Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
CHS Basketball
Teams Sweep
Prince Avenue
SEE PAGE 8B
New Council
Installed
In Maysville
Vol. 132
No. 48
20 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
JANUARY 9, 2008
mainstreet news. com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Jackson County Politics
The First Candidate: Bicknell To Run For BOC Chair
The first local political
announcement of 2008
has occurred.
The chairman of the
Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority
will seek the chairman
ship of the Jackson
County Board of
Commissioners in the
2008 Republican pri
mary.
Hunter Bicknell, 63,
announced his intentions
to run this week. His offi
cial announcement and
campaign for the July 15
general primary election
will be in February.
The West Jackson resi
dent earned two degrees
Hunter Bicknell f rom Georgia State
University and was employed
by the Sperry & Hutchinson
Company for more than 20 years.
Later, he developed and operated
Blimpie stores and was a home
builder and owner of a construc
tion supply company. He retired
in 2002.
A member of the Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce and the chamber’s
Economic Development Council,
Bicknell also serves on the water
and sewerage authority, the Upper
Oconee Basin Water Authority
and the Jail Advisory Committee.
He has been a volunteer coach
for youth football, baseball and
basketball, serving as officers in
their organizations.
“The Hunter Bicknell campaign
will focus on four primary areas
of concern to many citizens of
Jackson County — a county wide
master plan for transportation,
water resources, recreation facili
ties and best management practic
es for each department of county
government,’’ he said. “These are
issues and programs which much
be addressed, not only in the con
text of a political campaign, but
by those honored to be elected by
the voters.’’
A member of Mountain Park
United Methodist Church,
Bicknell has taught youth Sunday
school and sung in the church
choir for more than two decades.
He and his wife, Becky, have three
children and four grandchildren.
For additional information, call
706-654-3184 or e-mail hunterbick-
nell@windstream.net.
Walgreens
Inches Closer
To Building Here
The location of a Walgreens
Pharmacy in Commerce
appears closer to becoming a
reality.
“I met with them three or four
weeks ago,’’ said David Zellner,
senior planner for Commerce.
“They came in to show me
their conceptual plan.’’
The store would be located
across Homer Road and Broad
and Elm streets from the CVS
store.
The BP station across from
Hardee’s is closed. The project
would reportedly require the
demolition or removal of the
BP station, the tire store next
door, the old Pittman House
and antique shop next to it on
Homer Road and two houses
on North Broad Street.
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INDEX
Births 7B
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7-8A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 4B
Opinions 4-5A
School News 6B
Sports 1-3B
Social News 7-8B
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Thundershowers: Partly cloudy:
Low, 48; high, 67; Low, 34; high, 55;
30% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
\
Partly cloudy: Few showers:
Low, 35; high, 57; Low, 32; high, 48;
20% chance rain 30% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.3 (.7 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 693.5 (1.5 feet below full)
Rainfall this month
0.00 inches (as of Jan. 7)
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 706-387-5435
E-mail:
news@ma i n streetnews. com
mark@mainstreetnews.com
brandon@mainstreetnews.com
teresa@ma i n streetnews. com
Mail: P.O. Box 459,
Commerce, GA 30529
Gilmer Glenn of Maysville was killed when noon near the intersection of King Road and
he pulled into the path of a train Friday after- Mt. Olive Road.
Fatal Acccident
Witness: Driver Stopped On
Tracks Just Before Train Struck
A Maysville man died Friday afternoon when a
train struck his pickup truck in Commerce.
Gilmer Glenn, of Maysville, was pronounced
dead at the scene shortly after 4:30. A witness said
Glenn, traveling north on King Road, pulled onto
the tracks and then appeared to stop just before
the westbound train struck the passenger side of
his red Ford F-150. The blow drove the truck off
the north side of the tracks. Glenn reportedly was
not wearing a seat belt.
Feroy McClellan, an employee of Roper Pump
Company, was waiting for the train to pass before
driving a forklift over a Roper grade crossing
about 300 yards west of the wreck.
