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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2016
Chatting up potential customers
Greg Smith of 7 G’s Farm chats with potential
customers during Berea Baptist Church’s 11th
annual crafts fair Saturday at the Berea Community
Center. Smith offered a variety of items for sale,
including sponsorship of Christmas trees for the
Trees for Troops program, which 7 G’s partici
pates in annually.
'Worst' drought decimating
Jackson County's pastures
Cattle producers forced to cull, eliminate herds
There may not be any
water use restrictions yet, but
the drought of 2016 is widely
considered to be the worst
on record by Jackson Coun
ty farmers.
Except for an occasional
shower, most of Northeast
Georgia has received little
or no rain since mid-August.
For farmers who depend on
grass and hay to raise cat
tle, it’s shaping up to be a
disaster.
Between the drought and
a severe outbreak of fall
armyworms, many local pas
tures are decimated, taking a
toll on cattle operations, one
of the mainstays of agricul
ture in Northeast Georgia.
“We’re seeing from 60-per
cent losses,” said county
agriculture agent Greg Pitt
man. “There’s the loss of
hay not produced because
of the lack of rain, the loss
from putting fertilizer out
there (at planting), plus the
losses from not having hay to
feed and in some cases not
to sell. With that loss, we’re
seeing hay trucked in from
South Georgia, South Caro
lina and Alabama. People
are paying anywhere from
double to nearly triple the
amount, just because of the
trucking costs.”
Pittman said the situation
is the worst he’s seen.
“I’ve talked to a number
of farmers and none of
them remember a drought
and armyworm situation
that hit in the same year,”
he said. “Not in any farm
er’s lifetime that is still living
and still in production.”
Jackson and other North
east Georgia counties have
been declared “disaster
areas” by the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture, which
means they can get some
assistance.
“That’s pennies on the
dollar toward keeping them
in business,” Pittman said.
Many farmers are culling
their herds. Others have liq
uidated them entirely.
“There’s been quite a
few cows sold, and the sale
barns are having big num
bers,,” said one Commerce
area cattleman. “They start
culling their worst cows and
keep selling down. ... then
they get to the good ones
and have no choice but to
sell out or make that decision
to buy hay.”
Farmers are “making
do with what they’ve got,”
meaning hay of questionable
quality.
“A lot of hay was cut when
it was over-mature, so it’s not
as nutritious,” Pittman said.
“In time of drought when you
have nothing, you’re feeding
whatever hay you can get
your hands on.”
Poor quality forage can
cause cows to produce less
milk, and when the health
of the mother cow declines,
the calves do not grow as
well.
“They should supplement
it based on the quality of the
hay,” the Commerce farmer
added, “but a lot of them
don’t. They just don’t have a
real good understanding and
let them get thinner than they
ought to be.”
Not many people grow
row crops in Jackson Coun
ty, but for those that do, the
drought is also a factor, since
no one irrigates here.
Pittman said East Jackson
farmer Darrell Williamson’s
soybean yield was “bet
ter than expected” but not
sufficient to cover costs. It
remains to be seen whether
farmers will risk planting win
ter wheat this year.
“Most of the general public
does not realize how serious
it is because food prices hav
en’t changed,” Pittman said.
“Pray for rain,” urged 4-H
agent Ali Merk at the Jack-
son County Area Chamber
of Commerce’s member
breakfast Nov. 2.
Merk, who works in the
same office as Pittman, and
her husband, Phillip, raise
beef cattle on 100 acres
in the Dry Pond area and
lease another 250 for hay
production, all of it affected
by drought and armyworms.
“We haven’t had mea
surable rain in months and
months and months,” she
said. “... When you stand in
our pasture, the dirt looks
like polished concrete. ...
There’s nothing for a cow
to eat.”
The Merks have culled
their herd from 50 animals,
including calves, down
to about 35, and expect to
reduce it further. One of
three creeks that water their
cattle is almost dry, and
weevils are eating the stored
grain they hope to plant for
a winter rye crop when the
rain returns.
“Even if we get rain, there
are lasting consequences
that will go into next year,”
Merk said.
Still Hoping For Rain
Cattle producers continue
to look for fall rain, for the
opportunity to reseed their
pastures with fescue. It is get
ting late in the year, but a half
inch of rain would encour
age farmers to plant. The
resulting grass would provide
little in the way of winter
grazing, but would help in
the spring with grazing and,
perhaps, hay. The immediate
outlook is not encouraging,
with little chance of rain this
week. And that could con
tinue.
“November and the win
ter (rainfall) look likely to be
lower than normal due to
La Nina,” said University of
Georgia climatologist Pam
Knox. “That does not mean
there will be no rain. And
there could well be some
pretty wet systems that come
through over the winter. But I
don’t see any short-term relief,
although I expect there will be
some drought decrease over
the winter due to some rain
and cooler temperatures. I am
concerned for next summer if
we don’t get a good amount of
rain over the winter.”
The hope for fall rain was
largely contingent on tropical
storms, but while Hurricane
Matthew drenched parts of
South Georgia, little rain fell
in the north.
Nicholson adopts
its 2017 budget
BY CHARLES PHELPS
The Nicholson City Council approved its 2017 budget with
a 3-1 vote Monday night.
