Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
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H Wednesday, November 17, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 23 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Man diagnosed with
fatal illness undergoes
stem cell transplant
page 8A
Op/Ed:
•'TSA backlash need
ed' page 4A
'1 ^
•See coverage of
the World Crown at
Gresham Motorsports
Park pages 1-2B
Features:
•Comfort food, holi
day recipes.. . .page 1 C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 7-28C
Police close vandalism probe
NO CRIMINAL charges will be filed
in the vandalism at a locker room at the
Jefferson High School Memorial Stadium
following a football game against East
Jackson Comprehensive High School.
The Jefferson Police Department closed
its investigation after JHS officials decided
not to pursue charges against East Jackson
players or coaches over the incident.
“We are placing our confidence and
trust in the administration of EJCHS to
appropriately deal with these individuals
and coaching staff to ensure this does
not happen again in the future,” said JHS
principal Kevin Smith in an e-mail to JPD
officers.
But the investigation of the incident
reveal some details of what happened that
night:
• In addition to breaking name tags off
of lockers, EJCHS players also drew a
penis in dust and stole a JHS uniform and
bag from a locker. The uniform and bag
were later returned.
• That Coach Frank Caputo declined to
discuss the matter with a JPD investigator
at an interview and asked for a lawyer
when read his Miranda Rights.
• That in “a fit of rage.” Caputo had
kicked a water carrier holder during the
game's halftime and broken it in the locker
room. The carrier belonged to EJCHS.
• One player told investigators that the
coaches were more upset about having
been defeated by JHS than they were
about the broken name plates in the locker
room. The coaches were also said to have
cursed at the boys during halftime,
• That two EJCHS students broke off
the sink in the visitors restroom, but that it
may have been an accident from the boys
trying to sit on it.
Seven players and Caputo were not
allowed to participate in the last EJCHS
football game of the season due to the
incident.
“Vandalism of any kind is not accepta
ble and will not be tolerated,” said EJCHS
Principal Pat Stueck after the event. “I
hope that we can move forward and have
this evolve into a healthy rivalry with good
sportsmanship prevalent on both sides.”
BASKETBALL SEASON OPENS SATURDAY
Jackson County senior Sierra Roncadori dribbles against pressure in practice
last week. Jackson County begins its basketball season Saturday night at Union
County. See page 1B for preview stories for local teams. Photo by Ben Munro
Water authority ahead of budget
Jefferson schools
nab bus for $2,500
BY BEN MUNRO
JEFFERSON SCHOOL lead
ers have struck a deal on a bus.
The city board of education
(BOE) purchased a 1995 model
from Social Circle Schools
for $2,500, approving the deal
Thursday night.
Though the bus has 203,000
miles on it, the vehicle is “an
excellent bus.” according to
Earl Griffin who works in the
Jefferson City Schools transpor
tation department. Griffin said
the bus has new seat covers, four
new tires, a new alternator and
an engine that’s not totally rebuilt
but has had improvements.
The $2,500 price tag is far
below the rate for a new school
bus, which cost around $80,000.
“It just seemed to be too good
of a deal to pass up,” superinten
dent John Jackson said.
‘FIRE’AT JHS A
GOOD THING
Jefferson High School offi
cials bragged Thursday on the
newly-implemented “Dragon
FIRE” (focused and individu
alized remediation and enrich
ment) program this year.
The program offers tutoring
during school hours for students
needing assistance and enrich
ment time for those students
excelling in their classes.
After 13 weeks, JHS princi
pal Kevin Smith said he’s very
pleased with the results but
emphasizes that Dragon FIRE is
“an ongoing process.”
Failure rates have decreased as
a result of FIRE, school officials
said.
“At this time last year, we had
about 14 percent of our courses
that were being failed,” assistant
principal Tom Parker said. “We
only have 10 percent right now.”
Smith said students needing
tutoring initially viewed Dragon
FIRE as a punitive action but
have grown to embrace it. In fact,
some students requiring manda
tory tutoring find it so effective,
they don't wish to leave once
they've fulfilled their obligation.
“That’s absolutely what we
want to hear,” Smith said.
Parker said 235 students
have mandatory tutoring during
Dragon FIRE, while 100 to 150
continued on page 8A
Fire district election set Nov. 30
AN ELECTION will be held
Tuesday, Nov. 30, for several
fire district seats.
In the Arcade fire district.
Travis Bennett, Deborah Stewart
and Reba Lee Childs are seek
ing the post 3 seat.
In the Harrisburg fire district,
Ronnie Massey and Tony Beatty
are seeking the post 5 seat.
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.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m. on Nov. 30.
