Reports of Traveler’s Rest’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

That’s according to the historic site’s manager, Chris Floyd.

Several weeks ago, the State Parks and Recreation Division issued a press release saying the historic inn might have to close because of a lack of funding.

Floyd says that’s not going to happen any time soon.

"I don't think that there's a danger of Traveler's Rest being closed at this point," Floyd stated. "I haven't heard anything like that. They did reduce our operating hours because of a staffing shortage. I have heard though that Traveler's Rest will continue to operate in the future and that it will probably go back to a five-day operating schedule in the near future," he said.

That means shorter hours for the next five months or so, according to Floyd.

Traveler’s Rest is part of Tugalo State Park and is under Georgia Department of Parks and Recreation.

Floyd said the department plans to create a new historic division, which will separate state historic sites from state parks.

It’s hoped the move will open up more funding opportunities.

Meantime, a group of concerned citizens met last night for the first meeting of the friends of Traveler’s Rest.

Floyd says he needs volunteers to help with various activities and projects.

"Short-term, I need volunteers to help when we do special programs. Our Christmas program is very popular every year and I always need some help with that. I'm going to try to start some more programs. I'm going to try to have four annual events at Traveler's Rest, one each quarter and I'm going to need a little extra help with those. There are also some other projects around the site that we have in mind," Floyd explained.

Floyd says a long range goal is to build an interpretive center that would include a museum, media center, education wing and office space.

More progress in Home Depot’s plan to build a new store along the 17 Bypass.

This week, County Commissioners approved their request to put in an open cut water line.

Matthew Van Dyke with Greenberg Farrow, engineers for the project, said they have also received approval from the State Department of Transportation to widen Memorial Drive.

"What we're recommending for all of Memorial Drive is a dedicated left-turn lane onto 17 and also a dedicated left-turn lane into our main entrance," Van Dyke said. "and a d-cell through lane coming from Memorial Drive into our main entrance. So, we're doing a lot of improvements there. Basically, shifting Memorial Drive two lanes over to accommodate for those turn lanes," he said.

In order to access a six-inch water main across the street on the Wal-Mart property, they also need to build a connecting line.

Rather than tear up the road and go under it, the builders asked to do an open cut line.

"What we're requesting is that since we are doing this pretty good size scope of work on Memorial Drive - paving and so forth - that it would be better for us to have an open cut for that water line mill down that existing portion of Memorial Drive there to match the new pavement and overlay," he said.

The home improvement giant plans to begin construction on a 106,000 square foot store this fall and has scheduled a grand opening for early 2008.

As we told you earlier this week, the Farmers Market is now in full swing in the parking lot of Farmers Furniture store on Big A Road.

Over the years, the Farmer’s Market has had several homes, all spaces loaned to them by local business owners.

But it has always been a dream of the group to have their own location.

Now, it might happen.

One of the proposed SPLOST V projects on the table is the purchase and construction of a permanent facility for the farmer’s market.

The question, is where it should go if the money for the project comes through.

Stephens County Extension Agent Forrest Connally says it’s all about

location, location, location.

"The big thing is we need a location where there's a lot of traffic that's accessible to everybody. Where even with heavy traffic coming through it makes it easy for somebody to stop by and buy something from the Farmer's Market. Hopefully, it would be somewhere that we could that in maybe five or ten years that would be the best place for it to be. We don't want to go put something up this year or next year when we know growth is going to be in another part of the county," Connally explained,.

Right now, they have no specific place in mind.

At last week’s SPLOST V Study Committee meeting, several locations were discussed including downtown Toccoa.

Wherever it goes, Connally says it has to be somewhere with high traffic.

"Some of the areas you want to look are going away from the downtown area, from where we are now. I think that's where a lot of the traffic is. They've talked about a couple different areas in the County that would be great, but the traffic wouldn't be there. It'd be a great place for the facility, but you need the traffic," he concluded.

The SLOST V Study Committee has allocated $200,000 of the $24-million dollar budget for a new farmers market.

That would include building a covered pavilion for sellers.

You may soon see some new "welcome" signs as you come into town.

The marketing committee of the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce has been working for about a month on a project to put welcome signs at the edge of town.

This morning, a group will be out on Falls Road near Lake Toccoa setting in the steel frame for the first sign, according to Chamber President Wendi Bailey.

"We wanted to be able to officially welcome guests into Toccoa-Stephens County," explained Bailey. "First impressions are everything so we thought it would be really nice to have a big sign that says, 'Welcome to Toccoa-Stephens County,'" she concluded.

The sign will be set in a rock wall and is one of two such welcome signs planned.

Bailey said the project has garnered a lot of community involvement.

"Tim Ash is our chair and he's done a wonderful job getting all the right players in town to take the time and provide the resources. We've got Morgan Concrete who's actually helped us place the concrete. Darrell and Tony Hicks from T&D Concrete were out there yesterday pouring and placing the cement. Jack Stovall is providing all of the rock material. David Pressley is providing the labor to actually put the stone on the sign," noted Bailey.

Bill Dix from the Sign Shop will be mounting the color portion of the sign into the steel frame this morning.

Brian Fulbright of Toccoa Metal Build and installed the frame.

For fiscal 2008, the committee plans to put up a second sign, however Bailey says they have not yet picked a location.

This weekend law enforcement agencies in Georgia and South Carolina are rolling-out a full-scale speed enforcement mobilization to crackdown on the southeast’s worst offenders.

It’s called the 100 Days of Summer H.E.A.T. and the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety has issued a joint HEAT Advisory with all law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction along the two-state I-85 corridor.

It started with a combined show of support at a joint 10am news conference at the BMW manufacturing plant in Greer, South Carolina.

After the latest updates about the upcoming Georgia and South Carolina July 4^th impaired driving campaigns, law enforcement officers from both states left the staging area to concentrate their high visibility H.E.A.T. patrols on speeders on interstate 85 throughout the weekend.

Each year during the summer months, more than 2,500 lives are lost across the southeast due to fatal crashes.

In Georgia alone, a third of holiday traffic deaths are speed related.

Summer 2007 marks the fourth consecutive year that waves of law enforcement patrols in 159 Georgia counties will crack down on dangerous, aggressive, and high-speed drivers.

Sens. Saxby Shambliss and Johnny Isakson completed their about-face on immigration legislation Thursday by voting to kill the bill they helped write.

According to a report by the associated press, both said the main reason for public opposition to the bill was that people did not fully understand the compromise.

Although the bill authorized money for increased border security, Isakson and Chambliss argued there were no guarantees that the funding would ever become a reality.

Instead, they called on President Bush to send congress an emergency appropriations request to provide the money up front.

When that didn't happen, they said they decided to oppose it.

The unemployment rate for Stephens County dropped slightly in May to 4.4%.

That’s down from 4.7% in April.

For the Georgia Mountains Region, the unemployment rate in may rose to 3.6% last month from 3.5% in April.

While the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in May at 4.1%, it was down from 4.5% a year ago.

From April through May, Georgia added 14,400 payroll jobs, primarily in trade and service-related industries.

In Stephens County, labor force last month stood at 13,765.

Of those 13,161 were employed, while 604 were without jobs.

A proposed performing arts center may be taken off the Special Local Option Sales Tax project list if the County and Board of Education cannot come to an agreement on the size and cost of the project. Yesterday, the SPLOST V Study Committee met with School Superintendent Gary Steppe and several School Board members to discuss some concerns voiced by County Attorney Brian Ranck.

The performing arts center, as envisioned, would be a 1,500-seat professional theatre built on the campus of the new Stephens County High School. It would be available for public as well as school performances and events and would be managed by the school board.

Estimated cost would be just over $9.5-million according to Buckley & Associates, architects for the new high school.

$5-million would come from SPLOST V and another $3.7 million or more from the school budget and the Education Local Option Sales Tax. Since the County plans to contribute SPLOST monies over a three to five- years period, Ranck said he’s worried about cost overruns such as what the County is experiencing with building the new jail.

During SPLOST IV, the estimated cost of the new county jail was $7.2 million for a 202-bed facility. However, by the time the County was ready to begin construction some five years later, inflation drove the price up to just over $11-million and cut the number of beds to 192.

It also forced the County to have to come up with an additional $4-million.

Also attending the meeting was Greg Smith, Executive Vice President of James Buckley & Associates.

Smith told the committee inflation will almost certainly raise the cost of building the performing arts center by the time it’s ready to be built.

"The numbers that I gave on my estimate of the project are based on today's construction costs," explained Smith. "Anything beyond that is a guess based upon what we anticipate inflation to be. It varies tremendously. Five years ago, it was 2%-5%. In the last three years, it's been 8%-10%. We told the commission today that they should put in at least 8% a year for the next three years as an inflation contingency. Again, that's just a guess; an educated guess," he said.

Not wanting to get into forward funding, the County, according to Ranck, would likely collect the money for the performing arts center over a period of years, and doesn’t plan to begin the project at the same time the new high school is started, which is tentatively planned to begin in the fall of 2008.

Steppe said the BOE will construct whatever size facility they have the money for when that part of the high school project is ready to be built.

"Whether that’s a 500 or 600-seat facility or a 1,500-seat facility, but when we need the money for the auditorium, we need all of it up front," Steppe told the committee.

Ranck said building a smaller facility than 1,500 seats would defeat the purpose of having a performing arts center that could accommodate major performances.

"My concern initially was if the arts center size is scaled back, have we defeated the purpose of the project? If we have to scale back to 500 seats or 600 seats, is that not defeating the purpose of what we're trying to do? If we say we're going to do a 1,500-seat performing arts center, then somebody is going to have to pay the cost overruns. My concern with that is similar to the jail project. The taxpayers are going to have to pay. Whether it's school taxes or county taxes, it comes from the same tax payers and that's my concern on that issue," Ranck explained.

