Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
r ',y
H Wednesday, February 2, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 34 54 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Immigration debate
now in Georgia
pages 3 & 5A
• Braselton officer
appealing termination
page 8A
Op/Ed:
•'County school
property tax rate 30%
to 40% higher than it
should be'
page 4 A
Sports:
•JHS, JCCHS get ready
for area wrestling tour
ney. page 1B
Features:
•Local girl a member
of the Piedmont Pony
Club page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 5-28C
•Church News
page 9B
•Obituaries
pages 10-11A
•School News
pages 12-14 A
O -S
Woman burned at store gets $1.2 million
A WOMAN who stopped at a
QuickTrip in Jefferson in 2007 — and
was severely burned by cappuccino
— has been awarded more than $1.2 mil
lion in compensatory damages by a Cobb
County jury.
Cynthia Nance continues to live with
a bum on her hand and arm that resulted
in a permanent nerve disorder known as
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)
and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
(CRPS), according to a press release.
As a result of her condition, Nance
must receive regular nerve blocks in a
nerve bundle (the Stellate Ganglia) locat
ed in her neck that is connected to the
sympathetic system. She must also take
significant doses of narcotic pain medica
tion and may need to have an electronic
device known as a Spinal Cord Stimulator
surgically implanted onto her spine.
The evidence Nance provided the jury
at trial was that the cappuccino machine
that burned her had a part removed for
cleaning. As a result, 190-degree water
was ejected from the machine onto her
hand and arm as she held her cup below
the nozzle.
“The offer to settle the case before trial
was only $88,000.” said her attorney.
Nelson Tyrone HI, in a statement. “I
believe that QuikTrip never understood
the severity of Mrs. Nance's condition
until the trial. Certainly, given the verdict,
the jurors in Cobb County understood
how severely her life has been impacted
by her injury and how businesses that
operate in our community must put the
safety of the community before anything
else.”
With the money, Nance will be able to
afford medical care by the best doctors
in the nation to relieve some of her pain,
Tyrone said.
Patients with RSD/CRPS may have an
extremity that begins to curl up or retract
and the disorder may spread to other parts
of the body. Often there are few physical
signs the doctor can see objectively. In
those cases, the patient, complaining of
horrible, usually “burning” pain, may be
labeled a “complainer” or “hypochon
driac.”
For Nance. RSD will mean a lifetime
of pain, medications and medical proce
dures, according to her attorney.
County collects $4.27
million so far in sales tax
STREET IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
The latest part of the Jefferson street improvement project in the downtown area
includes replacing the parking area in front of Crawford W. Long Pharmacy. The
plans call for a small plaza to be located on that side of the square with landscap
ing, benches and a clock. Curbing alongside the road is also being replaced, as
well as the sidewalk. The trees removed from that side of the square were replant
ed at the park at the Gainesville Midland train in front of Jefferson High School.
Sheriff: New jail operating at half staff
HOSTS TOWN HALL MEETING
Jackson County Commissioner Bruce Yates (stand
ing) speaks to a crowd at the gym at West Jackson
Primary School on Tuesday, Jan. 25, when he hosted
a town hall meeting. Also shown (L-R) are: Jody
Woodall of the North Jackson Fire Department; Terry
Turner, chief of the Jackson Trail Fire Department; Ben
Stephens, chief of the West Jackson Fire Department;
Steve Nichols, county public safety director; and Stan
Evans, sheriff. Photo by Kerri Testement
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
IT WAS BUILT to handle
more than 400 inmates — but
so far, the new Jackson County
Jail is averaging fewer than half
that number, according to sheriff
Stan Evans.
And that, he says, is saving
the county money in employee
expenses that would otherwise
be required to staff a full facility.
Speaking at a town hall meet
ing last week in Braselton.
Evans talked about the costs of
operating the facility — which
is located behind the Jackson
County Courthouse in Jefferson.
“We try to be good stewards
of the tax dollars,” said Evans,
who has been Jackson County's
sheriff for 27 years.
When the new facility opened
in 2009, it spanned 130,000
square feet with a 424-bed jail,
and space for the sheriff’s office
and administration offices. The
jail is divided into several pods
to house inmates.
Previously, the jail was locat
ed in a decades-old converted
prison work camp. At times.
Jackson County didn't have
enough space to house all of its
inmates and paid other counties
to keep them.
With the new jail, the county
is averaging about 175 inmates.
Evans said. If it gets more than
200 inmates, the jail would have
to open another pod — which
requires five additional employ
ees to staff.
“We constantly monitor our
daily (inmate) population and
if it ever gets to the point where
we fill up about halfway, then
we’re going to have to have
more employees,” he said.
The Jackson County Jail isn’t
fully staffed because of financial
constraints, Evans explained.
That also means that it’s not cost
effective to accept inmates from
other counties.
“We put inmates on the floor
to keep from opening up another
pod and then have to hire more
staff” Evans said.
Overall, the sheriff's depart
ment annual budget is $5.5 mil
lion and the jail budget is $10.5
million, he said. The number of
employees under Evans' leader
ship includes 74 at the jail, 52
on patrol, 14 to the courts. 10 to
investigations, five in adminis
tration, among other positions.
