Newspaper Page Text
HEADING TO STATE TOURNEY
After winning the Region 8-A Tournament, the Commerce High
School Lady Tiger golfers are headed to the state meet. Page IB
COMING DOWN
CHS gym is demolished to make room
for the construction of new school: Page
12A
Vol. 134
No. 10
22 Pages
2 Sections
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
The AP
Commerce News
Wednesday
APRIL 22, 2009
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
New Director
Has Big Plans
For Library
By Mark Beardsley
Even as the Commerce
Library Board focuses
on the upcoming expan
sion of the library new
director Miguel Vicente
is moving to expand the
library’s programs.
At his first meeting
of the board since suc
ceeding Susan Harper as
library director, Vicente
praised the library’s staff
and current programs —
then laid out his plans to
add to them.
Among them:
• increasing the num
ber of volunteers who
work at the library. There
are currently eight.
• creating a more
reader-friendly area to
encourage patrons to
come to the library to
read.
• establishing a tuto
rial/homework help pro
gram for children from
3:00 to 5:00 every school
day
•starting English as a
Second Language class
es
Please Turn to Page 3A
msm
THURSDAY, APRIL 23
Partly cloudy: Low, 53; high,
78; 10% chance rain
FRIDAY, APRIL 24
Partly cloudy: Low, 56; high,
83; 10% chance rain
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
Partly cloudy, 57; high, 82;
10% chance rain
SUNDAY, APRIL 26
Partly cloudy: Low, 56; high,
81; 0% chance rain
Precipitation this month
4.64 inches
Precipitation This Year
18.88 Inches
INDEX
Church News 9A
Classified Ads 8-10B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 6-7B
Opinions 4A
School News 1 1-1 2A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 10A
Three Prospects Looking At Commerce Sites
By Mark Beardsley
Seven new industrial proj
ects are looking at Jackson
County this month, com
panies that would provide
from 30 to 800 jobs if they
wind up locating here.
Three of them are consid
ering sites in Commerce.
“Maybe we’ve finally hit
bottom and things have
turned around,’’ com
mented Shane Short,
president of the Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce last Friday as
he profiled projects that
came up since the previ
ous board of directors’
meeting.
They include:
•a manufacturing and
distribution facility look
ing for 1 million square
feet in Commerce. It
would employ 500 to 800
workers.
•a food distribution
company looking for
750,000 to 1 million square
feet and offering 100 jobs,
looking at Commerce.
•a food distribution
company seeking 500,000
square feet and offering
130 jobs.
• a wood products manu
facturer looking to invest
$23 million in a building
and $35 million in equip
ment in the Commerce
area. It would provide 57
jobs.
Please Turn to Page 7A
At The Prom
Hannah Duckett, right, was elected queen of the Commerce High
School Junior-Senior Prom last Friday night. She dances with her
date, Luke Derochers, early in the evening. Cameron Billings was
elected prom king. See Page 3B. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Planners To
Unveil Proposed
Sign Ordinance
Document Could Go To City
Council For May 9 Action
By Mark Beardsley
The public will have
the chance to look at
a proposed new ordi
nance to regulate signs
in Commerce Monday
night.
The Commerce
Planning Commission
will unveil and discuss
the city’s new sign ordi
nance at 7 p.m. Monday
in the Peach Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
The planning commis
sion will approve the
document, whether in
its draft form or after
changes are made, send
ing it to the Commerce
City Council for action.
If the planning commis
sion gives it the thumbs-
up Monday night, the
city council would vote
on the document at its
May 11 meeting at the
Commerce Civic Center.
The document has been
months in the drafting.
“We are looking at
doing away with tempo
rary signs and making
the total signage a little
bit bigger,’’ notes David
Zellner, the city’s plan
ning director.
Businesses will be
offered a certain number
of square feet of signage,
Zellner explained, and
can utilize it as they wish
on one sign or among
several.
One change being pro
posed is to incorporate
all signs into that square
footage count — even if
the signs are posted on
the windows of stores.
“If you can read it from
the right of way, it’s con
sidered a sign,’’ Zellner
said.
As with the current
ordinance, the restric
tions will be more strict
in the downtown area.
One maj or change being
proposed is to remove
limits on LED signs with
scrolling text. The cur
rent ordinance limits the
wording on the signs to
time and temperature;
under the new ordinance
there will be no limits —
but the signs will be part
of, not in addition to,
the square footage limit,
Zellner said.
As in the current ordi
nance, billboards will be
limited to U.S. 441 and
Interstate 85 (billboards
already in the city pre
date the sign ordinance
and will be retained).
According to Zellner,
the issue of portable
signs has yet to be fully
addressed in the draft
Please Turn to Page 3A
Garden Sites To Be Ready By May 1
Forrest Greene, coordinator of the Community
Gardens of Commerce, works the soil in an area
he selected for his garden bed.
Photo by Mark Beardsley
Free Vegetable Gardening Class
Offered At CHS On Friday
People interested in learning how to grow vegeta
bles can attend a free class Friday night at Commerce
High School.
Environmental science teacher Joe Costyn will hold
the hour-long class at 6:30 in Room E-ll.
“I will focus on just the vegetables attendees say
they like to eat the most,’’ Costyn says. “I will also try
to stress low-maintenance gardening (techniques) like
mulching and automatic battery-timer drip irrigation.
I will also talk about a few new-gardeners’ mistakes.’’
For information, call Costyn at 706-353-6779 (home)
By Mark Beardsley
All Commerce needs
now is people anxious to
grow vegetables or flow
ers.
The city has land set
aside for community gar
dens; the site will be ready
by May 1, and a coordi
nator is organizing every
thing.
“It’s looking good,’’
said Forrest Greene, the
Carson Street resident who
talked the city council into
creating the Community
Gardens of Commerce.
City manager Clarence
Bryant had expressed con
cern that the site — behind
Mike’s Quick Stop on
South Elm Street — had too
many rocks and bricks, but
Greene, a veteran gardener,
believes otherwise.
“Clarence expressed
concern about rocks and
or 706-335-5249 (CHS).
bricks, but believe me,
that’s no problem,’’ said
Greene. “You work it,
work some topsoil into
Please Turn to Page 5A