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Sports: IB Leopard players start season Community: I2A Banks 4-H J ers attend jamboree — www.BanksNewsTODAY.com — 5(K • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 39 No. 52 | "| 1^ Lightingup thehdidatys Baldwin tree lighting set for Saturday The City of Baldwin's annual Christmas tree lighting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29, at the Roadside Park. Faith Tabernacle Church will be singing Christmas carols. The city will provide hot dogs, roast ed marshmallows and drinks for those in attendance. A rain date of Saturday, Dec. 6, has been set. Christmas Bazaar to be held Dec. 5-6 The first annual Christmas Bazaar at the Chamber will be held on Friday, December 5, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, December 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. A Christmas parade starts at noon on Saturday. Shoppers can enjoy the many arts and crafts booths available, along with holiday music and carols. The lighting of the Christmas tree will also take place at dark in front of the historical court house. “This event is planned so the community can gather together for visiting old friends, making new friends, drinking hot choco late, watching the parade, enjoy ing the lights, singing carols and strolling from booth to booth doing your Christmas shop ping," said chamber director Tara Fulcher. Volunteers to assist with the parade are needed. Contact the chamber office at 706-677-2108. Christmas event set in Homer Dec. 7 The Town of Homer will hold its ninth annual Christmas Celebration at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, at the historic court house. News -2-3A •Drop box available for taxpayers — page 2A • ‘It’s never too early to think about 2012’ — page 4A Other news • Social News — 7A • School News —10 &12A • Public Safety — 6A •Legals — 4-5 B •Church — 8A •Obituaries — 9A Maysville continues Set to approve budget Dec. 1 BY MARK BEARDSLEY The Maysville City Council continues to work on its 2009 budget, with the goal of approving it at its Dec. 1 meeting. The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the Maysville Public Library. While the council has agreed on the tax rates, there are two main issues that have yet to be resolved. One is water and sewerage rates; the other is the appro priation for the Maysville Fire Department. The city council discussed both at a work session last Thursday night; another work session was planned for Tuesday night. Details of that were not available by press time. The tentative millage rates are .81 for Banks County res idents and 1.764 for Jackson County residents. The Banks County rate is the same as last year, while the Jackson County rate is down slightly. Facing a projected water and sewerage revenue short fall of $184,000, the council had discussed raising water rates as much as 40 percent. budget work But last Thursday, council man Stephan Lewis sug gested that figures presented by Chip McGaughey from Engineering Management Inc. at a prior work session “just didn’t add up for me.” Lewis and Councilwoman Lynn Villyard have been working on the figures and hoped to have a recommen dation by Tuesday night's work session. McGaughey was expected to attend that session as well. “We’ve just got to figure out what to do with water and sewer and push forward,” urged Mayor Jerry Baker. “We’ll work on it,” prom ised Villyard. Lewis also balked at the budget request from Fire Chief James Lyle for $23,000. continued on page 9A BANKS COUNTY COURTHOUSE ANNEX LED EFFORT FOR NEW BUILDING Three of the men who were among those leading the effort to build the Banks County Courthouse Annex are shown outside the new building on Sunday. Pictured (L to R) are: Banks County Board of Commission Chairman Gene Hart, commis sioner Rickey Cain and former commissioner Pat Westmoreland. Not pictured: commissioner Joe Barefoot. See page 3A for more photos. Photo by Sharon Hogan BJC sale, construction of new hospital possible BY MARK BEARDSLEY BJC Medical Center is courting a suitor. The facility’s governing authority approved a nonbind ing letter of intent Thursday that could lead to the sale of BJC Medical Center and the construction of a new hospital in Commerce. BJC has been searching for a white knight ever since the Jackson County and Banks County boards of commis sioners signaled that they were not interested in under writing up to $35 million in bonds to build a new hospital in Commerce. Doctors Hospital of Georgia is the first serious response to that search. It is a new entity comprising EDT Development Company, an Atlanta-based company that specializes in medical facilities, and a number of doctors. A lot has to take place before an acquisition can occur, officials stressed. “I am guardedly opti mistic,” declared authority chairman Charles Blair, who participated in Monday’s meeting of the BJC Medical Center Authority by speak erphone, “that the citizens of Jackson County will have an opportunity to have a first- class hospital in the future.” The process will be lengthy. Public hearings and approval by the state attorney general would be required for a new hospital. -BJC CEO Jim Yarborough The letter of intent gives Doctors Hospital 90 days to do its “due diligence” on the medical center and will be a time of negotiations over the details. The next step would be the signing by the author ity of a final, binding agree ment. “There would be public hearings,” noted CEO Jim Yarborough, and the final step would be approval by the state attorney general, whose role would be to make sure the authority has done every thing it could do to keep the facility operating and that it is getting fair market value. Yarborough speculated that getting the attorney general's approval will be the “biggest hurdle.” He also said the boards of commissioners of the two counties do not have to sign off on the agreement, but said he has kept the chairmen of the two boards, along with Commerce Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. apprised of the process. Should the deal take place, continued on page 9A Runoff election for state seats set Tues. Three state seats will be on the ballot in the special election on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Voters will have three seats to decide: •United States Senate: Saxby Chambliss (R) and Jim Martin (D). •Public Service Commission: Lauren “Bubba” McDonald (R) and Jim Powell (D). •Court of Appeals Judge: Sara Doyle and Mike Sheffield, both non-partisan. Polls will be open on Dec. 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. BOC to meet on code violations at restaurant The Banks County Board of Commissioners will hold a called meeting at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1, at the new annex building. The purpose of the meeting is to consider code violations concerning alcoholic beverages at MVP Cafe at Banks Crossing. Spreading holiday cheer 300 TURKEYS GIVEN OUT Lee Arrendale State Prison Fire Department members and other volunteers passed out 300 turkeys with the trimmings to Banks County residents on Friday. Lutrelle Parr, Maysville, is shown receiving her turkey from Britney Moon, LASP fire depart ment member. See page 9A for more on the event. Photo by Sharon Hogan