Newspaper Page Text
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‘