Tues., Nov. 6
ELECTION RESULTS |
mainstreetnews Home
Search Site
Area Sports
Business Directory
Classifieds
Place A Classified Ad
Raiders Weekly
Madison Opinion Page
Madison Obituary Page
MainStreet Photoshop
Archives
Subscribe
Send A Letter
List Your Business
Madison County Stats
Go to Jackson County
Go to Banks County
OPINIONS
Frank
Gillespie
Charity begins
at home
Among the wise sayings included in American culture is "Haste
makes waste." The truthfulness of this statement is made
evident by the aftermath of September 11th. Dozens of organizations,
old and new, immediately began raising funds to help the victims
of the attacks.
Ben
Munro
Dogs should have gotten final yard
Let's get this debate out of the way.
Yes, Mark Richt's puzzling decision to run the ball with no time
outs on the last play of Saturday's Georgia-Auburn game made
about as much sense as Bobby Knight speaking at an anger management
seminar.
SPORTS
Directions to Area Schools
Raiders to close season against winless Trojans
The Raiders are 8-1. North Hall is 0-9.
Two plus two logic says Madison County will whip the Trojans
in the season finale in Gainesville at 7:30 p.m.
Neighboorhood News ..
JACKSON COUNTY
Jefferson may OK conditional use zoning
Jefferson residents wanting conditional use
of their land in ways not congruent with their zoning may soon
have a route to take.
The Jefferson City Council voted unanimously Monday night to
give it the right to grant conditional use permits in residential
zoning. The Jackson County Planning Commission will vote on the
amendment at its December meeting. Then, the city council will
have to approve the planning commission's recommendation before
the amendment becomes effective.
BOE pushes for JMS to open in Jan.
All the Jefferson Board of Education wants for
Christmas is for its new middle school building to be ready when
students and staff return in January.
Neighborhood News...
BANKS COUNTY
Who will move the dead?
Coroner, EMS in verbal brawl over who will
transport. An argument over who was responsible for the removal
of a body from a home earlier this month was the center of another
heated dispute during Friday's meeting of the Banks County Board
of Commissioners.
Architect chosen for jail
The architectural firm of Pieper, O'Brian, Herr has been chosen
by the Banks County Board of Commissioners to do the architectural
design of the county's new jail.
|
mainstreetnews.com
The Madison County Journal
Danielsville, Georgia
Telephone: (706) 367-5233
Fax: (706) 367-8056
NEWS / ADVERTISING
/ PRINTING
® Copyright 2001
MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Copyright / Terms / Privacy
|
|
A CRUISER CLASSIC
Max and Betty Sartain's classic 1937 Buick, which Max has owned
for more than 40 years, was just one of 58 vehicles on display
at the Madison County Cruisers charity car show last Saturday.
The show was held in the county park in Danielsville.
|
Health dept. offices
to combine
Madison County will soon have only one
county health department office.
Under the advice of Dr. Claude Burnett, Northeast Health District
Medical Director, the Board of Health voted last week to combine
the staff of the Danielsville and Colbert offices.
The Colbert office will be closed as a public health facility,
but the Board agreed to allow the building to be used as district
health offices and for health education classes.
The Colbert branch of the health department has seen a decline
in patients in recent years due to several new health facilities
in the area.
No date has been set for the office closing.
Board of Health chairman Wesley Nash said a half-million-dollar
Community Development Block Grant should be available next spring.
The federal funds will be used to build a new health care facility
most likely on Hwy. 98 near the Madison County Service Center
and the new county jail.
In other business, the board:
·swore in Madison County School Superintendent Keith Cowne
as a board of health member.
·gave two service awards: a 25-year plaque to registered
nurse Linda Threlkeld, and a 15-year plaque to sanitarian Malcolm
West.
·heard that long-time Danielsville Health Department nurse
Denise Echols resigned recently.
