Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
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H Wednesday, December 15, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 27 42 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<t COPY
— Inside —
•Departing Jackson
County BOE members
honored .... page 2A
Schools call for next round of E-SPLOST
Referendum ahead March 15, 2011
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE THREE school systems in
Jackson County have called for a vote
in March 2011 on another round of
sales tax funding for education.
If approved by voters, the Education
Special Purpose Local Option Sales
Tax (E-SPLOST) could bring in up to
$100 million in education funds for
the three school systems to share over
a five-year period, starting in 2012.
This penny sales tax, however,
is different from another round of
SPLOST funding approved by voters
in November. That SPLOST is expect
ed to provide an estimated $47.5 mil
lion for Jackson County and its cities
over a six-year period.
And like the other SPLOST for
the county and city governments, the
E-SPLOST is largely earmarked to
pay off existing debt.
“We know — and our community
knew — that the SPLOST is going
to be very important to us — as far
as paying off the bonds,” said James
“Mac” McCoy, superintendent of
the Commerce City School System.
“That's the number one priority for
us.”
Overall, the proposed E-SPLOST
calls for a majority of the funds — up
to $53 million among the three school
For a complete list of items for
all three school systems to be
funded by the E-SPLOST, see
page 2A
systems in Jackson County — to be
used to pay off debt.
With the most students, the Jackson
County School System is slated to
receive up to $62.6 million of the
continued on page 3A
•Dentist files lawsuit
against Arcade
page 7A
Op/Ed:
•'Stand firm on
T-LOST projects'
page 4 A
Sports:
•JCCHS, JHS to clash
on basketball court this
weekend page 1B
Features:
• Guide offers predic
tions for next year
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 8-20C
•Church News
pages 8-9B
•Obituaries
pages 10-11A
•School News
pages 8-9A
O -s
FINDS A TREE
At the Christmas festival Saturday, Maysville police chief Clarence Sullens pur
chased a Georgia Bulldog Christmas tree as a present for his wife for the holidays.
The Maysville Christmas event included a parade and visits with Santa.
Photo by Justin Poole
Man with JHS ties nominated for Grammy
KEANE NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY
John Keane, Athens, is nominated for a Grammy for
his work on Widespread Panic’s latest album, “Dirty
Side Down.” Keane and his wife, Jo, are the parents
of three Jefferson High School students: Paige and
Rachel, both juniors; and Ian, a senior.
BY KATIE HUSTON
HUSBAND, FATHER of
three, musician, producer and
engineer John Keane, can add
another title to his resume as
of last week - Grammy Award
nominee.
The Athens native and
resident was nominated for
the prestigious award in the
category of Best Engineered
Album. Non-Classical, for
his engineering work on
Widespread Panic's latest
album, “Dirty Side Down.”
The engineer’s three chil
dren - Paige and Rachel, both
juniors; and Ian, a senior - all
attend Jefferson High School,
and Keane isn't lacking with
school spirit.
“Go Dragons,” he said.
“Jefferson High is a great
school, and we’re very happy
to be there. Troy Kasting. the
former vice principal, is a big
Widespread fan.”
As far as his children’s
thoughts on having a father
nominated for a Grammy,
Keane thinks they approve.
“I’m not sure my kids knew
what a Grammy was before
now.” he said. “But they’re
pretty enthusiastic about it.”
The album was released in
May on ATO records and was
recorded in Keane's Athens-
based studio. Keane also
had his hands in 15 other
Widespread albums aside
from “Dirty Side Down,” but
this is the first since 2003.
“(Being nominated) is a
very big deal for people who
work in the music business,”
he said. “Because it comes
from your peers in the indus
try. It has more to do with their
appreciation of your work and
not so much about artist popu
larity or record sales.”
Keane said he heard the
news from Michele Caplinger,
senior executive director
of the Atlanta chapter of
NARAS (National Academy
of Recording Arts and
Sciences).
