Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
MW.
H Wednesday, July 28, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 7 44 PAGES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<J COPY
School system pulls out of deficit
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE JACKSON County School
System has quickly rebounded from a
deficit to end its fiscal year with a sur
plus.
After calculating its bills
for the 2010 fiscal year —
which ended on June 30
— district officials said this
week that the school system
has a $3.3 million ending
fund balance.
ADAMS
“We knew we had good news coming
because at one time, the expectations
were so dire — that at one point in
time we thought we'd close the fiscal
year with a deficit,” said superintendent
Shannon Adams on Tuesday.
At the close of the 2009 fiscal year, the
district ended with a $908,600 deficit.
That led to the board of education
adopting a deficit elimination plan out
lining its expenses and income to close
the financial gap.
Still, the district approved a layoff
plan in April that cut 44 teaching and
non-teaching positions. The board had
approved a similar Reduction in Force
(RIF) plan in March 2009, when 38 posi
tions were eliminated and the Regional
Evening School was closed for the 2009-
2010 school year.
Adams said the effort to cut the school
system’s expenses hasn’t been easy.
“We just quit spending money and laid
off a bunch of people and that’s the end
result,” he said.
But with the slumping economy — and
the possibility of additional state funding
cuts this fiscal year — the school system
isn’t entirely in the financial clear.
“We’re not going to relinquish any
of the control we’ve had this past year,”
Adams said. “(Assistant superintendent
for finance and information services Jeff
Sanchez) will keep a tight, tight reign on
purchase orders. And some of the things
that we implemented last year — like
booster clubs paying transportation to
games and performances — we’ll con
tinue doing that.”
When the board approved its tentative
2011 fiscal year budget for $86.2 million
in June, it also changed the 2010-2011
school year calendar to include eight fur
lough days for teachers. The school year
for students was reduced by four days.
The move saved the district $1.8 million.
This school year, Parent Teacher
Organizations (PTOs) are still being asked
to help provide basic supplies — such as
copy paper — for schools.
During the budget shortfall, Adams had
asked PTOs last school year to consider
raising money for supplies instead of
traditional fundraising activities, such as
new playground equipment. At one point,
the district didn’t allow any supplies to be
purchased.
In the event that the state tells local
school systems to make more cuts, Adams
said the district will continue its tight, con
servative approaches.
“We’d have to sit down and go back to
work,” he said. “I can’t say enough about
what (the district’s budget committee) and
the school system have done up until this
point. It’s going to be difficult if we have
to go back and find additional places to
cut, because we didn’t get where we are
by not doing some very, very painful and
hard things to do.”
The Jackson County School System’s
continued on page 3A
GETTING IN STEP FOR SEASON
Marching band camp is under way at East Jackson Comprehensive High School.
The Marching Eagles are keeping in step, learning their music and choreography
for this year’s NASCAR-themed show. Pictured are (L-R) David Coombs, Andrew
Taylor and Nicholas Whitmire. The band is directed by Jeffrey Rowser, with the
assistance of directors Ashley Wright from East Jackson Middle School and
Miguel Guisasola from Kings Bridge Middle School.
Jefferson street changes to be topic
An open house meeting is scheduled for
Tuesday. Aug. 3, from 5-7 p.m., at the Jefferson
Civic Center. Ballroom A located at 65 Kissam
Street in Jefferson.
Georgia DOT engineers and other staff members
will be available to discuss the proposed projects.
There will be no formal presentation. Everyone is
invited to attend the open house.
DOT open house set Tues.
THE GEORGIA Department of Transportation
will hold an information open house meeting to
discuss a major change in downtown Jefferson.
The proposal includes the installation of a one
way pair system using State Route 15 Alt/SR 82/
Sycamore Avenue and Kissam Street from Storey
Street to SR 82, including new bridges over Curry
Creek in Jefferson.
continued on page 3A
Animals from kennel have been adopted
New school year gets
under way next week
Jefferson students return Monday;
county students head back Aug. 5
BY KATIE HUSTON
THE START OF a new school year is coming up as local schools
are transitioning out of summer mode and getting ready for a return
to the classroom.
Jefferson City and Jackson County
give school calendars
— page 3A
Jefferson students
return to the class
room on Monday,
while county stu
dents begin classes on
Thursday, Aug. 5.
JEFFERSON CITY
SCHOOL SYSTEM
Jefferson City
School System lead
ers are expecting more
students than last year.
The estimated city
wide enrollment for
the upcoming school
year is 2,795. The total
is up by approximate
ly 85 students from
last year, according to PREPARING CLASSROOM
superintendent John Melinda Thomas, a fourth
Jackson. grade teacher at North Jackson
Budget cute are pre- Elementary School, is shown
venting additional pro- above preparing the door to her
grams, but the system c | assroom f or students,
is still looking at ways Photo by Katie Huston
to improve.
