Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 131
No. 19
16 Pages
2 Sections
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
The -y iuni
Commerce News
Wednesday
JUNE 24, 2009
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Music, Food, Crafts, Show Cars, Kids' Attractions, 5K Race, Fireworks On Tap
City Lights Downtown Festival Is Saturday
By Mark Beardsley
Downtown Commerce will be
full of music and food all day
Saturday. And classic cars, kids’
events (inflatables, pony rides and
a petting zoo) and early-morning
runners, not to mention fireworks
in the evening.
The City Lights Downtown
Festival technically starts at 8 a.m.
with the Star Chase 5K road race
at Willoughby Park, but local farm
ers will be at Spencer Park an hour
earlier opening the Downtown
Farmers’ Market.
The road race will be over in
less than an hour, at which time
the food and craft booths will be
open in Spencer Park. The hot rod
and antique car cruise-in starts
at 10:00. Music begins at 11 and
lasts until dusk, and the event will
close with a downtown fireworks
display at about 9:30.
Sponsored by the Downtown
Development Authority, the fes
tival is designed to offer a day
of fun and relaxation centered
around the recently redeveloped
Spencer Park.
“We do ask those members of
the public who will be doing early
morning errands to bear with us as
there might be detours and delayed
traffic along the race course,’’ says
Hasco Craver, executive director
of the DDA.
The 5K race will start and end at
Willoughby Park, and much of the
route will be along Broad and Elm
streets, taking advantage of the
level path of the Norfolk-Southern
railroad tracks.
“All the runners will be off the
road within 30 to 40 minutes,’’
Craver said. “We always have some
walkers, and we suggest to them
that they utilize the sidewalks.’’
People going to the post office
should take note that the only
access will be from the west side
of Pine Street as Little Street
and the upper (Elm Street) ends
of Pine and Oak streets will be
closed all day.
Runners who have not registered
should be at Willoughby Park by 7
a.m. The late entry fee is $20.
As the runners gather in
Willoughby Park, the farmers’
market will be under way and set
up will begin for the more than
30 booths in and around Spencer
Please Turn to Page 3A
Agriculture
Still Big In
Jackson Co.
Tennessee Firm
Looking At BJC
Jackson County is
among the top six percent
of livestock and poultry
producing counties in the
United States.
According to the recent
ly released 2007 Census
of Agriculture, Jackson
County ranks seventh
among Georgia’s 159
counties in the market
value of sales of poultry
and livestock production
and 175th among 3,069
counties in the U.S.
It ranked ninth in
Georgia and 452nd in the
U.S. in the total value of
agriculture products sold.
Here are other details
revealed by the census:
Ranking By Sales
• Poultry and eggs: sixth
Please Turn to Page 5A
mmu
THURSDAY, JUNE 25
Sunny: Low, 72; high, 93;
0% chance rain
Nine vendors offered a variety of produce and other items last Saturday
as the Commerce Farmers’ Market opened. It will be open every Saturday
through the summer. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Downtown Farmers 7 Market
FRIDAY, JUNE 26
Isolated T-showers: Low, 72;
high, 93; 30% chance rain
SATURDAY, JUNE 27
Partly cloudy: Low, 75; high,
96; 20% chance rain
SUNDAY, JUNE 28
A Successful Opening
By Mark Beardsley
The first Saturday of the 2009
Commerce Farmers’ Market was a
resounding success by all accounts.
“For the first day, I thought it was amaz
ing,’’ said Hasco Craver, who as executive
director of the Downtown Development
Authority is the market organizer. “I was
really impressed. We had nearly 10 ven
dors. Everybody seemed pretty excited
about what was offered.’’
One thing became quickly apparent:
People wanting early corn and tomatoes
had better show up early themselves, as
those items were all but gone by 8 a.m.
But the market lasted at least to 11:00.
“The vendors seemed to have a good
time, and the crowds were good,’’ Craver
said. “They were there early and con
tinued through the morning. I was very
impressed with the turnout from the
growers and the public.’’
The market will be held every Saturday
through the summer. While it is not tech
nically part of the City Lights Downtown
Festival, the market will be open this
Saturday as the festival (see separate
story) opens around it.
Medical Center
BJC Signs 'Nonbinding
Letter Of Intent'
BJC Medical Center may
have found the white knight
to rescue it from its finan
cial difficulties.
