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Seasons
End
The CHS and
EJCHS football sea
sons end
Page IB
Seasons
Starting
The CHS and
EJCHS basketball
seasons begin
Pages 2-3B
Woman Of
The Year
Dee Lavender is Jackson
County’s 2009 ‘Woman of
the Year.’
Page 7A
Vol. 134
No. 41
18 Pages
3 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Board members of Habitat for Humanity held
a ceremony Saturday to dedicate their eighth
house, located off Pine Avenue, and to present it
to LaShanta Horne. Left to right are (back) Bonnie
Jones, the Rev. Fred Wilson, Gordon Wilson,
Habitat president; Teresa Vaughan Smith, Shirley
Hollifield, Stan Beeco, Bill Berkowsky, LaShanta
Horne, Mary Berkowsky, Richard Chambers,
(front) Mark Bradley, Brent Rose, Anna Chambers
and Kenami Horne.
8th Habitat House
Presented To
Local Woman, Son
LaShanta Horne and
her son, Kenami, took
possession of their very
own house Saturday morn
ing, thanks to Habitat for
Humanity.
Jackson County Habitat
for Humanity dedicated
its eighth house, located
at 126 Pine Avenue. The
house, the affiliate’s first
two-story build, became
the home of Horne and
her son.
“In addition to mark
ing the completion of the
house, this event honored
all of those individuals,
The Hornes’ new
Pine Avenue home is
Habitat’s first two-sto-
ry house.
organizations and church
es whose generosity of
time and money have
Cont. on Page 3A
Flu Vaccines Still
Hit-Or-Miss Locally
The availability of vac
cines for both the seasonal
flu and the H1N1 flu is
a day-to-day thing for the
Jackson County Health
Department.
Shipments of the vac
cines are sporadic and so
small that the department
can’t advertise them, said
Beth Heath, county nurse
manager.
“By the time we adver
tise it, it’s gone,’’ she said.
“We’re getting so few doses
at a time. People call and by
word of mouth it’s gone.’’
The department has
given about 400 doses of
the seasonal flu vaccine,
110 doses of the H1N1 shot
and administered about
150 doses of the nasal mist
vaccine for H1N1.
The department got
a shipment of H1N1
— just 60 shots — last
week, but for any flu
vaccine, the advice is to
call ahead to make sure
it’s available.
Heath said the depart
ment hopes and expects
to get more of all vaccines,
but she said information as
to when and how much is
not yet available.
“I have heard we are going
to start getting more ship
ments, but I don’t know if
that means more doses at a
time or if it will continue to
be small shipments,’’ Heath
said.
INDEX
Church News 4B
Classified Ads 6-7B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 5B
Opinions 4A
School News 8B
Sports 1-3B
Social News 8A
CONTACT US
Phone: 706-335-2927
FAX: 706-387-5435
E-mail:
news@ma i nstreetnews .com
Mail: 1672 S. Broad St.
Commerce, GA 30529
Rainfall this month
6.29 inches
Rainfall This Year
55.83 Inches
BJC Audit Shows Improvement,
But Plenty Of Red Ink Remains
$1.32 Million Loss Compared to $2.9 Million Last Year
By Mark Beardsley
Not surprisingly, BJC
Medical Center finished
its last fiscal year June 30
awash in red ink.
If there’s any consolation,
it’s that the preliminary
figure of $1.32 million is
less than half as much a
deficit as the previous fis
cal year, when expenditures
outpaced revenues by $2.9
million.
Red ink is the primary
reason BJC Medical Center
is on the verge of being
acquired by Restoration
Healthcare. The 2009 num
bers are hardly surprising,
but Jim Creamer of Draffin
& Tucker pointed out that
there were “no adjustments
of significance’’ to the medi
cal center’s financial state
ments. He said the compa
ny will issue a “clean audit
opinion.’’
