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About The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2016 THE COMMERCE NEWS • THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 3A 1974 issue of The Commerce News The Harmony Grove Signal A1974 front page led with the story of Atlanta journalist Reg Murphy being The Harmony Grove Signal served the community from 1884 into 1888. It kidnapped — and held in a motel at Banks Crossing until his release. was published by W.J. Goss. Merger... Cont. from Page 1A The Jackson Herald when the papers merge Jan. 4. Those who currently subscribe to both newspapers will have their subscrip tions extended. HISTORY OF THE COMMERCE NEWS (Information comes from the History of Harmony Grove by Thomas Hardman) The Harmony Grove Age 1889-1891 *The Harmony Grove Echo 1891-1903 The Commerce News 1903-2016 “About 1888 or 1890, Stiles Alexander published a newspaper a year or two under the name of The Harmony Grove Age. He sold it to Dr. W.B. Hardman about the year 1891, who organized a stock company and published the paper under the name of The Harmony Grove Echo. This paper was leased to John Car- son who ran the paper for a year. “Dr. W.B. Hardman then took charge as manager, editor and owner of the paper until 1895. He then sold it to John F. Shan non (around 1902), who had moved here from Franklin County and who continued as owner and editor until his death in 1934. The name of the newspaper was changed in 1903 to The Commerce News when the name of Harmony Grove was changed to Commerce. “Following Mr. Shannon’s death (1928), the paper was leased by Luther J. Yarbrough and C.L. Veatch who operated it for about a year. “Harry Wise secured the paper from the Shannon estate and edited it for about a year when C. H. Cook, of Winder, took over, operating it through 1936 when Mrs. Trawick purchased it from the Shannon estate. She was editor and publisher until she sold The Commerce News on December 1, 1943 to Albert S. Hardy, Jr., of Gainesville.” Albert Hardy Jr. and his wife owned The Commerce News until 1978 when his nephew who had been working at the paper since 1962, Charles “Buzzie” Hardy bought it. In 1987, the Buffington family purchased The News. *Note: for a short time in 1897, The Harmony Grove Echo merged with the nearby Banks County Gazette and was known as The Harmony Grove Echo-Gazette. But that move created a backlash in Banks County, so the Gazette was reformed in Banks County as The Banks County Journal. In November 1897, Mr. D.G. Bickers was named editor of the The Harmony Grove Echo, but his tenure isn 't known. HISTORY OF OTHER NEWSPAPERS IN COMMERCE (Information comes from the History of Harmony Grove by Thomas Hardman) The Northeastern Progress 1875-1881 “The first newspaper published in Harmony Grove, as far as known, was The Northeast Georgia Progress. It was edited by Malcolm Stafford and printed in a small two-room building located on the Jesse R Wood lot on the north side of State Street. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford had their living quarters in the rear room and the printing in the front room. They had no children but adopted a boy Willie Jones, who was about twelve years of age. He was used as a lackey boy or printer’s devil. This paper began its publication in 1875 and continued through 1881. W.A. Shackelford, a young man of sixteen years, was the printer from 1876 to 1881.” The Citizen 1881-1884 “After Mr. Stafford moved from the city, W.J. Goss, the father of the late Mrs. C.J. Hood, published a newspaper in Harmony Grove for two or three years, the name of the paper not being known, but it is believed to have been The Citizen." The Harmony Grove Signal 1884-1888 “About 1885, a Mr. Atkinson and W.B. Wagnon came to Har mony Grove from Madison, Georgia, and installed a printing press and published a paper under the name of The Harmony Grove Signal and continued it for two years.” (Note: A copy we have of this newspaper indicates that it began in December 1885. By 1886, the flag was just “The Sig nal” with the Harmony Grove having been dropped.) The Bumble Bee 1888-1889 “For a short time, Harmony Grove was without the services of a regular newspaper. In the meantime, W.J. Goss published a small paper called The Bumble Bee in which he gave some news and social items.” The Whistler 1888? “Lonnie and Charlie Mize published a similar small paper known as The Whistler.” The Commerce Observer 1909-1922 “The Commerce Observer was a splendid newspaper. It was owned and