Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
‘Buy local,’ chamber says
Area SAT Scores
**
School
Readina
Math
Writina
2011 Averaae
2010 Averaae
2009 Averaae
EJCHS
476
482
458
1,416
1,402
1,451
JCCHS
485
487
469
1,441
1,525
1,475
JHS
542
552
523
1,617
1,566
1,532
CHS
456
459
430
1,345
1,396
1,478
State*
481
483
467
1,431
1,442
1,450
National*
494
506
483
1,483
1,497
1,493
*State and national numbers include public school students, not private school students
**The SAT has three sections — reading, math and writing — each worth 800 points, for a highest possible score of 2,400.
SAT scores for JHS rise above national, state results
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
JEFFERSON HIGH School students sur
passed state and national SAT scores in
2011, according to data released last week
by the Georgia Department of Education.
The school posted its highest SAT aver
age score in three years — bucking a state
and national trend of lower scores compared
to 2010.
JHS students in 2011 posted an average
score of 1,617 on the SAT — a college
entrance exam that is developed, adminis
tered and scored by the College Board.
Among public school students in 2011,
the state average was 1,431 and the national
average 1,483 — both of which dropped
from the 2010 scores on the SAT.
In 2010, JHS students had an average
score of 1,566 on the SAT and 1,532 in
2009.
Jackson County Comprehensive High
School also outpaced the state average
with a score of 1,441 on the SAT in 2011
— although the school’s scores dropped
from 1,525 in 2010, when it did better than
the state and national average scores.
East Jackson Comprehensive High
School’s SAT average rose slightly — from
1,402 last year to 1,416 this year.
Commerce High School posted the low
est SAT average scores among schools in
Jackson County. That school had an average
SAT score of 1,345 in 2011 — compared to
1,396 in 2010.
The SAT has three sections — critical
reading, math and writing — each worth 800
points, for a highest possible score of 2,400.
Statewide, 80 percent of the graduating
class of 2011 took the SAT, which was the
highest ever in Georgia. The state placed
fifth in the nation in the percentage of high
school seniors taking the SAT.
However, the state department of educa
tion warned in a press release that as more
students are taking the SAT, Georgia’s aver
age score on the test has dropped.
“It is common for mean scores to decline
when the number of students taking an exam
increases because more students of varied
academic backgrounds are represented in
the test-taking pool,” the DOE said in a
statement. “As the number of SAT tak
ers in Georgia has increased 18 percent
among all students and 19 percent among
public school students since 2007, score
declines like Georgia has experienced can
be expected.”
Among the more than 400 public and
private schools with more than five stu
dents taking the SAT, Jefferson High School
ranked in the top 20 for math and reading
scores, and the top 30 for writing scores on
the 2011 SAT.
Jackson County Board of Commissioners
Area residents speak against alcohol license
BYANGELA GARY
TWO RESIDENTS of the
Holly Springs community
spoke out Monday night at
the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners meeting about
a request for an alcohol license
for Our Store.
Action on the request for the
license for Our Store, located
at 5241 Holly Springs Road,
Pendergrass, was tabled until
the Oct. 10 meeting. The appli
cant asked that it be postponed
until the full BOC was present.
At Monday’s meeting, com
missioner Bruce Yates was not
present. With only four com
missioners, there was the pos
sibility of a tie vote. County
attorney Jane Range pointed
out that a tie would be the same
as a denial.
Speaking out against the
request was Sonny Cheatham,
who said selling beer and wine
at the store would change the
community.
“We need a convenience store
in our community,” Cheatham
said. “We would welcome the
new owners. What we have
trouble with is the selling of
package beer and wine in our
community. If beer and wine
were permitted in our area, it
would take our community in a
whole new direction. We need
to think about our youth. Where
spirits are sold, youth congre
gate. Mischief seems to follow
places that sell this. We need to
look out for community. There
are a whole lot of us who think
this doesn’t belong in our com
munity.”
Cheatham presented the
names of over 200 people
opposed to the alcohol license
being approved.
Charles Lowe, who lives on
Holly Springs Road, also spoke
in opposition to the applica
tion.
“My biggest opposition to
the selling of beer and wine is
that, every week, on our road
frontage, I pick up an average
of a 35-gallon trash can full
of trash,” he said. “Of that, the
biggest majority of it is beer
cans and bodies and some wine
bottles. I’m just tired of picking
up other people’s trash.”
