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SEE PAGE 12A
SEE PAGE IB
Eagles Hit
The Field For
Spring Practice
Fifth Graders
Make Gains In
State Writing Test
Vol. 133
No. 13
28 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
MAY 14, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
The Commerce High School Class of 2008 will receive its diplomas Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
Graduation Time
67 At CHS To Get Diplomas This Friday Night
Sixty-seven Commerce High
School seniors will turn their tas
sels Friday night — or Saturday
morning if it rains Friday — when
Commerce High School gradu
ates the Class of 2008.
The ceremony is at 8:00 p.m. at
Tiger Stadium. If it rains, the event
would be held the following morn
ing at 11 at the stadium.
Speakers will include Kaylin
Canup, fourth honor graduate;
Chessie Hacker, third honor grad
uate; Wesley Lewis, salutatorian;
and Win Blair, valedictorian.
Students will march onto the
field to “Pomp and Circumstance,’'
played by the CHS band. The
ceremony will begin with an invo
cation by Katelyn Nevil and a
welcome by Hamp Gary, followed
by the speakers.
Kristina McFadden, fifth honor
graduate, will introduce guests,
and Joy Tolbert will recognize
seniors who have won awards.
Donnie Drew, principal, will
present the class, Superintendent
James E. “Mac’’ McCoy will con
firm the graduation, and Dr.
Paul Sergent, chairman of the
Commerce Board of Education,
will present the diplomas.
The program will close with a
prayer from class treasurer Andrea
Briscoe, followed by the singing of
the CHS alma mater.
Class officers are Hamp Gary,
president; Wesley Lewis, vice pres
ident; Katelyn Nevil, secretary;
and Andrea Briscoe, treasurer.
Ushers for the event will be
Rebekah Andrews, Colton Brown,
Lauren Cooper and Alexandria
Pace. Class sponsors are Johnnie
Blair, chairperson; Michelle
Courtwright and Mark Hale.
Friday is the last day of school.
Council Hikes
Garbage, Water
And Sewer Rates
The cost of three utility ser
vices in Commerce went up
Monday night.
The Commerce City Council
voted to increase its rate for
garbage collection from $13.50
per month to $14 for residen
tial service, passing along
increases charged it by Waste
Management.
Small commercial accounts
that use the same roll-away con
tainers will find their rate pushed
to $18.75, while the few nonresi
dent residential customers will
pay $18.50 a month.
The council also raised water
and sewer rates.
The cost per 1,000 gallons for
water was increased from $3.85
to $4 for residents, and from
$5.80 to $6 for nonresidents.
For sewerage, the cost per
1,000 gallons went up 50 cents,
from $4.75 to $5.25 for residents
and from $7.90 to $8.40 for those
outside the city.
Neither rate increase will affect
those paying the minimum water
and sewerage bills.
All of the rate increases passed
unanimously.
Retirement Upgrade
The council also voted unani
mously to amend its budget by
$78,250 to upgrade its employee
retirement plan. Employees will
now be paid 1.5 percent of their
annual salary for each year of
service; the previous rate was
1.25. The council will have to
approve the official documents
for changing the plan at its next
meeting.
“That should have been done
10 years ago,’’ remarked Steve
McKown, finance director.
In other business, the council
Please Turn to Page 3A
Maysville Changes
Garbage Haulers
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Thunderstorms: Few showerrs:
Low, 63; high, 74; Low, 53; high, 79;
70% chance rain 30% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Sunny: Mostly sunny:
Low, 58; high, 79; Low, 55; high, 82;
20% chance rain 0% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.1 (.5 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall this month
1.25 inches
Rainfall This Year
19.9 Inches
INDEX
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 1-6C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 8A
Opinions 4-5 A
School News 9-1 2A, 10B
Sports 1-4B
Social News 8-9B
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
Representative, Councilman Joust
At Monday's Council Meeting
Rep. Tommy Benton and Ward
4 Commerce Councilman Bob
Sosebee got into a testy exchange
Monday night when Benton
showed up at the city council meet
ing to refute remarks Sosebee had
made in the May 5 work session.
At that time, Sosebee com
plained that he didn’t think Benton
was doing a good job in regard to
getting local funds and compared
his ability to “bring back money’’
to that of former Rep. Bubba
McDonald.
