Newspaper Page Text
TO POUR OR NOT TO POUR?
Maysville residents give city council on earful regarding a proposed
ordinance to allow the sole of beer and wine by the drink in local
restaurants: Page 5A
FOOTBALL BEGINS
Tigers and Eagles take to the field(s) as
practice begins for the 2009 gridiron
season: Page IB
Vol. 134
No. 25
18 Pages
3 Sections
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
The AUI
Commerce News
Wednesday
AUGUST 5, 2009
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
1,405 Report As School Year Begins
first day of school
in Commerce
The Commerce City School System cranked up the 2009-10 school
year Monday. Twins Anthony and Hunter Morris (left and right), both
kindergarten students, and Darren Osburn, a second grader, exit the
bus decked out in their best Transformer T-shirts.
'As smooth as I think anybody could ask for/
Superintendent James E. 'Mac' McCoy
Teacher Stacey Oliver comforts Jazmine who
sheds a few tears over starting school. Tyrone
Jackson, meanwhile, is rarin’ to go.
Photos by Mark Beardsley
Move Will
Help BJC
Manage Debt
County Schools
EJCHS To
Start 3rd
Year Mon.
When East Jackson
Comprehensive High
School starts its third year
Monday an estimated
1,000 students are expect
ed. That’s about 10 more
than were enrolled on the
first day of school last
year and 75 more than
were at EJCHS when the
school year ended.
Like last year, the focus
will be on keeping kids
in school and on track
toward graduation, says
principal Pat Stueck.
The school will start two
new programs.
The Eagle Academy tar
gets upcoming ninth grad
ers deemed at risk.
“We have a group of
teachers that is going to
track students weekly,
monitor the students, pro
vide turoring and help cre
ate relationships," Stueck
explained. “We want to
maximize their chances
to graduate in four years.
The Eagle Express is an
afternoon version of the
Regional Evening School,
which closed last year for
financial reasons.
Cont. on Page 3A
LP Still
Attractive
To Wood
Pellet Firms
By Mark Beardsley
A company that hoped
to purchase the Louisiana
Pacific plant in Center to
make wood fuel pellets
apparently can’t get the
financing it needs, but
other companies are look
ing at the site for the same
purposes.
At a called meeting of the
Industrial Development
Authority (IDA) last
Friday morning, chair
man Scott Martin and
chamber of commerce
president Shane Short
both spoke on the pos
sibilities.
“Two other companies
that do the same thing
have been talking to
them," Martin said.
Short reported another
company that creates
wood pellets inquired
about locating in Jackson
County, although it did
not specifically mention
the LP complex.
Martin noted that
Cont. on Page 3A
By Mark Beardsley
With a few tears and
lots of smiles, the 2009-
10 school year began
for the Commerce City
School System Monday.
First-day enrollment
amounted to 1,405 stu
dents. Officials expect
that number to climb
over the next two weeks.
“That’s a good bit
lower than what we’d
anticipated," conceded
Superintendent of
schools James E. “Mac"
McCoy. “That surprised
me a little bit. We were
anticipating a little more
than that."
Nonetheless, McCoy
said the first day of
school was, “all in all, a
very successful day."
“It’s been as smooth as
I think anybody could
ask for," he added.
Commerce Primary
School had 349 students
the elementary school
217, 424 arrived at the
middle school and the
high school had 395.
Part of the reason
was that the new traffic
flow at Commerce High
School worked well,
McCoy said.
By Angela Gary
The Jackson County
Board of Commissioners
took action Monday night
to help the BJC Medical
Center Authority resolve
cash flow problems and
pay short-term debts.
The commissioners
agreed to send a letter
of guarantee and line of
credit to Bank of America
on hospital bonds Jackson
and Banks counties are
already paying. When the
bonds were sold, they
were structured so that the
assets of the hospital were
pledged as collateral.
The medical center
authority needs these
assets freed up to be used
in its effort to refinance
other loans to cover short
term debt. The authority
originally asked the com
missioners for $3.2 million
to pay off accounts receiv
ables and other short-term
debt.
“The county hasn’t
defaulted on payments
but since the hospital
has other debts and has
short-term payments, they
want to restructure some
of their debts," finance
director John Hulsey said.
“This guarantee and letter
of credit will allow Bank
By Mark Beardsley
Changing economic con
ditions have led Jackson
County to put two pro
posed road projects in
Commerce on hold and
move a Jefferson road up
on the priority list.
The Jackson County
Industrial Development
Authority and the Board
of Commissioners, in sep
arate meetings, voted to
move the Hog Mountain
Road improvement proj
ect up on its priority list of
2008 economic develop
ment bond projects. At the
same time, the proposed
$ 10 million “Commerce
Retail Boulevard" near
the former Craven Pottery
at Banks Crossing was
moved from the second
tier of the project list to
the third, along with the
realignment of Hospital
Road’s terminus at Homer
Road. Funding for the first
two tiers has already taken
place; funding for the third
of America to release the
hospital’s assets that were
placed as collateral."
The authority and a
Tennessee company,
Restoration Healthcare,
have signed a nonbind
ing letter of intent for
Restoration Healthcare to
purchase the medical cen
ter, but negotiations are
still under way. Last week,
BJC Authority chairman
Charles Blair said the two
parties expect to have a
final draft of the agree
ment soon. Any sale of the
medical center must be
approved by the attorney
general’s office. Blair said
last week that the target
date for meeting with the
attorney general is next
week.
County attorney Julius
Hulsey said the action
taken Monday night by
the board of commission
ers will “free up the assets
for the authority to be able
to negotiate this short
term credit and proceed
to cover any emergencies
that might occur up until
the sale closes."
“There are no guarantees
that this sale will close,"
the attorney pointed out.
“Right now, it looks real
good.”
and fourth has not.
The priority list was
created for the 2008 $82
million economic develop
ment bond program as a
means of spurring com
mercial and retail growth,
mostly in the Interstate 85
corridor.
But as the economy
worsened, many of the
private development proj
ects that would be built
along the proposed roads
are delayed or in limbo.
Officials used the bond
dollars to leverage contri
bution from developers on
each of the projects. As
developers become more
hesitant, the county’s com
mitment to various roads
wanes.
“Some of these things
have been put on hold,
and some of our roads
followed suit," noted IDA
chairman Scott Martin.
The developer of
Cont. on Page 3
Priority Shift Moves
Road Work To Jefferson
Births 7A
Church News 9A
Classified Ads 5-7B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 3-4B
Opinions 4A
School News 8A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 7A
Rainfall this month
0.19 inches
Rainfall This Year
27.80 Inches
8 "04879 14141
THURSDAY, AUG. 6
Isolated T-storms: Low, 69;
high, 91; 30% chance rain
FRIDAY, AUG. 7
Isolated T-storms: Low, 71;
high, 91; 30% chance rain
SATURDAY, AUG. 8
Isolated T-storms: Low, 71;
high, 93; 30% chance rain
SUNDAY, AUG. 9
Isolated T-storms: Low, 71;
high, 92; 30% chance rain
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