Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
SEE PAGE IB
Cheer Tigers
Place Second
In State Meet
Lady Tiger Coach
Loses Arm
In Hunting Mishap
Vol. 133
No. 39
22 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Rep. Benton
On Outs
With Speaker
State Rep. Tommy
Benton figures he’ll pay a
price for opposing Speaker
of the House Glenn
Richardson Monday
in the Georgia House
Republican Caucus.
Benton backed David
Ralston’s bid to unseat
Richardson. It failed by
a surprisingly one-sided
vote of 75-25.
Benton, a Republican
who represents District
31, broke with Richardson,
author the failed “GREAT
Plan’’ for replacing
Georgia property taxes
with increased sales taxes,
following the last legisla
tive session. He cited the
distraction Richardson’s
controversial proposals
caused to the process in
the 2007 session.
That support for the
coup attempt will likely
cost him his job as sec
retary of the House
Education Committee.
Please Turn to Page 3A
THURSDAY, NOV. 13
Showers: Low, 54; high, 64;
60% chance rain
FRIDAY, NOV. 14
Few showers, low 47; high,
68; 30% chance rain
SATURDAY, NOV. 15
Partly cloudy, windy: Low, 32;
high, 59; 10% chance rain
SUNDAY, NOV. 16
Sunny: Low, 31; high, 54;
10% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 697.6 (full)
Bear Creek: 686.27 (11.33 feet
below full)
Rainfall this month
.25 inches
Rainfall This Year
40.52 Inches
INDEX
Births 8A
Church News 9A
Classified Ads 5-7B
Calendar 3 A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 1 2A
Opinions 4A
School News 8-1OA
Sports 1-4B
Social News 8A
Hospital To Cease Delivering Babies
BJC Can't Afford Money-Losing Service
During Hard Economic Times
By Mark Beardsley
Trying to shave its oper
ating deficit, BJC Medical
Center is closing its labor
and delivery services, leav
ing three doctors scram
bling to make alternative
arrangements for patients.
“December 9 is the abso
lute last day we will deliver
a baby,’’ announced CEO
Jim Yarborough.
The cutback includes clos
ing Commerce Women’s
Clinic, a hospital-owned OB
practice run by Dr. David
Sauls, whose contract with
BJC expires Dec. 9. The
move will also bring to an
end the delivery of babies
by doctors Bob Marshburn
and Beth Sullivan.
The move hits Sauls hard
est. He’s been working to
get 14 patients scheduled for
delivery into other facilities
in Gainesville and Athens.
“It was always more of a
community service here,’’
Sauls acknowledged. “It
never was a profitable
office for providing these
services.’’
Sauls said he’d realized
that the long-term outlook
for providing OB services
was at risk, but he’d figured
to get more notice if and
when the service was ter
minated .
“I had hoped that if this
were to happen, we would
have many months to work
things out instead of one
month,’’ he said.
Sauls, who works a couple
of shifts in the emergency
room, said he may do more
of that kind of work. He’s
ruled out starting a new
OB/GYN practice in anoth
er location, due to the cost.
Ridgeway Family Practice
and Medical Center Family
Practice are also affected.
Dr. Beth Sullivan said
she’s been busy reassuring
OB patients that Ridgeway
Family Practice can contin
ue to provide OB care. She’s
applied for emergency priv
ileges at Athens Regional
Medical Center. OB care
accounts to 30 percent of
her revenue, she noted.
“We are asking patients
that when they come in for
an appointment, we will dis
cuss what their options are,’’
said Sullivan. She reported
19 active OB patients.
Dr. Bob Marshburn of
Medical Center Family
Practice understands the
problem.
Cont. on Page 3A
Archie Chaney Sworn In
Archie D. Chaney Jr. takes the oath of office as
Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. looks on. Chaney was
installed as the Ward 2 councilman Monday night
after the Commerce City Council certified the
results of the special election held Nov. 4. Chaney
fills the unexpired term of Wayne Gholston, who
moved out of Ward 1. The term ends Dec. 31,
2009.
Commerce City Schools
Budget Woes Could
Hit Staff, Programs
By Ben Munro
If the state’s revenue short
fall dips to what one expert
expects it to, the budget ax
could fall on programs and
teachers at Commerce City
Schools next year.
