Newspaper Page Text
50<t •
Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 49 No. 42
Index
•Crime
— 5A
•Obituaries
— 7A
•Classifieds
— 4B
• Legals
- 7B
•Sports
- IB-3B
Election
coming up in
Homer, Lula
A town election will be held
in Homer and Lula on Nov. 7
with eight candidates seeking
the five city council seats on
the ballot.
In Homer, candidates for
the city council race include:
Incumbents David Dunson,
Sandra Garrison, Cliff Hill, Jim
McLendon and Jerry Payne,
as well as James Dumas,
Frankie Gardiner and Dan
Walker. The top five vote-get
ters will win the election.
In the Homer mayor’s race,
incumbent Doug Cheek was
the only candidate to qualify.
In Lula, three candidates
will be on the ballot in the
mayor’s race, including:
Incumbent Mayor Milton Turn
er, Jim Grier and Felton Wood.
Fall break still
scheduled
for schools
BY ANGELA GARY
With Banks County
schools closed five days
last week due to the power
outages and downed trees,
there has been concern
in the community that the
scheduled fall break will be
cancelled.
Superintendent Stan
Davis said at the board of
education meeting Monday
night that the fall break,
scheduled for Oct. 2-6, will
be held. There had been
concern among parents
because many already have
reservations made for trips
during that week.
Davis said the system has
some flexibility because of
days built into the sched
ule already to account for
missed days, as well as the
system being a “charter
school.”
Davis also gave an update
on the storm damage last
week as Tropical Storm/
Hurricane Irma brought
high winds and rain to
Banks County. The damage
includes the scoreboard
being knocked over at the
stadium and roof damage
at the high school auditori
um which caused water and
electrical damage inside
the facility. Davis said staff
is assessing these problems
and other minor damage
and getting costs on repairs.
Banks to leave Piedmont Circuit?
Some Banks County leaders are
reportedly wanting to pull the coun
ty’s court system out of the Pied
mont Judicial Circuit.
There has been no official public
discussion on the idea, however
some officials are working behind
the scenes to make the change.
Rep. Dan Gasaway said he has
been approached about moving the
county into another circuit.
“We are studying this and will
make the best collective decision
for Banks County citizens,” he said.
Gasaway said it would take legisla
tion to make the change.
“The legislation to do this is rel
atively simple,” he said. “I would
need to have the legislation drafted
by legislative counsel and file it. It
would be handled similar to any
local legislation. It would need to
pass the House, the Senate, and
have the signature of the governor.”
Gasaway said “several parties”
have been working on the idea and
looking into the issue.
“First, let’s be clear, this is in the
exploratory stages at this point,” he
said. “Some reasons I have heard
(for doing this) include combining
with counties of similar interests
and improving the voting influence
of Banks County voters. Current
ly, Banks County’s population is 12
percent of the population of the
Piedmont Judicial Circuit. It’s hard
to make changes at the polls with
this electoral weakness. We all know
Barrow and Jackson counties (the
other two members of the Piedmont
Circuit) are becoming more and
more like Gwinnett County.”
Sources familiar with the situation
told The Banks County News that
Sheriff Carlton Speed is one of the
proponents of the move. Superior
Court judges in the circuit, however,
reportedly oppose the idea.
If there were a change, Banks
County would likely become part of
the Mountain Judicial Circuit, which
include Habersham, Stephens and
Rabun counties.
While the reasons for the push to
make a change aren’t yet clear, two
Piedmont assistant district attorneys
serving in Banks County have been
involved in public corruption scan
dals over the last decade.
DRUM LINE
HALF-TIME ENTERTAINMENT
The Banks County High School marching band provided half-time entertainment at the game against Union County Friday
night. Shown are: (L-R) Cassidy Evans, Isaac Yang and Jakson Hensley. Photo by Charles Phelps
500 reports of trees down in Banks Co.
GOVERNOR SPEAKS
Governor Nathan Deal spoke Thursday to public safety worker and coun
ty leaders from Banks and Habersham counties about storm damage in the
area. Among the Banks officials present are: (to the right of the governor)
EMA/E-9-1-1 director Deidra Moore, commissioner Danny Maxwell, fire chief
Steve Nichols and commissioner Charles Turk.
Clean-up
continues
following
Hurricane Irma
BY ANGELA GARY
Clean-up is continuing this
week in Banks County after
more than 500 reports of
trees down came in due to
the high winds and rain from
Tropical Storm/Hurricane
Irma. School was out for five
days last week due to power
outages, with many govern
ment offices and businesses
also closed.
“Banks County EMA/E911
fielded over 500+ calls of trees
and lines down with over 20
homes with major damage,”
EMA/E-9-1-1 director Deidra
Moore states. “These calls
took place from the onset of
Irma through the next morn
ing. These calls were taken in
about a 18 hour time frame.”
In the coming days and
weeks, Moore said that the
“long-term recovery” from
the storm damage will take
place.
“I am currently working on
a request for proposals to bid
out the debris to get quotes
to help us with final clean
up,” she said. “As you can
imagine, this is much more
than our road department
can handle alone. We are in
a FEMA declaration, as are
all Georgia counties. This
means that we will get help
with clean-up. Some things
are in the works at the state
level that we hope comes to
fruition, such as help from
National Guard and/or Army
Corps of Engineers with the
debris clean-up; this has been
rumored but not confirmed
to us officially yet.”
Governor Nathan Deal
flew over the county Thurs
day to review the damage
and held a press conference
at the Habersham County
Airport.
“Governor Deal has
expressed to me that he is
committed to helping us and
the entire state with recovery”
Moore said. “We hope that
he can get it rolled up hill
to President Trump and that
they can get us more help for
other areas as well but we will
not know if this will come for
some time and it will be some
time before that money is
physically seen in the hands
of local officials. This kind
of thing just takes time and
patience.”
In the meantime, Moore is
working on the public infra
structure side and looking for
ways to help local families
that have lost food due to
power outages.
Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Mar
ion and Grundy counties in
Tennessee are going to ship
items in to Banks County to
help families and debris work
ers in Banks and Habersh
am. They are sending items
such as cleaning supplies and
bottled water.
“I can’t tell you how this
and our citizens jumping in to
help has warmed my heart,”
Moore said. “We have a won
derful community.”
Anyone that wishes to
donate items is asked to call
Moore at 706-677-3163 or
email dmoore@co.banks.
ga.us.
“If they will call or email
me, I can give them some
specific needs that they can
help families with,” Moore
said. “We have a lot of work
ahead of us but we will over
come, together.”
ASSISTED
WITH EFFORT
Moore said that members
from all of the county emer
gency services and commis
sioners’ office were present
as the calls came in.
“The sheriff’s office, with
aid from the Banks County
Road Department, Banks
County Fire/EMS, Banks
County Water and the cities
touched over 192 roads (and,
probably more),” she said.
“At the height of the outages,
we probably had 75 to 80
percent of the county out of
power. We lost power at 911
and operated on a genera
tor there and at the jail and
water departments and Fire/
EMS for multiple days. We
also lost Internet and land
lines. Our 911 stayed up,
thankfully.”
Moore offered thanks to
those who helped out last
week.
“First and foremost, I want
continued on page 2A