About The Banks County news. (Homer, Banks County, Ga.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2025)
Banks County News www.BanksNewsTODAY.com Banks County’s Legal Organ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2025 $1.00 • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 12 Pages, 1 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 59 No. 29 Banks juvenile charged in online threat A student at Banks Coun ty High School has been linked to a social media threat levied Wednesday, April 23, against Johnson High School (JHS) in Hall County. A caller to 911 alerted au thorities to the threatening Snapchat post around 3 p.m. Hall County Sheriff’s Of fice (HCSO) investigators immediately began working to determine whether the threat was credible as well as to identify the person who created the post. The Georgia Bureau of Inves tigation (GBI) and internal investigators with Snapchat assisted. By 5:30 p.m., in vestigators had identified the 16-year-old girl who made the threat. They also determined the threat was not viable. According to initial de tails of the investigation, the juvenile offender admitted to posting the threat, which indicated there would be a shooting at JHS. She created the post in retaliation after a male student at JHS appar ently failed to accompany her to prom as planned. The girl faces a single charge of making a terror istic threat. She has been charged as a juvenile. Board of elections to meet on Thursday The Banks County Board of Elections and Registra tion meeting will be held on 9 a.m. Thursday, March 8, at the Elections Office, lo cated at 226 Candler Street in Homer. Items on the agenda in clude: a report from the director, public comment, setting the next meeting and approval of past minutes. Any new or old business that needs to be addressed will also be on the agenda. INSIDE Baseball Leopards take series, headed to state. See Page 5 for more. MAILING LABEL 8 0 487 9 1 4 1 4 3 RUNNING WITH ‘B UDDY’ Photo by Randy Crump Special Olympic athlete Lee Flores is shown at the track at the event with his “buddy” from the high school. See story and more photos on Page 12. Events coming up this weekend Debbie Smith to be grand marshal at Lula Railroad Days parade The annual City of Lula Railroad Days will be held on Friday-Saturday, May 2-3. Vendors will set up Fri day afternoon and a movie, “Moana 2” will be shown that evening. The parade will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday with Debbie Smith, a member of the Lula Ladies and a community volunteer, as the grand marshal. The Country River Band will perform at 2:40 p.m. on Saturday. Special event planned at Banks County Speedway on Saturday The Banks County Speed- way will hold an event on Saturday, May 3, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. BOC looks at guidelines to allow Homer man killed in ‘nicer' extended stay hotels in county two-vehicle crash By ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Commissioners met with hotel representatives from Banks Crossing last week to discuss guidelines that could be put in place to al low “nicer extended stay” properties locating in the county. The goal would be to have requirements in place that would make the “nic er hotels” locate at Banks Crossing. BOC chairman Taylor Griffith said that in order to do this there would be a need to “beef up the code so it allows the good product and not the bad product.” Somp of the requirements discussed included concrete and steel structures only, placing kitchenettes in the rooms and including a ban quet-style conference center to serve up to 600 people in a 6,000 square foot space. “There is a huge need to have an extended stay,” said Sonia Sewell, who spoke DEBBIE SMITH The event will include show cars, rat rods, vintage race cars, BBQ plates and concessions. representing Solvue Hospi tality, which owns several properties at Banks Cross ing. “A lot of hotels are doing extended stay when they really shouldn’t be do ing extended stay. I do see a huge need for it. I also see a huge need in having a con ference space.” Harry Patel also spoke on behalf of Solvue Hospitali ty stating that the steel and concrete requirement will stop “undesirable elements” from trying to locate in the county. He referred to $28 million project in Braselton Solvue Hospitality is working on now that is a concrete and steel only structure. “These are very high class hotels,” Patel said. Patel spoke on a $35 million hotel project meet ing these requirements that could locate in Banks Crossing. Commissioner Chris Aus- burn said, “If we don’t keep up with the nicer hotels, we - 5 A scene from a past pottery show in Gillsville is shown. Annual pottery show set in Gillsville The Historic Gillsville Spring Pottery Show will be held at Craven Pottery on Saturday, May 3, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is hosted by the Craven, Ferguson and Admission will be free at the special event. . The speedway is located at 320 Spring Road, Bald ¬ will have the undesirables right here among us wheth er we want to or not.” Sewell said, “We are invested in making sure Banks County grows and develops further—especial ly tourism. We have hotels in other areas that are hav ing growth and I would love to see that growth come to Banks County.” Ausburn said the “mil lion dollar question” is how much water a hotel like this would need. “For us, this is very, very critical right now,” he said. “We are at that level.” Commissiner Danny Maxwell said, “We love the kind of growth you are talking about. They come and spend money and leave.” Patel, said most people don’t want to stay more than 5 or 6 nights. The commissioners agreed to look over the sug gestions and meet again to discuss this further. Hewell families and will feature 30 potters. The event will feature a large variety of face jugs and other folk pottery. Admission is free at this indoor event. win. The speedway was Geor gia’s fastest 1/4 mile dirt track from 1956 to 1970. A Homer man died following a two-vehicle collision on Cornelia Highway (SR 365) Wednesday night, April 23, 2025. The crash occurred around 8:20 p.m. at the intersection of Cornelia Highway and Lula Road (SR 52), according to the investigation by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Accident Investigation Unit (AIU). The preliminary investigation determined Donnie La mar Smith, 63, was traveling southbound on Cornelia Highway and attempted to turn left on to Lula Road. In the process of making the turn, Mr. Smith stopped in front of a vehicle traveling in the right northbound lane of Cornelia Highway. Following the collision, both vehicles traveled into the grass on the east side of the highway. Both drivers were transported by ambulance to North east Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. Mr. Smith, who was determined to be the at-fault driver, was pro nounced deceased at the hospital just after 9 p.m. The driver of the other vehicle suffered non-life threatening injuries in the crash. AIU investigators continue their investigation. BOC hearing budget requests from department heads By ANGELA GARY The Banks County Board of Commissioners tackled the budget requests from departments in meetings last week to kick off the annual budget hearings. BOC chairman Taylor Griffith said during the hearings, “We don’t want wish list (from department heads). We want need list.” BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS A few budget highlights that have been discussed so far includes the following: •Contingency fund, the BOC agreed to keep $100,000 in this fund. Finance director Randy Failyer said that is the amount that has been put in this account in the past and it has covered any needs. “We’ve never gone over it but we’ve gotten close,” Failyer said. He added that $44,000 he has been spent so far this year from the contingency fund. •BOC, took out professional services as a line item and added $500 for vehicle repairs. •Tax assessor’s office, two new replacement computers have been requested. •GIS, a discussion was held on the need for ortho-imag ing. No decision was made. •Coroner, the commissioners said only one deputy coro ner is needed instead of two that has been requested. •Chamber/CVB, plans to continue not to fund the re quested $12,500. •Code enforcement, discussed the need for funds for ed ucation and training. Budget hearings with department heads will continue this week. Failuer will also make adjustments as needed for benefits. Salary increases aer not included in prelimi nary budget hearings. This is discussed after other budget items are finalized. Parking will be free, orga nizers state.. For more information on the festival, email craven@ cravenpottery.com or mes sage Craven Pottery, Inc on Facebook. For more information on the special event, contact Bobby Irvin at 706-201- 8762.
