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SEE PAGE 1B SEE PAGE 1B After Loss To Dragons, Tigers Have Week Off Region Champion Cheer Tigers Are Headed To State Vol. 132 No. 39 30 Pages 3 Sections Commerce News mainstreetnews.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Commerce Election Wednesday NOVEMBER 7, 2007 Incumbents Sweep Commerce Elections Hardy, Fitzpatrick, Sosebee, Massey Are Re-Elected; Gary, Sergent Win BOE Seats Commerce voters overwhelm ingly returned their mayor and three incumbent city councilmen to office in Tuesday’s city elec tions, all by substantial margins. Mayor Charles L. “Buzzie” Hardy Jr. captured 71.5 percent of the vote, beating challenger Paul Vickery 674-268. Hardy had been particularly tar geted by the “Jackson-Commerce Concerned Citizens,” a group arguing that the city is spending too much money. Instead, he will start his 19th year as mayor in January. As Vickery went, so did the rest of the group’s candidates. In Ward 3, incumbent Mark Fitzpatrick beat challenger J.D. Morris 118-48, taking 71 percent of the vote. Bob Sosebee, who has served 24 years on the city council, turned back challenger Bob Williams 249 116, capturing 68 percent of the votes cast in Ward 4. Likewise, in Ward 5, incumbent Richard Massey defeated chal lenger Steve Ayers, taking 59 per- Hardy A Fitzpatrick cent of the vote. He’ll begin his 19th year in office in January. The election was a setback for the citizens’ group, which got Dusty Slater and Wayne Gholston elected as mayor pro tem and Sosebee Massey Ward 1 councilman respectively two years ago and had gained Ward 2 Councilman Donald Wilson’s support since. With all three of those up for re-election in two years, the Concerned Citizens Gary Sergent are in a position to lose further ground in 2009. In the two contested board of education contests, Rodney Gary beat Rick Massey 242-145 in the District 4 contest to see who will succeed Chairman Steve Perry, who did not seek re-election. In the only other contested race, District 5 incumbent Dr. Paul Sergent bested challenger Carolyn Brooks by a margin of 84-55. Voter turnout was not as high as might have been expected, as only 39 percent of city voters cast ballots. Some 683 voters went to the polls Tuesday, but 271 either voted in advance or cast absentee ballots, according to City Clerk Shirley Willis, who is the city’s election superintendent. Group Seeks To Deny Vote On Sunday Sales By Angela Gary It was standing room only at the Jackson County Board of Commissioners’ meeting Monday night as more than 150 people attempted to get a February referendum on Sunday liquor sales canceled. The group presented a petition with the names of 1,430 county residents opposing the referen dum. The commissioners took no action on the matter. “Our county already allows the sale of alcohol six days out of the seven,” said Jack Lawson, pastor of White Plains Baptist Church and chief spokes- Please Turn to Page 5A I N D E X Births 10A Church News 8B Classified Ads 1-6C Calendar 3A Crime News 7-8A News Roundup 2A Obituaries 9A Opinions 4A School News 9-12B Sports 1-4B Social News . . . . 10-12A WEATHER OUTLOOK THURSDAY FRIDAY Sunny: Mostly sunny: Low, 35; high, 60; Low, 37; high, 65; 10% chance rain 10% chance rain SATURDAY SUNDAY Sunny: Partly cloudy: Low, 36; high, 65; Low, 40; high, 67; 10% rain chance 20% chance rain CONTACT US Phone: 706-335-2927 FAX: 706-387-5435 E-mail: news@mainstreetnews.com mark@mainstreetnews. com brandon@mainstreetnews.com teresa@mainstreetnews. com Mail: PO. Box 459, Commerce, GA 30529 City Preparing Tougher Water Restrictions Meeting State 10% Mandatory Cutback Is Goal; Action To Come On Monday The Commerce City Council will further restrict the use of out door water at next Monday’s city council meeting. The council meets at 6:30 p.m. in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center, and the drought will certainly be up for discussion. Like every other water provider in 61 counties of North Georgia, Commerce has been ordered to cut its winter water production by 10 percent over last year, a figure set by Gov. Sonny Perdue. Commerce’s drought contingen cy plan does not call for severe restrictions until the lake is two feet below full pool. But Perdue’s executive order trumps local ordi nances. “It’s six inches down and it’s been there basically all summer,” said City Manager Clarence Bryant of the reservoir. “There’s no flow going out, but the springheads that are feeding the lake seem to be maintaining our pumping capacity. “I think there’s been a little mis conception here that we’re about to give out of water here because we’re giving it all away,” Bryant continued, referring to the city’s sale of water to Jackson County, Banks County and Maysville. “We don’t think that’s the case at all.” Nonetheless, facing “significant” but unspecified penalties if it fails to meet Perdue’s order, the city council appears ready to elimi nate most of the “exemptions” to the state level four drought restric tions. That will happen Monday night if the city attorney has the legal documents prepared. There are 13 water uses still allowed under level four; the council is planning to eliminate 10 of them, including the installation of landscapes, irrigation contrac tors, sod producers, ornamental growers, fruit and vegetable grow ers, hydro-seeding operations, power washing, construction sites, watering in of pesticides and herbicides on turf and “other activities essential to daily busi ness,” a catch-all category. At