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PAGE 2A —THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 24. 2009
Animal... continued from 1A
staff and less money, the office will
focus more on dangerous animals
than nuisance calls.
Now, for instance, people who
complain about a neighbor’s dog
defecating in their yard must be
willing to pay a $69 fee to file a
civil complaint against their neigh
bor in order to have something
done,
“Those (nuisance calls) are
the type of calls that the time we
spend very rarely results in positive
action,” said animal control/code
enforcement director Jack Huff,
who said he spoke with Magistrate
Judge Harry Rice about handling
animal nuisance disputes in his
court.
Huff described the nuisance calls
as someone complaining about
“their neighbor’s dog on their
property doing trivial damage like
pooping in the yard.”
“If they want to fill out a com
plaint form and they're willing to
testify in court, I can do the docu
mentation and get the subpoenas
out and take everything to Judge
Rice,” said Huff.
BOC chairman Anthony Dove
asked Huff if he intends to enforce
leash laws.
“You could still do that (the leash
law)?” asked Dove.
“You can, but it's very time con
suming and I don’t have the man
power to do it like it should be
done," said Huff.
Huff said the leash law action
depends on the complainant filling
out a complaint form.
“Because I’m not going to be
able see Mike’s dog run across
Bruce's yard,” said Huff. "I didn’t
see it; I can’t bring them to court
on that by itself. If Bruce wants to
take Mike to court and say his dog
is pooping in his yard every day, I’ll
be in court.”
Dove asked Huff if he wanted to
leave the leash law in the animal
control ordinance.
“Each call is similar, but all of
them are different,” said Huff.
Commissioner Mike Youngblood
asked Huff for clarification.
“So basically what you’re saying
Jack is you're doing away with the
leash law and dog off property?”
asked Youngblood.
Huff said no.
"It’s still in the ordinance,” said
Huff. "We’re just going to, for lack
of a better word, use it when it’s
applicable and avoid it when it’s
applicable. It's a tool for us to use.”
Huff also noted last week that
the types of animal control calls he
receives vary according to district
in Madison County.
"A lot of the stuff I see in
the southern part of the county,
Bruce’s (Scogin) district Mike’s
(Youngblood) district they involve
the leash, they do,” said Huff. “We
get calls there where it’s highly
populated. Now Mr. (John) Pethel’s
district Pete’s (Bond) district I get
a lot of calls of thrown out dogs."
For instance. Huff said he picked
up 15 dogs thrown out on Pethel’s
road.
"Those are the types of calls we
get in your (Pethel’s) district; we
don’t get leash law calls, we get
thrown out dog calls,” said Huff.
"I really think we need to continue
getting up the stray dogs, because
if we don’t... the puppies get big
enough to where they're going to
have puppies."
Huff said that he will still handle
dangerous dog calls.
Dove asked Huff how he will
distinguish between a nuisance
and a dangerous dog call.
“How will you make a decision
on what will be a legitimate call?”
asked Dove.
Huff allowed that making such
a determination can be difficult,
noting that sometimes he goes to
calls where a dog is supposedly
dangerous and it acts friendly. And
other times, dogs won’t appear
to be a threat initially, but end up
being dangerous.
“A lot of times you're going
to have to go to calls that are not
going to be what you think they
are,” said Huff.
The discussion of animal con
trol practices took place as county
commissioners discussed Huff’s
2010 budget, which was trimmed
roughly $30,000 from the 2009
figure. Commissioners praised
Huff for significantly cutting his
budget.
Budget
continued from 1A
line items. The group ultimate
ly reduced the sheriff’s budget
by $35,916 and the jail budget
by $5,750.
The sheriff’s budget now
stands at $1,700,430, while the
projected jail expenses for next
year are $1,237,618.
Sheriff Kip Thomas submit
ted a request for an additional
$1 million in funding for the
sheriffis department and jail,
but commissioners recently
told him they couldn’t afford
any increases.
However, the BOC can’t
avoid a major increase in one
line item in Thomas’ budget,
since they learned that the
2009 budget for salaries was
incorrect. The 2008 budget
for sheriff’s department sala
ries was $1,089,536, but the
2009 budget showed a reduc
tion in salaries to $950,554.
The jail wages also dropped
by $43,272. However, those
decreases should not have been
made, since the higher num
bers reflected a decision by the
BOC in early 2008 to increase
pay after a wage scale study
conducted by the Carl Vinson
Institute suggested they do so.
Exactly why that budgeting
mistake was made has not been
determined, but the error has
left the sheriff’s department
over budget for 2009. The sher
iff has requested $232,985 to
cover the budgeting mistakes
for the sheriff’s department,
jail, CHAMPS and courthouse
security.
