Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, August 25, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 11 68 PACES 5 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
•Area Pigskin Preview
inside this edition
Op/Ed:
•'Courts can't stop
science' page 4A
Sports:
•Dragon seniors seek
fourth straight win over
Commerce
page 1B
Features:
•Jefferson man places
sixth at world champi
onship horsehoe pitch
ing event page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6A
•Legals
pages 10-27D
•Church News
pages 9 St 12A
•Obituaries
pages 10-11A
•School News
pages 6-7B
O -S
Chamber promoting SPLOST approval
Holding series of ‘town hall’ meetings to push for sales tax
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
FEWER THAN 50 people
turned out last Wednesday morn
ing for the first of several “town
hall meetings” promoting the
Nov. 2 passage of the special
purpose local option sales tax.
Virtually all of the attend
ees were representatives of the
Jackson County Area Chamber
of Commerce, which is lead
ing the promotional effort, or
the county and municipal gov
ernments that would spend the
proceeds of the fifth round of the
sales tax.
At stake is $47.5 million to
be collected over six years if
the referendum passes.
Jackson County also
collects a one-cent
local option sales tax
(LOST) that is perma
nent and a one-cent
education sales tax that
is subject to periodic
voter renewal.
The chamber and a
political action com
mittee it created called “Citizens
for a Better Jackson County”
intend to hold meetings in every
town in the county in support of
the tax. Keith Ariail, Commerce,
chairs the Citizens for a Better
Jackson County. He is also a
director of the chamber.
Chamber president
Shane Short used slides
to illustrate several points
that will likely be repeat
ed in all of the town hall
meetings:
•that past SPLOSTs
have been well spent.
•local governments
have extensive capital
needs.
•a failure to pass the SPLOST
will lead to an increase in prop
erty taxes.
•a sales tax is a “fair” tax
because everyone pays it equal
ly.
•an estimated 40 percent of the
tax will be paid by people from
outside the county who shop in
Jackson.
•a system of accountability
will be instituted to make sure
all SPLOST money is spent as
promised.
Short's presentation touched
briefly on what the current
SPLOST 4 tax accomplished.
Thus far 86.4 percent of the pro
jected revenue has been received,
Short said. He pointed out that
the county's portion helped pay
off the jail, build a health clinic
in Commerce, pay for road and
recreation projects, build the new
fire training facility, support local
libraries and lay miles of county
water lines.
That tax will expire June 30.
If voters pass the Nov. 2 refer
endum, SPLOST 5 will begin
July 1.
Short also went into some
detail as to how each of the
governments plans to spend its
portion of SPLOST 5. Jackson
County, for example, will spend
70 percent of its $33.7 mil
lion share to pay off the debt
on the jail. It would also build
two satellite EMS buildings (in
continued on page 5A
SHORT
WINE TASTING AHEAD AT WEEKEND VINEYARD FESTIVAL
Wineries throughout the world — including those from the United States and Georgia — will be on
hand at Chateau Elan’s Vineyard Fest on Sunday, Aug. 29, to offer samples, talk to guests and sell
bottles of wine.See page 3Afor more on the event.
‘Get Low’ to show in Athens Aug. 27-Sept. 2
Scene with Robert Duvall filmed at Heritage Village
MOVIE SCENE FILMED AT HURRICANE SHOALS PARK
Several scenes from “Get Low,” starring Robert Duvall, Sissy
Spacek, Lucas Black and Bill Murray, were filmed in Jackson
County in February 2009. The former Center Presbyterian
Church, now located at the Heritage Village at Hurricane Shoals
Park and re-named the Miles Wilson Matthew Chapel, was used
for several scenes. Photo by Angela Gary
A MOVIE with a scene shot at
Hurricane Shoals Park debuts in
Athens this week.
“Get Low.” featuring Robert
Duvall. Sissy Spacek and Bill
Murray will be at the Cine Bar-
Cafe-Cinema, 234 Wast Hancock
Street (between Hull and Pulaski
streets) in Athens Aug. 27 through
Sept. 2. Show times are 5:15 p.m.,
7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. on those
dates plus 3 p.m. on Saturday and
Sunday.
