Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
>rV
MW.
H Wednesday, December 29, 2010
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 29 44 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
Newsmaker of the Year
Area news:
•County sees snow
. . .pages 11-12A, 12B
•KJCB honored at
national level . page 3A
Op/Ed:
•'Lack of money kept
local government at
low ebb during 2010'
page 4A
Sports:
•Recapping the year in
sports ... pages 2, 4, SB
Features:
•Jefferson Academy
produces book on
hometown Jefferson
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
page 6A
•Legals
pages 10-20C
•Church News
page 11B
•Obituaries
pages 8-9B
•School News
pages 6-7B
O -s
Short looking to the long-run for county
1990-2009: Newsmakers of the Year
2009 - Katherine Rintoul, Scott Rogers and Bill 1999 — Rep. Scott Tolbert
Garner, Pendergrass “whistleblowers”
2008 - Shaun Whitehead, soldier killed in Iraq
2007 — Darren Glenn, Jefferson police chief
2006 — Kathy Wilbanks, county BOE chairman
2005 — Pat Graham, Braselton mayor
2004 — Stan Evans, sheriff
2003 — Concerned Citizens of Jackson County
2002 — Scott Martin, chairman of the IDA
2001 — Emil Beshara, BOC
2000 — Jerry Waddell, chairman of the BOC
1998 — Richard Cathey, chamber of commerce
1997 — Pat Bell, commissioner
1996 — Citizens United for a Better Jackson County
1995 — Ronnie Hopkins, Jefferson BOE chairman, and
Andy Byers, Jackson County superintendent
1994 — Jerry Waddell, chairman of the BOC
1993 — Charles Segars, Arcade mayor
1992 — Bill Mahaffey, chairman of the BOC
1991 - Sandy Beem, concerned citizen
1990 — Henry Robinson, chairman of the BOC
JACKSON COUNTY is complicated
It has nine incorporated towns, three dif
ferent school systems, around 10 rural fire
departments that set their own tax rates,
dozens of small agencies and is part of a
number of regional groups that plan for
everything from agriculture to trash.
Add to that the large geographic size
of the county and its transitional nature,
which falls somewhere between rural and
suburban, and you have one complicated
recipe. If Jackson County were soup, it
would be goulash.
So it takes some special efforts from
the various leaders in the county to forge
anything close to a united relationship. At
times, that relationship has been closer
than at others. Petty infighting, jealousy
and turf-protecting always threaten to
untie the political and social fabric of such
a complex county.
But over the last couple of years, the
lights have been less and the sense of
unanimity stronger.
That has been in large part due to
one man who has, in a very short time,
become a major uniting influence on
the county's otherwise fractious political
landscape.
From hard work and his sheer force
of personality, Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce President Shane
Short has knitted together a variety of
competing interests at a time when the
financial pressure of the recession might
have otherwise sent deep political and
economic fault lines across the county.
For his work in helping keep Jackson
County united during difficult economic
times and his high profile leadership role
in 2010, Short is The Herald's Newsmaker
of the Year.
Short landed in Jackson County in
September 2007, just in time for the worst
economic downturn since the Depression.
What had been one of the nation’s fastest
growing counties and an economic power
in Northeast Georgia during the boom
years was suddenly a bleeding victim of
the housing bust. Massive foreclosures,
bank failures, declining property values
and high unemployment became com
mon — many would argue that there's
no light at the end of that dark economic
tunnel even today.
All of that might have been discourag
ing to a chamber leader whose lifeblood
is economic development and growth.
But the downturn apparently didn’t hit
Short like that. Perhaps that was because
he came to Jackson County from the
Henry and Clayton county areas, where
the housing bust hit even harder.
Or more likely, it’s because Short is
ignoring the short run (pun intended)
and looking ahead to a time when the
economy returns to a more normal condi
tion — and the potential Jackson County
has for the long run.
There are several things Short has done
well in his tenure in Jackson County that
led to the success he had in 2010.
FINDING SUCCESS
First, he held a tight rein on the
Chamber’s internal management. As the
economy tanked early in his tenure, Short
didn’t whine to local governments for
more tax money. As early as 2008, he
cut internal Chamber spending and put
at least one unfilled position on ice until
the economy turned around. He even can
celed the Chamber’s cleaning service and
he and his staff emptied their own trash.
As a result of cutting spending and
despite the recession, which for a time
hammered membership, the Chamber
finished 2009 in the black and has grown
membership even as many local busi
nesses struggled or failed. Even now,
the Chamber continues to re-evaluate
its programs with an eye on both ser
vice and costs. Good management of the
Chamber’s internal finances and member
ship development allowed Short and the
Chamber to continue to focus outward
without getting caught up in unproduc
tive financial navel-gazing over its own
problems.
