About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2009)
Vol. 24 No. 53 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 24 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements BUSINESS Commercial Bank plans Comer branch By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com Commercial Bank, based in nearby Crawford, plans to expand into Madison County in the spring of 2010. The bank will move into the Windstream building in Comer on Hwy. 72 with hopes of opening the new branch in April. The 85-year-old bank already has a customer base in southeastern Madison County, a Commercial official said, which prompted the move to Comer. “We felt like it was just advantageous for us to reach out to that Carlton, Comer and Colbert area by heading that way,” said Larry Townsend, Commercial's chief opera tions officer. Townsend acknowledged the current struggles of the banking industry, but noted that Commercial is a smaller bank with a focused mar ket. Most of Commercial's — See “Bank” on 2A RECYCLING Recycle your Christmas tree Jan. 9 Bring One for the Chipper, a Christmas tree recycling event sponsored by Keep Madison County Beautiful, will be held Saturday, Jan. 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free dogwood seedlings will also be offered, while supplies last. Christmas tree pick-up sites will be located at the following locations: recreation depart ment (4-H-Club), the Sanford Community Center (Sanford Men’s Club), the Ila Restaurant (Madison Co. Rotary Club), Comer Recycling Center (BSA-Troop 328), Hull City Hall (BSA - Troop 777) and Moons Grove Baptist Church (BSA troop). For more information on Bring One for the Chipper, call 706-795-5151. INSIDE Index: News — 1-3A Opinions — 4-5A Crime —6A Schools —7A Churches —8A Socials —8A, 12A Classifieds —9-11A Sports — 1-2B Obituaries —3B Legals — 4-11B Contact: Phone: 706-795-2567 Fax: 706-795-2765 Mail: P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, GA, 30633 Web: MadisonJoumalTODAY. com LOOKING BACK The DECADE in review cancan ai /n\ — See Page 3A for some of the top headlines of 2009 he aughts, naughts, zeros, the 0’s - what will we call this decade? Whatever it’s called, the past decade has produced plenty of news, both locally and nationally. In Madison County, there were years of tax controversies. There were disputes over growth - then came a great economic crash. There were high-profile thefts. There were droughts and delug es, a blizzard and a tornado. Here are some top headlines from each of the past 10 years: 2009: •BOA members ousted Four Madison County assessor board members were ousted by county commis sioners March 30. The BOA members appealed their dismissal to a Superior Court judge, but the judge ruled in favor of the county commissioners. The BOC said the assessors failed to submit tax digests by deadline, that they failed to secure a chief appraiser, that there had been constant tur moil among BOA members and that a 2008 Department of Revenue audit revealed numerous assessment problems. The BOA members said the commissioners interfered with their work and hampered their efforts to get a digest completed on time or a new chief appraiser hired. After the asses sors were removed, the BOC reduced the BOA from a five-member to three-member board. •Winter storm shuts down power Thousands of Madison County residents shivered under blankets for days in early March as a winter storm dropped over eight inches of snow on the county and caused power outages for many. Numerous structures, including 14 chicken houses, were severely damaged or destroyed by the heavy snowfall, with roofs giving way to the weight. •Swine flu comes to Madison Co. Madison County, and communities across the globe, dealt with H1N1, the "swine flu” in 2009. Numerous cases of the illness were reported in county schools early in the 2009-10 school year. Most cases were mild. Vaccines for the flu were expected in October, but it was December before the vaccine was widely available in an inject able form. 2008: •New commission chairman, sheriff elected Political newcomer Anthony Dove trounced 12-year incumbent Wesley Nash 2,508 to 657 in July 2008 to win the county commission chairman’s seat. Sheriff Clayton Lowe, also a 12-year incumbent, was edged by Kip Thomas by 69 votes. •Morris Fortson fired County clerk Morris Fortson, arguably one of the county's most influential figures for over a decade, was fired in December 2008 by the board of commissioners after 12 years on the job. The BOC cited “neg ligence, inefficiency or incompetence” and “misconduct” as reasons for firing. Fortson appealed the dismissal. •Theft cases rock county Michelle Dills was arrested in October 2008 for taking money from the city of Danielsville, while Melinda Spence was arrested in December 2008 for taking over $80,000 in county funds. Dills ended up being sentenced to four years in prison for taking roughly $200,000 from Danielsville, •Weyerhaeuser closes Weyerhaeuser closed its Colbert plant in November 2008, less than a month after calling for a hiatus in production at the facility. The move left 105 employees out of work. 2007 •County land use plan passes The Madison County Board of Commissioners voted 5-0 in February 2007 to approve a much-debated Future Land Use Map. The map established areas deemed appropriate for development. •Judge’s office robbed Over $30,000 was stolen from probate judge Hoppy Royston’s office in July 2007. Employee Cana Chambers was charged with stealing the money and then staging a break-in. She was later sentenced to two years in prison. •BOC denies egg distribution plant County commissioners denied a planned concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) on Jot Em Down Road in March 2007 that would have housed an estimated 1.5 million chickens. Opponents of the plan said the business would be an environmen tal hazard to neighboring residents. 