About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2017)
Cl Banks County News www.BanksNewsTODAY.com d Banks County’s Legal Organ WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017 50<t • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 49 No. 34 Index •Crime —6A •Obituanes — IIA •Classifieds —4B-5B •Legals — 6B-7B •Sports —IB-2B, 8B Local farmers market open Every Friday afternoon from now through October, local farmers are invited to sell their harvest on Main Street in Downtown Lula. “Locally Grown or Locally Made” is the theme. The hours are 3:30-6:30 p.m. Fruits and vegetables, as well as original art or locally made craft items, are included in the items to be available for sale. The Farmers Market is a community event sponsored by Around the Corner Florist and Gifts. The market will be locat ed in downtown Lula in the parking lot on Main Street just south of the Athens Street rail road crossing. There is no charge for booth space but sellers are asked to register in advance. There are some prohibited items to keep with the “Locally Grown or Locally Made” theme. Locally grown fruits, vegetables, flow ers and locally made crafts are encouraged. For more information, con tact, Patti Thomas of Around the Corner Florist and Gifts, at 770-869-3516 or by email at: AroundTheCornerFlo- rist6003@gmail.com. Sunday school event ahead The 140th annual Banks County Sunday School Cele bration will be held on Satur day, July 29, in the downtown park. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. Schedule of Events 9:30 a.m. Opening 9:45 a.m. Rock Springs Bap tist Church 10:00 a.m. Bethany Chris tian Church 10:15 a.m. Homer Presbyte rian Church 10:30 a.m. Homer United Methodist Church 10:45 a.m. Hickory Flat Unit ed Methodist Church 11:00 a.m. Beaverdam Bap tist Church 11:15 a.m. Temple Baptist Church 11:30 a.m. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Commerce 11:45 a.m. Recognize Memorials 12:00 p.m. Lunch There will be a break from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch. For lunch, meat will be provided. Everyone is asked to bring a covered dish to go along with the meat. Sims Bridge Road Fire station reopens BY ANGELA GARY Banks County Fire/EMS leaders have announced the reopening of Fire Station 32 on Sims Bridge Road. Due to age, Station 32 was shut down last year and has been under renovations by the county building maintenance department. “Through long hours and dedicated work by building main tenance, the station is re-opened and looking great,” fire chief Steve Nichols states. “By the work being done in-house, the county commissioners were able to save our taxpayers a huge amount on the construction project.” Nichols adds that replacing this station with a new facility is estimated to cost $400,000 The cost of the renovation was $30,000. “The board of commissioners, building maintenance supervisor Kenny Crumly and his staff all are commended on approving and causing this project to move forward,” Nichols said. “We are pleased to have this facility re-opened and serv ing our citizens in the Sims Bridge, Hwy 59, area.” FIRE STATION REOPENS The fire station at Sims Bridge Road has reopened following a renova tion. CHEER TIME GETTING A BOOST Mitchell Shull (left) and Sidney Maloy (right) hold up cheer camper Landri Love during a practice routine at last week’s Banks County Cheer Camp at the Banks County Parks and Recreation Department. Shull and Maloy are Young Harris College cheerleaders and were assisted by the Banks County High School cheerleaders. Photo by Charles Phelps Comprehensive plan update coming up BY ANGELA GARY The Banks County Comprehensive Plan will be updated over the next year. Scott Ledford, chairman of the Banks County Development Authority and Todd Hubbard will lead the effort to update the plan. The Georgia Mountains Regional Commission will also assist with the project. The update was discussed at the July 18 meeting of the development authority. Econom ic developer Brad Day said the plan “provides a blueprint of community priorities.” He added that the plan can be used by county leaders to set goals. Two public hearings will be held to gather input from interested citizens. An advisory com mittee will be formed to meet four to five times on developing the update. The final plan will go to the board of commissioners for approval before it is implemented. In other business at the July 19 Development Authority meeting: •a “performance and accountability agree ment” with Diana Foods was approved. Day said, “This sets up the agreement that if they meet the threshold, they will receive the grant.” He added that the company would provide jobs and capital investment in exchange for the “grant.” The “grant” consists of the develop ment authority “forgiving the cost of the land” (valued at $600,000) to the company. The company will create 88 new full-time perma nent jobs at the facility to be located at Banks Crossing. The company will also make a capital investment of $45 million. •an “indemnification agreement” was approved that states any financial liability with the pre-treatment sewage project for Diana Foods will come from the Development Author ity • Day gave an update on the Business Park Road project, which is several weeks behind schedule due to the rain. • a closed session was held to discuss real estate. No action was taken when the meeting was opened to the public. Audit ends year in the red Alto ended its last fiscal year in the red in both its general fund and water fund, accord ing to the town’s recently released audit. The town showed a net loss of $17,900 in its general fund even after borrowing $50,000 from the town’s water fund. The general fund ended the year with reserves of $206,000. The town’s water fund showed a net loss of $67,900 on the year with $50,000 of that due to the transfer to the town’s general fund. The town’s water fund reserves stood at $415,500 at the end of the year. Alto’s general fund showed income of $613,350 in 2016 and expenses of $711,400. Public safety and public works were the town’s largest expense at $506,600. Water sales in the town were $747,200 in the year and it had operating expenses of $692,600. But the town showed a loss of $71,500 on the disposal of assets. Auditors said the town had failed to amend its budget during the year as it was supposed to do and that it had made an incorrect deposit of SPLOST money into the town’s general account. Series on Hoard murder coming up A 5-part series describing the events surrounding the assassi nation of solicitor Floyd “Fuzzy” Hoard 50 years ago will begin in the August 2 issue of this news paper. Hoard was a crusading pros ecutor in the Piedmont Judicial Circuit (Jackson, Barrow and Banks counties) who targeted the area’s organized car theft and bootlegging gangs after tak ing office in 1964. He was murdered in his car with 10 sticks of dynamite on August 7,1967 outside of Jeffer son. The bombing made nation al headlines and led to a four- month search for his killers. The upcoming series of arti cles examines what led up to the assassination and the events that happened afterwards. 'Striding for a Better Banks' planned Saturday County leaders are planning an event to provide infor mation on community services and agencies available to citizens. The event, “Striding for a Better Banks,” will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 29, at the Banks County Recreation Gymnasium. The free event will include displays and give-aways from the participants. The organizations in attendance will include: Air Life Helicopter, Banks County Adult Literacy, Banks County Chamber of Commerce, Banks County private emergen cy services, Banks County Clean and Beautiful, Banks County Board of Commissioners, Banks County Public Library, Banks County Recreation Department, Banks County School System, Family Connections, Red Cross, Sparky the Fire Dog and UGA Extension Service. There will also be representatives at the event from state and federal agencies and clubs, including the Department of Family and Children Services, GEMA, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Forestry, National Weather Services, Boy Scouts, Saddle Club, Rotary Club, Interact, Family Connections and Community Resource Associ ation.
