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OPINION
Shar Porier
Bagging 101
Attention! Attention! Attention all baggers!
Please report to the front!
I dread it, when I hear that at the grocery store.
Letter To The Editor
Thoughts on government
It is the right of every citizen to voice, write or demonstrate
his/her displeasure with our system of government, within the
law, being its leaders, business or individuals at fault.
SPORTS
Directions to Area Schools
Let the pigskin begin
Leopards to take on Panthers Friday. The beginning of football
season only happens once each year. And for Banks County, it
will happen on Friday.
Neighborhood News...
JACKSON COUNTY
Math a major weakness on CRCT results
Local middle schools struggle most on new state test
Like their peers across the state, local students were weakest
in math on last spring's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests
(CRCT).
Planners Pass Bigger Lot Sizes
For R-3 And R-4Proposal Would Limit Developers to Maximum Of
Four Units Per Acre. A proposal to decrease the density of duplex
and multifamily housing goes to the Commerce City Council with
a "do pass" recommendation from the Commerce Planning
Commission.
News from
MADISON COUNTY
Comer council to review applications for new city clerk
The Comer City Council was scheduled to hold a called meeting
Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss the hiring of a new
city clerk.
'Doing business in Madison County'
Water, sewer, education and labor-related issues are the main
concerns on the minds of Madison County business owners, according
to a recent survey sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
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Homer, Georgia
Telephone: (706) 367-5233
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Mobile home destroyed in fire
Banks County firefighters donned breathing apparatus and entered
the remains of this mobile home to look for remaining hot spots.
The home of Roxanne Patterson on Hwy. 198 was destroyed by the
fire Saturday. No one was home when the fire occurred.
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Old railroad bridge
in Lula to be opened
Residents will soon be able to use the old one-way, overhead
bridge in the the heart of Lula once Norfolk and Southern Railroad
finishes the structural repairs.
The 50-year-old bridge has been an issue of debate between the
railroad and the city. The railroad wanted it closed to traffic;
the city wanted it open.
The problem was solved at last week's council meeting when a
public hearing was held to determine whether or not to close
the bridge permanently to automobile traffic. City attorney Brad
Patton said that in order to close the bridge a hearing had to
be held since it involved the closing of part of Cobb Street.
N & S assistant engineer Tom Bracey told the council the
railroad would like to close the road to automobile traffic.
"The bridge, from an engineering standpoint, you can't do
anything with it," he said. "There's a lot of problems
with that bridge. We don't think it's very safe because of the
approaches [off Main Street] going up and over it. There's really
no way to improve that."
He said N & S had looked at several options, including the
complete removal of the bridge. They concluded that closing the
bridge to automobile traffic and converting it to an overhead
pedestrian bridge would be the most feasible option.
"Once the repairs are done, if it was left as a pedestrian
bridge, it might last another 25 to 30 years," he said.
"If you put traffic back on it, we're going to be back here
with the same maintenance problems."
He said N & S will spend over $30,000 on the current repairs
"to get it back where it should be."
Ted Hix, N & S bridge supervisor, said the bridge would be
built back to the original specifications with a load limit of
seven tons.
"But, we've reached the limit of its useful life as a bridge,"
he said. "It's getting to the point in the bridge's life
where we're not going to be able to fix it."
The city must also take on some of the expense of the bridge
maintenance, Bracey added, including handrails and two inches
of asphalt surfacing on the road.
The hearing also included comments from the public. Lula Area
Betterment Association members expressed a concern to keep the
bridge as part of Lula's history. They prefer keeping it open
to traffic. The idea of owning it, though, was not a responsibility
they wanted to assume, said Bobbie Moore.
Lula's mayor and council said they would not want to assume ownership
or maintenance responsibility, either.
Other LABA members voiced concerns about the lack of a safe crossing
over the tracks. An overhead bridge is necessary to provide traffic,
school buses and emergency vehicles unimpeded access to the east
side, they said. The city does have one under-pass, but it is
limited in size and cannot handle large vehicular traffic. Its
entrance and exit off Main Street involves a dangerous negotiation
of an S-curve, they said.
