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Commerce News ReglOH RoUIldup PAflF 7A • FFRRTIARV 11 700Q JCCO To Award $10,500 In Scholarships Jackson County Community Outreach plans to award $10,500 in scholar ships to local high school graduates this spring. JCCO is in the process of distributing applications for nine $1,000 scholarships to the four high schools in the county, the Regional Evening School and the Jackson County Adult Learning Center. The winners will be gradu ates who meet the JCCO cri teria and who have applied to or been accepted by a college or technical school. Each qualified applicant will be interviewed. The $1,500 Dr. Tom Lewis Scholarship will also be awarded to a recipient deemed to have demonstrat ed outstanding leadership qualities. The scholarship is named after a former pastor of Commerce Presbyterian Church, who was a found ing member of the JCCO board. Awards will be presented at each school’s Honors Day program. The application deadline is March 20. Applications should be mailed to JCCO, P.O. Box 746, Commerce, GA, 30529, by the respec tive school counselors. Thurmond To Chair Women In Business Jennifer Thurmond serves as the chairman of the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce Women in Business organi zation for 2009. The officers were named when the group met Jan. 21. Other officers are Annette Raymond, vice chairman; Annette Studivant, secre tary; Roxanne Rose, pro grams; and Cindy George, membership. Amber Casper spoke at the Jan. 21 meeting. She presented the Work-Based Learning Program, which provides high school juniors and seniors an opportunity to prepare for careers while still in high school. Casper works with the Jackson County School System. The organization is open to all women who are cham ber members. The next meeting will be Leb. 18. BOE Members To Run By Districts HOMER - Members of the Banks County Board of Commissioners will now be elected by district. The four districts of the county are shown on a new map, which is also avail able at the county annex for review. Commissioners from district two and four will be elected Nov. 3. Current commissioner Rickey Cain lives in district one, while Joe Barefoot lives in dis trict three. The chairman is elected at large. Dog Released By County Heads To Rehab DANIELSVILLE - A male pit bull seized from a Madison County man accused of dogfighting is now on its way to rehabilita tion. The dog was released to the county and then sent to a rescue group in Atlanta, which placed it in pit bull rehab. Criminal charges are pending against its former owner, Johnny Johnson, of Danielsville. The case could go to court in October or November. The dog is said to have been part of Johnson’s alleged dogfighting opera tion, “Shakedown Kennels.’’ It spent three days at the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter (MOAS). Susan Lornash, director of MOAS, described the dog as “fine with people; a little leery of other dogs’’ during his stay. The animal shelter kept the dog isolated, due to the sensitivity of the situation. Lornash described the pit bull as “a pretty dog,’’ who showed no scars. She added that he was rather small, weighing just 24-lb. Before the dog was offi cially released to the county, the district attorney’s office Bray Construction, Inc. • New Homes • Remodeling • Vinyl Siding • Masonry Work • Concrete Finishing (706) 789-2313 FRI EDI C H ITT LH Eve morn gs I-85N ext. 147, Commerce/Maysville ext, left onto 98,4 miles Into Maysville, right over railroad tracks. Mon. - Fri. 6am-2pm, Sat. Lunch 6am-12 noon, Fri. & Sat. 6-9pm and Sun. 11am - 3pm. FREE MFFEE For All Our Sweethearts with your lunch or dinner meal purchase. Be 0tit UadeitUne Bring this ad and receive FHgEE DESSERT seized it as evidence with a warrant, overturning the Madison County Animal Control Board’s ruling in November to return the dog to Johnson. Lornash said housing the dog was an uncomfortable situation from the begin ning. In fact, the shelter kept the dog’s whereabouts a secret. Workers covered his run with a sheet, so anybody looking at dogs couldn’t see him. “Because we didn’t want the notoriety, I guess you would say,’’ she said. “We didn’t want to get in the middle of the whole thing. All we wanted is for the dog to be OK.’’ Once MOAS received word that he’d been released to the county, the shelter immediately searched for prospective rescue groups. When one agreed to take him, MOAS neutered the dog. Requests For Water Lines To Be Scrutinized Burned by past decisions, the county water and sew erage authority is tighten ing the process by which it decides where some water lines are laid. The Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority expects to approve a new petition process Thursday night. It meets at 6:00 at its headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Jefferson. Decisions to locate major lines are based on hydraulic needs of the sys tem and the potential for adding new customers. The proposed policy deals more with the add-ons, lines installed because res idents petition the author ity after wells run dry or have other problems. Typically, a group appears before the author ity, gets a petition of prop erty owners who support the project, and the staff and engineers consider the cost, feasibility and need in making a decision. But sometimes, the people who sign the peti tion don’t actually accept county water. Recently, all 12 residents of Deerbrook Road signed a petition seeking county water due to problems with the com munity well. Once the funds were committed via a change order to a SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) water project and the line was under construction — at a cost of $62,000 — only two actually signed on for water. The authority gave man ager Eric Klerk and his staff the go-ahead to cre ate a new policy for their consideration. Among the proposed changes: • More than half of prop erty owners must agree to buy meters before the proj ect will be considered. •The tap fee will be the full $1,500, not the $750 half price charged on SPLOST projects. •The authority will vali date the petition. If signa tures cannot be validated, they will not be counted. •All signatures must be witnessed by the person conducting the petition. •The authority’s engi neer will create a cost estimate and do a cost/ benefit analysis to see whether the project will be self-supporting. We Buy All Gold & Silver Including: Class Rings • Wedding Bands • Coins • Broken Jewelry • Dental Gold .