Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PAGE 3A COUNTY OFFICES MOVE TO ANNEX All of the Banks County offices located in the courthouse on Yonah-Homer Road, Homer, moved into the new Banks County Annex Building on Fri day. Employees of the tax commissioner’s office shown packing for the move are: Debbie Lacey, Margaret Ausburn, tax commissioner, and Shir ley Brownlee. The offices opened to the public in the new annex building located on Hudson Ridge on Tuesday morning. Directions to the new loca tion from Thompson Street are: Turn onto Hudson Valley Drive (formerly Eagles Nest) and then turn right onto Hudson Ridge. Photo by Sharon Hogan Chambliss continued from page 1A the recycling of nuclear waste. “We have to explore for more oil domestically,’' Chambliss said. “We've got to drill. We need to drill more on shore, as well as off shore. That is not the total answer but is cer tainly the first thing we’ve got to do is to address the supply of petroleum that we have in this country.. .Over the next 10 years, we need to make a huge change in the amount of oil we are importing into this country, as well as the amount of oil we are using." The senator said mak ing more gasoline should be another priority. “We need our refineries to produce more," he said. “They tell us they have the capacity to do it.” Chambliss also said find ing alternative fuel sources is another area to explore. “The third thing we need to do is continue down the road VISITS WITH CHAMBLISS Sen. Saxby Chambliss visted Banks County Saturday afternoon. Shown with him are: (L-R) Tara Fulcher, chamber director; Helen Hewell, chamber president; and Jodi Kephart, manager of Holiday Inn Express. of finding alternative fuels,” he said. “Biodiesel and etha nol are critical components in the long-term solution to this problem but they are not the only answer.” Chambliss also encouraged conservation efforts. “Lastly, we need to imple ment conservation efforts... to encourage manufacturers to produce automobiles that run off of alternative methods whether it is battery or natural gas or propane gas, or what ever it may be,” he said. “We need to look at alternatively powered vehicles...We need to make sure we are producing more electricity from nuclear resources. We need to recycle the nuclear waste we have today. “ In order for legislation to pass, 60 senators have to vote in favor of it. Since there are only 49 Republican senators, Chambliss said it is important that the effort be a bipartisan one. “The only way to get any thing done in the United States Senate is to work in a biparti san way,” Chambliss said. The Banks County Chamber of Commerce sponsored the legislative update with Chambliss. Tornado continued from page 1A line through the area, and electric service was out. The smell of natural gas was evident around the Bonds’ house. Water from a severed service line poured onto the ground. “We saw it coming from Hill Street,” said Nathan Anderson. “We saw it form and go down." Several other residences in the immedi ate area suffered lesser damage. A tree fell on a mobile home, whose elderly occupant was shaken up but not injured. Downed tree limbs or other damage were report ed on Cole Court and Ashworth Mobile Home Park. Officials closed Old U.S. 441 (Homer Road) at 5:10 to keep onlookers out. 20% OFF ALL Container Plants Trees • Shrubs • Perennials • 1 to 40 Gallon Sizes 10,000s of Plants, 100s of Varieties Also, 20% off all pre-dug balled & burl aped trees & shrubs through Aug. 30 at Northeast Georgia’s largest nursery open to the public. www.PinebushNurserv.com 3332 Hwy. 106 between Neese & lla • Only 15 minutes from downtown Athens. Monday - Friday 8-5; Saturday 9-4 • 706-789-2344 Baldwin continued from page 1A regular council meeting Thursday night was the con sideration of a new alarm system for city hall. “We just can’t continue to spend,” Reed said. “Buying, buying, buying and we can’t afford to any more." Interim Mayor Ray Holcomb said, “We haven’t bought any vehicles other than police and fire depart ment. We’ve surplused vehi cles.” Holcomb said the city has cut a lot of insurance pay ments out, the employees are required to pay a lot more of their insurance costs. “We’ve changed our policy on vacation and sick leave, we’ve cut that to the bare bones,” he said. “We have limited the mileage that police cars can be driven home for new employees to 25 miles.” Grimes pointed out that public safety — police and fire departments — are the town’s largest expenses. The total of 2008 expenses for public safety was $1.14 million, 59 percent of the city’s total expenses. Total revenues were $1.85 million and total expenses came in at $1.93 million in FY2008. Baldwin mayoral can didate Jerry Neace said, “I have talked to several citi zens and all the citizens think that fire and police are the two services that need to be cut back." Grimes said the City of Baldwin has not been dip ping into its water and sewer money to fund the town’s general fund, as some cities do. Baldwin officials also heard from the town’s audi tor, Chris Hollified of Ruston and Company about the recently released 2007 audit, which showed the town was in the red $177,000 last year. Hollifield went through a list of “significant deficiencies' outlined in the audit and discussed the problems of a small town having enough people to do some of the internal accounting. MONDAY NIGHT Monday night, Baldwin officials continued their dis cussion about the town’s shaky financial picture with a review of the water fund. The water fund was in the red $48,600 last year. Even removing deprecia tion, which is a non-cash expense, from the mix Baldwin still didn’t gener ate enough revenue last year to cover both its operating expenses and its debt service payments. The water fund’s debt service last year was $515,000, but the water sys tem only generated $424,800 in cash. Unlike the town’s gener al fund, however, the water fund had some reserves to draw on to make up the dif ference. BEHIND ON YOUR HOUSE PAYMENTS? Facing Foreclosure? You have options. Get our FREE report “7 Ways to Avoid Foreclosure”. Visit www.7waystoavoidforeclosure.com or call 800-589-6994 Ext. 549 24 hr. msg. Georgia Real Estate License 269443 Apple Specialist Everyone loves shopping at PeachMac! Huge selection of Mac products. Educational pricing available for both Macintosh computers and Adobe software. In-House Support and Repair peachmac macs • ipods • software • service • peachteach 1850 Epps Bridge Pkwy (across from Lowe's) • Athens 706-208-9990 • peachmac.com Suspect continued from 1A Ruff. At approximately 2 a.m. the room was forcibly entered although Ruff was not inside. The television was on and Ruffs possessions, including clothing and shoes, were inside. Chapman said it is his belief that Ruff left the scene several hours earlier, perhaps not long after his girlfriend told South Carolina offi cials where he was. The sheriff said a team had to be assembled to apprehend the fugitive, however, since he was believed to be armed and dangerous. Ruff was believed to be in possession of a cell phone and in con tact with his girlfriend after arriving in the Banks Crossing area. 1-85 Exit 140 presents POLARIS OF ATHENS “NIGHT AT THE RACES” AUGUST 30 Gates Open at 5:30 p.m. RACING at 7:30 p.m. Drawing at 9:30 p.m. WIN A FREE POLARIS 300 4 - WHEELER “Must be present to win!” Plus 100 Lap Georgia Asphalt Series Outlaw Late Models Toyota Tundra Super Truck Series Twin 25 Lap Mini Stocks At Athens Regional, we have the most advanced and precise Radiation Therapy technology in the Athens area. In fact, no where else can treat your cancer with the kind of precision and comprehensive care that's available here. And now that we're also accepting patients covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, Health Plan Select, Kaiser Permanente and Cigna, more of you have a choice than ever before. Choose precision, experience and technology. Choose Athens Regional. CJPte- £*■**'-*> www.armc.org Karen Murray Radiation Coordinator 14 years at ARMC As an Oncology Patient you have a choice for your radiation therapy. Make it the best. Make it Athens Regional.