“It was a complete sur
prise,” he said. “I had no idea
someone was putting me up
for an award.”
As the news began to sink
in, the first person Keane
called was his wife, Jo. He
quickly found out how fast
news can spread.
“I called my wife when
I read the email (from
Caplinger),” he said. “But she
had already found out about it
from someone who read it in
The New York Times.’'
As far as what makes
“Dirty Side Down” Grammy-
material, Keane said that it is
difficult to be objective about
an album that he’s put so
much work into.
“The fact that it was all
done in the same place and
in a relatively short period of
time gives it a very cohesive
sound overall.” he said. “It
didn’t hurt that the band was
hitting on all eight cylinders.”
Despite his recording and
mixing the entire album and
completing all the engineer
ing work, Keane is quick to
dish out credit to the members
of Widespread.
“An album project is such a
team effort. I can’t really take
credit for the whole thing,”
he said. “The guys have all
sent many congratulations for
continued on page 2A
City manager named
finalist for Augusta job
JEFFERSON city manager John Ward has
been named one of the three finalists for a job
in Augusta.
Ward is one of three candidates to be inter
viewed for the deputy administrator position,
according to an Augusta newspaper.
The other top candidates are Doug Smith,
assistant city manger at Delray Beach, Fla.,
and William Shanahan, St. Mary's city man
ager. The city reportedly received 155 appli
cations for the position.
Mixed economic picture
Foreclosures up in 2010 but
unemployment goes down
AS THE END of 2010 approaches, Jackson County's eco
nomic report card presents a mixed message.
In good news, the county’s unemployment rate fell to under
10 percent in October at 9.9 percent. That’s the first time in
months that the unemployment rate in the county fell to single
digits and it was a full point below the October 2009 rate of 11
percent.
In addition, the county’s sales tax income for the first nine
months of 2010 was over six percent higher than in 2009, a
sign that the local retail sector may be in recovery. Year to date,
the county had collected $3.9 million in sales taxes through
September.
But foreclosures continue to hit the county hard, growing by
eight percent for 2010 over 2009. In 2010, some 1,544 foreclo
sure notices were published compared to 1,427 in 2009.
County’s jobless rate falls
FIGURES from the Georgia Department of Labor indicate
that the unemployment rate in Jackson County fell by seven-
tenths of a percent between September and October.
The DOL said Jackson had a 9.9 percent unemployment
rate in October, compared to 10.6 percent in September.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was
unchanged at 9.9 percent from September to October.
continued on page 2A
WARD
Perry, Primm named top
picks for State Court judgeship
ATTORNEYS Jeffrey Perry and Nicholas Primm received a
recommendation by the Judicial Nominating Commission last
week for Gov. Sonny Perdue to consider as Jackson County’s
new State Court Judge.
Perry is with The Perry Law Firm, PC. of Commerce and
Primm is with Bradford & Primm, LLC of Jefferson.
The governor will name a replacement for the late Judge
Jerry Gray, who died this fall of medical complications.
“The governor will likely schedule interviews and then make
the selection.” said Bert Brantley, director of communications
for the governor’s office.
The Judicial Nominating Committee narrowed the list from
four to two. Pendergrass city court judge Scott Tolbert and
Jefferson attorney Donna Sikes also applied for the position.
Property taxes due Dec. 20
PROPERTY taxes are due Dec. 20 and tax commissioner Don
Elrod encourages countians to mail in their payment to avoid
long lines at the tax office,
“If you do come in to pay, bring both the top and bottom of
the bill so that we can stamp the bottom half for their receipt if
they do not want to use their check as a receipt,” Elrod said.
Interest is one percent per month and. on the 91st day the
taxes are past due, there is a one time 10 percent penalty.
“We have 60 percent of the real property paid (so far),” Elrod
said. “Some large companies have paid but more have not than
have.”
Elrod said the office had an unusual amount of returned mail
and taxpayers stating they didn’t receive their bill this year.