OTHER ACTION
In other business, the BOC
approved:
•an application from Emily
Frances Rees to locate a 1,640
square foot guest house at 501
Curk Roberts Road. Rees plans
to place a guest house in front
of the main house along the
existing driveway. The current
code calls for a guest house
to be placed in the rear of the
main house.
•an intergovernmental
agreement with the City of
Maysville to patch several
city streets. The city will be
responsible for all associated
costs, which are projected at
$729.
•an agreement with the
Northeast Georgia Regional
Commission for the trans
portation of senior citizens.
The county’s cost is $3,634.
The remaining costs of the
program will be paid by the
regional commission.
•a contract with the Northeast
Georgia Regional Commission
to provide aging services at
the senior citizen’s center. The
total funds to be provided by
the county is $12,539.
•declaring several pieces of
heavy equipment as surplus
and approving a buy-back
option with Yancey Brothers.
Yancey Brothers has offered
the full buy back price on the
equipment, plus an appraisal
add-on for a total of $1.85
million.
•seeking prices for replacing
the failing asphalt entrance to
the solid waste scale house
with a concrete entrance way at
a cost not to exceed $64,886.
•a lease-purchase agree
ment for 26 fleet replacement
vehicles, including patrol cars,
with Sun Trust Bank. These
vehicles were approved as part
of the 2011 capital budget at a
cost of $823,156.
Also at the meeting, a well
ness incentive program pre
sentation was given. No action
was taken on implementing
the program.
The BOC also held a closed
session to discuss personnel
and pending litigation. No
action was taken.
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Area Chamber of Commerce
will encourage area residents
to “buy local,” but “local” does
not mean just Jackson County.
The group’s board of direc
tors approved a resolution
encouraging shopping local
ly last Friday morning then
amended its budget to provide
$1,500 to promote the initia
tive.
“We (the chamber staff) just
felt strongly that now is a great
time for us to roll out a cam
paign to buy local,” explained
Shane Short, president.
“Basically, we want to encour
age people to start thinking
more local when making their
purchases.. .we want to do as
much business as we can in the
Jackson County area.”
But because the chamber has
numerous members in Hall,
Banks, Barrow and Clarke
counties, rather than alienate
those businesses, the chamber
opted for a broader approach.
One of the reasons for stress
ing local shopping is because
Jackson County has three cents
of local sales taxes, and shop
ping at home returns those pen
nies into the coffers of Jackson
County governments and
school systems. Sales taxes on
money spent on out-of-county
chamber members flows to
those counties.
“We supported strongly the
SPLOST the last go-round,”
Short pointed out. “For some
of our municipalities, it’s their
bread and butter.” He also
reminded the board that “at
least 30 percent” of the Jackson
County sales tax revenue comes
from people who live beyond
the county’s borders.
Nonetheless, Short said the
program “first and foremost”
will encourage people to shop
with chamber members regard
less of where they’re located.
“This is a broader campaign
for us, which is why we opted
to go ‘buy local’ instead of ‘buy
Jackson County" because we
have all those members on the
perimeter of Jackson County,”
he explained.
The chamber will ask the
county commission and the
various municipal governments
to pass the resolution. It will
also buy newspaper and radio
advertising and provide bum
per stickers, store decals and
posters.
In part, the resolution states
that the campaign “is dedicated
to increasing the visibility and
prosperity of the area’s local
businesses through a grassroots
campaign of education and
publicity...”
The promotional items will
be offered to local businesses,
regardless of whether they’re
members of the chamber.
“The issue of supporting
chamber members as opposed
to non-members, the mission
of the chamber is not just to
support the members,” advised
Hunter Bicknell, chairman of
the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners. “... We’re all
going to benefit... We need to
be supporting them even if they
don’t belong.”
NO ANNOUNCEMENTS
— YET
Courtney Bernardi, the
chamber’s director of economic
development, announced that
the chamber is awash in pros
pects — five new prospects
over the past month — and
expressed some hope that there
will be announcements by the
end of the year that some of
those companies will relocate
in Jackson County.
Among those companies are
international firms.
“Those who have moved
overseas are looking to move
back or they want to expand,”
she said. “We’ve had a big
influx of international com
panies. They’re taking their
time and doing their due dili
gence. .. We seem to be on the
top of the list for a couple of
companies.”