The Commerce-based
facility announced Tuesday
that it has entered a letter
of intent with Restoration
Healthcare, a Tennessee-
based operator of hospitals,
that could lead to the sale of
BJC Medical Center.
A news release issued
Tuesday said Restoration
Healthcare has held pre
liminary meetings with
local physicians who have
expressed interest in devel
oping a joint venture at
BJC.
The news release quoted
Steve Clapp, president of
Restoration Healthcare, as
saying, “We, in partnership
with the outstanding phy
sicians, will work hard to
make BJC the hospital and
nursing home of choice for
citizens in Banks, Jackson
and surrounding counties.’’
Restoration Healthcare
operates each of its hos
pital locally in a joint ven
ture with local and regional
physicians, according to the
news release.
The letter of intent is non
binding. It opens the way
for Restoration Healthcare
to begin its “due diligence’’
review of the hospital and
nursing home, and the par
ties will also begin negotiat
ing a formal definitive and
binding agreement covering
the details of the transac
tion.
Should those negotiations
bear fruit, the transaction
will be subject to approval
by the attorney general.
“The parties hope to file
with the attorney general’s
office early this fall, with a
closing in the fourth quar
ter of the year,’’ the news
release stated. “The new
owners will offer employ
ment to the current employ
ees at their current level of
seniority with comparable
benefits.’’
The weak economy has
devastated the medical cen
ter, which recently asked
the boards of commission-
Please Turn to Page 3A
Planners Back City
Zoning Officer On
Prohibiting 2nd House
All Commerce Schools
And System Make AYP
Partly cloudy: Low, 76; high,
98; 10% chance rain
Precipitation this month
3.44 inches
Precipitation This Year
26.1 Inches
INDEX
Church News 3B
Classified Ads 6-8B
Calendar 3A
Crime News ....,,, 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 4-5 B
Opinions 4-5A
School News 8A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 7A
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 1 " g
By Mark Beardsley
Commerce Middle School
is no longer on the state’s
“needs improvement’’ list
under the federal No Child
Left Behind law.
“This is the first time since
I’ve been here that the mid
dle school has made it off
the 'needs improvement’
list,’’ said superintendent
James E. “Mac’’ McCoy.
“Mr. Bell has done it (made
adequate yearly progress)
for two years in a row. We
should be free and clear
from that.’’
In fact, all four city schools
and the system made AYP
(adequate yearly progress)
for the second consecutive
year.
According to McCoy, the
city system was probably
AYP when the first CRCT
results came in, but it defi
nitely was once the re-takes
were counted.
The problem for
Commerce has always been
the special needs classes
in the middle school, and
McCoy credited principal
Chuck Bell with turning
things around.
“He’s done a great job of
getting that in focus,’’ the
superintendent said.
Three third graders retook
the CRCT, and all of them
passed on the second try,
according to McCoy. At
the middle school, 23 took
part or all of the tests over
again.
“I think we needed eight
to pass and we passed
something like 17 out of
that,’’ McCoy said. “We
had some taking it in math,
some in language arts and
some taking both.’’
Please Turn to Page 3A
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce Planning
Commission voted unani
mously to uphold a zoning
official’s ruling that Roger
Pressly cannot have two
single-family houses on
one lot, but it left the door
cracked open just a bit.
Pressly will go before the
Commerce City Council
Monday night, July 6, and
the planning commission
indicated it would support
his request if he can expand
a “cabin’’ located in the back
yard of the 119 Pine Street
lot he is buying to 1,400
square feet.
Billy Vandiver of the zon
ing office had ruled that
the second house, which
Pressly is remodeling, can
not be used as a residence
because another residence
is on the same lot. The cabin
had been an authorized non-
conforming use, but once
electric service was cut off
for more than six months,
the zoning ordinance says
any further use of the build
ing must be in compliance
with the ordinance.
Fourteen hundred square
feet is the minimum house
size for the R-3 zone in
which the lot is located.
The planning commission
appeared willing to over
look the prohibition of two
houses on one lot if Pressly
will bring the second struc
ture up to that size.
“We want you to have
power to that house, we
really do,’’ insisted planning
commission member Cindy
Adams.
Pressly, who is buying the
Please Turn to Page 3A