Newspaper Page Text
O
o
THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, February 15, 2023
ERALD
VOL. 148 NO. 36
20 PACES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Election
Early
voting
opens
Monday
for House
runoff
Early voting will be held
next week for the State
House District 119 runoff
election set for Tuesday,
Feb. 28. Charlie Chase and
Holt Persinger. both Re
publicans, are vying for the
seat.
The House District 119
seat was vacated by Rep.
Elect Danny Rampey fol
lowing his arrest in Barrow
County. House District 119
covers Barrow County and
a small portion of Jackson
County in the Braselton and
Hoschton area.
A special election was
held Jan. 31 between sev
en candidates. None of the
candidates secured 50% of
the vote, forcing the Feb. 28
runoff election.
Chase and Persinger
were the top two vote-get
ters in the special election.
Persinger took 27.9% of
the vote, while Chase took
25.48% of the vote.
Details about early vot
ing, absentee ballots and
Election Day voting in
clude:
Early voting: Early vot
ing for the runoff election
for Jackson County resi
dents who live in House
District 119 will be held
Monday, Feb. 20. through
Friday, Feb. 24, from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Early voting will
be held at the Ponchie Beck
Election Center, located at
441 Gordon St., Jefferson.
Absentee ballots: Ab
sentee ballot applications
may be requested through
Feb. 17. A drop box will
be available for absentee
ballots at the Ponchie Beck
Election Center (locat
ed inside) during all early
See Election, page 2A
Read candidate question
naire responses from Charlie
Chase and Holt Persinger
on page 3A. Chase and
Persinger are candidates in
the runoff election to fill the
State House District 119 seat.
MAILING LABEL
Jefferson
Jefferson
A Valentine Wedding
Melissa Moody and Jeremy Walker say their vows during Jefferson’s spe
cial Valentine’s Day wedding event held Feb. 14 at the Jefferson Civic Cen
ter. Four couples said vows at the free event, which was sponsored by the
City of Jefferson and community members who donated their time for the
weddings.
Newlyweds Robin and Shane Mayfield have their
first dance as a married couple. The Mayfields
participated in the City of Jefferson’s Valentine’s
Day wedding event held Feb. 14 at the Jefferson
Civic Center.
A violinist played ro
mantic music during
the City of Jefferson’s
Valentine’s Day wed
dings held Feb. 14 at
the Jefferson Civic
Center. Four couples
said vows at the free
event, which was spon
sored by the city and
community members
who donated their time
for the weddings.
new elementary school
Jackson BOE
BOE names
Several new sports
teams to be created
The Jackson County
School System announced
Monday the system’s new
est elementary school, slat
ed to open in August 2024,
will be named “Heroes El
ementary School.”
The Jackson County
Board of Education vot
ed to name the school as
a way to honor the heroes
who rise to the occasion
on a daily basis to keep the
Jackson County communi
ty and the nation safe. This
includes honoring those
men and women who rose
to the challenge during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Heroes Elementary
School will feature hero
ic themes throughout the
school, honoring the men
and women in the U.S. mil
itary, police officers, fire
fighters, medical personnel
and teachers. Students will
learn about the various he
roic careers throughout the
academic year.
“I appreciate the board’s
visionary leadership in
helping our young peo
ple see that community
members around them are
heroes on a daily basis,”
said Superintendent Philip
Brown.
Heroes Elementary is
currently in the planning
phase and construction will
start this spring. It will be
located off Hwy. 332 and
Skelton Rd., near Legacy
Knoll Middle School.
Heroes Elementary will
become the seventh ele
mentary school in the coun
ty school system. It will be
populated with students
who currently attend either
Gum Springs Elementa
ry School, North Jackson
Elementary School, or
West Jackson Elementary
School.
THURSDAY MEETING
At the BOE’s Feb. 9
meeting, the board:
• heard a report that the
system had gained 750 new
students since the end of
the 2022 school year.
• heard the system contin
ues to implement a central
registration system for stu
dents rather than a school-
by-school registration.
• heard that some sports
for the new Legacy Knoll
Middle School will be
combined with teams at
See BOE, page 2A
Index
News
Opinion
State news
1A-3A
4A
5A
Public safety.
6A-7A
Social news
8A, 12A
Sports
1B-2B and 8B
Classifieds
9A
Obituaries
10A-HA
legals
3B-7B
Inside
Members of Jef
ferson Boy Scout
Troop 158 recent
ly visited Tybee
Island to work on
the Oceanography
Merit Badge.
See page 8A.
The Jackson Herald office in downtown Jeffer
son is closed to the public until further notice
following an electrical fire. A break room and
storage room were damaged in the fire and a sig
nificant amount of soot remains in the building.
Herald office closed
following electrical fire
The Jackson Herald office in downtown Jefferson will
be closed to the public until further notice following an
electrical fire on Wednesday night (Feb. 8).
A break room and storage room were damaged in the
fire. A significant amount of soot remains in the building
and crews will be working in the coming weeks to clean
the facility.
In the meantime, if you need to reach the newspaper
for news submissions, ads, classifieds, obituaries, legals
or subscription services, contact one of the following:
•News: news@mainstreetnews.com
•Obituaries: obits@mainstreetnews.com
•Legals: legals@mainstreetnews.com
•Classified or ads: ads@mainstreetnews.com
•Subscriptions and other services: subscriptions®
mainstreetnews. com
Thank you for your understanding and patience. The
office will be reopened when it’s safe to do so.
Public safety
Defendant enters not
guilty plea in DeWitt case
One of the men charged with killing Jefferson High
School student Elijah DeWitt has entered a plea of not
guilty in Gwinnett County.
Kemare Bryan, 18. recently entered a not guilty plea
according to 11 Alive television in Atlanta. Bryan and
See DeWitt, page 2A
JCWSA
JCWSA sets guaranteed
maximum price for
new headquarters
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreetnews. com
The Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority
approved a guaranteed maximum price of roughly $12.1
million for its new administration building during its
Feb. 9 meeting.
The approved maximum price includes construction
and consultant fees.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Feb. 9, the authority:
• welcomed new board member Tommy Benton,
•extended general manager Joey Leslie’s three-year
contract for another year.
•approved an agreement allowing Verizon to add a
temporary cellular communication antenna to Jackson
County’s public safety radio tower, which is located on
the authority’s elevated tanks property near the entrance
to Traditions of Braselton. The company plans to build
a permanent tower nearby. Verizon will park an equip
ment vehicle permanently on the property and run vari
ous electrical items to and from the vehicle. Verizon will
also be adding a wiring bridge from the truck over to the
communications tower.
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Ipiggly wiggly
415 Lee St.
Jefferson, GA
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