Thus far in 2011, Bernardi
said, Jackson County has had
58 projects. Forty-one of those
are still open.
“I am looking forward to the
end of the year being as suc
cessful as last year,” she said. “I
hope to have some announce
ments by the end of the year.”
Bernardi also reminded
the directors of the Northeast
Georgia Joint Development
Authority’s “agricultural sum
mit” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at
Athens Technical College.
“It will be kind of a be-all,
end-all of all things agricultural
that will help our businesses
and farmers,” she said, with
participation from several lay
ers of state government (the
governor’s office, Department
of Agriculture, Department
of Labor, Department of
Community Affairs, economic
development professionals)
plus agribusiness entities.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Friday, the
chamber’s directors:
•learned that the chamber
added nine new members and
lost three during August and
ended the month with 587
active members.
•were reminded to attend
the chamber “bash” Thursday,
Sept. 29, at Bouchard Farms,
Commerce, where chefs will
prepare and serve dishes made
from the organic vegetables
grown at the farm.
•learned that three teams
have entered the chili cook
off that will be part of the first
Megafest Oct. 15 at Gresham
Motor Speedway. Linda Foster,
vice president for member ser
vices, said several other groups
plan to enter teams.
•learned that the 2011-12
Leadership Jackson class will
support local food banks as its
class project.
•learned that Kay Parks,
chairman of the chamber’s
Tourism Council, and Bicknell
accepted a certificate at a
luncheon in Macon recentiy
declaring Jackson to be “cam
era ready” in a statewide
initiative aimed at boosting
Georgia’s presence in the film/
motion picture industry.
•heard Short report that
instead of spending $10,000 to
replace the chamber’s server,
staff is looking into moving to
the Microsoft Office Cloud and
working off the Microsoft serv
er. The move would require the
chamber to use a new database
program at a cost of about $200
a month but would cut their
capital cost in half and offer
other advantages.
•learned that the cham
ber made $10,900 on the
recent Chamber Classic Golf
Tournament.
•learned that the directors
will vote on a series of bylaws
changes (mostly editing) at the
November meeting.
Map change approved for White Plains Baptist Church
BYANGELA GARY
A REQUEST to change the map des
ignation of 3.811 acres owned by White
Plains Baptist Church was approved by the
Jackson County Board of Commissioners
Monday night. Church leaders say there
are no plans to expand at this time and the
property will be used for outdoor activities.
The BOC agreed to change the land use
designation of the property from residential
to agricultural. The property was origi
nally part of a subdivision adjacent to the
church.
“We have no plan to build anything
on that property,” said William Holland,
Jefferson, who spoke on behalf of the
church. “All we are trying to do is combine
the property and use it for outdoor activities
and leave it to future generations for expan
sion. We’re not going to build anything in
the near future.”
Approximately 25 church members
attended the BOC meeting.
“The number of people here from the
church underscores how important it is for
us to have your support,” Holland said.
OTHER ZONING BUSINESS
In other zoning business Monday night,
the BOC:
•approved a request from Kathy Stone to
change the map designation of 3.29 acres
at 639 Davenport Road from rural to sub
urban in order to expand her personal care
home business. Her plans include adding
two more residents, bringing the total in
the home to eight. The map change will
pave the way for Stone to seek a rezoning
to allow her to expand. She would also
like to move out of the home to a nearby
house her family recentiy purchased. She
said a supervisor and caregivers would
be in the personal care home “around the
clock.” Chas Hardy voted against this map
change, while Dwain Smith, Tom Crow
and Hunter Bicknell voted in favor of it.
Commissioner Bruce Yates was not pres
ent at the meeting.
•approved a request from William
Walgren to change the land map use desig
nation of 7.86 acres at 221 Plainview Road
from commercial to agriculture. Walgren
said he and his wife want to live at the
property and hold special events on the
site.
•approved a request from Joe Cramp,
who was represented by Courtney Casper,
to change the land use map designation
of 24.27 acres at 65 Ambrosia Walk from
residential to agriculture. He plans to live
on the property instead of developing it as
a subdivision, as it had been zoned for.
•approved a request from John Frazier to
rezone 7.37 acres at 1563 Jefferson River
Road from A-2 to A-R in order to split the
property and build a home for his mother-
in-law.