Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
Tigers Start
Practice For
The 2008 Season
SEE PAGES 6A, 4-5B
It's Back To School
Thursday In Commerce
And Jackson County
Vol. 133
No. 25
20 Pages
3 Sections
Wednesday
AUGUST 6, 2008
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Maysville
To Seek 5
New Wells
By Justin Poole
Maysville is preparing to
develop five new wells to sup
plement its drinking water sup-
ply.
At Monday’s meeting, the
city council approved letting
Chip McGaughey from EMI
proceed with the first phase of
a five-phase well development
program. The total cost will be
approximately $404,000. The
project is expected to be com
pleted in 18 months.
The council wants to pay for
the project as the funds are
available and as the different
phases of the project become
ready.
According to McGaughey,
the first phase is for a hydro
geologist to locate potential
well sites and to contact the
property owners and have the
city work on gaining access
to the locations. Depending
on the cooperation of property
owners, that phase could be
complete in as little as two
months.
Council member Stephen
Lewis asked McGaughey
if the city could pay for the
project as each phase came
up. McGaughey said that that
could be done so that the city
Please Turn to Page 3A
W
THURSDAY FRIDAY
6*t
Scattered T-storms: Isolated T-storms:
Low, 68; high, 92; Low, 65; high, 87;
40% chance rain 30% chance rain
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
w
Partly cloudy: Partly cloudy:
Low, 64; high, 90; Low, 69; high, 91;
20% chance rain 20% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.4 (.2 feet below full)
Bear Creek: 692.9 (2.1 feet below full)
Rainfall this month
.4 inches
Rainfall This Year
18.65 Inches
Births
. . . 7B
Church News . . .
. . . 6B
Classified Ads . . .
. . 1-4C
Calendar
. . . 3A
Crime News . . . .
. . . 7A
News Roundup . .
. . . 2A
Obituaries
. . . 8A
Opinions
. . . 4A
School News. . . .
. . 4-5 B
Sports
. . 1-3B
Social News . . . .
. . 7-8 B
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 706387-5435
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
Bicknell Wins Chairman's Race;
2008 Smith Prevails For District Attorney
Jackson County voters elected
West Jackson resident Hunter
Bicknell as chairman of the Board
of Commissioners Tuesday night.
And voters in Jackson, Barrow
and Banks counties elected assis
tant district attorney Brad Smith
as their new district attorney.
Bicknell, the front-runner in
the July 15 primary, captured 60
percent of the vote in beating
Hoschton resident Ron Johnson
2,648-1,788.
Bicknell had polled 41 percent
of the July 15 vote. He received
2,393 votes to 1,757 for Johnson
and 1,602 for former commission
er Tony Beatty.
Bicknell carried both the South
Minish and North Minish districts
Tuesday en route to victory.
“I’m just real pleased the voters
have spoken and decided they
would like for me to be the one to
lead the board of commissioners
for the next four years,’’ Bicknell
said Tuesday night. “I plan to work
real hard and just prove myself
BOC Chairman
Bicknell
2,648
Johnson
1,788
District Attorney
Sikes
4,218
Smith
5,502
worthy of their confidence in me.’’
Some 18.36 percent of Jackson
County’s registered voters partici
pated.
District
Attorney
Barrow resi
dent Brad
Smith parlayed
a second-place
finish July 15
into a relatively
easy victory in
Tuesday’s run
off.
Sikes carried Banks County,
but Smith won both Jackson and
/
Bicknell
Smith
Barrow coun
ties to put
away Donna
Golden Sikes,
5,502-4,218.
That race
became par
ticularly bitter
when Sikes
attempted to
link Smith to
former DA
Please Turn to Page 2A
Rabies Scare Has Happy
Ending For Commerce Boy
Nicholson Votes
To Establish A
Kyle Welch poses with kittens Miriam and Abigail, surving
siblings of a six-week old kitten whose behavior led officials to
believe it was rabid.
CDC Foul-Up Brings
11-Year-Old Within
Minutes Of Starting
Rabies Treatment
By Mark Beardsley
An 11-year-old Commerce boy
came within minutes of under
going treatment for rabies when
officials misplaced the head of
a kitten sent to the Centers for
Disease Control to be tested for
rabies.
But an insistent emergency
room doctor intervened, the CDC
tracked down the misplaced pack
age, and the test turned out nega
tive for rabies.
Kyle Welch, to say the least, was
greatly relieved.
“I didn’t want to get the shots,’’
he said at about 5:00 Friday as
he cuddled Miriam and Abigail,
surviving siblings of the six-week
old kitten whose bite started the
whole scare.
