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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
Headline roundup
NGHS announces
Georgia Heart Institute
Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) recently launched
a new heart and vascular program: Georgia Heart Institute,
“While NGHS has a long and rich tradition of providing ex
ceptional heart and vascular care, Georgia Heart Institute rep
resents a bold new vision for the future of our region - and be
yond,” says Habib Samady, MD. interventional cardiologist and
President of Georgia Heart Institute. “Our priority is continuing
to provide top quality care, but we’re also focusing on expanding
access to appointments, providing an exceptional patient experi
ence, and increasing collaboration between all our cardiologist
and surgeons.”
All 14 locations of The Heart Center of NGMC are now called
Georgia Heart Institute. While the practice name has changed,
the addresses and phone numbers are still the same - and the
cardiologists, advanced practitioners and staff include the same
people many already know.
The cardiothoracic surgeons of Northeast Georgia Physicians
Group (NGPG), the vascular surgeons of NGPG and Longstreet
Clinic, and other aligned practices will also collaborate through
the Georgia Heart Institute - but those practice names have not
changed. Other aligned practices include: Cardiovascular Clinic
of North Georgia, Gainesville Heart & Vascular Group and Sib
ley Heart Center Cardiology.
“We have a lot of smart and talented people who already touch
our heart and vascular services, and we are recruiting more na
tional and international talent to join them.” says Dr. Samady.
“We re also continuing to grow our research teams to expand our
involvement in clinical trials, lead more innovative studies, and
put further emphasis on developing and exploring new technol
ogies. Georgia Heart Institute’s foundation of high-quality care
provided every day will be complemented by a spirit of innova
tion - so we’re always looking ahead to the next amazing break
through.”
If you have an appointment currendy scheduled with The
Heart Center of NGMC - now called Georgia Heart Institute -
on or after September 7. there’s nothing you need to do.
You can learn more about the Georgia Heart Institute and
schedule appointments online at georgiaheartinstitute.org or call
770-534-2020. Video appointments are available as well.
•••
Piedmont Athens welcomes
new cardiothoracic surgeon
Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center and Piedmont
Heart Institute recently announced that cardiothoracic surgeon J.
Trent Magruder, M.D.. has joined Piedmont Heart Institute Ath
ens Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Magruder’s office is located on
the Piedmont Athens Regional campus in the Medical Services
Building.
Dr. Magruder specializes in complex open heart surgery, in
cluding coronary revascularization (CABG) using multi-arterial
grafting strategies, valvular heart disease, aortic pathology (aneu
rysmal disease) and heart failure therapies. Beyond these areas,
he is trained in all aspects of cardiothoracic surgery. He has a spe
cial interest in perfusion and strategies to optimize the conduct
and safety of cardiopulmonary bypass.
Dr. Magruder earned his medical degree at the John Hopkins
University School of Medicine. He remained at the John Hop
kins Hospital for residency, followed by cardiothoracic surgery
fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
Appointments with Dr. Magruder and Piedmont Heart Insti
tute are now available. To schedule your appointment online, visit
piedmont.org, or call 706-475-1950.
•••
Banks County student killed
in wreck, another in jured
A Banks County High School student was killed in a wreck on
Hwy. 441 on Thursday, Sept. 9.
Austin Fontes, 17, Commerce, was killed in the wreck that oc
curred at 7:38 a.m. at 2477 Hwy. 441 near Berlin Road, Homer.
Fontes, a Banks County High School student, was a passenger
in a truck driven by Jacob Elliott. 17, Commerce. Elliott, also a
BCHS student, was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center,
reportedly with non-life-threatening injuries.
Elliott was reportedly unable to negotiate a sharp curve and
went off the shoulder of the road, striking a tree.
Festival continued from 1A
water features and replicas from the Heritage Village. The
cost is only $3.
The grist mill will be grinding corn all weekend. Corn-
meal will be for sale for $5 a bag.
Visitors can learn how things were done in the 1800s
by touring the Heritage Village and watching artisans at
work. Tours of the building in the Heritage Village will
also be on tap.
Civil War Skirmishes will feature actual Banks and
Barrow County skirmishes. Saturday’s skirmish will be
gin at 4 p.m. and Sunday’s will start at 2:30 p.m. Visitors
will be able to tour the actual encampments and visit with
the soldiers, nurses and family members that follow the
troops.
The finale for Sunday is the Duck Dash. “Buy a duck
and possibly win a cash prize,” organizers state.