At Monday night’s council meet
ing, Benton said he’d heard that a
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Rep. Tommy Benton and
Councilman Bob Sosebee
exchanged viewpoints at the
city council meeting Monday.
city council member had been
critical. Sosebee acknowledged
he’d made the comments, and the
two began arguing.
Sosebee told Benton that he’d
gone over a printout of local devel
opment fund money and found
that Commerce got $5,000 and
Jefferson $4,000.
“I just said it looks like we should
have gotten our fair share, and I
don’t think truthfully $9,000 out of
multi-millions of dollars worth of
grants is not a fair share,’’ he said.
“You also compared me to Rep.
McDonald and I want to point
out that when he was getting all
Please Turn to Page 3A
By Justin Poole
The City of Maysville will
switch companies for the town’s
trash pickup.
The Maysville City Council
discussed staying with R&W
Sanitation or changing to
WastePro last week. The coun
cil voted to move to WastePro.
Service will remain the same
with pickup Wednesdays. The
switch will take place in July.
John Bellamy, owner of
WastePro, spoke about the kinds
of services that his company
could offer to city residents.
“Essentially, what we are going
to be doing is somewhat like you
have now,’’ said Bellamy. “We
are going to be bringing brand
new containers for everybody,
and we are adjusting pricing to
$12 for the first year ... in addi
tion to basic weekly services,
we have established a location,
not definitive yet, for a drop-off
recycling service.’’
After the first year, the cost
would increase by a dollar. Any
future increases would have to
be approved by the council. The
recycling services, open to resi
dents who want to participate,
could include drop off alumi
num, plastic, newspaper and
cardboard boxes.
The Maysville council also
approved a slate of six residents
to serve on the Downtown
Development Authority: Mary
Hart, Kay Daniel, Catherine
Daniels, Charles Floyd, Melody
Stancil, and Marilyn Sherry.
Lyn Villyard will serve as the
city council representative on
the DDA
CHS Seniors Rank Fifth In
State On Graduation Tests
The Class of 2008 at Commerce
High School ranked fifth in
Georgia in the percentage of stu
dents passing the Georgia High
School Graduation Test.
The tests were administered this
spring. Seniors must pass tests in
English/language arts, math, sci
ence and social studies to get their
diplomas.
“We did great,’’ said Joy Tolbert,
assistant superintendent.
“For the percent of students who
passed all four tests, we ranked
tied for fifth in Georgia,’’ said
Superintendent Mac McCoy.
Eighty-nine percent of CHS
seniors passed every test. That’s
10 points above the state average.
Tolbert attributed the difference
to a focus on making sure stu
dents got the information required
by the state curriculum.
“It’s teaching the curriculum, and
the curriculum is aligned to the
test,’’ Tolbert said. ‘The test takes
care of itself as long as teachers
are teaching the curriculum..’’
CHS seniors scored as follows:
English/language arts: Ninety-
six percent passed, 30.3 percent
proficient, 50.6 percent advanced
proficient, 14.6 percent honors
Math: Ninety-three percent
passed, 51.7 percent advanced
Science: Ninety-three percent
passed, 42.7 percent proficient,
38.2 percent advanced proficien
cy, 12.4 percent honors
Social Studies: Ninety-four
percent passed, 58.4 percent
advanced proficiency
Students who fail one or more
of the exit exams have several
opportunities to re-take the tests.
Other area school systems
recorded the following percent
ages of students passing all of the
tests: Jefferson, 81; Banks County,
79; Jackson County, 78.
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The First Prom At East Jackson Comprehensive High School
The East Jackson Comprehensive High
School held its first junior-senior prom
Saturday night at the Commerce Civic Center.
The prom court, above, danced before the
king and queen were crowned. Pictured
are Briana Halstead, Zac Pearson, Chelsea
Kyst, Brandon Rucker, Tori McGinnis, Taylor
Boswell, CJ Brown, Ashley Norris, Matt Smith,
Hayley Leissner, Cierra Cochran and Taylor
Parkerson. For more prom photos, see page
10B.
Photo by Angie Gary
<3kss of '08 Tops
]x>cal Schools For
Passing Percentages