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The www.MadisonJournalTODAY.com JANUARY 15, 2009 Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006 50< Vol. 24 No. 3 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 26 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements SPECIAL TRIP COUNTY GOV’T Madison Co. student will see inauguration first-hand Tuesday By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com Much of the world will watch the inauguration of Barack Obama on television Tuesday. But Madison County Ninth Grade Academy student J.S. Fielding will see it in person. Fielding will have a bleacher section seat to see Obama sworn in. Later that night, he will attend a black-tie inaugural ball. ‘Til be pretty close,” said Fielding. “I don’t know the row number, but I’ll probably be able to hear his speech." As a Madison County Middle School student, Fielding was nominated by teacher Sabrina Howard to attend the National Youth Congressional Leadership J.S. Fielding Council in Atlanta. Once he completed that program, he was put on a list for a potential trip to the 2008 inauguration. He was informed in March that he was chosen to attend the five- day Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference in Washington — See ‘Fielding* on 9A ZONING Sunrise owner John Byram will try again this month to convert his course into a retirement community with a predominately par-3 setup. Golf course to close? Byram says he’ll shut down course immediately without rezoning By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com The days of golf in Madison County might be numbered. Sunrise Golf Course owner John Byram says he’ll close the county’s only course if his appli cation for a rezone is denied this month. Byram once again will present plans to county leaders to trans form the financially troubled Colbert course into an active retirement development with a mostly par-3 set up. Byram's proposal is on the agenda for the planning and zoning com mission’s Jan. 20 meeting. He’ll present the project to the board of commissioners Jan. 26. These plans are identical to the ones the county board of com missioners rejected in February of last year. "The golf course is something I want to keep," Byram said. "The only way to keep the golf course is allowing an active retirement community be built around it. There’s no way I can keep throwing money at it. I’m miming out.” Byram’s plans call for 158 single-family homes and 60 townhouses. Alterations to the golf course would leave Sunrise with three par-four's and 15 par — See ‘Golf* on 9A INSIDE Index: News— 1-3A5A.9A Opinions— 4A Crime— 6A Churches—4B Obituaries— 10-11A Sports— 1-3B Socials — 7-8A Legate—5-9B Schools— 10-12B Contact: Phone: 706-795-2567 Fax: 706-795-2765 Mail: PO. Box 658, Danielsville, GA, 30633 Web: MadisonJoumalTODAY.com 8 ,, 0 4879 14144* 0 Lady Raiders rebound The Madison County Lady Raider basketball team rebounded from a loss to Cedar Shoals Friday with a win at Winder Tuesday. — Page IB Commissioners to return power to BOC chairman Inside: Meeting room improvements planned; BOC asked for decision on MLK Day, Page 2A By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com Madison County commis sioners plan to give new county chairman Anthony Dove person nel powers that they stripped from Wesley Nash. “I think the people soundly spoke for a leader in this county when they went to the polls,” said Commissioner Stanley Thomas, who proposed restoring hiring and firing powers to the chair man’s position. Madison County voters favored Dove by a 72-19 margin over Nash in the July Republican primary. County commissioners took hiring and firing power away from Nash after he said he rep rimanded county clerk Morris Fortson for a budgeting error, then Fortson said that Nash had not reprimanded him. Thomas said the past frictions between Nash and the commis sioners were unfortunate, but that there was no other course of action than to strip the chairman of his personnel powers, since the BOC felt Nash was not will ing to carry out his duties. “I felt I had no other choice,” said Thomas. But the commissioner said the new commission chairman has already shown a strong work ethic, as well as a willingness to — See ‘BOC’ on 9A PROFILE New Madison County Probate Judge Cody Cross is pictured in his office last week, along with his staff (L-R): Gina Allen, Linda Huffstedler, Tiffany Treadway and Sandi Stillwell. Margie Richards/Staff ‘Crossover’ Former investigator settles in as new probate judge By Margie Richards margie@mainstreetnews.com New Madison County probate judge Cody Cross performed his first wedding ceremony last week. “It was great - it was such an honor to do it,” Cross said later that day, though he admits to being a little nervous. “I told them when they called that they’d be my first, but if they didn’t mind, I didn’t," he said. They were there first thing that morning and he, with his office staff in attendance, performed the ceremony and Cross signed the license, making it official. Marrying folks who want a simple civil cer emony is just one of the myriad of duties per formed by the office of probate judge — and Cross is the first to admit that he still has some learning to do. The probate office handles not only marriage certificates, but also birth and death certificates, wills, guardianships, cita tions, game and fish licenses, administration of estates and more. Cross said he thinks one of the most difficult of his duties will be handling the guardianship cases of incapacitated adults. “That means taking away their liberties and rights - that’s hard,” Cross said. It’s a daunting job and after all, he’s the first new probate judge in Madison County in more than 30 years. Cross won the position handily against his opponent, Joley Barber, — See ‘Cross’ on 9A LITIGATION Settlement reached in Epps, Watson case By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com A settlement has been reached in the case of a former tax com missioner employee suing her boss for wrongful termination, but the details of that settlement have been sealed. Donna Epps claimed that tax commissioner Louise Watson fired her for her support of Watson’s opponent in the 2004 election. Watson said she had just cause for her termination of Epps’ employment. A trial was scheduled for Jan. 20 in U.S. District Court in Athens before Judge Clay Land But the two sides agreed to settle the case out of court earlier this month. Madison County attorney Mike Pruett said the settlement includes a confidentiality clause that prohibits him firm disclos ing the terms of the agreement, such as the settlement’s dollar figure. ‘This is being handled entirely by the county’s insurer and the attorney the insurer retained," wrote Pruett in an emailed response to The Journal's inqui ry about the settlement. “The county is expending no funds and has had no input into the settlement terms." TAXES Property tax bills expected to hit mail next week Madison County 2008 prop erty tax bills will likely show up in mailboxes toward the end of next week. Tax commissioner Louise Watson said Tuesday that she expects tax bills to be deliv ered by mail sometime around Jan. 22. HAB defends county’s honor Song off new CD responds to snide remarks regarding Madison Co. By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com Over a year ago when a Morgan County Citizen col umnist lampooned Madison County in a comparison to the city of Madison, he affronted many. It was even suggested that Comer was somewhere a zombie movie might take place. “That hit me kind of hard — See ‘HAB’ on 9A LOCAL MUSIC Madison County’s Holman Autry Band performs before a packed house at the Georgia Theatre. Photo from the band’s website: www.holmanautryband.com/