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Easter Marches On Commerce
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Vol. 133
No. 6
28 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
MARCH 26, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
School Board Unveils Plans For New CHS
Schedule Means School Will Be
Without Gym For Up To 2 Years
By Brandon Reed
Commerce residents got their
first look at the proposed new
Commerce High School Monday
night.
A near capacity crowd gathered
in the CHS cafeteria to attend a
called meeting of the Commerce
Board of Education, where plans
for the new high school were
unveiled.
Superintendent Dr. James E.
“Mac” McCoy told those gathered
that the board had decided to do
the project in one phase due to the
cost savings.
“It’s not going to be easy but we
can do it,” McCoy said.
That decision means, however,
that the school will have to do
without a gymnasium for possibly
two years.
CHS Athletic Director Steve
Savage spoke, saying he would do
everything to try to make things
work for the kids.
“I don’t know if there’s a bet
ter plan,” Savage said. 'That’s not
what my job is. My job is to try to
make it work.”
Jessica Winstead of the archi
tectural firm of Robertson Loia
Roof unveiled the floor plans, and
explained several of the building’s
features to the audience. Security
was a main feature, she explained,
and the plan offers limited access
points throughout the building to
INDEX
Births 1OA
Church News 3B
Classified Ads 1-6C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7-8A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 9A
Opinions 4-5A
School News 8-1 OB
Sports 1-4B
Social News .... 10-1 1A
control where people can enter
the building, and when they can
access certain portions of the
building.
The new facility will comprise
37 classroom units, with an ini
tial capacity of 650 students. Key
spaces have been sized to give
expandability up to 975 students.
The academic wing will place all
of the curriculum classes in the
same area, such as a science hub
and a social studies hub.
It will include a larger student
cafeteria, which will consist of
about 7,200 square feet. It will
also serve as a multi-purpose area,
being able to host prom functions
or cheerleading practice.
Corridors throughout the facility
will give more room to move as
the student body grows.
The performing arts area of the
school will be named in honor of
Bill Anderson, whose City Lights
concerts raised money to help
equip the facility. It will include a
theater capable of seating about
480 people, and can also be used
for testing during the day. It will
have a 1,600-foot stage, and there
will be a band suite and chorale
suite in the performing arts area.
McCoy said the just under
$500,000 that had been raised for
the performing arts center from
the City Lights Festival will be
used to pay for the lighting and
the sound system for the center.
The new gymnasium will be a
two-story facility, with a seating
capacity of 1,400, with a mezza
nine level that will allow around
500 people to watch from above.
It will have one main basketball
court, as well as four practice
courts. On the upper level, there
will be an oversized multi-purpose
room that can serve the wrestling
team and the cheerleaders.
Please Turn to Page 5A
Architect’s rendering of proposed main entrance of new Commerce High School
Board Votes
To Build In
Single Phase
By Brandon Reed
Commerce will have its new
high school built all at once, rath
er than in two phases.
At a called meeting last
Wednesday, the Commerce Board
of Education voted unanimously
to build the new school in one
phase, rather than on the two-
phase schedule originally envi
sioned .
Superintendent Mac McCoy
said the total cost of the two-
phase process would have been
approximately $19.4 million.
Architect’s rendering of proposed student entry
Please Turn to Page 5A
Walgreens Will Have To Wait 30
Days For Ruling On Sign Variance
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
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Partly cloudy: Mostly cloudy:
Low, 51; high, 74; Low, 55; high, 78;
20% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Isolated T-storms: Partly cloudy:
Low, 52; high, 77; Low, 49; high, 66;
30% chance rain 10% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.9 (1.3 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall this month
3.8 inches
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70N3 87-5435
E-mail:
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ma rk@ma i n streetnews. com
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teresa@mainstreetnews.com
Mail: P.O. Box 459,
Commerce, GA 30529
Walgreens will have to wait a
month to see if it can put a “let-
terboard” sign up with its regular
store sign at its new Commerce
location.
The pharmacy chain, which is to
close on its Commerce site today
(Wednesday), seeks a variance
from the city’s sign ordinance to
have a sign three times larger than
allowed under the ordinance —
plus a letterboard sign that could
be used to promote store specials
or to advise that a tornado warn
ing is in effect.
David Zelaya, Woodstock, and
Michael Caldwell, Ponte Vedra
Beach, FL, appeared before the
Commerce Planning Commission
Monday night seeking the vari
ance. But after discussing the mat
ter for half an hour, the planning
commission voted to table the
discussion for 30 days to consid
er how the city’s sign ordinance
intended to handle such cases.
Chairman Greg Perry, who point
ed out that his brother is head
pharmacist at the CVS across the
street from the Walgreens site,
did not hold out much hope for
a thumbs-up recommendation on
the variance.
He told the two men that he
expects that the planning commis
sion “will give you what CVS got
and if you don’t like that, you can
appeal to the city council.”
The planning commission is a
recommending board. The city
council will make the final deci
sion.
Caldwell, who with a partner
will own the property and lease
it to Walgreens, said he did not
think that Walgreens would object
to being held to the 24-square-
foot minimum on the main sign,
although the company’s standard
sign is 80 square feet. He insisted,
however, that the letterboard — a
separate sign in which messages
can be changed — is essential.
“They can live with a 24-square-
foot sign, but they hope you will
not consider the reader board part
of the 24 square feet,” Caldwell
said.
The city sign ordinance permits
letterboard signs, but if they are
electronic, their messages are lim
ited to time and temperature.
Jean Edwards, whose North
Broad Street house is adjacent
to the property, listened to the
discussion and concluded that the
sign aspect did not bother her.
However, she asked that CVS offi
cials explain to her how the build
ing would be situated in relation to
her house. After the discussion on
the Walgreens issue ended, she,
Caldwell and Zelaya went into an
adjacent room for that discussion.
Re-Zoning, Annexation
To Be Recommended
In other action, the planning
commission voted unanimously
to recommend that the city coun
cil accept the recommendation
of Ali Kahn to annex and rezone
7.76 acres on Steve Reynolds
Industrial Parkway from R-2 (res
idential) in Jackson County to
C-2 (commercial) in the city for
the construction of an office and
retail complex.
The city council will act on that
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Hailstorm Took
Heavy Toll On Vehicles
More Than 3,000 Vehicles
Damaged At Southeast Toyota
The damage from the March 15 hailstorm in Commerce appears to
be far grater than widely known. In fact, some people may not realize
that their vehicles were damaged.
“People need to check their vehicles,” advises Wayne Abbs, owner
of Wayne Neal Chevrolet, where approximately 1,600 vehicles were
damaged.
“A lot of people pulled into our dealership for service and said they
had no damage,” Abbs added. “They just didn’t know. The grand
opening at Ingles — there’s not a car over there that didn’t have any
damage. We had golf-ball-size plus hail here. It really came down and
it wasn’t a pretty sight.”
Bob Moore, vice president and general manager of Southeast
Toyota, located on Hwy. 334 about a mile south of Wayne Neal
Chevrolet, reports damage to more than 3,000 new Toyotas.
“Unfortunately, we had more vehicles than normal on the ground
due to current economic circumstances,” he stated. But the good
news, Moore said, is that the dents caused by the hail were not as
severe as those caused in a 1996 hailstorm at the same place.
“I remember hail damage from that storm being obvious. You could
tell it from a distance,” he said. “On this one, there is a lot of damage,
but the dimples are smaller.”
Moore agreed with Abbs that the damage can be difficult for the
untrained eye to spot.
“You have to walk up close to it, and if you have a good eye, you can
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