Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
SEE PAGES 8-12A
Tigers To Open
2008 Season
Against Dragons
Political Candidates Profiled
SEE PAGE 7A
Candidates Report On Contributions
Vol. 133
No. 21
28 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
JULY 9, 2008
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Advance Voting
Through Friday
At Rec. Center
Advance voting for the
Tuesday, July 15, election is
under way and three sites
are open in Jackson County,
including one in Commerce.
Voters may go to the
Administrative Building in
Jefferson, or the two new vot
ing sites, one in Commerce
and one in Braselton.
The Commerce site is
located at 204 Carson Street
(Recreation Department) and
the other at 5040 Highway 53,
the Braselton Municipal and
Police Building.
Each satellite can accom
modate any Jackson County
voter wishing to vote early for
the July Primary Election.
Early voting will be held
though Friday.
Nicholson OKs
08-09 Budget
By Brandon Reed
A unanimous vote by the
Nicholson City Council put
the city’s budget into place for
the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
The budget totals are
$678,000 in expenses with rev
enues projected at the same
amount.
The new budget reflects no
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THURSDAY FRIDAY
Scattered T-storms: Scattered T-storms:
Low, 69; high, 89; Low, 70; high, 89;
40% chance rain 40% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
Scattered T-storms: Isolated T-storms:
Low, 69; high, 91; Low, 70; high, 95;
40% chance rain 40% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.5 (.1 feet below full)
Bear Creek: 694.29 (.71 feet below full)
Rainfall this month
.10 inches
Rainfall This Year
21.8 Inches
INDEX
Births 10B
Church News 4B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6-7B
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 5B
Opinions 4-5 A
School News 1 2A
Sports 1-4B
Social News .... 101 1 B
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 70A3 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
The Republican Primary
Commission Races
In Election Spotlight
Beatty Bicknell Or Johnson? Hardy Or Thompson?
Beatty Bicknell Johnson Hardy
When the Republican Primary
is over Tuesday night, Jackson
County will have selected three
county commissioners, a district
attorney and a sheriff.
No Democrats qualified for
county races, although Nicholson
resident Bobby Saxon awaits the
winner of the GOP contest for
the 10 District seat in the U.S.
Congress featuring one-term
incumbent Paul Broun and chal
lenger Barry Fleming.
Countywide, however, it’s all
Republican, so Tuesday’s winners
will be unopposed in November.
Three Republicans—Tony Beatty
Hunter Bicknell and Ron Johnson
— are vying to succeed Pat Bell as
chairman of the Jackson County
Board of Commissioners. Bell did
not seek re-election.
If no one gets more than 50
percent of the vote, the top two
candidates will face off in a runoff
election Tuesday, Aug. 5.
In the District 2 race — which
includes the Commerce and
Maysville areas — incumbent Jody
Thompson faces challenger Chas
Hardy.
In the Jefferson area, incumbent
Tom Crow will take on Amanda
Spivey for the District 1 seat.
Long-time incumbent sheriff
Stan Evans is being challenged by
former Hoschton city councilman
Jim Keinard, while for the Piedmont
Circuit’s district attorney seat (the
circuit covers Jackson, Banks and
Barrow counties), incumbent Rick
Bridgeman faces opposition from
Donna Golden Sikes and Brad
Smith.
Meanwhile, in the race for
the Jackson County Board of
Education Post 1 seat, incumbent
Michael Cronic will face Bret
Schwartz. If necessary, there will
be a runoff Aug. 5.
Approximately 30,700 Jackson
For Election Returns, visit www.
Com merceNewsTODAY.com
Thompson
County resi
dents are eligible
to vote, accord
ing to Brenda
Fulcher, voter
registrar, and
some of them
have already cast ballots.
As of Monday, approximately
130 absentee ballots had been cast.
Advance voting is under way at the
Jackson County Administrative
Building and at the Commerce
Recreation Department’s Carson
Street office. It will be offered
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through
Friday.
The polls will be open from
7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. July 15.
