Newspaper Page Text
Sports: IB
Community: 3A
Leopards on fire after
three straight wins
Flag football
fundraiser held
— www.BanksNewsTODAY.com —
504 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 22 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 40 No. 2
GBI probe
continues
Investigating
missing funds
The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation is continuing its
investigation into missing funds
from the Banks County Tax
Commissioner’s office.
Banks County Sheriff Charles
Chapman reports that his depart
ment has turned over the case to
the GBI. GBI officials have not
returned repeated phone calls to
their office but they are reportedly
not finished with the investiga
tion.
A $14,600 deposit was report
ed as missing from the tax com
missioner’s office on Nov. 5,
one day after tax commissioner
Margaret Ausbum was re-elected
for another four-year term.
Ausbum reported to the sher
iff’s office that the matter was
brought to her attention when she
was contacted by someone who
told her a check they had writ
ten her office had not cleared the
bank. Ausbum reported she then
began to do an internal investiga
tion of all her bank statements for
the past three or four months.
Chapman said Ausbum stated
that a deposit is made out for
each day’s work and the one in
question is July 28, for July 25
work. Ausbum reported that July
28 was a Monday and, on that
particular day, there were two
deposits made, plus a deposit for
some bad checks that had been
returned. The deposit in ques
tion was written up in her daily
deposit book. The deposit was
not written up by Ausbum but by
one of the employees in the tax
office, Chapman said.
That deposit should have been
made the same day, on July 28.
During this time, the tax office
was preparing for the move to the
new Banks County Courthouse
Annex, Ausbum reported.
Ausbum said that she tried to
find the missing deposit, but after
she had exhausted what she could
do, the report was filed with the
Banks County Sheriff’s Office.
Community
•Christmas at the
Fort — page 10B
• ‘Remembering a
politician of the people’
— page 4A
Other news
• Social News — 7A
• School News — 4B
• Public Safety — 6A
•Legals — 9-11A
•Church — 9B
•Obituaries — 8A
Banks Crossing health spa shut down
A health spa at Banks
Crossing was shut down
Tuesday by the sheriff’s depart
ment for violating county
codes. The alleged violations
include “a massage of areas
prohibited by the county ordi
nance” and the employee not
being properly clothed.
Banks County Sheriff
Charles Chapman said the
“Best Health Spa” located at
152 Dallas Drive was closed
down for several violations.
He added that Banks County
Sheriff’s Office personnel went
in on Tuesday and removed the
business license.
A hearing before the
Banks County Board of
Commissioners on revoking
the business license was sched
uled for Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Results were not available at
press time.
When the sheriff’s office
personnel went in the business,
the owners were told to turn off
all the signs and the doors were
locked, Chapman said. The
health spa has been in opera
tion for a very short period of
time, Chapman added.
The violations include the
following:
•Massage of specific ana
tomical areas prohibited. No
owner, operator or employee
shall intentionally touch or
massage or offer to touch or
massage specific anatomical
regions.
•Proper owner, operator,
employee clothing required.
Each owner, operator and
employee of a spa/massage
and bodywork therapy busi
ness shall wear clothing of an
opaque material and it shall
be unlawful for such person to
fail to fully conceal his or her
specific anatomical regions.
•Patron coverings required.
continued on page 2A
'Tis the season
SANTA IN HOMER
Griffin and Made Heaton visted with Santa Sunday night at the Town of Homer’s
ninth annual Christmas Celebration. Choirs from Homer Presbyterian, Homer
United Methodist Church and Homer Baptist Church performed. Homer Alliance
pastor George Tubbs played the harmonica and Homer First Baptist Church Fred
Wilson led the prayer. Homer UMC pastor Jim McLendon gave the closing prayer.
Homer Mayor Doug Cheek and clerk Carol Ayers also spoke. See additional photos
from the event on page 8B. Photo by Angela Gary
Georgia High School Writing Test
Percent passing (meets/exceeds requirements)
School
2008
2007
Banks County
92%
89%
Jefferson
96%
88%
Jackson County
88%
90%
East Jackson
91%
—
Commerce
92%
95%
Apalachee
91%
88%
Winder-Barrow
91%
92%
Madison County
87%
86%
State
89%
88%
High school writing
test results released
BCHS score shows improvement
BY JANA A. MITCHAM
Results for 11th graders tak
ing the Georgia High School
Writing Test for the first time in
the fall have been released for
area high schools.
In Banks County, 92 percent
of 11th graders taking the test
for the first time passed the test,
up from 89 percent in 2007.
In Jackson County, East
Jackson Comprehensive High
School, Commerce High
School and Jefferson High
School test takers exceeded the
state’s 2008 average of 89 per
cent passing test. The “passing”
score includes a combination of
students meeting and exceeding
requirements. Jackson County
Comprehensive High School
posted a 2008 score of 88 per-
continued on page 2A
BOC plans to buy
water from Toccoa
BY ANGELA GARY
The Banks County Board
of Commissioners is mov
ing forward with plans to
purchase 250,000 gallons of
water per day from the City
of Toccoa.
The BOC has received
a proposed 15-year con
tract from the city for the
water purchase. At a meet
ing Tuesday night, the BOC
agreed for administrative
assistant Angela Shepherd to
meet with Toccoa officials to
move forward with the con
tract. After Shepherd meets
with Toccoa officials, the
final contract will come back
to the BOC for approval.
The proposed contract calls
for the county to pay Toccoa
$2.53 per 1,000 gallons of
water. The water connec
tion would be on Damascus
Road. The agreement doesn’t
require any significant infra
structure upgrade to either
system.
In other business at
Tuesday’s meeting:
•commissioner Joe
Barefoot presented a silver
keychain to out-going chair
man Gene Hart on behalf
of the staff and BOC. “The
future of the county is bright,”
Hart said. “I am really excit
ed about the future of Banks
County.”
•a request from Billy
Poole for a variance for set
backs for poultry houses was
postponed until the January
meeting.
•a request for a conditional
use permit to operate an auc
tion business at 321 Pottery
Factory Drive was approved.
•the board approved a
request from Natasha Ward,
chairman of Banks County
Relay for Life, to hold the
annual event May 15-16 on
property beside the middle
school.
•the BOC tabled mak
ing appointments until the
January meeting to the
planning commission, joint
development authority, rec
reation advisory board and
Chestatee Chattahoochee RC
& D board.
•the board approved a bid
from Parker Traffic Markings,
Cleveland, for $30,355 for 25
miles of road striping work
in the county. The county
received two bids for this
project. Mid-State Striping
Inc., Eatonton, submitted a
bid of $30,779.
•the BOC approved a bid
continued on page 2A
Christmas at Lula
The Lula Area Betterment Association will be
hosting the 1st Annual Christmas at The Depot,
Lula, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19.
All activities at the event will be free to the
public.
Depot set Dec. 19
Free photos with Santa will be offered. The
association will serve hot chocolate and apple
cider. The Christ Story will be read.
For more information, call LABA chairman
Desiree Chambers at (770) 869-7514.
PARADING THROUGH HOMER
Redemption Outreach had the first-place float in the Homer Christmas parade held on
Saturday. The parade was held in conjunction with a Christmas Bazaar. The events
were planned by the Banks County Chamber of Commerce. See additional photos on
page 12A. Photo by Angela Gary