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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Election fees set for 2008 county races
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
Banks County voters will go to
their respective voting polls this
summer for another primary election
with 11 county posts up for vote.
Candidate qualifying for the
General Primary Election will begin
Monday, April 28, at 9 a.m. and
continues through Friday, May 2, at
noon. Candidate qualifying for the
General/Non-Partisan Election will
begin from June 23-27.
Offices which can be contested in
the primary election and the qualify
ing fee for each is as follows:
•sheriff, $1,616.40
•tax commissioner, $1,392.24
•clerk of superior court, $1,392.24
•probate judge, $1,392.24
•magistrate judge, $1,392,24
•coroner, $72
•county chairman, $1,080
•county surveyor, $25
•board of education, post 1,
$64.50
•board of education, post 2, $60
•board of education, post 4, $60.
The qualifying fee for each office
is based on three percent of that
office’s base salary.
DA Bridgeman announces quarterly meeting
District Attorney Rick Bridgeman will hold the first
of a series of quarterly public meetings on Saturday,
Feb. 16. He will meet with Jackson County citizens
from 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. at the Jefferson House
Restaurant, 682 Athens Street in Jefferson.
Bridgeman’s Barrow County meeting will be from
10:30 a.m. until 12 p.m. at the Winder Police Department
training room, 94 N. Broad Street in Winder.
Bridgeman will meet with Banks County citizens on
from 1 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. at the Historic Banks County
Courthouse in Homer.
Citizens are invited to come and ask questions about
the operations in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District
Attorney’s Office.
Piedmont College to host open house Feb. 28
Students and their parents interested in learning about
the Piedmont College Athens Campus are invited to an
open house at the college from 6:30-8 p.m., Thursday,
Feb. 28.
Located at 595 Prince Avenue, Piedmont’s Athens
Campus now offers complete four-year degrees in a
variety of career-oriented subjects, as well as graduate
degree programs in education and business.
The open house is an opportunity for undergraduate
students to meet Piedmont faculty and learn about the
new programs offered in Athens.
Welcome and introductions will begin at 6:30 p.m. in
Commons Hall, and tours will be given shortly after.
The evening will end with a dessert reception in Rogers
Hall.
For more information call Piedmont College
Undergraduate Admissions at 1-800-277-7020, or visit
www.piedmont.edu.
New director of staffing named for health system
Nancy Barton has been named the
new director of staffing for Northeast
Georgia Health System (NGHS).
In the newly-created position,
Barton is responsible for coordinat
ing temporary staff and overseeing
utilization of staffing resources and
scheduling systems on a 24-hour
basis.
Barton has 35 years of nursing
experience, coupled with 10 years
of teaching experience at the col
lege level. She has taught at sev
eral universities, including Brenau
University in Gainesville. Barton
was previously employed at NGHS,
working as director of nursing pro
fessional practice before taking the
position of director of administrative
services at the Medical Center of
Central Georgia in Macon.
“I’ve really enjoyed coming back
to work here,” Barton said. “It’s
nice to come back after 12 years and
still know people I work with. It is
also apparent that there is so much
Red Cross to offer
babysitter’s course
The East Georgia Chapter of the
American Red Cross is offering
a babysitter’s training course on
Saturday, March 1, from 9 a.m. to
3:30 p.m., at the American Red Cross
Blood Donor Center in Athens.
The fee is $38 and is open to all
11-to-15 year olds.
Participants in the course will
learn how to respond to emergen
cies and illnesses with first aid and
other appropriate care, make deci
sions under pressure, manage young
children safely, identify common
safety hazards and prevent injuries,
and choose safe and age-appropriate
games
For more information, or to regis
ter, contact the East Georgia Chapter
at 706-353-1645.
Planners
approve
lone request
BY CHRIS BRIDGES
The Banks County Planning
Commission had a short agenda
Tuesday night approving the only
item brought before the members.
A conditional use permit request
for an additional poultry house on
a farm owned by Joe and Cindy Tu
of Yonah-Homer Road was unani
mously approved by the commis
sion.
The land is a 27-acre tract of
property which is used exclusively
as a farm. Several friends of the Tu
family spoke on their behalf as well
as several employees.
The Banks County Board of
Commissioners will have final say
on the request during its meeting
next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
The only other item on the
Planning Commission’s Tuesday
agenda was a conditional use request
for a home inspection business from
Bradford Leary but that item was
requested to be tabled since he could
not attend the meeting.
opportunity and growth here.”
Barton received her nursing diplo
ma from Georgia Baptist Hospital
School of Nursing in 1972. She
received bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in nursing from the Medical
College of Georgia School of
Nursing.
In 1992, Barton received her certifi
cation in Total Quality Management
at Xavier University, in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
Barton lives in Gainesville and has
a daughter in the area who is also a
nurse. Barton is a grandmother of
four.
