Newspaper Page Text
IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION
Tigers Will Need To Be Perfect When They Toke On The Top-Ranked
Wesleyan Wolves Friday Night: Page IB
PROOF DEMANDED
Maysville Mayor Demands Proof
Councilwoman Attended GMA Training
Session: Page 6A
Vol. 134
No. 35
24 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Commerce
Candidates
To Be In
Fomm Tuesday
The Commerce Area
Business Association and
the Jackson County Farm
Bureau will hold a political
forum Tuesday Oct. 20,
for candidates running for
city council and school
board seats in Commerce.
The election is Tuesday
Nov. 3.
The event will be held at
7 p.m. at the Commerce
Civic Center. Greg Pittman
of the Farm Bureau will
moderate the forum.
Questions will be pre
sented in advance to the
candidates.
The following candidates
have qualified:
For mayor pro tem, Keith
Burchett and Sammy
Thomason; for Ward 1,
Archie D. Chaney Jr., incum
bent; for Ward 2, Darren
Owensby and Donald
Wilson, incumbent.
For school board dis
trict 1, Keelan Cashanna
Rucker and Arthur Lee
Pattman, incumbent; for
District 2, Robbie Barnett
and Mary Seabolt, incum
bent.
msm
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15
Showers: Low, 52; high, 62;
60% chance rain
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16
Few showers: Low, 45; high,
61; 30% chance rain
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
/
Partly cloudy, Low, 40; high,
62; 20% chance rain
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
Sunny: Low, 40; high, 61; 0%
chance rain
Precipitation this month
7.28 inches
Precipitation This Year
46.03 Inches
INDEX
Births 8 A
Church News 8B
Classified Ads 9-1 IB
Calendar 3A
Crime News 7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 6-7B
Opinions 4A
School New 9-1OA
Sports 1-3B
Social News 8A
Early Voting Is Under Way
Early voting for the Nov.
3 General Election is under
way.
For Commerce voters,
it began Tuesday and will
continue through Friday,
Oct. 30.
All early voting takes place
at City Hall during regu
lar business hours, which
are 8:30 to 4:00 Monday
through Friday.
There are four con
tested races on the ballot.
For mayor pro tem, Keith
Burchett and Sammy
Thomason are running,
while in the Ward 2 race
for the city council seat,
Darren Owensby is chal
lenging incumbent Donald
Wilson.
Meanwhile, incum
bent Arthur Lee Pattman
faces the challenge of
Keelan Cashanna Rucker
for the District 1 seat on
the Commerce Board of
Education, while in District
2, Robbie Barnett takes on
incumbent Mary Seabolt.
Nicholson
Early voting started
Monday at City Hall in
Nicholson, where four coun
cil seats are up for grabs.
Voting can take place from
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday
through Friday through Oct.
30.
For mayor, Jimmy
Ford has qualified to run
against incumbent Ronnie
Maxwell.
On the ballot for the at-large
council seats are incumbents
Faye Seagraves, Howard
Wilbanks, Paul Cartledge
and Lamar Watkins,
plus challengers Edward
Dempsey, Bobby Crawford
and Chuck Wheeler.
Early voting is also
under way in Arcade and
Jefferson.
Bouncing Off The Walls
The inflatable obstacle course proved to be one of the favorite attractions
Saturday morning at the Commerce Primary School PTO Fall Carnival.
Photo by Mark Beardsley
No Reports Of Flooding From Rain
Stopped up storm drains caused some minor
problems Monday, including this flooded yard on
Westwood Road.
Commerce received
almost 4.5 inches of rain
Monday, but aside from a
few overwhelmed drainage
ditches, the city experi
enced few problems from
flooding.
“There was just some
area flooding as far as
our drainage ditches," said
Rick Lewis, superinten
dent of the Public Works
Department. “It was a
combination of leaf debris
and an overabundance of
water. When you get that
much rain in this amount
of time, the ditches can’t
maintain it."
Lewis’ crews responded
to complaints as they came
in, mostly about clearing
catch basins.
The worst of the rain was
over by 2:00 Monday, but
Lewis had a crew on stand
by through the night “in
case we are needed."
The rain put a couple of
stormwater retention ponds
Please Turn to Page 3A
Document Shredding Offered Saturday
Is it time to toss some of
those old financial records?
Keep Jackson County
Beautiful will do it for you
and shred the documents
to keep your personal data
safe.
The group will bring
American Shredding to the
Jackson County Transfer
Station Saturday, Oct. 17,
to shred documents like
financial statements, bank
information, cancelled or
blank checks, credit card
offers, bills, income tax
records, insurance cover
age, investment informa
tion, legal papers or medi
cal records.
“I don’t think there is
anyone that doesn’t worry
about identity theft, and
this is one way we can
help Jackson County citi
zens feel a bit better about
discarding their old tax
returns, information on a
small business they closed-
Cont. on Page 3A
Commerce Keeps
'09 Property Tax
Rate At 1.5 Mills
By Mark Beardsley
Commerce residents will
see the same city property
tax rate as last year. The
city council set the 2009 ad
valorem tax rate at 1.5 mills
Monday night.
That rate is expected to
bring in $276,102, some 4.9
percent more money than
the $263,035 levy from last
year — due to growth in the
city’s tax digest.
The council set the tax
rate without any discussion.
The Commerce Board of
Education will set its tax rate
in a called meeting Thursday
night (see separate story)
and is expected to keep its
rate at 17.75 mills.
City School Board
To Set Tax Rate
Thursday Night:
Page 5A
DDA Honors
Hasco Craver
In other business, Ward
4 councilman Clark Hill,
who is also chairman of the
Downtown Development
Authority, presented a
plaque to Hasco Craver,
the DDA’s former executive
director and Main Street
manager.
Hill noted that Craver had
revitalized the DDA, formal-
Please Turn to Page 3A
Big Night For Craver
Former Commerce Main Street manager and
Downtown Development Authority executive direc
tor Hasco Craver was doubly honored Monday
night. First, he was presented a plaque by DDA
chairman Clark Hill, above, for his almost four years
of service to the DDA. Then the Commerce Board
of Education gave Craver a plaque for his service
through the Lindsay’s Legacy mentoring program
and his service to the schools through the DDA.
Annual City wide 'Cleanup
Week' Starts On Monday
It’s time to take out a year’s accumulation of trash.
Commerce will hold its annual “Cleanup Week" next
week, Oct. 19-23.
That’s the one week a year when the city’s Public
Works Department will pick up items other than leaves,
limbs and yard trimmings.
The department will pick up household items such as
furniture, appliances, scrap metal and bedding placed
at curbside.
However, it will not pick up construction materials,
hazardous wastes, paint and paint cans or tires, Bryant
said.
The annual event applies to residential property only.
Residents are asked to have the materials out by the
roadside by Monday, Oct. 19.