The group agreed to use
unspent funds for housing pris
oners out of the county to par
tially offset the salary shortfall.
The county budgeted $90,000
for housing prisoners out of
the county but has only spent
$9,005 so far in 2009.
“I understand the mess up,
but there are other items we
can do something about and
we need to cut it today,” said
Youngblood.
The commissioner then went
line by line through the sheriff’s
budget, reducing many items.
The board members empha
sized that they don’t want to
cut jobs. And noted that other
departments had worked hard
to reduce their budgets and
they didn’t feel it would be fair
to allow a budget increase for
the sheriff’s department.
“All the departments have
cut, and if this one (the sheriff’s
department) goes up, that’s not
happy campers,” said commis
sioner Pete Bond. “It would be
hard for us to look at our other
people and say anything.”
Commissioner Stanley
Thomas also suggested that the
county look at lowering food
costs at the jail, perhaps con
tracting for private services.
“That’s been something
steadily growing in costs,” said
Thomas.
The group met again
Wednesday, Sept. 23, (see
next week’s issue for cover
age). Commissioner Bruce
Scogin asked finance director
Kathy Clark to provide the
board with attorney’s expenses
at that meeting. Scogin noted
that a citizen suggested that
the commissioners cut costs
by contracting out attorney’s
services or hiring an in-house
attorney.
Madison County’s projected
expenses for 2010 now stand
at $13,789,664, while antici
pated revenues remain at $13
million. However, the revenue
figures may be revised soon as
digest figures and tax collec
tion projections are reviewed.
Rain
continued from 1A
Road were flooded. A tree
was reportedly leaning toward
the road on Old Wildcat Bridge
Road.
There were several motor
vehicle accidents over the past
week and "some were probably
related to wet pavement,” Camp
said. He also noted that there
was one report of a low-hanging
branch striking a vehicle, but not
damaging it. And there were four
reports of trees on roadways,
including Reed Brawner Road,
Young Harris Road, Blacks
Creek Church Road and Cliff
Griffeth Road.
Mark Jenkins, Madison
County's cooperative weather
observer in Danielsville, reported
that he recorded 8.13 inches of
rain between Tuesday, Sept. 15,
and Tuesday morning. Sept. 22.
‘This is more than I recorded
for the entire summer months
of June through August,” said
Jenkins. “Sanford and Planter
communities likely had the top
rain amounts with close to 10
inches, with lesser amounts in
the eastern sections of the county
(4-7 inches).”
Jenkins said this past week's
rains helped offset the county's
rainfall deficit.
“This rain nearly erased our
entire deficit for the year, and
actually just brought us back
close to normal for the year,”
said Jenkins.
Seat check... continued from 1A
Safety checked 23 child safety
seats during their annual Child
Safety Seat Check Day Saturday
at the Ingles parking lot in Hull.
Also on hand to assist was Zetta
Jones, Department of Child
Health, Emergency Preparedness
and Response, Injury Prevention
Division.
The group replaced 16 seats,
which were deemed to be unsafe
because of age, being on a recall
list, being involved in a prior
wreck or tire need for a differ
ent size, according to Pilot Club
members.
Six of tire seats were found to be
safe, but were in need of correct
installation and only one seat was
found to be correctly installed.
Seven others asked for help,
but were turned away Saturday
because of lack of time and car
seats for replacement, but Pilot
members collected names and
numbers for later follow-up.
Those who sponsored
replacement seats for the event
were Jimmy Boyette (State
Farm Insurance Agency),
Dennis Burroughs (B&D Seed
Company), Bill Fleeman (A Real
Estate and Insurance Company),
Ken Howard (Howard Insurance
Company and Cotton States
Agency) and Ches Smith (Cites
Smith State Farm Agency).
Others who contributed to the
effort included: Jerry Drake (Ingles
Supenuarket - use of parking lot),
Sandra Webb (Keep Madison
County Clean and Beautiful -
seat disposal) and Sgt. Tommy
Williams of tire Madison County
Sheriff’s Office.
"We considered this a great suc
cess with so many people com
ing on a rainy, rainy day,” Pilot
members stated. "The Pilot Club
will be working to sponsor other
events in the future as they can be
planned.”
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Highway 106 to Jot-em Down Rd. to Young Harris Road to Serenity Lane
"This kind of response today
indicates a great need for tire Child
Safety Seat Check program in the
area,” Townley said.
According to reports from
the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the Georgia Highway
Safety Council and tire National
Highway Transportation and
Safety Administration, motor
vehicle crashes are the leading
cause of death for children from
age 2 through 14, and a high per
centage of these deaths could be
prevented with tire proper use of
car seats and seat belts.
