Newspaper Page Text
o
o
20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
County BOE
Commerce
Sanders calls for citizens to push back against town development
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews. com
A member of the Jackson
County Board of Education
is calling for citizens to lob
by the towns of Pendergrass,
Hoschton and Braselton to
slow residential growth hit
ting the county, growth that is
putting a lot of pressure on the
school system.
hi responding to a complaint
from a private citizen who
spoke at the Jan. 22 BOE meet
ing about Pendergrass’ growth,
board member Rick Sanders
said increasing “public aware
ness” about the impact of
growth is critical.
Sanders noted that the sys
tem built the new Legacy Knoll
Middle School and Heroes El
ementary School without debt,
but that a bond referendum is
likely next year to raise fund
ing for additional schools.
“We cannot control what
goes on in the city; public
awareness is the best tiling we
can do and draw attention to
it,” he said. “We spend more
money than anybody in the
county... it’s worth it, but it
does put a tremendous strain
on our budgets.”
Sanders, whose North Jack-
son district covers the town of
Pendergrass, said the growth
in Hoschton and Pendergrass,
in particular, is pushing the
system to look at building ad
ditional schools in the near
future, hi December, the BOE
authorized superintendent
Philip Brown to sign off on the
purchase of additional property
for new school sites.
“I think public awareness
and to get residents in cities,
not just Pendergrass, but Bra
selton and Hoschton, to talk to
their city council members,”
Sanders said.
Sanders noted the system
was using a lot of mobile class
room units now and would
have two next year at Jackson
County High School.
“We need our citizens to go
to these council meetings, all
three of them, and talk to their
representatives,” Sanders said.
“They’re elected.. .talk to your
elected representatives.”
The system has added over
600 students this year over last
year. The ending enrollment
last May in the system was
10,100 students; that has now
climbed to 10,715 students.
LARGE PROJECTS
Pendergrass has seen a lot
of residential development in
recent years and in late De
cember, approved additional
high-density housing in the
town.
The Pendergrass City Coun-
See BOE, page 2A
County, state
Statewide addiction recovery group wants
overdose reversal kits in every government building
Photo by Jill Nolan, Georgia Recorder
Jackson County’s Jon Langston, founder of Reboot Jackson, is part of a
statewide effort to have Narcan available in every public building.
Jackson County's
Langston part of
state efforts
By Jill Nolin
Georgia Recorder
Jon Langston says he prob
ably would not have set foot
inside the state Capitol be
fore he sobered up 15 years
ago. But if he had visited, he
would have most definitely
been high.
So to him, the five over
dose reversal kits that were
installed under the Gold
Dome last year are more than
symbolic.
An overdose reversal kit
was installed next to emer
gency medical equipment
and a fire extinguisher near
the main public entrance at
the state Capitol. It’s one of
five on site.
But as a person in long
term recovery who now ad
vocates for more widespread
adoption of naloxone kits,
Langston said he also sees
the prominent placement of
the boxes as an important
recognition.
“I don’t much think
there will be an overdose
at the Capitol. I just really
don’t. There may be,” said
Langston, who is president
and founder of Reboot Jack-
son, which is a recovery
community organization in
Jackson County.
“But that symbolism for
the state Capitol to say hey
we see the need and we have
these in our Capitol - yeah,
that’s huge,” he said.
Georgia officials have been
taking steps over the last de
cade to ease access to the
life-saving drag in response
to the rise in opioid overdos
es here and nationally. The
state has, for example, made
the drag available over the
counter and empowered first
responders to carry it.
Langston said he sees man
dating access in government
buildings, including schools
and universities, as the “next
bite” towards broader access.
As an advocate, he pointed to
Honolulu’s recent decision
to require bars, nightclubs
and restaurants to have the
anti-overdose medicine on
hand as his ultimate goal for
Georgia.
“Overdoses are real and
so is recovery, but they can’t
recover if they’re dead,” he
said.
A bill has not yet been
filed but the proposal is one
of a few legislative initia
tives announced Thursday
as priorities of the Georgia
Council for Recovery, for
merly known as the Georgia
Council on Substance Abuse.
“This saves lives. This
breaks stigma,” said Jeff
Breedlove, who is the coun
cil's advocacy strategist.
