Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No. 35
24 Pages
2 Sections
rpl WEDi
lf\£ OCTOBE
Commerce News
Wednesday
OCTOBER 19,2016
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Homecoming time
Candidates for CHS 'Miss Homecoming'
One of these Commerce High School seniors will be crowned “Miss
Homecoming” during homecoming ceremonies Friday night. Left to
right are Hanna Beck, Anna Caroline Hardy, Karli Loggins, Madison
Rodriguez, Kelsea Williams and Mary Young. For photos of the candi-
ates for Miss Freshman, Miss Sophomore and Miss Junior, see Page 3A.
Aly Hertzog
Amelia Lacey
Kimberly Nunn Marley Palmer
Ally Petering Brooke Trogdon
Homecoming Friday at EJCHS
East Jackson Comprehensive High Boswell, Nicole Gibbs, Aly Hertzog, Ame-
School will crown one senior as “Miss lia Lacey, Kimberly Nunn, Marley Palmer,
Homecoming” during the halftime of Fri- Ally Petering and Brooke Trodgon.
day night’s football game. The homecoming dance will be Satur-
Members of the senior court are Abbe day night at the school.
Commerce government
Council votes to buy
seven new police vehicles
Bicycles, Brews
& BBQ set
for Saturday
The Commerce Downtown
Development Authority will
host the inaugural Bicycles,
Brews & BBQ Festival Saturday
Oct. 22, in the new parking lot
off Cherry Street (across Syc
amore Street from City Hall).
The event, which runs from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will feature a
variety of barbecue offerings to
sample, live music, face paint
ing, funnel cakes, craft booths,
inflatables, jams and jellies,
bread, Christmas items and
other activities.
A $10 wristband will entitle
individuals to sample barbecue
from 10 teams. Participants will
vote on a “people’s choice”
barbecue favorite of briskets,
which will be announced at 3
p.m.. In addition, judges will
award first through third-place
cash prizes to teams based on
judging of ribs and chicken. As
of press time, 10 booths had
signed on to compete in the
barbecue contest.
Wine and beer will be avail
able from restaurants adjacent
to the site.
Although the festival starts at
10 a.m., there will be a Night
mare on Elm Street Metric Cen
tury charity bike ride starting
at 8 a.m. Participants will have
three choices of rides, 15 miles,
30 miles and 62 miles. Registra
tion is $40, and each rider will
receive a T-shirt.
'Boo Fest'
is Thursday
at library
There will be no downtown
trick-or-treating this year in
Commerce, but area kids are
invited to the “Boo Fest on
Broad,” which takes place this
Thursday Oct. 20, from 6 to
7:30 p.m. at the Commerce
Public Library.
The event, being held in the
library’s Memorial Garden, fea
tures spooky stories, a photo
booth, games, a costume con
test and face painting.
Online
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INDEX
Church News .... 11A
Classified Ads 5-6B
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 11A
Opinion 4A
School 1 1-12B
Sports 1-4B
Social News...9-10A
MAILING LABEL BELOW
The Commerce City
Council took the first step
Monday night toward pro
viding take-home cars to its
police officers.
The council voted with
out dissent to amend its
2016-17 budget by $280,000.
Of that, $245,000 will be
financed, with $35,000
being transferred from
elsewhere in the budget.
That will enable the police
department to buy six new
Dodge Charger patrol cars,
and also a Ford Explorer
for the K9 unit.
“This is something we’ve
really needed to do for
awhile, but needed to fig
ure out a way to make it
happen,” Mayor Clark Hill
explained. “...This is a first
step to moving to have take-
home vehicles for the offi
cers”
The council had dis
cussed the issue at length
at its Oct. 3 “work session.”
The view is that the take-
home vehicles are a perk
for officers that will help
the department attract and
retain police officers.
Moving Toward
Creating A
Land Bank
The council also voted to
authorize Hill to execute an
intergovernmental agree
ment that, if also passed by
the Jackson County Board
of Commissioners, would
lead to the creation of the
Commerce-Jackson Land
Bank.
Hill said the council has
discussed the concept for
some time, saying it would
allow the city to address
“properties falling in dis
repair or where the city
has exhausted its (code
enforcement) options (to)
be deposited into the land
bank. Once they are ready
to sell, the city would not
take all the money. We
would take the money we
were owed for rehab and
the money spent to clean
it up.... The balance of the
money would go to the
property owner.”