“No new programs have been added for the coming year,” Jackson
continued on page 3A
Early voting starts Monday
for Aug. 10 runoff election
— Inside —
Area news:
•Wheeler calls for
illegal closed session in
Nicholson.... page 2A
•Mobile home code
updated page 2A
• NJES renovations
complete for start of
school page 3A
•Parents make school
transfer requests
page 8A
Op/Ed:
•'Don't sit too close
to me'
page 4A
Sports:
•Former Jefferson
coach releases book
page 1B
Features:
•Scouts summit three
Colorado peaks
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 11-24C
•Church News
pages 4-5C
•Obituaries
pages 6-7B
•School News
. . .pages 11-12A &5B
O -s
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 0 2
ALL 74 DOGS seized in the
July 9 raid on an unlicensed ken
nel on Apple Valley Road have
either been adopted out or given
to groups that will find homes for
the animals.
“We just adopted the last one
out today,” said Sara Thompson,
a veterinary technician at
Commerce Veterinary Hospital,
which received all the dogs.
Kennel owner Amy Rion-
Wilson was cited for cruelty to
animals, failure to maintain sani
tary conditions, failure to provide
rabies inoculations, operating
without a business license and a
zoning violation. She will appear
in Jackson County Magistrate
Court Sept. 7. The charges are
misdemeanors.
For the dogs, the story has a
happy ending.
“All of them got placed. They’ll
have homes,” Thompson said.
Most of the dogs were puppies
— Chihuahuas, Pekingese, yor-
kies, maltipoos (aMaltese-poodle
hybrid), etc. — which could not
be immediately adopted because
of their ages. So Thompson
used her contacts with Eleventh
Hour Rescue, a group in New
Jersey that took 33 dogs, and the
Georgia chapter of the SPCA
(Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals).
The Humane Society of
Jackson County also took two
dogs, and seven dogs old enough
to be spayed or neutered were
adopted out of Commerce
Veterinary Hospital.
According to Thompson,
before the veterinary hospital
will allow a dog to be adopted, it
must be spayed or neutered.
“The rescue groups will send
proof they were all spayed or
neutered.” she said.
The animal hospital has
worked with both Eleventh Hour
and the SPCA on numerous prior
occasions.
JACKSON COUNTY voters
can cast their ballots early for the
August 10 runoff election.
Early voting will be held from
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Aug.
2, through Friday, Aug. 6, at
the Administrative Building in
Jefferson. Voters who did not
vote in the earlier election,
may cast either a Democrat or
Republican vote. Those who did
vote in the earlier election, must
vote the same party ballot.
On election day. Aug. 10,
polls will be open from 7 a.m. to
7 p.m. across the county.
One local race will be on the
ballot — the District 47 State
Senate race where Frank Ginn
THE UNEMPLOYMENT
rate in Jackson and Barrow
counties isn’t getting any
better.
The rate climbed in both
countie s in June, setting the stage
for what many believe could be
a double-dip recession.
In Jackson County, the rate
hit 11 percent in June, up from
10.6 percent in May. That is
and Shane Coley will face off.
The other two candidates in the
race, Kelley Gary and Doug
Bowers, have both endorsed
Coley.
Other races to be on the ballot
include the following:
REPUBLICAN BALLOT
•governor’s race. Karen
Handel and Nathan Deal.
•insurance commission
er, Ralph Hudgens and Jeff
Sheffield.
•public service commissioner,
Tim Echols and John Douglas.
DEMOCRAT BALLOT
•secretary of state. Gail
Buckner and Georganna
Sinkfield.
virtually the same as June 2009
when the rate hit 11.1 percent.
In Barrow County, the rate
climbed from a revisted 9.9
percent in May to 10.3 percent
in June, almost the same rate as
June 2009, in the depths of the
recession.
The unemployment rate
climbed statewide in June to
10.3 percent.
Main Street Jefferson gets grant for 3D project
MAIN STREET Jefferson is one of five organi
zations in the nation to receive a Main Street in 3D
grant. This grant is co-sponsored by Google and
Igloo Studios.
Winners of this grant will be trained to create a
3D model of their historic downtown and use that
model as a marketing tool, to assist in revitalization
projects and for economic development.
The winning towns receive a free day-long on
site training from Google SketchUp experts, free
access to Igloo Studios online school, free publicity
from the National Trust for Historic Preservation
through print and media channels, including Main
Street Now and PreservationNation.org, as well
as recognition at the 2011 National Main Streets
Conference Opening Plenary, and one free registra
tion to the 2011 National Main Street Conference.
Partners that will be involvedin the project include:
City of Jefferson, city manager John Ward; Jackson
County government, county planning director Gina
Mitsdarffer: county GIS manager Joel Logan:
Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, chamber
president Shane Short; Jackson County Tourism
continued on page 3A
Unemployment on the rise