Newspaper Page Text
BOATS ON BEAR CREEK?
It Could Happen: Contract May Be Let On Long-Awaited Construction
Of Boat Ramp On Bear Creek Reservoir: Page 5A
SWEET SUCCESS
Tiger Wrestlers Win Vidalia Sweet
Onion Classic: Page IB
Vol. 133
No. 51
16 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Nicholson
Sends New
Charter To
Legislature
By Sharon Hogan
The Nicholson City
Council unanimously
approved the final read
ing and adoption of the
new city charter night.
Before it becomes official,
it must be approved by the
General Assembly.
The document was to
have been delivered to
Sen. Tom McCall Tuesday
city attorney Rob Russell
said.
The big change in the
new charter is the move to
staggered council terms,
Mayor Ronnie Maxwell
said. The other major
change is the old charter
had some contradictions
in the wording.
“In one place the old
charter would say one
thing and in another place
it would say something
else," Maxwell said.
Other Matters
In other business at
Monday’s meeting:
• The council unani-
Please Turn to Page 3A
cmm
THURSDAY, FEB. 5
Sunny: Low, 26; high, 46;
0% chance rain
FRIDAY, FEB. 6
Sunny: Low, 31; high, 60;
0% chance rain
SATURDAY, FEB. 7
Mostly sunny, 39; high, 62;
10% chance rain
SUNDAY, FEB. 8
Partly cloudy: Low, 42; high,
65; 10% chance rain
Percipitation this month
.10 inches
Percipitation This Year
3.89 Inches
INDEX
Births 8 A
Church News 3B
Classified Ads 6-8B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7A
Obituaries 4-5B
Opinions 4A
School News 2A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 8A
Proposed Electric Rate Schedule
Contains Small Residential Hike
Vote Monday Night On Move Expected To Generate fust $21,000 More Annually For City
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce City
Council expects to approve
a new schedule of electric
rates Monday night. The
council meets at 6:30 in the
Commerce Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
The new rates would
increase the city’s net
income from electricity
sales by about $21,000 a
year, said John Lansing,
of the Municipal Electric
Authority of Georgia
(MEAG), which buys and
generates electricity on
behalf of Commerce and
other member cities. The
overall increase is less than
one percent.
Residential customers
will pay 1.9 percent more
for electricity if the rates
are adopted, but most of
that will come on the bills
of high-end users of more
than 2,000 kilowatt hours a
month, noted city manager
Clarence Bryant.
“Those using 600 to 700
kwh a month, and we have
a lot, we leave a lot (of
money) on the table to pro
tect our residential custom
ers,’’ Bryant said.
The largest change in res
idential rates occurs with
customers who use 3,000
kwh a month. They could
see their bills increase by
$45, Lansing explained.
Overall, the rate change
would increase the profit
from residential electric
sales by $54,000 a year.
Residential Rate Comparison
Winter Summer
KWH
Use
Current
Proposed
Current
Proposed
500
$49
49
49
49
750
$69
68.50
72.25
74.50
1,000
$89
88
96.50
100
2,000
$163
162
202.50
210
3,000
$239
236
308.50
320
Profits off demand bill
ing customers will fall by
$26,000 and those from
large customers would go
down $34,000.
The structure also moves
the city’s dual-season struc
ture from five months of
“summer’’ rates and seven
of slightly lower “winter’’
rates to six months of each.
Under the proposed sched
ule, someone using 750 kwh
during the winter months
would pay $68.50, com
pared to $69 under the cur-
Please Turn to Page 3A
Layoffs Pushing More
People To Lanier Tech
Trend Expected To Continue; Workers Try To
Improve Their SkillsTook To Other Careers
Displays At
library To
Be Curtailed
By Mark Beardsley
The collection bins for the
Banks-Jackson Emergency
Hospital are out. So is the
box for collecting used eye
glasses for the Commerce
Lions Club.
