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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 Te- ft I \ H J a m v f f 1 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. sBApypi 1 x Mi IBc: / 4 p Smfipr Hr ■ VI Ff Tk J 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