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THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 - PAGE 5A
Regional Water Group Wants Time To
Develop 'Comments' On Jefferson Permit
By Mark Beardsley
Over the objections of
Jackson County and the
city of Jefferson, the region
al water authority will ask
the state for more time to
“comment” on a proposal
to allow Jefferson to with
draw water from the North
Oconee River.
Board of commission
ers’ chair Pat Bell and
Jackson County Water and
Sewerage Authority man
ager Eric Klerk cast the
only dissenting votes as
the Upper Oconee Basin
Water Authority voted to
petition the Environmental
Protection Division for a
30-day extension of the
comment period, which
would have ended Monday,
Sept. 8.
While the authority’s spo
ken position is that it sup
ports Jefferson’s request to
take 4 million gallons per
day (mgd) to 5.6 mgd from
the river for its Parks Creek
Reservoir, the local view is
quite the opposite.
“Do you really feel like
we’re opposed to this?”
asked Barrow County
Commissioner Doug
Garrison.
“Yes,” replied Jefferson
Mayor Jim Joiner, who later
clarified: “We think Athens-
Clarke is opposed.”
Bell and Klerk later sup
ported Joiner’s contention.
In view of the Jackson
County/Jefferson del
egation, the 30-day exten-
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Kudos To Columnist
On The ‘Money Bath’
Editor:
I really believe it is
extremely difficult to
come up with a relevant
topic for a news column
each week. But Susan
Harper's "Let's All Take
a Money Bath" article
in the July 30 edition
of The Commerce News
seemed to be something
that flowed from the
heart. It was thought-
provoking and it project
ed someone truly con
cerned about her coun
try and the future of
its people and at best it
was reflective. You know,
many times it is better
to listen to the heart first
vs. struggling from our
minds.
Susan took time to
be reflective, yet for
ward looking to think
of what we are leaving
to the next generations.
With 68 million acres of
untapped domestic oil
fields, do we need to
contaminate our great
National Parks and our
coastal beach resources
or should we implement
a balanced energy plan
to free us from foreign
energy control. These
natural assets are pre
cious, delicate gifts that
should be passed on. I
took time to digest the
article and it contained a
"moral" tone that should
serve as a reminder and a
wake up call for all of us.
She reminds us that we
will be footing the bill
for the many Wall Street
chain of blunders and
this "love affair" with
heavy foreign borrowing
that has hurt our econo
my vs. giving America a
balanced trade policy to
insure a strong American
middle class.
This is one of Susan's
(A Few Facts) that I cut
out and saved to justify
my belief that silence
is not always golden.
Thank you Susan for a
great article. Keep up the
good work.
Jim Scott
Commerce
— On Fearing Fear
Cont. from Page 4A
of their encounters
with trypanophobia
patients any time the
word injection is used.
Claustrophobia, the fear
of confined spaces, is
commonly heard about,
as it xenophobia, the
fear of strangers. The
most uncommon pho
bia I've heard of is one
to which I hope I never
fall victim. It is hip-
popotomonstrosesqui-
ppedaliophobia, and if I
have spelled it correctly,
it has 36 letters. You see,
I am a sesquipedalian.
We all learn from or
teach by using fear. "If
you don't study you
will fail." "Don't touch
the stove. You'll get
burned." "I shouldn't
have gotten drunk."
We are all subjected to
the fear tactics used by
political parties who tell
us the dire circumstanc
es in which we will find
ourselves if we vote for
the other party. We are
swayed to buy products
to allay the fears of hav
ing an unpleasant odor,
dull looking teeth or
dandruff.
In saying "... nothing
to fear but fear itself,"
Roosevelt was giving
good advice. Fear can be
crippling, stunting and
irrational. On the other
hand, caution makes
a lot of sense. I will go
into the closet again
when the tornado siren
blows.
Claire Gaus is a retired
educator and volunteers
in the community in a
number of capacities. She
lives in Commerce.
On average, drivers who switched to
Allstate
saved $338 a year. Call me today.
JOEL A HARBIN, CIC
(706)387-5030
38 SYCAMORE ST
JEFFERSON
JoelHarbin@allstate.com
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sion is being requested
largely so Athens-Clarke
can produce additional
arguments in opposi
tion to the request. The
squabble comes against a
backdrop of a challenge
from Jackson County that
because the yield of the
regional reservoir is vastly
overstated, Athens-Clarke
and Oconee counties are
using Jackson’s water with
out paying for it.