Under a new policy being
forced upon it by the state,
the Commerce Public
Library will no longer dis
play materials associated
with charities or service
organizations — except those
tied to city county, state and
federal governments.
“That’s awful,’’ said Anne
Rogers, vice chairman of the
Commerce Library Board
when members learned
of the new policy Jan. 26.
Other members echoed her
sentiments.
The new policy is a result
Please Turn to Page 3A
By Mark Beardsley
Ashley Hulsey deals
with diabetics, asthmat
ics and children with
epilepsy She administers
medications, from shots
to controlled substances,
and teaches courses for
teachers on CPR and dia
betes.
Hulsey is one of two
school nurses in the
Commerce City School
System. She and Sandy
Davis are the first line of
health care defense for
Commerce’s 1,500-plus
students. Hulsey covers
the primary and elemen
tary schools, Davis the
middle and high schools.
Gov. Sonny Perdue pro
poses to cut state funding
for school nurses from
the budget, a $30 mil
lion savings in a quest to
trip $1.9 billion in state
spending. That leaves
local school systems like
Commerce, Jefferson
and Jackson County with
a dilemma; do without
nurses or fund them with
local tax dollars that are
already stretched thin.
The state currently
funds a little more than
half of the cost of school
nurses. Until earlier this
year, BJC Medical Center
paid for the other half in
all local schools, but the
financially troubled insti
tution had to drop its sup
port, leaving the school
systems to take it on.
Perdue has asked the
General Assembly to do
the same.
Commerce Super
intendent Mac McCoy
Please Turn to Page 5A
By Mark Beardsley
Lanier Tech expects to
play an expanded role in
the local economy by help
ing laid-off employees find
new jobs.
While the growth in enroll
ment at the Commerce
campus is minimal, as more
businesses and industries
shed workers in a faltering
economy that is expected
to rise.
“We’re looking to con
tinue to grow,’’ said
Howard Ledford, coor
dinator of instruction for
the Commerce campus of
Lanier Tech. “We’re seeing
10, 12, 14-percent increases
in enrollment. As we see
The Common Road
Bakery will reopen in less
than three weeks.
Abbie Lawler will reopen
the business she sold
almost a year ago at the
same Central Avenue loca
tion Monday, Leb. 23. It’s
a move she thought would
never happen after she sold
the business to Amy Sims.
Sims closed the bakery in
September.
“Lor the first nine months,
I thought 'no way,”' Lawler
said. “Then my heart
changed. I’m very excited.’’
The bakery will offer all of
the products formerly avail
able, including sandwiches,
homemade soups, muffins,
doughnuts, cakes, pies,
cookies and brownies.
“I’ve hired a baker and I’ve
got two ladies up front, so
more layoffs in our area,
we’ll see our enrollment
increase.’’
Winter quarter enrollment
is up 1.5 percent at both
the Commerce campus
and overall for Lanier Tech,
Ledford says.
Ledford believes that lay
offs have been slower to
come to Northeast Georgia
than in other areas, but they
are taking place here too.
“What I’m seeing is a lot
of people out of work com
ing back and needing to be
trained,’’ he said. “I don’t
think we’ve been as fast to
catch it as other counties.
Please Turn to Page 3A
Original owner Abbie
Lawler will reopen the
Common Road Bakery
Feb. 23.
I’ve got a full staff and won’t
kill myself as much,’’ Lawler
said, laughing.
Hours will be 10 a.m. to 6
p.m. weekdays, and the bak
ery will be open for pick-up
orders Saturdays from 10
a.m. to noon.
Extreme Remodeling
The sign at the (former location of) McDonald’s Restaurant at Banks
Crossing announces that the restaurant is temporarily closed for “remod
eling.” Call it a 100 percent renovation, as the restaurant has been razed
to make way for a completely new facility.
Schools Fear Loss
Of Nurses' Funding
Common Road Bakery
To Reopen On Feb. 23