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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.