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FINAL ISSUE Vol. 140 No. 45 20 Pages 2 Sections rpr VVEDf [jg DECEMBE Commerce News Wednesday DECEMBER 28,2016 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 mtfiy y. ' fir -JA Sun setting on 2016 and on The Commerce News This Saturday, the sun will set on another year — and on The Commerce News, as this (Dec. 28) issue will be its last. The newspaper traces its origin back to 1875. Over the course of 141 years, Commerce (and before that, Harmony Grove) has been served by a number of newspapers, all consid ered to be part of The Commerce News’ lineage. The News will be folded into The Jackson Herald, Jackson County’s oldest continually-operating business — which also traces its origin back to 1875. The News to merge with The Jackson Herald Economics, cultural changes bring end to 141-year-old newspaper BY MIKE & SCOTT BUFFINGTON This issue of The Com merce News marks the last edition of the newspaper as an independent publication. Beginning next week, news from the Commerce area will be incorporated into The Jackson Herald as the two newspapers merge. While this move makes sense from a business point of view, it was emotionally a very difficult decision to make. Our relationship with The Commerce News goes back to 1965 when our parents purchased The Jackson Herald. At that time, the two newspapers were competitors in the Jackson County market. When The News beat us on a story or had a better photo from Friday night’s football game, it always pushed us to try harder in The Herald. In the 1960s and 1970s, Commerce was the major retail shopping area for much of Jackson and surrounding counties. The Jackson Herald had always been more focused on the Jefferson area than Com merce, but our father decid ed that it would be good business to expand more into Commerce and the east side of Jackson County. Over the next 20 years, we pursued an aggressive growth strategy in the area, ramping up news coverage and adding new readers along the way. By the mid-1980s, The Herald was the largest paper in the Commerce and East Jackson area. In 1987, we purchased The Commerce News from Charles “Buzzie” Hardy. Hardy said later that he decided to sell The Commerce News because Walmart had announced it was coming into Com merce and that he figured that store would put a lot of smaller local merchants out of business, merchants who were his core advertisers. In addition, he said with The Herald being the largest paper in the area, he didn’t think he stood much of a chance in getting advertising from Walmart itself. When we purchased The Commerce News, we pulled back on Commerce cover- C'-.iisr the Lord! Thank you, sir!’ Capt. Leon Ellis is Coming Home fly •.. fifciwry Comment? Utility Bill Problem Cited ★ * * ★ ★ Part of Beer Late Repealed Problem Tagged Complex Historic page One of the more memorable front pages was the 1973 issue announcing the pending arrival back home of Commerce’s Leon F. Ellis Jr., after years of captivity in North Vietnam. age in The Jackson Herald, refocusing The Herald as a central and west Jackson newspaper with The News focused on East Jackson. That worked pretty well for many years, but over the last decade several things changed. The largest change has been a shift in local eco nomics. The rise of chain stores and the development of large retail centers such as the Mall of Georgia squeezed out many of the local businesses which once made Commerce a major retail store center. And more recently, the growth in online businesses has further pressured traditional mom-and-pop businesses that have been the back bone of local newspaper advertisers. In addition, a decade ago we added a third newspaper to Jackson County with the birth of The Braselton News in the fast growing west side of the county. Having three newspapers serving one county, even one as large as Jackson County, just isn’t tenable in today’s economic environment. What ultimately triggered our decision to merge The Commerce News into The Jackson Herald now, how ever, was the impending retirement of longtime editor Mark Beardsley. Beardsley has served as editor of The News for over 40 years and in many ways, has become the soul of the newspaper. When he announced his retirement plans to us in November, we had a diffi cult time seeing The News continuing to be successful without him. So beginning next week, news from Commerce will appear in The Jackson Her ald, along with all the other news from Jackson County. Covering the Commerce area for The Herald will be Commerce native Alex Pace and our newest reporter, Ron Bridgeman. Alex is the editor of The Braselton News and lives in Com merce while Ron is an expe rienced newspaper editor who now lives in Jefferson. Subscribers to The Com merce News will automati cally become subscribers of See “Merge” on 3A INDEX Church News 9A Classified Ads 5-6B Crime News 6-8A Obituaries 11A Opinion 4A School 8A Sports 1-4B Social.... 10A &-12A MAILING LABEL BELOW Dec. 21 heart attack claims Dwain Smith BY ANGELA GARY Jackson County Board of Commissioners member Dwain Smith died Wednesday, Dec. 21, of a heart attack. Smith served District 4, which includes the Nicholson area. In Septem ber 1976, Smith was appointed director of civil defense for Jack- son County. After many years of service, he was appointed direc tor of ambulance services in November 1987. In 1993, the Emergency Medical Services and E-911 Emergency Services were consoli dated and Smith oversaw these services until his retirement in 2004. Jackson County was declared to have the “Volunteer Rescue Team of the Year” twice under his leadership. Smith was also self employed as a barber and conducted CPR and first aid classes. Dwain Smith Elected officials to be sworn in Jan. 2 Recently-elected Jackson County government officials will take their oaths of office at a county New Year’s program at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 2, at the Jackson County Court house. Probate judge Sherry Moore will preside and will administer the oaths of office to those offi cials elected during 2016. That will be the second county-sponsored New Year’s program of the day. The 90th annual Jackson County New Year’s Program will be held at 9 a.m. at the Jackson County historic court house in downtown Jefferson. This is the first time the event will be held in the his toric courthouse since it has been renovated. The first New Year’s Day program was held in the historic courthouse in 1927, with judge W.W. Dickson presiding. This year, pastor Cary Pittman of White Plains Baptist Church will be the keynote speaker. Clerk of court Camie Thomas will lead the opening prayer, and new magistrate judge Sherri Thurmond-Smith will introduce county officials and guests. Tax commissioner Candace Taylor will introduce the speak er. TeenPact, an organization dedicated to preparing students for business and political lead ership, will host the event and provide coffee and donuts. Nicholson water rates going up on Jan. 1 The Nicholson Water Authority unanimously approved its 2017 budget at last Tuesday’s meeting. The budget is set at $525,000. Expenses includes $130,000 in salaries, $125,000 in depre ciation and $81,000 going towards two Georgia Envi ronmental Finance Author ity loans. Part of the water income includes a $1 base rate increase, which was also approved by the authority. The new rates begin Jan. 1. The base rate for both residen tial and commercial accounts will be $13 for the first 1,000 gallons. Residential Rates • $6.25 per 1,000 gallons from 1,001 gallons to 6,000 gallons • $6.75 per 1,000 gallons from 6,001 gallons to 10,000 gallons • $8.25 per 1,000 gallons from 10,001 gallons and up Commercial Rate • $5.25 per 1,000 gallons The rate increase comes under a deal made with the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) for the water authority’s second loan. The authority has to have a rate increase of at least 25 cents every year for five years, sec retary/treasurer Ginger Dempsey explained at the authority’s work session. Other Business Work is expected at the Cabin Creek well the first week of Janu ary. A new cutoff valve is being put in for $1,200. Eric Bledsoe, engineer, said the Spud Palmer well is “up and run ning” after a variable frequency drive (VFD) pump was installed. The Jackson County automat ed connection project, which was approved nearly 10 months ago by the authority had a $2,800 increase approved for the project, bringing the total cost to $20,113.