Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
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H Wednesday, April 27, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 136 NO. 46 SO PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75« COPY
— Inside —
Area news:
•Police report sheds
light on hours after
Moore's murder
page 2A
Op/Ed:
•'Time for KBMS to
"do-gooder"'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Jefferson ousted from
region baseball tourney
page 1B
Features:
•Carden tour ahead
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-7A
•Legals
pages 12-25C
•Church News
page 7B
•Obituaries
page 8B
•School News
pages 9-12B
O -S
Writing test results given for area schools
Most high schoolers
11th Grade Writing Test Results
Fall 2010
8th Grade Writing Test Results
January 2011
pass test on first try
Area High Schools
SCHOOL FAILURE%
Area Middle Schools
SCHOOL
FAILURE %
A LOW percentage of high school students in
Mill Creek HS
6
Malcom Bridge (Oconee)
2.9
Georgia who took the 11th grade writing test last
Oconee Co. HS
.9
Oconee Middle
3.1
fall failed to pass. Most students passed on the first
Dacula Middle (Gwinnett)
4.4
try, according to Georgia Department of Education
N. Oconee HS
1.3
2.2
Commerce City (Jackson)
7.6
data.
Jefferson HS
Winder-Barrow (Barrow)
7.9
Among high schools in the area, Mill Creek High
Jackson Co. HS
3.3
Westside Middle (Barrow)
10.1
School and the two Oconee County high schools
Apalachee HS
3.7
Jefferson Middle
10.4
posted the lowest failure rates while Madison County
Commerce HS
4.3
East Jackson Middle
10.5
High School had the highest failure rate in the area.
Oglethorpe HS
4.8
Russell Middle (Barrow)
10.7
At the eighth grade level, the 2011 writing test
Banks Co. HS
6.5
Banks Middle (Banks)
12.1
results posted Jackson County’s Kings Bridge Middle
Winder-Barrow HS
6.6
Haymon-Morris (Barrow)
12.6
School among the worst in the state with a 28.8 per-
East Jackson HS
6.7
West Jackson Middle
14.8
cent failure rate while most other middle schools in
Madison Co. HS
10.5
Madison Middle
19.2
the area were in the top one-third of overall results.
Kings Bridge Middle (Jackson)
28.8
Jefferson a City in Bloom
1M l ' • '■ 1
RECOGNIZED FOR TREE EFFORT
The Jefferson Heritage Tree Council (JHTC) received the Georgia Green Industry
Association’s City in Bloom Award for the city’s tree planting efforts in a presenta
tion Friday, April 1,2011. Pictured are: (Lto R) Stuart Cofer, GGIA officer and owner
of Cofer Home and Garden, Athens; Mary Dugan, chair, JHTC, Susan Russell, cer
tified arborist and JHTC member; Connie Head, certified state arborist; and Bob
Hammock, president of GGIA Chapter 2 and owner of Hammock Landscapes, Inc.
See page 2A for more on the award.
Nicholson Daisy Festival
coming up this weekend
THE ANNUAL Nicholson Daisy Festival is coming up.
The event is set for Friday, April 29, through Sunday, May 1.
Vendors will be setting up
booths from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Friday. There are 32 ven
dors registered for the event
and 21 softball teams signed
up to play in tournaments at
the East Jackson Park dur
ing the weekend, Nicholson
Mayor Ronnie Maxwell
stated.
Booths include: handmade
carvings, jewelry, purses,
glass blowing, candles, and a
variety of other items. Foods
booths will also be included.
‘ The only thing we don’t have
is funnel cakes.” Maxwell
said. ‘‘We need someone sell
ing funnel cakes,” Maxwell
added.
The event kicks off on
Friday with a cake walk from
6- 7 p.m. and karaoke from
7- 9 p.m.
Schedule of Events
Friday
•6-7 p.m. Cake walk
•7-9 p.m. Karaoke
Saturday
• 10:30 -11:30 a.m. Parade
• 11:30 - Opening ceremonies
• 12 -12:45 p.m. East
Jackson Jazz Band
•1-1:45 p.m. East
Jackson Drama/Chorus
•2-2:30 p.m. Commerce
School of Dance
•3-4 p.m. Daily Dying
• 4:30 - 5 p.m. Ricky Fitzpatrick
• 6 -7 p.m. Cake walk
• 8:30 -10 p.m. The Dalton Gang
Sunday
•1-2 p.m. Glory Road
Gospel Singers
• 2:30 - 4 p.m. Clark Kesler
The parade is set for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, opening ceremo
nies will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and entertainment will
be provided throughout the day.
Gospel music will be featured on Sunday from 14 p.m.
Jefferson council condemns
property for reservoir project
BYANGELA GARY
IN A 4-1 vote, the Jefferson
City Council agreed Monday
night to purchase 3.5 acres from
Jerry Fields and Shirley Pethel
as part of the town’s reservoir
project. The council agreed
to pay the “appraised value,”
$54,000. for the property.