Kyle’s mother, Amy, had stopped
at a house on Old Kings Bridge
Road Sunday, July 27, where “free
kittens’’ were offered. She picked
up three, brought them home to
the Welch’s A-frame house on
Park Street and fed them.
“About two hours later, one
was staggering around like it
was drunk, started dragging its
hind legs and was foaming at the
mouth,’’ she recalled.
The next morning before they
could get the animal to the veteri
narian, the kitten bit Kyle, punc
turing the skin.
Veterinarians at Commerce
Veterinary Hospital suspected
rabies, but the only way to tell for
sure is to kill the suspect animal
and ship its head to the Centers
for Disease Control for determi
nation.
“They told us it would be two
or three days and someone from
the health department would call
me and answer questions,’’ Mrs.
Welch said.
That’s the normal protocol,
explained Dr. Kinsey Phillips of
Commerce Veterinary Hospital.
“Normally, if it is negative, they
may notify us in two days. If
it’s positive, they notify us pretty
much immediately,’’ he said. He
added that “suspicion was high’’
that the Welch’s kitten was rabid.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Municipal Court
By Brandon Reed
The City of Nicholson now
has a municipal court.
The city council voted unani
mously Monday night to
approve an ordinance allowing
for a judge, clerk and associated
personnel needed to operate the
court. The court is to adjudicate
the enforcement of ordinances
in the city.
The city also has made a
change to its code enforcement
officer’s position. The council
had hired Dan Crumley for that
position back in April.
But Mayor Ronnie Maxwell
said Monday night that an agree
ment couldn’t be reached in
making the position full or part
time, so Crumley resigned.
“It was amiable,’’ Maxwell said
Monday night. “He had a differ
ent vision for the position than
we had.”
Maxwell said Ivan Spindola,
who has worked as an officer
for Gainesville and Hall County,
has been hired to take the part
time position. Spindola will work
with the city building inspector
in enforcing the city’s codes.
Maxwell said he hopes the
position will be operating by
September.
Also on Monday night,
Maxwell announced that he and
city attorney Rob Russell will
look into the legal requirements
for zoning and that he expects to
start basic discussions regarding
zoning in the next few months.
“I am not asking for compli
cated and confusing zoning,’’
Maxwell said. “Just some basic
zoning we can all agree upon so
we can enforce our ordinances
in a fair and impartial manner.’’
Other Business
The council also voted unani
mously to approve a minimum
housing standards ordinance.
The ordinance will take the place
of several ordinances already in
place. It also defines enforce
ment, complaints, investigations
and penalties.
Three new ordinances had
their first reading Monday night.
Russell introduced the ordinanc
es, which includes defining the
authority the city has in the
building and maintaining of
streets and that anyone working
in the right-of-way on the side
walks will have to be properly
permitted by the city.
The first reading of an ordi
nance defining the rules and
procedures for city council
meetings and public hearings
was also held. The ordinance
outlines how the council can
meet and establishes the proce
dures the council will follow for
meetings.
The third ordinance establish
es the city’s open records policy.
Russell said the city will adopt
the state’s open record policy.
Walgreens' Sign Variance (Again) On City Council Agenda
The Commerce City Council
appears ready to split the baby
on the longstanding Walgreens
request for a sign variance. The
matter will be on the agenda
for Monday night’s city council
meeting at 6:30 in the Commerce
Room of the Commerce Civic
Center — as it has been for the
past several meetings. The issue
was most recently tabled from
the July 21 meeting.
Based on comments by coun-
cilmen at Monday’s work ses
sion, the council seems prepared
to allow Walgreens the electronic
letterboard sign it wants — but
to limit the total signage to the
24 square feet required in the
ordinance.
Walgreens’ latest proposal was
for a 43-square-foot sign that
included the digital letterboard.
The compromise on the let
terboard is that it would not be
restricted to time and tempera
ture as required by the ordinance.
That is based on a purported
statement from City Attorney
John Stell that the city cannot
restrict the content of such a sign
once it is approved.
But what happens at coun
cil work sessions often stays
at work sessions, so Monday
night’s comments aren’t neces
sarily accurate predictors of next
Monday’s action. Nonetheless,
council members appeared will
ing to stand on the 24-square-
foot maximum sign.
“They have hundreds of dif
ferent signs and some of them
would fit in our ordinance,’’
observed Mayor Pro Tem Dusty
Slater.
“There’s signs out there
they can go with that will fit
our ordinance,’’ agreed Ward 1
Councilman Wayne Gholston.
“They just want what they want.’’
“They ought to stay within the
ordinance and let them have a
digital board within the 24 square
feet,’’ said Ward 4 Councilman
Please Turn to Page 3A
Construction on the newWalgreens continues as the Commerce
City Council mulls how to respond to the company’s request for
a larger sign than allowed by the city’s sign ordinance.