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Local Political Heat Hotter
As Qualifying Draws Near
The political landscape in
Chattooga County is already
forming for an election battle
that is still five or more months
in the future.
Opposition in three races
has already been revealed. The
races for sheriff, county commis
sioner and state senator in the
53rd district are beginning to
become clear.
“This time of year, usually in
January or February, before
qualifyirzf, people begin what
I've heard before as a rattling of
sabers,” said Election Superin
tendent Jon Payne. “We've prob
ably had a few more this time
than we ever had. I think that is
probably going on statewide not
Jjust in Chattooga County.”
SHERIFF
Three candidates for sheriff
have already have registered
with the Payne’s office to begin
receiving campaign contribu
tions. They don't include incum
bent Shenff Ralph Kellett, who,
nevertheless, is expected to seek
re-election.
Mark K. Bor;schulze, a
former Chattooga eruty, 3595
Brown Drive, Cloudland, filed
documents indicating that he
plans to run for sheriff.
Borgschulze registered on Jan. 3.
Gary Michael Brown, 1060
Back Berryton Road, Summer
ville, a political newcomer, made
known his intention to run for
the sheriffsg)ost onJan. 27.
Kenneth M. Lanier, 7878,
Gore-Subligna Road, registered
on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14.
Lanier, who ran four years ago
as Republican candidate for
sherit% has switched to the
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Democratic Party.
Incumbent Commissioner
Jim Parker might face Summer
ville attorney William Benjamin
Ballenger, 9165 Rome élvd.,
Summerville, in the November
General Election.
Parker also will seek re-elec
tion.
Ballenger ran for the district
attorney's position in 1992. Al
though he carried Chattooga
County, he lost overall to DA
Herbert “Buzz” Franklin who
captured the majority of votes in
Dade, Walker and Catoosa coun
ties.
INDEPENDENT
Just as he shied away from
the major political parties,
Ballenger plans to run again as
an independent. Ballenger and
those supporting his campaign
have already begun seeking tfie
signatures of 630 registered
county voters. These signatures
are required to get Ballenger on
the ba?]ot and do not constitute
as an endorsement, the attorney
said. ;
“It's going pretty well,”
Ballenger said. 5] SOn't fi’now ex
actly how many we've gotten
now. We've gotten several pages,
40 or 50 so far. All things con
sidered, it's going pretty iood.
I've been in court and you know
I'm going to start going door-to
door.”
Ballenger said has friends
who are Republicans and Demo
crats and he therefore decided to
take “the middle road.”
VIEWS JOB
“The way I see the job as
commissioner of Chattooga
County is representing both tfie
Republicans and Democratic
voters and the independents,”
Ballenfger said. “The gigger sec
tion of the community 1s prob
ably not Democratic or Republi
can. They are just Chattooga
Countians who work and pay
taxes.”
Commissioner Parker has
registered to receive campaign
contributions.
SENATE
Republican Jeff Mullis, who
lost to state Senator Waymond
“Sonny” Huggins two years ago,
said he will try once more.
The 1998 election that
Mullis lost received regional
news media coverage because of
a mix-up in hand-counting
unscanned ballots in Chattooga
County. The first districtwide
count showed Mullis winning the
seat. However, the discovery of
additional ballots — mostly in the
Alpine precinct — changed the
close race in favor of veteran Sen.
Huggins’ favor.
Mullis said he planned to
officially announce his candida
on March 25 at Gordon Lee Higc[‘u'
School in Walker County. Details
are still being arranged, he said.
QUALIFYING
Althoufih prospective candi
dates are oiling the financiagfipart
of their campaigns, the official
qualification dates for political
office won’t occur until April.
Politicians will begin qualitging
for various local seats, beginning
at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 24
and ending at noon on Friday,
April 28.
Although candidates appear
as if they are going to run be
cause they signed a campaign
contribution form, that does not
mean they will ultimately
qualify, political observers said.
