Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHEAST TOYOTA CUTBACKS
Southeast Toyota is cutting its workforce by 33 employees and cut
ting wages: Page 2A
BREAK-EVEN SEASON
Basketball Tigers end season with 49-20 loss
in first round of state playoffs: Page IB
Vol. 134
No. 3
16 Pages
2 Sections
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
The r MA
Commerce News
Wednesday
MARCH 4, 2009
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
CHS Comes In
Under Budget
$14.6 Million Total Package Well
Under Cost Expectations
By Mark Beardsley
After last Thursday’s bid
opening for the construc
tion of the new Commerce
High School, superinten
dent James E. “Mac” McCoy
feels better about all of the
delays in the project.
“Yes sir, I do,” McCoy said.
“If we had started when we
wanted to, we probably
wouldn’t have gotten these
type of numbers. Everything
worked out for the best.”
The total of the 32 appar
ent low bids was $14.6 mil
lion — with an eight-percent
contingency — or $99.40 per
square foot.”
“I was hoping to get this
under $17 million. Adding
the auxiliary gym (almost
completed) would have put
us at $18.5 million, but this
is incredible,” McCoy said
the day after the bids were
opened.
The system benefited
from a number of “hungry”
subcontractors trying to
msm
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
f
Partly cloudy: Low, 43; high,
64; 0% chance rain
FRIDAY, MARCH 6
Partly cloudy: Low, 52; high,
69; 0% chance rain
SATURDAY, MARCH 7
j
■ y-wahT
Few showers, Low 47; high,
74; 30% chance rain
SUNDAY, MARCH 8
Partly cloudy: Low, 45; high,
62; 10% chance rain
Precipitation this month
1.52 inches
Precipitation This Year
9.04 Inches
INDEX
Church News 3B
Classified Ads 6-8B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 4-5 B
Opinions 4A
School News 7A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 8A
ride out the recession, but
also from lower materials
prices.
“The biggest surprise for
me was the fact that the
price for steel came in $1
million under the projected
cost,” McCoy said.
The bids for steel
were among the first
to be opened at Charles
Black Construction Co.’s
Gainesville office.
“Right off the bat, we were
$ 1 million under the budget.
We knew then something
good was possible,” McCoy
said.
Attending the bid open
ing with McCoy were Joy
Tolbert, assistant superin
tendent; Anne Stokey, book
keeper; and board of educa
tion member Rodney Gary.
Approximately 50 repre
sentatives of bidding com
panies also attended.
“This is by far the largest
Cont. on Page 3A
Gardens,
Squirrels On
City Council
Agenda Mon.
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce City
Council will discuss propos
als for establishing commu
nity gardens and shooting
squirrels Monday night.
Otherwise, the 6:30 meet
ing in the Commerce Room
of the Commerce Civic
Center will be short. As of
Monday night’s work ses
sion, the agenda contained
but eight items.
Forrest Green, a Carson
Street resident, has asked for
time to speak to the council
about setting aside unused
city land for community veg
etable gardens.
Green even offered to
coordinate the effort.
“I hope the idea meets with
your eager enthusiasm,” his
letter concluded.
While no action was taken
at the meeting, several pres
ent spoke in support of the
concept. The problem will
be finding vacant land.
“Y’all be thinking about
some place to do it,” advised
Mayor Charles L. “Buzzie”
Hardy.
Community vegetable gar
dens are common across
the country. Hardy, finance
director Steve McKown
and city manager Clarence
Bryant all spoke of having
seen such gardens in other
locations.
Green will also propose
Monday that the city each
spring hold a “Walk Around
the Block Campaign” dur
ing which residents would
be encouraged to get out in
Please Turn to Page 3A
Still Thawing Out
Mark Martin
pulls his
daughter
Channing
Martin on a
sled, taking
advantage
of Sunday’s
snowfall. While
there electrical
were outages
in Commerce,
power was
fully restored
Sunday night.
Submitted
photo
Chandler Martin (no relation to Channing) sleds A Commerce police car blocks Lakeview Drive
down his driveway early Sunday afternoon. due to a tree falling onto a power line.
Area Digs Out From Winter Storm
Jackson County continues to
thaw out from its first real win
ter storm in years Sunday. As of
Tuesday, thousands of area resi
dents remained without electrical
service.
By Tuesday morning, most
streets were clear, but the poten
tial for icy spots led officials in
Jackson County and Commerce to
cancel schools for the second day.
Meanwhile, Jackson EMC worked
feverishly to restore power to cus
tomers — mostly in east Jackson
and in Madison County — who had
been without power since Sunday.
As of Tuesday morning, some
13,070 customers were without
power, and Jackson EMC could
not predict when electricity might
be restored.
Snowfall began at about 1 p.m.
in Commerce. The rain began to
mix with sleet and in a matter
of 20 minutes the temperature
plunged five or more degrees, the
sleet turned to snow and fell pretty
much nonstop until after 10 p.m.
The results were predictable. Law
enforcement agencies went from
one accident to the next, mostly
vehicles that slid off the suddenly
slick roads into ditches or medians.
As the day wore on, local fire
departments were called to help
public works officials deal with
downed trees and limbs, some over
roads, some over utility lines and
many over both. As soon as power
was restored from tree or limb
damage, often it went out because
of another.
“We were grabbing everybody
we could to get roads opened last
night,” said Steve Nichols, director
of Emergency Medical Services
Monday. “We had a tremendous
amount of help. All of our fire
departments helped out.” The coun
ty also requested and got a Georgia
Forestry Commission crew to help
clear roads below Commerce.
EMS teams had their work cut
out for them as well. At least one
crew found itself trapped on a sec
tion of road between two downed
trees, unable to reach its destina
tion. Downed trees and slick roads
Please Turn to Page 5A
Authority Makes little Progress On
Getting Access To Reservoir Sites
By Mark Beardsley
Approximately 150 people
turned out for a meeting last
Thursday about possible
locations for a new county
reservoir, but officials made
little headway in gaining
access to the sites.
The Jackson County Water
and Sewerage Authority
hosted a three-hour drop-
in event at the Jefferson
Civic Center. The purposes
were to provide informa
tion about the Nicholson
area sites in the running
for a new county reservoir
— and to talk people into
letting surveyors onto the
property.
The first goal was fulfilled.
Not the second.
“We did no better on site
access from our original
results,” noted in-house
engineer Fred Alke.
The authority already had
permission from 42 percent
of the property owners.
“Last night we garnered
permission from 35 of the
84 (property owners) — that
is still just 42 percent,” Alke
said.
Eric Klerk, the author
ity’s manager, said people
who signed permission for
access Thursday night were
the same ones who had
already granted access to
Please Turn to Page 2A
Proposed reservoir sites
o
o