For more information, visit www.hurricaneshoalspark.
org or call 706-908-7287.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
SATURDAY
8 a.m. 5K Mill Race
10 a.m. Festival opens
Noon Children’s artist winners announced
1 p.m. DeJa Blue Band in amphitheater
2 p.m. Blue Grass Confidential in amphitheater
2 p.m. Music essay winner announced
3 p.m. DeJa Blue Band in amphitheater
4 p.m. The Heard in amphitheater
4:30 p.m. Civil War Re-enactment in Heritage Vil
lage
6 p.m. Festival closes
SUNDAY
12:30 p.m. Festival opens
1 p.m. Brush Fire in amphitheater
2 p.m. 3 Bucks Shy in amphitheater
2 p.m. Civil War Re-enactment in Heritage Village
3-5 p.m. Southern Gospel Music hosted by Dyer
Family and Dugar Strickland in Miles Wilson Chap
el
3 p.m. Brush Fire in amphitheater
4 p.m. Open Jam in amphitheater (all pickers wel
come)
5 p.m. Duck Dash on Maysville side of river
5:30 p.m. Festival closes
Growth continued from 1A
to commit (resources) until we have a
good, solid, actionable plan on the table,”
Wascher said. “Once we have that, and
we’re comfortable with our ability build a
plant or expand — whatever we’re going
to do — once we know more about the
capacity coming then we can really move
forward and continue on the growth pat
tern were on. Hopefully, it won’t take too
long to get to that point.”
Mayor Clark Hill echoed the idea that
there were already a lot of development
projects in the works.
“So I guess we sorta pause a little bit
and just say were not likely to entertain
annexations or rezonings or changing
density or classifications,” Hill said.
Wascher agreed.
“I think ‘pause’ is a good word, at least
until we get our initial planning done,” he
said.
Hill asked if action by the council was
necessary for a pause, but Wascher said
he thought simply telling prospective
developers the city couldn’t commit to
infrastructure would be enough to halt
development for a while.
As a prelude to the discussion, Wascher
said the city needs to engineer and plan
for several water system upgrades.
One aspect would be to source addi
tional water. The city does have an agree
ment with the county water system to buy
additional water, but for the longer term.
Wascher said the city needs to study add
ing wells or possibly a new reservoir.
In addition, he said the city needs
more water tanks for storage capacity, to
expand the water treatment plant’s clear-
well capacity and to rehab the plant’s fil
tration system.
For sewerage treatment, Wascher said
studies need to be done on whether to
expand the existing plant or add a second
treatment plant. He noted that preliminary
information suggests that the Oconee riv
er basin isn’t suitable for a plant since the
City of Jefferson is planning to build a
new reservoir below where Commerce
would need to dump treated effluent.
A more likely location would be in the
Grove River basin below Commerce’s
current water reservoir in southern Banks
County.
Masks continued from 1A
contact tracer for the department of public health.
Other speakers — Karen Bridgeman, Pete Fuller, Christy
Mitchem and McKinsey Stone — questioned the BOE about
why it wasn’t doing the “bare minimum” to decrease the spread
of COVID-19. They also questioned why the school system
could enforce a dress code but not a mask mandate.
“I hope our school system can take the necessary precautions
before something tragic happens to one of our own,” said Stone,
an ICU nurse and parent of a Jefferson Elementary School stu
dent. “I have seen firsthand the impact COVID can have, not
just on the patients, but their families as well. I want my daugh
ter to have the socialization she deserves, I want high school
students to be able to go to homecoming, I want the football
team to be able to finish out another amazing season. The best
way to accomplish this is to begin with mask mandates.”
Superintendent Donna McMullan and chairman Ronald
Hopkins responded to the speakers.
“We certainly do not take our decisions lightly,” McMul
lan said. “We established a medical advisory board, so we are
talking to healthcare professionals, we are talking to represen
tatives from CDC, we are talking to emergency management
officials in our county. We are not making these decisions alone,
this is something we had in place last year.”
Hopkins added: “This will be a continuous process. We will
continue to monitor. The data is our data, it’s not what Jackson
County’s data is. The data is not Hall County, Clarke County,
whatever, it’s our data. We’re going by what our data is show
ing us. This is something that is looked at daily, several times
a day. Our situation can change, our whole decision guide can
change.”
McMullan also said the school system’s COVID-19 guide
lines aren’t an “exhaustive list,” saying each school has specific
mitigation strategies. Bridgeman was critical of the school sys
tem’s guidelines because masks are only mentioned once.
“I appreciate your comments about the guidelines, they are
the only thing the parents and the community can see,” she said.
“They do escalate across the percentages, masks are mentioned
once. Masks are mentioned to be encouraged, and there’s clear
ly a disconnect between the layers of strategy that we’re using
when something as simple as masks, requested by 70,000 pe
diatricians with nothing on their agenda but the health of our
children, say it’s the first thing we should do.”
Currently, the Jefferson system has around 26 active Covid
cases, less than 1 % of its students and staff.
JACKSON COUNTY BOE
Bridgeman also spoke to the Jackson County Board of Edu
cation at its Sept. 9 meeting, praising the board for implement
ing a mask mandate, but saying it needs enforcement. She cited
social media posts that show students and teachers not wearing
masks.
“Inspect what you expect,” Bridgeman said.
Bridgeman also read a letter from a Pendergrass parent who
said her special needs daughter had been diagnosed with Covid
on Sept. 8 after attending class at a West Jackson school.
“My point is that a mandate without enforcement is useless,”
said the parent.
The Jackson County BOE also heard from Manda Barnett
at its Sept. 13 meeting. Barnett, an RN and family nurse prac
titioner, said it is “horrible” that discussions about Covid had
become political. She said that she is pro-vaccination, but also
believes people should be given a choice to vaccinate or not.
