Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
MW.
H Wednesday, December 1, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 25 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<t COPY
— Inside
Area news:
Holiday events coining up this weekend
•Don Stewart to
retire at JEMC
page 2 A
• Holiday schedules
given for county, cities
page 2A
•Fire district election
results given
page 3 A
Op/Ed:
•'Is the U.S. crying
"wolf?"'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Former Dragon play
ing in SEC title game
page 1B
Features:
•History of the
Christmas tree
page 1C
•Share your Christmas
spirit page 1C
Other News:
•Classifieds
pages 5-6C
•Legals
pages 7-27C
•Church News
pages 8-9B
•Obituaries
page 9A
•School News
page 8A
O -s
THE CHRISTMAS season will offi
cially arrive in Jackson County this week
end with several holiday events planned to
celebrate this special time of year.
JEFFERSON
In Jefferson, “Downtown in December”
will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday,
Dec. 3. The event will include musi
cians performing, free horse-drawn car
riage rides, visits and pictures with Santa
Claus at the Pendergrass Store and a short
Christmas variety show by the Curry
Creek Players at Gingham Gal Cafe.
Amy Bullock will perform Christmas
songs at Downtown Gifts and Interiors.
Downtown businesses will be open during
the festivities.
The annual Jefferson Christmas Parade
will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec.
4, in downtown. This year's theme is
“Christmas in Our Town.”
For more information on the Jefferson office at 706-367-5714 or e-mail Beth
events, call the Main Street Jefferson Laughinghouse at blaughinghouse@cit-
Santa Claus will make appear
ances in Jackson County this
weekend.
yofjeffersonga.com.
ARCADE
The City of Arcade will hold a Christmas
tree lighting Friday evening, following the
annual employee potluck Christmas din
ner at 6:30 p.m.
NICHOLSON
In Nicholson, the annual Christmas tree
trimming party will be held at noon on
Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Harold Swindle
Public Library, Nicholson. Children of all
ages are invited to attend for fun treats,
crafts and Christmas cheer and to ring
in the holiday season by decorating the
library tree. The library is located off
Highway 441 near Benton Elementary
School.
Also in Nicholson, the annual tree light
ing will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday,
Dec. 4, at the Nicholson Community
Center. The Rev. Theodore Braswell,
Jones Chapel Baptist Church, will read
scripture. Ricky Fitzpatrick, New Hope
Baptist Church Choir, and The Maxwells
will be singing Christmas songs. Santa
will be in the community center for the
children. A live nativity will be held and
light refreshments will be served.
“We hope you will join us for some
great Christmas music and refreshments
at the Nicholson Community Center,”
leaders state. “There will be hot chocolate
and coffee available on the patio to keep
you warm.”
COMMERCE
Commerce begins the holiday season
Friday evening as 22 merchants offer the
third annual Commerce by Candlelight
event that evening until 9 p.m. The down
town will be illuminated by luminaria
(in addition to the regular holiday lights).
The event features horse-drawn carriage
rides from City Hall, hot chocolate and
marshmallows (roasted over a fire pit) at
continued on page 3A
BASKETBALL IS BACK
Jefferson point guard Andre Daniel distributes the ball in the Dragons’ Tuesday
game against Heritage in the Tabo’s Tip-Off Tournament at Jefferson High School.
The Dragons won two of three games in the event. Photo by Ben Munro
‘Magic at Midnight’ brings thousands
of shoppers to Banks Crossing stores
Food banks see increased
demand in holiday season
BY ANGELA GARY
THE PARKING lot at Tanger
Outlet Center in Jackson County
was filled to capacity by mid
night Friday and shoppers were
parking along the grass median
leading to the shopping center
and at the nearby The Home
Depot parking lot.
“Our parking lot was com
pletely full by 11 p.m„” Tanger
general manager Mark Valentine
said. “Every year, we have
cars parked in the grass up and
down Tanger Blvd.. and we've
had cars parked in some of the
smaller parking lots at the bot
tom of the hill, but this year we
had cars parked as far away as
The Home Depot, Pizza Hut and
even one customer commented
that she parked at McDonald's
and walked up.”
Valentine said traffic at the
shopping center was up all
weekend, but was especially
strong during Black Friday. At
midnight, it took approximately
one hour to get from one side
of the interchange into the shop
ping center parking lot.
“Heavy traffic continued
throughout the weekend,
although not quite to the inten
sity of Black Friday,” Valentine
said.
The official starting time for
“Magic at Midnight” was 12
a.m. but some stores opened ear
lier because of the crowds wait
ing to shop.
