Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

SEE PAGE 1B SEE PAGE 12A CHS Wrestling, Basketball Teams Now In Action Engineer Gets 100 Miles Per Gallon In Experimental Car Vol. 132 No. 43 24 Pages 3 Sections Commerce News mainstreetnews.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Wednesday DECEMBER 5, 2007 Christmas Season Arrives In Commerce The Christmas season official ly arrived in Commerce this past weekend. “Hometown Holidays” Saturday featured “Breakfast with Santa,” where Bryson Freeman, 1, of Athens (right photo) didn’t mind the breakfast but wasn’t thrilled about hav ing his photo made with Santa; the Secret Santa Workshop children’s shopping event, a car show, tour of various build ings and a luminaria display for Relay for Life (bottom photo). On Sunday, the city’s largest Christmas parade ever was highlighted by the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable Band (top photo), which also presented a concert in Spencer Park. For more photos see pages 11A. FCC Opening Door For An FM Radio Station In Commerce Area 3, Including Rob Jordan, Apply For Nonprofit Educational FM License I N D E X Births 7B Church News . . . . 10A Classified Ads . . . . 1-4C Calendar . . . 3A Crime News . . . . . 7-8A News Roundup . . . . 2A Obituaries . . . 9A Opinions . . . 4A School News. . . . . 5-6B Sports . . 1-4B Social News . . . . . 7-8B WEATHER OUTLOOK THURSDAY FRIDAY Mostly sunny: Partly cloudy: Low, 31; high, 56; Low, 45; high, 61; 10% chance rain 10% chance rain SATURDAY SUNDAY Partly Cloudy: Partly cloudy: Low, 46; high, 70; Low, 48; high, 73; 10% chance rain 10% 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 Three groups have filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a nonprofit educational FM radio station in the Commerce area. The FCC is expected to make a decision in three to five years, says Rob Jordan, owner of AM station WJJC in Commerce and one of the three applicants. “The chances of me getting it are slim, and the decision is years and years out,” said Jordan. “The last window opened in 2000 for about the same number of stations. The FCC just finished those applica tions in June or July.” Jordan proposes “Hope Through Georgia Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson will speak to the Commerce Kiwanis Club Thursday at noon at the Commerce Civic Center. Richardson, a Republican from Douglas County, is the author of House Resolution 900, a pro posed constitutional amendment that would eliminate property taxes to finance education in Education,” which his application describes as “a reserved channel noncommercial education broad cast station” that Jordan said would be used “to let youngsters in the area use music as an educa tional tool.” The two other applications envision religious stations. One is from Edgewater Broadcasting, Twin Falls, ID. Its proposal is “to educate individuals, organizations and the public on family relation ship issues such as divorce, teens, substance abuse, education, the environment, science and other topics emphasizing the applica tion of Christian principles to the successful treatment and resolu- exchange for an increase in the state sales tax to 6.5 percent. The proposal, opposed by most local governments and boards of education, is generating a lot of interest — and controversy — in part because opponents fore see a likely revenue shortage in Georgia, in part because the sales tax would be extended to cover a lot of items not currently tion of these issues.” The third proposal is from the Hispanic Christian Community Network, whose licensee would be Templo Apostoles Y Profetas, Cedar Hill, Texas. Its application proposes programming on mar riage, religion, alcohol and drug abuse, personal finances, health and education issues, youth coun seling and a calendar of events. All of the applications are on file at the Commerce Public Library and open for public scrutiny. According to Jordan, the FCC in September announced a very brief — three to five days — win dow during which it would accept applications for approximately 150 low-power nonprofit educa tional FM stations nationwide. Please Turn to Page 3A taxed (including doctor’s visits, prescription drugs and groceries) and partly because under the new system, the state would effective ly control all local school board budgets. Richardson has modified the proposal. The original would have eliminated all property taxes in exchange for a statewide sales tax. Richardson To Address Kiwanis Club On Tax Proposal Council Mulls Lower Alcohol License Fees, Sunday Sales Commerce voters may see opportunities to make it easier to buy alcohol in Commerce in the near future. The details are yet to be final ized, but at this past Monday night’s city council work session, members expressed interest in piggybacking on a county mixed drink referendum to expand the availability of alcohol at local res taurants and package stores. The matter may or may not be on the agenda when the council meets Monday, Dec. 10, at 6:30 p.m. in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center, depending upon whether the city has time to piggyback on the county referendum. Jackson County voters will go to the polls Feb. 5 in conjunction with the Georgia Presidential Preference Primaries to consider allowing the sale of alcohol by the drink on Sundays. If the consensus that appeared with half the council out of town for the Monday night “work ses sion” holds for this Monday’s reg ular meeting, the council would like to call a city referendum on the same day on the issues of Sunday sales of mixed drinks and the sale of liquor by the package. The question is wheth er it is too late for Commerce to call its referendum for Feb. 5. Commerce already has beer and wine package sales and offers mixed drink sales through restaurants — but in two years Please Turn to Page 3A Mill Foundation Gives $75K To Library Building Fund Harmony Grove Mills may be long gone from Commerce, but its effect on Commerce contin ues. The Harmony Grove Foun dation this week announced a $75,000 donation to the Commerce Public Library’s building fund. “This is really meaningful to us because the Hardman family and the mill have been such a huge part of Commerce life and history, so we’re thrilled they’re involved like this,” said Susan Harper, director. Notification came in Monday’s mail from Dr. John Hardman, Harper said. The donation brings the total amount of cash and pledges for the 5,000-square-foot addition to about $341,000. The library must raise $583,000 to match state funding for a project expected to cost $2 million. According to Harper, the library’s capital campaign com mittee had “been in contact with the foundation over the past year or so to let them know what we were doing.” The group met with Hardman, former Harmony Grove Mills plant manager Johnny Klugh and Charles Blair of First Commerce Bank, all founda tion board members, a couple of weeks ago. Tricia Massey, who is leading the fund-raising campaign, Harper and Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. were also present. According to Harper, part of the expansion of the library will include a larger Heritage Room, which will contain information about the mill’s history and the importance of the mill and tex tiles to Commerce. County To End Year In Red The Jackson County govern ment is expected to end the year $552,000 in the red, mainly due to salary increases for employ ees. At Monday night’s Jackson County Board of Commissioners’ meeting, finance director John Hulsey reported that while income was running above bud get for 2007, expenses were also over-budget. The main reasons for the extra expense is due to a pay hike approved last summer that was made retroactive to Jan. 1, which cost the county $486,200; and a new salary scale that was put into place for the last six months of the year, costing an additional $197,300. While the county will likely end the year in the red, Hulsey’s report stated that the county remains in a strong overall finan cial condition with unreserved funds of $5.7 million in the coun ty general fund. 'Christmas In The Park' Set Saturday In Downtown Maysville Christmas in the Park is planned for Saturday, Dec. 8, in downtown Maysville, with festivities beginning at noon and continuing until 9 p.m. Santa Claus will arrive at 6 p.m. Refreshments, entertainment, horse and buggy rides, a Moonwalk and other activities will be offered.