Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
It's Commerce
Vs. Banks County
In Dragway Finals
SEE PAGE 10A
Former Mayor Dr. A. J. Minish Dies
SEE PAGE 5A
Local Students Struggle On CRCT
Vol. 133
No. 20
26 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
JULY 2, 2008
mainstreetnews.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Red Cross
Blood Drive
Set For Tuesday
The American Red Cross
will hold a blood drive Tuesday,
July 8, from noon to 6:00 p.m.,
at the First
Baptist
Church of
Commerce
Family
Life Cen
ter, 1345 S.
Elm Street.
The American Red Cross pro
vides blood services to all area
hospitals, including BJC Hospi
tal, Athens Regional Medical
Center and the Gainesville and
Atlanta hospitals.
Potential donors must be 17,
weigh at least 110 pounds and
be in good health.
All donors will receive a
Chick-fil-A coupon
July Fourth
Celebration Set
In Nicholson
Nicholson will celebrate
Independence Day Friday,
starting at 2 p.m. and culmi
nating with fireworks.
The event, at the park by
City Hall, will include food,
games, karaoke and live enter
tainment.
For information, call
706-757-3408.
Mostly sunny: Partly cloudy:
Low, 68; high, 92; Low, 69; high, 91;
20% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Isolated T-storms: Scattered T-strorms:
Low, 68; high, 87; Low, 64; high, 88;
40% chance rain 30% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.6 (full)
Bear Creek: 694.9 (.1 foot below full)
Rainfall this month
0 inches
Rainfall This Year
21.7 Inches
Janelle Dague, 5, of Commerce takes a swing at a baseball in an inflatable game in the Kids’
Zone at last Saturday’s City Lights Downtown Festival. For more photos, see page 7B.
Festival Draws Crowd To Downtown
By Mark Beardsley
The crowd was strong, the
rain stayed away and vendors
and businesses alike did a brisk
business during Saturday’s City
Lights Downtown Festival.
“I think it went very well,”
said Hasco Craver, who as
executive director of the
Downtown Development
Authority was the person most
responsible for putting on the
festival. “I was very pleased
with the turnout and the qual
ity of the arts and crafts. The
food vendors seemed to be
well-received and the car
show brought several hundred
people to the downtown for
that event alone.”
But it was the music that stood
out for Craver.
“That guy playing last? He
won a Grammy,” Craver said.
“He played with Charlie Daniels
for 20 years and co-wrote a lot
of the songs like The Devil
went Down to Georgia.’ You
were hearing the guy who wrote
those songs play them.”
The farmers’ market had
another week of good atten
dance, and Craver said the 215
participants in the Star Chase
5K Road Race made it the big
gest 5K this year in the county.
“We had people from North
Carolina, South Carolina and
Alabama, from Warner Robins,
Douglasville and Macon up
here for the race,” he said. The
participants seemed to like the
new route — mostly along Broad
and Elm streets — because it
was flatter than the previous
routes.
“One of the runners brought a
concert harp,” Craver reported.
“She sat in the gazebo after the
race when people were getting
refreshments and played. It was
neat.”
The festival may have helped
commerce in Commerce as
well. Craver reported hearing of
strong sales by the three down
town restaurants and that sev
eral local merchants said they
had steady business all day.
Like last year, the crowd built
early and stayed strong through
lunch, after which it tapered off
until after 6:00, when it built
again to peak during the fire
works.
“Really, it’s taxing for a lot of
folks to sit outside that long. It’s
the last weekend in June, so it
is generally pretty hot,” Craver
mused. “From 3:00 to 6:00 it’s
really hot. People either escaped
to the downtown restaurants
or their living rooms, both of
which are air conditioned, and
then they come back for the
music and the fireworks.”
Craver said the food vendors
stayed open until after 10:00,
taking advantage of the crowd
in and around Spencer Park for
the fireworks.
Volunteers who helped clean
up the area after the festival left
shortly after midnight.
More Downtown
Buildings Slated
For Renovations
Shubert & Companyj Gift Works, Both On
South Broad, Due For Facelifts
By Mark Beardsley
Renovations will begin soon
on two more buildings on South
Broad Street.
Reporting at last Wednesday’s
meeting of the Downtown
Development Authority,
Executive Director Hasco
Craver announced that the
Shubert and Company build
ing and Gift Works at the Joy
Shoppe will soon be trans
formed .
“They are going to tear off
the awning and restore it to
the original,” said Craver of the
Shubert building.