present, the council plans to allow retail garden centers, car washes and gardens to use water, although officials plan to talk to owners of garden centers (Shirley Feed & Seed and Home Depot are the only ones on the city sys tem) and car washes (four are on the system) about how they can reduce consumption. But Bryant pointed out that very few of the previously exempted operations are taking place in Commerce. That means eliminat ing the restrictions will have little effect on water usage. For exam ple, the only major construction project under way is the new Ingles. Other Steps Bryan Harbin, director of water and sewer operations, told the city council he will meet with representatives from the city’s 25 largest water users about reduc ing their consumption. He also plans to ask the school system and the city’s housing projects to replace old commodes with high- efficiency toilets. “One of the things EPD is going to look at is how we’re respond ing to the 10 percent cut,” he explained. The city is also printing pam phlets containing water conser vation tips, which will be made widely available. One of the main concerns is that the restrictions are not likely to be real short-term. “This is not a 90-day thing,” Bryant noted. “We may be in this 12 to 18 months.” New Penalties For Violations Part of the strategy will be to increase the penalties Commerce charges for violators of the water restrictions. The current plan calls for a verbal warning on the first offense, a $20 surcharge on the second and $100 surcharges for subsequent violations. The new proposal starts with a writ ten warning on the first offense, Please Turn to Page 3A County Board Curtails Most All Water Usage Exemptions Jackson County’s largest water provider is tightening its restric tions on the outdoor use of water from the dwindling Bear Creek Reservoir. In a called meeting last Thursday, the authority agreed to allow the only car wash on its system to continue to operate — after it shows how it can reduce usage by 40-50 percent — and to allow its water to be used to mix mortar. But the authority eliminated all other exemptions to the level four of its drought management plan, including water used for grad ing and paving, power washing, hydro-seeding and landscaping. Thursday’s meeting was the follow-up from seven days earlier when a number of businesses, most of them involved in con struction or paving, appealed the elimination of the water use exemptions. The businesses ranged from a hydro-seed operator who used only 1,490 gallons over four months to a contractor who used more than 650,000 gallons a month. “This is not an easy decision for the board to make,” commented Vice Chairman Randall Pugh. “In most of these cases, if not all of them, there are alternatives for those individuals and companies in being able to obtain non-pota- ble water to use in the process of their respective operations.” Pugh said manager Eric Klerk and his staff will work with those affected to help them locate sources of water. Prior to the restrictions, larger companies would draw water directly from fire hydrants, using hydrant meters issued by the authority, for paving or in grad ing. Now, those companies will be forced to haul water from other sources. The authority agreed to let Lee Ann and Chad Pittman of Bumper 2 Bumper Car Wash, Hoschton, continue to use water for their business — providing they pres ent a plan cutting usage nearly in half. When they asked for an appeal earlier, the two expressed confidence that they could make such a reduction. “We just want to pay our bills and expenses,” Chad Pittman told the authority at the time. The business uses about 350,000 gallons per month. Chairman Hunter Bicknell indi cated that the authority is not likely to offer any other excep tions. “We would, of course, listen to anyone, but I don’t see us making any exceptions now that we have considered all of the business opportunities for using outdoor water,” he said. Board of Commissioners Chairman Pat Bell commended Please Turn to Page 3A EPD Likely To Extend Permit Exception For Bear Creek Reservoir An Environmental Protection Division (EPD) field representative will recommend that the EPD extend a 45-day special permit allow ing the withdrawal of an extra 15 million gallons of water a day from the Middle Oconee River. Kevin Farrell met with the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority’s Operations Committee last Thursday at the reservoir. Officials made their case for extending the emergency permit, which other wise would have expired in mid-November, to extend the life of the regional reservoir. It is anticipated that the EPD will accept Farrell’s recommendation. The permit allows the pumping of 7.5 million gallons a day from the Middle Oconee River into the reservoir and lets Athens-Clarke take a like amount directly from the river. Meanwhile, last week’s rain and the supplemental water under the emergency permit added 1.1 feet of water to the reservoir last week, said Eric Klerk, manager of the Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority. If no more rain falls, the reservoir is projected to go dry in mid- February, Klerk said. That date moves back with each rainfall in the drainage basin and as various water users cut back demand. Meanwhile, withdrawals from the reservoir by its four member counties have fallen almost 50 percent, according to Jordan, Jones & Goulding, the company that manages Bear Creek. That’s true of Jackson County use, Klerk points out. Please Turn to Page 3A