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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016
Helping provide relief
Jefferson firemen were among those deployed with a search and rescue group from the Gainesville Fire Department.
Locals help provide hurricane relief
Take refuge at Bentley
Residents of Summer Breeze Assisted Living,
were evacuated from Wilmington Island to Bentley
Assisted Living in Jefferson.
BY ANGELA GARY
While Hurricane Mat
thew that hit South Georgia
over the weekend didn’t
bring any damage to this
area, the storm still impact
ed some county residents.
A busload of elderly res
idents from South Georgia
arrived in Jefferson last
week to stay at Bentley
Assisted Living. Jackson
County emergency service
workers and public utility
staff also headed to the
coast to help out.
At Bentley Assisted
Living, 28 residents and
seven staff members from
Summer Breeze arrived on
Wednesday, Oct. 5, due to
power outages and flood
ing at their facility. They
will stay in Jefferson until
power is restored and
water damage is assessed
at their facility which is
located on Wilmington
Island.
“Their facility is in good
condition, just without
water and power at this
time,” said Nicole Dumas,
executive director of Bent
ley Assisted Living. “We
are beyond grateful for the
outpouring of love that the
community has shown
us. We have had beds,
sheets, blankets, personal
hygiene items, hearing aid
batteries, everything that
the residents could pos
sibly need donated from
businesses and individu
als in the community. We
could not have done this
without their support.”
One of the seniors is
a 99-year-old man who
hopes to get back to South
Georgia before his 100th
birthday on Oct. 24.
Helping With
Storm Damage
Jackson Electric Mem
bership Corporation
sent 26 employees and
15 trucks to help restore
power in the coastal areas
of Georgia, Florida and
South Carolina. Jackson
EMC also released nine of
its construction contract
crews and 22 right of way
contract crews to assist
with the work.
Jackson EMC person
nel left Jefferson and
Lawrenceville in the early
hours of Sunday morning
to drive to Coastal Electric
Cooperative in Walterboro,
SC, which had about two-
thirds of its members with
out power following Hurri
cane Matthew.
“One of the great things
about cooperatives is that
we come to each other’s
aid,” said Jackson EMC
director of operations
services Dwayne Ansley.
“We benefitted from other
cooperatives’ help during
the 2015 ice storm and
we’re happy to return the
favor.”
Initial reports indicate
Matthew’s hurricane-force
winds damaged several
transmission lines and
substations in the affected
areas as well as damaged
or destroyed hundreds
of poles and distribution
lines, reports Bonnie Jones
with Jackson EMC.
“Broken poles, downed
trees and lines on road
ways, heavy debris, soggy
terrain and standing water
have substantially slowed
progress,” Jones said.
Public Safety
Workers
Jackson County public
safety workers are also
assisting with the storm
cleanup in South Georgia.
“We sent two ambulanc
es with two paramedics
assigned to each and one
supervisor,” EMS director
Steve Nichols reports. “I
was assigned to the State
Operations Center in Atlan
ta for GEMA.”
The Jackson County
team was deployed Satur
day morning to be in Sand-
ersville at 10 a.m. to meet
with the initial teams to go
into the affected area. They
were assigned to work the
area from Sandersville to
Free mulch available to city
residents from Public Works Dept.
The Commerce Public
Works Department has an
abundance of free mulch
available for city residents.
The mulch is made from
yard wastes — leaves, limbs,
cuttings — ground up at the
former city dump at the
end of Martin Luther King
Jr. Drive. It is offered free
to residents who come pick
it up, and a Public Works
employee will load the truck
or trailer.
The city will also deliv
er larger amounts, for $50,
inside the city limits.
The deadline for
submitting
news or
photographs to
this newspaper
is noon on the
Monday prior to
publication.
Residents can pick up
mulch between 1 and 2 p.m.
every Wednesday, and from
8 a.m. to noon on alternate
Saturdays. Call 706-335-3164
to confirm Saturday dates
and to make appointments
to pick up the mulch.
Attention
Medicare Beneficiaries
New to Jackson, Banks, and Hall
Counties
A new PPO plan with No referrals
required and No premium.
The plan also includes
Healthways SilverSneakers®!
Annual Enrollment
Oct 15th - Dec 17th
Select Health Plans of Ga, Inc.
706-654-9008 or 800-741 2798
selecthealth@windstream.net
Storm cleanup
A crew of Jackson County EMS personnel helped
clear debris in roads in South Georgia.
Savannah. They returned
to Jackson County around
midnight on Sunday night.
“They were assigned
to the initial entry teams
going in to clear the road
ways and look for possible
victims,” Nichols said. “I’m
proud of our personnel.
They were requested by
the state office of EMS to
be part of the first wave in.
They choose the best and
we were requested to do
this job. They performed
very well and showed
the caliber of personnel
we have here in Jackson
County. They are to be
commended for their part.
We are all back now and
getting the units back into
normal operation here.”
Scott Sanders and Alton
Lee, members of the Jef
ferson Fire Department,
were also deployed with
GSAR TF-1 for hurricane
relief efforts. They were
deployed as part of the
Georgia Search and Res
cue group based out of the
Gainesville Fire Depart
ment and were part of a
35-member group that
responded to the coast to
assist with search-and-res-
cue operations.
The group was sent to
the Guardian Center train
ing grounds in Perry and
were sent from there to
a forward staging area in
Waycross. In total, there
were seven GSAR task forc
es sent to the area with all
bringing 35 members, plus
the Georgia Incident Man
agement Team that coordi
nated response efforts and
resource requests through
the State of Georgia emer
gency operations center.
The team returned home
Sunday.
Cruisers
News reports were filled
with stories of people on
cruises when the storm hit
and one Jefferson family
on a fall school break trip
was among those.
Please Recycle
This Newspaper
Mike Barker and his fam
ily left on a cruise from
Miami headed to the Virgin
Islands and were at sea
when the storm hit.
“Everyone was watching
the weather instead of the
football game,” he said.
“They stayed away from
the storm though. Every
time we went outside, it
was beautiful. They avoid
ed the storm.”
The only impact on
the family trip was that a
scheduled stop in Nassau,
Bahamas, was cancelled
because of storm damage.
The airports were also shut
down when they returned
to Atlanta so they had
to deal with flight delays
before they returned home.
Fleeing Storm
North Georgia and the
Atlanta area were filled
over the weekend with peo
ple fleeing the storm area.
Jacque Wilkes of Jefferson
opened her lake home
up to family members of
her daughter-in-law who
left Savannah because of
the storm. The husband
and wife and two teenag
ers still have not been able
to return to their home
because of trees being
down and the power being
out.
City of Commerce
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
The City of Commerce Planning
Commission will hold a public hearing on
Monday, October 24, 2016 at 7:00 P.M.
in the Commerce Civic Center Peach
Room, 110 State Street. The purpose for
the hearing is to discuss:
1) Kyle and Erin Moore, Hazel Street,
Map 021 Parcel 020 and Map C19
Parcel 085, 8.27 Acres, Rezoning for
Annexation, A-2 in the County to R-l
in the City.
2) Updated Zoning Map.
David Zellner
City Planner
.U
J*E
2 Bacon Biscuits
$3.33
Commerce Location Only • Expires 10/22/16
Buy 1 , xif ^
I Get 1 Free jfgg
| Blizzards
( Commerce Location Only • Expires
$5 Buck Lunch
11 a.m. - Close
Commerce Location Only • Expires 10/22/16
Can not be used with other deals.
463 S. Elm St. • Downtown Commerce
706-335-9197