To do that, the general con
tractor will have to remove
bricks that were placed to fill in
upstairs windows, he noted.
“That is the last piece of prop
erty on that block to be restored
to the original,” Craver noted.
He also announced that Lee
and Gina Hagan, owners of Gift
Works at the Joy Shoppe, “have
a contractor lined up.”
Their building was due to be
renovated, but the process sped
up when the former awning and
facade began to separate from
the building last December and
had to be removed.
Craver also reported that
Paul Kinetra appears to have a
possible buyer for the former
Logo Express building on State
Street. Craver said the prospect
wants to create a restaurant
downstairs and a two-bedroom,
two-bathroom true loft apart
ment upstairs.
Also on the subject of down
town buildings, Craver said
Mark McCannon has purchased
the building housing his Edward
Jones office on State Street and
plans some interior and exterior
renovations, including replac
ing windows, painting the front
and placing an awning over the
front door.
In other business, member
Keith Ariail reported that the
DDA’s design committee met
with Mayor Charles L. “Buzzie”
Hardy Jr. and Mayor Pro Tem
Please Turn to Page 3A
Ham Radio Operators
Prepare For Emergencies
By Mark Beardsley
When severe weather knocks
down the cell phone towers
and destroys landlines, how will
essential communication be
possible?
That’s where local amateur
radio enthusiasts will step in to
help emergency medical person
nel and law enforcement with
the critical communications
necessary to protect lives and
properties.
Twenty-five to 30 ham radio
enthusiasts conducted an exer
cise of that scenario Saturday
and Sunday from the city park
at Nicholson, where they set
up seven antennas and radio
stations and made contact with
amateur radio operators from
across the country.
The occasion was the
American Radio Relay League’s
annual field day. Two local clubs,
the Northeast Georgia Amateur
Radio Club and the Athens
Amateur Radio Club, simulated
an emergency situation to test
equipment and techniques that
would be utilized in an emer
gency.
The exercise was conducted
under the assumption that there
Please Turn to Page 6A
Commerce News Launches New Website
IlNDEXl
Church News
6B
Classified Ads 1-
4C
Calendar
3A
Crime News 7-8A
News Roundup
2A
Obituaries 1
OA
Opinions
4A
School News
8B
Sports 1
-3B
Social News 8-9B
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70G3 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
CommerceNewsTODAY.com To
Provide Online News Updates
Today has arrived.
Anew source of community information is
being launched this week by The Commerce
News — www.CommerceNewsTODAY.
com (The site is not case sensitive; capital
letters are used only for clarity.)
The new website is also part of one of
the most sophisticated newspaper web
networks in the state and operates under
the umbrella of www.MainStreetNews.com
which aggregates Northeast Georgia news
from Jackson, Banks, Madison and Barrow
counties.
“This is an exciting new development
in how we can keep the local community
informed,” said Mike Buffington, co-pub
lisher of Mainstreet Newspapers Inc.,
the parent company of The Commerce
News.
M. Buffington said the
CommerceNewsTODAY site and its sister
sites will all have real-time updating on
election night July 15.
The new CommerceNewsTODAY.com
site will allow viewers to add comments to
articles and to subscribe to email or cell
phone updates.
In addition to new individual news sites
in the counties, the new system also aggre
gates local sports and obituaries onto free
standing sister sites.
“If you follow sports in the area, the new
www.MainstreetNewsSPORTS.com will be
the place to look for a broad overview,”
said M. Buffington.
From an online advertising standpoint,
the multiple linked sites offer advertisers
an unlimited number of combinations for
reaching various niche audiences.
S. Buffington also said the new system
of cross-linked sites is just in its beginning
stages and more features are scheduled to
be added in the coming weeks.
Other New Websites
www.MainstreetNews .com
(The parent site which aggregates news
and information from all of its linked
sites.)
www.MainstreetNewsSPORTS.com
(Regional sports website that aggregates
sports news from all the newspaper web
sites.)
www.MainstreetNewsOBITS.com
(Regional website that aggregates death
notices and obituaries from all the newspa
per websites.)
www.BanksNewsTODAY.com
(Website with news and views from The
Banks County News.)
wwwMadisonJ ournalTODAY.com
(Website with news and views from The
Madison County Journal.)
www.JacksonHeraldTODAY.com
(Website with news and views from The
Jackson Herald.)
www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com
(Website with news and views from The
Braselton News.)
wwwBarrowJ ournal.com
(Website with news and views from
Barrow County.)