Week in Review
February 24 March 2, 2007
--A powerful thunderstorm moved through southern Thomas County during the early morning hours this Friday.
--A Jefferson County man died in a traffic crash in Thomas County.
--There was a fire call of interest.
--The Thomas County Board of Commissioners spent much of the night in their regular meeting in land use issues.
--The Thomasville City Council awarded a contract for the construction of an elevated boardwalk as part of a walking trail around Cherokee Lake.
--There will be a new Principal at Scott Elementary School.
--Lt Governor Casey Cagle was in Thomasville for a meeting with citizens to discuss current legislative issues.
--The Georgia General Assembly continues its work as the clock winds down on its 40-day session.
--Thomas County Sheriff's investigators have made arrests in a check counterfeiting ring.
SEVERE WEATHER STRIKES THOMAS COUNTY AND SOUTHWEST GEORGIA
A powerful thunderstorm moved through southern Thomas County during the early morning hours this Friday, March 2, causing extensive damage to trees and power lines but no casualties. In the rest of Southwest Georgia, tornados caused at least nine deaths, including six in Baker County and two in Americus where a tornado struck the main hospital in Sumter County.
--Chris Jones, Emergency Management Director for Thomas County said this Friday morning that the National Weather Service had called a tornado warning about 1:55AM as a thunderstorm cell showing rotation on radar formed in southern Thomas County just west of Metcalf and close to the state line. The storm then moved east and northeast across relatively lightly populated plantation land and into the Boston area. Jones said the main damage trees and power lines. One farm structure had a tree fall on it. No calls were made to EMS for injuries, but one county worker was slightly injured when a tree limb struck him in the face. Jones said, "We've determined that it was mostly straight-line winds. We couldn't see anything that had any rotation to it." Work crews had been pre-positioned during the night and worked to clear roads of debris. Jones said, "In the rest of the county, about five roads had one or two trees down, but no structural damage was reported." Rain totals were around an inch from the rains, with a little more in the southern part of the county.
--The Georgia State Patrol confirmed that six people died in Baker County about 11:45PM Thursday night. The six were members of two families that lived in two destroyed mobile homes off of Drennon circle in Baker County. Two were adult women, and at least one was a 12 year old child. The tornado damaged at least one other home on Highway 37 in Baker County and destroyed St. Matthew's Church, but not one was hurt in those buildings.
--The Storm moved out of Baker County and moved across Mitchell County, where it apparently did not cause any casualties, hit Sumter County and lifted in Tift County. Buzz Weiss of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said the Sumter Regional Medical Center in Americus was damaged and two fatalities were reported with other injuries. The hospital evacuated those patients who had their rooms damaged, but kept other operations going. Sumter County had other extensive property damage. Weiss said further north in Taylor County there was one death reported and four injuries, in Clay County south of Columbus there were between 40 and 60 homes damaged, and in the Columbus area a tornado struck about 6PM, causing property damage but no apparent injuries.
TRAFFIC FATALITY DETAILS
The Georgia State Patrol reported late Monday that a Jefferson County, Florida, man, James Napier, 32, of Lake Road, Monticello, died in a traffic crash in Thomas County Sunday morning, February 25, about 2AM. The incident happened on Coffee Road just south of Jones road. Reports say the 2006 Ford F-150 pickup Napier was in went out of control while going north on the road, struck an embankment, overturned and struck four trees. Two other passengers were in the vehicle and were injured; they were Victor Manning, 22, of Earnest Street, Thomasville, and Brandon Watts, 26, of Willis Road, Monticello. All three were ejected from the truck and the GSP is investigating to see who was driving the vehicle.
FIRE CALL
There was one fire call of interest reported by the Thomasville Fire-Rescue Department. At 4:35PM Friday, February 23, fire units went to 112 Bibb Street in Thomasville. A candle had set fire to paper and a stereo in a bedroom of a residence there. The resident had smothered the fire with a blanket, but there was considerable smoke in the home. Fire personnel checked to make sure there were no fire extensions and pulled the smoke out of the residence.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ACT ON SEVERAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
The Thomas County Board of Commissioners spent much of the night Monday, February 26, in a regular meeting. There were two rezoning issues that were acted on and one was denied as both issues brought several citizens to express their opposition to the proposed rezoning. There were also several preliminary plat and final plat approvals for several residential subdivisions. The commissioners also heard an update from its consultant that is helping the county establish impact fees on new development with the news that by September of 2007 the impact fees could be in place. There was also a brief closed session of the meeting for what Chairman Josh Herring said was discussion on personnel and real estate. Not in the closed session were County Manager Mike Stephenson and County Clerk Twink Monahan, but the County Attorney, Bruce Warren, did remain in the closed session. Commissioners took no action after the closed session was over.
