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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. Please Turn to Page 3A 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 Please Turn to Page 3A 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 Please Turn to Page 3A