The SPLOST V study committee plans to meet again in the coming days to decide whether to pull the performing arts center off the list of recommended projects.

Ultimately, commissioners will decide whether to include it on the SPLOST V referendum.

They have until July 10 to develop the referendum and submit it to the State if they want to get it on the ballot in September.

Hydrologists with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Savannah District predict that water levels at lakes Hartwell and Thurmond will continue to fall.  Both Hartwell and Thurmond lakes are expected to reach the first drought trigger level later this week, according to spokesman Billy Birdwell.

Full pool for lake Hartwell is 660 feet above mean sea level, but Birdwell says the lake is about four feet below that.

"Lake Hartwell is at 656.2 feet above mean sea level. That's the surface of the lake. Once it reaches 656-ft., that triggers drought level one, and that triggers it for all of the lake systems, Hartwell, Russell, and lake Thurmond. Or if lake Thurmond reaches 326-ft. first, it will trigger drought level one for all three lakes," Birdwell said.

Currently Hartwell averages only 20 percent of normal inflow while; Thurmond’s inflow is about 44 percent of normal. Precipitation forecasts show little rain for the region in the upcoming weeks.

Corps officials urge the public to use extreme caution when boating, swimming, or fishing during the next weeks. As the reservoir levels decline, underwater obstructions will be closer to the surface. This is particularly dangerous for boaters, skiers, and swimmers. 

A trigger one drought level also means that the amount of water flowing through the system must be cut back. Reducing outflow decreases the amount of hydropower that can be generated through the dames while conserving more water in the reservoirs.

"We treat the entire savannah river system from the headwaters down to the mouth as a system. So, actions on one part affect actions throughout the system. As we hit drought level one, that means we reduce the amount of water leaving the lake system down to no more than 4,600 cubic feet per second. And that's averaged over a week," he said.

Normal outflow, according to Birdwell is 7,800 cfs or more. Birdwell said for water levels to return to normal would require a week or more of sustained, heavy rainfall; such as we might get from a tropical storm.

Recent rains in Northeast Georgia have brought some relief to cattle farmers, but not enough to ease the hay shortage problem.

The rain has helped the fields grow some. However, County Extension Agent Forrest Connally says farmers are still not getting the hay yield they need.

"The ones that have recently cut it say they're still at about 20% of their production. We need the rain to keep coming. With just that little bit we had, of course everybody's glad to get some growth out of it, but it's not really showing on the yields quite yet," connally said.

Stephens and Franklin counties, like the rest of Northeast Georgia, are in a severe drought – the worst since 1986.

The lack of normal rainfall caused pastures to stop growing. That means there’s not been enough grazing land and not enough hay to cut to store for the winter months. So, farmers have been forced to feed their winter hay now. Connally says we need consistent rainfall over a long period to get the hay fields growing again.

"We need a slow rain because with our soils the water will run off very easily with our clay soil," explained connally. "So, if we had a long, slow rain, it's going to get into the ground, it's going get into some of the fertilizers and chicken litter and different things so the plant can use it. If we have a good hard rain, then the rain will run right off and the pastures won't be picking up the nutrients like they should," he concluded.

Two weeks ago, local cattle farmers sold off over a thousand head of cattle at the Eastanollee Auction Barn because they could not find hay to feed them.

Connally said since we’ve been getting some rain, cattle sales have gone back down to more normal levels as farmers try to wait out the drought.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is conducting a water quality study on 13 streams and rivers in North Georgia, including three in Stephens County.

According to Adam Hazell, Planning Director for the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Authority, those streams have been found to have higher-than-normal levels of sediment and fecal-coli form contamination.

"The particular type of water studies we're doing are called, TMDL's," Hazell said. "That stands for total maximum daily load. That refers to the budget that each stream has in terms of how much pollution it can take before it passes the TMDL threshold. In the case of fecal coli form, there's only so much that any type of stream can handle before it's considered unsafe. So that is what this report is looking at," he said.

Here in Stephens County, Toccoa creek, Panther Creek, and part of the Broad River watershed are being tested. In previous tests conducted between 2000 – 2003, both Toccoa and Panther Creeks were found to have high levels of fecal contamination.

Hazell told county commissioners this week that it is likely fecal contamination from wildlife, but they’re not sure.

"What we're trying to do is take what we know about the particular contaminant, understand what type of things could be sources of that contaminant, and then try to find those within the watershed. In the case of fecal coli form, we know that comes from waste, either animal waste, such as livestock or wildlife; or is it human waste. By getting an inventory of the conditions within the watershed, we can try to figure out which one of those sources might be the most prevalent," Hazell explained.

Reports on test results so far can be viewed on line at the EPD Website. Hazell says if it is found to be wildlife contamination, there is not much that can be done to correct the problem. However, the DNR will continue to monitor the creeks and do routine testing.

Stephens County Emergency Management Agency Director Becky Wall has been officially confirmed by the state.

This week, County administrator Darrell Hampton received a letter from Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie English stating his approval of her appointment. Wall was promoted to the Director position earlier in the spring after former Director Joe Anderson retired.

At this week’s county commission meeting, commissioners praised Wall for her expertise and abilities in running the EMA. Commissioner Rex Anderson called her a valuable asset to the county. Wall thanked the commission for putting their faith in her and said she feels honored to serve. Wall has been with the County EMA for some five years.

It should be a great evening for this year is early Fourth of July celebration, which takes place tonight.

Sponsored by Stephens Federal Bank, WNEG Radio, and the Stephens County Recreation Department, the fireworks will be held at Roselane Park. The fun begins at 6 p.m.

Bring a picnic basket or buy food from the new concession stand and enjoy music by "Flash" before the fireworks show. The fireworks will start as soon as it gets dark – about 9:30pm.

And don’t forget your lawn chairs or a blanket to sit on. However, if you’re planning to bring your dog, it’s probably a better idea to leave fido at home. Dogs are not allowed at Roselane Park.

Additionally, the resulting loud noises can be a source of stress and anxiety for many pets. Dogs that are not used to the noise of the fireworks or large crowds, could become frightened and bite, or break away from their owners and get lost.

Toccoa Police are investigating an incident in which some windows were shot out at an apartment on Skyline Drive.

Jamal Brown told officers that he heard a vehicle pull up in front of the apartment, then he heard two gunshots.

The front windows of the unit were shot out with what appeared to be a shotgun blast. Brown said he could not give a description of the suspect vehicle.

The apartment is owned by Tanya Prather, who was notified of the incident. No one was injured. And there are no suspects.

County commissioners have put off setting a time to interview candidates for the E-911 communications director position.

At their meeting yesterday, County Administrator Darrell Hampton told commissioners he had not gotten all of the recommendations back from two advisors.

The county has been without an E-911 director since last December.

Earlier this year, the county commission named Rex Nelms as interim director.

The process in hiring a new E-911 director has been delayed for months while the county waited for guidance from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency in Atlanta for help in the hiring process.

GEMA recommended two sources for the county to call on, including

Former Habersham E-911 Director Barry Church.

They are also working with an Alpharetta police officer who is an E-911 certification specialist.

This morning, Hampton said he had not heard from the Alpharetta representative.

Both advisors have been reviewing the dozen or so resumes the county received, according to County Administrator Darrell Hampton.

Over the past seven months, the county has not said much about the entire replacement procedure.

However, Commissioner Rex Anderson told WNEG that whoever they hire, he wants it to be someone with considerable experience running an e-911 dispatch center.

Work is underway by the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center in Gainesville to come up with a land-use plan for Stephens County.

Yesterday, RDC Planning Director Adam Hazell gave county commissioners a brief overview of their progress.

Hazell says right now, the RDC is looking at existing land use in the county.

"We are taking the parcel maps of the county and the existing information that we already have as far as land use and development trends to try to develop what we call an accurate existing land use map, which would be a solid inventory of what is on the ground today," Hazell explained.

Additionally, the RDC is working with county staff and municipalities to determine what development is in the planning stages, but hasn’t been platted yet.

Once that process is complete, the RDC will also try to determine what the county is planning over the next year or two in terms of development.

They also want to find out what the county wants to accomplish over the next 20-30 years.

Hazel asked commissioners to appoint a group of local citizens to work as an advisory committee on a land-use guide book for commissioners, which he hopes will be ready by the first of the year.

According to Hazel, several public hearings will be scheduled in the fall to get input from citizens.

"Working with the advisory committee, beginning around September, they will help shape how we want to do the full scale of public input," Hazell said. "There'll be stuff available on our web site. We hope to have materials available in public places, such as the library, the courthouse where they can drop in and pick up and review. We will have open public forums. The committee will help shape how we want to do it; comment cards, formal surveys, etc. Probably one of the first things we will do with the advisory committee is devise the process for public engagement," he said.

Those hearings will be advertised ahead of time.

Once the commission receives the land use guide book, they will review the recommendations.

So far, the commission has no definite timeline for having a land use plan in place.

Yet another SPLOST V committee meeting this afternoon.

After turning in their recommendations to the county commission, some questions are still left about one of the proposed projects.

County Attorney Brian Ranck said yesterday he has issues with the performing arts center project.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, School Superintendent Gary Steppe tried to answer some of Ranck’s questions.

Ranck said he’s concerned about who would run the center and how it would be administered to the public.

At last Friday’s public meeting, Michelle Jamieson asked the committee who would decide what kinds of performances would take place there.

Jamieson also questioned how the performing arts center could be a public center if it’s on school grounds.

That also brought up the issue of serving or bringing alcohol.

Jamieson pointed out there may be some public performances in which citizens might bring alcohol or alcohol might be served.

Ranck said yesterday he was also concerned with those issues and whether it was even legal to have alcohol on school property.

Steppe said he couldn’t answer those questions.

Ranck then called on the school board to enter into a memo of understanding with the county to be drawn up before the project is submitted to the state.

