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THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, March 1, 2023
ERALD
VOL. 148 NO. 38
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
Republican Holt Pers-
inger won Tuesday’s
(Feb. 28) special runoff
for the seat over fel
low Republican Char
lie Chase, garnering
59.25% of the vote to
Chase’s 40.75%.
Persinger
wins State
House
District
119 runoff
State House District 119
has its new representative.
With 100% of precincts
reporting. Republican Holt
Persinger won Tuesday’s
(Feb. 28) special runoff for
the seat over fellow Repub
lican Charlie Chase, gamer
ing 59.25% of the vote to
Chase’s 40.75%.
House District 119 covers
portions of Jackson County
(in the Braselton-Hoschton
area) and Barrow County.
Persinger will fill the seat
vacated by Danny Rampey.
who was elected to the
House last year but resigned
from the post following his
arrest on burglary charges
in Barrow County.
Persinger and Chase
emerged from a seven-can-
didate special election for
Rampey"s seat on Jan. 31
after no one earned at least
50% of the vote.
Runoff numbers
Holt Persinger: 1,400 votes
Charlie Chase: 963 votes
Election Day votes: 1,327
Early voting ballots: 993
Absentee ballots: 43
Voter turnout: 5.83%
MAILING LABEL
Recreation
Should Commerce turn over rec programs to county?
Should the City of Com
merce turn over its recre
ation program and facili
ties to the Jackson County
Recreation Department to
operate?
That is the question cur
rently being debated in the
city as it tries to find a way
forward for its small and
under-funded recreation
department.
The issue also comes at
a time when the county is
expanding its recreation
department, both by ac
quiring land for new parks,
building new facilities and
offering new programs.
How Commerce’s rec
reation department might
potentially fit into that
larger picture remains to
be seen. The proposal has
generated some social me
dia backlash in the city
among some who want the
city to keep its recreation
department independent
of the county. Others have
voiced their support for the
change.
Two public input meet
ings are scheduled in Com
merce, one on March 2 at
6 p.m. and the second on
March 11 at 11 a.m. Both
will be held at the Com
merce Civic Center.
BACKGROUND
The issue for Commerce
comes down to money. To
expand its recreation pro
grams, the city will have to
build additional facilities
at an estimated cost of $20-
$30 million. On top of that,
an expanded program will
require more operational
funding beyond the city’s
current $568,000 per year
budget. Of that, around
$77,500 comes from rec
reation fees, the rest from
city general funds.
To afford new facilities
will mean a tax hike in the
city to pay for bond fund
ing and to pay for addi
tional ongoing operational
expenses.
The city had hoped
it might use the gym at
Commerce High School
if a new high school were
to be built. But at a De
cember meeting with the
city’s board of education,
See Recreation, page 2A
Maysville
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Busload of Books recently made a stop at Maysville Elementary School.
Pictured are: (front row, L-R) Jasper, the author and illustrator’s son, Ty
ler Boynton, Aedan Clark, Karson Morris, Payton Hunt, author Matthew
Swanson holding Dumbles, Myles Angel, Wyatt Hoffman and Assistant
Principal Rebecca Grogan; and (back row, L-R) Principal Katie Warwick,
Chandler Harbin, Wednesday Smith, teacher Julie Herron, Harper Hicks,
Opal Wright, Jaldary Penaloza, Bellamy Kidd, illustrator Robbi Behr, Aik
en Roberts, media specialist Rene’ Bridgewater, Kinsley Morris, Mikayla
Nave, Marleigh Fowler, Makenna Payne and Pressley Gearin.
Busload of Books tour makes
stop at Maysville Elementary
Friday brought a Busload
of Books and a lot of fun
to Maysville Elementary
School.
Children’s author/il
lustrator duo Matthew
Swanson and Robbi Behr
recently visited Maysville
Elementary School during
a nationwide literacy and
creativity tour. One Title
I school was chosen from
each state for the tour.
Maysville was the one
school selected in the State
of Georgia.
Swanson and Behr, along
with their four school-aged
children, are spending the
2022-23 school year living
and traveling in a converted
school bus.
This first-of-its-kind tour
includes a nationwide book
giveaway and the family
road trip with a major re
search study on the impact
of creator/student engage
ment. The key objectives
are raising awareness of the
challenges facing Amer
ica’s public schools and
empowering reading, cre
ativity and collaboration in
children ages 5 to 12.
In addition to the tour’s
central mission, Swanson
and Behr will:
• Partner with Build-A-
Bear Foundation and First
Book to distribute free
books to students and ed
ucators in Title I schools
across America.
• Conduct a research
study with Washington
College, in Chestertown,
Md., to measure the impact
of author/illustrator vis
its (filling a key gap in the
Maysville Elementary
School students take
turns petting Dumbles
during the Busload of
Books tour.
research on this topic).
• Share the virtual road
trip via daily digital content
- photos, essays, sketches
See Busload, page 2A
Index
News 1A-3A, 5A
Opinion 4A
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School news
0A-/A
8B
Social news
8A, 12A
Sports
1B-3B
Classifieds
11A
Obituaries
9A-10A
Legals
4B-7B
Inside
Photo by Ben Munro
Pamela Whitmire
poses for a photo with
her quarter horse,
Lady, who will turn
40 on Monday (Feb.
27). Read the story
on page 12A.
Pendergrass
Long-time mayor
of Pendergrass dies
Long-time Pendergrass Mayor Melvin “Monk”
Tolbert has died. Tolbert died on Monday. Feb. 27, fol
lowing an extended illness. He was 83 years old.
Tolbert’s full obituary had not been released as
of press-time. Services are set to be announced on
Wednesday, March 1. Services and the full obituary
will be shared on https://www.evansfuneralhomeinc.
com/
Jackson BOC
County ends 2022
with strong finances
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
Although the Jackson
County audit for 2022 has
yet to be completed, pre
liminary numbers indicate
the county government
ended the year strongly in
the black.
During an annual “re
treat” meeting, the Jack-
son County Board of
Commissioners heard a
report from county man
ager Kevin Poe about the
county’s financial status.
For 2022, the county
netted $20.1 million in
revenues over expenses.
Some $14.1 million of
that was from the federal
ARPA funds provided by
Congress.
Overall expenses were
$2.2 million under budget
for the year while reve
nues — especially sales
tax income — were far
over budget. Local Option
Sales Taxes exceeded the
budgeted amount by $4
million on the year. In
tergovernmental income
was also far over budget at
$1.2 million.
For EMS. the county
used $2.1 million of the
ARPA funds to pay first
responder salaries, saving
the county from having
to pay those from its usu
al general fund sources.
EMS expenses were up
during the year due to
overtime pay and the high
er cost of medical supplies
See Retreat, page 2A
Jefferson council
Jefferson’s capital
projects to include gun
range, new
By Hannah Barron
hannah@mainstreetnews. com
A police gun range and a
new fire station could soon
be coming to Jefferson.
The projects were
among priorities discussed
for 2023 and 2024 at the
Jefferson City Council’s
annual retreat on Feb. 16.
The Jefferson Police
fire station
Department is looking at
an outdoor gun range to
qualify and train officers.
The department current
ly uses the range owned by
the Jackson County Sher
iff’s Office. The county
agency has more officers
to qualify and hosts a
See Jefferson, page 2A
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