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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. MARCH 12, 2009 — PAGE 7A
Appraiser .cont’dfrom 1A
our citizens.”
Board of assessor (BOA) chair
man David Ragland told com
missioners Monday that the BOA
had no one to recommend to the
post and he asked the BOC to
offer more direction on what the
county is willing to pay for a chief
appraiser.
“We have looked and re-looked
at our application pool,” said
Ragland. “.. .Right now. we have
no one who is ready to be brought
forward to the board of commis
sioners. But we are looking and
trying to recruit. Unfortunately,
we're not receiving many applica
tions.”
Pethel said he felt the BOA
missed out on qualified appraisers
who were willing to do the job for
less than $75,000.
“We had at least two applicants
with revaluation experience who
requested $60,000 to $65,000,”
said Pethel. “I don’t know what
happened to those applicants and
why they weren't brought to the
board.”
But other commissioners said
saving a few thousand dollars on a
chief appraiser’s salary isn’t worth
continuing a nearly decade long
trend of late digests. Those tardy
digests have led to tax levying
entities in the county having to
borrow money to keep the gov
ernment operating, while paying
interest on those loans. There have
also been questions about the uni
formity of values in the county
— whether people with similar
properties are taxed similarly.
The chief appraiser oversees the
assessment of property values in
the county. That person not only
determines whether individual
properties are appropriately val
ued, he or she also oversees the
establishment of a county digest
(or overall county property value),
which is the first step in the county
property tax revenue process.
"This person has an awesome
responsibility,” said Commissioner
Stanley Thomas. “...Other coun
ties don’t pay $80,000 to $100,000
(for a chief appraiser) for no rea
son.”
Thomas noted that $75,000 is
a lot of money but pointed out
that salaries for other skilled posi
tions in the county are comparable
in pay. He said a qualified chief
appraiser could eliminate late
digests, improve the uniformity
in values and perform an in-house
revaluation. These things would
ultimately save the county far
more money than what is spent on
a greater salary, he said. Madison
County plans to revalue all prop
erties in the county, a process
that could cost several hundred
thousand dollars if performed by
an outside agency.
"We have to have the values
more in order and get the digests
out on time," said Thomas.
Someone in the audience
moaned when the $75,000 figure
was first discussed.
But commissioners Bruce
Scogin and Mike Youngblood
agreed with Thomas, saying the
$75,000 salary will be worthwhile
if the county can attract a qualified
appraiser who brings some stabil
ity to county assessments.
Scogin addressed the moaner.
"I know how it hurts," he said of
increasing the salary. “But every
day is putting us farther behind.”
Dove said the BOA needs to act
quickly to get a recommendation
for a chief appraiser to the com
missioners. The board wants to
avoid a late digest in 2009, which
could lead to more borrowed
money in 2010 if tax revenues
lag behind schedule. Ragland said
he felt the 2009 digest can still be
completed on schedule, despite
the difficulties finding a chief
appraiser.
Bill ..cont’dfrom 1A
Nadya Suleman happening in
Georgia,” said Hudgens, refer
ring to the widely publicized
case of a California single moth
er of six who gave birth to octu-
plets with the help of in vitro
fertilization.
Many were outraged that
Suleman will likely require
government assistance to raise
her children and that doctors
implanted so many embryos in a
single mother of six.
Hudgens’ legislation was criti
cized as over-reaching, possibly
reducing the chances of some
women to have just one child.
"The criticism I got is that
it’s more restrictive than
the American Society of
Reproductive Medicine guide
lines and I'm willing to accept
those guidelines,” said Hudgens
Friday. “So I think that will
defang that argument.”
Hudgens also said Friday that
"it’s too early to play taps" on
SB 169 this legislative session,
noting that a committee meeting
Monday morning could give the
bill new life.
After that meeting Monday,
Hudgens said the committee
agreed to eliminate language
regarding in vitro fertilization.
"That’s something we will
study more and consider at a
later date," he said.
However, the amended bill
will address embryonic stem cell
research in Georgia, prohibiting
the creation of new embryonic
stem cell lines in the state. The
senator said this legislation, if
passed, would prohibit scientists
from taking a fertilized human
egg and killing it for research
purposes.
The bill declares that: "A liv
ing in vitro human embryo is a
biological human being who is
not the property of any person
or entity.”
"This will not limit, retard
or restrict stem cell research in
Georgia,” said Hudgens. "It just
restricts the creation of new stem
cell lines in Georgia.”
Hudgens said stem cell lines
created in other states could still
be used for research in Georgia.
The District 47 senator said
the bill also prohibits cloning
and research involving human-
animal hybrids.
"I think it was the right thing to
do,” said Hudgens of Monday’s
amendments. “It's my bill and if
I didn’t think it was right, then I
could let it die.”
Critics of the bill say that it
will hurt medical progress in
Georgia.
"Should that bill become
law, it will halt the embryonic
stem cell research in Georgia
that offers the promise of curing
Alzheimer's and repairing spinal
cord injuries,” wrote The Atlanta
Journal Constitution's Maureen
Downey in a March 10 editorial.
Rock .cont’dfrom 1A
said Jones, who has created
three-dimensional art ever since
childhood.
As a resident of Carlton, Jones
lives just miles from Elberton, the
"Granite Capital of the World.”
Noticing the rock quarry trucks
that often passed by his house,
Jones became inspired.
"I just really like the idea of
carving local, indigenous rock
that was pulled out of the ground
last week,” he said. “There’s real
ly something cool about that.”
The difference between Jones
and many artists is that he found
a way make his craft pay. Today,
Jones is one of few with the job
title, “professional granite sculp
tor.”
