Newspaper Page Text
Radio field day coming to Jasper
Local ham explains event and hobby • Page 7b
Briefly ...
Rhythms of
the Land
12 Stone Farm and the
Mountain Conservation
Trust invite the commu
nity to the first annual
Rhythms of the Land
Concert Sunday. Featured
will be Bill Sheffield and
TOY TV. Page 11B
Dealing with
the Drought
Normally when you
drive around the area this
time of year, pastures are
green and lush. This year
they’re straw colored.
UGA specialists will
present a program to help
local farmers make deci
sions about the direction
they should take in the
face of the continuing
drought. Meanwhile, the
county agent offers lawn
care advice for home-
owners. Page 9B
Spending Our
Children s
Inheritance?
When the North
Georgia Progressives
meet next Tuesday, the
program will be a review
and discussion of alterna
tives for saving Social
Security and Medicare
entitlements. The public
is invited. Page 10B
Puttin ’ Up
Your Veggies
Putting up vegetables at
the local canning plant is
a summertime tradition
here. The canning plant
will open for the season
next Wednesday. For can
ning newbies, instruction
on proper procedures will
be available. Page 7A
And If You Aren’t
Growing Your Own
If you have a hankering
for homegrown vegeta
bles but no garden, you
can still reap a bountiful
harvest at the Jasper
Farmers’ Market where
you’ll find good quality
and variety of local
produce. Page 9B
Weather
By WILLIAM DILBECK
HI
LOW
RAIN
Tuesday
83
57
.35
Wednesday
83
57
.02
Thursday
80
61
.20
Friday
80
63
.00
Saturday
84
64
.00
Sunday
89
67
.00
Monday
90
65
.18
Deaths
Dortha Quinton
Margaret Nuckols
James Bennett
William Marston
OBITUARIES . ..See Page 13B
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THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2007 • VOLUME 120 NUMBER 7 • JASPER, GEORGIA • 500
School board approves $38 million budget
Technology update, final dropout numbers presented at monthly meeting
By Christie Pool
By unanimous vote, mem
bers of the board of education
last week passed a $38.3 mil
lion dollar tentative budget for
the upcoming school year.
School officials said there
are no drastic changes in the
budget over the previous year
with the exception of a three
percent state-mandated pay
raise. The state mandated the
pay raise for certified person
nel and bus drivers, but the
raise will be given to all local
system employees.
"We traditionally have given
the increase across the board
for everybody, not just certified
personnel, and we'll do that
again this year," said
Superintendent Mike Ballew.
"The mandated state pay raise
also makes benefits go up, and
that always has an impact on
the budget."
Ballew said state funds were
not cut as much this year as in
previous years, but the reduced
state money continues to
impact the budget here.
"In the past four or five
years our budget has gone from
55 percent [funded] from the
state to about 45 percent now,"
Ballew said.
The budget approved last
week is tentative until a final
budget is approved after the
school gets the tax digest from
the county, Ballew said.
"We've been working on this
budget for a while, and it was a
goal of ours to finish it by June.
We took this step by step
through this process," Ballew
said.
Of the $38.3 million, an esti
mated $17.8 million will come
from local taxes.
The board also approved a
spending resolution that allows
the schools to continue operat
ing until the final budget is
approved.
In other news:
• A total of 67 students
dropped out of school during
the 2006-07 school year,
according to a report presented
by Susan Reeves. At the end of
the school year, there were
4,211 students attending
Pickens County schools, a
decrease of 52 students from
the previous month. In May
there were six dropouts. Two
dropped out for unknown rea
sons, and two others for lack of
attendance. One student was
expelled and one incarcerated.
For the year, there were 19
dropouts from the ninth grade,
20 in tenth grade, 19 in
eleventh grade and nine in
twelfth grade. In all, there were
43 males and 24 females to
drop out of school over the
year.
Officials say that while the
figure is still too high, the num
ber of dropouts has been
decreasing over the past few
years. Last year there were 84
dropouts. In 2005-06 there
were 82, and in 2003-2004
there were 80.
"I am real enthused to hear
of the lower dropout rate num
bers," said Board Member
Ervin Easterwood. "I'm also
glad to see our budget coming
to us in June for a vote. I think
that speaks well of Jerry
(Chastain), Amy (Burgess),
Mike (Ballew) and all the prin
cipals."
• Assistant Superintendent
of Finance Amy Burgess
reported that SPLOST II took
in $18 million dollars over the
course of the five-year tax.
Officials reported the money
paid for a new bus shop and
parking area, added a new
kitchen and remodeled the
cafeteria at Jasper Middle
School, constructed seven
classrooms and a media center
at Jasper Elementary, built
Harmony Elementary and
allowed for the purchase of new
buses this year.
"We're also adding technolo
gy with the money from
By Jeff Warren
By the time you read
this, Pickens Countian Chris
Tucker, staff sergeant with
the United States Army 3rd
Infantry Division, 2nd
Brigade, 1-64 Armor
Company, will be traveling
back to Iraq to serve a third
tour of duty in our war that
continues there.
A tank commander by
job description, Tucker is
trained to lead three subor
dinates in a team that mans
an M1A1 Abrams tank.