“They could do this,” Payne
said. “They could file their form
saying they are fioing to accept
campaign contributions and not
qualify. We had several in the
pasttodothat...Of courseit’'sa
CHS Students Fight,
Garner Suspensions
Two Chattooga Counti High
School (CHS) students taken to
the Chattooga County Jail for
fightigé this past wee{( weren't
charged but faced school su;gen
sions, said CHS Principal Thur
man Waits and Deputy Jack
Floyd, CHS resource officer.
De&). Floyd said he recom
mended that the two male juve
niles not be charged after he had
talked with them and their par
ents. Extenuating circumstances
aided his decision, although he
couldn’t discuss them because
the information might help iden
tify them to the pufilic.
NOID
In many cases, the names of
juveniles charged with crimes
are not identified, except in cer
tain circumstances. Since the
two boys were not arrested, their
names couldn't be released to the
public, regardless.
Waits indicated that one ju
venile was placed on immediate
out-of-school suspension for two
days and three ggys in-school
suspension.
The father of the other
youngster asked that his son be
allowed to remain in class while
Waits investigated the fight to
obtain more details. The father
had contended that his son was
the victim and had done nothing
to provoke the incident, the prin
cipal said.
INVESTIGATION
Waits afireed to let that boy
remain in school while he inves
tigated the matter. The principal
said his two—da‘y; probe turned up
information that both young
sters were guilty of similar ag-
E:)essive actions in the fight. The
y who had remained in school
durinF the investi;ation was
then placed on out-of-school sus
pension for two days, the princi
pal indicated. U&)on returnirclfto
CHS, the teen will face three days
of in-school suspension, Waits
said Tuesday.
D HALL
De({)u?' Flogd said he was
notified of the fight on D Hall
between classes on Wednesday,
good indication they are study
ing hard about it.”
Local and district seats up
for election include probate
judge, state representative, state
senator, judge of Superior Court,
chief magistrate, district attor
ney, county commissioner, clerk
of courts, tax commissioner,
sheriff, coroner and state court
solicitor.
FEES
The qualification fees for
each office include commis
sioner SI,BOO, sheriff $1,385,
clerk of courts $1,259, state court
judge $1,019, probate judge
$1,082, tax commissioner $990,
state court solicitor $9lO, chief
magistrate $941, coroner SSO,
board of education S2O, district
attorney $2,738.82, state repre
sentative S4OO, state sena
tors4oo and judge of Superior
Court $3,085.56.
The first political event for
2000 will be the Presidential
Preference Primary on Tuesday,
March 7, according to the office
of the Georgia Secretary of State.
The next election will be the
General Prima;?' on July 18. The
primary run-oft will be on Tues
day, Aug. 8.
The General and nonparti
san election for all local, state
and national elections will be
held on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The
runoffs for that election will be
held on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
Feb. 16. Both boys had already
been taken to the front office of
CHS when he arrived to question
them, he said. Alma Lewis, assis
tant CHS principal, had sepa
rated the two during the fight,
Deputy Floyd said and took the
boys to her office.
PARENTS
Both were taken to the Chat
tooga County Jai! and released to
the custodz of their parents.
“No charges were made by
the sheriff’s o?fice due to a deci
sion made after interviewing
both students and parents,
Floyd wrote. “It was this officer’s
opinion that the parents would
handle punishment.”
Principal Waits said fighting
will not be tolerated at CHS.
Whether charges are filed by law
enforcement, the school stifi de
cides independently how to mete
out its own punishment, he said.
GOAL
Dep. Floyd said his goal at
CHS is not to make arrests al
though he has filed charges al
ready against several youngsters
on a variety of matters ranging
from being drunk to possessing
drugs and fighting.
However, his duty is to en
sure the safety of all students and
help give them information that
wilrhelp make them better citi
zens, Floyd said.
Motions, Pleas Set
Today, On Friday
Chattooga County Superior
Court judgles will hear motions
on criminal matters today before
tuming to negotiations and pleas
on Friday.