Baldwin... continued from page 1A
The suit states that according to the two voting
machines used in the election, Ayers won by one vote.
Ayers represented himself in the suit and he called
several witnesses to testify on his behalf.
He told Judge Stone that he had trouble voting for
himself in the election because the lever on the voting
machine he was using would not stay down when posi
tioned by his name on the ballot.
A total of 183 people voted by machine in the
November election. Holcomb received 88 machine votes
and Ayers received 89. Six people chose not to vote by
machine.
At the start of the hearing, Ayers told the judge that
two of his witnesses, Jeff and Lynn Murray, told him
that they would not be coming to testify because they
had been told by Baldwin City Attorney David Syfan
that they didn’t have to attend. The Murrays reside in
Banks County not Habersham County.
Ayers said in his opening statement that the Nov. 6
election was compromised and his hope was for the
court to grant a new election.
Ayers also questioned the training received by Kyle
to hold the election superintendents job. Kyle said she
had 15 hours of training and Ayers said the secretary of
state’s office has only 12 hours recorded for Kyle.
Ayers also questioned why Holcomb had continued to
attend the January meetings and vote on items before the
council. Syfan said the city’s charter allows Holcomb to
vote in her council member position until the election
is cleared.
Ayers also alleged at the hearing on Tuesday that
Holcomb was seen in city hall during the two weeks
prior to the election. Ayers said this was in violation to
the law that says no candidate can be in the voting area
while any votes are being cast.
When Kyle was questioned on the witness stand about
going out to the home of a registered voter, she stated
that she did go out to one house and take the voter an
absentee ballot application and ballot. Kyle said the
voter called and asked her to come to her home on Oct.
29 to allow her to vote an absentee ballot due to the fact
that she was sick and going to have surgery on Oct. 30.
Kyle stated she called the registrars office in Habersham
County and was told this was allowable.
Ayers said when he contacted Kyle about this matter
she said, “I am the election superintendent and I went
to those places by myself.” When questioned, Kyle said
she went to the elector’s house alone.
Ayers called Amber Allen to the stand to testify about
articles that appeared in The Northeast Georgian news
paper concerning the election. Ayers questioned Allen,
a reporter for the newspaper, about three articles that
appeared in the paper. Ayers questioned Allen about an
incorrect date that appeared in one of the articles. The
date in the article on Nov. 13 stated that Kyle went to the
home of the voter on Nov. 6 and the correct date should
have been Oct. 29.
Allen said this was her fault, she made an error and a
correction was run in the paper.
Ayers also questioned Allen, who up until recently
covered the Baldwin City Council meetings for The
Northeast Georgian, about observing Holcomb at the
council meeting on Jan. 14. Allen stated she did see
Holcomb at this meeting.
Ayers asked Allen, “At the re-count, did you hear what
Mr. (Ray) Clark, voting machine custodian, said about
the machine?” Allen replied, “The machines are 25 to 30
years old. They are working properly at this time.”
After testimony from several other witnesses including
city employees Betty Harper and Betty Craig, Mayor
Reed, Ayers’ step-daughter Debbie Tench and Ayer’s
wife, Polly Ayers, the judge ruled Ayers had not shown
an irregularity that would change the election outcome.
Judge Stone said, “There are obviously deep feelings
in this close election as in any close election. I don’t
have a basis to set aside this election.”
Call 367-5233 to subscribe to
The Banks County News today!
„ i)
Hall County Schools
Character • Competency • Rigor m FOR All
Gainesville, Georgia
Teacher Recruitment Fair
Saturday, February 23, 2008
9:00 a.m. -1:30 P.M.
Gainesville Civic Center
830 Green Street Gainesville, Georgia
2008-09 Salary Range
*
*Subject to Action by the Georgia General Assembly and Hall County Board of Education
A A
MEDfiTj
U.S.News
$37,366 — $80,382
U. S. News and World Report
19?
School Matters
“America’s Best High Schools
Johnson High - North Hall High - West Hall High
Applicants Should Complete an On-Line Application in Advance!
Administrators Will Be Interviewing Applicants For All Positions!
Interviews are reserved for applicants with professional certification or those who anticipate professional
certification by the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year. Individuals pursuing alternative certification are
invited to attend and obtain information relative to provisional certification.
COMPREHENSIVE BENEFITS PROGRAM INCLUDING MEDICAL AND DENTAL COVERAGE,
LIFE INSURANCE, VISION, CANCER, DISABILITY, AND LONG-TERM CARE
Directions from Atlanta
Travel I-85 North. Take I-985 North to Gainesville. Go to Exit 22. Turn left onto Highway 129 North.
Remain on Highway 129 North through Gainesville. The Civic Center is located on the right.
ENJOY LIFE ON LAKE LANIER — ONLY MINUTES FROM ATLANTA!
Questions: 770-534-1080
Web-Site: www.hallco.org E-Mail: personnel@hallco.org