Councilman Bosie Griffith
voted against this motion, which
was discussed in a 20-minute
closed session.
“Multiple alternatives have
been explored
and the acqui
sition and res
toration of just
250 feet of
creek on the
Fields property
is by far the
most cost effi
cient use of taxpayer’s money
due to it being adjacent to our
mitigation project site and the
adjacent wetland bank.” city
manager John Ward said. “In
the end, the project will result
in restored creeks, an increase
in the availability of water and
future economic opportunity for
our area. Attempts to negoti
ate a price have been ongoing
for approximately nine months
unsuccessfully. Due to the avail
ability of potential state funding
to create reservoirs, time was of
the essence, due to our place
ment at the top of the state’s list
of projects ready for construc
tion. If we continued to delay
a decision, we could be passed
by other communities that are
also working on reservoirs and
lose state assistance. Losing
state assistance could result in
a larger local investment and
potentially higher water prices.
In the end, the council took
action that protects our opportu
nity to access state funding.”
The City of Jefferson has
been developing a plan for over
15 years to provide for future
water. The new proposed Parks
Creek Reservoir will be approx
imately 170 acres and provide
approximately 4 million gal
lons of water per day. The city
has received permits from the
Georgia Department of Natural
Resources and Environmental
Protection Division.
The activities over the last
two years have focused on the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
permitting process. The remain
ing effort consists of completion
of a compensatory stream miti
gation plan. A condition of the
final reservoir permit requires
that the city mitigate the impact
created when building the res
ervoir.
“We plan to do the majority
of the required mitigation on the
city’s park and recreation prop
erty located on 100 acres off
Old Pendergrass Road,” Ward
said. “With the current plan,
the city is short some 12,000 to
17,000 stream credits. Restoring
the park and recreation property
and restoring 250 linear feet of
the Fields impacted creek prop
erty will then connect it to the
continued on page 3A
WARD
Rabies clinics planned across county
LAST YEAR IN Jackson County, 36 pets — 24
dogs and 12 cats — had to be killed for lack of a
$7 rabies shot.
Those were pets exposed to rabid animals, pets
who, for the most part, would have been saved had
their owners followed Georgia law that requires
all dogs and cats age three months or older to be
vaccinated against rabies.
Rabies is always fatal if not treated, and its pre
sence appears to be increasing, according to data
from health departments in Jackson, Madison and
Banks counties. That’s why veterinarians in each
of those counties hit the road annually for rabies
vaccination clinics.
Jackson County’s 18 clinics are set for May 4-7
in 15 locations spread over the county. Madison
County held its clinics two weekends ago and
Banks County’s clinics will be held Saturday, May
7, in seven locations.
The fee in Jackson County is $7 per animal; it’s
$9 in Banks County because the county levied a $2
per shot fee on rabies vaccinations. Other yearly
vaccinations will be available at an additional
charge.
The vaccination of pet dogs and cats is conside
red the first line of defense in keeping rabies away
from people, and health officials say the growing
number of wild animals found to be rabid increases
the importance of vaccinating pets that might come
in contact with those animals.
“Skunks are particularly bad,” notes Dr. Kinsey
Phillips of Commerce Veterinary Hospital, which
hosts the rabies clinics in Jackson and Banks
counties. “Just about all the skunks we turn in are
positive.”
During 2010, the health department tested 46
animals, including two skunks, three foxes, three
raccoons, one bat. 24 dogs and 12 cats for rabies.
Both skunks, two foxes, one raccoon and one cat
came back positive.
Because of those exposures, three people had to
undergo the costly and painful rabies shots, accor
ding to data provided by Shad Slocum of the health
department.
So far this year, one Jackson County resident
continued on page 3A
TAKING PRECAUTIONS
A dog gets vaccinated against rabies at
least year’s clinic.
Clinic Schedule
Wednesday, May 4
Commerce Veterinary Hospital — 2-4 p.m.
Maysville City Park —4:30-5:15 p.m.
Dry Pond Country Store — 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Our Store, Holly Springs — 6:30-7:15 p.m.
Thursday, May 5
Commerce Veterinary Hospital — 2-4 p.m.
Jefferson Animal Hospital — 2-4 p.m.
D’s Store, Hwy. 441 At Hwy. 334-4:30-5:15 p.m.
Benton Elementary School — 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Harrisburg Fire Dept. -6:30-7:15 p.m.
Arcade City Hall — 7:30-8:15 p.m.
Friday, May 6
Old Braselton Store — 4-5:15 p.m.
Hoschton Depot — 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Country Corner Store, Hwy. 124 — 6:30-7:15 p.m.
N. Jackson Elementary School — 7:30-8:15 p.m.
Saturday, May 7
Commerce Veterinary Hospital — 9-11 a.m.
Jefferson Animal Hospital — 9-11 a.m.
Jackson County High School —1-3 p.m.
S. Jackson Elementary School — 3:30-4:30 p.m.