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PAGE 2A — THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 5. 2009 Madison Co. BOC to meet Monday The Madison County Board of Commissioners will meet at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 9, in the county government complex. Agenda items include: •Chairman Anthony Dove - chairman’s report to the board. OLD BUSINESS: •Chairman Dove - adopting 2009 General County Policy. NEW BUSINESS: •Sandra Webb - transfer station - holiday policy and sec ond work crew. •Chairman Dove - application for permit for utility facility encroachment - Windstream Communications. •Chairman Dove — renewal of contract with Cummins Power South for maintenance on generators for E-911. •Chairman Dove - road projects •Urgent matters. Sunrise .cont’dfrom 1A will dictate the timetable. “The banks aren’t even loaning money for that kind of thing right now,” Byram said. That leaves Byram, owner of the financially-troubled course since 2002, to mull his options. “I may partner-up with somebody, so I’m sort of some what in wait-and-see,” Byram said. Redesigning the course and laying the infrastructure for the retirement community will cost between $3-4 million — a tentative figure — according to Byram. The course redesign plans call for changing four greens, leaving 14 unaltered. “That’s the big expense in building a golf course are the greens,” he said. “We’re utilizing a lot of the existing course without having to change that many holes.” Byram had tried three times, unsuccessfully, to rezone the golf course property before the BOC OK’d his plans last week. “I’m just grateful,” he said. “I’m very, very grateful. I really believe the project will put Madison County on the map. It’s something that will help Madison County grow in a positive direction.” But a number of Madison County residents disagreed, saying the development will be a clear negative for the community. Opponents spoke of traffic safety issues, potential sewage problems, the density of the proposed residential development, the strains on EMS and fire services, the impact on the area’s water supply. “This won’t be a development you can look back on in 20 years and be proud of,” Charles Hart told commis sioners last week. Meanwhile, others said the rezoning was necessary to keep the course open. They said the development will help save jobs, that it won’t have much impact on county services and that it will provide an option for seniors looking for retirement property. Byram said he wants to target a regional senior market. He pointed out that Georgia Club — located on Hwy. 316 — lures retirees who can spend $500,00 for a house. But the aim of the Sunrise project is to target those want ing to spend $200,000 to $250,000, Byram said. “It’s keeping the golf course and yet, giving something to the community and to the general public that’s needed in the Athens area,” he said. With the rezoning, Byram believes he has “saleable product” now. He said there are a lot of courses out there, “but there’s not a lot of golf courses with this kind of plan in place,” he said. “In my estimation, this is definitely the highest and best use of that golf course,” Byram said. But Byram said it’s too soon to submit plans for engi neering. “Basically you have to wait until you get ready to con struct it... I don’t where all this money is going that the federal government keeps throwing at these banks, why these banks aren’t loosening up their credit, but they’re not,” he said. Until then, he’ll continue to operate the golf course in its traditional format, even though there’s always the possibility that, if things worsened enough, he’d have to close the course and wait out the economic downturn. “That’s always a possibility, sure,” he said. “If it got to the point where I wasn’t getting any play at all, yeah. But I hope that never happens.” Still, by keeping it open, Byram said he’s running Sunrise at a loss. “I want to keep it running until I can either built it (the development) ... or get a partner or possibly sell it,” he said. Byram talks about changes Byram said Sunrise is designed in such a way that it would minimize the changes in the conversion to the executive-level format — whenever that happens. “Pretty much of the whole left side of the course is going to be the same,” he said. “The part that borders Kingston Greens is really not going to be changed at all hardly.” The majority of the redesign will impact the eastern portion of the course, he said. The entire project would be completed in two or three phases, Byram said. The first phase would include the course redesign, building at least a third of the residences and construct ing amenities like a clubhouse, tennis courts and a pool. Residents’ homeowner association fees would go toward the maintaining the clubhouse, pool and tennis courts. Golf memberships for homeowners would be offered separately since the course