One cost-saving program is
the conversion of patrol vehicles
to propane fuel tanks — which
has saved Jackson County an
estimated $150,000, according
to Evans.
The county is using seized
drug money to fund the program,
which costs about $5,000 to con
vert each patrol car, he said. The
program is also reducing costs
for vehicle maintenance.
Last year, a deputy was
injured when he lit a cigarette in
his propane-fueled patrol vehicle
— causing an explosion. The
sheriff’s office later determined
that the incident was an accident
caused by “manual tampering”
of a safety device during main
tenance.
Evans said the sheriff's office
no longer allows smoking in
patrol vehicles.
Chuck Fisk, a Hoschton resi
dent, thanked Evans for provid
ing deputies in the city after it
closed its police department in
January 2010.
Some people in the city were
initially apprehensive about
closing the Hoschton Police
Department, but the sheriff’s
office has been providing good
service in the city and that con
cern has subsided. Fisk said.
“You’re doing a great job
and we certainly appreciate
you for that,” said Fisk, who’s
responsible for three neigh
borhood watch associations in
Hoschton.
PARKS AND
RECREATION
Ricky Sanders, director of
the Jackson County Parks and
Recreation Department, spoke
continued on page 8A
JACKSON COUNTY gov
ernment collected $4.27 million
during the first 11 months of
2010 from the special purpose
local option sales tax, accord
ing to a spreadsheet sent out by
Jackson County fiscal analyst
Logan Propes.
Of that, $1.26 million was
reserved for roads; $780,608 for
recreation; $546,425 for public
safety facilities; $1.56 million
for a new jail; $78,037 for the
health department; and $39,030
for libraries.
Revenue from the current
SPLOST, which expires June
30, is divided among Jackson
County, the Jackson County
Water and Sewerage Authority
and each of the municipalities
in the county. The county and
each municipality subsequently
divides their portions according
to pre-set formulas.
The largest total distribu
tion, $1.56 million through 11
months, went to fund the debt on
the Jackson County Jail.
Other distribution totals for
the 11-month period include:
•Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority,
$1,268,488.
•Jefferson, $566,836
divided among water proj
ects ($226,735), roads and
bridges ($218,232), recreation
($113,367) and public safety
facilities ($8,502).
•Commerce, $785,434,
divided among water and sew-
BYANGELA GARY
THE FOUR Jackson County
attorneys who applied ear
lier for the State Court judge-
ship plan to seek the position
again and another area lawyer
has announced his intention to
apply.
Jefferson attorney Rob
Alexander plans to apply for the
judge's position, as do Jeff Perry,
Donna Sikes, Scott Tolbert and
Nick Primm.
Former Gov. Sonny Perdue
had asked a Judicial Nominating
Commission to review the origi
nal four applicants. That com
mittee recommended Primm
and Perry as the top two appli
cants. Perdue didn’t have time to
STATE SENATOR Frank
Ginn (R-Danielsville) has been
selected to serve as the Senate
appointee to the Northeast
Georgia Transportation
Roundtable.
As designated by the
Transportation Investment Act
erage projects ($549,105);
roads, bridges and sidewalks,
etc. ($172,575); and the recre
ation department and the library
expansion project ($31,377).
•Arcade, $243,608, divid
ed among roads ($21,924),
public safety ($63,338) and
administrative facilities and
equipment ($158,346)
•Nicholson, $184,797, to
be used for water ($27,719).
roads ($83,159) and recreation
($73,919).
•Talmo. $70,796, allocated for
administration and library facili
ties ($31,859), roads ($21,239),
recreation ($10,619) and public
safety facilities ($7,079).
•Hoschton,$158.560,forwater
($118,920), roads ($31,712) and
recreation ($7,928).
•Pendergrass, $63,786. allo
cated for roads ($12,757) and
recreation ($51,029).
•Braselton, $103,822, ear
marked for roads.
•Maysville, $85,273. for water
($68,219), roads ($12,791) and
recreation ($4,263).
By law, the governments are
restricted to spending SPLOST
revenue as determined by the
referendum approved by vot
ers — which spelled out how
the money would be allocated
to and by various govern
ments. Although the funds
were collected in 2010,
that does not mean that the
governments actually spent
continued on page 8A
interview those two candidates
before going out of office and
didn’t make an appointment.
“We couldn’t get interviews
scheduled in time, and didn’t
feel it was right to name some
one without going through the
interview process,” said Bert
Brantley, who served as direc
tor of communications for Gov.
Perdue.
Gov. Nathan Deal decided to
start the process over for appoint
ing a new State Court judge for
Jackson County. Applications
are being taken through Feb. 22.
The State Court duties have
been handled by visiting judges
since the fall when Judge Jerry
Gray died.
of 2010 (House Bill 277), each
roundtable will be charged with
vetting and proposing specific
transportation projects for their
region, which would be funded
by a voter-approved transporta
tion special local option sales tax
continued on page 8A
Rob Alexander to seek
State Court judgeship
Perry, Sikes, Tolbert and Primm
to again apply for position
Ginn named to serve NEGA
transportation roundtable