Tucker's tank unit moved at
the battle center in the fight
that ousted Saddam Hussein
in 2003.
"We're the ones who did
the 'Thunder Run'," Tucker
told me, "the longest
armored march in history,
from Kuwait to Baghdad."
He said Fox News and CNN
joined his column for the
ride. "I was the fourth tank
in column when we took
Baghdad," Tucker recalled.
That was two tours back.
His second time in country,
Tucker worked a security
mission in Baghdad,
Continued on page 4A
SPLOST II, and we have made
five years of bond payments for
Pickens High School out of it,"
said Ballew. "We still have
$600,000 remaining to do (capi
tal) improvements with. I've
been very pleased with what
we've done with the SPLOST
funds. We still have money
there, and we will spend it wise
ly."
Board Chairman John
Trammell praised administra-
Continued on page 4A
With recreational gear for his whole company
Sergeant Tucker embarks
for third duty tour in Iraq
Army Staff Sergeant Chris Tucker with golf clubs
donated by Big Canoe and destined for Iraq. While prepar
ing for a third duty tour in Iraq, Tucker determined to sup
ply his armor company with recreational gear, so his three-
man crew and others can find mental diversion from grim
daily tasks.
GBI agent. DA discuss how they solved the Sueann Ray murder
Smiley face marked hidden grave on map drawn by killer
By Michael Moore
Despite public speculation that they weren’t doing
enough, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the
District Attorney’s office were “heavily engaged” in the
investigation of Quinton Ray in the months after his
wife’s disappearance in August 2005, according to offi
cials from both offices.
Ray pleaded guilty last month to one count of malice
murder, and one count of kidnapping with bodily harm,
admitting he killed his estranged wife Sueann Ray. In a
deal to avoid the death penalty, he will now serve two
consecutive life sentences, promising a stay of at least
twenty years in state prison.
After the case was closed, special agent-in-charge at
GBI region eight, John Cagle, and District Attorney Joe
Hendricks elaborated on the tactics of the investigation
that led to Quinton Ray’s arrest and guilty plea.
Cagle said GBI agents and the DA’s staff spent “hun
dreds of hours” investigating Sueann Ray’s disappear
ance.
Audio tapes, security camera footage, photographs,
interview transcripts and case reports stored on a stack
of compact discs amounted to the equivalent of over
20,000 pages of evidence, as estimated at one time by
Ray’s attorney.
“I’ve never seen a case with this much evidence,”
said Hendricks, who was a private practice defense
attorney and assistant prosecutor before being elected
District Attorney.
Cagle, a twenty-seven year GBI veteran, noted it has
been “a while” since he has worked on a case of this
size.
In the twenty days leading up to Quinton Ray’s
Constant surveillance,
20,000 pages of files,
recorded conversations
detailing murder among piles
of evidence used in Ray case
arrest, Cagle said the GBI had constant surveillance on
him. “Fifteen agents surveilled him twenty-four hours a
day,” said Cagle.
In fact, dozens of agents from throughout the state
worked on the case, following Ray everywhere he went,
and listening in on telephone conversations he had with
other interested parties.
Lacking concrete evidence such as a weapon or
physical remains to link Ray with his wife’s disappear
ance, investigators had to piece together information
they could glean from those who knew him and the vic
tim. From that information they built their case against
Ray, and eventually used two informants to trick him
into revealing where he buried his wife’s body.
After Sueann Ray’s body was found in February
2006, Quinton Ray was almost immediately arrested.
Hendricks said he recalls going to the superior court
judge at 5 a.m. the day field agents exhumed Sueann
Ray’s body, to acquire arrest warrants for Quinton Ray
and his father, Harold Daniel Ray. Harold Ray pleaded
guilty to hindering the apprehension of a criminal in the
same case, but it is unclear how much he knew about the
crime, or even if he knew at all.
In the first four months after Sueann Ray’s disap
pearance, Cagle said agents were busy with the “con
ventional” part of the investigation. That consisted of
interviews with the family and acquaintances of the vic
tim—“what we call ‘victimology,’” said Cagle.
“Early on in an investigation like this one, we
Continued on page 13A
Damon Howell / Photo
Richard Garrett with the Pickens County Water Department installs a
water meter on Four Mile Church Road. Using SPLOST funds, the county
recently purchased radio-read meters for all its 2,600 customers .
With one year to go
sales tax collection
may fall $2 million short
County forging ahead with needed
infrastructure projects using penny tax
By Michael Moore
Pickens County has about twelve
months remaining to continue collecting
the SPLOST penny it has levied on all
retail purchases since voters approved
the tax in 2003.
The county started collecting the one-
percent sales tax in July 2003, following
a March 2003 ballot referendum.
According to county finance director
Mechelle Champion, nearly $14.3 mil
lion in Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds have been
collected as of April 2007. The average
amount collected per month is $316,000.
Champion said the county had
planned to collect nearly $22 million in
five years from the tax, but it appears
they will fall about two million dollars
short of that. “We would have needed
$366,000 per month to collect the full
amount,” said Champion.
The sales tax collections have been
spent on public safety and infrastructure
expenses outlined on the ballot four
years ago. About $13 million has been
spent so far, with the remainder to be
Continued on page 9A
