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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010
BANK DONATES TO CHRISTMAS STORE
United Community Bank presented a $500 check to Holiday Connections last
Wednesday morning, during the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce break
fast meeting. The money will be used to buy toys for Holiday Connection’s Christmas
Store where parents can “shop” for gifts for their children. Left to right are Lee Heard,
Stephanie Dalton, Tim Cornelison, Niki Adams (Jackson Family Connection), Santa,
Debbie Williams, Amy Chambers, James Burrell and Sandy Massey.
Hoschton gives first ‘Good Citizen Award’
GOOD CITIZEN
Hoschton Mayor Erma Denney (left) and council mem
ber Jim Cleveland (right) present the city’s first “Good
Citizen Award” to Charles Ford, who helped organize
Hoschton’s inaugural Veterans Day Celebration in
November. Photo by Kerri Teste merit
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A MAN who helped organize
Hoschton’s inaugural Veterans
Day Celebration has been given
the city’s first “Good Citizen
Award.”
Charles Ford was the key
organizer of the Veterans Day
event, which brought a total of
70 veterans and an estimated
crowd of at least 200-250 to
the Hoschton City Square. Ford
has never served in the armed
forces, but has said his work
was in honor of his brother, who
was a prisoner of war in World
Warn.
Mayor Erma Denney said
Ford was the “unanimous and
resounding” choice of the coun
cil for the award. He attended
five monthly meetings with the
council to hammer out details
of the Veterans Day Celebration
before it was held in November.
Ford said a number of vet
erans who attended the event
had been awarded the Medal of
Honor, Purple Star, Bronze Star
and other military accomplish
ments. Council member Jim
Cleveland also helped organize
the Veterans Day Celebration.
About $500remainsfora2011
Veterans Day event, according
to Cleveland. Hoschton also
received about $1,300 of “in-
kind” donations, such as adver
tising and flags, for the Veterans
Day Celebration.
City officials have said the
event didn’t use city funds and
they sought donations for the
program. The city council said
Monday it plans to continue
holding a Veterans Day event in
the future.
The Hoschton City Council
discussed a possible “Citizen of
the Month” during its work ses
sion on Thursday.
Denney said city clerk Cindy
George initially proposed the
idea of the award and worked
with council member Cleveland
on the details.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,”
Cleveland said, while explaining
that the first-of-its-kind award
for Hoschton doesn’t have to
include an individual.
“It can be a business.” he
said. “It can be an organization,
group or club.”
The city council will nomi
nate those who do “something
special for the town” for the
award, which will be given peri
odically and not necessarily on a
monthly basis. Cleveland said.
Denney said the award is not
a “contest,” but an expression of
gratitude.
“I think it’s an avenue of
thanking the citizens who are
so gracious and have stepped
up — especially this past year,
when the city has been in so
much need,” she said.
Council member Theresa
Kenerly said: “I think it’s posi
tive and that’s what we need to
promote.”
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the council:
•met in a closed-door meet
ing for a total of 40 minutes on
Thursday and Monday to dis
cuss pending litigation. Council
member Sandie Romer didn’t
attend the closed-door meet
ings, because she said she was
involved in the lawsuit. The
council didn’t take any action
when the meetings were opened
to the public.
•named Mark Castleberry
to serve on the Hoschton
Planning Commission. He
will serve the unexpired term
of Bob McNaughton, who
has moved out of the city, for
December. Castleberry will then
serve a two-year term, starting
in January. Castleberry told
the city council that he is a
resident of Deer Creek Farms
and moved to Hoschton from
Gwinnett County in 1996. He is
an architect.
•approved four variance
requests to allow Terry Anderson
to build a second house on his
1.2-acre property located at 476
W. Jefferson Street. Anderson
told the planning commission
last month that the new house
would serve as a residence
for his ailing parents. He had
agreed to have a zoning con
dition placed on the property
that would prohibit the house
becoming a rental property,
but the council said it didn’t
want to restrict future use of the
property and didn’t include the
condition. The planning com
mission didn’t provide a recom
mendation to the city council for
the request because it lacked a
quorum at the November meet
ing. The city council did include
a zoning condition that would
require only one driveway to
serve the two residences on the
property.
•approved its 2011 calendar
for regular council meetings
and work sessions. The council
will continue to hold its regular
meetings on the first Monday
of the month, at 7 p.m., with
work sessions to come the prior
Thursday, at 7 p.m., except for
the Fourth of July and Labor
Day holidays.
•approved an outdoor water
ing restriction ordinance, as
required by state Senate Bill
370. The bill makes the odd-
even outdoor watering schedule
permanent, in an effort to con
serve water in the state. It also
bans irrigation from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m., but has a number
of exceptions. For complete
details on the state law, visit
the Georgia Environmental
Protection Division’s website
at www.gaepd.org and click on
“Outdoor Water Use.”
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BOC to make board appointments Dec. 20
BYANGELA GARY
SEVERAL KEY leadership
appointed positions will be
filled by the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
when it meets at 6 p.m. on
Monday, Dec. 20, at the
courthouse.
These positions and the
people currently on the board
are as follows:
•Industrial development
authority. Jim Dove.
•Planning commission, A1
Venable and Jimmy Ford.
•Board of adjustment,
James Scott, Don Seagraves
and Shirley Turner.
•Dangerous dog commit
tee, Charles Harrington and
Larry Marchinton.
