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SEE PAGE 12A SEE PAGE 12A Tournament Proves Tough For CHS Teams Tigers Second In Pared Down Wrestling Meet Vol. 132 No. 47 18 Pages 2 Sections Wednesday JANUARY 2, 2008 mainstreetnews.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Where There's Smoke There's A Sewer Problem Smoke Tests Next Week Could Bring Smoke Into Houses On South End White smoke filling the house is never a good sign, but for people in the vicinity of the old Harmony Grove Mill building, smoke in the house next week is more likely to indicate a plumbing problem than a fire. A company hired by Commerce will conduct “smoke tests" in sewer lines in the areas of Stark Street, Piedmont Street, Poplar Street and Walnut Street searching for points where stormwater infiltrates into the city sanitary sewer system. A side effect is that some home sewer prob lems will also be identified. “If a homeowner has a prob lem with vent stacks or P-traps, the home is going to fill with smoke," warned Bryan Harbin, the city’s director of water and sewer services. The good news is that the smoke is harmless and has no odor. Harbin compares it to the “smoke" from dry ice. The city sent letters to all addresses likely to be affected, and it’s running a public notice in this week’s newspapers. It has also notified 911, since alarmed homeowners are likely to sum mon the fire department. But, because of the age of both the sewer system and the houses, the city expects there to be Please Turn to Page 3A INDEX Births 1OA Church News 8A Classified Ads 1-4B Calendar 3A Crime News 6A Year In Review 2A Obituaries 7A Opinions 4A School News 1 1A Sports 1 2-14A Social News 1 OA WEATHER OUTLOOK FRIDAY Partly cloudy: iw, 31; high, 48; 0% chance rain SUNDAY Partly cloudy: iw, 43; high, 62; 0% chance rain Reservoir Levels Commerce: 698 (.4 feet above full) Bear Creek: Not Available Rainfall this month 6.17 inches CONTACT US Phone: 70G3 35-2927 FAX: 706-387-5435 E-mail: news@mainstreetnews.com ma rk@ma i n streetnews. com brandon@mainstreetnews.com teresa @ma i nstreetnews. com Mail: P.O. Box 459, Commerce, GA 30529 THURSDAY Partly cloudy: Low, 24; high, 44; 10% chance rain SATURDAY Mostly cloudy: Low, 40; high, 54; 10% chance rain 2008 To See Start Of Building New CHS The long-awaited construction of a new high school in Commerce should begin shortly after graduation in May — if not sooner. The architects of the new Commerce High School have been talking with teach ers to get the specifics of what they need in their classrooms, says Superintendent Dr. James E. “Mac" McCoy. “I’m hoping when we get back they’ll be ready to present something in two weeks," he said, “maybe by our board work session or January meeting we’ll have a new set of plans." The architects have yet to discuss plans with the technology and food service groups, McCoy noted. “Every time they upgrade and update the plans, they talk with the construction company, so they continue to get prices," he said. “Hopefully, when they’re ready to go to bid, we’ll know pretty closely what the price range will be." The system hopes to build the school for about $15 million. Funding will come from special purpose local option sales taxes approved by the voters and fronted with a bond issue to be repaid with SPLOST revenue. McCoy said the schedule calls for bids to be opened in mid-February. He anticipates waiting until the end of the school year to start construction but sees a possibility that work could begin earlier “depending on what the school board wants to do and what the construction company says to do. The board is as anxious to break ground as anybody." The school is to be built on the exist ing high school site without interrupting school. The first step will be to build a new gym, a pit-style facility located near the current practice field and tennis courts. Once that is done, the old gym can be torn down. McCoy says the design will enable the construction to take place without the need for temporary classrooms. “We shouldn’t have to bring in a trailer for anybody," he says. The new facility, which will utilize the south and east wings of the current CHS, will comprise 125,627 square feet — more than double the current size. It will be built to house 650 students, with common areas to support 1,000. It will feature 46 class rooms, including seven from the current south wing. It will include a new pit-style gym with a larger basketball court and room to host wrestling and cheerleading tournaments. The school will also have a performing arts auditorium. Originally, the board had hoped to begin construction last summer. Oddly, the delay could save the system money, since con struction has dropped off due to the hous ing slump and other economic uncertain ties. “Everybody around me has said the same thing," McCoy notes. “The way construc tion is going on right now, we may be fairly lucky when we go out to bid The Top 5 Stories Of2007 Looking Back At 2007 Drought Trumps Them All As Top Story Of The Year Volunteers from Southeast Toyota Distributors turned out in force to install landscape during the renovation of Spencer Park, which helped keep the downtown in the news during 2007. The vitality of the downtown is the No. 2 story. The simple addition to the Commerce reservoir’s