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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 m » i m l i 4 9 f If ... il !s\I? i ■ u A AM ill) WtI'W A.'-** /*»■ X* flat' \ vf Hi . -'•W • ' Ir i Tax ■ 111 [ \ Ip W" V 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