This afternoon, the SPLOST committee will meet with Steppe to hammer out a detailed MOU for the performing arts center.

That meeting takes place at 3 p.m. in the courthouse annex and is open to the public.

As expected, the runoff for the 10^th congressional district will be between Republican Jim Whitehead and Republican Paul Broun.

Broun narrowly edged out Democratic Candidate James Marlow, Jr. by just a fraction of a percentage point.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Karen Handel certified the election results for the June 19 special election in the Tenth Congressional District and State Senate District 24.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Jim Whitehead received 23,555 votes or just over 43%.

Dr. Paul Broun received 11,208 votes or 20.7% while Marlow received 11,010 votes or 20.3%.

With all ten precincts reporting in Stephens County, Whitehead received 564 votes, Broun received just 231 votes and Marlow garnered 316 votes.

The Secretary of State’s office sent the certified election results for the 10^th Congressional District race to the governor yesterday afternoon. 

Because no candidate received the required majority of the vote, a run-off election will be held on July 17. 

Early voting for the run-off election will take place from July 9 - July 13.

Polls will be open from 7 am until 7 pm on July 17.

You may have seen them already every Tuesday and Friday morning, but County Extension Agent Forest Connally says this year’s farmer’s market is now officially open.

"Some of them get down there as early as six in the morning. Generally, you'll have farmers leaving as soon as their produce is sold, but usually they'll stay until noon or until they sell everything," noted Connally.

The Toccoa-Stephens County farmers market consists of local farmers and backyard gardeners who bring their crops to town twice a week to sell.

Only locally grown produce is allowed at the farmers market.

Right now it’s located in the parking lot of Farmers Furniture on Big A Road – across from McDonald’s.

Even with the drought this spring, most local growers appear to be doing well with their crops and Connally says there’s already a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables to choose from.

"We're starting to get sweet corn and a few tomatoes. We have potatoes, beans, squash, and cucumbers. We do have some plants for sale. We also had strawberries. They did real well, but they've played out now. Probably in about ten days we'll be real consistent with tomatoes," Connally said.

Also available are locally cultivated flowers, trees and shrubs for your landscape.

A summer and fall tradition in Stephens County, Connally says the farmers market will be open at least through August.

"We have a group from Rabun County whose been grandfathered into the farmer's market and they won't have anything probably at least for three or four weeks. So, that will be a later crop just from them," he said.

The farmer’s market is open every Tuesday and Friday morning from 6 a.m. until around noon.

Elberton’s police chief is asking for the public’s help to restore items one of his officers lost when fire destroyed his home.

Last Friday night, fire destroyed the home of Officer Joseph Evans.

Evans awoke to find his house in flames.

When he discovered flames blocking the front door, he was able to save his pregnant wife and two small children by getting them out a back window.

Mrs. Evans is 9 months pregnant and the family lost everything in the fire.

Elberton Police Chief Mark Welsh tells WNEG a fund has been set up with Pinnacle Bank under the name of the Evans Family Benefit Fund.

Donations may be made at any Pinnacle Bank branch.

Chief Welsh said donations may also be sent to the Elberton Police Department.

Chief Welsh says anyone wishing more information may contact him at 706-213-3131.

CHANGE OF COMMAND
June 27, 2007

The Savannah District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will change command on Friday.

Army Col. Mark S. Held will turn over his command to Col. Edward J. Kertis. The ceremony will take place at 10AM Friday morning at the Corps of Engineers headquarters in Savannah.

Brig. General Joseph Schroedel, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division, will officiate at the formal change of command ceremony to be held in Telfair Square in Savannah’s Historic District.

Colonel Kertis is a graduate of Stetson University and the University of Florida, entered the Army in 1984. He served in Europe, Afghanistan and Iraq. He has commanded engineer battalions in North Carolina and New York.

The Savannah District supports 18 Army and Air Force installations in Georgia and North Carolina, and water resources activities in Georgia and portions of South Carolina. The fiscal year military construction budget exceeds $1.4 billion.

The District also oversees civil projects including the Savannah Harbor and Brunswick Harbor in Georgia; Lakes Hartwell, Thurmond and Russell on the Georgia-South Carolina border and environmental and regulatory permits for Georgia.

POLICE NEWS
June 27, 2007

Two people were arrested following a road check on Georgia Highway 106.

Officers with the Stephens County Sheriff’s office noticed a blue Honda approaching the road check point. The passenger was reported to have warrants on him.

The driver was repeatedly asked to stop the vehicle, but the car kept going. A deputy then began to pursue the vehicle which turned onto New Hope Road where the passenger then jumped out of the car and fled on foot.

The vehicle stopped and the driver was arrested. She was identified as Sheila Diane Carter of McMurray Lane, Toccoa. The passenger was later apprehended and arrested. He was identified as Gary Allen Cordell of Stancil Drive. Both subjects were taken to the Stephens County Jail.

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Deputies responded to the Big Smith Volunteer Fire Department where the chief reported several pieces of equipment had been lost while the unit was on the scene of a fire. The fire had been on Suttles Road.

The items were left at a fire hydrant. When the unit went back to look for them, they were missing. The items included several stork couplings, a two and a half inch ball valve, a dead blow hammer and a hydrant wrench. The items were valued at about $550.

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Deputies also reported a 4-wheeler was missing from a residence on Hidden Valley Drive in Eastanollee. The red, Honda 680 was taken sometime overnight Sunday night.

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Toccoa Police reported that a counterfeit $10 bill was discovered at the Taco Bell Restaurant on the Big A Road. The manager said she did not know where the bill came from, but it was taken at around 4 p.m. in the afternoon and the transaction was probably captured on their surveillance camera. The bill was taken into evidence by the investigating officer.

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An officer was also investigating the theft of a $30 check from a mailbox on Nancy Street. The check was made out to "Primary Care". There are no suspects at this time.

A group of concerned citizens are meeting tonight to form the Stephens County Anti-Drug Coalition.

Recently, the founder of the coalition, Danny Yearwood, sent out a letter to community leaders asking for their participation.

According to Spokeswoman Dana Skelton-Sanders, the coalition was formed out of a desire to help curb a growing meth problem in Stephens County.

"A lot of people who live in the county, know what's happening here," Sanders said. "We really want to educate the public about the drug use in our community. We're also interested in helping those who have drug problems and they want out of that lifestyle," she said.

The Stephens County Anti-Drug Coalition is basing its program on the White County Anti-Meth Task Force.

Yearwood is hoping to form a team of community-minded volunteers who are willing to invest in the lives of others.

Sanders says drug and meth addiction is affecting entire families from generation to another in the county.

"A lot of it stems from generational issues. They saw it during their lifetime and they're linked to it so, whether they saw it at home or a neighbor's house or an uncle's house or wherever, it's linked to them and it's a learned, adapted behavior," sanders explained.

The anti-drug coalition will offer a four-pronged approach to eliminating drug use in Stephens County, including education, prevention, treatment, and enforcement.

Sanders said anyone with an interest in being a part of the task force is invited to tonight’s meeting.

Tonight’s anti-drug coalition meeting takes place at 7 p.m. at Toccoa Church of God on highway 17 south.

Members of the White County Anti-Meth Task Force will be on hand to share their expertise.

You can get more information on the program by contacting Danny Yearwood at 706-886-1476.

County commissioners meet this morning for the second of their monthly meetings and work sessions.

This morning, commissioners will select finalists and set a date and time to interview candidates for the E-911 communications director job.

The county has been without an E-911 director since last December.

Earlier this year, the county commission named Rex Nelms as interim director.

The process in hiring a new E-911 director has been delayed for months while the county waited for guidance from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency in Atlanta for help in the hiring process.

GEMA recommended two sources for the county to call on, including

former Habersham E-911 Director Barry Church.

They are also working with an Alpharetta police officer who is an E-911 certification specialist.

Both have been reviewing the dozen or so resumes the county received, according to County Administrator Darrell Hampton.

This morning, Hampton hopes to have their recommendations regarding which candidates to interview.

Over the past seven months, the county has not said much about the entire replacement procedure.

However, Commissioner Rex Anderson told WNEG that whoever they hire, he wants it to be someone with considerable experience running an E-911 dispatch center.

Another clean up day on Lake Hartwell planned – this time for Friday morning.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hartwell Dam Office is asking for volunteer boaters to come out and help remove white foam bead dock flotation devices from the shoreline.

New foam bead flotation has not been permitted on the lake for more than 15 years, but pre-existing flotations in useable condition were allowed to stay until January 2006.

Park Ranger Tanya Grant says, though hundreds of the illegal floatations still line the shoreline, "It's just dock flotation that has washed up on the shoreline and has accumulated over the years. It's pretty much an eyesore and we'd like to get it cleaned up. We get a lot of comments from the public offering their help in cleaning it up. So, we were contacted by Kroeger Marine. They've offered the use of their barge, employees, and equipment to assist us with the clean up. We hope to do that about once a month depending upon where we're working on the lake," Grant concluded.

A brief safety talk and explanation of how the clean up will work takes place at 9 a.m. at the south union boat ramp on the Oconee County South Carolina side of the lake.

According to Grant, the cleanup will start at south union boat ramp to buoy t-65, and will also include the Choestoea Creek, Chickasaw Point Subdivision, Eastanollee Creek and the Tuglaoo River shoreline.

"Kroeger Marine will have some hooks available for attaching to the flotation blocks to make the towing of the blocks a little easier, but if folks have something they think will work just as well they bring that as well. We think the clean up will go no later than one o'clock Friday," she said.

The south union boat ramp is located off highway 11 in Oconee County off exit one.

Volunteers are asked to be at the boat ramp by 9 a.m. on Friday. With another holiday coming up, all state and local law enforcement will be participating in the Fourth of July Operation Zero Tolerance Initiative.