“Although the mall opened
officially at midnight, just over
half of the stores opened on
their own earlier in the eve
ning,” Valentine said. “A handful
opened at 9 and the rest opened
at 10 or 11. Several store manag
ers commented to me that they
ended up opening earlier than
they had planned because there
were lots of shoppers standing
outside waiting, so they went
ahead and opened.”
He added that by 10:30 p.m„
there were well over 300 people
standing in line at the Shoppers
Services office in an effort to be
one of the first 250 to receive a
free $10 Tanger gift card.
As for sales. Valentine said
that overall sales trends were
very positive, as most stores
were reporting year-over-year
sales gains.
“The outlet stores were very
aggressive in their promotions,
continued on page 3A
BY KATIE HUSTON
THE STRUGGLING econ
omy continues to be a factor
contributing to more and more
hungry families in the area.
Though the economy may
no longer be in a downward
spiral, the effects of the previ
ous years’ downturn are still
lingering.
This holiday season, it’s
important to remember that
food banks help those in need,
but often, the food banks
themselves may need a bit of
a boost.
The Food Bank of Northeast
Georgia looks to provide
access to food for those who
have limited resources, and
serves over 81,000 people in
a 14-county area, including
Jackson County.
President and CPO John
Becker, said that the economic
slump continues to affect food
banks. He said that the Food
Bank of Northeast Georgia's
need is up 30 percent from
last year.
“We are blessed to be able
to serve, and yet our organiza
tion is experiencing a lot of
stress because of the growth,”
he said.
According to Becker, the
food bank has served nearly
1.4 million more meals this
year compared to the same
time period as last year.
“We will see continued
growth for a host of differ
ent reasons,” he said. “(This
includes) a current imbalance
of food resources internation
ally, the trade imbalance that
has resulted in eliminating the
bulk of manufacturing jobs
here in Northeast Georgia,
and due to general growth in
joblessness and poverty in
Northeast Georgia.”
Despite logistics suggest
ing donations might be down,
since more people are strag
gling themselves, Becker said
that he feels fortunate that
donors have stepped up to the
rising demand.
“Obviously it is not an easy
time to give,” he said. “There
are records of numbers of peo-
Food Pantry Sites
in Jackson County:
• Banks-Jackson Food
Bank, 111 Atlanta Avenue,
Commerce, 706-335-5143.
•Christian Outreach, 2183
North Elm Street, Commerce,
706-335-6084.
•Duds & Spuds of Zion
Baptist Church, 2001 Cherry
Drive, Braselton, 706-654-
3205.
•First Baptist Church of
Jefferson, 246 Washington
Street, Jefferson, 706-367-
8332.
•Mulberry Baptist
Association, 3388 Highway 53,
Suite B. Hoschton, 706-824-
0063.
• Romans Road Baptist
Church, 6933 Winder Highway,
Jefferson, 706-367-2289.
pie in need. We are blessed to
have folks’ support.”
The best items to donate
are canned foods and non-per-
ishables. Among these items
that are most needed are:
peanut butter, soups, canned
vegetables, canned fruit, chili,
canned pasta, tuna, baked
beans, canned chicken, cere
al, beef stew, rice, pasta and
sauce, dried or canned beans
and rice. A complete list of
desired items is available on
the organization's Web site.
In order for food banks like
the Food Bank of Northeast
Georgia to prosper, it's vital
that the organizations receive
help with both operating fund
ing and capital funding.
Becker also mentioned that
an important donation is the
gift of a person's time by vol
unteering.
Anyone can host a food
drive, and those interested
should e-mail food@food-
banknega.org or visit www.
foodbanknega.org and fill out
a registration form.
In addition, organizations
that provide food or other
products to those in need, or
Tucker resigns AD position at EJCHS
RICHARD CRUMLEY is the new athletic
director at East Jackson Comprehensive High
School following the resignation of Johnny
Tucker who had served in that capacity.
Tucker will continue to serve as assistant
athletic director and assistant principal at the
school.
The move comes in the wake of a shake-up in
the school’s athletic program following a recent
vandalism incident that involved several foot
ball players. Head football coach Frank Caputo
resigned his coaching position in the aftermath of
that ordeal, but continues in his teaching capacity
at the school.
continued on page 3A
Photos taken through Dec. 10
44th annual kids ’ section coming up
PHOTOS WILL be taken through Friday. Dec. 10, for the
44th annual kids’ section which will be printed in The Jackson
Herald, The Banks County News and The Commerce News.
The cost is $5 per small photo (one child) and $10 per larger
photo (two or more children).
Photos and payment may be dropped off at any of the
newspaper offices. Submissions are also taken online at www.
mainstreetnews.com.
The publication date for the special section is Dec. 22.