Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No.10
28 Pages
2 Sections
Wednesday
APRIL 20,2016
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Cruisin' is
Saturday
downtown
Hundreds of classic cars
are expected in downtown
Commerce this Saturday,
April 23, when the Com
merce Downtown Devel
opment Authority holds its
fourth annual Cruisin’ Com
merce car show. The event
will be held in conjunction
with the Gear Jam Vintage
Drags and swapmeet at the
Atlanta Dragway. It will be
held from 6 to 10 p.m.
Classic vehicles will line
the streets, and the top 20
vehicles will be awarded
custom trophies.
Tangent Band, from Ath
ens, will provide music adja
cent to the beer garden in
Spencer Park.
For more information on
the Northeast Georgia Swap
Meet, contact Brad Ocock
at 706-424-5035. For infor
mation on the Cruisin’ or to
volunteer or for sponsorship
opportunities, call the Main
Street office at 706-335-2954.
Little, Oak and Pine
streets will close at 3 p.m.
for vendor setup, and Syca
more Street will be closed
at 3 p.m. for car parking.
Classic vehicles will also be
parked in areas marked and
reserved on Elm and Broad
streets.
Fire dept,
chickenque
is Saturday
The Commerce Fire
Department will hold its
40th annual chickenque
Saturday, April 23, from 11
a.m. to 2 p.m. at the J.
Nolan Spear Jr. Public Safe
ty Complex on South Elm
Street.
Tickets are $7 per plate
and are available from
any fireman. Plates can
be picked up in two drive-
through lanes at the public
safety complex.
Proceeds from the event
are used to help the fire
department defray some of
its public outreach expens
es.
INDEX
Church News 5B
Classified Ads 6-7B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 4B
Opinion 4A
School 9-11A
Sports.... 1-3B & 1 1 B
Social News. 12-14A
MAILING LABEL BELOW
Commerce government
City council approves gas line
and sidewalk construction work
The Commerce City Council
approved three construction proj
ects expected to cost over $1 million
Monday night.
Two of those involve the city’s
natural gas system.
The council voted to install 14,800
feet of high-pressure gas lines out
Ila Road, Wheeler Road and Sandy
Creek Road.
“This is an opportunity to expand
our gas system,” noted interim city
manager James Wascher.
The new lines will serve sever
al poultry houses, some of them
existing and others planned, whose
owners have made verbal commit
ments to use natural gas for heat.
Monday’s vote is not final.
The council will vote again when
Wascher comes back with a budget
for the project, and Wascher said
that the city will have signed con
tracts from prospective contractors
before funding the project.
“This (funding) is coming out of
our gas reserves,” Wascher noted.
“This is the type of project we want
to use reserves for.”
The cost is expected to be about
$250,000, and Wascher said the pay
back for the city should take five
years, based on the commitments
from poultry growers, although the
city expects to add other customers
as well.
The council also approved a bid
of $111,378 from Harrison and Har
rison to replace a section of gas
line along New Kings Bridge Road.
This is the fourth and final phase
of a project ordered by the Georgia
Public Service Commission.
Sidewalk Project
The final project was the approv
al of a $719,840 bid from Geor
gia Development Partners LLC to
construct a sidewalk along Jeffer
son Road from Commerce Middle
School to Lakeview Drive. The bid
includes landscaping.
“This is a project we’ve been
talking about for 8-10 years,” noted
Mayor Clark Hill. “At this point, we
either give our (grant) money up
or do the first phase of the proj
ect, which doesn’t make any sense.
We’d have a sidewalk that goes
See “Council” on Page 8A
Royal entertainment at the prom
Commerce High School prom king Marques Brown sang for the crowd during the CHS prom last Friday night at the
Commerce Civic Center. The prom theme was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” For more photos, see Page 10 B.
Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
With no business,
on agenda, planners
cancel April meeting
The Commerce Plan
ning Commission can
celled its April meeting,
which would have been
held Monday, April 25, for
lack of agenda items.
The planning commis
sion makes recommen
dations to the Commerce
City Council on zoning and
land use issues. It meets
the fourth Monday of each
month — if it has any busi
ness to conduct—at 6 p.m.
in the Peach Room of the
Commerce Civic Center.
Meetings are open to the
public.
'Coffee with a cop'
meet and greet set
next Wednesday
The Commerce Police
Department is participat
ing in the national Coffee
With a Cop program on
Wednesday, April 27, from
8 to 10 a.m. at Faith and
Flour Bakery, North Elm
Street.
Call it a public relations
gesture aimed at fostering
better relationships with
the public the department
is sworn to “protect and to
serve.”
The event is free.
“This is an opportunity
for members of the com
munity to sit with officers
and discuss issues they
might have or simply to
get to know their officers
better,” explains Lt. Ken
Harmon, who will host the
event.
All Commerce residents
are welcome to attend.
Dedicating the gardens
The Commerce Library Board dedicated its Memorial Garden and its
Wallace Nelson Memorial Garden in a ceremony Saturday.
Commerce Library
dedicates its garden
Close to 100 people turned out on a perfect
spring day for sitting in a garden as the Com
merce Public Library dedicated its memorial
garden and the Wallace Nelson Memorial
Garden
The Memorial Garden, which includes an
amphitheater for outdoor programs, was the
last aspect from the expansion of the library,
which began with a fundraising kickoff nine
years earlier.
The Commerce Library Board used the
event to promote Georgia authors, especially
local Georgia authors, many of whose works
are memorialized on three granite benches
in the garden.
The event featured readings by Richard
“Dickey” Hoard, from “Alone Among the Liv
ing,” his account of his father’s murder and
its aftermath; Lee Ellis, from “Leading With
Honor,” about leadership lessons learned
while serving as a prisoner of war in North
Vietnam’s infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison
camp; and Terry Kay from “To Dance with
the White Dog,” a novel based on the lives
of his parents.
Board member and former library direc
tor Susan Harper gave a brief history of the
Memorial Garden and the Wallace Nelson
Memorial Garden, noting that the latter was
in tribute to a longtime board member and
See “Library” on Page 16A