Tues., Nov. 6
ELECTION RESULTS |
Bioterrorism:Health
official talks about need for local preparedness
The medical director of the Northeast
Health District told Madison County Board of Health members that
the country needs to be better prepared for bioterrorism outbreaks.
Dr. Claude Burnett said health departments across the state,
and country, are working to increase their connections with public
safety departments and hospitals due to the increasing threat
of bioterrorism.
Burnett said recent anthrax cases were "a mild wake- up
call" to what could happen in the future.
In the outbreak of a contagious disease, such as smallpox, Burnett
said local boards of health would have quarantine powers.
Burnett explained that terrorists are "getting more sophisticated
all the time" including developing organism "cocktails"
with several diseases that could sicken those afflicted in stages
from a few hours to several days.
He said smallpox, or other contagious disease, could be compared
to "an atom bomb," especially if terrorists released
it in an area such as an international airport, where it could
spread worldwide, causing mass casualties.
It will take approximately 300 million doses of smallpox vaccine
to protect people in the United States. Vaccines last for 10
years, meaning those in the general population who were vaccinated
years ago will need to be vaccinated again, he added.
"We need to be more ready than we are," Burnett cautioned.
Still no approval
on 2002 Madison County budget
Sheriff says his dept. shouldn't be excluded
from 1% pay increase.
County officials again postponed approval of next year's budget
Monday after sheriff Clayton Lowe requested that employees in
his department receive the same one percent pay increase as other
county employees.
The Madison County commissioners will meet Monday at 6 p.m. in
the county government complex to discuss the proposed increases
and the 2002 budget.
Under the current proposal, employees under the county's personnel
policy will receive a one percent increase next year. Employees
not under the policy will not receive the increase.
Madison County's constitutionally-elected officers - such as
the sheriff, clerk of court, tax commissioner, probate and magistrate
judges - don't have to adopt the county's personnel policy for
their employees.
County commissioners have urged those officers to accept the
county policy, primarily so that the county can have a uniform
system of pay. Commissioners have said this is the only way the
county can have true fairness in pay.
"We need something that everybody's on," said commissioner
Bill Taylor, noting that some departments not under the county
policy give raises and bonuses to employees when money is left
over in their department at the end of the year, instead of turning
the excess funds back to the county's general fund.
But constitutional officers have expressed reluctance to accept
the policy, saying that they would give up some authority over
their own employees, while endangering them to the political
whims of current or future commissioners.
Also, elected officials who move to the county policy cannot
reverse their decision. And that troubles Lowe.
"If you guys were going to be commissioners from now on
and if I was going to be the sheriff from now on and we got along,
then it might work," said Lowe of bringing his department
under the county policy. "...But this affects every person
who's ever a sheriff from here on out."
Lowe said that handling personnel matters is an important duty
of the sheriff and that he is not ready to relinquish some of
the responsibility.
Commissioner Mike Youngblood requested the meeting on Nov. 19,
inviting all county employees not currently under the county's
personnel policy to attend.
PAVING REQUEST
In a separate matter Monday, the board took no action on a request
by residents of the Lake Deerfield Homeowners' Association to
pave and maintain Lake Deerfield Subdivision Road. Chairman Wesley
Nash told neighborhood residents that the county's funds are
being tagged toward widening Neese Commerce Road and Nowhere
Road.
"Then we'll solicit money for through roads," said
Nash, noting that the state will only fund the most heavily-traveled
roads.
For the rest of this story see the Madison County Journal
Commerce rejects
Madison Co. offer on water service
The Commerce City Council issued a take-it-or-leave-it
response Monday night to Madison County officials trying to negotiate
for city water in areas around Blacks Creek Church Road.
On the advice of City Manager Clarence Bryant, the council rejected
an offer made by the Madison County Industrial Authority that
was in response to the city's initial offer of service.
