Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, June 22, 2011
ERALD
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
VOL. 137 NO. 2 42 PAGES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 75<J COPY
— Inside
Area news:
Gun ordinance shot down
•Five companies look
ing at county sites
page 2A
•Hamilton State Bank
buys troubled bank
page 3A
Op/Ed:
•'Debt, not growth,
is now driving force in
county'
page 4 A
Sports:
•Brian Bowles trains
for upcoming fight in Las
Vegas page 1B
Features:
•A different perspec
tive on Crawford Long
page 1C
Other News:
•Public Safety
pages 6-8A
•Legals
pages 7-18C
•Church News
page 8B
•Obituaries
page 9B
•Classifieds
pages 5-6C
O -S
Hundreds attend
meeting to oppose
BOC proposal
OPPOSED TO GUN ORDINANCE PROPOSAL
More than 200 people attended the Jackson County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night tc
show opposition to a proposal for an ordinance that would have stopped the firing of guns in residentia
areas. The BOC voted against the proposal. Photo by Angela Gary
BYANGELA GARY
IT WAS standing room only Monday
night at the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners meeting with more than
200 people crowding into the meeting
room to oppose a proposed gun ordi
nance.
The BOC quickly voted at the start of
the meeting to reject any ordinance that
would stop the firing of guns in residential
areas of the county. Commissioners Tom
Crow. Chas Hardy, Dwain Smith and
Bruce Yates all voted in opposition to the
proposal. BOC chairman Hunter Bicknell
was not present at the meeting.
After the vote was taken, comments
were taken from those present at the meet
ing. Eight people spoke in opposition to a
gun ordinance and no one spoke in favor
of it. Most of those in the audience were
wearing “no gun control” stickers.
“This ordinance, which specifically
restricts my rights, I find very objection
able,” said Andrew Cline. “I find this a
direct infringement of my constitutional
rights.”
Sonny Cheatham, a resident of Holly
Springs Road, Pendergrass, said, “Don't
bring it (gun control) up again, please.
This ordinance, if it had been adopted,
would have been one more intrusion on
the rights of man to bear arms. I bear
my arms wherever I go. It's my Second
Amendment rights. If you don’t exercise a
right, you lose it.. .Firearms fired on your
own property should not be restricted.”
The crowd applauded loudly as
Cheatham added, “It’s ridiculous to even
consider something like you’ve consid
ered tonight...I only have one bumper
sticker on my vehicle and it says, ‘I’m the
NRA and I vote.”’
Rachel Vest, a resident of Hog
Mountain Road, Jefferson, said she has
lambs on her property and “would be
appalled” if she could not protect her
lambs from dogs or coyotes who come
on her property.
“I would be appalled if you told me I
would have to let a dog or coyote come
up and kill one of my defenseless lambs
because I could not shoot it,” she said.
“...Or if I could not protect myself of
someone trying to do us harm.”
Dr. Susan Hawn, a resident of the coun
ty since 1968, said, “This was evidently
to address something a neighborhood or
a few neighborhoods were concerned
about. To take an ordinance like this and
apply it to a county as large as Jackson
County and as diverse a neighborhood
situation as Jackson County has would
not have been fair or reasonable.. .This is
a time when Americans are increasingly
unhappy with the obtrusion of govern
ment. I think voters would have been
very unhappy with this ordinance going
forward in any way.”
Doug Waters, a long-time resident of
Jefferson, said, “I oppose any kind of
firearm restrictions whatsoever.”
Waters said that in three years of
911 calls that he reviewed, there were
eight gun-related calls and all were self-
inflicted. He added that six of those calls
involved alcohol.
Waters also quoted Thomas Jefferson,
“The more regulations you have, the less
freedom you have.”
David Murphy, a resident of Mtn.
Creek Church Road, Pendergrass, said,
“This is not only an issue of our rights. It
is also an issue of our property rights. I
think it is time this government gets back
to common sense.”
Chris Collins, president of the local
Tea Party, said, “The Tea Party is here
in Jackson County. We’re about rights.
We’re about our Constitutional rights.
I can't understand why this came up—
except for a few people bringing it up
and everyone suffering. Mr. Bicknell
will find out election day, the Tea Party
is here and we mean business.”