Council members Max Whitlock, Judy Kesler and Lamar
Watkins voted in favor of the budget while council member
Mike Barfield voted no.
The total expenses for the city is slated to be $585,500.
The library’s budget went up to $16,500, up $500 from the
first budget hearing.
Two road projects are in the budget. The projects will be
at Cabin Creek Drive and Memorial Drive. Both are repaving
projects and are scheduled for September 2017.
The council also approved the reimbursement to citizens
who had flowers on their relatives’ graves removed. The
reimbursement only happens if the citizens show proof with
a receipt of the purchase of the flowers.
Police chief search
narrowed to three
Commerce city manager James Wascher has selected
three finalists for the position of police chief and expects
to name one of them to the position as early as this week.
They are Zach Ardis, a captain in the Douglasville Police
Department; Richard Zapal, commander of the Savan-
nah-Chatham Police Department’s Criminal Investigative
Division; and Judith Canup, a major in the East Point Police
Department.
“None of them are police chiefs now,” Wascher pointed
out.
Last week, Wascher scheduled meet-and-greet events
for the three with members of the city council, arranging
staggered meetings so as to avoid having a quomm — and
thereby an illegal meeting.
“It’s just a meet-and greet type format so the council
can get a first impression and let me know their thoughts,’
he said. Asked when he might make the appointment,
Wascher replied, “I hope within a week. I’ve got to follow up
on some more references, then make my decision.”
Wascher was out of town for the city council’s work ses
sion Monday night.
Commerce sidewalk
project nearly done
Commerce’s new side
walk along the Jefferson
Road is almost completed.
“We are down to the final
punch list items,” city man
ager James Wascher said last
week.
The sidewalk runs from
Commerce Middle School
along the east side of Jeffer
son Road to Lakeview Drive.
Motorists paying attention
to the project have observed
that the sidewalk does not go
all the way to the entrance of
the middle school, stopping
20-30 feet from the school
driveway.
That’s how it was planned,
Wascher advised.
“That’s the way the plans
that were drafted call for it,”
Wascher said. “I don’t know
what the thinking was, but
always been to end right
there where you’ve got that
turnout lane from the middle
school.”
The project was designed
by Stephenson & Palmer
around 2011, Wascher said,
and the plans contain a
note saying, “sidewalk to be
extended by the Commerce
Board of Education.”
“I talked to Joy (Tolbert,
superintendent of schools),”
the city manager added.
Almost done
The new sidewalk
from Commerce Mid
dle School to Lakeview
Drive is in its final stag
es.
“She’s not aware of the rea
son. It was kind of before
both of our times. We were
here, but not involved in the
planning.”
The plan also called for
the sidewalk to go around
a few utility poles, which
accounts for offsets along the
route, so as “not to spend
extra money moving poles
and to meet DOT standards
for setbacks,” Wascher said.
New internet firm asks to
use Jackson County's towers
A move to bring compe
tition for internet access to
Jackson County could get the
green light before Thanksgiv
ing.
Paladin Wireless, a small
Royston-based firm, pitched
its service to the Jackson
County Board of Commission
ers Monday night asking for
access to five county-owned
towers on which to mount its
wireless antennas.
If the BOC agrees at its Nov.
21 meeting to approve a lease
contract with Paladin, the firm
could cover as much as 85
percent of the county with an
alternative to Windstream’s
virtual monopoly in the mar
ket.
Paladin’s interest in Jack-
son County stems from efforts
by the Jefferson City Council
and a group of citizens upset
about Windstream’s service
problems in the area. The
group has been searching for
an alternative company, but
several previous efforts fell
apart. Paladin covers much of
nearby Franklin County with
its wireless internet service.
Paladin first discussed
mounting its wireless anten
nas on Jefferson’s water tanks,
but security concerns about
the city’s water supply nixed
that idea.
The BOC has several com
munication towers in the
county including one on Gor
don Street in Jefferson. Mon
day night, Paladin owner Steve
Fortmann presented a pro
posed contract to the board
for use of the Gordon Street
tower in return for the county
getting 50 mb of bandwidth for
10 IP addresses each month.
Although expressing gener
al support for the idea, BOC
members were hesitant to act
on the contract Monday night
without more review of the
details. Chairman Tom Crow
said he wanted the contract to
include performance bench
marks and penalties before
approving the idea.
“We’ve been burned
before,” he said of some previ
ous efforts to expand internet
service in the county.
Fortmann said that if
approved, Paladin would hire
two installation crews for the
county and could hook up 150
customers per month. Over
400 people have expressed
interest in Paladin’s service so
far, he said.
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J*E
i edee Small Blizzard
! r K-bil for Veterans
i
must have valid ID
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Commerce Location Only • Expires 11/11/16
r 50<t Off
I any
| biscuits
f Commerce Location Only • Expires 11/30/16 )
C. — — — — — — j
$5 Buck Lunch
11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
$1 Off Banana Split w/1
Peanut Buster Parfait i
Commerce Location Only • Expires 11/30/16 ) I
Can not be used with other deals.
463 S. Elm St. • Downtown Commerce
706-335-9197