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PACE 2A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 Art in the Park set Sept. 20-21 Silent auction, miniature golf to be featured Baldwin approves bid for 2008 audit BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council unanimously approved a bid of $12,800 for Rushton & Company, Gainesville, to per form the city's 2008 audit at its council meeting last week. Bids on the audit were also submitted by Jay Greene, $8,000, and Duncan & Kitch ens, $10,500. Council member Jeff Mur ray said his recommendation was to go with Rushton & Company. “The municipalities (con tacted) said they (Rushton) cost a little bit more, but they are very thorough,” Murray said. Interim Mayor Ray Hol comb said, “They all have a clause they can raise their BY SHARON HOGAN Two DOT engineers spoke to Banks County Convention and Visitors Bureau members at its monthly meeting last week about future projects planned for Banks County. Cliff Hill, Georgia Depart ment of Transportation (DOT) Assistant District Maintenance Engineer, and Bill Cantrell, DOT District Planning & Pro gramming Engineer, discussed the status of several area road projects. Cantrell said several bridg es are slated for replacement throughout Banks County over the next eight to 10 years, but the projects lack funding. “There is no funding cur rently for these projects,” Cantrell said. The list of bridges include: State Route (SR) 59 at Grove Creek, SR 98 at Grove Creek, SR 98 at Hickory Level Creek, SR 323 at Grove Creek, SR 63 at Middle Fork Broad River, County Road (CR) 16/Wilson Bridge Road over Hudson Riv er and CR 16/Harden Bridge Road over Grove Creek. Other items on the prior ity list include the Maysville Streetscape project and the widening of Interstate 85 to the South Carolina line. Cantrell said 1-85 will be price.” OTHER BUSINESS In other business at last week’s meeting: •the council unanimously approved payment of an in voice from Engineering Man agement, Inc., Lawrenceville, in the amount of $1,500 for professional services rendered on the Park Avenue water line project. This money comes out of grant money the city obtained for this project. •the council tabled action on a proposal to add a service charge to water bills that are not brought into city hall with payment. Holcomb said this would only apply to customers who come into city hall to pay without their bills. “This has been a problem that’s getting widened to three lanes in each direction over the next seven to 10 years. Cantrell and Hill told the group that up to $50,000 is available for each county throughout the state for land scaping projects. These funds come from billboard permit fees. Cantrell told the CVB members to contact Bill Wright, DOT Maintenance Department, on this. Cantrell said DOT members were in a meeting Wednesday with Governor Sonny Perdue on state funds. “They are in a meeting on state funds as we speak,” Cantrell said. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at last week’s meeting: •CVB members unani mously approved the August monthly income and expense report. The total of income for the month was $12,266 and expenses totaled $5,923. •CVB board member Deyon Corey, membership commit tee, welcomed Keith Holiday, Christian Bookstore & Coffee Shop, Commerce Crossing, as a new member. •Sherrard White said the sponsorship letters have been mailed out for the car show set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Satur- worse all the time, especially on the 15th of the month when a large number of people come in without their water bills,” Holcomb said. Someone in the office has to look the bill up on the computer and hand write a receipt, Holcomb said. “Alto charges $2.50 if you don’t bring you bill in,” Hol comb said. Baldwin resident Linda Caudell said, “Ray, can you do this?” City attorney David Syfan said, “I think you can charge. You would have to amend your ordinance to cover this.” The motion was tabled to give Syfan time to check on this. •the council met in closed session for over an hour to discuss potential litigation. No action was taken. day, Oct. 4, at Denny’s, Banks Crossing. White said over 4,000 flyers have been distrib uted about this event also. •White reported that the an nual chocolate fair is sched uled for Monday, November 10. White’s wife, Brenda, is looking for some chefs to serve as judges for the event. White said. •Ray Wilkings, Atlanta Dragway, announced upcom ing events: National Muscle Car Association Pro Hot Rod & Muscle Car Nationals/Sum mit Racing Series/Muscle Car Point Race to be held at the dragway on Friday and Satur day, Sept. 19 and 20 and the 2nd Annual Bikefest slated for Saturday, Oct. 25, a fundraiser for the American Cancer So ciety. •Wilkings said the National Hot Rod Association is look ing for a block of 75 rooms at one of the local hotels/mo tels for one week during the Southern Nationals. Anyone interested in supplying these rooms should contact Wilk ings at Atlanta Dragway. The next regularly sched uled meeting of the CVB is set for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24. The location will be an nounced at a later date. A silent auction and min iature golf are