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SEE PAGE IB Baseball Tigers Hold Onto 2nd In Region 8-A SEE PAGE 12B Stormy Friday But More Damage Monday Vol. 134 No. 9 24 Pages 3 Sections The www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com ine AP Commerce News 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Wednesday APRIL 15, 2009 Few Leads In Robbery At United Community Bank By Mark Beardsley Officials investigating the April 9 armed robbery at United Community Bank’s Homer Road office don’t have many leads. A black male entered the bank at about 9:30, pro duced a small silver hand gun, demanded money from a teller and made a clean getaway. The suspect is described as five feet, 10 inches to 6 feet tall, and 200 to 240 pounds. Police Chief John Gaissert said the robber’s face was obscured by a white gauze mask. The robber made a customer service represen tative get off the phone, handed a teller a plastic bag, pointed a silver hand gun at her and told her to “hurry up.’’ Police immediately put out a lookout for a “small, older model red car,’’ but “nobody can confirm that they saw him get in,’’ noted Detective Chad Knight of the police department. “They saw a red car leav ing the parking lot of Tiger Town Pharmacy and Century 21 next door and coming in toward town fast, but we have no con firmation.’’ The bank’s security sys tem did not get good pho tos, said Knight. “The best picture we have is of the gun,’’ Knight report ed, indicating that the lack of pictures may indicate the robber is experienced. “He kept his head down, told them not to look at him and had gloves on. There was nothing we could get physical evidence from.’’ Bank personnel saw the suspect run toward the office complex next door, Knight said. A tracking dog lost the scent behind the building, leading officers to conclude that the rob ber made his getaway by vehicle. The robbery was the third area bank robbery this year. Robbers struck Northeast Georgia Bank at Banks Crossing in April 2008 and in October. The second suspect was cap tured in the south end of the county following a chase. He was from the Greenville area, and Knight said his “first instinct’’ after last week’s robbery made him think that the suspect might also be from South Carolina — and have expe rience robbing banks. “There was something he did that we’re not releasing that led us to believe either he’d done it before or stud ied the bank, something as far as how the money was dealt with,’’ Knight said. Maxwell To Be Elected GMA District 5 President Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell will be the president of District 5 of the Georgia Municipal Association and Commerce councilman Mark Fitzpatrick will be his second vice president. Their names are on the ballot for GMA elections that will take place before June 1. The slate of candidates issued by GMA includes only one candidate for each position, assuring that Maxwell and Fitzpatrick are elected. Maxwell serves as first vice president cur rently, while Fitzpatrick is third vice president. Terms are for a year. District 5 covers 10-12 counties from Elbert County west to Rockdale County. Steep Water, Sewer Rate Hikes OK'd In Maysville By Justin Poole Maysville residents may see large increases in their water and sewerage bills in the near future. The city is applying for a $750,000 loan for sewer line and manhole rehabilitation. If it gets the loan, the city will raise water rates by 24 percent and sewerage rates by 36 percent to cover the debt service and to counter act a $89,000 water budget shortfall. The council discussed the situation at a work session last Thursday and approved the rates — contingent upon receiving a Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority loan for $750,000 — at a called meeting after the work session. While the sewer increase is required to repay the loan, the water rate increase would be put in place to cover an $89,000 shortfall in the water budget. The short- Please Turn to Page 3A Cha-Ching! City Adds $8 To Cost Of Every Police Citation 'Technology Fee' Increase To Fund Computer Upgrade For Police Department By Mark Beardsley The cost of being bad just got worse. The Commerce City Council voted Monday night to increase the “tech nology surcharge’’ added to every citation issued by the Commerce Police Department from $12 to $20. The move will help replace computers at the police department. That is not the only add on to citations. In fact, it’s getting to the point where the add-on costs are approaching the level of the original fine. Here’s how it works. A motorist too busy talk ing on her cell phone to notice the light changing, runs the red light by Ingles and gets pulled over by a Commerce police officer. Assuming there are no other offenses, the driver can look forward to a $143 fine, according to Joyce Cooper, who has been Commerce’s clerk of court for 20 years. But $143 is just the begin ning. Add $20 for that technol ogy fee, which goes to the Cont. on Page 3A Easter In Downtown Commerce Community Bank & Trust vice president Jud Trapnell starts the city’s annual Easter egg hunt. Photos by Mark Beardsley Bryanna Sanders, 6, gets attention from her mom, Layla Sanders, AKA the Easter Bunny. Bayleigh Barham, 4, found a basketful of Easter treats. Matthew Simpson, 4, enjoys a Varsity hot dog after the Competition was fierce in the area set aside for kids 5 and egg hunt. under. Church News . 6B Classified Ads . 7-9 B Calendar 3A Crime News ... 7-8 A News Roundup 2 A Obituaries ..101 1A Opinions 4A School News 1 2A. 10B Sports 1-3B Social News ... 9 A Rainfall this month 4.35 inches Rainfall This Year 18.66 Inches o THURSDAY, APRIL 16 / Partly cloudy: Low, 44; high, 69; 10% chance rain FRIDAY, APRIL 17 Mostly sunny: Low, 46; high, 72; 10% chance rain SATURDAY, APRIL 18 Mostly cloudy: Low, 53; high, 74; 20% chance rain SUNDAY, APRIL 19 Scattered T-storms: Low, 54; high, 73; 40% chance rain 4 8 7 9 O