Newspaper Page Text
The
www.MadisonJournalTODAY.com
APRIL 12, 2012
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
Vol. 27 No. 14 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. *22 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements
CITY NEWS
Danielsville
names new
council member
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
Long Estates resident John
Hendrix will be the new
face at Danielsville's coun
cil table, beginning in May.
The council voted to appoint
Hendrix to the vacant council
seat Monday night after hold
ing a 20-minute closed door
session to discuss the matter.
Also following the closed
session, the council voted to
retain Dale Perry as city attor
ney. The council had solicited
bids from three other attor
neys, but opted to stay with
Perry.
Hendrix will serve the
remainder of former council-
woman Junne Temple's term,
which ends Dec. 31. An elec
tion for the post will be held
in November.
The council also voted to
hire Henry Hicks and Jason
Ring as part-time city police
officers at a cost of $10 per
hour, with no benefits. Hicks,
who now works in Jackson
County, is a former part-time
policeman for Danielsville.
and Ring is a Madison
County deputy. Their sched
ules will be worked out with
police chief Matt Pilkington
around their full-time posi
tions, Mayor Todd Higdon
said.
“Their positions will be
within what’s budgeted, I
promise,” Higdon told the
audience.
The council also agreed to
trade in two weapons for two
new police pistols at a cost
of $254.
In other business, city clerk
Susan Payne reported that the
city has reduced its expen-
Danielsville
City Hall
ditures by $11,244 so far
this year. Council members
continued in that vein, opt
ing for new health insurance
coverage with United Health
Insurance for city employees
that will save the city $105 in
premiums per employee, per
month.
The new plan will include
a $1,000 deductible for
employees, though the city
will pay the first $500 with a
“deductible buy down” plan.
Higdon recommended the
new plan, saying the city
wants to continue to help
employees in any way it can.
No action was taken on sea
sonal help for the maintenance
department, after Higdon told
the council that no funds had
been budgeted for it.
“I’m not sure why this was
not in the budget this time,”
Higdon said, explaining that
the maintenance workers
would soon be overwhelmed
with grass cutting and other
upkeep during the summer.
Temple, who was in the audi
ence, told the council that
the city has not had seasonal
help, ever.
But Higdon pointed out that
maintenance department head
Josh Lester said there was
help during the summer when
he was employed previously
— See “Danielsville” on 2A
FATALITY
Man dies in accident
at Hwy. 174 residence
A man was found dead in the yard of his Hwy. 174 residence
April 7 after a car he was working on collapsed on him.
Steven Gunderson. 40, was pronounced dead at the scene
after his friend and roommate found him under the car. He and
a neighbor managed to extricate him and begin CPR until First
Responders and EMS arrived, but it was too late. The coroner
was called to the scene.
INSIDE
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-6A
Crime — 7A
Socials — 8A, 3B, 10B
Obituaries —9-10A
Sports — 1-2B
Churches —4B
Classifieds —9-10A
Legals — 5-9B
Contact:
Phone: 706-795-2567
Fax: 706-7952765
Mail: PO. Box 658,
Danielsville, Ga. 30633
Web:
MadisonJoumalTODAY
com
8 IB 0 4 8 7 9 14144" o
New Northeast
Georgia CASA
volunteers sworn in
New volunteers with
the Northeast Georgia
Court Appointed Special
Advocate Association
were recently sworn in.
— Page 3A
O
Raider baseball
team wins one,
drops two
— Page 1B
Man arrested
after conflict
at courthouse
— Page 7A
EDUCATION
Madison County grad
rate tops state average
Madison County’s Class of 2011 is pictured getting their diplomas.
MCHS grad
rate is 77%,
compared to
67% across state
By Margie Richards
margie@mainstreetnews.com
While Georgia’s high
school graduation rate has
fallen from 80 percent in
2011 to 67 percent this year
under a new federal calcula
tion method called “cohort,”
Madison County’s gradua
tion rate dropped one per
centage point — from 78.8 to
77.81 percent.
That means that Madison
County schools have a 10
percent lead over the state’s
graduation rate.
“That means we’re making
a difference to our students.”
Superintendent Dr. Allen
McCannon said. “I’m proud
of that.”
Federal school officials
say the new formula is more
accurate and gives a better
account of dropouts by divid
ing the number of graduates
in a given year by the num
ber of cohorts (students who
enrolled with them four years
earlier).
Assistant superintendent
Dr. Sherrie Gibney-Sherman
said the results reflect well
on Madison County and that
the county ranks seventh
among 19 high schools in
the Northeast Georgia RESA
— See“BOE”on2A
Mother and daughter
Marcia Colvin gets a hug from her daughter RaeAnah Eidson.
Zach Mitcham/staff
‘To breathe easy 5
MCMS student to face procedure for rare condition in June
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Marcia Colvin is eager to hear her daugh
ter’s pretty singing voice again.
RaeAnah Eidson, who was bom with a rare
heart condition, knows more about physical
pain and discomfort than most 12-year-old
girls. She straggles to get a good breath. And
that once pretty singing voice is quiet now,
because carrying melodies is too much of
strain on her body.
“She used to sing and we’d go to churches
and sing as a family and she cannot sing a
song now,” said Colvin. “Halfway through
the song she’ll start (catching her breath).”
But her straggles will hopefully get better
soon.
The Madison County Middle School sixth
grader, who loves talking with her friends and
designing clothes, will travel to Cincinnati
with her mother for a procedure in June to
relieve a pulsating mass on her trachea that
doctors say is blocking 50 to 55 percent of
her wind pipe.
The condition is somewhat complicated.
And Colvin has a thick binder full of medi
cal documents that tell the long story of her
daughter’s medical troubles.
Eidson was bom with a “double-aortic
arch.” meaning she had two aortas at birth.
A surgery was performed on her heart when
she was 13 weeks old.
But Eidson’s breathing difficulties persist
ed. And in 2008, she had another surgery in
Florida. According to a letter to Colvin from
Children’s Cardiovascular Medicine, the sur
geon “was surprised to find the double aortic
arch anatomy intact after supposedly she had
it repaired at 13 weeks of life at Egleston.”
— See “Eidson” on 2A
SERVICES
4-H rabies
clinic set
for April 14
The Madison County
4-H Club, in cooperation
with local veterinarians,
will hold a series of rabies
vaccination clinics at 14
different locations around
the county on Saturday,
April 14.
Discount prices are: $10
(one-year vaccine) and
$15 (three-year vaccine).
To receive a three-year
vaccine, the animal must
be current on its rabies
vaccine and over one year
old, officials said. Proof of
current vaccine is needed
to receive a three-year
vaccine.
“Let’s protect the health
of our dogs and cats, our
families, and our neigh
bors by vaccinating or by
keeping your precious
pet’s vaccine up-to-date
against this preventable
disease,” officials said.
Canine and feline dis
temper, parvo and feline
leukemia vaccines may
also be available, as well
as heartworm and flea and
tick preventative.
Animals must be kept
under control while at the
clinic site.
4-H and veterinary assis
tants will greet you onsite
to complete the necessary
paperwork and collect the
payment prior to receiv
ing vaccines or treatments.
Paperwork includes the
owner’s name, address,
phone number, pet’s name,
— See “Rabies” on 2A