Commerce area (Minish District)
voters will have two polling plac
es, the North Minish precinct at
the recreation office on Carson
Street, and the South Minish pre
cinct at the J. Nolan Spear Jr.
Public Safety Complex on South
Elm Street.
Probate Judge Margaret
Deadwyler, who oversees elec
tions in Jackson County, said
interest in the July 15 primaries
has been light — which suggests a
low voter turnout.
“We haven’t seen much inter
est in the absentee ballots,’’ she
remarked. “Thirty-five percent
would be a good turnout for this
one.’’
Getting The Building Ready
It may be summer vacation for local students, but not for schools’ custodial staffs, which are working full time to get local
schools ready for the arrival of kids in August. Commerce Primary School custodian Elaine Gatheright puts a second coat of
wax on the lunchroom floor in the childless quiet of July 3. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Commerce Signs On For 5.865 Megawatts
From New Nuclear Reactors At Plant Vogtle
'The first unit comes online in 2016> so I expect we'll get
half of it the frstyear and the other half the next.'
—Commerce City Manager
Clarence Bryant
Co-owners of the Vogtle Electric
Generating Plant — including the
city of Commerce — announced
their intent to maintain their pro
portionate share of ownership in
the proposed Units 3 and 4. As
co-owners of two existing units at
Plant Vogtle, the utilities had the
rights to participate in the new
Vogtle units but were required
to make a final commitment by
July 2.
Earlier this year, Georgia Power,
acting for itself and for Plant
Vogtle’s co-owners (Oglethorpe
Power, Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia and Dalton
Utilities), entered a contract with
Westinghouse Electric Company
and The Shaw Group Inc.’s Power
Group, for the development
and construction of two nuclear
units.
Oglethorpe Power, MEAG
Power and Dalton Utilities have
informed Georgia Power that they
will maintain the following exist
ing ownership shares in the new
units: Oglethorpe Power, 30 per
cent; MEAG Power, 22.7 percent;
and Dalton Utilities, 1.6 percent.
Georgia Power’s proportionate
share is 45.7 percent.
Commerce’s share is expected
to be 5.865 megawatts. Its cur
rent peak is about 14 megawatts,
according to City Manager
Clarence Bryant.
Of the purchase, .865 megawatts
will be deferred until 2036 — dur
ing which it will be sold to third
parties. The five megawatts are
expected to be available to the
city in 2016-2017 as the two nucle
ar units come online.
“The first unit comes online in
2016, so I expect we’ll get half of
it the first year and the other half
the next,’’ Bryant said.
The cost of the purchase has not
been made public under a con
fidentiality agreement between
the partners and Westinghouse,
but should be released within a
couple of weeks, Bryant said.
“Plant Vogtle’s co-owners rep
resent communities throughout
Georgia, and we believe these col
lective decisions reflect the strong
support our co-owners share in
the proposed units,’’ said Mike
Garrett, Georgia Power president
and CEO.
“Through our participation in
this planned expansion of Plant
Vogtle, Oglethorpe Power and our
member EMCs are taking action
to help ensure that Georgians
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Council
Postpones
Meeting
To July 21
Walgreens Sign
Variance To Be
On The Agenda
By Mark Beardsley
With several of its members
attending a Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia meeting
next week, the Commerce City
Council has postponed its July
meeting by a week.
The council will meet
Monday July 21, at 6:30 p.m.
in the Commerce Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
It will face an extremely light
agenda, the highlight of which
will be four items sent to it
by the Commerce Planning
Commission.
Chief among those is
Walgreens’ request for a vari
ance in the city sign ordinance.
The planning commission has
recommended that the council
reject the store’s request for a
43-square-foot sign containing
an LED letterboard to be used
to market store sale items.
The city ordinance limits
signs to 24 square feet and
LED signs to just time and
temperature. There are just
two other LED signs in town.
At the work session, the
council appeared to be lean
ing strongly toward denying
the variance.
'This is probably one thing
Greg (Perry, chairman of
the planning commission)
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