Newspaper Page Text
The
www.MadisonJournalTODAY.com
AUGUST 20, 2009
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
Vol. 24 No. 34 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 28 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
CRIME
HEALTH
FINANCES
Dills gets
four years
in prison
Former D’viUe clerk addresses
court during sentencing
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
Former Danielsville city clerk
Michelle Dills was sentenced
to four years in prison Tuesday
for stealing almost $200,000
from city coffers between 2003
and 2008.
Superior Court Judge John
Bailey handed down the sen
tence to Dills in Elbert County’s
Superior Courtroom Tuesday
afternoon.
Bailey issued Dills a 10-year
sentence, with four years of
that sentence in prison and the
remaining six years on proba
tion.
Dills was also ordered to pro
vide restitution to Danielsville
during her probationary period
for any funds that had not been
reimbursed by the city’s bond
ing company.
The city has 90 days to pro
vided the court with a list of
expenses its incurred and not
received compensation for.
District Attorney Bob
— See Dills’ on 8A
TAXES
BOC to
offer full
refund on
occ. tax
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Businesses that paid the
county occupation tax this year
can now get all of their money
back.
Madison County commis
sioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to
offer full refunds for business
es that paid the occupation
tax this year. Mike Youngblood
opposed the measure, while
Stanley Thomas, who favored
implementation of the tax,
abstained from voting.
Businesses that paid for
the tax now have until Sept.
— See ‘Occ. tax’ on 8A
INSIDE
Index:
News — 1-3A 7-9A
Opinions —4-5A
Crime — 6A
Schools — 16A
Churches — 11A
Obituaries — 14A
Socials — 10A, 15A
Sports— 1-2B
Legate— 3-9B
Classifieds — 10-12B
Contact:
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-795-2765
Mail: P.O. Box 658,
Danielsville, GA, 30633
Web:
MadisonJoumalTODAY.
com
Local health officials
discuss flu preparations
Madison County Health Department
NE Ga. Health District anticipates
H1N1 vaccines by mid Oct.
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
There have been 16 confirmed cases
of HINI (swine) flu reported in the
10-county Northeast Georgia Health
District, according to public health
officials.
Louise H. Kudon, PhD, CHASE
(Community Health Assessment,
Surveillance and Epidemiology)
director told county board of health
members last week that most of those
cases have been “very mild,’’ and he
suspects that the actual number of
those who’ve contracted this strain of
influenza is much higher; it’s just that
many haven’t been sick enough to
seek medical care.
“This is nothing to panic about - but
it is something to be prepared for,”
Kudon said.
EDITORIAL: Tragedy high
lights IMPORTANCE OF SPAYING
AND NEUTERING, Page 4A
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
A pack of 16 dogs that officials
believe killed an Oglethorpe County
couple was euthanized at the Madison
Oglethorpe Animal Shelter Tuesday
afternoon.
Former University of Georgia profes
sor Lothar Karl Schweder, 77, and his
wife Sherry Schweder, 65, a librarian,
were found mauled to death Saturday
morning along Howard Thaxton Road
off Hwy. 77 about two miles north of
Lexington in Oglethorpe County.
Investigators believe that Mrs.
Schweder was killed by the dogs
while she took a walk. They believe
her husband then drove to look for
her and was attacked after exiting the
vehicle.
Madison County Code Enforcement
and Animal Control officer Jack Huff
assisted Oglethorpe County in appre
hending the dogs.
“When they were all there together,
they were aggressive,” said Huff. “It
was basically a pack mentality.”
Huff said he believed the dogs were
“chow mixes” and “Doberman mixes.”
He said two of them appeared to be
more dangerous than the others.
Health officials noted that that there
will be uniform releases of informa
tion to school systems from the NE
Health District so that school officials
will all get flu information at the same
time.
Tony Huff, emergency preparedness
“There were two of them that were
more aggressive than the other ones
and the other ones kind of backed
those two up,” he said. “And I had to
kind of back away from them for a
little while, then I started feeding them
and they started thinking more about
eating than anything else.”
Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter
director Susan Fomash said the shel
ter received a court order from Judge
coordinator for the Northeast Health
District, who oversees each county’s
pandemic flu planning committee
said Madison County’s committee is
well-prepared for a flu outbreak.
John Bailey around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday
for the dogs to be euthanized.
“We started to euthanize them and
it dawned on me to make sure that the
bodies weren’t going to be needed for
any kind of testing, then once we got
the OK, we euthanized them all,” said
Fomash, adding that the dogs were to
be cremated Wednesday.
— See Dogs’ on 8A
The
numbers
game:
Still roughly $1.9
million left to trim
in TO county budget
— FOR A BREAKDOWN
OF REQUESTED DEPART
MENTAL EXPENSES IN
2010, see Page 2A
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County offi
cials have cut significant
chunks out of numerous
departmental budgets for
2010. But the numbers
are far from finalized and
there is still significant
trimming ahead.
Right now, departmental
budget requests are $14.9
million, while projected
revenues for 2010 are $13
million, meaning there’s
still approximately $1.9
million left to cut to bring
requested expenses in line
with revenues.
Madison County com
missioners continued their
budget discussions this
past week, meeting with
leaders for the transfer
— See ‘Budget’ on 2A
MONEY
Latest state cuts
mean $462,000
deficit for
county schools
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
The Madison County
School System’s lean bud
get gets leaner.
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s
July funding cuts — to
Quality Based Education
(QBE) and equalization —
now have Madison County
schools facing a $462,551
deficit in an already thin
budget year.
But county school lead
ers, who’ve already shed
over $2 million from this
year’s budget, can’t tackle
this deficit until they crunch
a few essential numbers.
“There’s two big
unknown factors,’’Madison
County Superintendent
Mitch McGhee said.
First, the school system
must determine how much
— See “Schools’ on 9A
— See ‘Flu’ on 3A
ANIMALS
Dogs captured after killings euthanized
at Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter
Pictured are two canines in the pack of dogs euthanized at the
Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter Tuesday. Zach Mitcham/Staff
EDUCATION
Teachers — expect furloughs next semester
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews.com
Madison County teachers
— and those throughout the
state — will likely forfeit
more pay next semester as
several insiders say addition
al furloughs are coming.
“We’ve been told by state
department folks, legisla
tors and several sources
that it’s already been really
approved,” Madison County
Schools Superintendent
Mitch McGhee said last
week. “It just hasn’t been
announced by the governor
that we have three more days
of furloughs.”
Madison County school
leaders have already fur
loughed teachers three days
this semester after the state
cut the equivalent of that sum
of funding to every school
system.
In an effort to minimize
that impact, county school
officials have turned the two
days preceding Thanksgiving
break (Nov. 23-24) into
unpaid holidays and added
10 minutes to the end of each
student day this semester to
recoup lost instruction time.
Also, an Oct. 9 teacher work
day becomes a furlough day.
McGhee said he’s received
23-24 emails regarding the
school system’s response to
furloughs, only one of which
was negative.
“With something like this,
that’s a pretty good ratio,”
he said.
The Madison County Board
of Education (BOE) made
these changes official last
week when it approved an
amended calendar to accom
modate the furloughs. But
this likely won’t be the last
amendment the BOE makes
if the talk at the state level
is true.
“We may very well have to
come back in December or
January and do this again,”
McGhee said.
Any furloughs to Madison
County’s teachers and
employees won’t be termed
as such, however.
The superintendent noted
that the school system’s
legal counsel has advised it
to refrain from using “fur
lough” in any official docu
mentation.