2006 •Recall effort against Thomas fails An attempt to recall District 1 commis sioner Stanley Thomas was thrown out by senior court judge T. Penn McWhorter in August 2006. Recall committee leader Jerry Williams filed the effort to oust Thomas in May 2006, alleging that Thomas met in an illegal closed meeting, violated the county’s purchasing policy and abused his oath of office. Thomas adamantly denied all alle gations against him, and judge McWhorter dismissed the recall, saying the committee failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing by Thomas. •BOC strips Nash of power The Madison County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 in September 2006 to take the reins away from chairman Wesley Nash on county discipline matters. Stanley Thomas, John Pethel and Mike Youngblood voted for the measure. Bruce Scogin and Wesley Jordan voted against it. •Form of government proposal dies A proposed referendum by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce to switch to a county manager form of government died in March 2006 after considerable public outcry against the plan. •Audit problems revealed The Madison County Board of Commissioners learned in May 2006 that county audits were two years behind sched ule and contained two major calculation errors — a $980,000 mistake in 2002 and a $1.3 million error in 2003. 2005 •Longtime newspaperman Jere Ayers dies Jere Ayers, longtime editor of The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, died in March 2005, ending an era of newspaper journalism in the county. The Comer News and Danielsville Monitor continued to publish through the end of 2005 but were put up for sale after that. The Madison County Journal pur chased them in 2006 and merged them into its publication. •Gay-Straight Alliance sparks contro versy Students at Madison County High School formed the “Gay-Straight Alliance” in September 2005, igniting plenty of contro versy locally. Proponents said it offered support for gay high school students, while opponents said it promoted a harmful lifestyle and had no business in a taxpayer-funded institution. •SPLOST approved for new MCMS County voters passed a referendum in November 2005 to fund the construction of a new Madison County Middle School with sales tax funds. The school system eventually opened the new 161,147 square-foot middle school off Hwy. 98 and Hwy. 172 in August 2008. 2004 •County tangled in year-long tax con flict The state investigated the Madison County Board of Tax Assessors and the appraisal — See “Decade” on 2A‘ HEALTH Cody Cross (L) donated a kidney to his father, Glenn, Dec. 22. Both report that they are doing well. Father, son doing well after transplant By Margie Richards margie@mainstreetnews.com Glenn Cross and his son, Cody Cross, are at home this week, recuperating “nicely” from their simultaneous surgeries little more than a week ago. Glenn and Cody entered Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta Dec. 22 so that Cody, 40, could provide a healthy kid ney for Glenn, 61, who was diagnosed with IgA neph ropathy three years ago and has been on dialysis since March. Glenn said the effect of the healthy kidney on his body was “immediate.” “It made a world of differ ence right away, I couldn’t believe it, it was a miracle,” Glenn said. Doctors later told him the kidney was function ing at 95 percent before he left the recovery room. Both Glenn and Cody underwent rigorous testing in recent months to make — See “Cross” on 2A COUNTY GOVT BOG talks noise control By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com How do you keep the noise down without tram pling on people's right to have a good time? Madison County com missioners say they want local ordinances to offer some recourse for citizens who have troubles with noisy neighbors. However, they don’t want to make noise regulations so strict that they intrude on peo ple’s plans for special out door events. A couple of months ago, the BOC dropped a pro posed ban on amplified sound that carried more than 300 feet from a prop erty owner’s boundary line, saying that it was too restrictive and infringed on people's right to do what they please on their prop erty. Commissioner Bruce Scogin asked his fellow board members for permis sion to seek a balance in the ordinance. He said that Georgia law already offers the county the tools it needs to prosecute those who are a regular noise nuisance to their neighbors. He cited — See“BOC”on5A‘