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
pages 8-9B
•School News
. .. pages 9-12A , 10B
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
INCREASED water sales
and lower per-unit costs have
the Jackson County Water and
Sewerage Authority revenues
almost $600,000 ahead of bud
get projections three-quarters
of the way through 2010.
Manager Eric Klerk led the
authority members through the
monthly financial statement
last Thursday.
He pointed out that retail
sales were ahead of projections
by almost $505,000, whole
sale water sales (to Jefferson,
Braselton and Hoschton) were
up by $46,000 and even sewer
sales were ahead of budget
projections by $25,000. In
addition, the cost of sales is
$94,000 lower than expected
as of Sept. 30, something Klerk
attributed to the work of Stacey
Jenkins, water manager, Judy
Davis, finance director, and
Fred Alke, in-house engineer
in keeping water losses to a
minimum.
“We’re billing for everything
we can possibly bill,” Klerk
told his board.
Klerk reminded the board
that its wholesale sales serve
to keep the authority's cost-
per-gallon from the Bear Creek
Reservoir lower.
Meanwhile, the authority has
collected $43,000 more in inter
est than anticipated through
September, while salaries and
benefits were $70,000 under
budget.
‘This is a very good report,”
Klerk observed. “I just wanted
to point it out and highlight it.”
In regard to the unaccounted
for water, Klerk pointed out
that less than one percent of
water purchased was unac
counted for during September
and October.
Just because water is not lost
does not mean its paid for by
customers. Due to the unusu
ally warm spell in October, the
authority had to use 16.4 mil
lion gallons of water to flush
lines as the chlorine residual
faded. As a result, the authority
billed for just over 80 percent
of the water it purchased in
October. Year to date, however,
it has billed for more than 91
percent of the water it pur
chased.
WATER BILL APPEAL
IS REJECTED
A Jefferson woman was
unable to convince the author
ity to reduce her August water
bill of $288.12 for using 36.300
gallons, a figure she termed
“impossible.”
Having tested the meter and
found it 99.99 percent accurate
at all flow levels, the authority
told Mary Tharp that, whatever
happened to the water, it had
gone through the meter.
The meter serves a large
out-building at Tharp's Lewis
Roberts Road residence.
Because that building has a
half bathroom and a hose bib,
the authority speculated that
she has a leak, most likely in
the commode.
Tharp said she’d tested the
commode and found no leak.
“I always think it’s the toi
let.” Klerk commented. “They
are notorious for intermittent
leaks.”
The authority also noted that
that usage of water, which had
been steadily increasing to over
3.000 gallons a month, seemed
high for an out-building Tharp
said was seldom used.
Jenkins told Tharp he would
install an “e-coder” on her
meter, which will indicate by
a graph exactly when water is
used and what the flow rate is.
KUDOS TO
FINANCE DIRECTOR
Klerk also advised the board
that Davis recently received an
associate’s degree in account
ing and will continue to pursue
a bachelor's degree.
The authority also held an
eight-minute closed session to
discuss litigation. Upon return
ing to a public session, it took
no action.
Deadlines are early next week
THE NEWS and ad dead
lines for the next week's issue
have been moved forward
due to the Thanksgiving Day
observation on Thursday, Nov.
25. The deadline for news and
ads will be at 3 p.m. on Friday,
Nov. 19.
The newspapers will be pub
lished one day early in order to
be mailed before the holiday.
The publication date will be
Tuesday, Nov. 23, and papers
will be on the news stands
that night and in the mail the
next day.
Smith asks for details on BM&K
COMMISSIONER Dwain Smith asked Monday night that a dis
cussion on BM&K, the company owned by Don Clerici that provides
engineering and construction management services to the county, be
added to the agenda.
The other commissioners didn’t agree for this to be added to the
agenda. Smith then asked if he could make a comment on the matter
and BOC chairman Hunter Bicknell told him “no.”
“We will take this up in December” Bicknell said.
So far this year, Jackson County has paid $1 million to BM&K.
Judge interviews set for Dec. 7
THE FIVE Jackson County
lawyers seeking the State Court
judge position will be inter
viewed on Dec. 7 by the Judicial
Nominating Commission for
the State of Georgia.
Those on the list include:
Scott Tolbert, Donna Golden
Sikes, Nick Primm. Jeff Perry
and Ronnie Hopkins.
The Judicial Nominating
Commission is being led by
chairman Michael Bowers.
After the interviews on Dec .7,
the commission will then select
and recommend to the gover
nor those found to be “quali
fied” to a short list of up to five
people for the position.
The governor will make the
appointment.
The position is vacant fol
lowing the death of Judge Jerry
Gray.