Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 140
No. 40
24 Pages
2 Sections
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Commerce News
Wednesday
NOVEMBER 23,2016
www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Zach Ardis
named new
police chief
Commerce will have a
new police chief starting
Dec. 5.
City manager James
Wascher said Douglasville
police captain Zach Ardis
has accepted the position at
an annual salary of $71,676.
He will be eligible for a
2.5-percent increase when
he completes a six-month
probationary period.
Ardis is captain over the
Administrative Services
Division of the Douglasville
Police Department, and has
also been over the Criminal
Investigation Division and
the Uniformed Patrol Divi
sion, Wascher said.
The city manager said he
is anxious to get input from
Ardis on his experiences in
code enforcement, which in
Douglasville falls under the
police department.
The current Commerce
budget calls for hiring an
additional code enforcement
officer, and Wascher said
he wants to talk about the
Douglasville experience with
Ardis “to get his experience
and ideas and to see what
worked and didn’t work in
Douglasville.” He added that
he is not committed to mov
ing code enforcement under
the umbrella of the police
department. It now operates
out of the city’s utility office
and is under the umbrella of
the planning department.
Ardis succeeds Brandon
Sellers who resigned in Sep
tember after about a year
in the job. The resignation
came shortly after Jack-
son County Sheriff’s Office
personnel responded to a
domestic dispute at Sellers’
residence between Sellers
and his wife.
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INDEX
Church News 7B
Classified Ads... 9-1 OB
Crime News 6-8A
Obituaries 8B
Opinion 4A
School 11-12A
Sports 1-5B
Social News...9-1OA
MAILING LABEL BELOW
Drought
State issues water use edict
Odd-even watering in effect; Commerce issues further restrictions
New water use restrictions
•Washing hard surfaces such as streets, sidewalks, gut
ters, driveways except when necessary for public health
and safety
•Water for ornamental purposes, such as fountains,
reflecting pools and waterfalls
•The use of fire hydrants, except for firefighting and pub
lic safety
•Non-commercial washing of vehicles, such as cars
boats, trailers, motorbikes, airplanes or golf carts
•Non-commercial pressure washing of building or struc
tures
• Charity or non-commercial fund raisers, carwashes
Commerce’s reservoir is hold
ing up well under one of the worst
droughts in memory, but the city
has imposed the state-mandated
water restrictions that are effective
this week.
The reservoir is only about a half
foot below full pool, but Gov. Nathan
Deal announced that Jackson and
51 other North Georgia counties are
now in a Level 2 drought, and with
that pronouncement comes a man
date to limit outdoor watering to two
days a week.
EPD sent notification Friday after
noon. City manager James Wascher
said staff would meet Monday morn
ing to decide how to comply with
the edict.
“They gave us a list of about 10
things we can do and we have to
choose three or four of them,”
Wascher said.
Even-numbered addresses may
water on Wednesdays and Satur
days between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m.,
and odd-numbered addresses may
water on Thursdays and Sundays
from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m.
Washing streets and sidewalks,
using water for ornamental purpos
es, non-commercial pressure wash
ing and non-commercial car wash
ing are also banned.
Fifty-eight other Georgia coun
ties are under a Level 1 declara
tion, which carries no restrictions,
although conservation is encour
aged.
Commerce’s 300-acre reservoir
is shallow, but resilient. During the
drought of 2007-08, the lake never
fell more than a foot below full pool,
thanks to several factors, including
a number of springs within the res
ervoir, a fairly large watershed that
enabled it to capture what little rain
fell, and the fact that the Grove River
flows through the reservoir. By com
parison, the Bear Creek Reservoir
is off-stream and is filled by pump
ing water from the Middle Oconee
River. In times of low streamflow,
no water can be pumped from the
river. So, while the operators of the
Bear Creek Reservoir have not been
able to pump water into the river for
most of the past two months, Com
merce’s reservoir continues to be
replenished even as the flow in the
■ "X 4
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k 1 _ L H;
Sheer joy in Tigertown
Commerce Tiger fans react to a Tiger touchdown last Friday
night as the Tigers knocked off Taylor County 35-20 to advance
to the quarterfinals of the Class A (Public) football playoffs.
The Tigers will travel to Clinch County Friday night, hoping to
revenge last year’s semifinal loss to the Panthers, who won
the Class A state title. See Page 1B. Photo by Charles Phelps
Maysville reviews
$1.4 million budget
BY ANGELA GARY
The Maysville City Council reviewed a $1.4 million bud
get Thursday night. A public hearing was held but no one
showed up from the community to speak on the proposed
budget.
The preliminary budget is up over the current budget of
$1.3 million, with the majority of the increase due to a hike
in insurance costs.
The council plans to move $100,000 from the fund bal
ance into a new line item for the city park. The park was
funded mostly through grants, and the funds allocated will
be used for its upkeep.
The city council will hold a second hearing on the
proposed budget at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 5, with the
regular voting session of the city council to follow.
At the meeting last week, the council also discussed a
planned Christmas event to be held in the new city park. It
will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17. There will
be light refreshments and entertainment.
A ribbon cutting and grand opening event was held
earlier this year at the park, which has areas for walking, a
playground and a pond where fishing is allowed.
Nicholson gets bids
for concrete replacement
BY CHARLES PHELPS
The Nicholson City Council discussed concrete bids for
the parking lot at the civic center at last Thursday’s work
session meeting.
The project will be for the removal and replacement of
the concrete at the civic center.
Walter Barnett Construction Inc., Wilkerson Concrete
Construction and Brian McCoy Grading & Hauling are the
See “Concrete” on Page 3A
Dry, but beautiful
The ongoing drought may be the worst on record for North Georgia, but
it has yielded one benefit — exceptional fall color, augmented by continual
beautiful, sunny days. Trees like these at Commerce Presbyterian Church
(left) and Commerce Primary School (right) still held their leaves as of this
past week.
Victim foils robbery attempt
The month’s second strong-armed rob
bery attempt took place last week, but the
Commerce Police Department reports that
the victim successfully fended off the attacker.
A customer at South State Bank reported
being attacked on the sidewalk in front of the
bank as he walked out with cash in hand. He
told police that a black male in a white T-shirt
and blue jeans, possibly in his mid-fifties,
approached him and told him, “I’m gonna
get your money” as he struck the victim in the
chest with his fist.
The customer, saying, “You ain’t gonna get
my money,” fought back, punching the sus
pect in the face. The suspect ran off and the
victim gave chase for a short distance before
thinking better of it.
The officer noted that the victim had an
open wound on his right hand “consistent
with a puncher’s tearing of skin just along the
inside of the knuckle area.”
A black male is also the suspect in the
Nov. 6 robbery of the Faith & Flour Bakery
on North Elm Street. The robber entered the
building, struck an employee in the head, and
got away with an undisclosed sum of money.
The event happened late at night, and police
are following a number of leads received after
they posted a Georgia Bureau of Investigation
sketch artist’s rendering of the suspect.