The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current, July 09, 2015, Image 1

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The Madison County journal., July 09, 2015, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Texto o JULY 9, 2015 Madison County Journal ■t r v < -—-w v » ■ « w—■. « ^ v i r « /\ ^ ^ A T r» /41 nrvvi T i i'r\ n 1 r I Y^A I A A n Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006 MadisonJoumalTODAY.com 50< Vol. 30 No. 27 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 20 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements ELECTIONS Two to seek open BOC seat Two people have quali fied for the vacant seat at the Madison County com missioners table. Theresa Bettis, a spe cial ed teacher who lives on Hidden Lake Drive in Hull, and Hull mayor Mike Jones, who is retired and lives on Glenn Court, paid the $216 at the board of elections and registra tion office this week to qualify for the District 3 seat, which was abrupt ly vacated by Mike Youngblood last month. Youngblood’s unexpired term will run through 2018. As of Wednesday morn ing, Bettis and Jones were the only people to qualify. The period to enter the race extended to 4 p.m. Wednesday — after The Journal went to press this week. If more people qual ify, The Journal will post an update on its website, MadisonJournalTODAY. com. A special election will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15. Early voting at the board of elections office will be held Aug. 24 - Sept. 11 during regular business hours and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. Only the precincts of Hull and Pittman (with 3,182 registered voters current ly) are eligible to partic- — See “Qualifying” on 6A INSIDE Index: News — 1-3A, 6A Opinions —4-6A Socials — 8-1OA, 12A Crime — 7A Obituaries —11A Sports — 2-3B Churches — 9A Classifieds —4-5B Legals — 6-7B Contact: Phone: 800-795-2581 Mail: P.O. Box 658, Danielsville, Ga. 30633 Web: MadisonJournalTODAY com Mailing Label Below Madison Co. all-stars in action — Page 2B Public access approved for Broad River — Page 3A FACILITIES Jail expansion approved By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com Madison County’s jail will be soon expanded. County commissioners voted 3-1 Monday to approve the long-planned 32-bed pod addition to the 64-bed county jail off Hwy. 98. County commissioners and Sheriff Kip Thomas have talked for many months about the proposed expan sion, which was approved by voters in 2008 and will be paid for with sales tax funds. The BOC voted to delay the project a couple of months ago, saying they wanted to see how the sheriff’s budget for 2015 looked before approving the project. Madison County has no facility to house female prisoners and has to transport them to jails in surrounding counties. The county has the cash on hand to cover construction, but the annu al costs of operating a bigger jail have concerned commissioners. Meanwhile, Sheriff Thomas and Chief Deputy Shawn Bums have said the cost of housing out pris oners will outweigh the expense of running a larger facility. The sheriff said the jail addition will include two new employees and run a total of approximately $124,000 in increased annual expenses. He estimated the cost of housing out prisoners at about $150,000 a year. Commissioner Stanley Thomas, who provided the lone “No” to pro ceeding with the expansion, noted that the sheriff’s office has been sub stantially over budget the past two years. He said he wanted specific dol lar figures from the sheriff’s office on where the budget currently stands. He has repeatedly voiced concern that the government won’t have the money to fund the bigger jail. Sheriff Thomas said Monday that despite recent delays, the construction management company has locked in a price of $2.65 million for the proj ect, but if the BOC didn’t act imme diately that price would be increased. Commissioner Jim Escoe made the motion to move forward with the jail expansion and John Pethel provided — See “Jail” on 3A Happy kids on 'U.S.A. Day' Luke Walton, 6, and Alayna Walton, 8, both of Ila, smile big before the annu al Colbert Fourth of July Parade Saturday. See Page IB for more photos and see The Journal Facebook page for a photo gallery. Zach Mitcham/staff EDUCATION Local school leaders concerned about potential funding formula changes By Zach Mitcham zach@mainstreetnews.com Governor Nathan Deal has established a commit tee to examine how educa tion is funded in Georgia. And Madison County School Superintendent Allen McCannon and assistant superinten dent Bonnie Knight are watching closely to see how any changes may effect Madison County, which receives about three fourths of its education funding from state sourc es. The Governor’s Finance Advisory Committee is expected to present pro posals for funding chang es to the Governor this summer. McCannon and Knight say they are both con cerned that rural, poor- wealth systems, like Madison County, which ranks among the poorest in the state in terms of property wealth, could be hurt by funding formula changes. McCannon said it’s very important for those who set the new formula to understand that systems that serve poor areas are not all equal, since some areas can generate signif icant local tax revenue, while others, like Madison County, can’t. He said poverty concentration is only one factor that needs to be considered. He said the state needs to also look at how much money a system can raise locally. McCannon wrote a letter recently to Susan Andrews, who is heading the finance committee, urging her to consider this. “Poverty concentration — See “Schools” on 3A CHURCHES ‘The Bigger Blessing’ Jones Chapel UMC members help community in three-day event By Margie Richards margie@mainstreetnews.com Jones Chapel United Methodist Church youth group leader Patti Dobbs remembers Brad Johnson, president of Mission of Hope, a group the youth work with while in Haiti, telling them last year that while coming to Haiti was their "mission trip,” home was their “mission field.” Dobbs said the same theme ran through their minds as they performed mission work to help poor communities in Tennessee last year — why not do something like that for those in need in their own community? And that’s when the idea of SONIC (Serving Our Neighbors In Christ) was born. “We started out with about 30, but ended up with about 60 or so people in our church helping out when — See “Sonic” on 6A SONIC (Serving Our Neighbors In Christ), a group of youth and others from Jones Chapel UM Church, are pictured on a deck they rebuilt for a family during their three-day community service event in June.