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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2023)
o o 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 415 Lee Street • Jefferson, GA WE CASH CHECKS! INCOME TAXES PAYROLL INSURANCE SSI DEPARTMENT OF LABOR SETTLEMENT MONEY ORDERS 14 14 0