--Commissioners denied a rezoning request for almost 83 acres on Old Cassidy Road from Ag to RM-11. The property is just north of the US-84 North By-Pass. The developer of the property had proposed building a residential subdivision of about 260 single-family residential lots that would have City of Thomasville supplied water and sewer service. Commissioners expressed concerns about the proposed density of the housing units on the property with Commissioner Elaine Mays saying at one point, "That's just too many houses." Commissioner Ken Hickey made the motion to deny the rezoning request saying the proposed development had a "too high density." Hickey was joined in the motion by Commissioners Mary Jo Beverly, Lewis Rehberg, Merrill Baker, Elaine Mays and Josh Herring. Voting not to deny the rezoning was Commissioner Robert Holton. Abstaining from the vote, but not explaining, was Commissioner Moses Gross.
--Commissioners did approve a rezoning request from Ag and R-2 to RM-11 for about 44 acres on Hall Road at the US-319 By-Pass for 185 residential lots. The property would have City water and sewer service. Commissioner Mays made a motion to rezone a part of the property totaling about 44 acres, but leaving out about 10 acres that was proposed by the developer for future development. That motion was approved unanimously.
--Commissioners approved several preliminary plats for residential subdivisions: 783 units on 88 acres on County Line Road for Wexford Place, 283 lots on 75 acres on GA-122 near Skyline Drive just outside Thomasville for Breckenstone subdivision, 12 lots on a little over 9 acres on US-84 East for Castlehill subdivision, 18 lots on a little over 5 acres on North Pinetree Boulevard, 10 lots on A. Sherrod Road and 8 lots on Bustle Road.
--Commissioners approved several final plats for residential subdivisions: 20 lots in Martha's Plantation on US-319 North, 10 lots in Sandy Creek on GA-202, and 26 lots in a third phase in the Heard's Pond on Dillon Road.
--Commissioners heard from their consultant hired to help them establish impact fees to help pay for providing public safety, libraries and parks when new developments come into the county. The consultant was Bill Ross of Ross and Associates of Atlanta. Ross said the county could have the impact fees in place by September of this year and offered a suggested timeline for its implementation. The commissioners appointed an Impact Fee Advisory Committee to help develop the criteria for how the impact fees are determined and Ross said the first meeting of the committee would be Tuesday, February 27. He said there would be two more meetings of the committee before the commission would set the fees. The members of the committee appointed at Monday's commission meeting are Brian Knox, Jim Watts, Parks Weaver, Clement Choice, C.D. Siceloff, Mallory Parker, Frank Willimas, M.H. Allen and Forrest Sumner. Matt Bennett is an alternate member of the committee.
THOMASVILLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING
The Thomasville City Council met Monday night, February 26. Among the actions taken, the council awarded a contract for the construction of an elevated boardwalk as part of a walking trail around Cherokee Lake. City Manager Steve Sykes said the project would likely be finished in June of this year. The walking trail around Cherokee Lake would cross the inlet and other wet sections of the area with approximately 2600 square feet of elevated boardwalk sections. The Council awarded the construction to Docks4Less for about $73,000. The budget provided to the state Department of Natural Resources as a part of a grant application allowed $95,200 for this portion of the work. Funding will come from the $200,000 grant awarded by DNR.
CHANGES AT SCOTT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The Thomasville City Board of Education held a regular meeting Tuesday, February 27. Among the actions was approval of personnel changes submitted by Superintendent Sabrina Everett. The changes included a new Principal at Scott Elementary School. Dr. Candace Lamon was appointed to be the Principal at the school effective July 1, 2007. She is a resource coordinator at the Balfour pre-K school. The current Principal at Scott, Charlene Hampton, will resign effective June 30, 2007. The rest of the administrators at the school system have had their contract renewed.