outlet structure, above, of a 2 by 12 board in the bottom of the open ing, had the effect of raising the level of the reservoir by four- tenths of a foot. The city reservoir is now full. The biggest story of the year is one that, ironically, affected Commerce less than the rest of the area. It’s the story of the worst drought in Georgia his tory. As of Dec. 31, Commerce’s reservoir was full — over full, actually. According to the city’s drought management plan, Commerce did not reach crisis stage during the entire drought — to date. Its reservoir, located on the Grove River in Banks County, never got so far as a foot below full pool, the point in which the city’s drought management plan would kick in. Nonetheless, Commerce resi dents suffered the inconvenienc es of every-other-day watering during the early stages, then once-a-week usage of outdoor water to, now, a total ban on the outside use of water. Curtailment of water began in May locally, when the Upper Oconee Basin Water Authority — owner of the Bear Creek Reservoir from which more than 6,000 Jackson County custom ers get their water — went into the first level of its drought man agement plan. The 2.5 percent reduction was the result of sever- No. 2 Story - Page 5A No. 3 Story - Page 9A No. 4 Story - Page 9A No. 5 Story - Page 9A al indicators demonstrating that a drought was under way, and the step was taken in spite of the fact that the Bear Creek Reservoir was at full pool. A couple of weeks later, the Environmental Protection Division mandated a level two response, the every-other- day use of water for washing cars and irrigating landscapes. Commerce complied, although only on paper. Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. told the directors of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce that no one in Commerce was going to be pros ecuted for violating the water Please Turn to Page 3A There was no shortage of inter esting or compelling news dur ing the past year, but, drum roll please, here are the Top 5 Stories of 2007 from the pages of The Commerce News. No. 1: The drought. The sheer volume of stories, the reactions of every local government — and the fact that the drought is still going on in spite of nearly four inches of rain in the last week of the year — make this the top story for 2007. No. 2: The resurgence of activ- itiy in downtown Commerce. Headlined by the renovation of Spencer Park by the Downtown Development Authority in a public-private partnership, the downtown had its most vitality in decades. A festival, a major building rehab, improvements to the cultural center and a number of other activities kept the down town in the news. No. 3: The opening of East Jackson Comprehensive High School. The new school raises the bar for high school facilities in Jackson County. No. 4: The fund-raising effort to expand the Commerce Public Library. No. 5: The Nov. 6 city elec tions. Jackson County Voters To Be Busy this Year The newspaper and magazine recycling site near Lanier Tech on South Elm Street in Commerce is among the sites where Christmas trees can be dropped for recycling. Jackson County voters will be busy this year, because 2008 is a major election year. Georgians will help choose the next presi dent, and Jackson County vot ers will select new county com missioners and other constitu tional officers. But that’s not all that will hap pen. Here are the key dates on the 2008 election calendar. Feb. 5: Jackson County voters will consider whether to autho rize the Sunday sale of liquor by the drink, and will vote on a $50 million bond issue for the acquisition of land for future parks, and Georgia voters will participate in the presidential preference primary. Advance voting will be Jan. 28-Feb. 1, and the last day to register for that election is Jan. 7. April 28-May 2: These are the qualifying dates for local offices, and candidates can be expected to begin announcing their inten tions to run at almost any time. July 15: Both parties will hold their primaries to determine who will represent their parties in the General Election in November. In Jackson County, most of the candidates will qualify in the Republican primary. Advance voting will be available for the primaries July 7-11, and the last day to register for the election will be June 16. Aug 5: If no one receives 50 percent of the vote in any race Please Turn to Page 3A County Seeks To Recycle Christmas Trees Now that Christmas is over, Keep Jackson County Beautiful says it’s time to recycle your Christmas tree. The organization will hold its Bring One for the Chipper recy cling event Saturday, Jan. 5, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Trees will be recycled into mulch or used as wildlife habitat. Drop-off sites include the Lanier Technical College parking lot on South Elm Street in Commerce, the Jefferson Civic Center, the Jackson County Transfer Station, and the First Baptist Church of Hoschton. Those participating will receive a free dogwood seedling while sup plies last. The free seedling offer is for Saturday, but people have already started discarding their Christmas trees at the sites. For information, call Susan Trepagnier, executive director of Keep Jackson County Beautiful, at 706-708-7198 or online at www. keepjacksoncountybeautiful.com.