Athens-Clarke Mayor
Heidi Davison and depu
ty manager Bobby Snipes
couched their concerns
over the proposed permit
in terms of its alleged effect
on the four-county region,
principally the Bear Creek
Reservoir.
That 505-acre impound
ment receives water
pumped from the Middle
Oconee River. Athens-
Clarke draws water from the
North and Middle Oconee
rivers. Those permits, said
Snipes, are linked to the
Bear Creek Reservoir in
that Athens-Clarke is not
allowed to withdraw from
the reservoir as long as
it can meet its needs via
the rivers. If Jefferson takes
4-5.6 mgd from the river,
the concern is that Athens-
Clarke would have to dip
into the reservoir sooner
in times of reduced stream
flows.
The only action at a called
meeting Friday morning
was to approve a letter from
authority chairman Melvin
Davis to the EPD asking
for the extension. While the
letter begins with language
saying the authority “fully
supports long-range plan
ning for water resources,”
it also asks the EPD to re
evaluate Jefferson’s request
in the context of Jackson
County’s allocation of water
from the reservoir.
Snipes argued that when
the four-county group peti
tioned for its permit to build
and operate the reservoir,
its yield was based on the
needs of the four counties
— including the cities.
“The state has been pretty
consistent that we take a
global view,” he said.
Bell disputed that conten
tion. She pointed out that
none of Jackson County’s
municipalities participated
in the reservoir project.
“We were floating this boat
alone,” she said. “We’re just,
gentlemen, trying to protect
our county and our needs.”
Joiner told the group, “It’s
apparent that the EPD real
izes the needs for addition
al reservoirs in this area,
or we wouldn’t have gotten
this far.”
Davison professed to be
“completely and utterly
perplexed” that the state,
would approve “patchwork
planning ... It bowls me over
that the EPD would approve
this. I don’t understand why
the EPD would encourage
this king of planning when
it seems so contrary (to
state policy).”
Representatives of
Barrow and Oconee coun
ties were less critical of
Jefferson’s request, prob
ably because both, like
Jackson, are in the midst of
ongoing efforts to create
their own reservoirs. After
at-large member Amrey
Harden of Oconee County
objected to the opposi
tional “tone” of the letter,
Chairman Melvin Davis
called a time-out and sent
representatives of all coun
ties into a huddle to soften
the wording.
Jefferson applied for the
permits nearly a decade
ago. At the time, it had a
letter from the basin author
ity stating that the authority
“voted unanimously to sup
port the city of Jefferson’s
permit application” as long
as it would not have “a
negative impact relative to
withdrawal permits” of the
authority and as long as the
permits are “contingent and
subsidiary” to minimum
stream flows and down
stream permits already
issued.
City manager John Ward
and engineer Don Baker
pointed out that the pending
permit requires Jefferson to
meet the minimum stream
flow and to have no impact
on those downstream with
drawal permits.
Maysville Gets Closer To
Work Starting On Project
By Justin Poole
Residents of Maysville are
a step closer to seeing work
started on the transporta
tion enhancement (TE)
streetscape project. The
project began late in 2006
and amid state holdups at
the DOT level and right-of-
way issues. The project has
slowly continued.
William Shealy of the
Jaeger Company attended
Monday’s city council meet
ing to update the council
and residents on the prog
ress and what is left to
accomplish.
“We have our design plans
off to GDOT for review,”
said Shealy. “Within the
next three weeks, we should
be able to finalize the plans,
hopefully, we will have final
plans by the end of the
month.”
Shealy also said that one
continuing issue would be
the 50-foot right-of-way with
the railroad. If the railroad
is unwilling to work with the
project, Shealy suggested
that the sidewalk be extend
ed along Hwy 98.
The next steps are to
check on right-of-way certi
fications or easements than
proceed into the construc
tion phase, including final
izing plans and bid docu
ments. Shealy said that he
hopes the project is out to
bid by the first of the year
and that Maysville residents
would see work beginning
in the spring.
