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Our Time and Place:
A History of
Jackson County, Ga
A complete history of Jackson County, Georgia
from 1796 to the present. Written in narrative style for easy
reading. Includes material not found in other books about Jackson
County.
Order this book online
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OPINIONS
Jackson County opinion page
SPORTS
Directions to Area Schools
Dragons rout Athens hristian, 40-6
The Jefferson Dragons came into last week's game with Athens
Christian as heavy favorites, and it didn't take the Dragon offense
long to show why.
Sophomore running back Courtney Wiley took the handoff from quarterback
Kyle Potts on the Dragons' first offensive play and broke out
on a 58-yard run to give his team the early lead.
Taking Care Of Business
Commerce Gets 121 Yds. From Jennings In Rout Of Franklin Co.
No Monté. No Michael. No problem so far.
Turnovers kill Panthers, 12-7
"Our kids know what they want to be, and what we saw Friday
night was not what they want to be."
So Jackson County head football coach Greg Lowe summed up the
Panthers' performance in last week's 12-7 home loss to Banks
County.
Neighboorhood News ..
MADISON COUNTY
Sorrells rehired as Comer clerk
NeSmith announces he won't seek re-election.
Former Comer city clerk Steve Sorrells was rehired Tuesday night
to fill the position left vacant by the firing of Elaine McGee-Tate.
Sorrells has resigned from the position of transportation director
for the Madison County Board of Education in order to return
to the city post. He will also resume the position of city clerk
for Carlton.
Colbert man completes 7,000-mile cross-country motorcycle
trek
Lee Dickinson fulfilled a long-held dream this summer - to ride
7,000 miles across the country on his motorcycle, and to cover
the first 1,000 of those miles in 24 hours or less.
Neighborhood News...
BANKS COUNTY
Banks County Festival coming up
Annual parade to kick off festivities at 10 a.m. Saturday
The 29th annual Banks County Festival will be held on the historic
courthouse lawn in Homer on September 8-9.
SPLOST comes before voters Sept. 18
Voting on renewing the one-cent Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax (SPLOST) for education will take place in Banks County
on Tuesday, Sept. 18.
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The Jackson Herald
Jefferson, Georgia
Telephone: (706) 367-5233
Fax: (706) 367-8056
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FOLDING THE FLAG
Jackson County Comprehensive High School Junior
ROTC members Tracie Minish (R) and Zach Tinsley fold the flag
after Friday night's football game.
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JCCHS SAT scores
rise while JHS results fall
Both schools below state and national averages.The results of
SAT testing last spring showed local results to be mixed, with
students from Jackson County Comprehensive High School scoring
19 points better than last year while students at Jefferson High
School saw the average score fall 28 points. Scores at Commerce
High School were up 15 points over last year.
But despite some increases, the averages for all three schools
for all students taking the test were below both the state and
national averages. JHS has the highest local average of 962.
While the overall averages were low compared to the state and
national, college prep students at all three high schools did
better than the overall averages. JHS college prep students had
an average score of 1,040 using the highest score for each student
on each part of the test while JCCHS college prep students had
an average of 998. Some 89 students at JCCHS took the test while
54 students at JHS took the test. (The College Board which administers
the test shows 54 students, but Jefferson officials only show
50 having taken the test.) College prep students at CHS scored
1,012 on the SAT.
Like many standardized test in schools today, the SAT has critics
who say the test results do not reflect the full range of school
offerings. In addition, some critics say having non-college prep
students' scores in the results skews the average down since
many of those students have not taken classes that would have
prepared them better for the SAT.
Still, many colleges and universities use the SAT results as
one part of their admissions standards.
Local SAT Results
All Students Taking Test, Spring 2001
2001 2000 1999 1998 1997
USA 1020 1019 1016 1017 1016
GA 980 974 969 968 967
JHS 962 990 959 998 1007
JCCHS 960 941 939 917 952
CHS 948 933 930 924 974
Jackson Keeps A
Representative
Reapportionment Plan Enables Jackson To Still Elect District
25 Representative
She came out bruised and bloodied, but Rep. Pat Bell figures
she accomplished what she set out to do in the special reapportionment
session of the legislature.
"Jackson County will have a representative for the next
10 years," she said, referring to the final House map. "It's
been a long, hard month, I can tell you that. I've been over
early and left late to keep us out of a multi-member district.
I made sufficient friends and networked enough to do that."
House District 25 will no longer contain any Hall County precincts.