To find out more information
about child safety seats and best
practices for using those seats, go
to www.usa.safekids.org
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Saturday, September 26
7:30 p.m.
Hwy. 281, Gray Bell Auction
Royston, GA
T. V. Taping
Admission: $10
Kids under 13, FREE with paid adult.
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Mon. - Thurs. 10-6:30 • Fri. - Sat. 10-7
Books
• •• continued from 1A
books — DeGrasse said it
covers all aspects of free
speech over the past 100
years — but books have often
ended up on censorship lists.
And DeGrasse lists a few.
Some bannings, like that
of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
"Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and
J. D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher
in the Rye” are well-known.
Others one might not expect
— like the American Heritage
and Merriam-Webster dic
tionaries.
‘That was one of the more
surprising ones,” DeGrasse
said.
The reasons for banning
vary widely.
Mark Twain’s "Huckleberry
Finn” and Harper Lee’s
‘To Kill A Mocking Bird,”
were barred numerous times
because of racial slurs.
Katherine Paterson’s “Bridge
to Terabithia” was banned due
to children being disrespect
ful to adults. More recently, J.
K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter”
series has been challenged
because of witchcraft, while
"And Three Makes Tango,”
the true story of two male
penguins in the Central Park
Zoo who raise an egg togeth
er, was barred for anti-family
issues.
Even Dr. Suess hasn’t
escaped the censors. “The
Lorax” was once banned.
Why?
“Unfair portrayal of peo
ple in the logging industry,"
DeGrasse said.
The Madison County
Library workers have placed
a red dot on all previously
banned books sitting on the
shelves. The plan is to pull
them and make them more
prominent for potential read
ers during banned book
week.
And reception to banned
book week is usually good in
Madison County, DeGrasse
said.
In fact, the library left stick
ers in the young adult section
last year that read, “I read
banned books."
“A lot of people were
proudly displaying that ... I
will probably do that again
this year.”
DeGrasse said books con
traband books are always an
interesting topic,
“It always sparks conversa
tion,” she said. “People will
see a book and they’ll be,
‘Why was this banned?'”
MORE
INFORMATION
The exhibit is open to the
public during library hours.
The library is located at 1315
Hwy. 98 W in Danielsville,
next to the Recreation
Department. For more infor
mation, call 706-795-5597.
Trial
• •• continued from 1A
said Moon lured Barnett, his distant cousin, to the area,
promising a source for crack cocaine, then shot and killed
him.
A separate trial is also scheduled for next week in the
case of Christian Oliverio, who is facing a homicide by
vehicle charge for the Oct. 31, 2006, death of his wife,
Summer Shenk Oliverio, 22, Hull. The accident occurred
at the intersection of Hwy. 29 and Clark Circle. Oliverio
was also charged with driving under the influence and
failure to yield.
According to the district attorney’s office, the case of
Melinda Spence, the former Madison County deputy clerk
accused of stealing upwards of $80,000 from the county
government, is set for the criminal trial week beginning
Oct. 19.
By order of the Madison County Sheriff’s office, the
back door of the county government complex will be
closed Sept. 28-Oct. 2 during Madison County’s criminal
trial week. Citizens needing to do business in the court
house must come through the front door.
Pumpkin Patch
& Hay Maze!
Roadside Market
Barnyard Activities
Petting Zoo
Hay Ride & More!
Only $10 per person
Group rates available
Sept 26 - Oct. 31
Fri. 4 pm - 8 pm
Sat. 10am - 8 pm
Sun. 1 pm - 7 pm
706.540.7196 525 Lexington-Carlton Rd, Lexington, GA
www.rockyridqefarmwebs.com
Madisonjournal
TODAY.com
Williams
Bar-B-Que
Now Has An Additional Location:
Hwy. 72, Colbert (next to Fred’s)
Serving Barbecue & Stew - to go only
* Buy a barbecue sandwich & chips receive a free drink!*
Hours: Sun. - Mon.: Closed, Tues. - Thurs.: 11am - 2pm, Fri. & Sat.: 11am - 6pm
706-795-5394 (across from Madison County Hardware)
Dr. Jeff Gilliland
Veterinarian! Owner
(formerly of Commerce Veterinary Hospital
and Jefferson Animal Hospital)
706-614-5266
fetch-a-vet@att.net
• At Home Veterinarian Care
• Small Animal Practice
• By Appointment Only
For online prescriptions, visit
www.fetch-a-vet.com
Serving Clarke, Oconee, Madison, Jackson and Oglethorpe Counties