'That’s where the money
is,’’ city schools superinten
dent Dr. James E. “Mac"
McCoy said as he passed
the unsettling news along
at the school board work
session Thursday. “Ninety
percent of our budget goes
to personnel. If you’re going
to save anything, that’s what
you got to look at.’’
At a recent Georgia
School Board Association
conference, McCoy heard
of a possible 6-10 percent
reduction in state funds to
schools next year due to a
$2 billion shortfall in state
revenue. The bearer of this
gloomy prediction was Alan
Essig, the executive director
of the Georgia Budget and
Policy Institute.
“He said 'There’s noth
ing out there showing me
anything different,”' McCoy
said.
“He was as full of doom
and gloom and anybody
could be,’’ McCoy added.
The superintendent noted
a three-percent cut that
school leaders have already
implemented in this year’s
budget for tough economic
times.
“We had already adjusted
our budget,’’ McCoy said. “I
think we’ll be OK if we have
to adjust a little bit more
with our general reserve.
“Next year is going to be a
different story.’’
And the different story
could mean making those
hard decisions regarding
personnel and programs —
if Essig’s grim predictions
come true.
McCoy said they “don’t
want to throw out the baby
with the bathwater,’’ but
would have to cut some-
Please Turn to Page 3A
Drought Continues, But
It's Not On Front Burner
A Little More Water, Lots More Experience
Keep Dry Weather Angst At Minimum
By Mark Beardsley
Three feet more water and a year’s expe
rience make a lot of difference.
Although the area remains mired in the
worst drought in state history, the angst
about reservoir levels and water restric
tions is nowhere near what it was just one
year ago.
On Nov. 7, 2007, the Bear Creek
Reservoir was 12.78 feet below full and
officials spoke in terms of the date at
which the regional reservoir would run
dry. Severe water restrictions were in
place among all four counties and Jackson
County was buying 600,000 gallons per
day (gpd) from Commerce to re-sell to
Jefferson, whose reservoir had run dry.
On Nov. 7, 2008, the Bear Creek
Reservoir was 9.68 feet below full, but no
one is talking about when the reservoir
might run dry. However, in early October
the four counties in the Upper Oconee
Basin Water Authority all went back to the
level four water restrictions imposed by
Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2007 but with little
fanfare compared to a year ago.
The area, if it has not acclimated to living
with a drought, has at least quit fearing its
consequences, thanks to a year of experi
ence.
“It’s having gone through this last year,’’
said Eric Klerk, manager of the county
water and sewerage authority. “A lot of
people acclimated to it. People are using
less water. They’re kind of in a mode of
conservation.’’
Jackson County is withdrawing substan
tially more water from the regional res
ervoir in 2008, however. A year earlier, it
was buying 600,000 gpd from Commerce,
mostly because it was trying to conserve
water in the regional reservoir. The author
ity eliminated exemptions from the state-
mandated water restrictions, cutting off
county water used for grading, paving,
power washing or hydroseeding. Overall
use is about the same as last year, Klerk
said.
Embroiled in a dispute over its allocation
from the regional reservoir, this year the
county water and sewerage authority feels
no sense of urgency about water levels at
Bear Creek.
Likewise, whereas last year, Gov. Sonny
Perdue and officials at the Environmental
Protection Division spoke frequently
about conserving water, that’s not the
case in 2008.
“It’s been very quiet with the EPD and
everybody,’’ confirmed Klerk.
The regional authority sends weekly
“drought updates’’ to its members, but
Klerk said they offer no projections about
the duration of water in the reservoir and
nothing about applying to the EPD for
another emergency pumping permit.
“I haven’t gotten anything for an
Operations Committee meeting this
month,’’ he added.
And while last year at this time State
Climatologist David Stooksbury accurate
ly predicted the drought would continue,
this year he is not so certain. There is even
some hope that it is easing.
“We think we’re slowly coming out of
drought, that we’re on an upturn and
slowly moving out,’’ said Klerk. “We’re
cautiously optimistic. That’s how I see it,
Please Turn to Page 3A
Color By Mother Nature
The fall leaves hit their peak locally last week, with brilliant shades of yel
low, red and orange in virtually every yard. Typical is this colorful landscape
in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. Burrell Taylor on Waterworks Road.
Photo by Mark Beardsley