“I heard the horn and looked up and he (Glenn)
was just coming across the tracks, and he stopped,”
McClellan stated.
McClellan said he was the first person to the
scene. Glenn was still breathing, but was obvi
ously severely hurt. Others at the scene say he
had suffered a massive head injury.
Glenn was retired from First Commerce Bank.
He was the father of former Jefferson police chief
Darren Glenn.
2 City Council
Meetings On
Tap For Monday
'Old' Council To Wind Down;
'New' Council To Be Installed
Two Commerce City Councils will meet Monday night, but they’ll
look a lot alike.
The outgoing council will convene at 6:30 p.m. in the Commerce
Room of the Commerce Civic Center to approve the minutes of the
December meeting and receive activity reports.
It will then adjourn, at which time the “new’’ city council will meet,
with the first order of business being the swearing in of recently
elected councilmen.
Since all of the newly elected councilmen were incumbents, the
new and old councils are the same, but the installation of Mark
Fitzpatrick, Bob Sosebee, Richard Massey and Mayor Charles F.
Hardy Jr. is a necessary housekeeping detail.
Superior Court Judge Joe Booth will administer the oaths of
office.
The council will also make two appointments — reappointments
most likely. They are the appointment of a city attorney for another
one-year term, a position John Stell has held for years; and the selec
tion of a recorder’s court judge for a two-year term. Billy Chandler
has held that job for years.
The only significant item on the agenda is a 50-cent per month
increase on city residential and small-business garbage rates. The
city began paying $1.06 more per month per customer for garbage
service last summer and, at the time, agreed to absorb the increase
until January, when the first 50 cents would be passed to consumers.
Another 50-cent increase is scheduled for July.
Otherwise, the council has a light agenda for Monday. Items to be
considered include:
• renewing a contract with the Georgia Municipal Association to
manage cable and telecommunications issues for the city. The cost
is $2,928.
•signing a resolution creating an intergovernmental agreement
under which the city’s Downtown Development Authority can
administer a state low-interest loan to Rob Jordan for improvements
to the building housing WJJC Radio.
•recommendations of the Commerce Planning Commission.
One is to rezone from M-l to C-2 and the annexation of a lot owned
by Dink Wood on Maysville Road, for which the planners have
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Installed For Another Term
Maysville Mayor Jerry Baker was officially sworn in for the start
of his second term Monday night during the January council
meeting. Baker was sworn in by judge Hammond Law.
Photo by Chris Bridges
Reservoir Recovering Rapidly
Bear Creek Reservoir Now Just 1.5 Feet Below Full Pool
Thanks to rains over the
Christmas holidays, the Bear
Creek Reservoir is filling up rap
idly.
As of Monday, the reservoir
was a foot and a half below full
pool at 693.5 feet.
“It was at its lowest point on
Oct. 17, 681.11 feet,’’ comment
ed Kevin Williams of JJ&G, the
company operating the reservoir
and its water plant. “So, we’ve
come up to this point.’’
More than three inches of rain
between Christmas and New
Year’s helped a lot.
“Fast week, we were able to
get close to 60 million gallons
(per day) for four or five days,’’
Williams noted. That is the maxi
mum capacity of the reservoir’s
raw water pumps, which lift
water from the Middle Oconee
River and pump it into the 505-
acre (when full) reservoir.
On Dec. 1, the reservoir level
was 685.91 feet, (9.09 feet low).
Three factors have helped the
reservoir recover. They include
reduced demand from Clarke,
Barrow, Jackson and Oconee
counties due to conservation
efforts and low seasonal use;
some rainfall; and a variance in
the reservoir’s permit allowing it
to pump 15 million gallons per
day from the river no matter how
low the river flow got.
“We’re pumping as much water
as we’re allowed to,’’ Williams
noted.
With rain forecast for today
(Wednesday), Thursday and this
weekend, the chance for further
filling the lake is good.
The reservoir provides most
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