Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
tflt jw.
H Wednesday, June 23, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 2 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75c COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Vote early now
through July 16
page 2A
•Jefferson's Freedom
Festival ahead Sat.
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Kemp for Secretary
of State'
page 4 A
Sports:
•WJ driver Garmon
bags Gresham win
page 1B
Features:
•Dock diving dogs hit
area waters... page 1 C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 6-28C
•Church News
page 6B
•Obituaries
pages 4-5B
•School News
pages 10-11A
O -S
Church building fire ruled arson
Faith Baptist Church’s mission house, vans destroyed
FIRE AT FAITH BAPTIST
Mark Duke (left) and Darrell Chaisson (right) of the Jefferson Fire Department walk
with a state arson investigator (center) on Friday afternoon at Faith Baptist Church’s
carport and adjacent parsonage. Photo by Kerri Testement
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A FIRE THAT destroyed a
Jefferson church’s parsonage and
two vans has been ruled arson,
according to state officials.
Georgia Insurance and Fire
Safety Commissioner John
Oxendine said in a statement
Friday that an early morning fire
at Faith Baptist Church’s par
sonage on U.S. Hwy. 129 was
arson.
“We’ve ruled out all accidental
causes that could have started this
fire,” said Glenn Allen, a spokes
person for Oxendine’s office.
Investigators won’t say what
caused the blaze, but believe it
started in a carport — where two,
12-passenger vans were parked
— and spread to the connect
ing parsonage, which is located
across a parking lot from the
sanctuary. A substance to acceler
ate the spread of the fire was used
in the incident.
Now that the investigation will
focus on a criminal act, the state
office will be working with the
Jefferson Police Department,
Allen said.
“We’ll be conducting inter
views with members of the
church and also neighbors in the
area,” he said.
Right now, there are no sus
pects in the case, but Oxendine’s
office is offering a $10,000
reward for information leading
to an arrest and conviction of an
arsonist in the case.
The hotline number is 1-800-
282-5804. Calls are taken 24
hours a day and callers may
remain anonymous.
Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, a
blaze was reported at Faith Baptist
Church’s former parsonage —
which at one time was used as a
residence for the church’s pastor.
The 3,000 square-foot building
is located near the sanctuary on
U.S. Hwy. 129.
The blaze caused signifi
cant damage to the building
and destroyed two church vans
parked in the carport, according
to Mark Duke of the Jefferson
Fire Department.
“We got there and nobody was
there, so nobody was hurt or
injured,” he said.
The heavily-involved fire was
quickly extinguished, but fire
fighters didn’t finish their work
on the scene until about 6 a.m.,
Duke said.
The fire department asked
the state’s fire marshal office —
which typically investigates fires
on church properties — to inves
tigate, he added.
Oxendine estimated the
destroyed parsonage and vans
were valued at a total of $ 100,000
and were a total loss, he said in a
statement.
Firefighters from Jefferson,
North Jackson, Harrisburg and
the Jackson County Correctional
Institute responded to the inci
dent.
Keith Cudd, pastor of Faith
Baptist Church, said the build
ing was used as a mission house
to welcome visiting missionar
ies or special guest speakers. A
missionary family from North
Carolina was slated to stay in
the house the weekend before
the blaze.
“We plan to rebuild once
everything gets settled with the
insurance company,” he said
Thursday afternoon.
The two vans parked in the
carport were the church’s only
vehicles, Cudd said.
Just hours after the fire, the
church had already received plen
ty of prayers and support.
“We’ve had a lot of folks —
other pastors and other churches
— that have expressed anything
they can do to help, and of course,
that they would be praying for our
church and our church family”
Cudd said Thursday afternoon.
The last time a pastor at Faith
Baptist Church lived in the house
was 2004, he added. The base
ment was used for storage.
HERE THEY COME
Above, the first wave of
549 cyclists begin the
Jackson County Brevet,
a 100-mile non-competiti
ve bicycle ride to benefit
aplastic anemia research.
At left, a Jackson County
Brevet participant flashes
a peace sign as he rides
by. See page 12Afor more
photos.
