Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, October 6, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 17 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•New company to
bring 120 jobs
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'N'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Dragons desperately
seeking win .. page 1B
Features:
—m
•Giant pumpkins and
more page 1C
•A call for jack-o-lantern
photos page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 6-28C
•Church News
page 11A
•Obituaries
page 10A
•School News
. pages 8-9A, 12A, 1 OB
o -S
Early voting under way for Nov. election
Voting held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at county’s administrative building
EARLY VOTING for the
November 2 General Election
is under way and will end on
Friday, October 29, in all Georgia
counties. Jackson County voters
can cast a ballot from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. Mondays through Fridays
at the Administrative Building.
Races on the ballot include:
•United States Senator:
incumbent Johnny Isakson (R),
Mike Thurmond (D) and Chuck
Donovan (L).
•Governor: Nathan Deal (R).
Roy Barnes (D) and John Monds
(L).
HP :tion
ugaate
•Lt. governor: incumbent
Casey Cagle (R), Carol Porter
(D) and Dan Barber (L).
•Secretary of state: incumbent
Brian Kemp (R), Georganna
Sinkfield (D) and David Chastain
(L).
•Attorney general: Sam Olens
(R), Ken Hodges (D) and Don
Smart (L).
•State school superintendent:
John Barge (R). Joe Martin (D)
and Kira Griffiths Willis (L).
•Insurance commissioner:
Ralph Hudgens (R), Mary
Squires (D) and Shane Bruce
(L).
•Agriculture commissioner:
Gary Black (R), J.B. Powell (D)
and Kevin Cherry (L).
•Labor commissioner: Mark
Butler (R), Darryl Hicks (D) and
Will Costa (L).
•Public Service Commissioner,
District 2: Tim Echols (R). Keith
Moffitt (D) and Jim Sendelbach
(L).
•U.S. Representative, District
10: incumbent Paul Broun (R)
and Russell Edwards (D).
•State Senator, District 47:
Frank Ginn (R) and Tim Riley
(D).
•State representative, District
30: incumbent Tom McCall (R)
and Marilyn “M.J.” Bridges (D).
•Supreme Court Justice:
Tammy Lynn Adkins, incum
bent David Nahmias and Matt
Wilson.
•Appeals court judge: James
Babalola, Toni Davis, Stan
Gunter, Adrienne Hunter-
Strothers, Chris McFadden and
David Schaeffer.
ONLINE INFORMATION
Secretary of State Brian Kemp
reminds voters to utilize the
Secretary of State's My Voter
Page (MVP) voter education
website before participating in
the General Election. The MVP
website allows voters to view
continued on page 5A
Autumn Leaf Festival
PARADE THROUGH MAYSVILLE
Completing the parade through Maysville, several groups of horse riders made
their way down the street. The town held its 43rd annual Autumn Leaf Festival over
the weekend. See more photos on page 11B. Photo by Justin Poole
Local pension plans are secure, officials say
STORIES ARE starting to
appear with increasing frequency
in the national press about gov
ernment pension plans whose
under-funding may bring them
to insolvency.
But don’t expect to see that
locally, say the people who over
see pension funds in Jackson
County. Commerce, Jefferson
and Braselton.
All of those local pension
programs are reportedly well-
funded, although declining rev
enues and pinched budgets may
cause local governments to put
their pension plans under closer
scrutiny.
Defined benefit plans, where
employees are guaranteed certain
benefits based on their salaries
and length of service - regardless
of how the economy affects the
pool of money from which those
benefits must be paid - are of
particular interest.
In fact, Jackson County quit
enrolling workers in its defined
benefit plan back in 1998 in
favor of defined contribution
plans in which benefits grow or
shrink according to how success
fully the funds are invested.
Commerce and Jefferson both
offer defined benefit plans that
cost about seven percent of pay
roll this year. Jefferson is already
considering moving to a defined
contribution plan.
That, says Commerce account
ing manager James Wascher, is
the trend of the future.
“Even in government, you'11
start to see those (defined benefit
plans) things go away,” he said.
“It's a huge liability that contin
ues to grow.”
Such was the case in Jackson
County, where the board of com
missioners set a cutoff date of
Jan. 1,1998, after which no new
employees could participate in
the defined benefit program. At
that point it adopted a defined
contribution plan.
The county still makes annu
al contribution to the old plan
($564,459 last year). It also fund
ed $527,530 into the new plan,
into which employees paid an
additional $680,536. The coun
ty’s cost represented nine percent
of payroll.
Under the current plan, there is
no waiting period for employees
to participate. Regular employ
ees become vested over five
years; department heads are fully
vested after two.
After Jan. 1. 1998, Jackson
County started a 457 plan, which
is the employer’s contribution,
combined with 401 (k)s in which
employees can contribute up to
six percent of salary, which the
county would match by 50 per
cent. The county suspended the
401 (k) match this year for bud
get reasons.
The county contribution in the
457 plan starts at four percent
of salary and increases to seven
over time.
Both the Jefferson and
Commerce plans are man
aged by the Georgia Municipal
Association. Each year, actuaries
look at the liabilities and assets
and tell the cities how much they
must to pay in that year to fund
their liabilities.