Nor will the districts of Hoschton, Porter and Randolph be in
the district, and half of Cunningham is gone too. The new map
adds Statham and the lower part of Barrow County to District
25.
"Basically, the choice was this or a multi-member district.
There was no decision, as far as I was concerned," said
Bell. "The main thing is that we will have a representative
for the next 10 years. That was my goal. I went there to keep
Jackson County whole."
The process was an eye-opener, Bell said.
"It's a process that is totally political, right down the
line. Everybody is in there for themselves and their area. That's
just the way the system is," she observed. "That includes
the Republicans. In North Carolina, it's in Republican control
and the Democrats are taking them to court.
"It's hard to be nonpolitical when everything is political.
You get in there and do the best you can for your area. You do
it day and night, make contacts, talk to the people in charge.
You are just constantly working on what you want and everything
you do affects somebody else."
Bell said she expects the Republicans to challenge the maps in
court.
As for the proposed ban on video poker, Bell said she plans to
vote to have it banned, but the bill as of Monday was in the
Rules Committee.
"My gut feeling is that if it comes out, there are enough
Democratic members of the House to vote to ban it, along with
the Republicans, but I don't know what's going to come out of
Rules," Bell stated.
Bell's reason for voting to ban video poker is the cost to Jackson
County of policing the industry.
"I want video poker stopped mainly because of the cost to
the taxpayers of trying to police the whole mess," she said.
"It would cost Jackson County two or three more deputies,
not including whatever Jefferson and Commerce would have to do.
As a former commissioner, I can see the cost of policing it."
Fall festival time
ahead in county
The nights are getting cooler...Football season has arrived...Shorts
are being replaced with long pants.
All the signs are here that fall is approaching. Another sign
of fall is also ahead with several long-time area festivals planned.
ART IN THE PARK
The first fall festival in the county will be the 11th annual
Art in the Park festival planned for Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 15-16,
at Hurricane Shoals Park.
The festival will feature hand-made arts and crafts, entertainment
and concessions. Fresh-ground cornmeal will also be on sale at
the grist mill and kids' activities will be offered.
The 44th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Re-enactors and Indians will
be camped Saturday and Sunday at Heritage Village. Crafts, story-telling,
children's games and other activities will be featured from 11
a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15.
The 5K mill race will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15.
A one-mile fun run or walk will take place at 8:30 a.m. Fees
are $12 to pre-register and $15 on the day of the event.
The finale of the two-day festival will be the duck dash at 4:30
p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16. Ducks can be "adopted" for
$5 each or five for $20. Grand prizes will be given.
The hours on Saturday, Sept. 15, will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The
hours on Sunday, Sept. 16, will be 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission
and parking are free. Hurricane Shoals is located on Hwy. 82
Spur, Jefferson.
The Tumbling Waters Society sponsors the annual festival. All
proceeds are used to maintain and improve the park.
For more information, call Crystal Weise, (706) 335-5563.
HOSCHTON
Next up will be the 30th annual Hoschton Fall Festival planned
for Friday-Sunday, Sept. 28-30. The city of Hoschton is sponsoring
the festival.
This year's Hoschton Fall Festival will include a new attraction
- a "Mr. and Miss Hoschton Fall Festival" children's
pageant sponsored by the Hoschton Women's Civic Club to raise
funds for the train depot renovation project.
The application deadline for the pageant entrants is September
14. Winners in each age category will be selected during the
Hoschton Fall Festival at 7 p.m. Friday, September 28, on the
square in front of city hall.
The pageant is open to boys and girls age 8 and under, with categories
for 2 and under, 3 to 5 and 6 to 8. The dress for the pageant
is church clothes and no talent competition is held. All participants
will receive a prize and there will be a first, second and third
place winner in each age category.
Applications may be picked up and turned in at city hall. The
fee is $25 per child.
Saturday's schedule includes a parade at 11 a.m. Other plans
for the day are cake walks, a horseshoe tournament, craft show,
concessions and a street dance.
The event will conclude Sunday with gospel music performed by
groups from across the state.
For additional information regarding booth or parade registration,
contact Hoschton City Hall at (706) 654-3034.
MAYSVILLE
The 34th annual Maysville Autumn Leaf Festival will be held Friday-Sunday,
Oct. 5-7.
Organizers are seeking applicants for booth spaces for arts and
crafts vendors. Food booth spaces are no longer being taken,
but all other booth space requests will be taken through October
1. Booth fees begin at $40. For an application, call Nancy Smith,
(706) 652-2413.