Barnett said the current vims surge was breaking the health
care system, causing shortages in resources and that the situa
tion was approaching the need to ration who gets treated.
“Your best chance of not being hospitalized or becoming
very ill from Covid is to be vaccinated,” she said.
She encouraged people to question what they see on Face-
book and to “try and pull away from the political part of this.”
Through Sept. 9, the county school system reported 91 active
cases, a little less than 1 % of its students and staff. Since the start
of the school year, it has had 865 positive cases.
Jefferson continued from 1A
lot choked off anymore.”
Mayor Howell, who did not vote on the moratorium or
give his opinion about it, addressed the situation.
“I think it’s important to understand what the council is
contemplating this evening, and perhaps even more import
ant. what we are not entertaining.” he said. “We are entertain
ing hitting the pause button on private events on public land.
Private events on private land are going to still continue as
usual. What the council is contemplating is the use of special
permits for events on public land. That is a bright line of dis
tinction that I think everyone needs to hear and understand.”
MARTIN SAYS COUNCIL HAS T IFT)'
For his part, Martin said the council had not worked with
him as some councilmen claimed and that he had been lied
to by the city.
During the Sept. 13 meeting, Mobley claimed a business
owner in favor of the moratorium was “bullied” and received
“threats to boycott” if they attended Monday’s meeting. Mo
bley also claimed the council has a history of helping Re
vival Hall and he presented a timeline of events he believed
showed that.
Councilman Clint Roberts also took issue with Martin’s
assertion that the council doesn’t respond to him. Roberts
presented a chain of emails from August 18 between him
and Martin about food track fees.
Martin responded by accusing the council of slander and
manufacturing lies. He claimed Roberts’s rendition of the
emails took their conversation out of context and dismissed
Mobley’s claim that the city has worked to support Revival
Hall.
“To try and make this like we’re trying to use the city to
make a bunch of money just isn’t accurate,” he said. “We’re
here to serve the city. I was a pastor for 10 years... We start
ed saying ‘what do we need help with here in Jefferson, how
can we serve you?’ We were thinking teen pregnancy, home
lessness, you guys have heard this story. And people kept
saying ‘we don’t have anywhere to hang out, there’s nothing
to do.’ Eventually we said, ‘what if we could address a sec
ular need with some sacred energy.’ We brought that to the
city. We were excited, we thought the city was excited until
we found out you weren’t... To paint it like you guys have
bent over backward and really tried to help and you’ve been
for us just isn’t true. The community knows it... I hate to say
it this brashly, but you guys lied a lot.”
Martin also noted his campaign for the District 2 seat on
the council, saying it “will be interesting” when he joins the
council.
His statements drew applause from the largely anti-mora
torium crowd. Nine people spoke in favor of Martin’s posi
tion at the meeting, saying they believe the moratorium is an
attack on Revival Hall and defended the taproom’s image.
CITY OF JEFFERSON
CURRENT TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY
NOTICE OF TAX INCREASE
HEARINGS TO BE HELD AT JEFFERSON STATION MEETING ROOM
1000 WASHINGTON STREET
09-13-2021 AT 6:00 PM
09-27-2021 AT 11:00 AM AND 09-27-2021 AT 6:00 PM
The City of Jefferson does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Jefferson Station Council Meeting
Room on Sept. 27, 2021 at 6PM and pursuant to the requirements ofO.C.G.A. Section 48-5-32 does hereby publish the following presentation
of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the tax digest and levy forthe past five years. Values subject to change due to
Public Utilities Assessment and any outstanding appeals. A copy of the proposed FY22 General Fund Budget can be found on the City of
Jefferson website at www.cityofjeffersonga.com or at Jefferson City Hall.
CURRENT 2021 TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Real & Personal
624,731,066
707,837,829
772,955,525
849,745,745
921,762,398
1,036,474,951
Motor Vehicles
14,750,610
11,401,920
8,960,750
7,549,180
6,667,800
5,669,160
Mobile Homes
79,041
70,630
63,590
82,568
73,703
72,863
Timber -100%
133,322
0
0
0
0
0
Heavy Duty Equipment
0
12,107
0
0
0
0
Gross Digest
639,724,039
719,322,486
781,979,865
857,377,493
928,503,901
1,042,216,974
Less M & O Exemptions
132,455,103
134,609,344
128,708,848
168,147,895
140,483,151
181,340,584
Net M & O Digest
507,268,936
584,713,142
653,271,017
689,229,598
788,020,750
860,876,390
Gross M & O Millage
9.058
8.834
8.513
8.513
8.237
8.050
Less Rollbacks
2.873
2.649
2.613
2.763
2.652
2.750
Net M & O Millage
6.185
6.185
5.900
5.750
5.585
5.300
Total Taxes Levied
$3,137,458
$3,616,451
$3,854,299
$3,963,070
$4,401,096
$4,562,645
Net Taxes $ Increase
$39,696
$478,993
$237,848
$478,992
$438,026
$161,549