published by Paul T. Harber from December, 1909 to July, 1922, some twelve and a half years. This paper together with The Commerce News gave Commerce at this period a wide range of publicity. It was during this time that the State Press Association was held and royally entertained at Commerce.” “Mr. Harber is a natural publicity man and added much force and vitality to our city’s progress. He was quite active in the New York to Atlanta auto tours in 1909 and 1910. He publicized the Four County Fair in a great way.” (Note: Paul Harber was president of the Georgia Press Asso- ciation in 1917 and on the executive committee of the National Editorial Association in 1921. He left the Observer in June 1922 to become general manager of the Rome Tribune-Herald in Rome, Ga. He left the Observer for others to continue, but apparently it folded shortly after his departure.) Hardy Family Ownership Of all the owners of The Commerce News, none had more impact on North Georgia than the Hardy family who owned the paper for 44 years (1943-1987). The family’s newspaper roots began in the late 1800s with Albert S. Hardy Sr. who worked on the newspaper in Barnes- ville, GA before moving to Gainesville in 1877 and buying an existing newspaper, which he renamed it Gainesville News. Albert Sr. was widely regarded in the newspaper world, serving as president of both the Georgia Press Association (1907) and the National Newspaper Association (1943). Albert had two brothers who were also in the newspaper business: James with The Thomasville Times, and Benjamin with The Barnesville News-Gazette. Albert Sr. had two sons who became newspaper publishers: Charles, who followed his father as publisher in Gainesville, and Albert Jr. who became publisher of The Commerce News in 1943. Charles had an interesting newspaper career establishing the first offset newspaper in the state and only the third in the nation in 1955 in Gainesville. Unfortunately, that venture didn’t last very long as his attempt to convert his weekly newspaper to a daily failed. Charles was about a decade ahead of his time — by the mid 1960s, offset printing revolutionized newspaper production around the nation. In 1962, Charles’ son, Charles “Buzzie” Hardy began work ing for his uncle, Albert Jr., at The Commerce News while a student at UGA. Buzzie continued working at The Commerce News for the next 25 years, buying the newspaper from his aunt in 1978. (He also published The Banks County Journal from the late 1960s until it was merged with The Banks County News) He sold The Commerce News and The Banks County Journal to the Buffington family in 1987, but continued his commercial printing business and also served as mayor of Commerce for 22 years. He died in November at age 75. A lucky winner Minnie Nell Archer of Jefferson was the winner of the Goodmark Chevrolet drawing for a New Chevrolet Sonic on Dec. 17. She is pictured with owner Tom Owen. At 4.0 percent, Jackson's jobless rate tied for lowest Although Jackson County’s jobless rate inched up a tenth of a percent to 4.0 between October and November, it’s still tied with four other coun ties for the lowest unemploy ment rate in Georgia. Figures released last week by the Georgia Department of Labor estimate 4.0-percent jobless rates for Jackson, Oconee, Cherokee, Forsyth and Echols counties. The statewide rate of 5 percent for November is down from 5.2 percent in October. Unemployment numbers are estimates based on con tinually ongoing household surveys conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta tistics, with data regarding unemployment benefits and calls to employers about job numbers factored in. Other area counties and their jobless rates include: • Banks, 4.3 percent, down from 4.7 percent • Barrow, 4.7, up from 4.5 •Athens-Clarke, 5.5, up from 5.1 • Hall, 4.1, down from 4.4 • Madison, 5.0, up from 4.6 Wheeler County with an 8.9 percent jobless rate, had the highest unemployment rate in Georgia. Forty-five Georgia counties had jobless rates less than 5 percent, while 19 had rates of 7 percent or higher. Commerce council changes Jan. meeting dates The dates of both of its January Commerce City Council meetings will be moved, due to holidays. The “work session” will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 3, because New Year’s Day falls on Sunday and the city will take Monday, Jan. 2, as a holiday. The regular (vot ing) meeting will be moved to Tuesday, Jan. 17, because the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls on Monday, Jan. 16.
