Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
SEE PAGE 7 A
Eagles Knock
Off Region
Leader Fannin
Quilt 'Challenge'
Winners
Are Announced
Vol. 133
No. 8
26 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
APRIL 9, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Nicholson
Hires Its First
City Marshal
By Brandon Reed
The city of Nicholson now
has a marshal’s office, and
has hired its first marshal as
well.
The city council voted unani
mously Monday to establish
the marshal’s office and to
hire Dan
Crumley
as its first
marshal.
Mayor
Ronnie
Maxwell
stressed
that the
intent of
establish
ing the
office had nothing to do with
issuing traffic citations.
“This is not for any traf
fic arrests,’’ he said. “It’s to
enforce the codes and our
ordinances.’’
Crumley told the council
members that he will take
the resolution to the Peace
Officers Standards and
Training Council, which
will acknowledge the cre
ation of the agency, and
give it credit and author
ity as a law enforcement
agency. The GBI will then
issue an agency identifica
tion number for the office,
Crumley said, estimating
that the process will prob
ably take two months.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Dan Crumley
INDEX
Births 7A
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 1-6C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 9A
Opinions 4-5A
School News 5-7B
Sports 1-3B
Social News 8-9A
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Partly cloudy: Scattered T-storms:
Low, 58; high, 80; Low, 57; high, 78;
20% chance rain 40% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Scattered T-storms: Partly cloudy:
Low, 47; high, 70; Low, 42; high, 60;
40% chance rain 20% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.4 (.8 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall this month
1.65 inches
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70N387-5435
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
Group Seeks To Have Input Before
New High School Is Constructed
Parents Excited About Commerce Education hopes to delay
the planning for a new high school, pictured above, until its con
cerns are addressed and questions are answered.
Public, School Board,
City Council Invited
A group of citizens will meet
Sunday at 3:00 in the hopes of
“putting the brakes’’ on the con
struction of a new high school
until a consensus is reached on
its design.
Parents Excited About
Commerce Education will meet
at the First Baptist Church of
Commerce’s Family Fellowship
Center. It seeks attendance by the
public, but also by the Commerce
City Council and Commerce
Board of Education.
PEACE has no officers, but Dr.
Clark Hill has found himself cast
in the role of one of its spokes
men.
“We want to get everybody on
the same page,’’ said Hill. “Let’s
not build a school with every
thing if we have to halfway do it.
My concern is we’re not looking
at all our options. We want the
city council to come, we want
the school board to come, we
want everybody We’re not trying
to organize an effort against the
school board, we’re organizing an
effort for the kids.’’
Concern about the school
design arose when the school sys
tem’s architects, Robertson Loia
Roof, presented drawings at a pub
lic meeting March 31. The first
criticisms came about because a
revised construction plan would
leave the school without a gym for
up to two years. Since then, how
ever, people began to question
other aspects of the plan.
Those range from the “footprint’’
of the building to the size of the
proposed performing arts center
to the location and number (not
shown on the plans) of retention
ponds to concerns about failure
to consider energy efficiency and
“green’’ technology in the new
school.
“We want to educate the public
as to what’s happening, what the
concerns are and what the prob
lems are,’’ said Hill.
Hill believes that the meeting two
weeks ago should have happened
six months earlier and that paren
tal and other concerns should
have been taken into account
before a final plan was offered.
“The point is, there are a lot of
questions, and they have to sell
it to the public,’’ stated Hill, who
said failure to get a consensus
would have “catastrophic’’ conse
quences in community support
for the project.
He also says there is no reason
for the board of education to be
in a hurry.
“If we have to wait another year
to get the right school, that’s fine,’’
Hill said. “What people want to see
is that their concerns are met.’’
At the root of the concern, say
Hill and others, is that the school
board provided no public input
into the design. While the board
did get a committee together early
on to present a “wish list’’ of ame
nities important to a new school,
Please Turn to Page 3A
Saturday Is Recycling Day
For Jackson County Residents
Keep Jackson County Beautiful
is calling on county residents to
“join in and become a part of the
Great American Cleanup’’ over
the next two weekends.
“The KJCB Board feels it is
important for us to get the mes
sage out to Jackson Countians
that we would like each and every
person to take an interest in the
world around them,’’ said KJCB
Director Susan Trepagnier. “Our
mission is to educate the citizens,
both students and adults, about
litter and how it happens, why it
appears on the sides of our roads
and the environment and about
recycling’’
KJCB has planned a Clean
Out Your Files/E-Recycling/
Household Hazardous Waste Day
April 12, and on April 19 and asks
each Jackson County resident to
take a part of their world and
clean it up and beautify it.
This Saturday
Keep Jackson County Beautiful
will hold its electronics recycling,
paper shredding and paint recy
cling day Saturday, April 12, at the
county transfer station.
The annual electronics recycling
day will give individuals and busi
nesses a chance to dispose — for
free — of myriad electronics from
computers and computer compo
nents to old cellular telephones.
Old television sets may also be
recycled, but there will be a $10
charge per TV. All other items will
Appliances, computers and
accessories, old digital cam
eras, batteries even latex or
acrylic paint can be recycled,
and business or personal
records shredded Saturday.
be taken for free.
Those items should be taken to
the county transfer station.
At the same time, businesses
and individuals can also take old
financial records to be shredded,
as a “shredder truck’’ will also be
on hand.
In addition, KJCB will accept up
to five cans of paint — acrylic or
latex — for recycling, along with
household batteries.
