Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 133
No. 46
16 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Big New
Year's Party
Is Tonight
The Commerce Area
Business Association
will throw a huge New
Year’s party tonight
(Wednesday).
The group expects
upwards of 400 people to
turn out to the Commerce
Civic Center for its annu
al New Year’s party and
dance.
It’s expected to be the
biggest New Year’s party
in Northeast Georgia, and
the CABA hopes it will be
a profitable fund-raiser as
well.
The Jesters, an Athens
group that grew into
prominence in the 1960s
and has both a wide rep
ertoire and a local follow
ing, will provide the music
from 8:30 to 12:30.
Tickets are $25 per
person at the door. It’s a
BYOB event, with setups,
decorations and light hors
d’oeuvres provided.
No one under age 21
will be admitted.
Dinner Too
The CABA will also
offer a pre-party dinner in
the Commerce Room of
the civic center, catered
by Kay Daniels of the
Telford-Burns House. It
starts at 6:30, but reser
vations have been closed
out.
THURSDAY, JAN. 1
Sunny: Low, 34; high, 47;
0% chance rain
FRIDAY, JAN. 2
Showers: Low, 30; high, 52;
60% chance rain
SATURDAY, JAN. 3
Sunny: Low, 30; high, 52;
0% chance rain
SUNDAY, JAN. 4
Sunny: Low, 34; high, 53;
0% chance rain
Reservoir Levels
Commerce: 698.1 (.5 feet
above full)
Bear Creek: 694.23 (.77 feet
below full)
Rainfall this month
5.12 inches
Rainfall This Year
47.64 Inches
INDEX
Births 4B
Church News 7A
Classified Ads 6-7B
Calendar 3 A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 8A
Opinions 4-5A
School News 5B
Sports 1-3B
Social News 4B
Legislature Convenes Jan. 12
Rep. Benton: No Punishment From Speaker
JACK!
AREA CH
District 31 Rep. Tommy Benton says Georgia
House Speaker Glenn Richardson has promised
there will be no repercussions for the 25 House
members — including Benton — who support
ed Rep. David Ralston over Richardson in the
Republican Caucus.
By Mark Beardsley
It appears that State Rep.
Tommy Benton (R-District
31) will suffer no ramifica
tions from his support for a
challenger to Speaker of the
House Glenn Richardson.
Benton backed Rep. David
Ralston’s bid to unseat
Richardson, who was a
lightning rod for criticism
of the Georgia House of
Representatives last year.
Richardson prevailed
75-25 in the Republican
Caucus.
Benton met recently with
Richardson.
“I just went by and told
him where I was coming
from and there wasn’t any
thing personal about it,”
Benton said. “He told me
there was not going to be
any repercussions against
us, that we would keep the
same committees and offic
es.”
Benton is secretary of the
Education Committee and
serves on the Environmental,
National Resources and
Transportation committees.
“I was surprised,” he said
of Richardson’s comments.
Benton also said
Richardson indicated he
may be a lower profile
speaker of the House this
year.
“He made the statement he
was going to stay away from
legislation,” said Benton.
Richardson created a
firestorm of controversy
last year with his GREAT
Plan to eliminate property
taxes. The plan was eventu
ally killed.
The legislature will have
enough to do without cre
ating new controversy. It
must cut the state budget
to accommodate reduced
revenue from an economy
in recession.
The 2009 session begins
Monday, Jan. 12, and while
the budget is always a chal
lenge, this year could be
brutal.
“Instead of us going in
and trying to find money
for different projects, we’re
going to be looking to cut
everything not just absolute
ly essential,” said Benton.
“There will be a lot of look
ing at what the state govern
ment needs to be doing.”
Benton points out that
funding for education “does
not meet our (state) obliga
tion” and expressed some
hope that this year might be
the time to renew that com
mitment. At the same time,
he said, “something has got
to be done in the medical
area.”
While both the House
and Senate appropriations
committees are already at
work, the real starting point
Cont. on Page 3A
Commerce Joins
Natural Gas
Marketing Effort
2008: Looking Back
One of the more gripping images of 2008: Commerce residents line the
streets as the body of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Shaun Whitehead was
escorted through town. Whitehead, who was killed April 24, was Jackson
County’s first Iraq War fatality. Photo by Ben Munro
What Else? The Economy
Is Top Story Of The Year
ForeclosuresBankruptcies, Budget Cuts
Bring National Economy Home To Jackson
As 2008 slips into the
history books, it doesn’t
take a genius to figure
out what it will be remem
bered for. 2008 will go
down in history as the
year the economy tanked,
beginning the worst
recession since the Great
Depression.
From record numbers of
mortgage foreclosures to
the closing of businesses,
the economy made not
just the national and state
news, but played a huge
role on Main Street as
well.
Thus the economy is
ranked the Number 1
story in The Commerce
News during 2008.