Operation Zero Tolerance is a statewide enforcement program against drunk and drug-using drivers by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

In Lavonia, police will be conducting saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints beginning this week, according to Lavonia Police Chief Randy Shirley.

"We plan to start this week with the saturation patrols and checkpoint with the hope of identifying and removing drug and drugged drivers from our roads here in Lavonia," Shirley said.

Every holiday weekend, thousands of Americans choose to drive after drinking alcohol or using drugs.

Here in Georgia, more than 500 deaths per year occur as the result of drinking and driving.

In Lavonia, Chief Shirley said that number is actually starting to drop because of tough enforcement of state laws.

"For the last six years, we've really been attacking the seatbelt and DUIs very aggressively here in Lavonia and our numbers of cases have gone down. In the first year, they went down dramatically. We also saw a big drop in the first six months of this year," he said.

Operation Zero Tolerance runs through Saturday, July 8^th.

Drivers arrested for drunk or drugged driving could lose their licenses, and face jail time.

Toccoa is one of a 78 cities in Georgia being recognized by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs this week for their community’s downtown development programs.

All 78 cities received accreditation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street program.

The awards were given during a breakfast event Sunday at the Georiga Municipal Association Convention in Savannah.

In addition, five cities were designated into the Georgia Main Street/Better Hometown program.

During the presentation, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Mike Beatty said a downtown area can be either an asset or a liability to a community in its effort to recruit new businesses or residents.

During the presentation Sunday, Toccoa was recognized for achieving "National Main Street" Accreditation.

The Main Street Program uses a comprehensive revitalization process originated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

In 1980, Georgia became one of six pilot states to launch a statewide Main Street program of downtown economic development. 

According to the Department of Community Affairs, since Georgia's programs were launched in 1980 and through 2006, the state and participating local governments have invested $561.3 million in their downtowns. 

This public investment has been followed by $1.2 billion in private investment dollars.

For those Northeast Georgia residents who appreciate art and who have an exceptional understanding of those artists who have disabilities, an exhibit of art at the Jane Hurt Yarn Center at Tallulah Gorge State Park is a must see.

The display is the 22^nd annual Georgia Artists with Disabilities Inc. statewide tour and exhibit.

Among the entries in the 2006-2007 tour are paintings, photographs, wood carvings, pottery/clay, jewelry, sculptures and stained glass. The nine-city tour began last October and ends in Tallulah Falls July 15^th.

Judging the exhibit series was Stella Lange, an Atlanta artist who paints in watercolor and oil; Jim McLean, former chairman of the La Grange College Art Department and faculty member at Georgia State University and Art Design for 28 years; and Rosalind Dorothy Ragans, former public schools art teacher and developer of the "Art Talk" curriculum for the Marva Pittman School at Georgia Southern University.

Georgia Artists with Disabilities Inc. was founded in 1985 by the Pilot Clubs of Metro Atlanta and is supported by the Georgia District Pilot Clubs. The goal of the Pilot International Foundation is "full citizenship for people who are disabled".

For more information on the display, you may contact Nina Fry at 706-754-7981.

COMMITTEE DECIDES ON SPLOST PROJECTS
June 25, 2007

The Special Local Option Sales Tax study committee is ready with their list of project recommendations to the county. On Friday, the committee met for about three hours to decide how to slash $45-million in proposed projects to just $24-million.

Among the projects proposed by the community included an Olympic swim facility similar to the one in Habersham County, a new Georgia State Patrol post, new patrol cars for the Stephens County Sheriff’s office, a farmers market, monies for the Stephens County Historical Society, and a performing arts center.

Of the public suggestions, the Historic Society’s requests, the farmers market, and the performing arts center received the most attention and were accepted as projects by the SPLOST V study committee.

The rest of the projects decided upon include $3.7 million to build out the Hayestone-Brady Industrial Park in the hopes of attracting new industry and jobs to the community. $3.7 million for county and Toccoa fire department improvements and about $8.9 million for road improvements and sewer and water expansion and improvements in the County, Toccoa, and the town of Martin.

"I think we've come up with an extremely good list," City manager Billy Morse noted after the meeting. "That will have a positive impact on the citizens. Obviously, that is something though that will have to be voted on. We have done our best to come forward with a listing of projects that meets the needs of this community, and these are needs. These are things that, more than likely, will have to be done with tax dollars at some point in time and in my opinion the best tax dollars to use for these kinds of projects is the sale tax," he concluded

The project list will now be turned over to the county commission for their review.

"There were a large variety of needs and requests. I think what we have prepared to go forward to the commission is a good mix of needed and important projects for this county and community," County Administrator Darrell Hampton said.

The County has until mid-July to formulate a final list and submit it to the state for approval.

SPLOST MONEY WOULD HELP BRING JOBS TO STEPHENS COUNTY
June 25, 2007

One of the most discussed projects of the SPLOST V committee Friday was the development of the Hayestone-Brady Industrial park.

The Stephens County Development Authority had originally requested some $6.7 million for the park, which, except for Caterpillar, has no other business in it.

Hayestone-Brady consists of about 350 acres, 250 of which can be developed.

For years, members of the Development Authority have tried to lure new businesses there, but because it has no roads, sewer, or water companies are not interested.

Development Authority Volunteer Member Cam Parker said over the years, the county has lost just about every prospect for the park because of a lack of infrastructure.

"For ten years, we've been carrying folks out there and showing them what we plan to do at Hayestone-Brady and asked them to picture what they're building would look like," Parker said. "We're asking them to imagine a road, imagine streets, imagine infrastructure. They leave us and go to another county's industrial park where they can park on the road their facility would be on, the infrastructure is there, and the building pad is ready. They see very little risk there. So, what we've actually done is help other counties locate projects because we've made their industrial parks look better than ours," he concluded.

Parker told the study committee that the SPLOST money would give the development authority the initial money to begin developing the park.

Parker said it would serve as the foundation for future funding.

"The money that is dedicated to the Development Authority, we will work diligently to match that money with state and federal grants to make it stretch further than what we have. Right now, there is not enough money to build the park out completely, but we have not asked for that. We are assuming that we will let projects drive grant dollars to go with these to actually build the park. The nightmare scenario is to be halfway done and not be able to complete it. We didn't want to get ourselves into a situation like that," he said.

Last week, a groundbreaking ceremony kicked of an agreement with Atlanta developer Rooker and Associates to build a series of spec buildings at Hayestone-Brady.

The development of Hayestone-Brady will give Stephens County a viable way to bring in new industry and jobs to the community, according to Development Authority director Mitch Griggs.

BOWEN & WATSON RECEIVES STATE AWARD
June 25, 2007

The local construction firm of Bowen & Watson was recognized recently by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the best construction companies in Georgia.

Bowen & Watson recently received the "Build Georgia Award."

The Georgia branch of the Associated General Contractors of America selected winners.

The Build Georgia award recognizes members of the General Contractors of America Association for their outstanding performances on projects.

Bowen & Watson received the award for their work on the new Union County Middle School.

Because the school system had an unexpected delay in state funding for the project, Bowen & Watson slowed the construction down.

Bowen & Watson earned first place in the construction management at risk category.

3-YEAR OLD BOY FOUND IN LAKE JOCASSEE
June 25, 2007

Two weeks of searching paid off Friday morning for Oconee County Emergency Services divers in the hunt for a three-year old boy who drowned when his parent’s sailboat sank in Lake Jocassee.

It happened June 8 when the boat overturned taking 3-year old Joshua Dorchak with it.

Joshua’s life jacket had been tangled in the boat’s rigging and he could not break free.

Friday morning, a volunteer diver found the boat tangled in underwater trees about 112-feet below the surface about two miles offshore.

Oconee Emergency Services Director Rodney Burdette tells WNEG that shortly after that, the body of little Joshua was found.

Family members and friends were conducting a memorial service and mass on the shoreline at the time the boy’s body was found.

The search for Joshua involved over 40 different agencies, including naval divers using sonar equipment, as well as numerous volunteers.

DHA GRANT AVAILABLE FOR RURAL MEDICAL FACILITIES
June 25, 2007

The Georgia Department of Community Health is accepting applications for three to five $200,000 to $500,000 grants to establish non-traditional, regional health care systems.

Grant applications must include at least two rural counties with a population less than 35,000 or otherwise designated as rural by legislation.

Applications for this grant are due by August 6. The mandatory offeror’s conference is scheduled for June 26. 

Check www.dch.georgia.gov for more details on this and other grants available.

POLICE NEWS
June, 25, 2007

Toccoa police are investigating a burglary that occurred at a residence on Fernside Drive.

The victim told police that a large amount of currency, some jewelry and a .32 caliber hand gun were taken in the incident. The burglary is under investigation by detectives.

It’s a good idea to either lock your vehicle or at least, keep an eye on it. Police report a couple of incidents in which vehicles are entered and items taken.

One man told police that while he was paying for gas at the Black Mountain Express, an unknown subject entered his Ford Mustang and took a book of checks. Nothing else was taken. The victim has notified the bank. The only other vehicle in the area was a 1999 or 2000 Mitsubishi SUV with a Mitsubishi decal across the top of the windshield and tinted windows.

An Eastanollee woman told officers that while she was at the Wal-Mart. Someone entered her unlocked Jeep Cherokee and took her Georgia Bulldog wallet. The wallet contained cash, her driver’s license, social security card and three different credit cards as well as her checkbook.

Another woman told officers that an unknown white male literally wrestled her groceries away from her at Wal-Mart and left the store.

FIRST "CINEMA ON SAGE" WILL SHOW TONIGHT
June 22, 2007

The first of three "Cinema on Sage" events takes place this evening on Toccoa’s Downtown Mall.

A big inflatable 30-foot screen will be erected on Sage Street in front of the Historic Stephens County Courthouse and the movie "Night at the Museum" will be shown to the public. It is a comedy that brings a museum’s "inhabitants" to life when the doors are closed at night!

