Newspaper Page Text
O
O
THE
ACKSON
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MW.
H Wednesday, April 13, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 44 52 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<t COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Arcade agrees to
unknown legal settle
ment page 3A
• Events ahead this
weekend . .. page 10A
Op/Ed:
•'Redistricting will
be important to coun
ty BO E' page 4 A
Sports:
•Jefferson, jackson
County baseball teams
to meet in regular sea
son finale Fri... page 1B
Features:
•Race to raise aware
ness about Williams
Syndrome
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 9-24C
•Church News
pages 7-8B
•Obituaries
page 6B
•School News
pages 9-12B
O -S
Three banks remain troubled
But one local bank
looking for deals
THREE BANKS with branches in
Jackson County remained in troubled
territory at the end of 2010. Hometown
Community Bank in Braselton, First
Covenant Bank in Commerce and First
Georgia Banking Company, which is head
quartered in Franklin, but with offices in
Jackson County, all had troubled asset
ratios above 100 at the end of 2010.
But while those banks continue to strug
gle, Hamilton State Bank in Hoschton is
one of the few area banks that has been
able to raise significant capital in order to
actually buy other failing banks.
Hamilton raised $231 million in February
to be used to buy an FDIC assisted deal
around Atlanta, according to an article in
American Banker magazine. Hamilton has
also revamped its board with seven new
directors and plans to soon pay back TARP
hands it borrowed during the early days of
the recession, the article said.
PROBLEM BANKS
While Hamilton plans to look for stra
tegic deals, the other three area banks
continued to fight for survival in 2010.
Hometown Community ended 2010 with
a troubled asset ratio of over 350, accord
ing to data from the Investigative Reporting
Workshop which tracks bank conditions
across the country. The bank had improved
its ratio somewhat starting in the third quar
ter of2009, but the ratio shot up in the third
and fourth quarters of 2010.
The bank saw its assets shrink in 2010
from $139.8 million in 2009 to $135.7 mil
lion. The bank also lost significantly more
money in 2010, $4.7 million compared
to $1.7 million in 2009. In addition, its
troubled assets grew from $14.6 million to
$20.2 million.
First Covenant also saw its troubled asset
ratio grow in the fourth quarter of 2010 to
nearly 250, up from just around 100 at the
end of 2009. As with Hometown, First
Covenant also saw its assets shrink last
year, although it lost a little less in 2010
than 2009 — $1.2 million compared to
$1.3 million. But First Covenant's troubled
assets climbed in the year, from $15.1 mil
lion to $26.9 million.
First Georgia the largest of the three
locally troubled banks, also had a downturn
in the fourth quarter of last year, although
its problems had been growing since the
end of 2009. First Georgia's troubled asset
ratio shot up to over 250 at the end of 2010,
a dramatic increase from 2009 when it
remained under 100. The bank also saw
its troubled assets jump $30 million, from
$53.7 million at the end of 2009 to $83.7
million at the end of 2010.
First Georgia did, however, lower its
losses in 2010 from 2009 with a loss of
$15.4 million last year compared to a loss
of $23.9 million the year before.
The Jackson County and Northeast
Georgia area has seen a laige fallout from
the recession and housing bust with several
failed banks and a number of snuggling
institutions.
THREE-VEHICLE ACCIDENT
Ulises Carranco, Athens, was driving on Hwy. 15 West in Jefferson Saturday when
he struck a vehicle driven by Brittany Nation, Danielsville, according to an incident
report filed with the Jefferson Police Department. The impact caused Nation’s vehicle
to hit a car driven by Mark Garrison, Maysville. One person was slightly injured.
Teen to be tried as an adult
15-year-old Braselton girl charged with
murdering her mother at home last week
MURDER IN BRASELTON
Law enforcement officials are shown Friday at the
sceneofamurderin Braselton. A 15-year-old Braselton
resident has been charged with murder in the shoot
ing death of her mother.
BY KRISTEN MORALES
A 15-YEAR-OLD Braselton
resident who reportedly told
police last week she shot her
mother in the back of the head
at their home, killing her, will
likely tried as an adult in her
murder.
The girl, whose name has not
been released due to her age,
was arrested Friday after tell
ing police she fired a 9 mm
handgun while her mother was
watching TV and using her com
puter, according to the Braselton
Police Department. Her mother,
1st Sgt. Karen Moore, 42, was
an Army recruiter in Athens.
The case originally was sent
to Barrow County for pros
ecution, where District Attorney
Brad Smith said the decision
to charge the alleged shooter
as an adult was made for him
by the courts — in Georgia, he
said, anyone older than 13 who
is charged with murder is auto
matically tried as an adult.
“The moment she was charged
with murder, she would be tried
as an adult,” he said.
The teenager made her first
appearance Monday at magis
trate court, where no bond was
set due to the murder charge
and she remains in a Gwinnett
County juvenile detention facil
ity.
On Tuesday, Braselton Police
moved the case from Barrow
to Gwinnett County. The Falls
of Braselton subdivision where
the shooting took place falls
squarely on the line between
the two counties, and Braselton
Police officials said because
Barrow County emergency
services were the first to arrive
on the scene, that’s where they
assumed jurisdiction was.
