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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