PROBLEMS WITH PEACHCARE FUNDING AMONG THE TOPICS OF A MEETING WITH THE LT. GOVERNOR
Lt Governor Casey Cagle was in Thomasville Saturday morning, February 24, for a meeting with citizens to discuss current legislative issues. The Republican Lt. Governor emphasized his education initiatives and other issues, but had to admit that the work of the Legislature had slowed down while members struggled what to do about coming up with a supplemental budget and a budget for next year in the face of budget shortfalls in the PeachCare health program for children. Meanwhile, Governor Sonny Perdue and other governors met in Washington over the weekend and tried to come up with a solution to the national problem of funding for health care programs for children. Georgia and other states face similar problems because much of the money used to fund the state programs comes from the federal government and the states say Washington has not fully funded the program.
--State Senator John Bulloch, Republican of Ochlocknee and who invited Cagle to Thomasville for the meeting, outlined the time-sensitive issue. Senator Bulloch said there was, as of Saturday, 16 days left in the General Assembly's 40-day session, "and we haven't passed the supplemental budget much less the budget for next year." The Senator said the state needed $57 million to meet a shortfall in the PeachCare budget for this year and an estimated $108 million for next year, "The money has to come from somewhere and the Legislature is struggling to figure it out." The Lt. Governor and Bulloch both said the work of the legislature has slowed down considerably while the problem is being solved. Lt. Governor Cagle said Saturday that "we may have to create a new platform on how PeachCare is administered." Cagle said one proposal he has is to raise the eligibility for Medicaid and move many of the PeachCare recipients to that program.
--Governors of both political parties met in Washington over the weekend for the winter gathering of the National Governor's Conference. The governors of some fourteen states are urging the Bush administration and Congress to provide more money for health care programs that insures the health care of the children of uninsured working families. The number of children estimated at risk of losing their health care is about 6 million. Governor Perdue was among the governors seeking help to fund their programs before money runs out before the next federal budget year begins in October. Perdue said some 270,000 children in Georgia were at risk, possibly as soon as March. The governors urged two solutions: enough money to keep the program going through October, about $745 million dollars nationally and changes to President Bush's budget. Some are saying that the budget proposed by the Bush Administration for the next budget year would still short the health program by at least $10 billion over the next five years, even if the number of people in the program did not grow. Administration officials have responded saying the President's plan had an immediate solution that would force states that have surpluses in their program to turn over unspent money more quickly and help those states with deficits.
--Lt Governor Cagle addressed other issues during his stop in Thomasville Saturday. He urged support for his proposals to expand the establishment of charter school reforms to entire school systems. The Lt. Governor said the charter school concept would allow school systems to bring their own rules and regulations to the operations of their schools.
--Cagle also said the elimination of the "certificate of need" program was an issue, but he did not specifically come down on the issue. Cagle did say he would allow debate on the issue. There is a move by some legislators to eliminate the program that regulates the number and placement of hospital facilities in the state to allow what they say is an open-market to determine how many hospitals there were in the state. Cagle did say the issue was difficult and he said he hoped that doctors and hospitals could get together on the issue.
--The Lt. Governor also said he would allow debate on the issue of if seat belts would be required to be worn by occupants of pickups. Cagle said he would also allow debate on the issue of if guns were to allowed in the vehicles of workers parked in their employer's parking lots; Cagle said he "liked it." Cagle said he was against allowing the return of pay-day lenders in the state. Cagle said he did not know if he supported a call by Governor Perdue for the establishment of a Citizens Redistricting Commission that would take the job of drawing legislative and congressional district maps out of the hands of the Legislature. He said he did not think there was enough support in the General Assembly for the measure.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Georgia General Assembly continues its work as the clock winds down on its 40-day session. Tuesday was the 25th day of the 2007 session and only 15 days remain.
--A bill has been introduced that would require girls be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer before they enter the sixth grade, generally 11-year-olds. The bill, introduced by State Senator Don Balfour, Republican of Snellville, passed a state Senate committee 8-3 Tuesday, February 27, and now goes to the full Senate. If the bill makes it to law, it would make Georgia the second state in the nation to mandate the new vaccine for human papillomavirus, or HPV. Earlier in the year, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order making it a requirement in that state. If passed, the bill would take effect for the 2008-2009 school year. There are exceptions in the bill for families who certify that they cannot afford the vaccine or who oppose it on religious grounds.