Visitors are invited to come downtown and shop at the various merchants. Tours of the Stephens County Military Museum will begin at 8pm and admission is free.

Food vendors will be available along Doyle Street with several choices of snacks and meals. The vendors will begin selling their treats at 7pm.

At 8:15pm, a quiz called "Are You Smarter than Your teacher" will begin for the kids.

The movie trailers start at 8:45pm and at 9pm, the main feature begins.

Families are urged to bring blankets, chairs and mats to sit on.

The second "Cinema on Sage" will take place on July 13^th when the animated feature "Happy Feet" will be shown. The final cinema of the summer will be held August 3^rd and will be "Radio" to help usher in the upcoming high school football season.

There is no admission to any of the films. Just come, bring your family and enjoy the evening.

Plans to remove the downtown mall could be delayed a couple of weeks while the city works to find a little more money for the project.

This week, Architect Robert Benson of Robert & Company, opened the two bids for the project at the city commission meeting.

The first was from l.J. Incorporated of Columbia, South Carolina in the amount of $1.4 million dollars.

The second bid came from Martin Construction of Toccoa in the amount of $891,863 dollars.

While both bids came in under the proposed budget, it’s still more than what’s left in the Streetscape Budget, according to City Planning Commission Director Connie Tabor.

"The bids did come in with good bids and the architect said the bids met the estimates they had come up with and were on the low end of his estimates," Tabor explained.

The city received a total of 954,275 dollars in combined grants for the Downtown Restoration Project.

That amount, coupled with another $100,000 in City Matching Funds brings the total amount for the project to about $1.5 million.

Tabor said expenses are running around 1.8 million dollars.

On Thursday, the Downtown Development Authority met to discuss the shortfall.

"Our grant money and city reserve is about a little bit less than a million and our project expenses are a little bit more than a million. We also need a little bit of a contingency fund in there for the unknowns that may occur. So along with the contingency and the shortfall we are trying to come up with additional revenue sources so to provide funding so that we can complete the project," she said.

Since Toccoa is a signature community, there are grants available through State Initiative that Tabor said they will likely apply for.

They are also looking into obtaining a low interest loan from the Department of Community Affairs.

Tabor says the shortfall will not delay the street re-opening next month.

"No it shouldn’t. The downtown development authority will make a recommendation to the Toccoa City Commission and I expect their recommendation will be to move forward with the project and apply for the low interest loan funding in addition to the signature community grant funds," Tabor said.

Re-opening Doyle Street is Phase II of the total Streetscape Project and is expected to take several months to complete.

Stephens County schools are at the top of the class in North Georgia’s Regional Educational Service Agency.

At this week’s school board meeting, School Superintendent Gary Steppe said preliminary test scores found that Stephens County School bested every other county in the Pioneer RESA District.

"It’s not official, but it appears that we’ve done really well," Steppe said. "It appears our elementary and middle schools look well in comparison with other Pioneer RESA schools. Also, it appears that our high school has gone up in almost every category. So, all in all, it appears we’ve had an extremely successful school year here in Stephens County," he said.

According to State School Superintendent Kathy Cox, Georgia's high school students continued to make steady progress on all sections of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.

Cox said overall, 11^th grade students who took the graduation test for the first time this spring showed gains on the science and social studies tests and maintained high achievement levels on the English language arts and mathematics tests.

Steppe said he expects the test scores to be verified by the state and released in the coming weeks.

For years, Toccoa Fest has been a summertime tradition in Stephens County, but this year it will not happen.

Toccoa Fest is a Christian-based event that brings in contemporary Christian and gospel music groups from around the country to the lawn of Grace Baptist Church.

It also includes vendors and food.

Grace Baptist Church provides the land on their property on State Route 17, but this year, a key financial backer said he would not support it.

Grace Baptist pastor, the Reverend Ford Ash, Jr. said he then got a call from the booking agency.

"There’s a company called Newsong and they book all the bands," explained Rev. Ash. "For some reason that we still don’t know, they notified us back a few weeks ago that they were not going to do it this year. So it kind of left us holding the bag. It was too late to book artists ourselves because most of them book months in advance. So, we’re just going to regroup and have it set up for next year," he said.

Reverend Ash said the church tried on its own to line up artists for this year, but it was too late to secure the kinds of top level groups that are typically featured at Toccoa Fest.

According to Ash, a group has come together to begin working on next year’s Toccoa Fest.

Updates on how next year’s event is progressing can be seen on the Toccoa Fest web site.

Disaster preparedness and pandemic flu awareness are two reasons why the Toccoa chapter of the Northeast Georgia Red Cross is holding a community awareness day tomorrow.

The Red Cross will be at the Super Wal-mart all day Saturday.

"The community will be able to see our large disaster team van and see how we do a makeshift kitchen in the middle of a disaster. They’ll be able to talk to our disaster team captains about you can learn how to help in a disaster before we need you to help in our community during a disaster. Donations will be accepted and all the money we raise Saturday will go back into our disaster relief fund and will stay in Stephens County," explained Red Cross Communications Officer for Toccoa Jennifer Mangiapane.

Part of the event will include an emergency response vehicle and disaster response team.

"Halfway through our year last year, our fiscal year, we had already given out all of the money allocated in all of the county. That’s how many fires we had. So, what we’re trying to do is not only replenish what we’ve already used to assist people, but also to build up a reserve fund in our disaster relief fund so that when a disaster happens, we don’t have to wait for people to give money, we’ll already have it in the fund," explained Mangiapane.

In addition, information on pandemic flu will also be available and Wal-mart will have a list of items you can buy to prepare for a disaster or pandemic flu outbreak.

If you’re an angler, prepare for some low trout streams this summer.

Extremely low stream flows and rapidly rising water temperatures are causing changes in Georgia's trout stocking program, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  

Because of the drought, the Department of Natural Resources says trout stocking managers are expected to alter this year's stocking program, resulting in accelerated stocking efforts on some streams and discontinued stocking efforts on others.

Trout Stocking Coordinator Perry Thompson tells WNEG they’re gearing up to stock more trout in June while Georgia still has adequate stream flows and less trout in July and August.  

Thompson said that will make for some good fishing in the next month.  

It will also allow the Wildlife Resources Division to hold only the number of trout that hatcheries can support, given the warmer water and lower flows.

For updates on trout stocking or stream conditions, call the WRD Lake Burton Trout Hatchery at (706) 947-3112, from 8:00am - 4:30pm or go to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources web site at www.gofishgeorgia.com .

The unemployment rate in Georgia remained unchanged for May at 4.1%.

The State’s rate was two-tenths of one percent lower than the U.S. unadjusted rate of 4.3%.

While the state’s rate was unchanged in May, it was down four-tenths of one percent over the year, from 4.5% in May of 2006.

From April to May of 2007, Georgia added 14,400 payroll jobs, primarily in
trade and the service-related industries.

The Stephens County School Board has announced several personnel changes and promotions.

Yesterday, School Superintendent Gary Steppe said Toccoa Elementary Principal Sherri Whiten has been promoted to Assistant School Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for Pre-K through grade 12.

Over her teaching career in Stephens County, Whiten has served as a teacher at Big A Elementary and the middle school. She was also assistant principal at the middle school before becoming principal of Toccoa Elementary.

In another move, the Board appointed former Eastanollee Elementary School Principal Bob Stowe as the new Director of Learning and Assessment.

Stowe had been principal at Eastanollee Elementary for 19 years before announcing his retirement. He was recently named a high performance principal.

During his tenure at Eastanollee, the school was recognized by the state as a Distinguished Title One School five years in a row, and received the Georgia Oglethorpe award in 2005.

Replacing Stowe as principal of Eastanollee is Jason Kaup. Kaup currently serves as Assistant Principal at the middle school.

The Board has also named Brenda Kelley as Director of Planning and Operations for the school system.

Before retiring from teaching, Kelley served for many years as the principal of the middle school, during which time the school was the first to be awarded the Governor’s Georgia Oglethorpe Award for Excellence.

Members of the school board want answers from the State Department of Revenue as to why Special Local Option Sales Tax revenue funds have been slowly decreasing over the past two years.

At this week’s school board meeting, School Superintendent Gary Steppe said last month’s revenue was the biggest decrease they’ve seen so far.

Steppe said SPLOST revenue for each month in 2007 has been significantly less than at the same time last year. For example, SPLOST revenue for March 2007 was $268-thousand dollars.

In March 2006, it was $298-thousand.

Steppe said he contacted the revenue department, but did not get what he felt was a satisfactory answer.

Now board member James Thomas said it makes no sense that with new stores like the super Wal-mart, Stephens County would be getting less money.

"We cannot have less sales now than we did a year ago and lower than the year before that. Somehow, it is either being recorded incorrectly or there is an error somewhere because we are not getting our fair share of the money compared to what we did last year or the year before. Traditionally, the (Georgia) Department of Revenue has had serious problems in accounting for their money and i think this may be another one," Thomas asserted.

Stephens County, like most municipalities, depends on SPLOST sales tax revenue to fund a wide variety of projects it would not be able to fund otherwise. Part of the SPLOST revenue goes to the school system.

During the discussion, Thomas called for a full investigation.

"One way we can do it is to get a poll from our retailers and if their sales are down this year compared to last year and the year before then that will lend credibility to the report," Thomas said. "But if their sales aren't down, and I’m talking about the major retailers, such as Wal-mart, Ingles, and the grocery stores. If their sales are up or level from last year, then there's a serious problem in them forwarding us the money," he said.

Steppe said other school districts in north Georgia are also facing the same problem.

He estimates the school system’s share of the current penny tax revenue should be at least $300,000 a month based on the new and expanded retail businesses in the county.

