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Although there was ice on most everything
else, Jackson County roads were clear during and following last
weekend's ice storm. The winter storm failed to live up to expectations
locally, providing no snow, very little sleet and a limited amount
of damage from freezing rain.
Déja
Vu: Another Winter Storm Mostly Misses Jackson County
It was the winter storm that wasn't. Like
the Y2K crisis, last weekend's winter storm did not live up to
expectations.
The massive storm projected all during last week to blanket North
Georgia with snow, sleet and freezing rain as early as Friday
morning, was all but a no-show.
Aside from a few minutes of sleet and some freezing rain, the
great Ice Storm 2000 served only to empty grocery store shelves
and make most meteorologists look foolish.
It was to have been much worse than the previous weekend's storm,
which left hundreds of thousands of Georgians, among them thousands
in Jackson County, temporarily without electricity. It was to
have arrived with sleet Friday morning, and predictions were
dire enough that school systems in Atlanta and other areas actually
canceled Friday classes Thursday night with nary a snowflake
in sight, only to see Friday pass without snow or ice.
The three superintendents in Jackson County conferred Thursday
and decided that they would keep school open - unless the weather
worsened. As it turned out, thousands of disappointed school
children got in a full day of classes.
"We contacted one another at about 5:30 Friday morning.
We were convinced the dew point was so low that we wouldn't get
any precipitation, especially in the morning," explained
Larry White, Commerce school superintendent.
White complimented the city of Commerce for its right of way
maintenance program.
"That helped us a lot. A lot of school systems closed because
of power outages. We didn't have many, so that helped us,"
he said. "My hat's off to them."
It wasn't until Friday night that a meager flake or two of snow
fell, followed by a tiny bit of sleet, and while all of North
Georgia was under a winter storm warning, Mother Nature refused
to live up to her billings.
Even the freezing rain, which began falling Friday night and
fell intermittently all Saturday, did not live up to expectations.
Temperatures hovered at and just above freezing all day, and
ice built up on stationary objects from trees to power lines,
but there was virtually no buildup on roads in the Jackson County
area.
Perhaps because the previous week's ice storm had toppled most
trees and branches subject to ice damage, or maybe because there
just wasn't as much precipitation, there was little damage and
few reports of auto mishaps, compared to the scores that were
reported the previous week.
While the ice glazed over only on deeply shaded sections of roads
in the county and interstate overpasses and bridges
it did present a sparkling winter wonderland on trees, shrubs,
the ground and everything else. Every automobile parked outside
overnight had an icicle beard and mustache the next morning.
Long icicles hung from every metal object, and tree limbs and
power lines were encased in clear crystal. Small pine trees were
bowed over as if in prayer, and the occasional limb or entire
tree succumbed to the weight and crashed to the ground.
For the most part, people stayed cowed by the dire predictions.
Traffic was down all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Many churches
canceled services for the second week in a row.
Tanger Factory Stores closed at noon Saturday and the outlet
centers closed all day Sunday. Local grocery stores stayed open,
but it was hard to find a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk late
Friday night.
For utility workers, it was a blessing.
Commerce's electric crew worked most of both Saturday and Sunday,
but the bulk of its effort was to cut out ice-laden limbs that
were sagging toward the power lines.
"I don't believe we lost a line until Sunday afternoon when
it started to thaw," said city manager Clarence Bryant.
"We had more limb problems after the sun came out than on
the other days."
There were only a couple of transformer fuses that blew, so only
two or three homes were without power at any time, Bryant said.
"We wound up on Sunday with maybe 1,500 outages," said
Pat Kurley, of Jackson EMC's public relations staff. "The
majority of them were in Barrow County and down in the southern
area of Clarke and down this way, rather than in Hall. But there
were never more than 700 off at one time, and we never had a
circuit out.
"I think everybody was so well prepared from the weekend
before ... We felt like we had just done this and we were sharp.
We were ready to go, but fortunately, it wasn't the massive storm
it was the week before, when we had 50,000 people without power."
The Jackson County Road Department and the Georgia Department
of Transportation laid down sand and gravel on key roads and
salt on the bridges. While traffic was light, roads were virtually
ice-free the entire weekend.
Railway Wants
City's Help In Closing Three Grade Crossings
Norfolk-Southern Railway would like to
close three public grade crossings in Commerce and wants to cut
a deal to get the city's help in closing them.