Both sessions are in prepa
ration for the start of criminal
trials at 9 a.m. Monday.
Arraifinment of suspects
was held this past Friday.
Court action Friday likely
will determine which case will be
tried first on Monday.
The second weel{of criminal
trials has been set tentatively for
the week of Monday, March 13.
1-800-639-9656
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706-638-5223
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Trion BOE To Build
Two New Classrooms
The Trion Board of Educa
tion approved a motion to build
two new classrooms in the new
pre-kindergarten building under
construction. The two class
rooms will be made out of a
multi-purpose room that was
planned in the building.
The cost of the rooms will be
around $85,000 and will be
taken from Special Local Option
Sales Tax (SPLOST) money that
was originally earmarked for a
new administration building at
the school.
The move was necessitated
because of upcoming changes in
the student-teacher ratios by
Senate Bill 1187 in the Georgia
House of Regresentatives.
It would slash class sizes to
20. Trion presently has 25 stu
dents in each of four classes in
each grade. That would require
a new class per grade at the
school.
School Sugerintendent Don
Elam told the board that Senate
Bill 1187 was passed by the Sen
ate Education Committee and
would be passed by the Senate
and sent to a conference commit
tee.
“We don’t anticipate very
much at all being cfianged, ’
Supt. Elam said, “At the present
time we have met with the prin
cipals and we're goin% to need,
because of the remedial program
causing a number of restrictions
in the elementary school, three
new classrooms. In the high
school we are going to need three
additional teachers to meet the
numbers as we know them now.”
Supt. Elam said that guide
lines have not been written and
school sastems do not know what
they will say.
“"They could go either way,”
he added.
He continued, “From what
we are hearing, there will be a
change in the maximum class
size. They are going to roll this
into a four-year plan to phase it
into effect.”
According to Elam, the
phase-in will be based on drop
ping the class size from 25 by five
percent each year until the fourth
year to get the numbers in which
the bills legislate.
“This 1s something that Bill
Kinzy, who built the school or
anyone else, could not have seen
because it is a new governor, new
program and a new direction,”
Elam said, “As a matter of fact it
was not seen by educators this
summer as the bill was being
written and produced.”
- MORE SPACE
Because of the new educa
tion bill before the Georgia Leg
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islature, the Trion System would
need more classrooms.
“It is obvious that we are
going to have to provide more
sgace for our children to educate
them,” Supt. Elam said.
He continued, “For Trion
Schools to function, it was built
to operate on about 100 students
per grade. When you lose one
student you lose $2500 - $3,000,
so the option really isn’t there to
drop the number of students be
cause you drop the amount of
monely %'l?u need to run the
school. The other option is not
there because you would weaken
§our middle and high school.
ou then couldn’t afford to offer
some of the courses you need in
the middle and high school.”
Supt. Elam said courses
such as Eonor courses, advanced
rlacement courses, and fore‘iign
an%uages couldn’t be offered if
funding was cut due to less stu
dents.
“You need the number of
teachers and students to meet
the students’ needs and the
needs of the requirements for
our college prep and vocational
track stugents, Elam added, “I
believe it behooves us to start
looking, even now, at ways we
can begin to plan to meet those
needs.
The |_::govemor, according to
Senate Education Committee
Chairman Richard Marable of
Rome said he wanted to put
$550 million in elementary
school buildings and they would
adjust the law to meet the needs
of the systems, Supt. Elam told
the board.
FLOATING
“For next year, I think, it
would be poor judgment on our
behalf to Yiave a multi-purpose
room when we have students and
teachers that are floating,” Supt.
Elam said.
Floatiniis teachers without
classrooms that move from room
to room when they are not being
used durinithe day.
“I think it is time, too, that
we look at alternatives for our
administrative building we were
%oing to build up there,” Supt.
lam said, “I would recommend
that we enclose the multi-iur
pose room in the new pre-kin
dergarten building, plumb and
wire for two new classrooms to
be made out of it before we go
much further with construction.”