“Each individual city has its
own plan and its own liabilities,”
explains Cal Wray, who man
ages the plan for the GMA. “We
have in excess of 270 members.
The way this is structured, each
retirement plan stands on its
own. Each has an annual evalua
tion to determine its contribution
for the coming year.”
GMA serves as the adminis
trator of all the funds and over
sees the investments and policies,
providing a common investment
mechanism and administrative
structure for all of its participat
ing members.
According to Wray, minimum
funding requirements are man
dated by law.
Wrong fire district candidates listed on ballots
THE WRONG names for fire district candi
dates were listed on the Nov. 2 ballots which
means votes for those races will be thrown out
and another election will have to be held.
Probate judge Margaret Deadwyler said the
candidates for the posts who qualified in 2008
were inadvertentiy listed on the ballot instead of
the 2010 candidates.
Deadwyler has consulted the secretary of
state’s office and the county attorney about the
error. She said a Superior Court hearing must be
held and a court order issued on how to proceed.
She hopes that it will be possible to hold the
election for the fire districts in the November
run-off.
The names that should have been listed on the
ballot in the contested races are as follows:
ARCADE
•Travis Bennett, Deborah Stewart and Reba
Lee Childs, post 3.
HARRISBURG
•Ronnie Massey and Tony Beatty, post 5.
There are also fire district seats on the ballot
in Jackson Trail, South Jackson, Plainview, West
Jackson and Nicholson, however, they do not
have opposition.
Constitutional amendment
information posted online
THE GEORGIA Secretary
of State’s website has sum
maries of proposed general
amendments to the state’s con
stitution and the statewide ref
erendum that will be decided
by voters in the Nov. 2 general
election.
The summaries of the con
stitutional amendments and
statewide referendum in their
entirety are available at www.
sos.ga.gov/election. They are
also available on the secre
tary of state’s MVP (My Voter
Page) website.
Interested individuals may
obtain printed copies of the
summaries from their county
elections superintendent or the
secretary of state. To obtain a
printed copy of the summaries
from the secretary of state, call
404-656-2871.
Taste of Jackson set Thurs.
THE ANNUAL Taste
of Jackson and Business
Showcase will be held on
Thursday, Oct. 7. from 5-8
p.m. at the Commerce Civic
Center in Commerce.
The event will include the
business expo booths, along
with local food vendor booths.
A children's cooking area and a
dessert cooking contest are also
included in this year’s program.
Vendors will be giving away
specialty items and a “taste” of
their cuisine.
There will also be many door
prizes to be given away with
a grand prize being a $1,000
gift card to Real Deals in
Jefferson.
There is a $15 charge per
admission ticket ($10 for chil
dren under 12 and Seniors 55
and over) and the tickets are for
sale at the chamber in Jefferson
and will also be available at the
door the evening of the event.
A ticket buys entry into the
showcase, a chance for door
prizes, a taste from all the food
vendors, access to the children’s
section, an event tote bag and a
chance at the grand prize.
Visit www.jacksoncountyga.
com for more information and
a dessert contest form.
This event is sponsored
by the Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce and
area businesses.
Finalists named for
airport manager job
BYBENMUNRO
THE JACKSON County
Airport Authority has narrowed
its recommendations for airport
manager to two.
The authority voted Friday
to approve H. Glen Boyd —
who's currently serving as inter
im manager — and Douglas
Faour, out of Jacksonville
(Fla.), as its finalists.
Since this is a county depart
ment head position, there’s a
minimum 14-day waiting peri
od before a decision will be
made between the finalists.
The job has been open since
June when former manager
Bob Stapleton resigned.
The county brought in Boyd
on June 21 to oversee the
operation of the airport while
it searched for a permanent
manager.
Boyd, who is from Roanoke,
Ala., has 12 years of air
port experience, starting in
1998 when he managed the
LaGrange-Callaway Airport
(1998-2006). Boyd also man
aged the Northeast Georgia
Regional Airport in Winder
from 2006-2009 and has
served as an airport volunteer
at Roanoke (Ala.) Municipal
Airport since 2009.
Faour is the current air-
port/FBO manager for the
Jacksonville (Fla.) Aviation
Authority, a position he's held
since 2003.
Faour served as the
Jacksonville Aviation Authority
operations specialist from
2003 to 2006. He’s also taught
adjunct classes related to air
ports and aviation at Florida
State College at Jacksonville
since 2007 and was the aircraft
manager for Full On Aviation
in 2006.
Prior to his time with the
JacksonvilleAviationAuthority,
he worked for Northwest
Airlines from 1998-2001 in
equipment service and custom
er service.
The authority made the
approvals following a 30-min
ute closed session.
In a separate matter, author
ity member Ken Botts asked
why the runway was slated
to close for five days in late
October for painting.
“I’ve been getting a lot oi
flack for that.” he said. “People
have been going nuts because
it’s totally unreasonable for il
to be closed for a week.”
County manager Darrell
Hampton said he's aware oi
the closure and will investigate
the situation.
“Let us do our due diligence
and let us respond to the very
legitimate concerns you have”
Hampton said.