The next step is an appearance
before a grand jury, Smith said.
The Gwinnett County District
Attorney's Office said its coun
ty’s grand jury meets once a
week, but it could take weeks to
gather the evidence in the case.
At the very least, according to
Stacy Sonnenschein. assistant to
the DA, the teen should appeal
before a grand jury in the next
90 days.
“At this point, warrants come
to our office, then we start put
ting our file together,” said Smith
of the process for the district
attorney's office.
The girl's mother, who worked
at the Army's main recruiting
station in downtown Athens, was
the senior noncommissioned
officer at the recruiting station,
according to Jim Humphreys,
public affairs officer for the
U.S. Army recruiting station
in Atlanta. As a first sergeant,
he said, in charge of about 40
other noncommissioned officers
working with her.
She had been in the posi
tion since July 2009, he said.
She began her service career in
1994, and moved into recruiting
in 2000. She has served as a sta
tion commander in Texas and an
operations officer in Missouri.
“Based on the rank she has
obtained, she did very well
recruiting and was very good at
her job,” Humphreys said.
Moore's husband, a sergeant
major, and son also are in the
military, and both were stationed
in Alabama at the time of her
death.
Neighbors in the quiet neigh
borhood off Ga. 211 say the
family moved in about a year ago
and mainly kept to themselves.
Some said it was apparent the
mother and daughter had their
differences, but nothing more
than typical clashes between a
continued on page 2A
Egg hunts planned in
Jefferson, Maysville
EASTER EGG hunts
are planned in Jefferson and
Maysville.
An Easter egg hunt and carni
val will be held April 23 at the
Jefferson Clubhouse.
Booths will open at 10 a.m.
and close at 1 p.m. The egg hunt
starts at 1 p.m. The carnival will
include cake walk, go fish, ring
toss, putt-putt, bean bag toss,
duck pond and concessions.
Also in attendance that day
will be Mr. and Mrs. Bunny,
Sparky the fire dog. along with
the Jefferson Fire Department
and the llamas from Love of
Llamas.
MAYSVILLE
In Maysville, an egg hunt will
be held at the public library at
11 a.m. on Saturday, April 16.
Housing prices way
down in Jackson
WHILE AN uptick in housing Hoschton had the highest list-
sale prices the first part of 2010
led some to believe the worst of
the local housing collapse was
over, the second half of 2010 saw
Jackson County's median sale
price nosedive.
According to zillow.com web
site that tracks market housing
price data, the median sale price
of a house in Jackson County is
now just $105,200, far below last
August's sale price of $173,000.
With listing prices, the county
overall has a median fisting of
$164,900, down from $180,000
for most of last year. Five years
ago, the median fisting price in
Jackson County was $210,000.
BOE reviews
BY KRISTEN MORALES
WHEN STUDENTS at South
Jackson Elementary School
return to its halls in the fall, they
can expect to see the same famil
iar faces leading their school —
co-principals Jane Scales and
Pam Johns, along with assistant
principal Resa Brooksher.
That’s because the South
Jackson school, along with
Jackson County’s 13 other
public schools, are likely to
have their administrators’ con
tracts renewed following a
Monday night work session by
the Jackson County Board of
Education.
Most of the hires are actu
ally contract renewals, said
Superintendent Shannon
Adams, with the board looking
at renewing the contracts of 31
principals or assistant principals
throughout the district. All of
the administrators are planned to
stay at their current school.
After calling the 6 p.m. meet
ing to order, the board quickly
went into a closed session to
discuss the new hires for the
year, along with any person
nel transfers, resignations and
retirements. Two hours later,
the board opened the door and
announced the members were
taking no action on the 66
employees they discussed in the
closed session.
ing price at $277,000 in March
of this year while Commerce
had the lowest median fist price
at $90,000. Hoschton has seen
an actual increase in fisting price
of 10.8 percent in a year-to-year
comparison while both Arcade
and Commerce have seen a 21.7
percent decline in fist price.
Jefferson had a median fist
price of $160,000 in March, a
five percent drop from last year.
To show how dramatic local
housing prices have dropped in
the recession, on Jan. 1, 2008,
the per square foot sale price
was $148; Jan. 1, 2011 that had
dropped to $60 per square foot.
66 contracts
Which means when the board
reconvenes for its 7 p.m. regular
meeting Thursday, it's likely to
approve the contract renewals
at all but one Jackson County
school — only Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
did not have a principal whose
contract needed to be renewed.
Along with the 48 administra
tive staff hires, the board is likely
to O.K. four new hires, including
a special education paraprofes-
sional who teaches Braille, two
speech language pathologists
and a science teacher at JCCHS.
Eight teachers have requested
transfers to different schools and
five are either resigning or have
been terminated. Judy Boone,
school nutrition manager at
West Jackson Intermediate, is
planning to retire at the end of
the school year as well and is
among the fist expected to be
approved.
The board also is expected
to approve a handful of school
administrators who work part
time at their school as they near
retirement. By retaining their
jobs, but working part time,
said Superintendent of Schools
Shannon Adams, the adminis
trators save the school system in
retirement pensions.
“This saves a lot for the school
system,” he said. “That’s really a
great situation.”