For years, growth has
been a Top 5 story in the
pages of The Commerce
News, but that stopped
abruptly this year as
developers began shutting
down and foreclosures
picked up, particularly in
the third quarter.
Locally, Simpson
Brick and Norcross
Electric Service (NES)
closed local opera
tions. Louisiana Pacific
announced a shutdown.
Business at the Jackson
County Planning &
Development office trick
led to a stop, and few
building permits are being
issued anywhere.
It didn’t help any that
gasoline prices hit $4.50
a gallon, but even when
prices fell after the
General Election, the
economy was in a deep
funk. Overall, foreclosures
in Jackson County were
up 57 percent.
Local governments,
like local businesses, are
cutting back. Commerce
has implemented spend
ing and hiring freezes,
schools are bracing for
more state funding cuts
and city and county gov
ernments are seeing their
sales tax revenue fall.
Number 2:
BJC Medical Center
The Number 2 story
is directly related. BJC
Medical Center’s for
tunes are closely tied to
the economy, and by the
end of the year, the BJC
Medical Center Authority
found itself trying to find
a buyer for a beleaguered
institution.
Things began to go
downhill when the hos
pital’s general surgeon,
Dr. Keith Ash, resigned
in May, but the economy
was already turning black
ink into red for the facili
ty. With fewer people hav
ing insurance — or even
jobs — an already-stressed
facility found itself with a
lot of uncollectible debt.
In fact, the most recent
audit is several months
overdue as BJC officials
and the auditor dicker
over just how much bad
debt there is.
That, in turn, could
weigh heavily on the
hospital’s chances of lur
ing a “partner” to take
over the facility and build
a new hospital. A new
group, Doctors Hospital
of Georgia, has expressed
an interest in acquiring
BJC and building a new
hospital on the Maysville
Road pending a close
look at the facility, includ
ing its financial status.
Number 3:
New High School
At Number 3 is the
construction — or lack
thereof — of the new
Commerce High School.
Originally scheduled for
a groundbreaking in late
spring, the project was
delayed yet again, this
time by controversy over
the construction of the
gymnasium (s) for the
Cont. on Page 5A
By Mark Beardsley
Commerce’s Gas
Department has joined
a nationwide coalition to
promote the use of natural
gas for home heating and
home water heating.
The Council for
Responsible Energy Use
(CRE) advocates the use of
natural gas over electricity
as a “green” approach to
energy use. It is made up
of 190 energy suppliers.
Commerce’s gas system
was established in the
1950s. It has more than
2,300 customers in four
counties (Banks, Clarke,
Jackson and Madison). It
is also the city’s most prof
itable enterprise, although
the closing of the Louisiana
Pacific OSB plant in Center
put a dent in sales.
“Energy is high on the
list of consumer concerns
these days, and when you
consider our nation’s eco
nomic situation, there’s
never been a better time
to help educate consum
ers about value, benefits,
and savings of natural gas,”
said natural gas superin
tendent Jim Eubanks in a
news release from CRE.
“Natural gas is the sensible
and responsible energy
choice for certain applica
tions, like home and water
It’s not too early to be
thinking about what to do
with your Christmas tree
when the holidays are
over.
Keep Jackson County
Beautiful will offer Bring
One for the Chipper
Christmas tree recycling
at the following locations
from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
through Jan. 3. Those who
drop a tree off can pick up
a seedling for their yard
from volunteers.
The locations are:
• Arcade — City Hall
heating, and our associa
tion with the Council for
Responsible Energy will
help us get the word out.”
Associating with CRE
gives Commerce access
to campaign materials pro
moting the benefits of natu
ral gas and featuring HGTV
host Carter Oosterhouse.
CRE will provide informa
tion on creating more ener
gy efficient homes with
out sacrificing comfort or
quality, its Web site — www.
ComfortableResponsible.
org — offers information
on the benefits of natural
gas for homes and busi
nesses, and in the near
future the Web site will
offer a “carbon calculator”
so consumers can assess
the carbon footprints of
their residences.
According to CRE, the
carbon footprint of a home
utilizing natural gas for
heating and heating water
is 46 percent smaller than
that of a home using elec
tricity for the same pur
poses.
“Many studies have
shown that the use of nat
ural gas appliances can
deliver on global climate
change objectives now and
over the long term,” says
Cont. on Page 3A
• Commerce — Lanier
Tech/Badcock Center.
(However, trees put out on
the curb by city residents
will also wind up as mulch,
ground up with leaves and
other yard wastes at the old
city dump.)
• Braselton/Hoschton -
Towne Center
•Jackson County
Transfer Station on County
Farm Road
•Jefferson — Civic
Center
•Nicholson — City Hall
• Talmo — Fire Station
Group Asks Citizens To
Recycle Christmas Trees