Newspaper Page Text
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H Wednesday, July 12, 2017
ERALD
VOL. 143 NO. 6
32 PACES 3 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549
75c COPY
Maxwell pleads guilty
By Ron Bridgeman
Former Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell pleaded
guilty in Superior County Monday to one charge of theft
by taking.
Maxwell was not sentenced because the judge will
wait for a probation report, but attorneys discussed some
parameters of a plea bargain.
Maxwell will pay restitution of more than $6,100 and
likely will be sentenced as a first offender, giving him the
chance to clear his record with no conviction if he has no
violations during the probation period.
Two counts of violation of an oath by a public officer
are expected to be dismissed as part of the plea bargain.
The former mayor is charged with using $10,607 in
special purpose local option sales tax money to pave a
private road that served only his family.
The use of the SPLOST money occurred in May 2015.
An investigation by the district attorney's office was start
ed in June 2015 after MainStreet Newspapers reported
about the use of the public money.
A date was not set for sentencing, but a time frame of
about 30 days was discussed by court officials.
Maxwell was indicted in February 2016. The case had
been continued three times, July, October and February.
He ran for re-election in November 2015, but lost to
Jan Webster, who had been a council member.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation raided the city
offices of Nicholson in August 2015, and Maxwell was
arrested that month.
The Citizens Review Committee for SPLOST V also
investigated the SPLOST spending. It voted, 5-3. that it
was an inappropriate use of SPLOST money.
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners and
mayors of the other eight municipalities in the county,
signed a letter to district attorney Brad Smith asking that
his office and the GBI look into the matter.
Maxwell claimed he was paving “Old James Maxwell
Road,” which he argued was a city street.
The citizens' committee said otherwise, noting some of
the new paving was on the former James Maxwell Road
right-of-way, which was not used after the Department of
Transportation realigned James Maxwell Road during the
U.S. 441 widening.
The rest of the paving was across property owned by
the Department of Transportation that had never been
a public road. The paving stopped at a business on the
property, but it included a small parking area for the
business.
2 charged
in elder
abuse case
Two Maysville women were
arrested last week in connection
with an elder abuse case,
Shirley Gail Bennett, 40,
and Janice Lequitta Bryan, 64,
both of 125 Golden Nugget
Way, Maysville, face charges
of battery-Family Violence Act
(FVA); exploiting or inflicting
pain to deprive essential services
to a disabled or elderly person;
financial transaction card theft;
and felony identity theft fraud
when using or possessing identi
fication information of a person.
A woman told Jackson Coun
ty Sheriff's Office deputies June
26 that the two women abused
her mother. (The victim has
since moved in with the com
plainant.)
According to the incident
report, Bennett, Bryan, another
woman and three children took
over the victim's house.
The victim, who suffers from
leg problems, reportedly fell to
the floor one day and Bennett
and Bryan refused to pick her
up. They allegedly walked over
her, and took pictures of her on
the floor and of her “rear end.”
The woman was reportedly
left on the floor for at least three
nights.
Bennett is also accused of
using the woman’s debit card to
make purchases, one of which
was at the Methadone Clinic
in Commerce, according to the
incident report. In total, the
complainant estimated Bennett
took $970 from the victim.
She said she wants the two
women out of the victim’s resi
dence as soon as possible.
Officers told the woman to
contact the magistrate court.
DIRT MOVING AT MEMORIAL STADIUM PROJECT
Crews have been working over the past few weeks on renovations at Jefferson’s Memorial Stadium. The first phase of the
project includes installing a large pipe, expanding the visitors’ side seating area and installing new lights.
Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
Commerce school budget is $13.7 million
By Ron Bridgman
The Commerce Board of Education adopted its 2017-18 general
operations budget of about $13.7 million Monday night.
The budget would use $179,854 in school reserves, but school offi
cials have been saying for the past few months that reserves are better
than they have been in years.
The budget projects a $2.2 million reserve at the end of FY 2018.
Two budget hearings were held. No one from the public attended
either one.
The budget plans for $3.1 million in local taxes, about $50,000
more than the 2017 budget.
The school system expects to get about $10 million in state money.
The budget includes a 2-percent pay increase for employees. The
system also expects to spend $1.6 million on health insurance for
employees.
Other funds, including special revenue, capital projects and debt
service, total about $3 million for a total school budget of $16.5
million. Most of that is for school nutrition, just a bit more than $1
million, and debt service, $1.3 million.
The bulk of the general fund goes to instruction and that is mostly
for teacher salaries.
In addition to health insurance, maintenance and operations takes
$1.3 million. Schools administration is budgeted for $783,000 and
general administration is slated for $500,000. Pupil services will get
$303,000 and transportation costs $300,000.
continued on page 2A
Sidewalk project faces yet another setback
By Ben Munro and Alex Pace
There’s been another hiccup in the Old
Pendergrass Road sidewalk project in Jef
ferson.
According to the Georgia Department
of Transportation, some corrections are
required on the sidewalk's drainage struc
tures. Jefferson public works director Jeff
Killip met with GDOT officials last week to
discuss the issues, which include drainage
problems and fence damage.
“I was able to point out some of the grad
ing issues, the lack of drainage issues, the
damage to the fence that is isolating the Pre
serve subdivision,” Killip said. “They duly
noted all of those and they saw how bad it is.
They're now going back to their folks. It’s in
their channels. No time frame.”
GDOT officials recently presented the
problems to the contractor.
“They do have some corrections that
need to be addressed,” said GDOT’s Katie
Strickland. “The department has met with
the contractor on site to discuss the changes
that need to be made for this project to be
completed.”
She added no completion date is set.
The GDOT did not respond by press time
to inquiries about the extent of the modifi
cations.
Retail, warehouse requests back on agenda
By Alex Pace
Requests for two large developments will go back before the Jeffer-
son-Talmo Planning Commission on Tuesday.
The first request is for a massive retail site on U.S. 129/Damon
Gause Bypass above Holders Siding Road. Current designs show
three big box stores, four retail strips and various smaller shops on the
235-acre property that backs up onto old U.S. 129.
The second request is an annexation and rezoning for a massive
industrial site on Plainview Road. Jackson County Industrial Partners
is also requesting variances to increase the number of allowed parking
spaces and reduce the landscape requirement.
That request brought some pushback at the commission’s last meet
ing as Plainview Road residents feared increased noise, light and traf
fic. Developers initially planned to construct three buildings totaling
2 million square feet. After hearing the opposition, Tim Abney, who
spoke for the application, said they may consider forgoing the third
building nearest Plainview Road.
Both the retail and industrial projects were deferred a month pend
ing the development of regional impact study results.
OTHER BUSINESS
Also at its July 18 meeting, the commission will consider:
•a conditional use request for 13.61 acres on Mountain Creek
Church Road. Mark Lee and Rachel W. Campbell plan to construct a
special event facility.
•two variance requests for 80 acres on U.S. 129 at New Salem
Church Road to reduce the buffer for the right-of-way and reduce
the buffer for nearby wetlands. The property is zoned light industrial.
•the City of Jefferson’s comprehensive plan annual update.
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