new additions for the Art in the Park festival. The 18th annual event will be held Sept. 20-21 at Hurricane Shoals Park, located between Jefferson and Maysville. The festival hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, and noon to 5:30 p.m. Sun day, Sept. 21. Silent auction items will in clude two Georgia-Tennessee football game tickets, a kids bicycle and a canoe made from trees at the park. The silent auction will be held at the Tumbling Waters Society booth. The new “Spirit of the Riv er” miniature golf course at Hurricane Shoals Park will be open during the festival. Carved bears. Native Ameri cans and replicas of the chapel and cabins at the park are de picted in the course. A wide variety of food, in cluding barbecue, hamburg- The weather will soon be changing, which means our lawns will be going through a transition period during the next month or so. The warm season grasses, such as bermudagrass, cen tipede, and zoysia have pro vided that lush, green growth all summer, but will soon start slowing down their growth as the cooler season arrives. The cool season grasses that have been lying around trying to survive the heat these last few months are beginning to show some life again as the nights get cooler. The warm season grasses do not need to be fertilized now since their growth is slowing down, and they will begin to turn brown and go dormant once the first frost or two hits. Tall fescue varieties and Kentucky bluegrass are the main cool season grasses grown in this area. They need an application of fertilizer sometime during the middle of September to the first of October. If you don’t have soil test recommendations to go by, apply fertilizer at ers, bratwurst, fried pies, fun nel cakes and boiled peanuts, will be offered. Tours of the chapel, log cabins and other buildings in the Heritage Village will be offered. A blacksmith will be at his forge and there will be soap-making, quilting demon strations and a beekeeper with his honeybees. James Mathis will display his arrowhead col lection and a video on Clyde Freeman will be on view. Craftsman from all over North Georgia will demon strate their work and have handmade items for sale. Chil dren’s art will be displayed in the round pavilion. Children's activities will include a Moon- walk, obstacle course and gi ant slide, ponies and a petting zoo. Games and activities for children will also be offered. Splash, the festival mas cot, will entertain children throughout the festival. Enter tainment featuring area bands the rate of six pounds per thou sand square feet, using a 16-4-8 com mercial fertil izer. Optimum seeding dates for the cool season grasses are Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 in North Georgia. Seeding rates for cool seasons grasses are 4 pounds per 1000 sq. ft. for tall fescue, 11/2 pounds per 1,000 sq. ft. for Kentucky bluegrass, and 3 pounds per 1000 sq. ft. for creeping fescue. If you want that temporary winter lawn grass that is a bright, emerald green color, you can sow annual ryegrass seed in your dormant warm season grasses between Sept. 15 and Nov. 15. Apply an nual ryegrass seed at 10 to 12 pounds per 1,000 sq. ft. Fall is also the time to do soil testing to help you plan will also be offered both days. The 5K Mill Race will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday. A one-mile Fun Run or Walk will take place at 2:30 p.m. Fees are $15 to pre-register and $18 on race day. For more information, contact Keith Ariail at 706-335-5519. The grand finale will be the Duck Dash on Sunday. Ducks can be sponsored for $5 each or five ducks for $20. Prizes will be: a 26-inch LCD flatscreen TV and DVD player, a $300 Home Depot gift certificate and a $200 Home Depot gift certificate. Admission and parking will be free. The Tumbling Waters Soci ety hosts the annual event. All proceeds will be used to main tain and improve the park. For more information, con tact the Tumbling Waters So ciety at www.hurricaneshoal- spark.org or by contacting Becky Perry at 706-335-6723. your fertilization program for next year. You should apply lime during the fall if your soil test results recommend an application. Winter annual weeds, such as henbit or purple deadnettle, can be controlled by apply ing pre-emergent herbicides, such as atrazine or simazine. These herbicides need to be applied during September. And, if you don’t control all the weeds before they start growing above ground, apply post-emergent herbicides, such as 2,4-D and dicamba. Although above ground the grass goes dormant or slows down growth during winter, the roots still need nutrients and water to grow a strong root system for the next spring. So, don't forget to irrigate your lawn even during the winter months when we have long periods of dry weather. You should apply water about once a week, giving the lawn a good soaking by either rain or irrigation system. Bob Waldorf is the Banks County extension agent. Flu vaccine exercise scheduled for Oct. 10 BY SHARON HOGAN Banks County's Pandemic Flu Committee has a live flu vaccine exercise planned for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, at Banks County Middle School. Pandemic committee members will conduct the full-scale