Second. Short didn’t shirk responsibil
ity by playing a game of “let’s blame
the recession” for the local economic
development slowdown. Obviously, the
recession impacted the area’s economic
development, but Short didn’t just cast the
Chamber’s fate into the jaws of the larger
economy; he kept showing prospects local
facilities (45 in 2010) even when he knew
they were just kicking tires and not really
serious about doing anything short-term.
Finally, Short used the recession slow
down to raise the Chamber’s profile not
just to outside prospects, but also within
Jackson County itself. As one observer
said, Short “put down a lot of footprints”
within Jackson County bringing a new
sense of visibility to the Chamber. That
also served to connect the Chamber not
just to the business and political com
munities, but also to many individuals
and organizations that generally don’t get
involved in Chamber business.
All of that led to 2010 being a strong
year for Short and the Chamber. In eco
nomic development, the Chamber held
several special events and it was able to
add a new position of “director of eco
nomic development,” a position that had
earlier been put on hold.
But mainly, the Chamber and other
county officials helped bring in five new
industries and create around 750 new jobs
in 2010.
In perhaps his highest profile role in
2010, Short led the effort of local govern
ments for the renewal of the SPLOST
tax, which was approved by voters by
57 percent in November. Short sold the
plan without little help or support from
the local governments and was often a
one-man-band at the dozens of events he
attended to sell the plan.
The economic boom that defined
Jackson County in the last decade is long
gone as the housing market, which was
the area’s main economic engine, contin
ues to struggle. Unemployment remains
high and other economic sectors are sput
tering.
Still, there is a sense of optimism in
Jackson County as 2010 ends. That’s
largely due to the tone set by Short dur
ing these tough times, a tone that has
brought a sense of greater unanimity to
a county where that is a difficult and rare
commodity.
In 2010, Short proved the old saying:
“Put the right person in the right place at
the right time and great things can hap
pen.”
News Story of the Year
Bank with local branches shut down by FDIC; fraud alleged
COMMUNITY Bank
& Trust was taken over by
state and federal bank regula
tors this past year and sold to
Orangeburg, SC-based SCBT,
N.A., with former officials
declaring the bank was a victim
of both fraud and bad loans.
Although based in nearby
Habersham County, CB&T
was a major financial player
in the Jackson County mar
ket and had provided a lot
of local community leadership
over the years. That such a
stalwart bank could fail sent
shockwaves through Northeast
Georgia.
Because of its extensive his
tory in Jackson County, the
failure of CB&T is the News
Story of the Year.
When the bank failed, at
least one local leader predicted
that there had been some fraud
within the bank, although not
at Jackson County branches.
“There’s some people in
our company going to jail,”
said Elton Collins, longtime
president of Jackson County
operations. “I know damn well
they’re going to jail.”
The cover story of the Nov.
1 issue of Time appears to lend
credibility to Collins’ allega
tion that fraud played a large
role in the bank’s failure. Time
used the CBT failure to illus
trate the nationwide issue fac
ing the banking industry.
The story, “The Anatomy of
a Failure,” points out that a
report by the FDIC’s inspec
tor general found that “Some
(Community Bank and Trust)
bankers crossed the line from
dangerously sloppy to poten
tially criminally fraudulent,
lending to one another and
favored friends and concealing
lines of credit.”
The FDIC and the State
Banking Office took over
the bank on a Friday night
in February at closing time.
They put it into receivership
and bankruptcy the next day,
which relieved the new owners
of the obligations of contracts
and contingencies, then sold
the assets to and turned over
the deposits to SCBT with a
loss share agreement.
“Basically it was fraud and
bad loans that got the bank,”
Collins said. As for the fraud,
he said the FBI is handling that
at the Cornelia office.
The FDIC’s move doesn’t
affect depositors, but it did
affect Community Bank &
Trust stockholders.
“We got wiped out Friday
night as stockholders,” Collins
commented, adding that he
considered it “very likely”
that there will be lawsuits over
those losses.
CB&T had assets of over
$1.2 billion.
The bank continues to oper
ate under the CB&T name,
but depositors automatically
become depositors of SCBT.
Officials said the bank’s fail
ure cost the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. (FDIC) some
$354.5 million.
The bank’s demise was not
a total surprise as it had been
showing signs of weakness for
months. Nor was the failure the
first area bank to go down dur
ing the recession.
But it was among the larg
est area banks to tank and left
many people stunned that one
of the county’s strongest lead
ership institutions could falter.