Other Business
Also on Monday, the
council:
•voted to annex the
42-lot Whitehill Meadows
Subdivision and rezone it
R-2. Hill said the developer
is “ready to begin construc
tion as soon as we get this
done.” Hill credited plan
ning director David Zellner
for his work in getting the
property annexed.
•approved a resolution
requested by the Municipal
Electric Authority of Geor
gia naming Hill, city clerk
Sandra Haggard and city
manager James Wascher
as signatories for actions
involving the city’s revenue
in the Municipal Competi
tive Tmst Fund. It takes the
signature of Hill and one of
the other two to authorize a
transaction.
•approved the closing
of Sycamore and Wilhard
streets, along with the Cher
ry Street parking lot, for
See “Council” on 3A
Tax bills
coming out
this week
Jackson County's
rate is down slightly
Jackson County taxpayers should be receiving their tax
bills soon following action by the board of commissioners.
And some taxpayers could see a slight drop in their taxes
after the BOC lowered millage rates last week.
The board dropped the millage rates by .1 mill. The
incorporated rate is 11.11 mills while the unincorporated
rate is 9.6 mills. The county’s tax digest went up about six
percent this year.
Jackson County tax commissioner Candace Taylor
announced Monday that tax bills would be in the mail by
the end of this week.
The county’s overall FY2017 budget is up 2.3 percent over
the 2016 budget. All county employees are getting raises
next year.
Debt service payments will make up 24 percent of the
county’s spending next year.
The county expects to use a little over $405,000 from
reserves in 2017 to balance the budget.
Around nine new positions are being created in 2017.
City Levy To Be On Same Bill
Commerce taxpayers will notice that their city tax bill
is included on the county bill. The Commerce Board of
Education dropped its maintenance and operations tax rate
from 19.845 last year to 19.139 this year and kept its bond tax
rate at three mills. The Commerce City Council kept its rate
the same as last year at 4.02 mills.
644 cast ballots
on first day
of early voting
If the first day of early voting is any indication, voter turnout
for the Nov. 8 general election could set a record.
Some 644 Jackson County voters cast their ballots on Mon
day at the Jackson County Board of Elections and Voter Regis
tration office at 44 Gordon Street in Jefferson. That’s more than
one voter per minute, election supervisor Lori Wurtz reports.
Early voting will continue there through the week before the
election. Hours are:
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday Oct. 17-Oct. 21
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday Oct. 2428
• 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Oct. 29
• 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday Oct. 31-Nov. 4
Commerce
Early voting will be held at the Commerce Parks and Recre
ation Center, 204 Carson Street, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Fri
day Oct. 31-Nov. 4
Braselton
Early voting will be held at the Braselton Police and Munic
ipal Court Building, located at 5040 Hwy. 53, Braselton, 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday Oct. 31-Nov. 4
A bitterly contentious presidential race appears to be driving
the heavy turnout in an election where the only county-specific
race is for sheriff, with incumbent Janis Mangum, a Republi
can, facing Democratic challenger Randy Moore.
Other contested races on the ballot include:
• President of the United States — pitting Donald Trump (R)
against Hillary Clinton (D). Voters will also have the option of vot
ing for Gary Johnson, who is running on the Libertarian ballot.
• U.S. Senate — featuring incumbent Johnny Isakson (R),
Jim Barksdale (D) and Allen Buckley (L)
• Public service commissioner — Tim Echols, incumbent
(R) vs. Eric Husking (L)
Constitutional Amendments
The most high-profile matter on the ballot in Georgia —
besides the presidential contest—is the proposed amendment
to the Georgia constitution creating “opportunity school dis
tricts,” (OSD) that would allow the state to take over schools
deemed to be underperforming.
Currently 127 schools in Georgia have achieved an “F”
rank on the state’s accountability system for three consecutive
years, which makes them eligible for the state takeover. The
amendment would allow up to 20 schools a year to be includ
ed, with a limit of 100 schools under OSD governance at any
given time.
If that happens, the governor will appoint a school “super
intendent” who will report to the governor. That individual
will be able to close or merge schools, hire and fire staff and
determine tax rates — which opponents of the measure say
removes all local control over schools. Schools would remain
under OSD control for a minimum of five years and a maxi
mum of 10 years.
There are three other amendments. Amendment 2 deals
with new penalties for sexual exploitation and levies taxes on
adult entertainment to fund child victims’ services. Amend
ment 3 would re-establish the Judicial Qualifications Commis
sion and Amendment 4 would dedicate taxes on fireworks to
fund trauma care, fire services and public safety.