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THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, March 15, 2023
ERALD
VOL. 148 NO. 40
24 PACES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA S0549 $1.00 COPY
County BOE retreat
County BOE projecting huge growth in next 5 years
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
Growth and its impact
was the general thread in
last week’s Jackson County
Board of Education retreat.
One projection shown
during the meeting esti
mated that the school sys
tem will have over 15,800
students by 2028, up from
10,080 today.
Most of that growth is
projected to happen on the
county’s west side. Jamie
Dove, Jackson County Pub
lic Development Director,
gave a presentation to the
BOE with a map showing
the huge amount of new
subdivisions being built on
the county’s west side.
“There’s a lot going on,”
she said.
The 2028 projections
show that the county’s
west side will have 11,659
students in five years com
pared to the east side which
is projected have only 4,162
students.
Two new schools are cur
rently in development on
the west side, a new middle
school and a new elemen
tary school. The system is
also starting to plan for a
second high school on the
west side, but no specifics
have been decided.
School officials noted that
the system doesn’t have an
adequate supply of land on
which to build new schools
and to give the school sys
tem “options” for growth.
See BOE, page 2A
Jackson County manager Kevin Poe gave an update to the Jackson County
Board of Education about plans for a new intersection at Skelton Rd. and Hwy.
124. The plans call for a roundabout rather than a T-intersection, Poe said.
Jefferson
Elijah DeWitt family
files civil suit against
property for negligence
The parents of Elijah DeWitt, a Jefferson High
School senior and star athlete who was shot and
killed outside Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville
last year, have hied a civil suit in connection with
the murder.
Craig and Dawn DeWitt, the surviving parents of
Elijah DeWitt. along with attorneys Mike Rah and
Alex Brown of Rah Law Firm, have announced a
civil suit against Sugarloaf Mills, Simon Property
Group, Allied Universal and Dave & Buster’s for
“failing to provide adequate security.”
The lawsuit, hied in the State Court of Gwinnett
County, alleges that there had been a substantial
history of previous crime on the premises and that
the they, “knew of the dangerous and hazardous
conditions,” and that said conditions, “were likely
to result in injuries and/or death to their invitees,
including Elijah.” The lawsuit further alleges that
the defendants’ failure to warn of the crime and
dangerous activity they knew about but did not tell
visitors about, along with their failure to provide
adequate and reasonable security measures, led to
DeWitt’s death on October 5.
“When businesses know that their property
is dangerous — either because of crime or oth
er dangerous activity happening there, they have
two options: Warn visitors, so they know about the
danger and can make an educated decision about
whether to go to the property; or if they choose
not to warn visitors, then they need to take reason
able safety measures to protect customers who are
unaware of the danger. These Defendants did not
warn or keep people safe,” said Michael Rafi of
Rah Law Firm.
DeWitt’s parents hope this lawsuit will hold the
defendants responsible for their share of the re
sponsibility for DeWitt’s death and prevent anoth
er family from going through what they have.
“This is not the dream we had for our son, in
stead it has become a daily nightmare that we are
unable to wake up from,” DeWitt’s parents said.
“We are constantly reminded of the opportunities
and moments that were taken away from him and
sincerely hope that we can use our voices to help
bring about some change that will prevent another
See DeWitt, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
Index
Opinion
Public safety.
4A
6A-7A
School news
10A, 4B, 10-11B
Social news
8A-9A
Sports
1B-3B
Classifieds
5B
Obituaries
11A
legals
6B-9B
Read Across America
Students learn from Jefferson Academy media specialist Marion Stem
about how the Book Mobile came to be.
Jefferson City Schools
rolls out Book Mobile
Jefferson City Schools
recently unveiled its Book
Mobile at Jefferson Acad
emy, capping off Read
Across America Week.
The Book Mobile, a
renovated bus, acts like a
“library on wheels” with
books and seating.
JA students had the
chance to tour the mobile
library and learn from
Marion Stem, JA media
specialist, about how it
came to be.
Currently there are
1,683 books on board with
more to come, district
leaders said.
The Book Mobile will
be visiting sites through
out Jefferson during the
summer to share in the
love of reading.
Students look at books and place them on the Book Mobile. See more
photos on page 3A.
County
7-Eleven,
Peterbilt
Dealership
planned
in county
A 7-Eleven and Peterbilt
Dealership are planned in
Jackson County. According
to a development of regional
impact (DRI) submission, the
project is planned on two par
cels totaling approximately
16 acres at the corner of Bill
Wright and Holly Springs
roads.
The project includes con
struction of a 7-Eleven con
venience store with 16 reg
ular fueling locations and
four diesel semi-truck fueling
locations. It also includes the
construction of a Peterbilt
Truck Sales and Repair Cen
ter. The convenience store
is proposed to total 4,872
square feet and the truck sales
building will total 30,530
square feet.
The project will require a
rezoning and special use in
the county.
Hoschton
Mims
resigns from
Hoschton
City Council
Scott Mims has an
nounced his resignation
from the Hoschton City
Council.
The first-term coun-
cilmember, who took of
fice in January 2022, noti
fied City Manager Jennifer
Kidd-Harrison of his deci
sion on Wednesday, noting
family and professional
reasons.
“My work and family
See Mims, page 2A
piggly wiggly
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