Basically, the railroad will, with help from the Georgia Department
of Transportation, replace or remove the retaining wall on North
Broad Street and will grant the city an easement so it can pave
South Broad Street Extension if the city will close the grade
crossings at Brookwood Avenue, Madison Street and off South Broad
Street Extension.
The Commerce City Council will hold a public hearing at its Feb.
14 meeting, starting at 6:30 p.m., to let residents who would
be affected by the grade crossings provide input.
"Nobody wants any grade crossing closed. Everybody has an
interest in it, whether there are 50 cars a day or 5,000,"
observed city manager Clarence Bryant. "What's happening
is the railroad wants to make improvements to the track and the
wall situation up there. In return, they want the city of Commerce
to help them with their liability exposure in Commerce."
That's exactly right, says Danny Gilvert, grade crossing administrator.
"We, not just in Commerce, but wherever we can, try to close
or consolidate grade crossings so we can reduce our exposure
between vehicles and trains," he said. "We had 608
collisions last year and approximately 57 fatalities. We try
to do anything we can to reduce that."
The effort has been successful systemwide, Gilvert said. Grade
crossing accidents have decreased by approximately 40 percent
in the past five or six years.
But there are no records of car-train accidents in Commerce -
or in Jackson County at all.
"I don't just look at that. I look at the potential,"
Gilvert responded. "Every grade crossing collision comes
across my desk, and eighty-plus percent of them have not had
a wreck in the last five to 10 years."
Opposition to closing grade crossings has already sprung up.
One of the opponents is Barbara Brooks, who with her husband
has owned Goldmine Used Cars at the corner of Brookwood and North
Broad Street for 11 years.
"It (the grade crossing closing) will cut the value of our
property in half," she complained. "We've got two accesses,
North Broad and Georgia 98. I feel like if they close it, it
will cause problems for people coming in and going out."
What brought the matter to the forefront was a request from the
city about an easement so South Broad Street Extension could
be paved, and about the need to do something about the railroad
tie retaining wall along a section of the right of way on North
Broad Street.
"I found correspondence dating to '95 where there was discussion
between the railroad and the city about potential closures if
work could be done," Gilvert said. "So, I called Clarence
Bryant and proposed that between the state and Norfolk-Southern,
if we come up with funding to redo the wall and shift the track,
the city would help us eliminate some crossings."
Norfolk-Southern's proposal is to do away with the retaining
wall, which is beginning to collapse, and to move the track in
that area several feet in the opposite direction, which it could
do by eliminating a siding that is no longer used.
Group Looking At
Firearms Hunting In City
The Commerce committee looking at a means
of annexing Montgomery Shores Subdivis-ion is studying ordinances
that would allow firearm hunting for deer and other game inside
the city limits.
The issue of hunting it currently is illegal to discharge
a firearm in the city limits is one of the most common
reasons cited by property owners near the subdivision who are
opposed to annexation.
"I have talked with other communities and we are waiting
for their rules or ordinances that allow hunting on large tracts,"
said City Councilman Bob Sosebee, who chairs the committee. "Most
that do allow hunting allow it on undeveloped tracts that are
40 or 50 acres or larger."
Sosebee said he wants to have those ordinances to give to the
other city council members for their input. Such an ordinance
would permit hunting on agricultural areas of a certain size,
he said.
"We will be getting back in touch with Dr. Joe (Griffeth)
and Joe Jr. to see if that's the case, would they be interested
in annexing," Sosebee said.
Joe Griffeth Jr. told the committee at its initial meeting that
the right to hunt on the property was the primary consideration.
The Griffeth family owns land adjacent to both the city and Montgomery
Shores, where property owners have reportedly expressed an interest
in being in the city, and annexing part of the Griffeth property
is crucial to being able to annex the subdivision.
The committee had considered seeking the annexation by legislation
of all land inside the B. Wilson Road, but after residents came
out in opposition to annexation, agreed that the "100 percent
method," in which adjacent property is annexed at the owners'
request, is the preferred method.
Sosebee said he had also notified State Senator Eddie Madden
"and notified him we would not have any legislation for
him.
"Annexation by legislation is our last resort, and we have
no plans for it at the present," said Sosebee. "What
we want to accomplish and what our neighbors want accomplished
can be accomplished without having to go to that extreme."
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