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SPORTS WEATHER DELAYS
The snow last Friday and Saturday wreaked havoc on local basket
ball games and state wrestling sectionals: Page IB
BREAKING THE LAW?
School superintendent says Gov. Perdue's
plans for education spending break state law:
Page 5A
Vol. 135
No. 1
20 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Commerce,
Jackson To
Close Friday
Don’t plan on conduct
ing any business with the
city of Commerce or the
Jackson County govern
ment Friday.
Offices of both gov
ernments will be closed
Friday for “furlough” days
— closures aimed at reduc
ing spending by both gov
ernments. Commerce has
scheduled one furlough
day a month through June
— the end of its fiscal year
— while Jackson County
will take one furlough day
each month through 2010.
On furlough days, all city
and county offices except
for law enforcement and
emergency services will
be closed.
The dates are:
Commerce
• Friday Feb. 19
• Friday March 12
• Monday April 5
• Friday May 28
• Friday June 25
Jackson County
• Friday Feb. 19
• Friday March 5
• Friday April 2
• Friday May 28
Please Turn to Page 3A
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Sunny: Low, 27; high, 49;
0% chance rain
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Sunny: Low, 35; high, 54; 0%
chance rain
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Few showers, Low, 33; high,
53; 30% chance rain
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Sunny: Low, 37; high, 56; 0%
chance rain
Precipitation this month
3.59 inches
Precipitation This Year
10.57 Inches
INDEX
Church News 7B
Classified Ads 4-5B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 8-9A
Opinions 4A
School News ..1 2A, 3B
Sports 1-2B
Social News 7A
Qualifying For Ward 5 Election Starts Monday
If you live in Commerce’s
Ward 5 and have wanted to
get involved in city politics,
your chance is at hand.
Qualifying for the March
16 election to fill the Ward 5
vacancy on the city council
will take place next Monday
through Wednesday, Feb.
22-24, at City Hall.
This is the seat formerly
held by the late Richard
Massey, who died last fall.
The term expires Dec. 31,
2011.
Qualifying will be from
8:30 to 4:30 Monday and
Tuesday, and from 8:30 to
noon Wednesday. The quali
fying fee is $81, and voting is
for Ward 5 residents only.
Early voting for the elec
tion will be held at City Hall
the week of March 8-12.
Balloting March 16 will take
place at the J. Nolan Spear
Jr. Public Safety Complex
— assuming two or more
candidates qualify.
Should only one can
didate opt to run for the
office, the city could cancel
the election, with the lone
candidate declared the win
ner.
The Year's First Snow
A vehicle creeps up State Street Friday night. Photo by Nickey Nix
A winter streetscape on Victoria Street. See
more photos on 8B. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Snowfall
Paints Its Own
Landscape
The first snowfall of
the season deposited 3-4
inches of white powder
across the Commerce
area Friday night and
Saturday morning.
Students got a wel
come day off (call it a
furlough day now), even
though the snow didn’t
start until about the time
school let out.
Aside from a few
fender-benders and cars
in ditches, the snowfall
was little more than a
welcome relief from
rain. At least it provided
some interesting land
scapes and gave people
a chance to enjoy some
rare play in the snow.
Taylor Willoughby, Hayden Hutto, Carter Stephenson and Hampton
Hutto ambush Micah Eason during a snowball fight on Millwood Drive
Saturday morning. Photo by Mark Beardsley
Sales Tax
Extension On
Agenda Feb. 25
Cities, County To Gather To Plot
Strategy Tor SPLOST Extension
Vote Sometime This Year
By Mark Beardsley
Representatives of local
governments will meet
Thursday, Feb. 25, to make
sure the special purpose
local option sales tax
(SPLOST) money contin
ues to roll in after the cur
rent tax expires next year.
For the tax to continue
after June 30, 2011, voters
must approve a six-year
extension this year — either
July 20 during the primary
elections or Nov. 2 during
the General Election.
County manager Darrell
Hampton sent letters out
recently to all of the coun
ty’s municipalities and the
water and sewerage author
ity advising of the need
to begin planning a cam
paign to renew the tax. The
meeting is at 6 p.m. in the
jury assembly room of the
county courthouse.
The current SPLOST was
designed to bring in $51
million divvied up among
the county, its water author
ity and the nine municipali
ties. Officials of those gov
ernments see the money
flow as crucial.
“One of the things we
need to stress in a cam
paign is that it’s vitally
essential to the govern
ment,” said John Hulsey,
the county’s finance direc
tor. “They (the voters) need
to understand what the
loss of that revenue would
mean.”
Hampton’s letter notes
that a voter failure this year
could interrupt the flow of
SPLOST dollars for from
15 to 20 months, depend-
Please Turn to Page 3A
Police Seek To
Eliminate Pack Of
Dangerous Dogs
Saturday Attack Of Pet Leads To
Pears Pack May Attack Children
By Mark Beardsley
“Shoot to kill.”
That’s the order going
out on a pack of dogs that
mauled a cocker spaniel
in a Woodland Trail yard
Saturday morning, raising
fears that the pack might
attack children in the area.
The pack, comprising
four to six dogs, roams
from Woodland Trail and
Dogwood Trail, across
Deer Trail Country Club,
to Traynham Road and
Waterworks Road. To date,
police and animal control
officials have not been able
to trap or shoot the dogs,
although a Waterworks
Road resident reportedly
shot and killed one of the
pack.
That doesn’t sit well
with Stephanie Nicholson,
whose 32-pound black
cocker spaniel is recover
ing from Saturday’s attack.
“Squirt” suffered a four-
inch gash to a hip, 10 punc
ture wounds and a punc
tured limb when the dogs
attacked.
“He’s just got massive,
massive bites,” she said.
Saturday’s bill was almost
$700.
Her husband, Mike, saw
the attack, knew Squirt
was involved, and began
shooting to scare the dogs
away, according to Mrs.
Nicholson.
“It’s costing me $100 a
day and I’m really ticked off
about it,” Mrs. Nicholson
said. “That could have
been my child.”
In fact, one of the dogs
on a previous occasion
Please Turn to Page 5A