Those interested in other aspects of the festival may call the
following numbers for more information: Cynthia George, chairperson,
general information, 652-2532; parade and car show, Candice Oppenheimer,
652-2967; talent show, womenless fashion show and magazine ads,
Ginger Smith, 652-3698; and entertainment, Deb Greenway, 652-2044.
The attendance is estimated at 15,000. Maysville is located on
the Banks and Jackson County line, four miles from I-85.
The festival is sponsored by the Maysville Community Improvement
Club and the City of Maysville.
Bigger Lot Size
Goes To City Council Monday
Ordinance Amendment Would Reduce Density Of Multifamily Developments.
The Commerce City Council will decide Monday night whether or
not it wants to drastically reduce the density of future multifamily
housing developments.
One of the items that will be on its agenda when it meets at
6:30 at the Commerce Civic Center will be a recommendation from
the Commerce Planning Commission to amend the zoning ordinance
to require developers to put fewer duplexes, apartments or townhouses
on each acre of land developed for multifamily housing.
The planning commission recommends that the lot size per dwelling
unit be increased from 6,250 square feet in R-3 (duplexes) and
5,500 in R-4 (multifamily) to 10,500 square feet.
If the council agrees, that means a developer who could previously
put an average of almost 6.5 dwelling units of duplexes per acre
would in the future be allowed only four units (two duplexes)
on an acre. Likewise, while a developer could squeeze 7.9 apartment
or townhouse units per acre under the current zoning ordinance,
the amendment would reduce the density to four units per acre.
The planning commission voted unanimously at its Aug. 27 meeting
to recommend the change. No one appeared at its public hearing
that night to oppose the amendment.
Increasing the amount of land required for multifamily housing
will have the effect of increasing a developer's cost per unit
and, in most cases, reducing the development's profit potential.
That, in turn, is expected to slow down the number of rezoning
requests for multifamily housing.
The city council will also make the final ruling on a request
from Beverly and Warren Toney to rezone from R-2 to R-3 a one-acre
lot fronting on Troy and Park streets so they can build a duplex.
The planning commission recommended that the request be denied.
Jackson County
history book now available
A new history of Jackson County is available for purchase beginning
this week at The Jackson Herald in Jefferson and The Commerce
News in Commerce. Taken from past issues of The Herald and The
News, as well as numerous other sources, the book is designed
as a complement to two previous county history books which are
now out of print.
The book, titled "Our Time and Place: A History of Jackson
County Georgia," was written mostly by Herald staff members
Angela Gary and Jana Adams and edited by Herald editor Mike Buffington.
"We believe this book will be a welcome addition to the
ongoing history of the community," said Buffington. "The
book is written in a narrative style and follows the county's
development from its birth in 1796 to current-day events."
The book begins with an early history of the county, including
early Indian tribes and the first white settlers to the area.
Unique to the book are sections on the history of African-American
communities in the county and on the county's notorious "crime
era" of the 1950s and 1960s.
"This is an unvarnished look at our history, good and bad,"
said Buffington.
Included in the book are histories of each of Jackson County's
nine incorporated towns as well as information on earlier, unincorporated
communities; a history of how cotton was important to the county
at the turn of the last century; a section on how the Civil War
affected the county; a list of early schools and churches; and
much, much more.
The last county history published was "Historical Notes
on Jackson County," printed in 1967 and written by Frary
Elrod, the "father of Jackson County history." An earlier
book by G.J.N. Wilson entitled "The Early History of Jackson
County Georgia" was published in 1914. The new book incorporates
some of the material from both previous books, but is mostly
new information not found in the earlier editions.
"We hope both newcomers and long-time residents will better
understand this county after having read through this book,"
said Buffington.
The book is available at The Herald office in Jefferson and The
News office in Commerce for $23.50 (not including tax) and is
also available from the newspaper's web site at www.mainstreetnews.com.
"We'll make the book available at other locations in the
county in the coming weeks as well," Buffington said.
Libraries or schools wishing to purchase copies should contact
Buffington at 706-367-5233 or by email at MikeB21081@aol.com.
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Nicholson
Council Sets 'Work Session'
Thursday, Regular Meeting Monday. The mayor and city council
of Nicholson will meet twice in the next week.
They'll hold a "work session" Thursday night at 7:00
and the regular September meeting Monday, Sept. 10. Normally,
the council meets on the first Monday of each month, but that
fell on Labor Day this week. The work sessions are held on the
Thursday prior to the Monday meeting.
