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Leopards to travel
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Farm Bureau
annual meeting
— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
504 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 22 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 11
Election coming up Tuesday
1,835 countians already cast ballot
BY ANGELA GARY
Banks Countians will go to the
polls Tuesday to cast their choice
for president, as well as decide on
state races and local issues. With
one month of early voting held for
the first time ever, a record number
of voters — almost 2,000 — have
already cast a ballot.
In addition to voting for a presiden
tial candidate, voters will also decide
the United States Senate seat held by
Saxby Chambliss (R) who is facing
Democrat challenger Jim Martin, and
United States Representative District
10, where incumbent Paul Broun (R)
will face Bobby Saxon (D).
As for state races, State Senate
District 47 incumbent Ralph
Hudgens (R) will face Tim Riley, a
Democrat.
In the District 28 Georgia House
of Representatives race, incumbent
Jeanette Jamieson (D) will face
Michael Harden (R).
Two county races will also be on
the ballot. In the tax commissioner
race, incumbent Margaret Ausburn
(D) will face Becky Taylor (R).
In the Post 1 seat on the county
board of education, incumbent Neal
Brown (R) will face David Kennedy
(D).
ADVANCE VOTING
Early voting continues through
Friday of this week from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. in the Voters Registration
office.
The voter registration office is
MMM
— Amendments, 2A
— Meet the Candidates, 6-7A
— Sample ballot. I4A
CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN IN HOMER
Thirty-five people turned out in Homer Monday night to meet candi
dates. The Banks County Chamber of Commerce sponsored a “Meet
and Greet” at the historic courthouse. Photos by Sharon Hogan
Five-member BOC on ballot
BROUN ATTENDS
District 10 U.S. Representative
Paul Broun (R) talks with Banks
CVB president Bonnie Johnson
at a “Meet and Greet” Monday.
See page 3A for more photos.
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.
Banks Countians will decide on Nov.
4 whether the three-member board of
commission will be expanded to five
members.
The proposed changes to local gov
ernment would result in the following:
•The current board of three commis
sioners would be expanded to five com
missioners, all serving, as do the current
commissioners, four-year terms.
•One commissioner would hold a full
time position as chairman. The other
four would serve as part-time commis
sioners.
•Banks County would be divided into
four commission districts. Each of these
districts must be represented by one
of the four part-time commissioners,
who must also reside in their respective
district.
•The chairman may reside in any dis
trict, representing the county as a whole.
•All of the commissioners would be
elected by a county-wide vote of all
eligible voters.
•The two new part-time commission
ers would be elected in a special election
held early next year, probably in March.
Thereafter, these two new commission
ers and the chairman would be elected
every four years together in the same
year and the other two would be elected
every four years in the same two year
off-cycle that is currently used.
VINTAGE POSTER COLLECTION
Kerry Haggard, Banks County, collects vintage horror
movie posters, including the 1948 “Abbott and Costello
Meet Frankenstein.” See page 2A for more on Haggard’s
collection. Photo by Jana Mitcham
Chocolate fair ahead Nov. 10
Bank robbery suspect caught
A 46-year-old Green
ville, S.C., man has been
charged in the Thursday,
Oct. 23, armed robbery at
Northeast Georgia Bank,
Highway 441, Commerce.
Law enforcement offi
cers apprehended Thomas
Franklin Woody on Hwy.
441 shortly after the rob
bery occurred.
Banks County Sheriff
Charles Chapman said a call came in to 911
WOODY
dispatch around 3:40 p.m. Thursday reporting
an armed robbery at the bank near the Jackson
County line.
Banks County units were on the scene in a
matter of a few short minutes, Chapman said.
But the suspect had left the building. The bank
employees obtained a description of the vehicle
in which the suspect left the scene and a look
out alert was given out to all Banks County
units and surrounding law enforcement agencies.
Chapman said.
Chapman said the video camera showed that
a man walked into the bank, and walked up to a
teller and demanded money. The video showed
the person as being a black male and also showed
him holding a handgun. Woody later reportedly
said the gun was a toy gun.
Woody left the bank and went down Chambers
Road in Banks County where he claimed that he
threw his cap and gun away. Banks County
deputies found the cap that he was wearing when
he robbed the bank but were unable, as yet, to
locate the gun.