LISTING TOP PRIORITIES
Jefferson city leaders listed future priorities Saturday morning at a four-hour
“retreat.” Shown are: (L-R) council members Steve Kinney, C.D Kidd III and Bosie
Griffith. Photo by Angela Gary
Jefferson leaders name priorities
Parks, recreation, libraries, public safety top list
BYANGELA GARY
PARKS AND recreation improvements, build
ing out unused rooms in the civic center and
expanding the library are among the priorities
Jefferson leaders listed as future goals at a four-
hour “reheat'’ Saturday morning.
Jim Dove of the Northeast Georgia Regional
Commission led the discussion and asked the
mayor and council members to list their top
priorities for future planning. Those areas receiv
ing the most votes were: Sidewalks in neighbor
hoods, parks/recreation improvements (update
playgrounds, new fields, indoor walking facility ),
civic center improvements (build out unused
rooms), new or expanded library (more parking,
meeting space, computers), gateway signs and a
public safety complex.
REVENUE SOURCES
The council also discussed sources of addition
al revenue, with city manager John Ward pointing
out that the Pendergrass Flea Market will bring in
more revenue now that it has been classified as a
“mall” by the state fire marshal’s office.
“I believe that may be a source where we col
lected less sales tax than the full potential,” Ward
said. “With a mall status, different tenants are in
place. We have met with the management team
and told them how we plan to proceed. We are
determining permanent vendors. They have 500
vendors on a yearly basis and up to 400 of them
are permanent vendors.”
Another possible source of additional revenue
suggested by Ward was providing planning and
development services for the county. Ward said
the county building inspector is retiring and the
city can offer these services on an interim basis to
bring in revenue. He said the fee could be based
on an hourly rate and a county vehicle could be
used.
“This would bring in $20,500 and would be
revenue for the planning office,” Ward said.
‘This will take away some of the money that
we are having to take out of the general fund
to cover the budget problems for that depart
ment.”
Councilman Bosie Griffith said, “I’m against
it. The county gets a lot more money than we
do. They should hire their own person.”
Ward responded. “It would be during the time
continued on page 3A
Jefferson Freedom Festival
planned for Sat. evening
THE ANNUAL Jefferson Freedom Festival will be held from 5
to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, in downtown Jefferson.
Music will be provided by Grains of Sand beginning at 6 p.m.
Fireworks will be around 9:30 p.m.
Inflatables, children’s activities and games will also be featured.
Vendor booths will include arts and crafts, ice cream, boiled pea
nuts. hot dogs, barbecue, face painting and hamburgers.
For more information, call 706-367-5714.
GPSC to probe EJCHS
Allegations made of fake FTE records
AN EAST Jackson
Comprehensive High School
teacher has alleged that
school leaders falsified state
FTE counts and the Georgia
Professional Standards
Commission has launched
an investigation into EJCHS
principal Pat Stueck over the
matter.
In a letter to Superintendent
Shannon Adams late last
week, lawyers for the
unnamed teacher demanded
that the school “cease and
desist in retaliating” against
the teacher after she sent a
letter to the GPSC on April
12.
The letter alleges that
school leaders claimed stu
dents for FTE funding for
classes they didn’t attend, for
providing students with credit
for classes they didn't attend,
for creating “fake rosters and
schedules” to cover up those
activities and for directing
the complaining teacher to
provide credit and grades for
students when they had not
attended class.
The letter from attor
ney Michael Daniel also
demanded that the school
system reassign his client
to the position of Chairman
of the Special Education
Department or Coordinator
of the Eagle Express Program
and that she goes back to
teaching Special Education
Science next year. The letter
alleges that the school had
removed the teacher from
those positions in retaliation
for the April 12 letter to the
GPSC.
The letter also makes an
open records request for a
series of documents from
the Jackson County School
System related to FTE counts
and says the school system
should not destroy such doc
uments.
The accusing teacher’s
name, along with the names
of school officials who alleg
edly falsified the documents,
was redacted in the copy given
to Mainstreet Newspapers.
However, a letter from the
GPSC names Stueck as the
target of a state investigation.
Jackson County School
System superintendent and
Stueck didn’t respond to an
e-mail asking for comments
about the allegations.