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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