•Department of family
and children services, Betty
Waller.
•Parks and recreation advi
sory board, Roger Brock, Josh
Huskins, Jay Phillips. Jimmy
Peck and Helen Gunnels.
•Keep Jackson Beautiful,
Dwayne Ansley and Jack
Legg.
•Natural historic resourc
es advisory council, Susan
Chaisson and Priscilla Daves.
•Northeast Georgia Aging
Services advisory council,
Lucille Law.
•Northeast Georgia
Solid Waste Management
Authority, Tom Page and
Hunter Bicknell.
ALSO ON THE AGENDA
Other items that will be
on the agenda of the Dec.
20 meeting include the fol
lowing:
•2011 alcohol license
renewals. Twelve businesses
in unincorporated Jackson
County currently have alco
hol licenses.
•approval of a boat ramp
sidewalk and deck addition
at Bear Creek Reservoir.
Recreation director Ricky
Sanders spoke on the safety
concerns because of the lack
of a sidewalk at the boat ramp.
The total cost for Jackson
County would be $5,800.
•authorize the finance
director to close several bank
accounts that have zero bal
ance and are no longer used.
•approval of an annual cost
sharing intergovernmental
agreement between Jackson
and Barrow counties to con
tinue to provide juvenile court
services.
•authorize the chairman and
finance director to execute the
sales agreements and lease/
purchase documents to allow
the West Jackson and South
Jackson fire departments to
get new fire trucks.
•approve the implemen
tation of a vegetative man
agement program along 200
miles of county roadway.
•approve a lease agreement
with the Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority for
the construction, installation
and operation of radio com
munication equipment.
•approve a contract with
Valley Services Inc. to pro
vide food services at the
county correctional institute.
•adopt an ordinance related
to replacing existing ordi
nances addressing the stan
dards for outdoor watering of
landscapes.
•appoint Len Bernat, pur
chasing manager, to serve as
a point of contact between
the BOC and the Association
County Commissioners of
Georgia.
Man sues Hoschton over repairs to mobile home
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
HOSCHTON IS facing a
lawsuit claiming that it isn’t
allowing a property owner to
make repairs to a double-wide
trailer and has threatened to
arrest those working on the
structure.
Dwight DeLaPerriere filed
the lawsuit in Jackson County
Superior Court on Oct. 26 say
ing that he can’t make repairs to
a mobile home on W. Jefferson
Street that he purchased in
2007.
The Hoschton City Council
spent a total of 40 minutes on
Thursday and Monday dis
cussing pending litigation, but
council member Sandie Romer
didn’t attend the closed-door
meetings. When asked by a
reporter, Romer said she was
involved in the lawsuit.
DeLaPerriere claims in the
court documents that when he
started making repairs to the
property in July 2007, city plan
ner Wistar Harmon installed a
cease and desist order sign on
his land saying he wasn’t in
compliance with city codes and
ordinances.
Harmon, according to the
lawsuit, told DeLaPerriere that
the property hadn’t been occu
pied for the 12 months before
the project started and he would
need a building and occupan
cy permit. DeLaPerriere also
claims that Harmon said he
wouldn’t approve the permit, if
he applied for one.
However, DeLaPerriere con
tends that the property was
occupied before he purchased
it in 2007. Council member
Romer, who has lived near the
property for 16 years, testi
fied in a court affidavit that the
property was occupied through
May 2007.
DeLaPerriere further says
that Harmon said he wouldn’t
issue a building permit for the
mobile home because it had
aluminum wiring, which is a
violation of Hoschton’s zoning
ordinance. DeLaPerriere said
the residence has copper wir
ing.
In January 2010, Hoschton
closed its planning department,
whose lone employee was
Harmon.
DeLaPerriere says a Jackson
County official told him that no
building permit was needed for
the repairs, according to court
documents. He then hired two
men to work on the mobile
home.
In February 2010, an act
ing city inspector visited the
property, where the men were
installing plywood to prepare
for new siding and completing
a foundation.
The inspector told the men
to stop working on the site, but
allowed them to continue that
day since one of them had pre
pared wet mortar and the other
didn’t require a permit to finish
with the plywood and siding,
according to the lawsuit.
About an hour or two later,
however, two Jackson County
deputies came to the property
and told them to stop working
or they would be arrested. The
men stopped working on the
mobile home.
DeLaPerriere contends in
his lawsuit that Hoschton’s
ordinance says he can make
repairs to the non-compliant
mobile home without a build
ing permit, as long as it doesn’t
exceed 50 percent of the value
of the building. He wants to
install siding, complete cement
block under the home, finish
the steps into the mobile home,
and install carpet and vinyl
flooring.
He says in the lawsuit that
if he had been given a citation
for the work, he could have
appealed it in the Hoschton
Municipal Court, which
DeLaPerriere said was closed
in January 2010. Instead, those
working on the property were
threatened with arrest.
His attorney further says in
court documents that she tried
contacting the city attorney
by a certified letter in June, but
didn’t get a response from him.
DeLaPerriere preferred to settle
the issue outside of the courts,
according to the letter.
He is asking the courts to
allow him to make specified
repairs to the property and to
restrain Hoschton from issu
ing arrest orders for anyone
working on the mobile home.
DeLaPerriere also wants the
city to pay for his attorney’s
fees for the court action.
Photo deadline set Fri. for annual kids ’ section
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.
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