Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No. 20
20 Pages
2 Sections
Wednesday
rpj WEDNESI
I V\p JULY 6,2016
Commerce News
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Red Cross
blood drive
set Tuesday
The American Red Cross
will hold a blood drive
Tuesday, July 12, from
noon to 6:00
p.m. in the
family fellow
ship center of
the First Bap
tist Church of
Commerce.
The church is located
at 1345 South Elm Street,
Commerce. The family
fellowship center is locat
ed across Church Street
(and a parking lot) from
the church building.
The Red Cross pro
vides blood services to
local hospitals, including
Northridge Medical Center
and the Athens, Gaines
ville and Atlanta area hos
pitals.
A single unit of blood
can provide treatment for
up to three people. Blood
donations are processed
into three primary compo
nents, red blood cells to
treat trauma, platelets for
cancer patients and plasma
for burn victims.
Whole blood is also used
in surgery.
Red blood cells have a
42-day shelf life.
Participants on Tuesday
will receive a coupon for
a free Chick fil-A sand
wich at the Banks Crossing
restaurant.
To schedule, go to www.
redcrossblood.org and use
the sponsor code coco.
Walk-ins are welcome
Donors should drink
plenty of non-caffeinated
fluids, eat iron-rich foods
and get plenty of rest. They
should also bring a photo
ID or a Red Cross blood
donation card.
Contact Us
•News: news@mainstreet-
news.com, call 706-621-7238
Follow us on
Facebook by
liking The
Commerce
News
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
Online
INDEX
Church News 3B
Classified Ads 5-6B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 4B
Opinion 4A
School 1OA
Sports 1-2B
Social News 9A
Water sales soaring
Hot, dry weather brings surge in water sales
Two months of lower than average
rainfall may cause worries for home-
owners with brown grass or farmers
whose pastures have quit growing,
but the “moderate” drought of May
and June has local water managers
smiling.
People are watering their lawns and
boosting sales.
“I’ve seen a lot of sprinklers run
ning,” laughed Commerce utilities
director Rick Lewis.
“We‘re selling more water - about a
half million more gallons a day” said
Lewis. “We did water conservation for
so long, people are just now getting
back to where they feel comfortable
doing it. Water conservation is a dou
ble-edged sword. You kind of shoot
yourself in the foot. People get used to
not watering and it takes two or three
years before they start using it again.”
Though it’s been dry the city’s 300-
acre reservoir in Banks County is full.
Actually as of Friday it was a little over
full pool, thanks to a couple of thunder
showers that hit the drainage basin of
the Grove River.
The manager of the Jackson Coun
ty Water and Sewerage Authority has a
similar take on the dry weather.
“Water sales are through the roof,”
Eric Klerk said recently. “The last time
I checked, we were pumping 5 million
gallons a day (MGD) from Bear Creek.
If it’s not 5, it’s awful close to it. We’ve
been moving a tremendous amount
of water.”
Klerk points out that when bills go
out on July 15, “there’s going to be
a huge, huge jump” in the amount
billed.
“It’s jumped already” he said, refer
ring to the June billing. “We’re going to
see another huge jump.
JCW&SA averages about 2 mgd in
sales.
A number of its customers have
irrigation meters — lines dedicated
to watering lawns and landscapes.
“You wouldn’t believe the bills they pay
over in Traditions,” Klerk commented.
“They can be $700 a month, and they
think nothing of it.”
That’s good news for the authority’s
income, but Klerk said there’s been a
downside as well.
“When you move a lot of water, you
find your weaknesses,” he said. The
authority sells around 80 percent of its
water on the west side of the county,
which is fed by a pump station on
Galilee Church Road. A recent thun
derstorm produced a power outage,
idling the pumps.
“Just from the power being off like
30 minutes, by the time we got there
and started the (auxiliary) pump,
we were already losing tons of water
(from water tanks, due to the demand
in West Jackson). When you’re mov
ing thousands of gallons a minute and
lose power for just 30 minutes, you can
be in a world of hurt.”
That situation has JCW&SA staff
mulling the possibility of installing a
generator at the pump station that
would cut on automatically when the
power fails. Currently the system has
a single diesel-powered backup pump
that must be started manually.
Like the Commerce reservoir, Bear
Creek has remained full all year. The
reservoir is fed by water pumped
from the Middle Oconee River, but
the amount the Upper Oconee Basin
See “Water” on Page 3A
Commerce
Celebrates
the Fourth
Music, fireworks,
games bring crowd
to Spencer Park
Commerce celebrated
Independence Day with
music, games for the kids
and fireworks on Friday
night in Spencer Park. The
event began at 6:30 and
concluded at about 10 p.m.
