Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, October 27, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 20 48 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<f COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•How towns, county
would use SPLOST
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Systemax opening
a ray of hope'
page 4A
Sports:
•JHS vs. EJCHS Friday
night at Jefferson
page 1B
Features:
•Commerce woman
in AMC zombie
series premiering on
Halloween .... page 1 C
•Area jack-o-lanterns
pages 1C <$r 28 C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 11-27C
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
page 10A
•School News
. . pages 8-9A, 11 A, 8B
o -S
Deputy injured in car explosion
A JACKSON County sheriff’s deputy was
injured Monday after his propane-fueled vehicle
exploded while he was responding to a call.
Around 6:30 a.m., Deputy Gary Cox was
responding to a call at Hwy. 82 North of Jefferson.
As he lit a cigarette, the vehicle burst into flames.
He jumped from the vehicle while it was traveling
around 50 miles per hour, officials said.
The deputy had some first-degree bums on
his face and was treated and released at Athens
Regional Medical Center.
All other propane-fueled deputy cars have been
grounded pending the results of an investigation.
Officials from the New York firm that markets
propane-fueled vehicles inspected the car Tuesday,
JCSO leaders said. Results are not yet available.
DEPUTY JUMPS FROM CAR
Deputy Gary Cox jumped from his burn
ing car, which is shown at right, when it
burst into flames. The vehicle was moving
about 50 miles per hour.
FIRE HOSE DEMONSTRATION
Children were allowed to try out the fire hose on Saturday at the Jefferson
Fire Department’s Fire Safety Day that took place at Station No. 1 in downtown
Jefferson. Photo by Katie Huston
CB&T failure highlighted
in Time magazine story
ELTON COLLINS
didn’t make many
former co-workers at
Community Bank and
Trust happy on Feb. 1
when, in the wake of
the FDIC’s takeover
of the Cornelia-based
bank, he made a pre
diction.
“There’s some people in our
company going to jail,” the
former Jackson County presi
dent of CB&T said. “I know
damn well they’re going to
jail.”
The cover story of the Nov.
1 issue of Time Magazine —
available on newsstands right
now — appears to lend cred
ibility to Collins’ allegation
that fraud played a large role
in the bank’s failure.
Time used the CB&T fail
ure to illustrate the nation
wide issue facing the bank
ing industry. The story, “The
Anatomy of a Failure,” points
out that a report by the FDIC’s
inspector general found that
“Some (CB&T) bankers
crossed the line from danger
ously sloppy to potentially
criminally fraudulent, lending
to one another and
favored friends and
concealing lines of
credit.”
The Time story
alleged that for
mer CB&T chief
lending officer R.
Randy Jones got
kickbacks from loans made
to a Cornelia area developer
and concrete salesman and in
2008 made $2.8 million in
fraudulent loans to “straw”
companies controlled “by a
recovering drug addict.”
Time reported that Jones
and his lawyer did not respond
to requests for comments, but
the article noted that his three
co-conspirators pled guilty to
criminal charges and could
wind up in prison, and Jones
is expected to plead guilty
to one charge. In addition,
charges against other employ
ees remain a possibility.
The FDIC walked into
Community Bank and Trust’s
main office at 6 p.m. on Jan.
29. took over, and sold its
$1.2 billion in assets to South
continued on page 3A
Jefferson
Halloween
Walk ahead
THE CITY of Jefferson and
Main Street Jefferson will spon
sor the annual Halloween Walk
in downtown Jefferson from 4 to
6 p.m. Friday,
Oct. 29.
The walk
is open for
children ages
12 and under.
The event will
include face
painting, treats
and tricks.
Parking is
available at
the Jefferson
Civic Center
and the Historic
Jackson County
Courthouse.
Each year, young trick-or-
treaters dressed in costume visit
the businesses in downtown
Jefferson.
With the streetscape work
under way in the downtown
area, some areas of sidewalk will
be blocked off, said Main Street
director Beth Laughinghouse.
Deadline coming up Nov. 8
State Court judge applicants sought
APPLICATIONS are being
taken for the State Court judge
position in Jackson County fol
lowing the death of Judge Jerry
Gray.
The Judicial Nominating
Commission for the State
of Georgia, led by chairman
Michael Bowers, is accepting
applications and nominations
for the judgeship. Each person
who applies or is nominated will
receive an application package
to be completed and sent to the
commission by Nov. 23.
The commission will meet
to interview the applicants on
Dec. 7. The commission will
then select and recommend to
the governor those found to be
“qualified” to a short list of up to
five people for the position.
The governor will make the
appointment.
Three to seek
Pendergrass
council seats
THREE PEOPLE will be
on the ballot Tuesday for the
City of Pendergrass election.
Bill Hazelgreen, William
Ellis and John Pethel have
qualified for the two at-large
council seats up for grabs.
The council seats are cur
rently held by Judy Stowe
and Pethel.
SPLOST, statewide
races on the ballot
Advance voting ends Friday;
general election ahead Tuesday
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
WHILE THERE won’t be
many local decisions on next
Tuesday’s ballot — there will
be plenty of statewide offices
in the hands of voters for the
general election.
In Jackson County, voters
will decide if they want another
round of Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
which could potentially collect
$47.5 million over six years
(see related story on page 2A).
If approved by voters, the
penny sales tax would give
Jackson County an estimated
$33.7 million, with its nine cit
ies splitting a total of $13.7
million.
Also on the ballot will be
unopposed fire district seats for
Jackson Trail. South Jackson.
Plainview, West Jackson and
Nicholson.
A called election for con
tested races in the Arcade and
Harrisburg fire districts, whose
ballots inadvertently listed
the wrong candidates, will be
Nov. 30, a judge decided on
Tuesday.
As of Monday, more than
1,900 of 33.218 registered vot
ers in Jackson County cast an
early vote, according to the reg
istrar’s office.
And this week, voters will
have more opportunities to
avoid long lines before the Nov.
2 election by participating in
advanced voting.
Through Friday. Oct. 29.
Jackson County will have three
locations to cast an advanced
ballot: The county adminis
trative building, at 67 Athens
Street, Jefferson; the Commerce
Recreation Department office, at
204 Carson Street, Commerce;
and the Braselton Police and
Municipal Court Building, at
5040 Ga. Hwy. 53, Braselton.
Advanced voting will be held
this week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The county voter registrar’s
office has also mailed 857
absentee ballots and the last
day to do so is Friday, Oct.
29. Information on receiving an
absentee ballot is available by
calling the county’s voter reg
istrar office 706-367-6377. or
visiting the Secretary of State’s
website at www.sos.georgia.
gov/mvp or Jackson County
government’s website at www.
jacksoncountygov.com under
the “Voter Registration” page.
Among statewide races will
be candidates for governor, It.
governor and secretary of state,
among other offices. Voters may
view a sample ballot on the
Secretary of State’s website.
STATEWIDE RACES
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).
•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.
PROPOSED
CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENTS
The following proposed state
constitutional amendments will
also be on the ballot:
•Amendment 1: “Allows
competitive contracts to be
enforced in Georgia.”
•Amendment 2: “Adds $10
tag fee on private passenger
vehicles to fund statewide trau
ma care expansion.”
•Amendment 3: “Allows the
State to execute multiyear con
tracts for long-term transporta
tion projects.”
•Amendment 4: “Allows the
State to execute multiyear con
tracts for projects to improve
energy efficiency and conserva
tion.”
•Amendment 5: “Allows
owners of industrial-zoned
property to choose to remove
industrial designation from their
property.”
There will also be a statewide
referendum for House Bill 482,
which “provides for inventory
of businesses to be exempt from
state property tax.”