Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE 9A
SEE PAGE IB
'08 Tigers To
Hit The Field
This Friday
East Jackson Middle
School Gets
A New Principal
Vol. 133
No. 24
24 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
JULY 30, 2008
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
June Debt
Pushes BJC
Into Red Ink
By Mark Beardsley
What a difference a month
makes.
Thirty days ago, officials
predicted that Banks-Jackson-
Commerce Medical Center
would end its 2007-08 fiscal
year $124,000 in the black.
But on Monday, Finance
Director Bill Williams put the
year-end estimate at $197,000
in the red — a number he said
could climb with audit adjust
ments.
“We had more bad debt,
$650,000, and charity care,
$150,000 in June," Williams
explained. “We had a much
worse month in June than we
anticipated.”
Williams expects the explo
sion of un-reimbursed health
care to continue. He increased
the amount budgeted for bad
debt and charity care in the
2008-09 fiscal year, which
began July 1, by two percent,
to 12 percent.
“It’s hitting all the hospitals,"
said Williams. “We are in an
economic slump. People are
losing their jobs and losing
their health insurance. I don’t
see an end to it right now; it
will get worse before it gets
better."
Please Turn to Page 3A
THURSDAY FRIDAY
Scattered T-storms: Mostly sunny:
Low, 70; high, 88; Low, 69; high, 94;
40% chance rain 20% chance rain
SATURDAY SUNDAY
/ L J
Mostly sunny: Mostly sunny:
Low, 69; high, 92; Low, 69; high, 94;
20% chance rain 20% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.5 (.1 feet above full)
Bear Creek: 693.4 (1.6 feet below full)
Rainfall this month
4.20 inches
Rainfall This Year
28.95 Inches
INDEX
Births 6B
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 1-4C
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6-7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 4B
Opinions 4-5 A
School News 9A
Sports 1-3B
Social News 6-7B
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
General Primary Runoff Election Is Tuesday
Who'll Show Up To Vote?
2 Local Races Hang In The Balance From Primary Where Less Than 20% Voted
Jackson County voters will
select a chairman of the board
of commissioners and will help
choose a new district attorney
for the Piedmont Judicial Circuit
Tuesday.
But the question is who will
turn out to vote in the primary
runoff elections? Less than 20
percent of the county’s registered
voters turned out for the June 15
primaries, which suggests turn
out could be even lower for the
runoff.
Advance voting is under
way at the Jackson County
Administrative Building,
Jefferson, through this week.
Voting will take place from
Bicknell Johnson
7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday in
all Jackson County voting pre
cincts. Both the South Minish
precinct (at the J. Nolan Spear
Public Safety, Complex, South
Elm Street) and the North Minish
precinct (at the Commerce
Recreation Department’s Carson
Street office) will be open.
There are only two local races,
both on the Republican ballot.
Front-runner Hunter Bicknell
and Ron Johnson will fight for
the chairmanship of the board
of commissioners. Bicknell led
Johnson 2,393-1,757 in the GOP
primary. Both are from West
Jackson. Tony Beatty finished a
close third at 1,602 votes.
In the district attorney’s
case, Donna Sikes faces Brad
Smith. Sikes polled 5,129 votes
to Smith’s 4,820, while incum
bent Rick Bridgeman came in
third with 4,666. Sikes is from
Jefferson, Smith from Barrow
Sikes Smith
County, and voters in Jackson,
Banks and Barrow counties will
participate in the runoff elec
tion.
The winners of those two races
face no Democratic opposition
in the fall.
The Republican Party runoff
is open to all voters who partici
pated in the Republican Primary
and to voters who did not vote in
either primary July 15.
Those who voted in the
Democratic Primary can vote
in the Democratic primary
runoff, which features only
one race, a runoff between
Vernon Jones and Jim Martin
for the right to face Saxby
Chambliss in November for
the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic primary runoff
is open to all voters who voted in
the Democratic Primary July 15,
and also to registered voters who
did not vote at all July 15.
Going Back In Time
Work began this week on the first of two phas
es of the renovation of Shubert and Company’s
South Broad Street office. Owner Don Shubert
checks on the progress of work by Lee Greene,
Cameron Fitzpatrick and Lamar Wilbanks in
removing the wooden awning as the first step
in a process designed to restore the building
as close as possible to its original style and
condition. The project includes removing the
awning and aluminum shingles above it, re
pointing brick, and hopefully restoring upper-
floor windows. A second phase is planned for
the restoration of the brick wall on the side.
When the work is done, every building in that
block of South Broad Street will have been
restored.
Middle School
Makes AYP
CMS Makes 'Adequate Yearly Progress'
For The First Time In Three Years
By Mark Beardsley
As the new school is about
to begin, the Commerce City
School System received official
notice that it had met a major
goal of the past school year.
Commerce Middle School, for
the first time in three years, met
adequate yearly progress (AYP)
under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act.
The city system as a whole
— and its other three schools —
also made AYP.
The key at CMS was getting
math scores up for special edu
cation students. That’s where
CMS failed for two years, and if
a school fails one of the 10 cat
egories, it fails to meet AYP.
Meeting AYP was perhaps the
system’s biggest goal, and cer
tainly that of Chuck Bell, who
took over as principal a year
ago.
But Bell wasn’t ready to take
credit for the improvement.
“Lots of great things were going
on before I arrived," he said.
“The students and the teachers
are the ones that deserve all the
credit for making AYP this year.
I’m really proud of what was
accomplished there and hope it
is a precursor to future achieve
ment."
Bell had been confident since
late May that the school would
meet the goal, but was relieved
nonetheless last week when
the Department of Education
posted the results and it was
official.
The measurement was a little
different this year. The state
included passing marks of stu
dents who flunked a test in
spring but passed it as a make
up exam.
“We had a significant number
of eighth graders pass the math
test on the re-take," Bell said. “I
was real pleased with the eighth
grade progress there."
The school would have met
AYP even had the re-takes not
been counted, Bell pointed out.
Had the school failed for the
third year in a row, CMS would
have had to offer some kind
of “supplemental services" to
kids aimed at improving their
performance. That would prob
ably be tutoring, and Bell points
out that recent research shows
that the costly “supplemental
services" are having negligible
impact on CRCT scores.
He seeks bigger improve
ments.
“AYP is a goal, but there is a
heck of a lot more to having a
world class school than meet
ing AYP requirements," he said.
“Even though we did meet that
criteria, our special ed students
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City Planning Commission Stands Behind Walgreens' Recommendation
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce City Council may be on
the fence about granting a variance in the
city’s sign ordinance for Walgreens, but
the Commerce Planning Commission is
not.
The planners, who make recommenda
tions on land use and zoning matters for
the city council, reaffirmed their opposi
tion to the variance Monday night.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to stand your
ground," said Chairman Greg Perry. “If we
approve this, we won’t have a sign ordi
nance."
“I agree," said member Johnny Eubanks.
The one member of the group who at
the June meeting supported Walgreens’
request, Joe Leffew, was absent for the July
28 meeting.
Walgreens seeks a 43-square-foot sign
with an electronic letterboard. The city
ordinance limits the sign to 25 square feet
and limits letterboards to showing time and
temperature. Walgreens plans to use its let
terboard for advertising.
The planning commission voted 4-1 to
recommend that the city council deny the
request, but at its July 14 meeting the coun
cil tabled the issue amid what appeared
to be some support for granting the vari
ance.
At that time, the developer of the site
at the corner of North Broad Street and
Homer Road listed several other variances
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