Newspaper Page Text
O
O
THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, July 21, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 6 42 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75c COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Next middle school
could be in WJ area
page 2A
•BOE approves $11.5
million loan
page 3 A
Op/Ed:
•'Weak schools the
result of weak princi
pals'
page 4 A
Sports:
I GEORGIA)
■ IbULLDO(
3
•Former JHS basketball
player to tryout for UGA
page 1B
Features:
•Day and overnight
camps offered at coun
ty's Wellspring Camp
page 1C
•Spelling bee comedy
ahead this week
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 6-20C
•Church News
pages 1OA St 4B
•Obituaries
page 12 A
•School News
. . .pages 11, 13, & 1 4A
Coley, Ginn headed for runoff
SHANE COLEY of Winder and Frank Ginn
of Madison County are headed for a runoff in
the State Senate District 47 race.
The runoff will be Aug. 10 and the Republican
governor's runoff between Karen Handel and
Nathan Deal will also be on the ballot.
In the State Senate race, Ginn took 45 per
cent of the vote, while Coley had 26 percent.
Kelley Gary of Jackson County had 17 percent
of the vote, while Doug Bower had 11 per
cent. Ginn was the top vote-getter in Jackson
County.
In other local races, Steven Bryant won the
Jackson County Board of Education seat for
District 5 with 589 votes. Randall Skelton had
326 votes.
In the governor's race. Nathan Deal led the
Jackson County Republican Primary followed
by Karen Handel. State-wide, Handel had the
most votes.
continued on page 9A
State Senate District 47 Republican
Jackson County voters
Doug Bower 408 Shane Coley 1,288
Kelley Gary 1,403 Frank Ginn 1,674
Governor
Jackson County voters
Reoublican
Democrat
Chapman 105
Baker 166
Deal 2,396
Barnes 640
Handel 1,519
Bolton 13
Johnson 1,046
Camon 7
McBerry 106
Mangham 1
Oxendine 1,090
Porter 39
Putnman 11
Poythress 32
COUNTING THE VOTES
Jackson County poll workers input election results after
the polls closed for voting in the primary election. A
computer glitch resulted in final numbers being posted
around 11:30 p.m. Photo by Kerri Testement
JOHNSON MILL ROAD FIRE
A cooking-related fire at this Johnson Mill Road home resulted in the death of a
woman and a child Saturday morning. Four other people escaped the home, which
was completely destroyed by the blaze.
Two killed in Jefferson fire
Cause of fire listed as ‘cooking-related’
heavy fire showing and reports from residents
that there were still two people trapped inside
the fire.
“Diligent efforts were made to access the resi
dence to rescue the two victims,” according to
Jackson County EMS director Steve Nichols. “After
numerous tries, due to the heavy fire conditions and
the stability of the structure, crews were withdrawn
and placed in a defensive attack position.”
After the fire was controlled, the victims were
located. Cassell was reportedly found near the
kitchen, while Wright was in bed.
A second alarm was sounded early on from
the scene for water tender support with South
Jackson and Jackson Trail fire departments
responding.
BYANGELA GARY
TWO PEOPLE were killed Saturday morning
in a fire at a two-story home on Johnson Mill
Road that is believed to have been cooking-
related. The state fire marshal's office has ruled
the fire as accidental.
Mary Nicole Cassell, 33, and her niece, Winter
Wright, 9, died in the fire. Four other fam
ily members, Cassell's sister and three children,
escaped from the home. The home was totally
destroyed in the blaze.
Firefighters from Arcade, Jefferson and the
Jackson County Correctional Institute were
called to a “residential fire with entrapment”
at 785 Johnson Mill Road around 3 a.m. They
found a two-story single family residence with
Report: Three schools fail to make AYP
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THREE SCHOOLS in the
Jackson County School System
failed to meet Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP), according to
a statewide report issued on
Monday. All schools in the
Jefferson City School System
made AYP and one school in the
Commerce City School System
failed AYP.
The schools—Jackson County
Comprehensive High School,
East Jackson Comprehensive
High School and Kings Bridge
Middle School - didn't meet
standards for academic perfor
mance in 2010, according to the
state department of education.
None of the schools were
named as “Needs Improvement,”
a designation given to schools
that don't meet AYP for two con
secutive years in the same sub
ject and that can possibly lead to
escalating consequences.
Rise Hawley, assistant superin
tendent for teaching and learning
for the Jackson County School
System, said the district antici
pates better AYP results when
the state takes into account sum
mer retesting scores.
“We're very close in a cou
ple of areas and that may bring
schools out of it,” she said.
The results and participation
from the Georgia High School
Graduation Test (GHSGT)
and the Criterion-Referenced
Competency Test (CRCT), along
with a second indicator - such as
school attendance or graduation
rate — are used to determine a
school’s AYP status.
