Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by Georgia HomePLACE, a project of the Georgia Public Library Service.
About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2023)
o O THE ACKSON H Wednesday, April 19, 2023 ERALD VOL. 148 NO. 45 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 Pendergrass BOC Geiman only candidate for Pendergrass mayor Special election set Jane 20; Post 1 & Post 6 have multiple candidates Nick Geiman will be come Pendergrass" next mayor during an upcoming June 20 special election. Geiman, currently a member of the Pendergrass City Council, was the only person to qualify for the mayor's seat. The seat was left vacant following the death of longtime mayor Monk Tolbert in March. While the mayor's seat won't be a competitive race, multiple candidates qual ified to fill the unexpired terms for Post 1 and Post 6 council seats. Qualifying for the Post 1 (term ends Dec. 31) seat are: • Gabriel Gomez • Josh Auten • William Ellis For the Post 6 seat (term ends Dec. 31, 2024) are: • Crystal Hendrix • Debra Fermin Hoschton Hoschton leaders decide against bulletproof glass for city hall By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com Bulletproof glass will not be part of Hoschton's new city hall. The Hoschton City Coun cil approved a $13,058 change order for additional cabinets and countertops but opted against the $18,878 addition of bulletproof glass for the city hall help desk. The help desk will be equipped with plexiglass, instead, as reflected in the original plans. Fast month, the council mulled the option of bul letproof glass, citing safety concerns, before tabling the decision to the April meet ing. STREETS GETTING NEW ASPHALT Four streets in Hoschton will receive improvements this year with partial state funding. Bell Ave.. Walnut St., Mul- MAILING LABEL ■ berry St. and Hall St. will be resurfaced, while the city cemetery will receive 1.500 linear feet of asphalt seal coating at a combined price tag of $236,675. Hoschton has $80,000 worth of lo cal maintenance improve ment grants (LMIG) from the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) to ap ply to the project. The city awarded the con tract to ShepCo Paving in Alpharetta, which emerged as the low bidder. The city had budgeted roughly $300,000 for the work. City leaders project a late-summer start for the work. O’LEARY, LOVE LAND ADDED TO DDA Mayor Lauren O’Leary and Bob Loveland were voted into the city's down town development authority See Hoschton, page 2A Truck stop gets BOC approval By Mike Buffington A truck stop on Holly Springs Rd. and Bill Wright Rd. near 1-85 at the Dry Pond exit got final approval from the Jackson County Board of Commissioners April 17. The facility will have a 7-Eleven convenience store and a Peterbuilt dealership, along with truck and car fuel pumps. The BOC approved two rezonings and two special use permits that paved the way for the project to go forward. OTHER ZONING In other zoning action, the board approved: • rezoning 12 acres on Brock ton Loop Rd., Jefferson, from A-2 to A-R to allow the property to be subdivided into five lots. Several neighbors to the property opposed the rezoning, saying most property in the area were larger tracts. • rezoning 5.5 acres at 818 Cabin Creek Dr., Nicholson, from A-2 to A-R to subdivide into three tracts. • rezoning 11 acres on Hwy. 124 West, Hoschton, to allow for a multi-tenant commercial develop ment. • a special use at 6134 Hwy. 82 Spur, Commerce, to allow for a landscape firm on the property. OTHER BUSINESS In other business, the BOC ap proved: • Goodwynn Mills Cawood to do architectural work for a new county airport terminal. • a contract for the use of ARPA funds at the county senior center. • a list of proposed projects to be funded by the remaining economic development bond funds. Among the projects is Gateway Rd. in Jef ferson following a request by the city for help with that road project, which will open up property for commercial growth. • a deannexation resolution for property recently deannexed from the City of Jefferson. • low bidder Pittman Construction Company for the contract to repave 33 miles of roads in the county. The cost will be around $5.5 million. COMMERCE PROM 2023 Photos by Amy Flint Couples take to the dance floor for a slow dance during the Commerce High School prom. The 2023 CHS prom was held on Saturday, April 15, at The Classic Center in Athens. See more on 12B. Commerce High School hosted its prom on king were Rachel English and Jonathon Orozco. April 15 at The Classic Center. Honorary prom king was Tre Peters. Commerce council Commerce council member city to have rabies protocol By Alex Buffington alex@mainstreetnews. com A Commerce City Coun cil member is urging the city to make sure it has pro tocol in place in case of po tential rabid animal attack. Mayor Pro Tem Keith Burchett made the request this week after his grand son was attacked by a rabid bobcat in Banks County earlier in the month. The attack was reported on April 8 in Maysville. The boy’s parents posted on social media that the 31-pound bobcat attacked the boy. His injuries re quired rounds of rabies shots and 14 stitches. Burchett told the coun cil on Monday (April 17) that Banks County was urges in place unprepared for the situa tion and urges the city to make sure it has protocols in place if something like that happens in the city. “I don’t want us to get See Commerce, page 2A Pet Milk (Gallon) $ 3.99 GAIN (92 Oz.) $ 9.99 Coca-Cola (2 Liter) .99" 14 14 0