(jaine,soi/(e cT" 770-532-2592 1020 Jesse Jewell Pkwy. • Gainesville, GA Mon. - Thurs. 10-6:30 - Fri. - Sat. 10-7 FOR ONLY $5 PER MONTH, YOU CAN LIST YOUR GROUP'S MEETINGS! Let your members know when your group is meeting! Call (706) 367-5233 to advertise your meeting time, place and date in... • The Jackson Herald < The Commerce Mem ' The Braselton Mews • Tie Banks County Mem • The Madison County Journal St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Mission Mass Schedule: Sat. 4:00 p.m., Sun. 11:00 a.m., Wed. 12:10 p.m. Parish Council meetings: 2nd Sunday of the month after 11:00 mass Ash Wed. Mass at 12:10 p.m. and Communion Service at 7:00 p.m. First Friday Adoration 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Website: www.stcatherinelabourega.org 706-335-2622 Pd.02/09 BANKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. meets first Monday each month 7:00 p.m. in the Banks Co. Historial Courthouse at 105 U.S. Hwy. 441 North in Homer pd.-07/09 JEFFERSON 'AMERICAN LEGION Albert Gordon Post 56 Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Harvie Lance, Commander Phone (706) 654-1274 3io 9S Georgia Real Estate Investors Aim.v> Association, Inc. - Athens Meets the third Thursday each month 6:30 pm at the UGA Conferen ce Center 1197 South Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30601 Tom Hewlett - Chapter President thewlettl@charter.net Pd. 12/09 Citizens Organized for Pipeline Safety investigating the health risks to citizens from underground pipelines and booster stations in Madison Co. Meetings 6:30 p.m. at the Colbert Grove Baptist Church the 2nd Thurs. of each month. 706-783-4702. Pd.04/09 White Plains Baptist Church Faith Bible Class meets every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. It is a place where strangers become friends and friends become family. 706-367-5650 White Plains Baptist Church 3650 Hwy. 124 West, Jefferson, GA 30549 The Jackson Co. Republican Party Would like you to meet us for breakfast the second Sat. of each month, 8:00 at The Jefferson House. For more information, call 706-652-2967 or email fishyglass@yahoo.com Pd.it/os BANKS COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION Post 215 Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m. In Homer, GA at the American Legion Building on Historic Highway 441 Pd.06/09 VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr. Each 4th Tuesdasy, 7:00 p.m. Lamar Langston, Commander Phone 706-652-2627 26.1 UNITY LODGE F & A.M. No. 36, Jefferson, GA 1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m. Dwayne Potts • 706-367-4449 Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260 JEFFERSON EIONS CEUB Meets 2nd & 4th Monday Jefferson City Clubhouse 6:30 p.m.-(706) 387-1156 Mack Cates, President JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB Meets Tuesdays Jefferson City Clubhouse 12:30 p.m.-(706) 367-7696 Gina Mitsdarffer, President New Gym, Fine Arts Facility Proposed At JCCHS By Kerri Testement Two major construc tion projects at Jackson County Comprehensive High School could bring the school up to par with its East Jackson rival. The school system is con sidering a proposal to build a new gymnasium, and drama/chorus building at the nearly 20-year-old high school in Jefferson. But funding the two proj ects will cost the district a total of $9 million — which is not currently available. “Those two projects are expensive projects and we can’t afford them right now,’’ said Keith Everson, assistant superintendent for human resources and support services. The district wants to con struct a 9,800 square-foot drama/chorus building across from the existing auditorium at JCCHS. An additional 1,000 square feet for storage would also be added to the audito rium. JCCHS is also slated to get a new 5,900 square- foot gym with facilities almost identical to those at the EJCHS gym, except for the practice gym. When the Commerce school opened in August 2007, JCCHS parents said improvements were needed at the older high school. The proposed two-story gym at JCCHS would be on the slope leading to the football field in the school’s student parking lot. The proposed drama/ chorus building has a price tag of $1.4 million, which includes additional storage at the existing auditorium. “We feel like if we do the drama and gym together at the same time, it would save costs,’’ said Dennis Patrick, director of admin istrative services. But school system offi cials estimate it will take 18 months to collect the sales tax funds neces sary to start the projects. The most recent sales tax collection available gen erated $353,000 for the district — one of the low est months for the school system. “We have to have the entire amount before we can bid on it,’’ Everson said at Thursday’s board of education meeting. Meanwhile, the district plans to work on JCCHS’ existing gym. Those upgrades include a new HVAC system in the court area and locker room, reconditioning the bleachers, new interior paint, and improvements in the locker room and electric work. That work will be fund ed with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds ear marked for maintenance for improvements. And the district plans to apply for state funds this summer that could bring additional changes in the instructional areas at JCCHS. NEED CASH? 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