Years of work and planning are beginning to pay off for Hayestone-Brady Industrial Park on SR17 and the Stephens County Development Authority.

Yesterday, the Authority held a groundbreaking at the park for the first what is hoped would be a number of industrial spec buildings.

Spec buildings are office and warehouse buildings built in an effort to attract new business and industry. They are basic structures that a company can outfit to suit their needs.

"This has been in the planning stage ever since we hired Mitch Griggs two years ago," explained Authority president Bob Defenbaugh. "He’s done a great job in recruiting Rooker to work with us. It is also the result of the finance committee headed by Cam Parker to develop this industrial park. As you know, we are out of space. We need more buildings to attract more people and we hope this will be the start of something big," he concluded.

Atlanta-based Rooker and Associates are building the spec buildings. The company has been building commercial properties in the Atlanta area since the 1960s and in recent years, has expanded their scope to include outlying area such as Jackson, Banks, and Franklin counties.

Elbert Rivers is president of their Properties Division. Rivers said his firm is excited about this project.

"We see a wonderful opportunity to join with the community and put up a speculative building. We feel very confident we will find a user for the building in a short period. The hopes and plans are that once we have someone in this building, we'll just go next door and start on the next site and just keep moving through the park," he said.

Because this is a partnership between the County and Rooker, the County road department is providing the initial grading service for the site, which is located at the corner of SR17 and Hayes-Wilbanks Road.

"The county, out of the goodness of their heart volunteered to do the initial grading for the site in conjunction with the development authority for rooker," Commission chair Ken Peeples said. "So, we're extremely happy that the road department of Stephens County is devoting all this equipment, time, and expense to prepare this site for the spec building," he said.

This first spec building will be some 80,000 square feet with room to expand to 240,000 square feet. Estimated completion date is November 2007.

Toccoa police and Hartwell Railroad authorities want to talk to the driver of a commercial truck they say broke the railroad crossing arms at the Elberton-Broad Streets intersection.

It happened Friday, June 15.

A Hartwell railroad worker told police the truck driver tried to drive around the arms when they were down to avoid having to wait for the train to pass. When he did, his trailer was caught on one of the arms and broke it. The trucker did not attempt to stop but kept on driving.

The worker was able to get a description of the truck and a tag number. It belonged to ITLX Integrated Transportation Logistics in North Carolina.

Officers called the trucking company, but the manager would not give them any information on the identity of the driver. Investigators continue to work this case, and so far, no arrests have been made.

On Lake Jocassee in Oconee County, SC, recovery efforts continue in the search for a missing 3-year old who disappeared almost two weeks ago when the family sailboat he was on sank.

Yesterday, FBI technicians and navy divers were released, but divers from the South Carolina department of natural resources have to come to help with the search.

"They've run the kind of sonar they had available. They have run all those, which has helped us to eliminate many areas. Once we got through with that, they took their equipment and data. Some things that caught their eye before they left they gave us the coordinates and information. They've been in contact and they're re-evaluating the data and running it through some other processes with individuals who are examining the same data," Oconee Emergency Services Director Rodney Burdette explained.

Jocasse is a man-made lake. Searchers are laying underwater grids and searching underwater one section at a time.

However, that grid covers about 7,000 acres above the water and about twice that under the water, which is making the search extremely difficult.

"The things are making it difficult is there's a thick forest under this lake. The same mountainous terrain you see above the lake is also under the water. In the areas of the lake where we're working, this lake runs from 30-feet near the shoreline and then very quickly starts dropping off deeper and deeper and runs out some 200-feet down," Burdette explained.

Burdette says they will continue to search for Joshua Dorchak for as long as it takes.

The victim said the money was hidden in the bedroom and the bedroom door had been locked. Deputies found the lock to the bedroom had been picked. The investigation continues and so far, authorities have not made any arrests.

_________________________________________________

Another copper wire theft. This time at a home on Oak Valley Road. The victim told deputies that the entire air conditioning unit had been ripped out and the lines cut. The unit is valued at $1,500.

As expected, it’s a run-off for the 10^th congressional seat, but it’s not clear yet exactly who will go up against Frontrunner Republican Candidate Jim Whitehead.

With 96% of the votes in from all 10^th district counties, the Secretary of State’s office has Whitehead with 23,570 votes or 43.5% of the votes.

But it’s almost a tie for second place and that’s what we’re all waiting on right now.

Republican Paul Broun has 11,203 votes or 20.7% and Democrat James Marlow has 11,016 votes or 20.3% of the vote.

The candidate who will go up against Whitehead will not be known for certain until after the race has been certified by the Secretary of State’s office later this month.

Here in Stephens County the voting broke down this way:

Jim Whitehead (R) 564
James Marlow, Jr. (D) 316
Paul Broun (R) 231
Denise Freeman (D) 126
Bill Greene (R) 125
Nate Pulliam (R) 46
Jim Sendelbach (L) 20
Eric Underwood (R) 16
Evita Paschall (D) 14
Mark Myers (R) 5

The results for this race so far are unofficial and incomplete until certified by both county election superintendents and the Secretary of State, a process that will not be completed until the week of June 25^th.

These unofficial returns, transmitted by counties to the Secretary of State’s data center on election night are under continuous review for formatting accuracy and are subject to correction at any time.

The run-off election will be held July 17^th.

"The re-opening of Doyle Street!"

With that fanfare Monday night, Toccoa mayor David Austin introduced the opening of the construction bids for the next phase of that project.

David Benson, engineer in charge of the re-opening and redesign of downtown Toccoa, opened two bids at Monday’s City Commission meeting.

The first bid came from L.J., Inc. of Columbia, SC in the amount of $1.4 million.

The second came from Martin Construction Company of Toccoa in the amount of $891,863.

"L.J. is well-known in the area and I have had the pleasure of working with them on a project in Hartwell where they’re finishing up a similar project in their downtown," noted David Benson, president of Benson & Associates, Inc.

City staff will review both bids and Benson will check them for accuracy.

Afterwards, the low bidder will be selected.

But what all the commissioners really wanted to know was when does the actual work begin?

"Once the bid is awarded then that company will be notified. They then have to come in and sign the contracts. Those will be turned over to the City attorney for approval and that whole process should take a couple of weeks," Benson said.

Benson said the target date to begin taking out the old mall and replacing it with a new street is July 9^th.

He said based on the bids, and the process so far, that is very do-able.

Re-opening Doyle Street is Phase II of what is known as the Streetscape Project.

Toccoa received a total of $1.5 million in grants from state and federal agencies for the project.

Another meeting of the Special Local Option Sales Tax study committee takes place this afternoon to get more public input on proposed projects.

Yesterday, School Superintendent Gary Steppe met briefly with members of the committee to go over in more detail the school board’s desire to build a proposed performing arts center on the campus of the new high school.

Steppe outlined four possible scenarios drawn up by Buckley & Associates, the architects for the new school project.

With the current proposed $44-million dollar budget for the new high school, about $3.5 million would be allocated for an auditorium.

Under the first design, the new high school would include an attached 600-seat attached auditorium that would have a shared lobby that lead to a gymnasium, offices, restrooms, and a concession stand.

The second design would be the same, but the auditorium would be separate from the school.

Under the third design proposal, the auditorium would become a 1,500-seat full theatre with an orchestra pit, dressing rooms, rehearsal studios, full theatre lighting, a workshop and visual arts gallery.

Total cost would be $9.5 million dollars.

The fourth option would be the same as the third, but with 1,800 seats at a cost of $10.2 million.

Under the last two options, the balance of the money would come from the proposed SPLOST V.

Steppe says a performing arts center would offer a lot of cultural opportunities for students and the community.

Tonight, the committee will define the estimated SPLOST V revenues and hear from any citizen who wishes to comment.

The meeting takes place in the courthouse annex at 5p.m.

A Toccoa man, behind bars for violating his probation, plead guilty last week to two counts of sexual battery.

The incident happened earlier this year when 21-year old Daryl Moon was seen trying to grab at the private parts of two middle school girls as they got off the school bus.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told WNEG she saw him and attempted to chase him, but he got away.

Police later found Moon at the Budget Inn where he was later positively identified by the two victims.

In April, Judge Ernest Woods revoked his probation on a previous breaking and entering conviction and he was returned to prison.

Last December, Moon allegedly attempted to grab another woman, a former employee of AM630 WNEG, as she was walking from the post office.

While before Judge Ernest Woods in April, Moon submitted a handwritten letter in which he apologized for his behavior and admitted he had a problem.

He asked he be allowed to receive psychological help during his time in prison.

Last week, the judge sentenced moon to five years in prison on the first count and five years probation on the second count.

He will also receive sex offender counseling and will be registered as a sex offender.

A Stephens County High School student is facing drug charges after he was allegedly caught with drugs on campus.

It happened last Thursday.

According to sheriff’s deputies who responded, the student was caught in the boys’ bathroom with a plastic bag of what appeared to be marijuana.

The student tried to hide the baggie from a teacher by putting it behind his back.

When asked what he had, the student refused to answer or hand it over.

The student was taken to the principal’s office and while on the way tried to put the baggie in a flower pot in the courtyard, but was unsuccessful.

Once in the office, the student was asked to empty his pockets, which were empty.

Deputies found the baggie hidden in the sofa cushions.

The student was arrested and charged with drug possession.

He is identified as 17-year old Jonathon Zimmerman of Mount Airy.

Stephens County investigators may have a suspect in the burglary of a mobile home.

It happened in May at a home on Hayes Road.

The homeowner came home to discover the house had been damaged and burglarized.

Six of the windows were smashed and two door frames torn off.

Taken was the hot water heater and the heating system.

All of the copper wiring had been ripped out of the home as well.

In the garage, thieves took a number of Harley Davidson parts including a springer frontend, sporter gas tanks and various other parts.

They also took a number of tools and punched holes in the garage wall.