Photos by Ben Munro
Jackson finishes
2009 in the black
DESPITE THE difficult eco
nomic environment in 2009, the
Jackson County government
managed to finish the year nearly
$950,000 in the black.
That was the finding in the
2009 audit presented at Monday
night’s Jackson County Board of
Commissioners meeting.
As in the past, the majority of
county spending went to pub
lic safety with $12.3 million in
expenses, followed by general
government at $4.8 million, pub
lic works at $3.6 million and
judicial expenses at $3.1 million.
On the income side, taxes
made up the vast majority of
income at $28.2 million followed
by service charges at $3.7 mil
lion.
Among the highlights in the
audit:
• The county’s fire districts
took in $2.4 million collectively
during 2009 and spent $2.7 mil
lion in the year. The districts have
a total reserve balance of $1.8
million.
• The county uses general fund
dollars to subsidize several depart
ments that generate other income
from fees. The largest amount of
those transfer funds went to the
EMS/Ambulance at $1.8 million;
parks and recreation at $800,200;
E911 at $419,000; planning and
zoning at $359,900; and the
senior center at $292,500.
• The wealthiest fire dis
trict in the county in 2009 was
West Jackson with revenues of
$638,000 followed by South
Jackson with income of $435,800.
The poorest district was Arcade
with income of $78,900.
• Jackson Trail Fire District
had the most money in the bank
with $604,400.
• Arcade Fire District was the
only district with a negative fund
balance at $14,500.
• The county’s total debt is in
the neighborhood of $172 mil
lion, excluding school and city
debts.
• The county’s net tax digest
was $2.5 billion in 2009, more
than double the digest in 2000,
which was just over $1 billion.
Jackson Herald wins seven state awards
County designated
a ‘recovery zone’
To tap into federal funds
RECEIVE AWARDS
The Jackson Herald features editor Jana Mitcham (L) and
associate editor Angela Gary are shown with some of the
awards presented by the Georgia Press Association.
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
AND ANGELA GARY
IN ORDER to tap into a fed
eral bond program to jump-
start economic development.
Jackson County has been des
ignated a “recovery zone.”
The Jackson County Board
of Commissioners approved
a resolution on Monday des
ignating the entire county as
a “recovery zone,” which will
allow the county to get bonds
for economic development
projects.
Jackson County’s Industrial
Development Authority also
supported the move during its
Friday meeting.
“This is an opportunity
to position ourselves to take
advantage of these funds that
are available for economic
development,” county manager
Darrell Hampton said. “There is
no obligation to the county.”
One year ago, the Obama
administration allocated federal
funds for “recovery zones” to
spur economic development.
At that time, Jackson County
did not meet the qualifications,
which include a high foreclo
sure rate and unemployment.
Since then, the county’s num
bers have changed and it is
eligible.
Hampton said chamber of
commerce president Shane
Short said companies looking
to locate in the county have
asked if Jackson County is a
recovery zone.
continued on page 5A
THE Jackson Herald won
seven awards in the annual
Georgia Press Association’s
Better Newspaper Contest,
including first places for feature
writing and education coverage.
In addition, the newspaper
won second place for business
coverage, second place for life
style coverage, second place
for photo essay, third place for
investigative reporting and third
place for layout and design.
Features editor Jana Mitcham
won the first place award for
feature writing.
“Strong leads,” the judge
wrote. “Interesting layout. On
the family reunion story, you
found a way to explain the value
of two hours.”
In education coverage, the
winning articles were written by
Mitcham and associate editor
Angela Gary.
“The paper did a lot of
research and really went in-
depth with these stories,” said
the judges.
The second place award for
photo essay was for a series of
photographs taken by Gary on
a snow storm. The second place
business award was for articles
written by Gary and Mitcham.
The Herald won third place
for investigative reporting for a
series on alleged corruption in
Pendergrass. The judge wrote:
“Good job covering the whiste-
blower case. Your city needs
reporters like you to protect citi
zens 1 interests.”
continued on page 5A