Newspaper Page Text
VOL. 106, NO. 13, OCTOBER 14, 2009
LEGAL ORGAN OF JENKINS COUNTY
MILLEN, GEORGIA • 75 CENTS
Rev. Tim Tatum, pastor of Long Branch Church of God,
comments during a public meeting held Monday night
to discuss the prospect of locating a prison in Jenkins
County. (Staff photo by Deborah Bennett)
Prison could
mean jobs
JCHS named regional Governor’s Cup winner
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
Governor Sonny Perdue and
State Superintendent of
Schools Kathy Cox announced
last week that Jenkins County
High School (JCHS) is the re
gional Class 3A winner in the
Governor’s Cup program.
As a regional winner, JCHS
received a regional champion
trophy and a $1,000 grant. Re
gional winners are recognized
for having the largest numeri
cal improvement in SAT
scores among schools in their
Georgia High School Associa
tion (GHSA) region.
Gov. Perdue initiated the
statewide competition in 2003
as part of an overall effort to
raise Georgia’s SAT scores.
The “Governor’s Cup” is
awarded annually to the
school in each class with the
highest average SAT score im
provement over the past three
years. The award is based on
high school athletic regions
and classifications assigned
by the Georgia High School
Association (GHSA).
"Our students have stepped
up to the challenge and
worked hard to raise SAT
scores,” said Gov. Perdue.
“These schools now have
bragging rights for the next
year. This is a tough competi
tion to win, and I am proud of
the tremendous improvement
these schools have achieved in
SAT scores.”
Dr. Joseph Kirkland, JCHS
principal, commented, "It is an
honor to be recognized by the
Governor for improvements
we have made in our SAT
scores. Teachers are working
very hard to implement
higher-order thinking skills
using a more rigorous and rel
evant curriculum. This award
is evidence that Jenkins
County High School is suc
cessfully preparing its stu
dents for both college and
life.”
From left, Dr. Joseph Kirkland, Jenkins County High
School principal, accepts trophy and $1,000 check from
Melissa Williams, Jenkins County School Superintendent,
and Carroll Gay, Jenkins County Board of Education
chairman (Staff photo by Deborah Bennett)
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
“Jobs for Jenkins” is the slogan uniting local efforts to se
cure the construction of a 1,000 bed prison in Jenkins County
by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
A large crowd gathered Monday night at the Jenkins County
High School gymnasium for a public meeting hosted by the
Jenkins County Commissioners, Millen City Council, Jenkins
County Development Authority and Millen-Jenkins County
Chamber of Commerce, to learn more about the proposed
prison project, the impact it could have on the community and
the process by which the state will decide its location.
In welcoming remarks, Jenkins County Board of Commis
sion Chairman James Henry encouraged those present “to lis
ten with an open mind and make a decision based on the facts.”
He then turned the program over to representatives with the
CCA and the Wheeler County prison operated by the CCA.
Louise Grant, CCA vice-president of communications, Nash
ville, outlined three areas that the prison would impact lo
cally: careers, taxes and community partnership.
She noted that the facility would employ not only security
personnel but also personnel in other areas such as adminis
tration, human resources, teaching, maintenance, safety, chap
lains, counseling and medical. Initially, the facility would cre
ate approximately 200 jobs. Should it be expanded to a 2,500
bed facility, the number of jobs created would increase to 500.
Most of the jobs would be entry level positions that would be
hired locally with the CCA providing training, she said.
Ms. Grant reported that the CCA operates facilities in 19
states with one opening in Nevada next year that will bring
the total 20 states. The corporation employs approximately
17,000 persons, manages 80,000 inmates and has been named
as one of “America’s Best Big Companies” by Forbes maga
zine.
“You are hiring on with a company that has a national repu
tation,” she commented.
In the area of taxes, Ms. Grant predicted that the CCA would
pay $500,000 annually in property taxes to local governments
and $800,000 utilities. This would give local governments
much needed revenue for things such as schools, keeping prop
erty taxes low and helping build roads and parks, she said.
The importance the CCA places on community involvement
and support was noted by Ralph Kemp, warden of the Wheeler
County prison in Alamo. Mr. Kemp noted that prisoners at
that facility had built a police station, fire station, installed
irrigation systems, constructed a walking track and were cur
rently assisting with the construction of a recreation depart
ment. He also pointed out the positive impact of the prison’s
use of the local hospital, stating that the hospital would have
been forced to close.
During a question and answer session, Mayor King Rocker
reported that a large portion of the $3.4-$3.6 million needed
by the city and county to provide infrastructure to the facility,
which will be located in the Pine Avenue area, was available
through grants and Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax
revenue. The city and county would only need to provide 10-
15 percent of the required funds, he said.
Chairman Henry responded to a question concerning the
impact the facility would have on the local landfill. He noted
that the landfill was designated as a “construction and demo
lition” facility. All garbage, therefore, was transported to a
site in South Carolina.
“This means it will not impact the landfill substantially at
all,” he said.
Local resident Edward Wilson spoke about his recent tour
of the Wheeler County facility stating that he was “sitting on
the fence” before the visit, but was now supporting the local
effort to secure a prison for Jenkins County.
“I think it would be a pleasure and an honor if we can get
this prison here,” he said.
