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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 The Commerce News Get the local school, church, sports and other community news delivered to your home each week! Just clip the coupon below to begin saving today over the newstand price! Name Address City State Zip Subscription rates for The Commerce News are asfollozvs: $19.75 per year for Jackson and adjoining counties; $17.75 per year for senior citizens in Jackson and adjoining counties; $38.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia; $36.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia with senior citizen discount; $44.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia; $42.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia with senior citizen discount; $42.20 per year for the military with APO address. Enclosed is my check for $ or □ MC or □ visa # Expiration MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. 33 Lee Street, P. O. Box 908 Jefferson, GA 30549 Phone 706-367-5233 Fax: 706-367-8056 Website: www. mainstreetnews. com 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. GREG PAYS MORE PLATINUM • SILVER • DIAMONDS Greg Reeves Fine Jewelry 613 Hawthorne Ave., Athens • Mon.-Sat. 9-6 FREE APPRAISALS • FREE STONE REMOVAL ASK FOR GREG 706-369-0000