Newspaper Page Text
THE
ACKSON
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
m Herald
VOL. 142 NO. 50
46 PACES 4 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549
75c COPY
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JHS CLASS OF 2017 WALKS THE TRACK
Graduates walked under JROTC sabers during the Jefferson High School graduation opening ceremo
ny for the class of 2017 Friday evening. See page 8B for more photos. Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
CHS STUDENTS READY TO GRADUATE
Commerce High School seniors are shown heading to the field Friday night for the graduation ceremo
ny. See page 12D for more photos. Photo by Kyle Funderburk
COMMERCE • EAST JACKSON • JACKSON COUNTY • JEFFERSON
WtONCkOAv. May 24. 2017
SPECIAL GRADUATION
SECTION INSIDE
See The Jackson Herald’s special graduation
inside this week’s paper starting on page 1C.
JCCHS, EJCHS
students set to
graduate this week
Graduates of East Jackson Comprehensive High School
and Jackson County Comprehensive High School will
turn their tassels and get their diplomas this week.
Details include:
JCCHS graduation is scheduled for Thursday, May 25,
at 8 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
EJCHS graduation is tentatively set for Wednesday,
May 24, at 8 p.m. at Eagle Stadium, but that may change
due to inclement weather. School leaders are looking at
Thursday, May 25, at 5 p.m. as an alternative.
A final decision will be made by Wednesday, May, 24,
at noon. Check the “Jackson County School System”
Facebook page for the official decision.
Memorial Day service set Monday
The American Legion Post 56 will
present its annual Memorial Day Remem
brance Service on Monday, May 29, at
8:30 am.
The ceremony will be held at the
Old Historic Courthouse in Jefferson
on the corner of Washington Street and
South Avenue.
In the event of rain the ceremony will
be moved to the American Legion Post at
309 Lee Street. Jefferson.
The event will include Brooks Benton
singing patriotic songs, the Post 56 Honor
Guard and guest speaker Lieutenant Col
onel (U.S. Army, Retired) Eric Hughes.
LTC Hughes is a graduate of the U.S.
Army Ranger School. As a Lieutenant,
he was selected to serve in the 3rd U.S.
Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) cer
emonial escort to the President at Fort
Myer, Virginia. He served in numerous
other assignments to include two com
bat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom in
Mosul and Baghdad. LTC Hughes is
now serving as Senior Instructor of the
U.S. Army JROTC Program at the East
Jackson County Comprehensive High
School.
In addition to the Memorial Day
Remembrance Service, there will be other
events over the weekend as well. On
Sunday, May 28. at 4 p.m.. the Sons of
the American Legion Squadron 56 will
host a patriotic concert featuring the
Athens Classic Band which is free to the
public.
The concert will be held at the Jeffer
son High School Performing Arts Cen
ter. The Classic City Band of Athens is
the oldest continuously functioning com
munity band in Georgia. Michael Brewer
is the conductor.
“The two events are presented by the
American Legion Post 56 members and
the Legion Squadron 56 members in
memory of all military members that
gave up their lives so we might enjoy
our freedom,” Gene Bennett states. “The
American Legion invites the citizens of
Jackson County to attend both events to
honor our men and women that did not
come home from our nation’s wars.”
Two arrested for
aggravated child
molestation
Two people face serious charges following reports
of child molestation at a Crossing Place residence in
Commerce.
Melody Jewell Thomas, 22,315 Apple Valley Road,
Commerce, and 2113 Crossing Place, Commerce,
and Drayson Luke Westberry. 27, 705 Spring Valley
Road, Athens, and 3305 Ivy Lake Drive, Buford, face
charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated
sexual battery, first degree cruelty to children and
enticing a child for indecent purposes.
Westberry faces additional charges of criminal
attempt to commit rape, hold for Clarke County on
charges of failure to appear for no license, hold for
Hall County on charges of probation violation for
shoplifting and willful obstruction of a law enforce
ment officer. Thomas faces an additional charge of
failure to appear for speeding.
Officers with the Commerce Police Department
were called May 16 for reports of a child molestation,
which allegedly occurred on May 13.
Few details are listed in the incident report. The
investigation is ongoing and apparently includes only
one victim.
Authorities collected evidence including “Bio/
DNA” and photos. Follow-up detectives were also
called.
Thomas and Westberry were arrested on May 19 by
the Jefferson Police Department while traveling on
Hwy. 129. Westberry first gave officers a fake name,
but later admitted his real identity.
They were booked into the Jackson County Jail.
Strickland resigns
By Kyle Funderburk
Facilities and Project Manager of the Commerce
Civic Center Justin Strickland gave his resignation
to the Commerce Downtown Development Authority
during Monday's meeting.
Strickland said he believes that he left the civic
center in a better position than what it was when he
took the job and members of the DDA agreed with
him.
NEW ROOF, SIGNAGE
Expect to see a new roof installed on the Com
merce Civic Center and a new sign for downtown
Commerce on Interstate-85 in the near future.
Those were the biggest items on the agenda Mon
day night for the meetings of the Commerce Civic
Center and Tourist Authority and the Commerce
DDA.
Because of hail damage, the company who insures
the Commerce Civic Center will install a brand-new
roof on the building.
As for the new road sign, members of the council
said that many people outside of the city think of
Banks Crossing when they think of Commerce. As
a result, downtown isn’t getting the traffic that the
DDA believes it should and many people just do not
know about the historic part of the town.
The DDA contacted the Georgia Department of
Transportation about getting a new road sign on 1-85
North installed that will say something along the
lines of “Historic Downtown Commerce.”
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
Rain and cold weather spoiled the first concert in
the series on May 5th. Only around 35 people attend
ed the Eli Carlan Band’s performance because of the
bad weather.
The next concert will be on June 2 with the Joe
Olds Band performing.
On June 30, the Hunter Grayson Band will be
performing with a fireworks show coming after the
concert.
CIVIC CENTER BUDGET
The civic center brought in $13,397 in the month
of April but it also had $17,043.29 in expenses for a
net loss of $3,646.
The Civic Center Authority projects it will have
$176,714 in expenses and $125,506 in revenue for
the 2017 fiscal year ending on June 30th.
Patriotic concert to
be held this weekend
A free “Patriotic Concert” will be held for Memori
al weekend on Sunday, May 28, at 4 p.m.
The concert will be held at the Jefferson High
School Performing Arts Center and will feature the
Athens Classic City Band.
The event is sponsored by the Sons of the Ameri
can Legion Squadron 56.
Early deadlines set
Early deadlines are planned this week for The Jack-
son Herald due to the Memorial Day holiday.
The deadline for news, social, church and school