When a concerned citizen inquired as to the worse case sce
nario that could be expected regarding safety. Warden Kemp
noted that during the 11 years the prison had operated in
Wheeler County, only one serious incident had occurred.
“We have had no attempted escapes and no escapes,” he
said.
“We would not be in business if governments did not trust
us to operate secure facilities,” Ms. Grant added.
In his remarks. Commissioner Tommy Lane commended
the CCA for not having asked for tax abatements during ini
tial negotiations with the city and county on the project.
“I just want to commend them. We’ve never had a company
do that,” he said.
A decision on the project is expected from the state within
the next several weeks. Local citizens were encouraged to
contact state representatives to secure their support for Jenkins
County and to sign cards of support at the meeting that will be
delivered to the Governor by local leaders sometime this week.
Commissioners will not impose fire protection fee
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
Jenkins County property
owners will soon receive their
2009 tax notices in the mail, but
those notices will not include a
fire protection fee. During the
Tuesday, Oct. 6, meeting, of the
Jenkins County Commission
ers, Chairman James Henry rec
ommended an alternative
course of action to deal with a
previous request from volunteer
fire departments seeking finan
cial assistance from the county.
Chairman He my reported that
funding for the approximately
$50,000 needed by the fire de
partments was available from
another source, and he recom
mended taking that route due to
time limitations in getting the
tax bills out to property owners.
The possibility of imposing a
fire protection fee in the future
was not ruled out.
Chairman Henry suggested
that each fire station be appro
priated funds annually, that if
not fully used, could be carried
over into the next fiscal year.
These funds could be used as
matching local funds for grants
the departments might be seek
ing.
After discussion of the mat
ter, the commissioners ap
proved allocation of the funds
to the fire departments in Janu
ary 2010.
In a related matter. Chairman
Henry reported that he was
working closely with represen
tatives from the volunteer fire
departments to develop a vol
unteer firefighters’ contract
which the entire commission
would review when prepared
by the county attorney. Once
approved by the commission
ers, the agreement would be
sent to the volunteer fire depart
ments for their review and ap
proval.
In other action, a request
from the Jenkins County Tax
Commissioner for employee
overtime was approved with
instructions for the tax commis
sioner to proceed in the most
economical manner and to con
sider the employment of part-
time personnel in the future
rather than seeking overtime
compensation.
Angie Cooper, Georgia De
partment of Transportation area
engineer, presented the com
missioners with a new Local
Governmental Services and Re
sources Manual.
She reported that the DOT
was waiting for approval of en
vironmental documents relating
to replacement of the Herndon
Bridges and that funding for the
project was not scheduled until
2014. Chairman Henry noted
that the commissioners were
asking for reconsideration of the
funding schedule with hopes of
receiving stimulus funds.
Cooper said that completion
of paving work on U.S. High
way 25, south of the Ogeechee
River Bridges, should be com
pleted by Christmas with both
lanes of the Savannah River
Parkway open to travel. Work
would then concentrate on con
struction taking place through
the City of Millen.
City to use $500,000 grant for sewer improvements
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
Residents of several areas of
the City of Millen will soon see
improvements to the city’s
sewer system. During the Tues
day, Oct. 6, meeting of Millen
City Council, City Manager
Lamar Faircloth informed the
group that he was in receipt of
a previously awarded $500,000
Community Development
Block Grant. The grant will be
used for sewer improvements in
the “Knox Homes” and Old
Sylvania Road areas of the city.
Manager Faircloth reported
that Tracy Herrington had been
appointed as the city’s Code
Enforcement Officer. Previ
ously the city’s Director of Pub
lic Safety also served as Code
Enforcement Officer which de
manded a lot of his time. The
appointment of Herrington, a
certified police officer, to this
position would eliminate this
situation. Manager Faircloth
said.
Other actions taken by coun
cil included the following:
• Approved the destruction of
incident/accident reports dated
from 1965 to 1989, noting that
the law only required those re
ports to be kept for five years;
• Approved request from
Millen Better Hometown to set
the time and date for the Har
vest of Fun Festival for 6-8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 31;
• Approved updated Bond
Forfeiture Schedule; and
• Approved an Intergovern
mental Agreement with Screven
County for the humane disposal
of stray animals.
Homecoming Queen
Shelby Burke, daughter of Butch and Kelly Burke, was
crowned Jenkins County High School’s Homecoming
Queen during halftime activities at Friday night’s foot
ball game. (Photo contributed)
rrrgrm
Food Lion bids
for BI-LO stores
By Deborah Bennett
Millen News Editor
The local BI-LO store may soon get a new name.
Delhaize Group, the Belgian parent company of Food
Lion, announced last week that it has entered into a non
binding Letter of Intent with BI-LO, LLC, to purchase a
substantial majority of BI-LO’s assets for a price of $425
million.
On March 23, BI-LO and some of its affiliates filed vol
untary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United
States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy
Court in South Carolina. The announcement of the pur
chase by Delhaize Group was made in context of bank
ruptcy proceedings, and the non-binding offer is subject
to Bankruptcy Court approval. Delhaize has said it will
integrate the BI-LO stores into its Food Lion chain if the
deal is approved.
The BI-LO chain operates 214 stores in South Carolina,
North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia and employs ap
proximately 15,500 workers. Food Lion has more than
1,300 stores in 11 states with 74,000 employees.