would still be open to general public. Byram said maintaining a par-3 set-up would be cheaper than a traditional course due to reduced costs with the upkeep of fairways. He also expects more jobs to be created. Front yards would need maintenance under the homeowners’ agree ment, while the clubhouse, tennis courts and pool would need employees, too, he said. Comer council approves rezoning request By Frank Gillispie frankgillispie67 lmsn.com A full house greeted the Comer City Council at its February meeting to hear the decision on a rezoning issue. A prayer circle was busy on the porch of the building. Comer Baptist Church sought to rezone a house located on Madison Street from R-l to R-2 for use by the church as an all purpose facility. Two members of the coun cil abstained from voting. The remaining two voted to approve the request and were joined by the mayor to make it official. A second rezoning request by Bentley Fitzpatrick to rezone his property form RR to R1 was also con sidered. Zoning adminis trator Jim Baird said the property had been improp erly zoned by a previous council, resulting in the property being unusable. The property does not have enough road frontage for a RR rating and efforts to get a waiver had been unsuc cessful. Baird said the only practical solution was to change the zoning to R1 which requires less road frontage. The motion was approved. The Royal Oaks Home Owners Association expressed its apprecia tion for the placement of “Children at Play” signs in the subdivision and requested another stop sign for the new section. Members inquired about progress on garbage pickup and recycling The council voted to repair the children’s slide in Arnold Park, which was damaged by vandals. The cost to replace the dam aged area is $679. In other business. Mayor William Burroughs informed the council that he spent $450 in repairs to the old depot and received approval to complete the repairs. City clerk Stephen Sorrells recommended that the city conduct further studies before selecting a location for a new well. The council received two bids for garbage and recy cling service. Both compa nies will be invited to the March council meeting to explain their offers. Fortson .cont’dfrom 1A Fortson and his attorney, Joyce Kitchens, met with the BOC Dec. 25, with the lawyer responding to the commission ers’ charges. Kitchens noted that Fortson worked for the county for 24 years, 11 as county clerk. She said that he proved himself as a dependable county employee, that he took a pay cut to take the job of county clerk and that he is dedicated to helping the citizens of Madison County. She said that when the BOC office was short-staffed, he did the work of three people. “You know what kind of man D’ville ..cont’dfrom 1A 70 checks during that year and stole approximately $56,000 in city funds. A four-month investigation was then launched to deter mine whether she stole more from the city during other years. The city’s “in-house” report on the theft case has been completed. And Riley had a written report available for the council to view, but city attorney Victor Johnson said the report would become a public record if she presented it to the council at Monday’s meeting. Johnson then advised coun cil members to review the investigation report in closed session when they meet with Vance to avoid harming the criminal case against Dills. He said the closed session would be allowed under Georgia law as a matter of “potential litigation.” “That information will become public at a later date,” said Johnson to the council. “What you don’t want to do is harm the investigation.” Clerks .cont’dfrom 1A by an investigator, went into the Danielsville BP station on Hwy. 29 North and pur chased a six pack of Bud Light with a marked $20 bill. Deputies then arrest ed the clerk, Tanya Renee Cromer, 38, P.O. Box 833, Danielsville, and charged her with selling alcohol to a minor. Following that arrest, offi cers went to Royal Foods in Danielsville; Quick Pick on Hwy. 72 in Colbert; Tiny Town on Hwy. 72 in Carlton and to Diamond Hill Grocery on Hwy. 29 North. Arrests were made at each of these locations. The clerks arrested after selling alcohol to the infor mant were: Mary Lowe Watkins, 125 Lanier Pruitt Road, Anderson, SC; Valerie Ann Teet, 1587 Holman Autry Road, Danielsville; Richard Vernon Miller, 706 Broad River Road, Carlton and Michael Daniel Nash, 206 Diamond Hill Neese Road, Colbert. Deputies also arrested an 18 year old on Sunday, Jan. 31, after responding to a call about a camp fire close to a residence with what appeared to be underage drinking in progress. Jakob Darrin Dwayne Saxon, 18, 1330 Holman Autry Road, Danielsville, was arrested Opinion .cont’dfrom 1A “This ruling makes it clear that local school systems should focus on their legal responsibility of educating children instead of wast ing taxpayer funds to pay lawyers suing the state,” Perdue said in the press