Some minutes after the robbery, the vehicle
was spotted in Commerce by a Commerce
police officer. The Commerce officer attempted
to stop the vehicle but the driver refused to yield.
A pursuit ensued with Commerce Police officers
and units from the Jackson County Sheriff’s
Office.
Later on in the pursuit, a Georgia State Patrol
trooper also got involved and did a pit maneuver
on the vehicle which already had two blown
tires from stop sticks put out by Jackson County
officers, Chapman said.
Woody was taken into custody near the Clarke
continued on page 10A
Inmate crew pulled off project
Homer to take bids to complete fire building
You can sleep an hour lon
ger Sunday morning and still
get up at the same time.
Sunday is the day Daylight
Saving Time (DST) ends and
you get back that hour of
sleep you lost last spring.
To have the correct time
Sunday morning, before
retiring Saturday night set
all clocks, watches and other
timepieces back one hour.
The change officially
occurs at 2 a.m. — which
becomes 1 a.m.
The most noticeable changes
will be that the sun seems to rise
and set “earlier.”
Veterans Day
celebration
ahead at BCMS
Banks County Middle
School will honor veterans on
November 11, with a program
and a reception. This celebra
tion of Veteran’s Day will be
held at 10 a.m. in the school
gym.
“Also, we are planning a
display to show the history
and importance of Veteran’s
Day and the contributions
of local service men and
women,” organizers state.
Thanksgiving
meal offered
Generous Hearts will be giv
ing out turkeys with trimmings
on Friday, Nov. 21, at the Banks
County Recreation Department
from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.
The Banks County School
system will have a community
health fair on site with medical
agencies, blood pressure screen
ings and Medicaid information.
Monthly income eligibility
requirements are:
One person, $1,127: two
people, $1,517: three people,
$1,907; four people, $2,297;
and five people, $2,687.
Proof of residence is required
at pickup.
News
• Homer streetscape
update given — page 3A
• ‘Obama tries the
impossible in Georgia’
— page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 10&12B
• School News — 5-6B
• Public Safety — 5A
• Legals - 11-13 A
•Church — 11B
•Obituaries — 8A
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 3 1 111 3
The Banks County Convention
and Visitors Bureau invites
everyone out to the fourth annual
CVB Chocolate Fair on Nov. 10
from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the
Community Room at the Tanger
Town Centre at Banks Crossing.
The fair is a competition for
amateur bakers in which par
ticipants bring their chocolate
creation entries and each entry is
judged by a panel of judges and
prizes are awarded to the partici
pants with the winning entries.
The categories for the judg
ing are: Best Overall Chocolate
Entry Winner, $100; Most
Creative Chocolate Creation
Winner, $100; and Chocoholics
Choice Award Winner, $100.
There will also be two new cat
egories for the 2008 Chocolate
Fair. They are: Best Sugar Free
Chocolate Entry Winner, $100,
and Best Parent/Child (age 12
and under) Entry Winner, $100.
continued on page 10A
The inmate crew working
on the new fire department
has been pulled off the project
and the town is taking bids to
complete the building.
Homer Mayor Doug Cheek
advised the city council at the
recent October meeting that
the Department of Corrections
has moved the work crew from
the Homer fire building. Work
being done by the inmate crew
stopped on Monday, Sept. 29.
Cheek advised that the build
ing will have to be completed
by contract labor.
The council discussed the
finances and the process to
complete the building. Council
member Kevin Cape made a
motion to take bids for the
window sills, brick work and
front porch construction on the
fire building. The motion was
approved unanimously.
At that meeting. Cheek was
given the go-ahead to approve
the contract for work to begin
on Friday, Oct. 17.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the
October meeting, the council:
•discussed extending the
historic district. Some errors
were found between the zon
ing map and the drawing
showing the original historic
district.
•learned that the city is wait
ing on approval of the compre
hensive plan from the Georgia
Department of Community
Affairs.
•heard that Cheek contacted
City Attorney Gary Freeman
and the current downtown
development members are
legal.
•heard Homer Fire Chief
Cliff Hill on a hot dog sup-
continued on page 10A