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SEE PAGE IB
SEE PAGE 12A
Red-Hot Eagles
To Open Region
Tourney At Home
Chamber Hands
Out Awards At
Annual Banquet
Vol. 132
No. 52
24 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
FEBRUARY 6, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Ron Johnson
To Run For
BOC Chair
Republican Ron Johnson
announced his candidacy for
chair of the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners.
Johnson, a Republication
since 1970, said he is running
on a platform centered on “fis
cal responsibility using zero-
based budgeting to eliminate
the fat in the county budget
while emphasizing the need to
be more responsive to the tax
payers and business owners."
The current property tax
and millage rate concerns
Johnson.
“We have to freeze and lower
taxes where and when we
can," he said. “We are taxing
our senior citizens and young
adults out of the county. As
our tax base grows with the
growth of the county, so will
revenues increase from this
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INDEX
Births 1OA
Church News 9A
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6-7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 8A
Opinions 4A
School News 6-8B
Sports 1-3B
Social News .... 10-1 1A
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Mostly sunny: Sunny:
Low, 34; high, 57; Low, 42; high, 62;
10% chance rain 10% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Mostly sunny: Sunny:
Low, 35; high, 56; Low, 26; high, 53;
10% chance rain 10% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.4 (.8 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall this month
1.8 inches
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70N3 87-5435
E-mail:
news@mainstreetnews.com
ma rk@ma i n streetnews. com
brandon@mainstreetnews.com
teresa@mainstreetnews.com
Mail: P.O. Box 459,
Commerce, GA 30529
Election Results
Sunday Sales, Recreation, No;
Huckabee, Clinton Win Here
Jackson County voters turned
down the Sunday sale of alcoholic
beverages in restaurants and defeat
ed a $15 million bond issue Tuesday.
They also backed Mike
Huckabee’s bid for the Republican
presidential nomination and sup
ported Hillary Clinton’s run for
the Democratic nomination.
Nearly half — 49.7 percent — of
Jackson County voters took part
in the presidential preference pri
mary and local referenda.
Sunday mixed drink sales failed
6,311-6,056, a 51 percent-49 per
cent margin. The recreation bond
was defeated by a wider margin,
6,984-5,519.
Among Republicans, Huckabee
pulled 3,652 votes to 2,585 for
John McCain and 2,368 for Mitt
Romney. Clinton picked up 1,987
votes in Jackson County to 1,493
for Barak Obama.
Minish South voters came in steadily all day Tuesday.
A crew from Qore Property Science began doing geotechnical
bores on the three-acre Walgreens site last Wednesday. The data
from a dozen 10-15-foot holes will help engineers design the
store’s foundation.
Walgreens Coming
'As Soon As Possible'
The new Walgreens store will
be almost a mirror image of the
CVS Pharmacy located diagonally
across the intersection of Homer
Road and Jefferson Road.
An engineer working on the
project spent almost an hour last
Wednesday with Commerce offi
cials in regard to the 14,550-square-
foot store that is to be built “as
soon as possible" on the three-
acre site fronting North Broad
Street and Homer Road.
A geotechnical firm drilled a
dozen 10-15-foot holes last week
to gather information related to
the store’s foundation. The project
will require the removal of the BP
convenience store, the adjacent
tire store, The Pittman House and
adjacent antique store and the
first two houses north of the BP
on North Broad Street.
All but the Pittman House will be
demolished. That historic struc
ture is slated to be “removed by
others," according to documents
given to the city.
The store’s front door — like that
of CVS — will be in the corner fac
ing the intersection.
“When you walk out of the store
and look ahead, you’ll be looking
right at the front door of CVS,"
commented David Zellner, the
director of planning and develop
ment.
The site plan calls for a retention
pond on the back (Homer Road)
side, but Zellner said city officials
“are strongly urging" Walgreens to
install an underground retention
system — similar to that built on
the CVS site.
Officials did not offer a pro
posed completion date.
The store will also feature a
drive-through pharmacy window.
Commerce Falls Short
At Conserving Water
City Fails To Reach Governor's 10% Target Reduction
For the second consecutive
month, Commerce has failed to
meet Gov. Sonny Perdue’s water
reduction goal.
The governor ordered water
producers to cut sales by 10 per
cent over the 2006-07 winter aver
age. For December, Commerce
achieved a reduction of almost
nine percent. For January, the
final figures are not in, but the
city’s director of water and sewer
operations, Bryan Harbin, says
Commerce will again fail to reach
the 10 percent goal.
