Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current, October 25, 2023, Image 1

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Jackson herald., October 25, 2023, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Texto o 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS The Commerce News JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY Public safety Elections Winder woman killed, child critically injured in Jefferson wreck A Winder woman was killed and a 13-year old boy was seriously injured in an Oct. 18 wreck in Jef ferson. Georgia State Patrol Troopers responded to the two-vehicle wreck on MLK Jr. Dr. south of Hill side Dr. around 7:50 p.m. A purple Toyota Scion driven by Johnny Tuggle, 58, of Winder, and a gray Ford Fusion driven by Joshua Weeks, 23, of Jef ferson, were both travel ing northbound on MLK Jr. Drive, according to the GSP. When Tuggle slowed to turn left into a private drive, Weeks reportedly attempted to pass the Sci on in a no passing zone and struck it in the rear. Both vehicles traveled off the roadway and onto the west shoulder, according to the GSP report. A female passenger in the Scion, Tracy Tuggle, 56, of Winder, died from her injuries. Another pas senger in the Scion, a 13-year-old Winder boy, sustained life-threatening injuries. He was trans ported to Grady Memori al Hospital. Both drivers sustained non-life threatening inju ries. Weeks was booked into the Jackson County Jail on Oct. 18. He faces charges of: •reckless driving •passing in a no-pass ing zone •seatbelt violation •driving under the in fluence •serious injury by ve hicle •homicide by vehicle in the first degree-felony MAILING LABEL Under 500 votes cast in first days of early voting A little under 500 votes were cast across Jackson County dining the first days of early voting for the Nov. 7 General Municipal Elec tions. There have been 442 in-person votes cast as of Tuesday morning. Nine mail-in votes have also been accepted. Elections are being held in most local municipalities with the exception of Ar cade and Talmo. Several cities Hoschton, Maysville and Nicholson — have mayoral races. Commerce also has a big city-wide vote on a parks and rec bond referendum. Voters in the city will de cide on whether to issue up to $13 million in bonds to fund a new gymnasium for the city’s recreation pro gram. The bonds would en tail a property tax increase in the city. Votes cast across the county include: Braselton: 31 Commerce: 65 and 2 ab sentee by-mail Hoschton: 294 and 3 ab sentee by-mail Jefferson: 27 and 2 ab sentee by-mail Maysville: 6 Nicholson: 7 and 2 absen tee by-mail Pendergrass: 12 EARLY VOTING CONTINUES Early voting continues this week and next week on: • October 23-28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. • Oct. 30-Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All early voting will be held at the Jackson County Elections Office, 441 Gor don St., Jefferson. Braselton and Commerce satellite early voting loca tions will not be open for the municipal elections. Absentee ballot requests may be submitted until Oct. 27. To access a re quest form, visit https:// www.jacksoncountygov. com/195/Current-Ele ction-Information or visit the Jackson County Elec tions Office. An absentee ballot drop- box will be available at the county elections office during early voting hours. The dropbox will close on Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. (the clos ing of early voting). Ballots may be dropped off at the county elections office on Election Day until 7 p.m. Absentee ballots will not be received at the polling loca tion on Election Day. ON THE BALLOT Candidates and other See Election, page 2A EJCHS crowns Homecoming Queen Photo by Christian Rodriguez Essence Hunter (third from left) was named East Jackson Comprehensive High School’s Homecoming Queen during last week’s football game halftime. Shown with Hunter are (L to R): Sarah Kate Giddens, Brenna Vandiver, Hunter and Mad ison Byers. Jefferson Jefferson approves updated comp plan, land use map By Mike Buffington The Jefferson City Coun cil approved its updated comprehensive plan and fu ture land use map at its Oct. 23 meeting. The city is required to update its comp plan yearly and to do a major update ev ery five years. The five year update will happen in 2024. In this year’s update, the city included the new swim facility among its capital improvement projects and it tweaked its future land use map. The council has repeated ly expressed concerns about how future residential de velopment might impact the city school system and gen erally wants to lower future housing density in the city. The future land use map attempted to address some of those issues, but that still won’t change existing zon ing for individual tracts. “Changing the future land use plan map does not change the zoning map; even if property is changed to lower density residential on the future land use plan map, property owners can still de velop according to the zon ing category even if incon sistent with the future land use plan map,” documents to the council state. Around three dozen changes were made to the FLUM, many in the Holder Siding Rd. and Jett Roberts Rd. areas. “Some (changes) do not pertain to residential, but many are designed to lower the overall residential den sity where such reduction is considered appropriate from a land use planning stand point,” planning officials said in their presentation to the council. One of the largest chang es in the map is to designate more Estate Residential (large lot housing) which went from 727 acres to 1,221 See Jefferson, page 2A Education Only Jefferson tops state average on ACT Jefferson High School was the only high school in the coun ty to top the state aver age on the ACT. According to a Geor gia Department of Ed ucation news release, Georgia’s class of 2023 recorded an average composite score of21.3, compared to the nation al average of 19.5. Jefferson’s average composite score was 21.6. Jackson County High School came in at 21, followed by East Jack- son Comprehensive High School at 20.5. Commerce High School tied with the na tional average at 19.5. See ACT, page 2A Halloween events coming up this week Halloween is coming up on Tuesday, Oct. 31. A number of Halloween-related events are coming up this week across Jackson County. Details include: COMMERCE LIBRARY BOO FEST OCT. 26 Commerce Public Library’s annual Boo Fest will be Thursday, Oct. 26, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for chil dren and adults. Children are encouraged to dress up and bring a bag for treats. There will be spooky stories in the Memorial Gar den at 6:10 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. Additionally there will be games, face painting, balloon art and more. The parking lot will be closed off at 5:15 p.m. for safety. Additional parking is available at both the First United Methodist of Commerce and the First Baptist Church of Commerce. Police will be avail able to help get attendees safely across the street. HALLOWEEN IN JEFFERSON OCT. 26 Halloween in Jefferson will be held on Oct. 26 from 4-7 p.m. Attendees can trick-or-treat at area businesses. Costumes are encouraged. The event will take place at the Jefferson Civic Center, 65 Kissam St., and in downtown Jefferson. A shuttle service will be provided for the civic cen ter, downtown and parking lots. For updates, see the Main Street Jefferson Face- book page. HOSCHTON TRUNK-OR-TREAT The City of Hoschton will host Trunk or Treat on Friday, Oct. 27, from 6-9 p.m. Children can trick-or-treat at local businesses in downtown Hoschton. MOVIE NIGHT IN ARCADE OCT. 28 The City of Arcade will host its Halloween Movie Night on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring your own chairs or blanket. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “The Addams Family 2” will be shown. There will also be a hayride and Halloween treats. The event will take place at Arcade City Park.