Creamer said the auditors
focused on “risk areas’’ such
as accounts receivable, and
Please Turn to Page 3A
Spreading Their Blessings
Scores of volunteers will turn out Thursday area residents. The ministry started with a Bible
morning to prepare Thanksgiving meals for 500 class at the First United Methodist Church.
Annual Thanksgiving Meal
Becomes A Holiday Tradition
By Mark Beardsley
Five hundred people
who might otherwise
not get a traditional
Thanksgiving dinner
will eat very well this
Thursday, thanks to close
to 100 volunteers.
In a program that started
seven years ago in a disci
ple Bible study class at the
First United Methodist
Church of Commerce,
scores of volunteers will
cook, package and deliver
Thanksgiving dinner to
local shut-ins, poor folks
and public servants.
And it’s hard to say
whether the greater bless
ing goes to the recipients
or the volunteers.
“It has definitely
changed how I feel about
Thanksgiving,’’ says
Gina Hagan. “I am even
more thankful than I was
before. I am tremendously
blessed.’’
Hagan recalled being
in a Bible class with the
late Priscilla Roe and with
Nathalie Mize, and the
three of them “started
talking about it and
decided we should give it
a shot.’’
She contacted Jennifer
Sanders of the First
Baptist Church of
Commerce to invite that
church to participate, and
they’ve been doing it ever
since.
“It is really neat,’’
said Sanders. “It is my
favorite thing to do on
Thanksgiving’’
The enjoyment is two
fold. First, the recipients,
many of them elderly,
are often alone for
Thanksgiving and are
particularly appreciative
of the food — and of being
thought of on that day.
Second, Sanders said she
enjoys the mix of people
who show up at the fellow
ship hall of the Methodist
church to make it all hap
pen.
The work starts well in
advance of Thanksgiving.
Volunteers get names
of those in need from
the Commerce Housing
Authority, the Jackson
County Senior Citizens’
Center, the Boys and Girls
Club, Jackson Creative,
from sources in the two
churches and from radio
advertisements on WJJC.
In addition, the group
feeds the staff of BJC
Medical Center, the
Commerce Police
Department and the 911
center.
“This year we estimate
that we’ll provide 500
meals,’’ Hagan said.
The group purchases tur
keys and farms them out
to individuals for cook
ing. This year, 34 birds
will go into ovens all over
Commerce.
A team will meet this
(Wednesday) night at the
church to make dressing
and mashed potatoes.
Most will also work
Thursday, coming in at
about 9:30.
Six years of experience
has produced an efficient
Cont. on Page 3A
Mixing Devices Installed In Reservoir
By Mark Beardsley
In five months, Commerce
officials will learn if their
$75,000 investment in the
city reservoir resolves a
longstanding problem.
Wyatt Dinius and Matthew
Stairs drove from SolarBee
Inc.’s Dickinson, ND, head
quarters to Commerce last
week and installed three
SolarBee solar mixers in the
city’s reservoir.
The mixers will churn
30,000 gallons of water a
minute in the 300-acre res
ervoir, killing the algae that
causes bad-tasting water
every spring when the shal
low reservoir “turns over.’’
This past spring’s episode
was the worst on record.
Restaurants at Banks
Crossing had to purchase
water because the city water
was so bad. The problem
usually lasts less than a
week; last spring, it lasted
more than 10 days.
It’s a problem throughout
the Southeast for shallow
reservoirs. Low nighttime
temperatures make the sur
face water cold. That water
sinks, forcing water on the
bottom to rise, bringing
dead algae with it. While
the water is said to be safe
to drink, its odor and taste
discourage anyone from try
ing.
Dinius and Stairs towed a
Please Turn to Page 3A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26
Sunny: Low, 36; high, 59;
0% chance rain
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27
Partly cloudy: Low, 35; high,
51; 10% chance rain
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28
Sunny: Low, 35; high, 57;
0% chance rain
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Sunny: Low, 38; high, 58;
0% chance rain