After carving his first gran
ite pieces from Tiny Town rock,
Jones set out in his vehicle seek
ing employment, not fully know
ing where he was going.
"I just sort of said a prayer,
looking for guidance ... I didn’t
know where I was going,” he
said. “I left my house and drove
straight over here.”
"Here” would be Century
Granite Company Elberton,
where he’s carved since Dec. 6.
Carving granite monuments is
something of a lost art in the
United States since most every
one places their orders with
China, where the work is done
so cheaply. Cemeteries have also
become more corporate, Jones
said, preferring the lower main
tenance flat headstones over
ornate granite monuments.
On this particular Saturday
in his work shed in Elberton,
Jones, armed with gloves and
a protective mask to keep the
toxins out of his lungs, fash
ions what was once a 1,500-lb.
hunk of solid granite into what
will eventually be an angel.
The sculptures of Mike
Jones will be on display
in Carlton this week
end.
When he’s done with that, anoth
er 1,500-lb. block awaits Jones.
“It’s kind of intimidating,'’ he
said.
He has to sculpt two angels.
Both will be sent to a cemetery
in Alabama.
Jones likes the idea that the art
he creates is being sent all over
the country. He has a bid for a
project for New Orleans’ famed
Metairie Cemetery.
But he is interested in carving
for someone locally, too.
He notes a U.S. tradition of
local carvers, pointing out that
there are 300-year-old monu
ments in Massachusetts for
which they still know the carver.
“It’d be really nice to have
something local, too,” Jones
said.
PAINFUL WORK
Jones — who has also carved
wood, standstone and limestone
— compares his work with
granite to one his other artistic
endeavors.
“I’m a saxophone player,”
said Jones, who now plays with
a band called Athens A-train.
“With saxophone, you really
don’t play solo ... The good
thing about this is that it’s just
really solo. You don’t have to
worry about whether anybody
else can do it. I can just come
over here and get lost in my own
little trance.”
On a good day Jones will carve
12 hours. On a bad day, maybe
7-8 hours.
There’s just one problem.
“It gets painful,” said Jones,
who says he suffers from arthri
tis. “That’s the one drawback
about it ... You know these
Opus Dei guys that like whip
themselves, like you see in the
Da Vinci Code. I feel like those
guys when I’m in here carving
a Virgin Mary or Jesus. I have
to stop. Ah, man, my back is
screaming.”
But through the pain, Jones
feels he’s found his calling artis
tically — and professionally.
“I’ve done a lot of crazy stuff
over the years — private eye, tile
setter, saxophone repairman —
but I like this the best,” he said.
REWARDING, BUT
Cf
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County received 8.1” of snow says weather expert
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
The numbers are in, and the winter
storm of 2009 officially dropped 8.1
inches of snow on Madison County,
according to a local weather gum.
Paired with the rainfall that pre
ceded the heavy snow, the county
received the liquid equivalent of
5.13 inches of precipitation.
“So it was a real boon for the short
term,” said Mark Jenkins, the coun
ty’s cooperative weather observer.
“Long term, it’s debatable how the
pattern sets up.”
Jenkins said the heavy snow and
rainfall was largely localized to
Madison County and the Athens
area, noting that the north Georgia
mountains received substantially
less.
“That’s where it really needs to
fall — north of Atlanta and Athens,
and particularly from north of
Gainesville to Toccoa,” he said.
“That’s the headwaters of all the
big lakes ... But it was good for our
area, absolutely.”
The snowstorm of 2009 was per
haps the biggest in the county in
nearly 70 years.
A winter snowstorm in Jan. 1940
likely takes tops honors for the most
snow accumulation ever in Madison
County.
Jenkins said his father told him
that the Athens area received 11
inches back then.
“That’s the biggest storm that
we've had,” Jenkins said.
The storm of 2009 compares
similarly to a March 24,1983 snow
storm that blitzed Athens area.
Athens received 8.7 inches of
snow in that year and Jenkins mea
sured 8 inches in Madison County.
“I wasn’t really official back
then," Jenkins said. "I didn't have
a snowboard to put out like I did
this time. But I just rank this one
probably a little bit heavier than
that one.”
As far as disruption, the storm
of 2009 ranks closely with a Feb.
1979 winter system that brought a
combination of sleet, snow and then
ice to Madison County.
Some county citizens went with
out power for eight days.
"That was, I think, in many ways
was worse than this one,” Jenkins
said.
Jenkins, who resides in
Danielsville, has lived in the county
nearly all his fife and has studied
weather ever since tornadoes hit
the Athens area in 1973 when he
was 12.
"That was kind of the beginning
of my interest in it,” he said.
Today, Jenkins is part of a volun
teer program across the nation that
monitors local weather.
"Basically you just keep the
records,” he said. "My training has
just been self-trained, reading and
studying about it."
Founder’s
Corner
by
Buhl Cummings
EAGLES MOVE ON ...After
winning the Region 8-A
championship, the Eagles moved
on in the State playoffs by winning
over North Georgia Cobb Christian
School on Wednesday evening in
the 'Sweet Sixteen’ game, 77-68.
They now move on to the ‘Elite
Eight’. The next opponent will be
Greenforest Academy from Region
7-A, on Saturday (March 7) at
Marietta High School.
The Eagles, under Head Coach
Ron Link, have had a great season
and are now 27-2. The boys have
worked very hard and the hard
work has paid off.
In our academic, athletic, and
fine arts programs at ACS, the
students learn the “work ethic”, so
important to future success in life.
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