“We were over in December
by 20,000 gallons per day. That
is less than seven gallons per
residential customer per day,"
Harbin points out — equal to
maybe three commode flushes a
day per household.
Eighty-five percent of
Commerce’s water customers
are residential.
“We need our residents to do a
little more," Harbin added. “Look
at the brochure (on water saving
tips) we sent out. ‘Think at the
sink’ is the big thing in Athens."
Most domestic water use is
in the bathroom, where older
commodes can take up to three
gallons per flush. But Harbin
says careful homeowners can
save a little water in a lot of
Water Usage
Comparison
Here's how some area
water providers
stacked
up to the governor's 10
percent reduction man-
date. Numbers
represent
January 2008's
usage as
a percentage of January
2007 use. A number of
90 or lower means the
user met the governor's
requirement.
Athens-Clarke
78
Jackson County
59
Jefferson
78
Commerce
92
Braselton
89
Barrow County
79
Banks County
80
Nicholson
56
Comer
92
Hoschton
89
Danielsville
160
Homer
89
Maysville
129
lla
88
Colbert
9
ways, from not running the water
while brushing teeth to only run
ning the dishwasher when it’s
full (and use the water miser and
light wash settings if they’re avail
able)." Perdue urged people to
take shorter showers.
“Spread out over 3,900 meter
connections, those little things
can add up," Harbin points out.
The average residential cus
tomer used 3,900 gallons during
January, which is down 7.6 per
cent from the average of 4,225
gallons per day in January 2006.
Year-round, Commerce residents
use an average of 5,400 gallons
per day.
Because it failed to cut sales by
10 percent for December, the city
must provide additional infor
mation to the Environmental
Protection Division.
“There are some new forms we
got Friday from the EPD. They’re
looking at per capita usage for
commercial, industrial and resi
dential customers. They’re going
to start looking at where we’re
not making it," said Harbin.
The fear is that eventually the
EPD will begin fining water sys
tems for falling short of the man
dated reduction.
The figures do not include the
extra water Commerce has been
selling to retail customers from
Maysville to Banks County to
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Maysville Police Won't Serve Gillsville
By Chris Bridges
Maysville will not provide
police protection for Gillsville.
The Maysville City Council
turned down a request from
Gillsville for police protection
Monday night after expressing
numerous concerns. City attor
ney Gary Freeman expresed
concerns about extending police
coverage to Gillsville.
“It’s hard enough to take care of
your own town," Freeman said.
“What does our town get for tak
ing on this responsibility? Would
we be covered if something goes
wrong?"
Maysville police chief Clarence
Sullens said he has not researched
the issue of extending coverage,
but said in other instances where
this has been tried it has not
worked.
Council member Stephan
Lewis said he didn’t know if it
was something he wanted to do.
“We would have to buy another
police car, because you couldn’t
leave Maysville without a full
force," Lewis said. “We had to
bite the bullet and start our own
police department. I think they
have to find another way."
City Ready To Trade Plastic Bags For Paper For Yard Wastes
Next fall whenyou put your leaves
out by the road for Commerce
Public Works Department employ
ees to pick up, think paper, not
plastic.
The city council appears poised
to adopt an ordinance Monday
night requiring that yard wastes
be bagged in biodegradable paper
bags.
Why?
Because the city has found
nobody wants its free mulch made
from yard wastes that are ground
up — along with the plastic bags —
at the old city dump.
A decade ago, Georgia’s
Environmental Protection
Division banned yard wastes from
landfills in an attempt to conserve
landfill space. Like many other
communities, Commerce opted to
have its wastes ground into mulch,
which it gives away. But since the
plastic bags are ground up along
with the leaves and limbs, the
mulch is rife with large and small
pieces of plastic bags.
“We can’t give away our mulch
because it’s got the plastic in
it," said City Manager Clarence
Bryant.
The ordinance will also specify
exactly how tree trimmings should
be prepared and where all wastes
must be placed to be picked up,
but for most Commerce residents
the big change is going from plas
tic bags to paper.
The “limb and yard waste
ordinance" will be on the agen
da for Monday night’s council
meeting, which occurs at 6:30
in the Commerce Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
If the council passes the ordi
nance — no one expressed oppo
sition at the work session this
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