Newspaper Page Text
Four Burned In Mobile
Home Fire In Nicholson
See Page 7 A
Fire Dept. Chickenque Saturday
The Commerce Fire Department
will hold its 32nd annual chickenque
Saturday. The department will serve
2,500 chicken plates between 11:00
a.m. and 3:00 p.m. at the J. Nolan
Spear Jr. Public Safety Complex on
South Elm Street.
Tickets are $6.50 apiece and are
available from local firemen. They
include half a barbecued chicken,
beans, applesauce, bread and chips.
Corn on the cob will be available for
$1 an ear "while it lasts."
Pick-up will be by drive-through.
Vol. 133
No. 10
26 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
APRIL 23, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Fridays After 5
Family Movie
Set In Spencer
Park On Friday
Jerry Seinfeld and 'The Bee
Movie” will come to Spencer
Park Friday night. For free.
The Commerce Downtown
Development Authority will
kick off its four-event “Fridays
After Five” calendar with one
of 2007’s top movies, a G-rated
animated comedy about the life
of worker bee Barry B. Benson
who, after graduating from
college, is not satisfied with a
career in producing honey.
The event will start at dusk
— about 7:30. There will be con
cessions available.
“People can also bring a pic
nic and eat in the park,” notes
Hasco Craver, executive direc
tor of the DDA, who put the
program together..
Prior to the movie, the city
of Commerce will have a dis
play of some of its equipment
as part of its observation of
Georgia Cities Week.
Other Friday Events
The schedule of Fridays After
Five includes:
May 9: Boss Laura and
Jimmy T, a classic/southern
rock group
May 23: Curly Maple, a blue-
grass group
June 6: “Surf’s Up,” a G-rated
family movie
The events are funded with a
grant from the Grassroots Art
Council.
WEATHER
THURSDAY FRIDAY
V
Partly cloudy: Morning clouds:
Low, 57; high, 82; Low, 57; nigh, 82;
10% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Scattered T-storms: Thunderstorms:
Low, 57; high, 80; Low, 58; high, 80;
50% chance rain 40% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.2 (.6 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall This Month
2.85 inches
Rainfall this year: 17.75 inches
INDEX
Births 8 A
Church News 7B
Classified Ads 1-6C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 6B
Opinions 4-5A
School News. . 9A 8-10B
Sports 1-4B
Social News 8A
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
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Prom Time In Commerce
Commerce High School students enjoyed “A Megan Lord and Mary Beth Irvin are pictured
Masquerade Ball” for their junior-senior prom on the dance floor. For more photos, see Page
Friday night at the Commerce Civic Center. 9A. Photo by Lyn Sengupta
Katlin Wilson, Amber Haggard, Wes Lewis,
5th Graders Show 'Huge'
Gain In Writing Scores
5th Grade Writing Assessment - Comparison
Data (Expressed in %)
Commerce Middle School’s
fifth graders pulled off a major
turnaround in one critical state
standardized test.
“Eighty-seven percent of the
121 students met or exceeded
state performance standards on
the 2008 Georgia Fifth Grade
Writing Assessment,” announced
Principal Chuck Bell. “A whop
ping 37 percent of those students
exceeded standards.”
In 2007, the school fell short
of the state average by 15 per
cent when only 55 percent of the
kids met or exceeded the state
standards, and only five percent
exceeded them.
The percentage of students who
failed to meet performance stan
dards dropped from 46 percent in
2007 to 12 percent in 2008.
“Led by language arts teacher
Lori Martin, the fifth grade team
of teachers participated in profes
sional learning, established strate
gies and developed lessons that
ensured students were extreme
ly well prepared for this year’s
assessment,” Bell pointed out.
However, he also noted that
the effort covered the entire fifth
grade staff.
“There was a great amount of
focus and a very specific goal
set by that teaching team,” Bell
continued. “It was a goal they
(the entire fifth-grade team) spe
cifically embraced. It wasn’t just
Language Arts. That team of
teachers made it happen.”
Bell called the turnaround
“huge.”
Tackson County Politics
Talk Starting Of Another Bond
Vote For Recreation Facilities
Is another recreation bond vote in store for Jackson
County voters?
“It’s been discussed,” notes county Recreation
Director Ricky Sanders.”
It has been discussed among the three county rec
reation directors, Sanders said, but no figures have
been thrown out and no elected officials have been
involved.