--The bill is controversial mostly because the HPV is transmitted through sexual contact. Senator Balfour said Tuesday, "I think it's a great thing for the health of women in the state of Georgia. It's good for your daughters." Several religious conservatives spoke against the bill in he committee saying the decision to use the vaccine should be made by parents. Carolyn Garcia of the Georgia chapter of Americans United for Life said the bill could encourage promiscuity, "It comes from behavior. It's a moral issue." Sadie Fields, director of the Georgia Christian Alliance, said legislators were "rushing to judgment" on a vaccine before the full picture was known on potential risks and side effects. She said, "We believe this decision should be made between parents and their doctors," Fields said.
--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that one in four women in the US ages 14 to 59 is infected with the virus. About 11,150 women in the US will be diagnosed this year with cervical cancer, and about 3,670 will die from it. The US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that girls between ages 11 and 12 should be vaccinated.
--The State House approved unanimously another back-to-school tax break for Georgians to buy school supplies, clothes and computer equipment without having to pay the state's 4% sales tax. The tax holiday would be between August 2 through August 5. It would also would give the same tax break for those who buy energy efficient products below $1,500 between October 4 through October 7. The bill now goes to the State Senate.
House Republican leaders have introduced a measure that would fund transportation projects in the metro Atlanta area and paving dirt roads in rural Georgia. The $22 billion plan would fund the program with an increase in the state sales tax by 1% over ten years. The tax would have to be approved by voters in a statewide vote in 2008, but legislators say they do not expect the bill to pass until the 2008 session of the General Assembly. In most counties in the state, the sales taxes for the state and local governments are already at a state mandated limit of 7%. The plan was developed by the Georgia Department of Transportation and has the support of key members of the Legislature, including the heads of the transportation committees in both the House and Senate. Proposed uses of the tax include $3.6 billion for widening state highways across rural Georgia, $190 million a year to resurface local roads, and doubling spending on traffic signals and other local improvements to $90 million a year.
-- The Georgia General Assembly met Wednesday, February 28, for the 26th day of the 2007 session. There are 14 days remaining. Legislative leaders have decided to take two weeks off beginning today and a week off in April in the hope that Congress can fund a budget shortfall the state faces in the PeachCare program. Then the state can decide on a supplemental budget for this year and a budget for next year. Under the current plan, the current legislative session would last until at least April 17.
--At least 14 other states face similar budget shortfalls in their health care programs for children with Georgia facing $131 million deficit for this year. In Georgia officials plan to stop enrolling children in the program in mid-March. About 270,000 children are currently enrolled in the program in the state.
--House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said he expected the issue to be resolved in the next two weeks and the House would be ready to pass the supplemental budget and the 2008 fiscal budget shortly after returning to work March 19. The Senate would then act on the measures. During the pause, House and Senate budget-writing committees will continue to meet as well as a special committee on the issue of certificates of need. Crossover Day, the day all bills need to have passed at least one house of the Legislature to be considered by the other house, is set for March 27. Legislative leaders say the last day for the session is set for April 17, the day 37, leaving a cushion of three days. There is no requirement that the Legislature has to meet for the full 40 days.
CHECK COUNTERFEITING RING BROKEN
Thomas County Sheriff's investigators have made arrests in a check counterfeiting ring that passed the bad paper across much of South Georgia. The investigators say $11,000 was passed in Thomas County alone. Two Valdosta men, Eric Dye and Dante Jenkins, are accused of being the ringleaders, but nine other people have been accused of helping to pass the checks. Thomas County officials say Dye and Jenkins would pay the others $100 to pass the checks and would drive them around cashing them at various locations. The suspects would use their real IDs to make the transactions. The other arrests include Danielle Calhoun, 19, of Lakeland and who is AWOL from the US Navy. She has already entered a guilty plea in the case and was sentenced to five years probation, fines and restitution. She has also been turned over to the Navy. The others include Eric Dye, 33, Valdosta; William Gray, 21, Valdosta; Anthony Gwyn Channell, Quitman; Cedric Beal, 23, Valdosta; Donte Jenkins, 24, Valdosta; Tiffany McMullion, 21, Valdosta; Willie Smith, 51, Valdosta; David Gray, 30, Valdosta; Geneva Cline.