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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016
Chamber on target to meet its budget
Almost midway through the
year, the Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce is on
track to meet its budget, trea
surer Andy Garrison report
ed to the chamber’s board of
directors last Friday.
While both revenue and
expenditures are well under
budget, revenues continue
to outstrip expenditures, and
a couple of the chamber’s
major fundraisers are coming
up in the second half of the
year.
As of the end of May the
chamber had net income
of just over $15,000 and had
almost $96,000 in cash.
Garrison reminded the
board that the chamber’s
office needs some significant
repairs.
“We’re going to have the
funds to do that,” he told the
directors.
Meanwhile, president and
CEO Jim Shaw said the cham
ber office remains busy.
“I continue to be amazed
by how busy our chamber is
and how that staff of five peo
ple really continues to pull off
what it pulls off,” he said. He
added that all of the cham
ber’s committees are busy as
well.
Among them is the Tour
ism Committee. Garrison, its
chairman, told the directors
that the committee spent $30
on an experimental program
that reached 5,000 people for
a chamber member.
“Within two days, we
reached almost 4,000 peo
ple, added member services
director Melissa Britt. “We
ran a coupon-type thing for
almost two weeks and our
reach was 5,000 people.” She
said that was well above the
performance of social media
outreach.
Shaw said Jackson Coun
ty GIS director Joel Logan
came up with the idea to use
the Woobox program, which
works with Facebook pages
“and it’s grown from there.”
Economic Development
Shaw said the chamber
continues to work on 13 active
projects. Thus far in 2016, it
has landed two projects, and
Shaw said five expansions are
Holiday means
deadline changes
Due to the Independence
Day holiday on Monday July 4,
all deadlines for the July 6 issue
of The Commerce News will
be moved to Friday.
All advertising copy news
copy, photographs and
announcements to be pub
lished in the July 6 issue must
be submitted by Friday July 1,
at noon in order to be printed
in that issue.
The offices of all MainStreet
Newspapers publications (The
Commerce News, The Jack-
son Herald, The Banks County
News, The Madison County
Journal, The Braselton News
and The Barrow Journal) will
all be closed Monday July 4.
Headmaster’s
Corner
by
Steve Cummings
BOE CONSIDERS BIBLE
CLASSES - Last week, the
Oconee County School Board
heard from a group asking for
permission to release students
from school to attend Bible
classes off campus. The BOE
did not vote on the issue.
In 1962 and 1963, the Su
preme Court removed prayer
and Bible reading from public
schools. In 1985, the Court
held that a required moment of
silence in public schools was
unconstitutional. In 1992, the
Court held that a school-spon
sored prayer at graduation was
unconstitutional.
We teach the Bible every
day at ACS. For those looking
for a religious component to
education, Athens Christian is
the place. At ACS, a Christian
education is more affordable
than you may think.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristian.com
in the planning stage.
Shaw also reported attend
ing a conference at which
most of the attention was
placed on workforce develop
ment.
“Workforce development
is a big initiative in the state,
and it needs to be a big initia
tive for this chamber and the
alliance (the Jackson County
Alliance for Economic Devel
opment),” he said. “We’re
working on several fronts to
promote workforce develop
ment and to produce a reliable
workforce for the people who
locate in Jackson County.”
As for local development,
Shaw said the county’s 2.5
million square feet of specula
tive buildings under construc
tion have generated “an awful
lot of activity.” More than 1
million additional square feet
have been permitted.
“That’s an awful lot of
space, but when you knock
it off 1 million at a time like
Williams Sonoma, that takes
it down pretty quickly” Shaw
commented.
Membership
Britt reported that the cham
ber added eight new mem
bers in May which Shaw point
ed out put membership “at 507
or 508.” Britt added that the
chamber’s year to date reten
tion rate is 85.7 percent.
“I’m fairly happy with
that number right now,” she
offered.
Project Report
Four members of the 2016
Leadership Jackson group
gave a brief report on the class
project, which was to provide
career coaching and mentors
for the Foothills Education
Charter High School, which
operates out of East Jackson
Comprehensive High School.
The group worked with 90
students, 16 of whom partici
pated in the school’s first grad
uation ceremony after which
the Leadership Jackson group
provided a reception for the
graduates and their families.
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2006 Honda Pilot EX-L #29870 $9,411
2001 Mercedes E430 #29598 $3,606
2008 Infinity G35 Sport #29752 $12,116
2008 Infinity G37 #29462 $12,356
1996 Honda Civic EX #29536 $3,042
2001 Mitsubishi Galant #29348 $4,511
1996 Chev. Blazer LS #29073 $5,749
2002 Chev. Sub. 1500 LT #29036 $5,571
2008 Chev. Cobalt #28731 $6,118
2008 Chrysler 300 LX #28682 $8,008
2001 Volvo V70 #27848 $4,731
2002 Dodge Grand Caravan Spt. #17587 $3,042
1995 Toyota 4Runner #28494 $4,142
2008 Honda Civic LX #28482 $7,861
2001 Ford Exp. Eddie Bauer #28614 $4,659
1999 Chevrolet Tahoe LT #29973 $5,112
2012 Volvo S80 #30245 $16,505
2013 Dodge Ram 1500 #30198 $5,576
2002 Buick LeSabre Custom #30231 $4,950
1998 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS #30333 $4,072
2002 Mazda B3000 Pickup #30336 $4,573
2012 Toyota Camry SE #30312 $18,117
2012 Toyota Tacoma Pickup #30311 $21,502
2013 Toyota Tacoma Pickup #30310 $25,400
2014 Honda Pilot Touring #30275 $32,158
2004 Chrysler Concorde #30260 $6,572
2008 Ford Escape XLT #30261 $6,616
2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT #25952 $2,680
2008 Audi Q7 #30418 $17,124
2012 Chrysler 300 Limited #25521 $11,221
2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 #29542 $19,860
2014 Cadillac CTS #30228 $25,905
2015 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD #29001 $39,921
2014 Freightline Sprinter #30113 $31,915
2013 Chevrolet Equinox LT #30601 $14,681
2013 Dodge Caravan SXT #30600 $14,089
2015 Dodge Dart SXT #30575 $15,392
2014 Jeep Cherokee Latitude #30573 $16,226
2015 GMC Sierra 1500 #30570 $21,788
2010 Chevrolet Camaro #30566 $20,658
2000 Ford F-250 Super Duty XL #30565 $6,183
2012 Chevrolet Colorado #30568 $9,774
2015 Chevrolet Cruze #30569 $16,273
2007 Chevrolet Tahoe #30679 $14,862
2002 Ford F-350 Super duty, 7.3 liter, diesel #30670.. $15,841
2014 Chevrolet Camaro #30556 $27,962
2011 Cadillac SRX #26778 $23,961
2013 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 #24842 $27,652
2012 GMC Acadia Denali #30640 $21,415
2014 Chevrolet Captiva Sport #28806 $15,864
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