Officers have the name of a suspect, but have not yet made an arrest.

It promises to be light turnout today in the 10^th Congressional District race.

By noon, only 284 Stephens County voters, or 6% of the registered voters here had cast a ballot.

Voters in 21 counties in Northeast Georgia are going to the polls to select a new representative to replace the late Charlie Norwood (R-Augusta), who died in February after a long illness.

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel is predicting only about 10% of the registered voters in the district will bother to cast a ballot today.

Handel’s office bases their prediction on the absentee ballot requests, early voting numbers, newly processed voter registrations, and reports from elections officials across the district.

That tracks with Stephens County where last week, only about 4% of the registered voters cast their ballots early.

"We had about 331 turn out for advance voting last week. We ended up with about 173 paper absentee ballots. So we’re at 500 for absentee and advance voting," Kelley said.

One reason for the expected low turnout is the daunting number of candidates and the short campaign.

Ten candidates are running for office.

Six are Republicans.

They are Erik Underwood from Atlanta; Dr. Paul Broun from Athens; former state senator Jim Whitehead from Evans, GA; Mark Myers of Loganville, GA; Bill Greene from Braselton, GA; and retired U.S. Army officer Nate Pulliam from Conyers, GA.

The three Democrats include James Marlow, Jr. of Lincolnton, GA; Denise Freeman of Augusta; and Evita Paschall from Evans, GA.

One Libertarian also qualified.

He is Jim Sendelbach of Conyers, GA.

Polls open today at 7 a.m. And close at 7 p.m.

One of 17 forms of identification will be required.

"You have to have type of ID," explained Stephens County Registrar Theresa Kelley. "It doesn’t have to be a photo ID, but it does have to be some type of identification, such as a driver’s license or utility bill that verifies your address. There shouldn’t be a long line today," she said.

The new Georgia law requiring one of six forms of photo identification will not go into effect until the next special election in September.

Tune in to AM630 WNEG after the polls close for special election result updates.

When do we begin using our new e-911 address as our mailing address?

The process to make the switchover has been slow and complicated and on Monday, County commissioners got an update from the e-911 interim director, Rex Nelms and representatives from the U.S. Postal Service in Atlanta.

While the new e-911 addresses were sent to the Postal Service several months ago, Debbie Lombardo, manager of address management for the Postal Service, said they were sent to the post office in the wrong form.

Lombardo said the new addresses have to be keyed into their computer manually.

E-911 Interim Director Rex Nelms said it should take him about two weeks to redo the list and put it on CD ROM.

"Basically, I have to convert the fields in the database to show a street name vs. a street ID number," Nelms explained. "The street ID numbers in our system were designed for computer recognition vs. human recognition. So it’s a matter of cross-referencing and converting them over. Then I have to get them a working set of maps indicating the street number and the street they’re on," he said.

Nelms will also be sending them hard copies of the new maps, which show the new addresses and indicate whether the streets are private drives.

At a meeting with the commission last fall, Toccoa Postmaster Mike Alford and Lombardo said it would take about a year to complete the switch.

Alford said with the changes requested, the entire process should be complete by the fall – over a year behind schedule.

"From what’s been said today and what we’ve talked about, it looks like it will be about three or four months out by the time that we get all the necessary paperwork that we need and the district postal service is able to complete their work. It’s going to be about three or four months," explained Toccoa Postmaster Michael Alford.

Alford said once all of the new addresses have been converted, he will notify the public.

"I’ll put a letter out at that time, once we’ve gotten confirmation from the district level – our Address Management people – that we are complete. Then I’ll put the letter out to all the residents in Toccoa-Stephens County that can use their new emergency number as their new mailing address," Alford said.

Commissioners appeared to be happy with the report from the Postal Service.

They were also happy with the brief report from Barry Church on the e-911 system as it’s working now.

A former Habersham County e-911 director, Church was contracted by the County to review the policies and procedures of the Stephens County e-911 system and make recommendations.

On Monday, Church said he had no recommendations and credited Nelms with cleaning up and straightening out problems that existed when he took over last winter.

A program that for the past five years, has helped dozens of young people get back in school, has shut down.

Yesterday, the Stephens County Recovery Academy issued a statement announcing they had run out of money.

Board member Kim Hudgins read a statement from former director Jon Gailor.

"For the past two and a half years, the Stephens County Recovery Academy has operated without grant funds. Operations were financed mainly by corporate donations and donations from individuals in the community. With the continued struggle to raise funds, we felt that at this time it would be best to go ahead and close the academy," Hudgins stated.

The program was originally funded by the federal government and operated successfully for some five years before the grant money ran out.

For the past two years, the Recovery Academy has operated without any grant funding and has struggled to stay open.

Hudgins tells WNEG that even with the contributions from individuals and corporate sponsors, it was not enough to fully fund the program, which required about $30,000 a month to operate.

Over the last year, Gailor went without a salary in order to pay the salaries of staff members.

The board made one last ditch attempt in April to garner community support warning the program would close if it could not raise more money.

However, their plea fell on deaf ears.

City commissioner Andy Pavliscsak told the Recovery Academy board that the City did not feel the program was their problem.

County Administrator Darrell Hampton said he was advised that it was illegal for the county to get involved.

And Assistant School Superintendent Ed Whitworth said the school board could not help because the students are no longer in school.

Hudgins said since much of the programs had to be cut to remain open, the board felt the program would not benefit the students who needed it.

She said the board hopes to look at the program again in the future and perhaps find another way to fund it.

Another Special Local Option Sales Tax committee meeting is set for this afternoon at the Courthouse Annex.

This time, the committee will hear once again from school superintendent Gary Steppe regarding the idea of building a performing arts and civic center on the campus of the new Stephens County High School.

The performing arts center would be similar to what Franklin County did when they built their new high school.

While the school system does not have final plans for the high school, Steppe has already provided detailed estimates to the committee from the system's architect.

Steppe said those estimates show that the cost of a typical high school auditorium and associated facilities could run between $3 and $4 million. 

That money, combined with the proposed $5 million from a SPLOST V budget, would provide between $8 and $9 million to construct the arts center.

The proposed facility would include a 1500 seat auditorium, a large stage with an orchestra pit, and a fly system for large props and back screens.

County and city commissioners hope the project will cause voters to want to pass another SPLOST referendum in September.

The study committee is working to pare down $45,460,000 in proposed projects to just $24-million – the amount of revenue a new SPLOST is expected to generate over a six years period.

Two more meetings are planned this week before the committee presents a final list of proposed projects.

Tomorrow, the committee will get more public input in a meeting at 5 p.m. and on Friday, they plan to finalize their list of projects before submitting them to the state for approval.

If approved, a referendum will go on the September ballot in a special election.

Today’s meeting takes place at 2 p.m. in the Courthouse Annex room 201.

A Stephens County man will spend the next seven years behind bars, after pleading guilty to aggravated child molestation in Stephens County Superior Court.

Kent Rothell Keels was to have gone on trial this week for the molestation of his girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter.

It happened about a year ago, according to Stephens County Assistant District Attorney Rick Bridgeman.

"The victim came forward last year and alleged that Mr. Keels had committed acts of child molestation upon her. The case stood ready for trial until last week when Mr. Keels agreed to take a polygraph exam administered by the GBI," explained Bridgeman.

The results of the polygraph were to be used as evidence in the trial.

However, once he learned that the polygraph had indicated his answers were deceptive, Keels chose to plead guilty.

Yesterday, he was sentenced by Chief Judge Earnest Woods III.

"Judge Woods sentenced him to twenty years, with the first seven to serve in prison. He’ll be required to complete all the standard sex offender conditions and he’ll be a registered sex offender for the next twenty years," Bridgeman said.

Keels had no prior record of child molestation.

In Commerce, the BJC Medical Center, with a 20-acre donation of land by Chatham Holdings Corporation, will seek local government backing to build a new $37 million hospital.

According to a report in the Norton Native Intelligence, David Chatham, president and chief executive officer of Chatham Holdings, an Atlanta-based development firm, has offered to donate to 20 acres of its 266-acre tract located between Old U.S. 441 and U.S. 441 on the north side of Commerce to build the new facility.

The property is zoned for a mixed-use development that originally included 505 units of housing and 137 acres of commercial property.

That plan would be drastically reduced or even eliminated under the new proposal. 

The offer to place BJC Medical Center on the site suggests a shift in Chatham's focus from retail to medical office development, and BJC officials say Chatham has mentioned converting the planned housing units to an over-55 development.

HOSPITAL RENOVATION PHASE CHANGE, BUT ON SCHEDULE
June 19, 2007

The renovation of the older patient rooms at Stephens County Hospital is coming along on schedule, according to Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell.

There is a slight change in the Phase II and Phase III portions of the project, as Gambrell indicated. Officials discovered a slight problem with the original plan and have made some adjustments.

"Instead of Phase II being the front rooms and Phase III being the back patient rooms, we’ve all kind of figured out that’s not going to work." Gambrell explained. "So what we’re going to do is Phase II is going to be both the front and back rooms in the middle of the hallway on the second and third floor. Then Phase III will be the rooms on the ends closest to the emergency room on both Phases II and III. And the reason for that is because we figured out that the hallway in the old plan would have to be split in half by a dust partition, which would mean we would be unable to move stretchers down the hallway."

Phase I of the project is still scheduled for completion by the end of August. Gambrell indicated this latest change will mean a few more steps for hospital personnel in getting around the construction work, but it is not a major concern.

STATE PATROL BUSY MONDAY
June 19, 2007

Post 7 of the state patrol was pretty busy Monday, investigating four accidents in Stephens County and one in Habersham County. Those accidents resulted in just a couple of minor injuries.

One of those accidents occurred on Highway 17 at Hayes-Wilbanks Road just after 6:00 pm yesterday evening.