Both meetings are open to the public.
One item on the agenda is the resignation of city attorney Wanda
David. In addition, the council will consider streets to be submitted
to the Department of Transportation for its LARP paving assistance
program, a request for a donation to the Jackson County Literate
Community program and the appointment of poll officers for the
Sept. 18 SPLOST referendum and the Nov. 6 city elections.
Nicholson will elect its mayor and four city council members
in November. Qualifying is Sept. 10-13. Ronnie Maxwell is mayor.
Councilmembers are Margaret Ward, Chuck Wheeler and Billy Kitchens.
The seat formerly held by Thomas Gary is vacant.
Qualifying coming
up for town elections
Town elections are planned throughout Jackson County on Nov.
6 and qualifying for the seats that are up for grabs is coming
up soon.
ARCADE
In Arcade, the seats to be on the ballot include: Mayor, held
by Doug Haynie, and the five at-large council seats, held by
Ron Smith, Polly Davis, Tom Hayes, Dean Bentley and Cindy Bone.
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday, Sept. 10-14. The qualifying fee will be $156 for the
mayor's post and $18 for the council seats.
BRASELTON
In Braselton, the mayor's seat and all four council seats are
up for election. It will be the first time that the council seats
are elected by district rather than at-large. The mayor's seat
is now held by Henry Edward Braselton. The current council members
and the district their seat will represent include: District
1, Bruce Yates; District 2, H.B. "Kit" Braselton; District
3, Pam Jackson; and District 4, Dudley Ray.
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Wednesday, Sept. 10-12. The office will be closed from noon to
1 p.m. each day for lunch. The qualifying fee for the mayor's
post and each council seat will be $35.
COMMERCE
In Commerce, the following seats are up for election on the city
council: At-large Post 2, Archie Chaney; Ward 2, Donald Wilson;
and Ward 1, Riley Harris.
Seats up for election on the Commerce Board of Education include:
District 1, Arthur Lee Pattman; and District 2, Mary Seabolt.
Qualifying will be held Monday through Friday, Sept. 10-14. The
qualifying fee is $81 for the city council seats and $18 for
the school board posts.
HOSCHTON
In Hoschton, the offices up for election include: Mayor, held
by Billy Holder; Post 1, held by Roslyn Clark; Post 2, held by
Jan Buchanan; and Post 3, held by Joyce Peppers.
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Wednesday, Sept. 10-12. The office will be closed from 12:30
to 1:30 p.m. each day for lunch. The qualifying fee is $15 for
each seat.
JEFFERSON
In Jefferson, the following seats will be up for grabs on the
city council: Mayor, Byrd Bruce; Ward 2, Marcia Moon; and Ward
4, Bosie Griffith.
Seats to be on the ballot for the Jefferson Board of Education
include: Chairman, Ronnie Hopkins; Ward 2, Steven Hix; and Ward
4, Derrell Crowe
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday
through Friday, Sept. 10-14. The qualifying fee is $216, mayor;
$75, council seats; and $35, BOE seats.
MAYSVILLE
Maysville will not be holding a city election in November.
NICHOLSON
In Nicholson, the mayor's seat and all four at-large council
seats are up for grabs. The mayor's seat is now held by Ronnie
Maxwell and the current council members are Margaret Ward, Thomas
Gary, who recently resigned, Billy Kitchens and Chuck Wheeler.
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Wednesday, Sept. 10-12.
PENDERGRASS
Pendergrass will not be having an election in November.
TALMO
In Talmo, the Mayor's post held by Larry Wood and council Posts
3 and 4 held by Jill Miller and Trapper Brissey are up for election.
For qualifying information, contact Dana Kinney at 693-2241.
There is no qualifying fee in Talmo.
Those who are not registered to vote and would like to cast a
ballot in the Nov. 6 election must register by Oct. 9. Polls
will be open on election day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Meetings changed
due to Labor Day holiday
Several local government meetings that were scheduled for Monday,
Sept. 3, have been changed due to the Labor Day holiday.
They new meeting dates are as follows:
·the Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold its
work session meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 10, at the Administrative
Building in Jefferson.
·the Nicholson City Council will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday,
Sept. 10.
·the Hoschton City Council will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday,
Sept. 10. The work session was held Wednesday, Sept. 5.
·the Maysville City Council meeting will be held at 7:30
p.m. on Monday, Sept. 10.
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