The system’s architect told
Supt. Elam that they need to
move soon. “In fact he asked me
today when we were going to
move on it,” he added, “You're
running out of time.”
The board discussed some
changes in the area of the rooms
The Summerville News, February 24, 2000 —
because of the switch more than
to regular classrooms such as
water fountains moving.
“If we build these two class
rooms, after that, as this law
comes to a head this summer and
we find out what this thing is
foing to rec‘l]xire and not require,
think at that time we can de
cide on additional classrooms,”
Supt. Elam said.
The money for the two class
rooms at a cost of $85,000 would
be taken from the $370,000 in
SPLOST funds originally set
aside for a new administration
building that was to be built ad
jacent to the school, the super
intendent told the board.
“We would look at putting
the administrative offices in the
present pre-kindergarten build
ing. We need the room, as you
see here tonight, to meet the
needs of our students,” Supt.
Elam added.
Board member J. W. Green
wood made the motion to sive
the contractor the go-ahead to
build the two new classrooms.
Mike Griffitt seconded the mo
tion and the vote was unani
mous.
4-H
Norman Edwards, Chat
tooga County Extension Direc
tor, told the board that two Trion
students, Madeline Myers and
Emma Pickle had placed in first
in the recent district 4-H compe
tition. Myers won in the Ser
forming arts instrumental divi
sion on piano and Pickle placed
in the fruits, nuts and vegetables
category.
Edwards thanked Trion El
ementary School and the teach
ers for their help.
“The teachers worked real
well with us and I thank them for
their assistance,” Edwards said.
Supt. Elam said, “We have
a large number of young people
who are not in athletics but are
in projects and programs such as
this that are very important and
vital to their growth and to the
total education of the child. I
want to congratulate them on
behalf of the school system.”
ACTION ITEMS
* The board approved two
out-of-state field trips. Mrs.
Carol Pickle’s gifted class will go
to Washington, D.C. April 3 and
returned April 5 and Mrs. Peggy
Baldwin’s c{)ass will take students
to Washington, D.C. Oct. 1 and
return Oct. 3. Both tr(iips are dur
ing holiday periods for the
school.
* The board approved a
school safety resolution in sup-
gort of Senate Bill 308 — The
arents Accountability for Guns
in School Law.
- *The board employed Mrs.
Kell{ Terry as third grade g’alra-
B;o essional to replace Mrs.
bbie Brown.
COLD SCHOOL?
Loren Shives, a Trion resi
dent, said that during the cold
snap recently, “It was cold ug
there, kids had to wear a coat an
teachers and also parents. My
concern is this. If you get these
new rooms will the same heating
system tie into that or will it be
separate?”
“It will be a separate heat
ing system, but basically the
same type,” Supt. Elam an
swered. '
“No one has said arß'thing to
me about it being cold,” Supt.
Elam said, “Now, I'll say this, I
personally don’t like the comput
erized heatinfiand cooling sg:—
tem we have. obodé/ likes it be
cause there is no and off switch.
But, John Pless takes care of the
mgramming of that system.
en it was so cold, remember
we were off for the ice, we came
in and instead of switching the
system on around 4 a.m. we ran
it constantly and it does keep it
warm and we keep it at a con
stant temperature. The problem
we havein the hallwzéys, thou%}l:,
where they go in and out of the
buildinfi it's so cold. I can stand
out in the hall at Dr. Desper’s of
fice and it was freezing and when
you walk into the office it is a lot
different,” Supt. Elam said.
He continued, “In the class
rooms I didn’t have any com
plaints, I didn’t notice anybody
that was cold. No one has said
anlything to us about it being
cold, but we have tried to make
sure that heating system warms
the building, especially during
the real cold times,” he said.
“Is it gas or electric?” Shives
asked.
“Itis electric — a computer
ized program,” Supt. Elam an
swered.
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