“We cannot accept automobile
batteries,’’ Trepagnier points out.
Residents may also bring news
paper and office paper for recy
cling, along with magazines. Those
items can also be dropped at the
recycling bins at Lanier Technical
Institute, located on South Elm
Street in Commerce.
April 19
The following Saturday is the
Great American Cleanup, when
more than 30 miles of Jackson
County roads will be cleaned by
groups who participate in the
Adopt-A-Road program. But you
don’t have to have adopted a road
to participate.
Trepagnier said the board, Bill
Ives, Harry Bryan, Jack Legg,
Beth White, Dave Rosselle, Penni
Tench, Dwayne Ansley, Durian
Ives, Lisa Grice and Joshua
Barnett, doesn’t care if people
decide to take a mile of roadway,
take the area around their drive
way or if they take their whole
homeowners group and clean the
development, they want to know
about it.
“We’d really like them to pick
up the phone and register their
efforts so we can recognize them
with a T-shirt,’’ she said.
“To the Board of Keep Jackson
County Beautiful — that’s what the
Great American Cleanup is — a
coming together of folks to take
pride in their hometown, their
county, their church, their school,
their environment,’’ said Board
Chairman Bill Ives.
Keep Jackson County Beautiful
will supply plastic garbage bags,
disposable gloves and a few
other goodies, including Great
American Cleanup T-shirts, as
long as they last, for help with
the clean-ups. Call Trepagnier at
(706) 708-7198 for more informa
tion.
Building Permits Down Sharply
By Kerri Testement
The number of new residen
tial building permits in Jackson
County issued during the first
quarter of 2008 dropped more
than 60 percent, compared to the
same time last year.
An analysis of building permits
issued in the county and its nine
cities confirms that the new resi
dential market in Jackson County
is slowing down.
In the first three months of 2007,
there were 337 new residential
permits issued; for the same time
period in 2008, that figure fell to
132 — accounting for a 60 percent
drop.
In Jackson County, cities issue
their own building permits while
the county approves permits for
unincorporated areas.
The three largest government
agencies that issue building per
mits — Jackson County, Braselton
and Jefferson — also reflect a
sharp decline in new residential
growth.
In the first quarter of 2008,
Jefferson issued 10 new residen
tial permits, compared to 63 dur
ing the same time period in 2007.
Jackson County’s permits
declined by 56 percent, from 134
issued in the first quarter of 2007
to 58 in the first quarter of 2008.
By the end of 2007, there were
989 new residential building per
mits issued in Jackson County
and its nine cities.
For the first quarter of 2007 and
2008 (January through March),
other cities reported issuing the
Please Turn to Page 3A
City Council To Be At
'Retreat' This Weekend
If you don’t have a cell phone
number, don’t expect to reach
your Commerce elected officials
this weekend.
All elected officials, plus City
Manager Clarence Bryant, City
Clerk Shirley Willis and Finance
Director Steve McKown will be
at Smithgall Woods near Helen
engaged in the city’s biennial
retreat.
The event starts with a recep
tion at 5:30 Friday afternoon,
followed by supper at 6:00, and
an opening session at 7:00.
The retreat will last all day
Saturday and end with a “wrap-
up session’’ Sunday morning,
according to Bryant.
Walt McBride of the University
of Georgia’s Institute of
Government is the facilitator.
Exactly what will be on the
agenda is not yet known.
“The agenda won’t be set until
Friday night,’’ Bryant explained.
“They sent out a questionnaire
asking everyone to list two or
three things they want to get
done. The facilitator will formu
late what we will discuss all day
Saturday.’’
Bryant expects the group to
narrow the list down to approxi
mately 10 things.
“They might not be specific
things. They might be things like
setting sidewalk paving priorities,
drainage priorities or curb and
gutter priorities — how much to
try to accomplish over the next
five years,’’ he said. “It should
be goal-setting as opposed to
project setting’’
Bryant said he’s added the land
for recreation and sewer rates to
the discussion list.
Most of the officials’ spouses
will accompany them, but will
not participate in discussions.
light Agenda For City
Council Meeting Monday
Two recommendations
from the Commerce Planning
Commission will highlight what
should be a short meeting of
the Commerce City Council
Monday night.
The council meets at 6:30 p.m.
in the Commerce Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
The council gave all indica
tion at its work session this past
Monday night that it intends to
accept the recommendations
of the Commerce Planning
Commission on two land-use
related matters.
The first is a request by
Michael Scott for a variance so
he can bring in three mobile
homes older than five years to
his Ashworth Mobile Home
Park on Homer Road. A city
ordinance prohibits bringing in
mobile homes older than five
years, hence the request for a
variance.
The planning commission rec
ommended that the city deny
the request. If any of the city
council members support the
move, they made no indication
Monday night.
“I don’t see a reason to change
(the policy),’’ said City Manager
Clarence Bryant.
Councilman Bob Sosebee
agreed: “What we’re all trying to
do is upgrade the housing in the
city,’’ he said.
Scott said he needed the vari
ance because his mobile home
park is set up for single-wide
mobile homes, and he cannot
find newer single-wides on which
owners can get financing.
The other planning issue is a
request from Dr. Ali Kahn to
rezone 7.76 acres on Beck Road
from R-l in Jackson County to
C-2 in the city for the purpose
of annexing it for development
as an office and retail develop
ment.
Other items on the agenda for
Please Turn to Page 3A