For more photos, see Page
12A.
Fun on the slide
Becoming Spiderman
Sophie Poole, 3, of Hull, enjoys
the inflatable slide during the
Commerce Independence Day cel
ebration Friday evening.
Jeremiah Gordon Jr., 7, of Commerce takes on the appear
ance of Spiderman at the face painting booth during the
Commerce Independence Day celebration Friday evening in
Spencer Park.
Pinnacle
announces
acquisition
Pinnacle Financial Cor
poration (“Pinnacle”), the
parent holding company of
Pinnacle Bank, and Inde
pendence Bank of Geor
gia (“Independence”), on
Friday jointly announced
the signing of a definitive
merger agreement pursu
ant to which Pinnacle will
acquire Independence in
a 100 percent cash transac
tion valued at approximate
ly $32.8 million.
According to a news
release, “Management of
each bank believes that
the combined bank will
achieve greater scale and
diversity in markets, prod
ucts and management
compared to either bank
as a standalone. The cus
tomers and shareholders
of each of Pinnacle and
Independence will benefit
from the combined insti
tution’s greater footprint
and scale in the northeast
Georgia communities it
serves.”
Independence oper
ates two offices, one in
Braselton and another in
Gainesville, and will add
approximately $184 million
in assets, $136 million in
loans, and $151 million
in deposits to Pinnacle.
Upon completion of this
transaction, Pinnacle will
have approximately $869
million in assets, $545 mil
lion in loans, and $757 mil
lion in deposits, based on
financials reported as of
March 31, 2016.
maiunglabh.below Nicholson makes progress on comp plan
Nicholson is ready to move
forward with its proposed
comprehensive plan follow
ing last week’s public hearing
at which the city received no
public input.
City planner Jerry Wietz’s
proposed plan showed few
changes from Nicholson’s
2009 plan aside from some
“cleaned up” areas and edges
on the map.
The most notable change
proposed would be the annex
ation of two unincorporated
“islands” within the city limits;
however, Mayor Jan Webster
said the city council will not
move forward with annex
ation before going door-to-
door to discuss the action with
affected property owners.
Wietz recommended that
Nicholson send the complet
ed plan to the Northeast Geor
gia Regional Commission as
soon as possible to expedite
the process of becoming com
pliant with state guidelines.
The city will then be able to
apply for grants to fund proj
ects on the comp plan.
Biking Destination?
During the public hearing,
planning commission mem
ber John Ring suggested the
council consider taking steps
to make Nicholson a “bike
friendly” community. He
recommended adding bike
lanes to roads frequented by
an ever-growing population of
cyclists.
The council and planning
commission discussed the
positives and benefits of add
ing bike lanes, signs or other
facilities.
Roger Cochran said bike
traffic on Brockton Road “can
sometimes cause a “bot
tleneck” in traffic and prove
dangerous to cyclists and
automobiles. Ring pointed
out that increased bike traffic
could boost the economy by
generating revenue for local
businesses.
Wietz said that making
Nicholson a “cyclist desti
nation” could indeed attract
tourists and boost the city’s
economy. However, it would
take planned rides and festi
vals to draw people in. Wietz
also noted that adding bike
lanes is relatively cheap.
“I think this is something
we can definitely look into,”
added Webster. “We will put
something together and see
how much it would cost. I
think it’s definitely feasible.”
Wietz said the first step
would be getting recommen
dations from a traffic engineer.
The council also:
• discussed which city
roads need resurfacing. Web
ster noted that Memorial Drive
and Hunter Ridge are in need
of attention and asked the
council for any other sugges
tions. Max Whitlock suggested
that Cedar Drive be added to
the list, while Mike Barfield
said Hawk’s Ridge Road
would benefit from repaving.
He also pointed to the Church
Street extension, which has
never been paved.
•discussed plans for side
walks in the city. The coun
cil asked EMI engineering to
create a simple plan, but no
other steps have been taken.
Webster suggested the coun
cil wait until the comprehen
sive plan is finished before
taking further action on the
sidewalk request. She noted
that the city will then be able
to apply for grants to fund
projects like the sidewalk
plan.
•announced that Nich
olson recently received a
$1,000 donation from the
North Georgia Holiness
Youth Fellowship.