All students at a school — as
well as any qualifying subgroup
of students — must meet goals
in all three categories in order
to make AYP, as required by the
federal No Child Left Behind
Act.
The Georgia Department of
Education said the percentage of
high schools making AYP con
tinues to lag behind.
This year, just over 33 percent
of the state's high schools made
AYP — compared to 19 percent
in 2009 with its initial results.
In Jackson County, both
county high schools failed to
meet AYP academic standards in
math and English/Language Arts
on the GHSGT.
At EJCHS, the percentage
of all students passing the math
portion of the test was 68.0 per
cent —but the state required that
74.9 percent of students pass the
test to meet AYP.
Also at the school, 80.1 per
cent of all students passed the
English/Language Arts portion
of the GHSGT. The state, how
ever. said that 87.7 percent of
students must pass the test to
meet AYP.
At JCCHS, 73.1 percent of all
students passed the math portion
continued on page 2A
Court of Appeals upholds
reservoir lawsuit ruling
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE GEORGIA Court of
Appeals upheld Judge Joe
Booth’s July 14 ruling rejecting
a motion by the Upper Oconee
Basin Water Authority to dis
miss Jackson County's suit over
the capacity of the Bear Creek
Reservoir.
That, says board of com
missioners chairman Hunter
Bicknell, bodes well for the
county as its lawsuit progresses.
“The detail they went into in
upholding Judge Booth’s ruling
gives the county a pretty good
position going forward,” said
Bicknell Monday.
Meanwhile, a Jackson County
proposal to settle the suit could
be completed in the next two or
three weeks. Essentially, the offer
will provide the data gathered
by an engineering consultant
making the case that the actual
capacity of the lake is about 44
percent of what the authority
has historically claimed the lake
could provide.
Jackson County sued last year,
alleging that data used since day
one to determine the capacity
of the reservoir — and thus the
amount of water to which each
owner is entitled — is deeply
flawed.
The authority, of which
Jackson County is a member,
filed a motion to dismiss the
suit on several grounds. Booth
rejected the motion in a hearing
in the Superior Court of Jackson
County, the authority appealed,
but the Court of Appeals upheld
Booth’s rulings — and the coun
ty’s position — on each point.
Following that hearing, the
authority issued a settlement
offer proposing an eventual
determination of capacity, but
nothing specific, according to
Bicknell.
“What we’re proposing would
include specific data,” said
Bicknell, which, he said, might
motivate the authority to conduct
a similar study that could “lead
to some kind of agreement that
would lead to a measurement of
the capacity.”
C.H. Gumsey & Co. is doing
the fieldwork for the county.
Local officials believe that the
yield of the 505-acre regional
reservoir is actually less than half
of what the authority has long
assumed, and they have data they
say supports their claim. If that is
the case, some of the other mem
bers, particularly Athens-Clarke,
have on occasion used more than
their entitlement shares of the
water and part of Jackson’s allo
cation. The county is suing to
stop that practice.
Jackson County also argues
that the intergovernmental agree
ment among the four member
counties calls for the yield of
the reservoir to be recalculated
after every drought, but there
has been no such re-calculation
following the drought of 2007-
OS. The basin authority's official
yield is 58 million gallons a day
(mgd). The consultant hired by
Jackson County puts the yield
at 24 mgd.
Jackson County asked that the
regional authority hire a consul
tant acceptable to both parties to
conduct an independent analy
sis to confirm or deny Jackson
County’s findings, but the basin
continued on page 2A
Woman cited in Apple
Valley kennel raid
BYANGELA GARY
AMY Rion-Wilson received
several citations in connection
with operating an unlicensed
kennel on Apple Valley Road
that was shut down on July 9.
Wilson received citations
for cruelty to animals, failure
to maintain sanitary conditions,
failure to have all animals receive
a rabies shot, no business license
and zoning code violations. She
will appear in Jackson County
Magistrate Court on Sept. 7.
No criminal charges have
been filed.
The kennel was shut down after
officials from Jackson County
animal control and the Georgia
Department of Agriculture fol
lowed up on a tip and raided
the site.
The owner voluntarily turned
over all but seven of the 74 dogs
taken from the property to the
county.
The owner did not have a state
kennel license and regulations
for operating such a business
had not been followed. No dead
animals or signs of abuse were
found, officials report.
The dogs, all of which are
miniatures, were taken to the
Commerce Veterinary Hospital
where they were examined and
given vaccines. The county is
covering the cost of this, but
it is possible that the money
can be recouped from the owner
through the court system. The
animals will go to animal shel
ters and non-profit groups who
offer adoptions.