Betty Evans said: "The underpass scares me. I feel like
it's going to collapse on me. I won't use it when a train is
passing overhead."
Resident Nelson Smith suggested the council keep the bridge open
to automobile traffic until a new overhead crossing could be
built.
Council member Milton Turner asked about the building of a new
bridge south of the Cobb Street bridge as had been discussed
at a previous meeting between Allen and Bracey.
"We brought that up with DOT," said Bracey. "We
had looked at a location and discussed it with DOT. We have asked
them to do a conceptual study on it."
He said the project would have to be a joint effort between the
DOT, N & S and Lula. He suggested the council pursue the
issue with the DOT to make it happen.
Allen said the council should make its decision on the bridge
without factoring in the possibility of a new crossing going
up sometime in the future.
"A new bridge will be a long ways off," he said. "It's
a major undertaking."
Councilman Lamb Griffin said he is not in favor of closing the
bridge to traffic.
"DOT needs to get us a way out of Lula," he said.
Council member Perry Bridgeman said he is in opposition to the
move to reopen the bridge to automobiles.
"We know we're going to lose it down the road," he
said. "And I understand the need for convenience. But, if
the only way to keep the bridge is to make it pedestrian, then
keep it pedestrian."
The council then moved to keep the bridge open to automobile
traffic. The measure was passed 5-to-1, with Bridgeman voting
in opposition.
N & S hopes to have the bridge completed in the next two
weeks, said Hix. He said repairs would last maybe 10 years.
Test scores released
Some Banks County students fall below state, national averages,
Results of tests taken last spring by third, fifth and eighth
graders at Banks County schools have been released by the board
of education.
The results show Banks County's third and fifth graders fell
below state and national averages in every category. Eighth graders
scored higher than state averages in science and math, but lower
in reading. Science was the only area where they scored higher
than the national average.
It was the first time Banks County students had taken the Stanford
9 Achievement Test Series. Stanford 9 replaced the Iowa Test
of Basic Skills that had been used for many years.
Linda Holloman, assistant school superintendent, said: "We're
cognizant of the fact that our scores are lower. We're looking
real carefully at these results. Typically, we've been above
the state average."
Part of the problem of the lower scores, she says, may lie in
the difference between the two testing methods. One may result
in higher scores than the other.
"Our teachers have been basing their lessons on the state-mandated
curriculum as referenced to the Iowa tests," she said. "It
may be that the Stanford 9 test will require changing curriculums.
If our teachers know the object of the test, then they will teach
the students accordingly. We really haven't had the scores long
enough to analyze them and come to a conclusion."
For the rest of the story see this weeks Banks County News.
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Alto sets qualifying
for election
The Town of Alto has set qualifying for the November 2001 election.
Qualifying will be on Monday, September 10, through Friday, September
14, with the office being closed on Wednesday.
The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day. The fee is $18.
The posts up for election are: Post 1, held by Donald Wade; Post
3, held by Audrey Turner; and Post 5, held by Gary Terrell.
State probe
of fire unit completed
Inmate admits to sex with woman at fire station. The Georgia
Department of Corrections has completed its investigation of
allegations of misconduct at a Jackson County Correctional Institute
fire unit that was stationed at Banks Crossing.
The fire unit included three inmates from the JCCI facility and
a guard from the Banks County Fire Department. The guard has
since resigned his position.
The Department of Corrections looked into the allegations because
state inmates were involved. Their report includes findings that
one of the inmates had sex with a woman who came to the Banks
Crossing fire station six times. The incidents occurred at the
fire department, but the guard said he was not aware that it
occurred. The woman and the inmate both admitted what happened.
The inmate also admitted that he had a cell phone sent to the
woman through the mail and he had a cell phone.
The guard admitted in an interview to having unauthorized cookouts
for the inmates, allowing family members to visit the inmates
and allowing one of the inmates to drive to a nearby business
in order to pick up a tool. The guard also said he know the inmates
had money.
The JCCI fire-fighting unit had been shut down by the state for
several weeks, but it is now in operation again. Jackson County
leaders say the inmate firemen will not be allowed to leave the
county to go to fires and will not be allowed to return to the
Banks Crossing fire station.
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