Newspaper Page Text
Playoff
Changes
GHSA to put private
schools in separate
playoffs?
Page 1B
Crunch
Time
w* 4 fk, w\
Lady Tigers nearing
\ "-M 4
home stretch in basket-
ball schedule.
f * *j r y
Page 1B
T/4%. '
Sales Tax
Sales Pitch
Officials listen to sales
pitch for transportation
sales tax.
Page 8A
Vol. 136
No. 50
24 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Music-Filled Celebration
Heralds MLK Day In Jackson
Youngsters were among the musi
cians who entertained at the Martin
Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration
Sunday in Jefferson.
Hall County Warden
Tells Crowd To
Cultivate Leadership,
Goals And God For
One Another
By Erin Rossiter
After the scripture readings and prayers,
pledges to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream
Sheriff Receives Award
Jackson County Sheriff Stan Evans
was named the groups 'Citizen of
the Year.'
of freedom, and one moving spiritual
after another, Avery Niles spoke. The
warden of the Hall County Correctional
Institution opened his keynote address
with statistics.
Of the 55,057 inmates in the Georgia
Department of Corrections system
through Jan. 13, 18,343 were white, 34,118
were black (61.9 percent), 377 were
Hispanic, and 219 were made up of dif
ferent races, Niles said.
“We have some work to do," he told the
crowd gathered at the Jackson EMC audi
torium on Sunday.
Citizens filled the room for the 28th
annual event commemorating King on
his birthday, which many people also cel-
See “Celebrate” on 10A
Nicholson
Council Sets
Schedule For
Work Sessions
The Nicholson City
Council will hold work
sessions each month on
the fourth Thursday of the
month.
The meetings will be held
in the community center
and are open to the public.
msm
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19
Partly cloudy: Low, 36; high,
58; 0% chance rain
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20
Mostly cloudy: Low, 50; high,
62; 0% chance rain
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
Showers: Low, 49; high, 65;
60% chance rain
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22
0
Sunny: Low, 52; high, 66;
20% chance rain
Precipitation this month
1.96 inches
Precipitation This Year
1.96 inches
INDEX
Church News 8B
Classified Ads .. 10-1 1 B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6-7A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 9B
Opinions 4-5A
School 4B &1 2B
Sports 1-3B
Social News 9A
Learn Magic Tricks
Jake Myler, Alex Vandiver and Hunter Wood Library. DiGiacomo will offer more free instruc-
pay close attention as local magician Joe tion on sleight of hand and illusion every other
DiGiacomo shows them how to do a magic Saturday through March from 1 to 2 p.m.. The
trick Saturday morning at the Commerce Public next session is Saturday, Jan. 28.
District Maps OK'd
Commissioners Approve New Voting
Districts; Maps To Go To Legislature
By Angela Gary
The Jackson County Board of
Commissioners approved new vot
ing district maps Monday night in
an effort to evenly divide the popu
lation for the purpose of electing
county commissioners following the
new Census figures.
County officials have been work
ing for months on the redistricting
plan, with GIS director Joel Logan
presenting the proposed new redis
tricting plan. It was unanimously
approved after some discussion
about how it was developed.
Logan said the districts were divid
ed with an effort to keep each town
in one district and represented by
one commissioner. One of the maps
that had been proposed would have
divided Talmo and Arcade. Logan
said this is the reason that map was
not recommended.
“Each plan is a little bit of a tradeoff
for something else," Logan said.
Kelley Gary, chairman of the
Jackson County Republican Party,
spoke in support of the plan during
the public hearing before the vote
was taken. No one else spoke in sup
port for the map, and no one spoke
against it.
See “New Maps” on 12A
Charles L. Hardy Jr.
Hardy To
Be Honored
At Reception
The Commerce City
Council will hold a recep
tion Thursday, Jan. 19, to
honor Charles L. “Buzzie’’
Hardy Jr. for his 22 years of
service as mayor.
The reception will be from
5 to 7 p.m. in the Commerce
Civic Center, with a presen
tation planned for 6 p.m.
Hardy, who left office Dec.
31 after deciding not to seek
re-election, is the longest-
serving mayor in Commerce
history.
'Greenspace'
Debate On
Agenda For
City Planners
Negotiations are under
way this week between
residents of Oconee Pointe
Subdivision and Northeast
Georgia Bank over 10 lots of
“greenspace’’ that could be
rezoned into R-1E lots for
development.
The Commerce Planning
Commission is due to make
a decision on the bank’s
rezoning request Monday
night. It meets at 7:00 in
the Commerce Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
The negotiations are the
result of the planners’ vote
in December to table the
request in the hopes that
the bank and the subdivi
sion residents could reach
an agreement — and perhaps
avoid a lawsuit.
The bank seeks the rezon
ing so it can sell the lots
See “Planners” on 3A