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™ News Region Roundup
Braselton Gets
OK For Special
Property Tax District
Braselton leaders can move
forward with their tax allocation
district following a 3-2 vote of
the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners Monday night.
Commissioners Bruce Yates and
Jody Thompson voted in favor of
a resolution supporting the TAD,
while Dwain Smith and Tom
Crow voted against it. Chairman
Pat Bell broke the tie and voted to
approve the resolution.
The TAD will allow county
taxes collected in a historic dis
trict designated in the town’s old
downtown area to be frozen to
fund city revitalization and devel
opment. Braselton Mayor Pat
Graham said at Monday’s BOC
meeting that these funds will be
used to improve the appearance
of the downtown area.
'The appearance of downtown
Braselton doesn’t give someone
making a large investment a lot of
confidence in the area,” Graham
said. "... We have lost industrial
developments because of the
appearance of the downtown
area.”
The first priority will be to realign
Hwy. 53 to develop a green area,
as well as commercial, retail and
office development.
The district has 285 acres and
the tax value is $6.2 million.
Several Political
Forums Are
Planned Locally
Several political forums are
planned prior to the Tuesday, July
15, primaries.
The schedule for forums is as
follows:
•Tuesday, June 10, at 6:30 p.m.
at the Commerce Civic Center,
sponsored by the Jackson County
Republican Party.
•Wednesday, June 18, at 7
p.m., the candidates for seats on
the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners and the Jackson
County Board of Education will
be featured at a forum. The forum
will be held at the Hoschton
Depot, located on Hwy. 53 in
Hoschton. Audience members
will be allowed to ask questions
to the candidates. The Hoschton
Women’s Civic Club is sponsor
ing the forum.
•Thursday, June 19, at 6 p.m. at
the Jefferson Civic Center, spon
sored by the Jackson County
Area Chamber of Commerce.
•Wednesday, June 25, at 7 p.m.,
the candidates for the sheriff
of Jackson County and district
attorney of the Piedmont Judicial
Circuit will be featured at a forum.
The Piedmont Judicial Circuit
serves Jackson, Barrow and Banks
counties. The forum will be held at
the Hoschton Depot, located on
Hwy. 53 in Hoschton. Audience
members will be allowed to ask
questions to the candidates. The
Hoschton Women’s Civic Club is
sponsoring the forum.
Film Crew Visits
Jefferson For
Television Series
A little bit of Hollywood came
to downtown Jefferson this week
when a film crew arrived in town
to film a segment for a television
series.
An episode of “Atlanta
Homicide,” a crime television
series based in Atlanta, was
filmed at a Jefferson home and
business this week. A few weeks
ago, another episode was filmed
at a Jefferson restaurant.
This week, some of the cast and
crew were at a home in Jefferson,
as well as at Dot’s Florist Shop
filming. The earlier scene was
taped at Mike’s Grill on a Friday
night.
A member of the crew lives
near Jefferson and recommended
the sites as locations to be used.
Most of the episodes features a
crime being solved and the cast
going to a local restaurant to dis
cuss the outcome.
The show is filming its second
season after a successful run in the
test market of Jacksonville, FF.
“The story line is kind of like
the show, The Wire, with 'CSF
sprinkled on top, and shot in the
same style as The Shield,”' said
Kal Couthen, who plays a detec
tive on the show.
The second season will be
broadcast in June on the “colours
tv” channel on Dish Network.
Officials Still
Wondering What
Was In Water
HOMER - Banks County school
superintendent Chris Erwin is
still awaiting word on lab results
which could have an impact on
the final decision into an inves
tigation of an incident at Banks
County Elementary School last
month which left the assistant
principal on leave.
Erwin said Monday he hopes
to have information by the end of
next week which will help clear up
allegations that male fifth grade
students at the school were alleg
edly made to drink from a water
fountain from which a substance
had been poured into. There is
question whether the substance
was urine or Gatorade.
Assistant principal Lori Rylee,
who has been in the Banks County
School System for 13 years and
an assistant principal for the last
two, was placed on leave pending
the investigation. Rylee allegedly
made the students drink from the
fountain after not being able to
determine who poured the sub
stance into it.
The incident came to light after
some students told their parents
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what happened. The students said
they were told by the assistant
principal if they spoke of the inci
dent then law enforcement as well
as officials from the Department
of Family and Children’s Services
would be contacted.
A group of parents has request
ed that Rylee be terminated from
the school system and that sys
tem employees receive training
on how to handle matters of this
nature and how to properly ques
tion authority.
Grading Starts
On Madison Co.
Soccer Fields
DANIELSVILLE - Grading
for two new soccer fields at the
Madison County Recreation
Department started Tuesday, but
exactly when cleated kids will
sprint down the sidelines remains
up in the air due to funding
issues.
The county board of commis
sioners tagged $1 million from
the 2008 special purpose local
option sales tax (SPLOST) for
recreation department projects,
including the addition of soccer
fields, an irrigation pond, walking
trails and a picnic area at Sammy
Haggard Park off Hwy. 98.
That $1 million will be collected
over six years. However, the BOC
doesn’t want to wait six years to
get started on improvements.
The board took action Thursday
to start construction on the soccer
fields, agreeing to tag $100,000 in
old sales tax funds, which were
left over from the 1998 special
purpose local option sales tax
(SPLOST), for the soccer fields,
which will be located at 605
Brewer Phillips Road off Hwy. 98.
They also agreed to pull $150,000
from the county’s general funds
to get the construction of the
fields under way.
Once the county begins receiv
ing money from the 2008 SPLOST
in September, the BOC will use
that money to replenish what it is
now taking from the general fund.
Water Panels To
Discuss Jackson's
Letter Of Demand
ATHENS - The owners of the
regional reservoir agreed last
week to talk to Jackson County
officials about Jackson’s demand
that other counties keep their
hands off Jackson’s water.
Jackson County officials last
month served notice via a letter
from attorney Michael Bowers — a
former Georgia attorney general —
advising the authority that Jackson
County expects the other coun
ties — Athens-Clarke, Barrow and
Oconee — to keep their mitts off of
Jackson’s 25 percent share of water
in the reservoir.
Given that Georgia is in the mid
dle of a 100-year drought — with
some now calling it a 200-year
drought — Jackson was serving
notice that it will not tolerate the
kind of reservoir drawdown that
accompanied the worst of the
drought last fall.
So, the authority laid the ground
work to negotiate an agreement
between the group and Jackson
County, said Hunter Bicknell, chair
man of the Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority.
In theory, Jackson County is enti
tled to 25 percent of the water in the
reservoir. But Jackson officials say
that because Jackson uses much
less than its daily allocation of 13
million gallons, in times when the
reservoir cannot be replenished by
the Middle Oconee River, Athens-
Clarke, Barrow and Oconee coun
ties use up more than their shares
simply because they get to the
water first.
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