Newspaper Page Text
Sports: IB
Community: I2B
Lady Leopards
just short of state
tournament
Escape to
Isle of Palms
— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
504 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 22 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 9
Early voting
underway
Banks County Voter
Registrar Andra Phagan
said as of Tuesday morning
a total of 426 people had
taken advantage of the early
voting.
Early voting continues
each day from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m., Monday through
Friday in the Voters
Registration office through
October 31.
The voter registration
office is located in the new
Banks County Courthouse
Annex, 150 Hudson Ridge,
Suite 2, Homer. Take
Thompson Street to Hudson
Valley Drive (across from
the Senior Center) turn right
onto Hudson Ridge and the
new annex building is at the
end of the street.
'Meet and
greet' ahead
for House
candidates
The Banks County
Chamber of Commerce will
hold a “meet and greet”
with the candidates in
the District 28 House of
Representatives race at 7
p.m. on Monday, Oct. 27,
at the historic courthouse
in Jefferson. Incumbent
Jeanette Jamieson (D) and
Michael Harden (R) have
both been invited to attend.
The election will be held
on Nov. 4.
•Identity theft topic
for chamber — page 2A
•Caudell has run
marathons in all 50
states — page 3A
•‘All about the visuals’
— page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 5&7A
• School News — 4B
• Public Safety — 6A
• Legals — 5-7B
•Church — 8A
•Obituaries — 9A
Banks B0C approves new hotel
BY JUSTIN POOLE
A new hotel is coming to
Banks Crossing.
The Banks County Board
of Commissioners approved an
application from Premier Hotel
Group, Inc. for a conditional
use for a four-story hotel. The
hotel will be off of Frontage
Road, formerly the site of RJ
T-bones.
Paul Patel, applicant and
owner of the property, said that
the hotel would attract a “bet
ter clientele” and based on his
own studies, that a new hotel
was not a competition for the
current market but would be
for a new market.
Speaking against the appli
cation, Gordon Eanes, said that
the addition of a new hotel
would cause an adverse reac
tion on the property values
and would cause an increase
in low-end rental housing that
attracts a negative element to
the community. Eanes also
said that despite Patel's stud
ies, there is not a new market
in Banks County.
According to Eanes, if the
new four-story hotel is built,
Banks Crossing will have more
rental rooms than any other
interchange in the state.
Commissioner Joe Barefoot
OPPOSES PLANS
Gordon Eanes spoke in
opposition to the appli
cation for a new hotel
at Banks Crossing and
against a sign variance for
the hotel behind Subway.
made the motion to approve
the application and the board
voted unanimously to approve
it.
On a related matter, the
BOC approved a variance for
Premier Hotel Group to erect
a sign over the 40-foot height
limit for the hotel between
Wendy’s and Burger King.
Also during Tuesday's BOC
meeting, the board:
•approved a one percent
PRESENTS HOTEL PLANS
Paul Patel addresses the Banks County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night
with plans for a new hotel on the site formerly occupied by RJ T-Bones at Banks
Crossing.
increase in fees paid by credit
cards, setting the total to three
percent. The increase covers
the cost the county is charged
for processing the credit cards.
•approved the proposed
water rates to go into effect
November 1. The BOC also
agreed to address the agricul
ture use rate within the next
month.
•tabled items until the
October 28, meeting at 3:30
p.m., including: address-
Photos by Justin Poole
ing industrial development
funds under the Development
Authority, naming members
to the planning commission
and appointing someone
to the Georgia Mountains
Community Service Board.
DODD RECEIVES FLU SHOT
Gina Dodd (seated), Homer, took advantage of the flu clinic being offered at Banks
County Middle School on Friday. Dodd is being administered a flu shot by Annette
Harkins, District 2 Public Health, Child Health Coordinator. Photo by Sharon Hogan
Pandemic flu exercise held Fri.
BY SHARON HOGAN
Banks Countians found out Friday if they
were prepared to handle a pandemic flu out
break.
Public safety officials and other volunteers
went through the steps that would be taken if
an actual epidemic occurs. The exercise, held
at the middle school, came after two years of
meetings and planning by the Banks County
Pandemic Flu Committee. The purpose of the
full-scale exercise was to put all of the plans
into play and have several evaluators on the
scene to evaluate each segment of the plan.
On Friday, several county agencies came
together at the school to exercise the abil
ity to mass distribute medication to Banks
County residents in the event of an actual
pandemic flu outbreak. Banks County Health
Department staff and District 2 Public Health
staff came together to administer flu shots at
the school.
A total of 55 people came to the school
to receive their flu shots on Friday. This is a
much lower number than the committee had
hoped for.
Several evaluators were on hand to observe
the exercise and evaluate the plan that was
put together by the committee over the past
two years.
Jeff Morrison, Georgia Emergency
Management Agency, said the process worked
and the committee should feel good about it.
Mark Palen, District 2 Public Health, said,
“It's not the numbers, it’s the process. One
thing we can't control are the numbers.”
Palen encouraged the committee to contin
ue to work with the plan and not stop now that
the full-scale exercise has been completed
Baldwin purchases
building for city hall
BY SHARON HOGAN
The Town of Baldwin
government may soon have
a new home.
The Baldwin City Council
agreed during Monday’s
brief council meeting to
purchase a building to be
used as a city hall.
Council member Ray
Holcomb said, “When we
first started the planning for
the downtown development,
it was pretty apparent that
the majority of the people
wanted to keep city hall
downtown.”
The council had dis
cussed building a new city
hall on property adjacent
to the city’s police and fire
department buildings on
Willingham Avenue.
Holcomb said it came
to the council's attention
that they could possibly
purchase a building across
the street from the current
city hall on Airport Road
from Gene Wilbanks. The
Wilbanks property joins
property the city currently
owns where the old jail sits,
Holcomb added.
“In May, we entered into a
contract with Mr. Wilbanks
to purchase, with the deal
to be closed by October
15,” Holcomb said. A down
payment was paid on the
$75,000 purchase price in
May with the balance to be
paid by the Oct. 15 dead
line.
“We were able to close the
deal last Friday and com
plete the deal,” Holcomb
said.
Holcomb said the city
has no definite time frame
for moving city hall to the
“We will renovate
when the money’s
available and move city
hall.”
— Council member
Ray Holcomb
building.
“But we will renovate
when the money's avail
able and move city hall,”
Holcomb added.
Habersham County
Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
5 funds were used to pur
chase the building and four
city lots from Wilbanks.
Holcomb said, “Now the
city has a total of five lots.”
In other business at
Monday’s meeting, the
council approved a resolu
tion on the reimbursement
for Homestead Tax Relief
Grants (HRTG) and future
funding of the HRTG pro
gram.
Holcomb said, “This is a
resolution Banks County has
asked us to sign concerning
the governor’s decision to
take away the payback for
homestead exemption.”
The hope is all cities and
counties will do similar res
olutions, Holcomb added.