Newspaper Page Text
Former
Commerce
City
Councilman
Rilev Harris
Dies
Page 5B
r \
See Page 6B
Meet The Commerce High School Honor Grads
V )
Vol. 133
No. 15
20 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
MAY 28, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Rain Doesn't Ground Eagles
A thunderstorm didn’t dampen spirits Friday night as East will go down in history as the school’s first graduating seniors.
Jackson Comprehensive High School held its first commence- For more photos, see Page 8B.
ment exercises. One hundred nine members of the Class of 2008 Photo by Mark Beardsley
Honoring The Fallen
Maysville Police Chief Clarence Sullens and World War II vet
eran Smith Pounds applaud during Maysville’s Memorial Day
Celebration Monday. Approximately 50 people turned out to hear
Mayor Jerry Baker and Pounds talk about the sacrifices made by
armed forces personnel during American History. Pounds noted
that the sacrifices continue in America’s wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq. “It’s hard to see how we can let them pass without
remembering them and not letting their sacrifice be in vain,” he
said.
Yard Wastes: Paper,
Not Plastic Please
City Expects
EPD Word On
Water Usage
Next Week
Commmerce Seeks Exemption From
61-County Level 4 Drought Restrictions
Maysville To
Discuss Ways
To Save Gasoline
The City of Maysville will
have a special called meeting
at 6 p.m. Thursday at the public
library to discuss ways to con
serve gasoline.
The city council will also hold
a “workshop meeting" at 6:30
p.m., also at the public library.
INDEX
Births 8 A
Church News 4B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 5B
Opinions 4-5A
School News 6-8B
Sports 1-4B
Social News 8A
WEATHER OUTLOOK
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Isolated T-storms: Partly cloudy:
Low, 64; high, 82; Low, 68; high, 88;
30% chance rain 0% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Partly cooudy: Isolated T-Storms:
Low, 66; high, 89; Low, 65; high, 88;
10% chance rain 30% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698 (.4 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 695 (full)
Rainfall This Month: 3.65 inches
Rainfall This Year: 21.7 inches
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
It’s time to switch from plastic
to paper, city official say.
By ordinance, all yard wastes
left for pickup in Commerce
must now be placed in biograd-
able bags. No more black leaf
bags.
Public Works Director Rick
Lewis said the ordinance
became effective May 1, but
the city is offering a grace
period until copies of the ordi
nance are mailed out with each
utility bill.
“Then everybody will be on
the same page. We will continue
to pick up the plastic until then,"
he said.
The Environmental Protection
Division mandated the change
because Commerce grinds its
yard wastes - bags and all —
into mulch, and the plastic bags
never broke down.
“The EPD is requiring all cities
and counties to go to biodegrad
able stuff," Lewis explained. “It
makes better sense.
Both McDonald Hardware
and Commerce Hardware stock
the bags. Lewis said he’s asked
both Quality Foods and Ingles
to carry them, but has received
no commitment so far.
Farmers'
Market To
Start June 21
The City to City Farmers’
Market will begin operations
Saturday, June 21, in downtown
Commerce.
The market, open to local
growers, will alternate between
Commerce and Jefferson on
Saturdays. It will be in Commerce
on first and third Saturdays and
Jefferson on second and fourth
— except for Saturday, June 28,
when it may be in both locations.
The market is a joint venture
of the Commerce Downtown
Development Authority and
Jefferson Better Hometown
Program.
Turnout for a vendors’ meeting
Thursday night was promising,
said Hasco Craver, who is direc
tor of the DDA
“I had people just show up I’d
never heard of, never see and
never met," said Craver. “I’ve run
The city of Commerce should
know next week whether it will
be removed from the 61 coun
ties ordered to maintain level
four status in the drought.
“We got the form last week
from the EPD (Environmental
Protection Division) that we’ve
got to fill out for the request,"
said Bryan Harbin, the city’s
director of water and sewer
services. “Once we submit the
information, they say they will
give us an answer in five busi
ness days."
Harbin planned to submit the
information this week.
According to Harbin, the
EPD plans to consider each
system individually based on
storage capacity, stream flow
and withdrawal. Harbin thinks
Commerce could wind up in
level two, which would allow
washing of cars and watering of
lawns on an odd-even basis.
“I ran some dummy numbers
Friday. We would go to basically
a level two," he confirmed.
To date, the EPD has dictat
ed water policy for the north
ern half of Georgia based
primarily on the level of Lake
Lanier, which supplies much of
Metro Atlanta, not to mention
Gainesville. Harbin says the
EPD has indicated that is no
longer the case.
“They say they’re basically
looking at Lanier on its own,
and every system has got to
stand on its own," he said. “If
Lanier gives out of water and
we have water, we’re not going
to be subject to the same restric
tions."
The Upper Oconee Basin
Water Authority, which owns
and manages the regional Bear
Creek Reservoir, also seeks
removal from the level four
restrictions, but it may have a
tougher time.
Kevin Williams, who man
ages the reservoir for Jordan
Jones & Goulding, reports that
the stream flow in the Middle
Oconee River could be a stick
ing point.
“The flow is 128 cubic feet per
second (cfs) at Arcade today,"
Williams said Tuesday. “One
of our biggest concerns is the
median average over a 21-year
period. The average for this
month is 264 cfs, so we’re look
ing at a substantial difference."
In fact, conditions in the res
ervoir’s drainage basin are just
about what they were last year
at this time when the basin
authority went into level one
of its drought contingency plan
(a 2.5 percent reduction in use)
in May.
“If you look at the soil mois
ture level, the river flow and
the reservoir level, they’re pretty
close to the same numbers as
last year," Williams pointed out.
“The reservoir is at full pool, the
river is down substantially and
the soil moisture is at low levels.
We’re looking at the same con
ditions we were last year."
One difference is usage. The
water plant at the reservoir is
treating about 5.4 million gal
lons per day, compared to 10.1
mgd last year — which helps
keep the reservoir full.
As of Tuesday morning, the
Commerce reservoir was four-
tenths of a foot above full pool.
The Bear Creek Reservoir was
full.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Cause Of Fire Unknown
Commerce fireman Chas Hardy puts the water house and a nearby garage or small barn were
to a roaring fire last Wednesday afternoon in an totally engulfed with firefighters arrived. The
abandoned farmhouse near the intersection of cause of the blaze, which destroyed both struc-
White Hill School Road and U.S. 441. Both the tures, is unknown. Photo by Mark Beardsley