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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
School system discusses oil cleanup costs with EPA
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) will be given a proposed
settlement this week from some of the for
mer customers of an Arcade oil recycling
business at the center of a fatal accident,
according to one local official.
The federal agency is cleaning up the
site of Sikes Oil Service, a former used oil
processor on U.S. Hwy. 129 that stopped
operating after an explosion led to the death
of a man on the property in 2005.
Since then, the EPA has incurred more than
$780,000 in expenses to clean up the site. It
now wants 68 groups — called Partially
Responsible Parties (PRPs) — to fund their
share of the cleanup costs at Sikes Oil.
One of the PRPs has already paid $ 133,900
for the cleanup costs at Sikes Oil — leaving
the remaining $646,100 to other groups who
once did business with the company.
And one of those groups being held respon
sible by the EPA for the Sikes Oil cleanup is
the Jackson County School System.
Superintendent Shannon Adams recently
attended a five-hour meeting in Atlanta with
representatives from the other PRPs to dis
cuss a potential settlement.
What the group decided
was to offer the EPA a
settlement for each PRP,
based on the number of
gallons they used at Sikes
Oil. Adams said. The
amount settled on was $2
per gallon.
For the Jackson County
School System — which took about 1,295
gallons of used motor oil to Sikes over a
three-year period — that would equal an
estimated payout of $2,590 to the EPA.
The group will present its proposed settle
ment to the EPA today (Wednesday) and
the federal agency will decide if it'll accept
the deal, Adams said. However, some of the
largest PRPs didn’t attend the meeting on
Aug. 20 and are not part of the proposed
deal.
“I did make it clear that if the price went
up (above $2 per gallon). it would be difficult
for us to take part — being a school system
with the financial pressure we've had on our
budget for the last couple of years,” Adams
said on Tuesday.
Adams said he was probably the only per
son at the meeting who wasn't an attorney
or an environmental specialist to discuss the
Sikes situation.
The meeting opened with EPA officials
explaining the background of the 2005 inci
dent and cleanup at the site before answering
a number of questions. The officials then
left the room for the representatives of the
PRPs to hammer out a potential settlement,
he said.
For the Sikes site, the EPA is using the
federal Superfund program — which allows
the agency to clean up abandoned hazardous
waste sites, and makes responsible parties
either clean up the area or reimburse the
government for EPA-led cleanups.
“I really got the notion that this a fairly
common approach when the EPA goes in
with that Superfund and cleans up a site,”
Adams said. “That this is just the way it’s
done from that point on. They spend a cer
tain amount of money and they go to the
contributors to try to get it, and sometimes
they get more than they get others.”
Those named as PRPs in the Sikes Oil
cleanup largely want to avoid a potential
lawsuit, Adams said. If the proposed settle
ment isn’t accepted by the EPA, the group
may counter with another offer.
Pendergrass company gets grant
for autogas development program
FORCE 911 of Pendergrass
has begun the initial vehicle
conversions for Cobb County
and Carroll County under the
ARRA-funded Southeast
Propane Autogas Development
Program. The company has
already converted 18 vehicles to
use propane autogas.
Force 911 will complete over
200 vehicle conversions for law
enforcement fleets participat
ing in the grant. Force 911 will
convert vehicles for Muscogee
County and Barrow County
in Georgia, as well as vehicles
in the city of Vestavia Hills,
Alabama.
Force 911 installed each
vehicle with the EPA-certified
Prins Vapor Sequential Injection
(VSI) System and a DOT-
approved autogas fuel tank. The
bi-fuel system allows vehicles to
operate on traditional gasoline or
propane autogas. Municipalities
that convert vehicles to propane
autogas can implement a pro
pane fueling station at their loca
tion.
The Southeast Propane
Autogas Development Program
is funded by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA). The focus is to
increase the amount of propane
autogas vehicles in the United
States, as well as developing a
network of refueling stations.
Propane autogas is an alter
native fuel that produces sig
nificantly lower emissions than
gasoline or diesel vehicles which
reduces greenhouse gas emis
sions. Ninety percent of propane
is produced in the United States,
creating less dependence on for
eign oil.
JPD reports domestic disputes
Mini-golf facility near Commerce may re-open
BY KATE HUSTON
AFTER BEING in operation
for about a decade, Pro Swing
Golf in Commerce closed its
doors in 2003, but a new owner
is now looking to reopen the
facility.
Pro Swing, located at 26
Allen Road and Highway 441,
Commerce, was in operation
beginning in March of 1993. The
business’ last business license,
however, was in 2003. Now
owners are looking to reopen the
facility.
“This is kind of an upgrade
to be more modernized with
separate things for children that
would be drawn to this type of
facility,” Kedrick Scott, a rep
resentative of Bingo Properties,
LLC, said.
Applicants presented the
Jackson County Planning
Commission with three sepa
rate requests Thursday night, all
of which were approved. They
included a rezoning request to
the 13.13 acres from A-2 to HRC
in order to operate an outdoor
recreation facility; a special use
permit to operate the go-cart
track; and a special use permit to
operate the driving range.