The story is inspired by the true
story of Felix “Bush” Breazeale,
who attracted national attention
when he held a “living funeral
party” in 1938 in Roane County,
Tenn.
Duvall plays Bush, who has ter
rified his neighbors for years with
antics leading them to think he’s in
league with the devil and has spe
cial powers. One day he shows up
in town with a shotgun and cash to
hold a funeral.
Murray plays a funeral director
and Lucas Black his apprentice,
while Spacek plays a widow who is
the only person in town known to
have gotten close to Bush.
A church scene was filmed in
February 2009 in the Miles Wilson
Matthews Chapel in the Heritage
Foreclosures up
BECAUSE OF TWO years of
recession and a collapsed real estate
market, foreclosures in Northeast
Georgia are continuing at a fast
pace.
For the first nine months of 2010,
foreclosures in Barrow. Jackson,
Village at Hurricane Shoals Park.
Duvall. Bill Cobbs and Black were
on location.
Critics have raved about the pro
duction, says Becky Perry of the
Tumbling Waters Society, even
Madison and Banks counties are
running ahead of 2009 at the same
point.
In Jackson County, foreclosures
are up 10 percent year-to-date at
1,162, up 109 over 1,053 at the
same point last year.
to the point of suggesting Duvall
could win an Oscar for his perfor
mance.
The Tumbling Waters Society
will get credit in the movie. Perry
said.
In Barrow County, foreclosures
are up 11 percent at 1.769 YTD.
Banks County has seen 223 so
far in 2010, up 16 percent, while
Madison County has had 337 for
the first nine months, up 19 percent
from 2009.
Local Republicans
approve abortion
amendment 4-1
BY A 4-1 margin, Jackson County
Republican voters expressed a desire for a
constitutional amendment opposing abortion
during the July 20 GOP primary.
According to Ron Johnson, chairman of
the county’s Republican Party. 82 percent of
the participants in the Republican Primary in
Jackson County answered “Yes” to the ques
tion: Do you support an amendment to the
Georgia State Constitution so as to provide
that the paramount right to life is vested in
each human being from the earliest biological
beginnings until natural death?
“It was on the ballot in 46 counties. It
passed by 75 percent overall,” said Johnson.
“In Jackson County it was 82 percent.”
The referendum is nonbinding, but it could
be a precursor to an attempt in an upcoming
legislative session to further curtail women’s
ability to have abortions. It appears to be
an attempt to establish the position that life
begins with conception, but the statement
could also be used to attempt to eliminate the
death penalty.
“I don't know,” said Johnson. “They asked
us to do it so I brought it to the Executive
Committee and we decided to let the voters
have a say on it. I’m a guy who says let the
people vote.”
Johnson said in Butts County voters in both
the Republican and Democratic primaries
July 20 were asked the question. Seventy-six
percent of Republican voters answered in the
affirmative and 72 percent of Democrats did
the same.
Qualifying begins
Mon. for Pendergrass
City Council seats
QUALIFYING WILL begin Monday for
two council seats in Pendergrass that are up
for re-election. The seats currently held by
Judy Stowe and John Pethel will be on the
Nov. 2 ballot.
Qualifying begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday,
Aug. 30, and ends at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Sept. 1. It will be held in the city clerk's
office at city hall. The qualifying fee for each
council seat is $35.
Candidates must be a Pendergrass resident
for at least 12 months prior to the election.
The candidates must be registered and quali
fied to vote in city elections.
Jefferson amends
mobile home code
BYANGELA GARY
THE CITY of Jefferson can no longer
refuse to allow mobile homes to be located
in the county based on age. The city coun
cil amended the unified development code
Monday night to address a new state law that
does not allow counties to consider the age of
a manufactured home.
The change comes after the Georgia
General Assembly passed Senate Bill 384,
which requires that placement of a mobile
home onto property may not be based off of
the age of the home.
continued on page 5A
10 percent in NEGA over last year