Commerce had offered to build a 10,000-foot line that would serve
approximately 50 households. The line was to cost $153,000 to
install. The city would recoup about $35,000 in tap fees if all
50 households signed on. It would also charge Madison County
$13,000 for fire hydrants plus a $100 per hydrant annual maintenance
fee. After 10 years, the city would sell the line to Madison
County for $120,000.
According to Bryant, Madison County's counter-offer proposed
a five-year buyout at $136,000 and the city adding a $2 per customer
monthly surcharge, which would be mailed to Madison County, to
cover fire hydrant costs.
"We don't want to be collecting anything for Madison County,"
Bryant told the city council Monday night. He also said that
the city's figures were based on having 50 customers, which could
take 12 to 20 months, so that a five-year buyout would not give
the city time to recoup its investment.
"I don't think we can go outside of the city and approve
anything without being able to show the citizens of Commerce
we are making money," he said.
Bryant suggested offering Madison County the option of deleting
the fire hydrants, noting that meters in the county are subject
to tampering, which he said is already happening on the lines
out the Blacks Creek Road in Jackson County.
"I think it was a reasonable offer to begin with and it
is reasonable now," argued Ward 4 Councilman Bob Sosebee,
who called collecting the hydrant fees for Madison County "an
administrative nightmare for no money."
Madison County still has the option of building its own line
to serve the area, where wells have been failing, and buying
water through a master meter from Commerce.
|
Go to Madison
Community Page
Public Meeting Dates
On-going Services
Northeast Georgia
Business Directory
Auto
Dealers
Auto Parts &
Service
Churches
Clothing
Financial Institutions
Furniture
Garden &
Agriculture
Industry &
Manufacturing
Insurance
Medical
Personal Care
Services
Real Estate
Recreation
Restaurants
Retail Stores & Outlets
Services
Raiders to jump
in class
The Madison County Raiders will make a jump in class next year
- from AAA to AAAA.
The move will put Madison County in the 12-team Region 8-AAAA.
Other schools included in that region include Cedar Shoals, Clarke
Central, Eastside, Habersham Central, Heritage, Jackson County,
Loganville, Newton, Rockdale County, Salem and Winder.
Madison County head football coach and athletic director Tom
Hybl said region coaches reached no conclusion last week after
a lengthy meeting on how to subdivide the region.
He said Madison County won't make a decision on whether to participate
in region football or continue playing a non-region schedule
until after the region breakdown is solidified.
Madison County participated in region play in each of Hybl's
first two seasons at the school, finishing 2-8 both years. The
Raiders have gone 18-1 over the past two seasons in non-region
play.
Time for Christmas
kids' section
The annual children's Christmas section
will be published in The Madison County Journal December 19.
The newspaper will be accepting photographs of infants up to
children 8 years old through the Dec. 1 deadline.
Black and white or color photos can be used, but no Polaroids
or photographs printed out from a computer onto laser paper will
be accepted, as they do not reprint well.
Please submit the following information along with the child's
photo: the first and last name and age of the child, as well
as the parents' names, their city of residence and phone number.
The photos may be dropped off at or mailed to the Journal office
before the Dec. 1 deadline and may be picked up there after the
publication runs in the paper.
Early deadlines given
for next week
The Madison County Journal will have early deadlines next week
due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
The deadline for news will be at 5 p.m. on Friday. The deadline
for classified and display advertising will be 3 p.m. Friday.
The Journal will be printed a day early next week due to the
holiday. The paper will go to press on Tuesday night and be mailed
on Wednesday instead of Thursday. It will also be on the news
stands late Tuesday night.
The Journal office will be closed Thursday, Nov. 23, for the
Thanksgiving holiday. The office will also close Monday at noon.
Vacation photos put
on hold
The Madison County Journal will no longer
issue a free year's subscription for vacation photos effective
Nov. 19. The offer will resume at a later date. The Journal will
continue publishing pictures already submitted.
To read more about the local events in
Madison County, including births, weddings, sports news and school
news, see this week's Madison County Journal.
|