exercise at the middle school to prepare in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak in the county. The committee has been meeting to develop plans and to develop the full scale exercise for the past several months. The full-scale exercise will put all of the plans into play and there will be several evalu ators on the scene to evaluate each segment of the plan. The committee will meet at 3 p.m. on Oct. 10 at the school to go over the evaluation. The next planning meeting for the full-scale exercise is set for noon on Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Banks County Fire Department's training room, Yonah-Homer Road, Homer. All committee members are urged to attend as this will be the final planning meeting before the full-scale exercise is put into play. No reason required for absentee voting Voters will no longer have to give a reason for voting early when they go the registrar's office during the 45-day absentee voting pe riod. In the past, absentee voting was only al lowed for several specific reasons. A new law now makes absentee voting open to ev eryone regardless of the reason they want to vote early. This is also the case with mail-in absentee voting. Voters may go to the State of Geor gia election site and request that an absentee ballot be mailed to them. No reason has to be given. This ballot is then mailed to the county voter registrar’s office. In Banks County, the voter registrar office is located in the new county annex located in Homer. Early voting for the November election will begin on Sept. 22. Georgia Farm Bureau to award scholarships Georgia Farm Bureau will award a total of $14,250 in scholarships to ten high school se niors who plan to pursue a college degree in agriculture or family and consumer sciences, Henry D. Banks, Banks County Farm Bureau president, recently announced. The top three students will each receive a scholarship of $3,000. The remaining seven students will each receive a $750 scholarship. Students are eligible to submit an applica tion if they, a parent or legal guardian were a member of Georgia Farm Bureau as of Sept. 1,2008. The scholarships are sponsored by the Geor gia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company in cooperation with the Georgia Farm Bureau Women’s Committee. Applicants must plan to enter a unit of the University System of Georgia or Berry Col lege during the 2009-2010 academic year to pursue an undergraduate degree in agricul tural and environmental sciences, family and consumer sciences or a related agricultural field. All applications must be submitted by December 12, 2008. Scholarship recipients will be announced in March. Contact the Banks County Farm Bureau office at 706-677-2215 for more information about the scholarship program or to obtain an application. You may also download a copy of the application by going to www.gfb.org and selecting GFB Programs, then Youth Educa tion and finally GFB Scholarships. All scholarship applications must be ap proved and signed by the Farm Bureau presi dent of the county where Farm Bureau mem bership is held before being submitted to the Georgia Farm Bureau home office. DOT projects discussed at CVB meeting Advice for fall lawn care We care about kids. We want the best for them. We raise ours here, too. The NEW Waste Management. There’s a good reason why we care about the kids in this community; we raise ours here, too. As an integral part of this community, the NEW Waste Management partners with local schools by providing videos, CDs and other teaching tools that help students of all ages better understand our environment and the steps we can all take to safeguard it for generations to come. We show them how state-of-the-art engineering techniques help us safely maintain and restore landfills into usable green spaces. How we use advanced optical sorting technologies to efficiently recycle plastics and glass. And how we transform common waste products into uncommonly clean energy that powers homes and businesses. We believe our educational efforts are critical to helping us preserve a healthy environment for the future. It’s another way we’re making a difference. One community at a time. From everyday collection to environmental protection, look to the NEW Waste Management. 706-677-2650 www.wm.com The Banks County News Get the local school\ church, sports and other community news delivered to your home each week! Just clip the coupon below to begin saving today over the newstand price! Name Address City State Zip Subscription rates for The Banks County News are as follows: $19.75 per year for Banks and adjoining counties; $17.75 per year for senior citizens in Banks and adjoining counties; $38.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia; $36.85 per year for delivery elsewhere in Georgia with senior citizen discount; $44.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia; $42.50 per year for delivery out of Georgia with senior citizen discount; $42.20 per year for the military with APO address. Enclosed is my check for $ Expiration Phone or □ MC or □ VISA # MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. 33 Lee Street, P. O. 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