release. “Too much time, money and effort have been spent on this case already, but now we can put this dis traction behind us and con tinue to focus on improving student achievement.” The consortium started in 2004, seeking litigation against the state for alleg edly failing to fund schools adequately. The consortium dropped its lawsuit in September as a strategic move when Perdue replaced the judge SPLOST ..cont’dfrom 1A county government totaled $139,116 last month, down 23.3 percent from $181,456 in January 2008. Overall, sales tax collections dropped four percent in 2008, down $88,752, from $2,129,010 in 2007 to $2,040,258 last year. While the nationwide decline in consumer spending certainly hurt local SPLOST revenues, the sharp spike in gas prices last summer actually helped keep Sheriff s office offers security checks The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is now offering security checks for homeowners who plan to be out of town. According to Major Shawn Bums, chief depu ty, residents can come by the sheriff’s office and fill out a “request for security check” form that lets depu ties know they need to pro vide extra patrol by their homes during a certain period of time. The request will last for a period of 30 days from the time the form is filled out, but the request may be extended by calling the sheriff's office at 706-795-6202, or by coming by the office at 1436 Hwy. 98 West. sales tax revenues from taking an even deeper flesh wound. As people forked over around $4 per gallon of gas bought in the county, Madison County saw some of its highest month ly SPLOST totals in recent years. For instance, the county collected $225,363 in sales tax funds this past September when gas was around $4 a gallon. Like other local govern ments across Georgia, Madison County relies heavily on sales tax funding to carry out needed improvement projects. Madison County voters said “yes” last year to a renewal of the one-cent SPLOST. And county leaders projected that the one-cent tax would raise roughly $12.6 million for coun ty and municipal improvements over the next six years. Typically, the Madison County government has seen a yearly increase in SPLOST rev enues. However, the economic The Madison County Journal is your source for local news. Subscribe by calling us at 706-795-2567 or visit us online at MadisonJournalTODAY.com It/omtH's Hukttl AppointiK&Kts Nom awifailt, at MEDfLINK f COLBERT Welcom* Colette Thompson, C-FNP Regular check-ups save lives. Don’t put off you PAP tests and other preventive screening. Call for an Appointment 706-788-2127 11 Charlie Morris Road at Highway 72 Colbert, GA Medicaid, Medicare Most Insurance, State Health Benefit plans, Tricare and PPOs Accepted Visa Mastercard he is,” Kitchens told the commis sioners. “You know his character. You know if he works hard. You know those things about him.” The BOC voted 4-0 that day to uphold the termination. Mayor Glenn Cross said the city does not have a total dol lar figure on the funds Dills allegedly took. “That’s what we’re wait ing on with the auditor,” said Cross. “He’s going to give us a final figure, next week or whenever he meets with us. And then at that time we’ll turn it over to the GBI.” and charged with one count of underage possession of alcohol after deputy Josh Smith found him at the campfire with three open cans of alcohol. Sheriff Kip Thomas said that he appreciates all the county businesses that follow the law on alcohol sales and added that his department will conduct random checks on businesses throughout the year. presiding over the case. It is looking to re-file the case. McGhee said back in November that Madison County pays roughly $4,700 a year in dues to the consortium. downturn is forcing leaders tc questions those projections. For instance, Madisor County Commission Chairmar Anthony Dove has suggestec that the county govemmeni take a wait-and-see attitude or sales tax projects, such as the expansion of the county jail noting that the county needs tc get a better grip on how mucl SPLOST money is actual!} going to be available for those endeavors. Founder’s Corner Buhl Cummings NOTE...from an ACS parent. “Thank you for providing our son with an excellent education and a wonderful spiritual atmosphere in which to receive it. We appreciate all the hard work of the ACS faculty and staff. I would like to thank you for providing transportation as well. Without the bus he would not be able to attend.” We certainly appreciate this encouraging note from one of our parents. Yes, our goal is to provide a “Quality Education in a Christian Atmosphere”. We also provide bus transportation from most areas. You can find out more about ACS (including our very moderate tuition) at athenschristian.com. ATHENS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL “Affordable Quality Education Since 1970” K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586 www.athenschristian.com