Jackson County voters rejected a $15 million bond
issue Leb. 5, that, had it passed, would have built
a host of amenities for the county — but none for
Jefferson and Commerce. Ironically, voters in those
two municipalities supported the initiative, while
those in the county rejected it.
“We got so many calls after it failed, wanting to
know if we were going to try to do it again,” Sanders
said.
The bond would have provided more fields for
county youths, something Sanders says Jackson
County must address “sooner or later.”
“We started having practices on Wednesday nights
because we don’t have enough fields (to schedule
around Wednesday nights)” Sanders commented.
That led to complaints, and allegations that Sanders
moved practices to a night heretofore closed to prac
tices, because of the bond vote failure.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Tackson County Ejections
On Your Mark,
Get Set: Political
Qualifying To
Begin Monday
Qualifying for elected posi
tions on this year’s ballot in
Jackson County will begin
Monday, April 28, at 9 a.m., and
end Lriday, May 2, at noon.
Those running for an elect
ed office must qualify at the
local headquarters of either the
Republican or Democratic par
ties during that time.
The primary elections will be
held Tuesday, July 15. Voters
must choose either a Republican
or Democratic ballot for that
election.
A run-off election after the
primary, if needed, will be held
Tuesday, Aug. 5.
The general election will be
held Tuesday, Nov. 4. A run-off
election, if needed, is planned
for Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Non-partisan races in Jackson
County will be on the general
election ballot in November.
On The Ballot
The following offices in
Jackson County will be on the
ballot for the 2008 election:
•Jackson County Board of
Education, post 1 (Michael
Cronic, incumbent).
• Jackson County BOE, post 4
(Lynne Massey Wheeler, incum
bent).
•State Court judge (Jerry
Gray, incumbent).
•Solicitor General (Donald
Moore, incumbent).
• County Surveyor (Dan
Venable, incumbent).
• Magistrate Judge (Billy
Chandler, incumbent).
•Coroner (Keith Whitfield,
incumbent).
•Sheriff (Stan Evans, incum
bent).
• Probate Judge (Margaret
Deadwyler, incumbent).
• Tax Commissioner (Don
Elrod, incumbent).
•Jackson County Board of
Commissioners chairperson
(Pat Bell, incumbent).
•Jackson County BOC, dis
trict 2 (Jody Thompson, incum
bent).
•Jackson County BOC, dis
trict 1 (Tom Crow, incumbent).
•Clerk of Superior Court
(Camie Thomas, incumbent).
• District Attorney for the
Piedmont Judicial Circuit (Rick
Bridgeman, incumbent).
It's Deja Vu Time For
City Planning Board
Some Familiar Issues On Agenda
For Monday Night Meeting
If members of the Commerce
Planning Commission experi
ence the feeling of deja vu
Monday night, it’ll be under
standable.
When the planning commis
sion meets at 7:00 p.m. in the
Peach Room of the Commerce
Civic Center, everything on
the agenda is a repeat, most
of it from last month’s meet
ing.
For example, the planners will
have a second go at Walgreens’
request of a variance in the size
of its sign and an LED message
board.
The planning commission
heard that request for a sign
three times larger than is allowed
under the city sign ordinance —
and the LED sign not allowed
under the ordinance, and the
planners opted to table the mat
ter for 30 days to consider how
the zoning ordinance should
be interpreted.
And, the planners last month
recommended that the city
council amend the section of
its ordinance dealing with util
ity buildings — but the council
didn’t like the recommendation
and ordered the planners to
revisit the matter.
It’s also on the agenda for
Monday.
The recommendation was
to increase the allowable size
of such structures to half the
square footage of the “foot
print” of the house, limit them
to one story in height, require
that they be built of the same
materials as the dwelling, and
to allow up to two outbuild
ings for larger lots and one for
smaller lots.
The city council voiced oppo
sition to the limit in the height,
to the restrictions on building
materials, and to allowing more
outbuildings on some lots than
others, whiich they termed dis
criminatory.
The third issue on Monday’s
agenda is a proposed recom
mendation to change the maxi
mum height of front-yard fenc
es from three feet to four feet.
The planning commission has
discussed that at two meetings,
but has yet to make a recom
mendation.
One of the concerns voiced
when the matter last came up
was that fences — especially
thosed designed to keep dogs
in the yard — have some kind
of arrangement so city meter
readers can get in to do their
job once a month.