Newspaper Page Text
SEE PAGE IB
SEE PAGE 6 A
Baseball Tigers
Jockeying For
Playoff Berth
New East
Jackson Park
Is Dedicated
Vol. 134
No. 11
20 Pages
3 Sections
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
The AP
Commerce News
Wednesday
APRIL 29, 2009
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Free Concert
Set In Park
This Friday
The Commerce Downtown
Development Authority will
present its first event of the
2009 “Fridays After Five"
series this Friday May 1.
Lullwater will take the
stage at 6:00 p.m. in Spencer
Park, located in downtown
Commerce, at the inter
section of South Elm and
Pine streets. Lullwater is an
Athens alternative/south
ern/ modern rock band.
“This would be a great date
night event. Stop by and
pick up dinner from one
of our downtown restau
rants; bring your lawn chairs
and blankets and enjoy fun
music in our city’s beautiful
downtown park," said Hasco
Craver, director of the DDA
“As always, the concert is
free and Lullwater is excited
about this opportunity to
play in Commerce."
Lullwater has just produced
its first music video to its new
song, “Whatever Happened."
The video can be viewed
at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=TzmrfoH5Lpg.
To learn more about the
band and to listen to some
of its songs, visit www.mys-
pace.com/lullwatermusic.
All events in the Lridays
After Live are co-sponsored
by the Grassroots Arts
Program, hirst Commerce
Bank, the U nited Community
Bank, and Community Bank
& Trust. More informa
tion about this event and
other upcoming events can
be found on the City of
Commerce website: www.
commercega.org.
Daisy Festival
This Weekend
In Nicholson
Nicholson will host its
annual Daisy Lestival this
weekend, with the festival
opening at 5 p.m. Lriday,
May 1, with a singing by The
Maxwells.
A cake walk, Nicholson
Idol and the return of an
Elvis impersonator will also
highlight Lriday’s activities,
hood, games, crafts and
entertainment will be pro
vided all weekend. By last
Thursday, the city reported
that 47 craft and food ven
dors had already signed up
and the city clerk said “they
Please Turn to Page 3A
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 706-387-5435
E-mail:
news@ma i nstreetnews. com
mark@mainstreetnews.com
Mail: 1672 S. Broad St.,
Commerce, GA 30529
A Premiere In Paris
Amanda Kettles and Jamie Westbrook watch dancers during the East
Jackson Comprehensive High School Junior-Senior Prom last Saturday
night at the Commerce Civic Center. For more pictures, see Page 12A.
Photo by Lynn Sengupta
Officials Keep
Eye On Spread
Of Swine Flu
After reports of a deadly
strain of swine flu spreading
from Mexico into several
U.S. states, local officials
say they’re keeping an eye
out for the disease to spread
into Jackson County.
“The Georgia Emergency
Management Agency
has been in coordination
with the Georgia Division
of Public Health, the U.S.
Department of Homeland
Security and other emergen
cy management partners
in regards to the swine flu
outbreak," advises Charles
Dawson of GEMA in an
e-mail to all local EMS direc
tors. “The current health situ
ation facing the nation must
be taken very seriously and
governments at all levels
must be vigilant in monitor
ing of the events."
Locally, BJC Medical cen
ter has 200 doses of Tamiflu
on hand and its lab is pre
pared to test anyone with
flu-like symptoms, the facil
ity announced.
As of Tuesday, there were
no cases of swine flu report
ed in Georgia, and no fatali
ties have been reported
among the 40 people in the
U.S. reported to have the
disease.
The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
has provided the below
advice for state and local
governments. _
• Encourage people to
Please Turn to Page 3A
Community Gardens
Now Open To The Public
$1.1 Million
Of Stimulus
Going To City
Six people so far have availed themselves of 15 by 20 garden spots in
the first “Community Gardens of Commerce” season.
Six Of 16 Garden
Spots Are Rented
By Mark Beardsley
The Community Gar
dens of Commerce are
officially open.
So far, six 15 by 20
(300-square-foot) plots
have been reserved.
As of Monday, one was
planted with four tomato
and four pepper plants.
As promised, the city
provided steps over the
earthen berm from the
parking lot to the garden
site. To access the gar
dens, people will park
in front of Badcock
Lurniture and walk up the
10 steps to the site. The
city also ran a water line
to the site and installed a
spigot in the center of the
garden.
The city has marked
off and staked 16 garden
spots, all of which have
been plowed. There is
room for more, if enough
people sign up for the
Cont. on Page 3A
Roper Subsidiary To Locate Here
Hansen Technologies Will Bring
50-60 New fobs To Commerce
By Mark Beardsley
Roper Industries is relo
cating an Illinois subsid
iary that manufacturers
refrigeration equipment
parts to Commerce late
this summer.
The move will bring
in 50-60 jobs to the
Commerce facility, says
Walt Stadnisky, presi
dent of Roper Pump
Company.
The announcement
was made April 22 to
Hansen Technologies
Corporation employees
at the Burr Ridge, IL,
plant. Roper employees
got the news the next
day.
The operation, which
supplies refrigeration
control valves and acces
sories for industrial and
commercial cold storage
facilities that use ammo
nia, will require about
30,000 square feet of the
Roper building.
“We are reconfiguring
the inside and doing a
couple of small addi
tions," Stadnisky said.
“We’re adding two receiv
ing docks and extending
the parking lot. We’ve
got to look at the truck
traffic and re-route the
driveway because the
inbound truck traffic and
outbound truck traffic
will roughly double."
Approximately a dozen
of Hansen’s Illinois
employees will get a
chance to relocate to
Commerce.
In addition to providing
new jobs here, the relo
cation of Hansen could
Cont. on Page 3A
By Mark Beardsley
Lederal stimulus funds will
help Commerce comply with a
state consent order on its oxida
tion ponds.
The city council, in a called
meeting Monday night, autho
rized Mayor Charles L. Hardy
Jr. to sign an application seek
ing $1.1 million in American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act
money.
The question is how much of
that will the city have to repay.
The federal money flows to the
Georgia Environmental Facilities
Authority, which doles it out to
qualifying city and county gov
ernments in the form of loans,
portions of which are “forgiv
able," meaning they do not have
to be repaid.
Commerce stands to be for
given 40-70 percent.
“We don’t know if it will be
40 percent forgivable or 70
percent," said city manager
Clarence Bryant. “The city is in
Jackson County, which qualifies
for 40 percent, but the ponds are
in Banks County, which qualifies
for 70 percent."
Commerce submitted six proj
ects valued at $11.6 million for
possible funding, but only one,
valued at $2.1 million, made the
short list.
That was an inflow and infiltra
tion study of the city’s sewer sys
tem. However, the city amended
its application, seeking to use
$1.1 million of the money for
the oxidation pond work. In the
end, GEFA approved just $1.1
Please Turn to Page 5A
Births
9A
Church News ...
8 A
Classified Ads ...
6-8 B
Calendar
3A
Crime News ....
6-7A
News Roundup .
2 A
Obituaries
4-5 B
Opinions
4-5A
School 11 -
12A, IB
Sports
1-2B
Social News ....
9 A
Rainfall this month
4.63 inches
Rainfall This Year
18.88 Inches
8 "04879 14141
THURSDAY, APRIL 30
Scattered T-storms: Low, 61;
high, 83; 30% chance rain
FRIDAY, MAY 1
Partly cloudy: Low, 62; high,
85; 10% chance rain
SATURDAY, MAY 2
Scattered T-storms: Low, 59;
high, 82; 40% chance rain
SUNDAY, MAY 3
Scattered T-storms: Low, 59;
high, 80; 40% chance rain