A Ford F-250 truck, driven by Jason Ricci of Toccoa collided with a Chevy 1500, driven by George Ware also of Toccoa. The patrol indicated that no one was injured in the accident.

POLICE NEWS
June 19, 2007

The Stephens County Sheriff’s office is investigating some thefts that have occurred on Sunset Road.

In one instance, at a mobile home park, someone entered the unit and took two sets of movies, valued at $200 and some miscellaneous food items valued at about $10.

In another incident a window unit air conditioner was taken from a residence on Sunset Road.

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Someone apparently entered an RV parked on Oak Valley Road and took some change in a jar, a blue tarp and some tie downs.

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The Sheriff’s office is investigating the theft of 100 shelving units from Alexander Entertainment on Industrial Boulevard. The shelves were located in the back of the building. The intruder apparently cut the chain on the fence, then replaced the chain to make it look like everything was in place. The shelves reportedly have "Lowes" sticker on them. They were valued at about $8000.

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More copper wiring has been reported taken from a residence on Providence Road in Martin. The victim indicated that about 15 feet of copper wiring was taken. He stated that he had not been at the residence for a couple of months.

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And a man reported some tools were taken from his truck which was parked on Apache Drive in Eastanollee. The vehicle did not have any damage to it and the victim said the truck was locked and he was the only one who had the key. The tools were valued at $200.

Another delay in the murder trial of Van Allen Caffee.

Caffee and his nephew, 31-year old Raheem Shands, are accused of the July 2006 murder of 57-year old James Robert Lewis of Toccoa.

Caffee’s trial was to have begun today, but Assistant District Attorney Rick Bridgeman tells WNEG a key witness in the case is not available this week.

Bridgeman said that witness is the GBI Medical Examiner who conducted the autopsy on Lewis.

He is out of town this week, so the trial has now been pushed back to September.

Lewis’ body was found a day after his murder by a couple walking their dog along a dirt road off Black Mountain Road.

His hands had been tied behind his back and an autopsy later determined death was caused by at least one gunshot wound to the head.

In April, Raheem Shands plead guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and to kidnapping in exchange for his testimony against Caffee.

At the time of his plea, Shands told Superior Court Judge Ernest Woods III that Caffee fired the shots that killed Lewis after the pair fought outside of Lewis’ home.

Shands still does not know what his sentence will be and will not know until after Caffee’s trial ends.  

In addition, two other murder trials on the court calendar have been continued.

One is the re-trial of Steve Langlands.

In 2004, the 37-year old Langlands was found guilty of the August 2001 murder of Anthony Paleaez.

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years, but his attorney, Brian Steel argued there was key evidence left out of the original trial.

Lewis petitioned for and won a new trial for his client. Langlands was then re-indicted for that murder last October.

Since then, his new attorney, James Staples has been able to put the trial off by filing motions with the State Supreme Court.

However, Assistant District Attorney Rick Bridgeman said the Supreme Court rejected Langland’s latest appeal last month, but paperwork from the state has not yet made it to the Clerk of Court’s office.

"The cases will be ready for trial as soon as the state Supreme Court sends its remitter back to the trial court, which will probably be in several weeks. So we expect the Langlands case to go to trial in judge Cornwall’s next term of court," explained Bridgeman.

Moreover, the murder trial of Roger Gary Jackson has been delayed until the fall.

Both the defense and prosecution are waiting for the results of certain evidence from the GBI Crime Lab.

According to Bridgeman, results of ballistic tests and DNA tests have not come back yet. Jackson’s trial has now been pushed back to October.

County Commissioners will be meeting this afternoon with U.S. Postal officials to get an update on the E-911 address changes.

Last fall, Toccoa Post Master Mike Alford and Postal Service Representative Debbie Lombardo, manager of address management for the Atlanta district, met with commissioners to discuss the switchover from the current addresses to the new E-911 addresses.

At the time, commissioners were told it would take about a year to complete the switch. Today, commissioners will get an update on how the address changeover is progressing.

Commissioners will also hear from Barry Church, former Habersham County E-911 director. Church was contracted to review policies and procedures at the Stephens County E-911 and make recommendations.

The commission will get those recommendations this afternoon.

Today’s called meeting takes place in the County Commission meeting room of the Courthouse Annex and begins at 3:30pm.

You may have noticed grading going on at the corner of SR17 and the Hayes-Wilbanks Road. The Atlanta firm of Rooker & Associates has contracted with Stephens County to construct a series of spec buildings on the campus of the industrial park.

According to Stephens County Development Authority director Mitch Griggs, it’s part of the overall development plan of the park. This first building will be some 80,000 square feet, but Griggs said there will be room to expand it.

"We’ve built in a lot of flexibility with this building," he explained. "You have to do that because you don’t know who your potential buyer will be. So, you have to make it as attractive as possible to as many potential buyers as possible. So, this building will be 80,000 square feet, but can be expanded to 240,000 square feet," he said.

Another unique feature of the building is that it will have rail spur access.

"We are bringing a rail spur from Hartwell Railroad near Wolf Pit Road. We’ll bring it across 17 and into the park, which is going to be a tremendous advantage for the industrial park to be able to serve tenants and clients that need rail access," he said.

The current SR17 will become a county road once the new four-lane 17 is built, which will run through Hayestone-Brady.

Griggs said the plan is build a 1,000-foot rail spur into the park at a cost of about $500,000. The rail spur is expected to be paid for with funds from the new SPLOST V, if it passes.

Meantime, the engineering firm of Carter and Sloup continue their work on a master design plan for Hayestone-Brady.

Griggs tells WNEG he expects that master design to be completed by the end of summer.

The City of Toccoa is expected to end the fiscal year on a high note – financially. That is according to city Finance Director Emory Stephens.

In his monthly address to commissioners last week, Stephens said he expects the city have about $1.5 million in the General Fund by June 30.

"We’ve been treading water for the past few years and holding our own, but this year it looks like the city is going to have a positive cash flow over the entire fiscal year. We began the year with about $830,000 last July 1. Eleven months later, we had a little over $2-million on May 31. Although I would expect a negative cash flow during June, we should end the year with substantially more money than when we began," Stephens commented.

However, Stephens said the month of June itself will probably be in the red. That is because gas sales drop off in the warmer months, but Stephens said even with the drop off, FY2007 will go down as one of the best years the city has had in some time.

Ending the year with more than a million in the bank also bodes well for the start of FY08, according to Stephens.

"I’m optimistic. I do not know whether it will improve, but I certainly am optimistic about the year. The city still has a very tight budget, with very little money available for capital projects. I think that it will take continued vigilance to see that we maintain a good financial position. I think it is very easy to have a few unexpected expenditures and find that we were no longer maintaining a positive cash flow. There’s just no wiggle room," he concluded.

Despite the positive report for this fiscal year, Stephens said the City should expect more belt-tightening ahead.

Two counterfeit 100-dollar bills were discovered last week in the night deposit at Dill’s Foods in Lavonia.

Lavonia Police Chief Randy Shirley says the bills are remarkably accurate.

"The two 100-dollar bills were so good that the Northeast Georgia Bank security officer is going to send them to the Secret Service to verify that they are counterfeit. They did pass the PIN detection test. They are the older 100-dollar bills, not the new ones, but they are so good we have to send them off. However, we really won’t know for sure until we get the results back in a couple of weeks," Chief Shirley noted.

Investigators are reviewing store surveillance tape to see if they can identify a suspect in that case.

The Georgia Department of Labor says 34,543 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in May, up 2.2 percent from April.

Initial claims were down from 35,397 filed in May 2006 for an over-the-year decrease of 2.4 percent. 
                                  
The increase in claims in May was mostly due to layoffs in the service-related industries. Initial claims are considered a leading economic indicator, because they measure newly laid-off workers.

If you buy Colgate brand toothpaste, check it. Not all of the tainted toothpaste recalled by the food and drug administration this week was distributed in the Northeast and upper Midwest as has been reported.

Three people, one from Westminster, South Carolina and two from Stephens County, Georgia have come forward to say they also purchased what they thought was Colgate toothpaste, but it turned out to be the tainted counterfeit.

Kim Thompson said she bought her tube at the Dollar General store in Toccoa several weeks ago.

She said her husband opened the tube Tuesday night and accidentally swallowed some.

He has been sick ever since.

"My daughter and I were in her room and she was telling something funny and my husband got tickled and started laughing and he swallowed some of the toothpaste," explained Thompson. "We didn’t put two and two together, but all week he’s been teasing me telling me I must have poisoned him. I called the Emergency Room at 1:30 am Tuesday morning because he was doubled over in the bed sick. He drank a half bottle of Pepto Bismol, he was throwing up, diarrhea like the symptoms of a virus, but he said it felt like something had ruptured," she said.

On Thursday, a Westminster woman came forward to say she purchased a tube of contaminated toothpaste at Quality Foods in Toccoa.

This week, Kimberly Wilbanks heard news reports about the tainted Colgate toothpaste and decided to check the packaging.

"The report said it was the Colgate brand, but they said it was from Africa on the product, and there were some misspellings on the tube. With us using Colgate, I went in and I checked and sure enough, it was from Africa and the ‘fluoride’ word was misspelled," she said.

According to the FDA, the toothpaste was sold to discount stores by the MS Trading, Inc. of Bergen, New Jersey and contains the chemical di-ethylene glycol, which is found in anti-freeze.

The company told the FDA they imported the toothpaste from South Africa.

According to the trading company, has "made in South Africa" or "Kenya, East Africa" printed on the box and tube.

The tube purchased by Wilbanks a list of foreign countries and cities, such as Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan, France, Casablanca, Senegal, and Dakar, South Africa printed on the tube, along with addresses and phone numbers.

Also, there are a number of misspellings on the box and tube.

The Colgate-Palmolive Company issued a statement on their Web site this week that claims the tainted produc