Downtown
Development
In an attempt to clarify
the confusion over the cur
rent legality of the DDA,
city attorney Gary Freeman
informed the council that
he had spoke with the GMA
and also an unaffiliated
party to seek an opinion
on the wording that four
of the seven officers must
have an economic inter
est in the downtown. The
same matter was the main
topic at the DDA meeting
before the council meet
ing. According to Freeman,
the term economic inter
est applies to people who
either own a business or
operate a business in the
downtown area, which is
currently set as the entire
city area. Melody Stancil,
chairperson of the DDA,
requested that Freeman
send a copy of his opin
ion to her for the DDA’s
records. Mayor Jerry Baker
said that it was his goal
to push forward and work
with the DDA for the bet
terment of Maysville.
Other Business
During Monday’s meet
ing, the city council took
the following actions:
• approved annexation of
property in industrial park
and voted to not have com
mercial businesses pay for
the fire line flat monthly
rate charge, so commercial
business will only pay for
water usage.
• accepted bids for a
lawn mower, $3,247.27
from Wesley’s Farm and
Garden; weedeater, $244.86
from James Short Tractor
Supply. Other bids included
$3,257.34 on the mower from
James Short Tractor Supply
and $263.45 on the weedeat
er from Swineharts.
• accepted a bid for
water lines upgrades along
Cemetery Street, $21,412
from Dale Construction
Company to be paid out
of SPLOST funds from
Jackson County. Another
bid from Griffin Brothers
Inc. was for $24,185.
• approved the transfer of
city accounts to Community
Bank and Trust, once the
bank opens.
• appointed Steve Hart
as the Ward 1 member of
Planning and Zoning.
•approved $800 for a
“Doc Holiday shootout”
show during the festival.
•approved the resolution
to approve the community
agenda element of the com
prehensive plan for the city.
•Freeman told the coun
cil that the Maysville Family
Practice is currently an at
will lease and the council
can take any action pro
vided it supplies 60 days
notice in compliance with
landlord/renter laws.
• clarified the process
for attaining a business or
peddler license for Sasha
Morris, Deborah Carlton-
Vasquez and Calidonna
Salon.
•clarified that the Dollar
General had not asked for
a variance to erect a free
standing sign taller than 10
feet and that the business
would be notified to com
ply with current laws con
cerning signage.
DID YOU KNOW?
By Preacher Clint
DID YOU KNOW THAT
GOD LOVES YOU MORE
THAN YOU LOVE
YOURSELF? GOD form man
from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life and man became a living soul.
(Gen. 2:7) Man was created in
GOD’S own image, with a soul, a
spirit and a body. Because Man is
soul, he has self consciousness,
Because he is spirit, he is capable of
GOD consciousness and commun
ication with GOD, Because he is
body he has through his senses
world consciousness. GOD created
man for fellowship (Gen. 3:8) When
Adam disobeyed that fellowship was
broken, But GOD came searching for
Adam and restored that fellowship
through the shedding of blood.
Send comments to
Clinton Sexton
116 Ashland Drive
Commerce, GA 30529
Stay Off
His Property
Sans Warrant
By Chris Bridges
A Nicholson citizen
let it be known during
Monday’s council meeting
if someone was going to
enter his property they’d
best have a warrant.
Tim Venable told Mayor
Ronnie Maxwell and mem
bers of the city council
that while he hated it had
come to this, he could not
go along with the word
ing of a recently approved
ordinance which allowed
city code enforcement to
enter someone’s property
for any reason at all.
“I asked you to change the
wording of this,” Venable
said. “I have to protect our
rights as homeowners. I
do not want to cause a
problem and I am not say
ing anyone of you would
do this. However, there
will come a day when this
mayor and council will not
be here.”
Venable said he was
serving notice if someone
wants to enter his prop
erty they must have a war
rant.
City attorney Rob
Russell said the ordinance
was taken from the code
of Georgia and said other
agencies the county health
department had the right
to enter his property.
Venable argued that no
one has the right to enter
his property without a
warrant.
CROSS COUNTRY...On Sat., Aug.
30th, the annual Northeast
Georgia cross country champ
ionship meet was hosted by ACS at
the scenic ACS cross country
course and directed by ACS cross
country coach, Tim Cummings.
Over 1000 runners from 25 area
schools took part in the meet.
Led by ninth grader, Mary Echols,
the ACS Lady Eagles won the Class
A Championship. Junior, Colin
Bishoff, one of Northeast
Georgia’s premier distance runners,
claimed first place in the boys’
competition, despite running with a
stress fracture in his right shin.
Congratulations to all. Cross
country runners and all of our ACS
sport programs are working hard.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristian.com
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706-367-5233