The recommendations from
the planning commission will go
before the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners for action on
Monday, Sept. 20, at 6 p.m. at the
Jackson County Courthouse.
At the planning commission
meeting last week, the requests
were approved, per staff recom
mendations. All utilities must
be underground, a development
plan must be approved prior
to reopening, clearance must
be obtained regarding cooking
facilities on site and a hardship
variance must be granted by the
Board of Adjustments due to
the size and configuration of the
property.
Pro Swing is complete with
a driving range, putt-putt golf
course, go-cart track and game
center, in addition, the owners
would like to add batting cages, a
laser tag field, paintball field and
a snack bar in the future.
OTHER BUSINESS
Recommendations for approv
al were also made by the plan
ning commission on the follow
ing items, which will also go in
front of the BOC for final action
on Sept. 20, at 6 p.m., at the
Jackson County Courthouse:
•a request from Elaine Brown
Coile for a land use map amend
ment on 10.02 acres of prop
erty located at 179 LBJ Road,
Nicholson. The amendment
would change the property to
Rural Places from Agricultural
Preservation. The request was
made in order to divide the prop
erty amongst relatives.
•a request from Neptune
Industrial Supply, Inc. for a land
use map amendment for 12 acres
of property located at 1826,1846
and 1890 Highway 441, South,
Commerce. The property would
be rezoned Industrial Workplace
from Gateway Corridor.
•a request from Rusty David
asking for a land use map amend
ment on a .51 acre tract located at
Highway 441 and Harris Lord
Cemetery Road, Commerce,
from Community Activity Center
to Gateway Corridor.
•a request from Donald Wilson
requesting a land use map
amendment on 1.47 acres locat
ed at 7163 U.S. Highway 441,
Nicholson, from Rural Places to
Gateway Corridor.
•a rezoning request from Joel
Banks Jr. and David Banks on
17.35 acres located at 1108 Bill
Watkins Road, Hoschton, from
A-2 to R-l in order to divide a
family estate.
•a special use permit request
from Tina Tinsley to open a
special occasion/meeting site
on 5 acres of property located
at 604 Price Mountain Road,
Pendergrass.
•a special use permit from Tina
Tinsley affecting approximately
78 acres at 255 Chulitna Way.
Bogart for a retreat and learning
center.
DENIED
The planners recommended
denial of the following requests:
•Gary Harvin asking for a
land use map amendment on
three acres of property located
at 50 Ward Road, Hoschton. The
request would change the prop
erty from Residential Growth to
Industrial Workplace.
•a request from Rusty David
asking for a land use amendment
on .8 acre tract located at 3115
Highway 15, Jefferson from
Residential Growth to Gateway
Corridor.
Two qualify in Pendergrass
Election set Nov. 2 to fill council seats
AS OF 9 a.m. Wednesday, two
people had qualified for the Nov.
2 City of Pendergrass election.
Harris Denver Elrod and John
Pethel, incumbent, have quali
fied for the two at-large council
seats up for grabs.
The council seats current
ly held by Judy Stowe and
Pethel will be on the ballot in
November.
Qualifying ends today.
Candidates must be a
Pendergrass city resident for
at least 12 months prior to the
election. The candidates must be
registered and qualified to vote in
city elections.
County offices to be closed
THE JACKSON County government offices and courthouse
will be closed on Friday, September 3, due to a furlough day.
The offices will also be closed on Monday, September 6, in
observance of the Labor Day holiday.
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SIX DOMESTIC disputes are
among the recent incident reports
filed at the Jefferson Police
Department. They include:
•dispute between an Ivy Street
woman and her adult son.
•two women fighting in a
track parked at a restaurant on
Hwy. 129.
•custody dispute at a Clay
Drive residence.
•domestic dispute at a Hwy.
129 location.
•dispute between a married
couple at a Hwy. 129 business.
•verbal dispute between a
Plantation Drive couple.
Other incidents reported to
the police department last week
included:
•fraud when a woman said
someone has been using her
bank debit card.
•verbal altercation between
two women at the post office.
•a woman said her juvenile
son was shot in the face with a
BB gun by another juvenile who
lives nearby.
•someone entered a track
while it was parked at Jackson
Concourse. Nothing was taken.
•a student brought a box cutter
to school.
•a man left his cell phone on
the counter of a gas station and.
when he returned, it was gone.
An officer looked at the security
tape and identified a woman tak
ing the phone.
•simple battery at a Melvin
Drive location.
•noise disturbance about a
Sycamore Street business.
•dispute between a woman
and a vendor at the Pendergrass
Flea Market.
•GPS taken from a vehicle
parked at a Panther Drive busi
ness.
Notice of Availability
of Proposed FY11 Budget and
Notice of Public Budget Hearing
The City of Jefferson does hereby
announce that a public budget hearing on
the FY11 City of Jefferson proposed budget
will be held at 6:00 PM on Monday, Sept. 13,
2010 at the Jefferson Civic Center. Copies of
the proposed budget are available for review
at Jefferson City Hall and the Jefferson
Public Library.
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