Newspaper Page Text
www.MadisonJournalTODAY.com
JUNE 11, 2009
Vol. 24 No. 23 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 30 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements
EDUCATION
Initial report:
Six of seven
schools
make AYP
MCHS still shy in 3 categories
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Preliminary reports
show all five Madison
County elementary
schools and the middle
school making Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP)
marks.
“While we’re going
to continue to improve,
the news is pretty
good,” Madison County
Schools Superintendent
Mitch McGhee said.
Madison County
High School missed
AYP for a fourth
straight year, accord
ing to the initial report.
Last year, three
schools — Danielsville
Elementary School, the
middle school and the
high school — did not
make AYP on the ini
tial report. Danielsville
Elementary and the
middle school, however,
reached AYP over the
summer with CRCT
retakes.
McGhee called this
year’s report a “marked
improvement” over
2008.
“The middle school
and the elementary
schools really did a great
job,” he said.
As for the high school,
— See “AYP on 2A
Puppy love
Kelsey Belbey, 2, plants a kiss on shelter mascot “Sassy” a young German shepherd up for
adoption at the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter’s fundraiser Saturday at Memorial Park
in Danielsville. (Sassy was adopted by the end of the day.) See more photos on Page 10B.
Margie Richards/Staff
CREME
Investigators seek the
indentity of the driver
of this vehicle. Anyone
with information related
to local bank robberies is
urgedtocall 706-795-6202
or 706-542-7901.
Hunt for
bank robber
continues
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Local law officers hoped
a photo of a car in the
Merchants and Farmers
parking lot in Ila May 22
would shed light on who
robbed the bank that day,
but that hasn’t happened,
at least not yet.
“We had one call on
a car that looked simi
lar but turned out not
to be the right one,”
said Georgia Bureau of
Investigation special agent
— See ‘Robbery’ on 2A
TAXES
BUSINESS
Assessment notices
expected soon
... but computer
software upgrade
must come first
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County
property assessments
should hit mailboxes
in the next few weeks.
When exactly? Well
that depends on the
timing of a computer
program upgrade.
New county chief
appraiser Robin Baker
said Monday that his
office is waiting for a
mandated upgrade from
WinGap, the primary
appraisal software used
in Georgia.
The software upgrade
was necessitated by
the state’s passage of
HB 233, which froze
property values for two
years. The updated sys
tem will put a hold on
inflationary increases.
“Everything on our
end is looking good
right now,” said Baker.
“We"re just in kind of
a holding pattern, wait
ing for an update to our
system from WinGap.
They’re telling us we’ll
have it by the 15 th (of
June) ... We’re ready
to send notices as soon
as we get our update
from WinGap and get
any inflationary value
increases rolled back.”
Madison County’s
new chief appraiser,
who began work April
13, said he aims to have
the digest done in time
to get tax bills out in
2009.
He said he hasn’t had
time to evaluate the
overall uniformity of
property values in the
county.
“Honestly, I haven’t
really gotten into that,”
said Baker. “We’ve
been so busy trying to
get everything caught
up and notices out that I
— See ‘Taxes’ on 2A
INSIDE
Index:
News—1-3A
Opinions—4-5A
Crime— 6A
Socials —8-1OA
Sports— 1-2B
Schools— 3B, 8B
Obituaries— 4-5B
Churches— 9B
Legals— 4-1OC
Contact:
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Mail: P.O. Box 658,
Danielsville, GA, 30633
Web:
MadisonJoumalTODAY.com
Correction:
The story on local
barber Bill Wood’s
service in Vietnam —
particular in the battle
for “Hamburger Hill,”
contained an error.
Hill was assigned to
the 101st Airborne
Division not the 82nd
Airborne Division.
City,
country split
Editor Zach Mitcham
discusses differing
attitudes on animal
control in Madison
County.
— Page 4A
Bank name change set for October
Merchants and Farmers will become x
First Citizens Bank and Trust
Merchants and Farmers Bank has branches in Comer, Colbert,
Danielsville (pictured), Hull, Ila and in Ingles on Hwy. 29..
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
The new signs will go up
in October. And Merchants
and Farmers Bank will then be
known as First Citizens Bank
and Trust.
First Citizens bought
Merchants and Farmers last year,
but the 74-year-old Madison
County bank kept its name in
the deal, though only on a tem
porary basis.
“When the transaction hap
pened last summer, it was always
the intention that the signs
would change, but at that time
it was not something that was
going to be done right away,”
said Merchants and Farmers
President Johnny Terrell. “But
now there is time for their (First
Citizens) acquisitions team to
get this done now. They’ve got
some open space now and that
is one of the reasons that it hap
pened before anybody thought it
would happen. But in my mind,
it was always going to happen.”
Angela English, corporate
communications director for
First Citizens Bankcorp Inc.,
said the name change was
always understood as the next
step in the acquisition.
“We just didn’t quite know
the timing of it,” said English.
“So now we have agreed upon
a time of mid-October for that
conversion to occur.”
English said the change will
give Merchants’ customers
greater access to banking ser
vices offered by First Citizens’
180 branches in Georgia and
South Carolina.
“It actually gives us the ability
to link Franklin, Stephens and
Hart counties and give custom
ers a broader array of products
that they may not have had with
Merchants and Farmers,” said
English.
— See ‘Bank’ on 3A
CITY NEWS
Young candidates discuss
bid for Hull council seat
Hull City Hall
FINANCES
BOE to
take input
on budget
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Regardless of who prevails
in Hull’s city council race, the
winner will likely become one
of the state’s youngest elected
officials.
Twenty-year-old Randell
A.C. King squares off against
25-year-old Brandon Fortson
in a special election Tuesday
for Hull’s vacant council post.
Polls will be open from 7
a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Hull Civic
Center.
“Yeah, it is kind of unusu
al for younger people to be
interested in such a position,”
Fortson said.
In Hull’s case, interest from
any age group lately has been
unusual.
Hull tried to hold a special
election in March for the seat,
but no one qualified. The post
has remained vacant since
September.
Both political newcomers —
who aren’t much older than
the minimum age requirement
of 18 — say they’re running
because no one else wanted
the job.
— See ‘Hull’ on 2A
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
The county school board will
take public comments and vote
on its proposed $39 million bud
get June 22.
The public hearing is slated
from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., fol
lowed by a vote on the finalized
budget at 7 p.m.
This year's budget calls for
$39,155,135 in spending, down
from last year’s $40.1 million
spending plan. The Madison
County Board of Education
(BOE) approved the tentative
budget figures Tuesday night.
“I would point out that it’s a
couple million dollars less than
last year’s budget,” BOE chair-
— See ‘BOE’ on 2A
