay his or her bill
without penalty.
The policy does not prevent
the authority from terminat
ing service for failure to pay,
although it does indicate the
authority will provide ample
written notice of the impending
cutoff.
A customer may get only one
medical needs payment exten
sion per calendar year.
In other business last
Thursday, the authority tabled
amendments to its “wastewater
treatment services” contracts for
both residential and nonresiden-
tial customers. Both documents
will be tweaked slightly and be
put on the agenda for the June
10 meeting.
Essentially, the authority plans
to give purchasers of sewer taps
a deadline for using them, after
which they will lose the tap fee
(currently $5,000 per residence).
The window of opportunity for
using taps will be from two
years to five years for residen
tial developments, depending on
the number of taps purchased.
There will also be an opportu
nity to renew unused tap fees
for another term by paying the
authority an additional 50 per
cent of the cost of unused taps.
Graduation ceremonies set
at county’s high schools
BY KATIE HUSTON
WITH THE school year win
ding down, preparation for gra
duation ceremonies has begun
across the county.
JHS
Jefferson High School’s gra
duation will be Friday, May 21,
at 8 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
JHS’s ceremonies will be
moved indoors to the school
gymnasium in the event of incle
ment weather where there will
be limited seating.
Approximatley 163 students
will be graduating from JHS.
The valedictorian is Jacline
Griffith and the salutatorian is
Clara Logue.
Guests requiring special needs
may contact Kevin Smith at
ksmith@jeffcityschools.org.
JCCHS
Graduation at Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
starts at 8 p.m. at Panther
Stadium on Tuesday, May 25.
In the event of rain, the JCCHS
graduation will take place in the
school’s gymnasium, where
guests are required to have a
ticket for admission.
According to officials. 220
students will be graduating from
JCCHS.
The valedictorian is Janette
Gee and the salutatorian is Lexie
Miller.
Those guests requiring spe
cial needs regarding access to
the stadium may contact Joe
Lancaster at 706-367-5003 prior
to May 25.
EJCHS
At East Jackson
Comprehensive High School,
ceremonies begin on Wednesday,
May 26, at 7 p.m. on the football
field.
In the event of inclement wea
ther, graduation will take place in
the school’s gymnasium, where
a limited amount of seating will
be available.
There are approximately 220
students in the 2010 class at
EJCHS.
John Luke Derochers is
the valedictorian and Aubrey
Cozzens is the salutatorian.
Memorial Day program
set at old courthouse
Navy school officer to be speaker
A MEMORIAL
Day program will be
held Monday, May 31.
at 9 a.m„ at the his
toric Jackson County
Courthouse in down
town Jefferson.
The Albert Gordon,
Post 56. of the
American Legion,
Jefferson, is hosting the
event, which is expected to be
completed at 10 am. Jackson
County residents are welcomed
to attend.
The ceremony will feature
the posting of the colors by
the Jefferson High School Air
Force JROTC. the singing of
the National Anthem by Brooks
Benton, a prayer by chaplain
Jim Wofford (retired Air Force)
and comments by Post
56 Commander Harvie
Lance (retired U.S.
Marine Corps).
It will also include the
reading of the names of
war dead on the monu
ment at the courthouse,
the lowering of the
American and POW/
MIA flags by the JHS
Air Force JROTC, a 21-gun
salute by the Jefferson Police
Department’s color guard, and
a performance of ‘Taps” by
Michaela Thomas, a 12-year-
old middle school student.
Capt. William P. Hayes, com
manding office of the Navy
Supply Corps School in Athens,
continued on page 3A
HAYES
Arcade tables old Hwy. 82 vote
BY BRANDON REED
THE ARCADE City Council
voted May 10 to table a request
that would have made Old
Highway 82 a one-way street.
The move came after an ear
lier public hearing where several
residents of the area voiced their
opinions and concerns to mak
ing the roadway one-way.
Among the potential solutions
suggested was to make only the
section between Williams and
Swann Road one way, which
would still allow exit access to
residents on Williams. Another
resident suggested speed bumps,
while another suggestion would
place a three-way stop at the
intersection of Williams and Old
Highway 82.
Council member Tom Hays
made the motion to table to give
the council time to review the
suggestions.
The vote to table was unani
mous.
continued on page 3A