Breedlove cited the Geor
gia World Congress Cen
ter as being a state-owned
complex where the overdose
reversal drag is sorely miss
ing. The sprawling center is
the setting of many large
events, including what is
billed as the country’s larg
est event focused on the
opioid crisis, the Rx and
See Langston, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
Commerce BOE
Superintendent search
continues in Commerce
Over 20 apply
for the position
The Commerce Board
of Education continues to
work on selecting a new su
perintendent of schools to
replace Joy Tolbert, who is
retiring at the end of June.
Planning for the search
began in October 2023. The
board asked King-Cooper
and Associates, a super
intendent search firm, to
serve as consultants for the
search.
The position was adver
tised with an application
deadline of January 5. This
job announcement has
generated some national
interest from prospective
applicants. The board also
conducted an online survey
that was completed by over
240 community members
and school district staff. The
results from this online sur
vey were closely reviewed
by board members.
On Monday January 15,
the board reviewed appli
cants and began planning
the interview process. Inter
views will begin in January
and continue for several
weeks. After the first round
of interviews, the board will
select certain candidates for
the second round of inter
views.
The Commerce City BOE
received 23 applicants for
the position.
“We are very impressed
with the quality of appli
cants and are thoroughly an
alyzing all application pack
ets,” stated board chair Kyle
Moore. “This is a critical
decision, and the Board is
committed to selecting the
best person for our school
system.”
New Commerce council
member arrested
New Commerce City
Council member Rosh-
uanda Merritt has been
arrested.
Merritt reportedly
turned herself into the
Jackson County Jail on
January 19 and bonded out
shortly after. The Georgia
Bureau of Investigation
has charged Merritt with
criminal attempt to com
mit sale of marijuana and
use of a telecommunica
tion facility to facilitate a
felony.
The Jackson County
Sheriff’s Office asked the
GBI to investigate in De
cember after reportedly
discovering that Merritt
had distributed marijuana
from her home.
“Prior to the drug inves
tigation, Jackson County
Sheriff’s Office conducted
an unrelated investigation
in which investigators
discovered Merritt distrib
uted marijuana from her
home in Jackson Coun
ty,” the news release said.
“In December 2023, the
Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office requested the GBI
Appalachian Regional
Drug Enforcement Office
to investigate Merritt and
allegations that she was
Roshuanda Merritt
distributing marijuana.
As a result of the investi
gation, the GBI arrested
Merritt.”
The two warrants for
Merritt’s arrest indicate
that she photographed
four THC-infused gummy
packages and attempted
to sell those packages to a
group of people in a text
message thread.
Merritt was elected in
November to the Com
merce City Council Ward
5 seat. She was also the
work-based learning co
ordinator at East Jackson
Comprehensive High
School. The Jackson
County Board of Edu
cation voted Monday to
release Merritt from her
contract.
The GBI noted that the
investigation is ongoing.
County Chamber
Chamber welcomes
new board members
By Cheyenne Tolleson
cheyenne@mainstreetnews.com
The Jackson County
Area Chamber of Com
merce welcomed its
2024 Board of Directors
and new members at the
board’s Jan. 19 meeting.
New board chairman
Kendall Sims encouraged
members to be ready to be
100% involvement. He re
quested that members find
newer members to mentor
as the year progresses.
See Chamber, page 2A
Kendall Sims, 2024
Chamber chairman
County BOC
BOC approves
repaving list for 2024
Mobile home
decals no longer
required in county
The Jackson County
Board of Commission
ers is planning to repave
a little over 11.5 miles of
roads in Jackson County
dining 2024.
The BOC approved a
list of repavings at its Jan.
22 meeting.
The toal cost of the re
paving is $1.9 million.
The state will pay a little
over $1 million of the cost
with the rest coming from
SPLOST and local general
government funding.
The longest segment
to be repaved is Finch
Landing Rd. at 2.07 miles.
Tal Phillips Rd. between
Hwy. 334 and Sanford Rd.
will be getting 1.76 miles
repaved.
Other roads on the list
include:
•Jackson Pkwy. 1.37
miles
• Hoods Mill Rd. 1.2
miles
• Jackson Trail 1.35
miles
• Arbor Trace subdivi
sion 1.18 miles
• South Apple Valley
Rd. 1.65 miles
• Woods Farm/Cloisters
1.1 miles
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business on Jan.
22, the BOC approved:
• naming commissioner
Chas Hardy as vice-chair
man for 2024.
• no longer requiring
mobile home decals in the
county.
• awarding a contract
for on-call building code
inspections.
• a resolution to allow
the scanning of many
county records into elec
tronic form and doing
away with the paper re
cords.
• amending contracts to
accept more funding for
See BOC, page 2A
