CMYK Thursday, May 1, 2014
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Panoz showcases cars, museum. 3B
Advance voting for primary under way Monday was the first day voters could cast ballots in advance of the May 20 primary. In Jackson County, 37 in-person voters appeared at the Jackson County Administration Building, according to Lori A. Wurtz, who serves as supervisor of Jackson County Board of Elections & Registration. In Hall County, the first day of early voting fgot off to a slow start in the morning but picked up slightly in the afternoon. Fewer than 10 voters had cast ballots at the Hall County Government Center by 10 a.m., but that figure jumped to more than 60 by 1 p.m. and topped out at 95 just before the end of the day, according to Director of Elections Charlotte Sosebee. A number of questions about elections including the upcoming primary can be an-
swered on the website of Georgia Scretary of State Brian Kemp. Go to www.sos.ga.gov and click on Elections on the top bar. Click on the bottom right-hand box, “My Voter Page” to be taken to a page where you will enter your first initial, last name, county of residence and date of birth. “MVP is an awesome resource for Georgia voters. I wish more voters would take advantage of the wealth of information they can get on that webpage, including directions to their polling place,” said Wurtz. “Also, we strongly encourage voters to become informed about the candidates on their ballot and go to the polls prepared. By utilizing the MVP, they can see their ballot in the privacy of their home and do whatever research they feel is necessary. There are no reasons to go to the
polls uninformed.” On MVP, you can request an absentee ballot which will be mailed to you for you to complete and mail back in. If you vote in person whether in advance or on election day, remember to bring a photo ID with you. Also, now available through MVP is Online Voter Registration (OLVR referred to as “Oliver”) although the deadline has passed to be eligible to vote in the General Primary. You can take advantage of this opportunity to register and be eligible to vote in the General Election in November. “Also, if anyone discovers any of the information on the MVP to be inaccurate [for Jackson County voters] please call us at 706367-6377,” said Wurtz. “We want to know. We
urge voters to go to that site and check their personal information.” In May 20’s General Primary, voters must select a party. “We have numerous voters every GP that are confused about this. The voter must stick with the same party if there is a runoff election; however, in November the voter will vote for the ‘person’ not necessarily the party,” Wurtz said. Saturday voting will be held on May 10. In Jefferson, voters can go to the Administrative Building, located at 67 Athens St., in Jefferson, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. “We do not expect any waiting times over 5 to 10 minutes during early voting, so please come on over to the admin building and see us,” said Wurtz.
Windstream asked to provide service levels as promised By LEANNE AKIN
lakin@clickthepaper.com
Well done for Wellspring Leadership Jackson’s Tug of Love supports camp By Katie Griffin
klgriffin@clickthepaper.com
The Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Jackson class held their Tug of Love fundraising event at Crow’s Lake in Jefferson on Saturday. The event featured many teams competing over a mud pit in a tug of war which kept everyone laughing as each losing team was pulled into the mud. The funds raised were donated to Wellspring Camp and Josh and Tammy Griffin of Jefferson. “This event was a tremendous success not only in financial donations but seeing our community come together in support of a worthy cause,” said Leigh Carroll, membership sales representative for the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce and a class member. The teams competed based on their positions in the winner’s bracket and the loser’s bracket. Each team did the tug of war several times in attempt to make it to the top of the winner’s bracket. The two referees were Carroll and Leadership Jackson classmate Terri Parker. Hamburgers and hotdogs were donated by Whole Foods and Bell Family Foods. Donations for food and drinks and snow cones were ac-
See TUG OF LOVE, 3A
Katie Griffin The Paper
A tug of war competition found teams putting others into a muddy trench. Georgia Power field the first-place winning team which got a high-five of thanks from this Wellspring camper.
Windstream officials told a Monday public meeting in Jefferson that 100 percent of its broadband customers in the area will be upgraded by Sept. 30. However, concern was expressed that the two-year project to address explosive growth in Internet usage would not support future growth anticipated for Jefferson. The upgrades should eliminate speed issues some customers in the Jefferson area have experienced, however, some living in the area where customers are on new equipment shared speed tests that suggest service is still lacking. During the Jefferson City Council meeting, Jefferson Mayor Roy Plott introduced Betty Willis, who is in charge of Windstream’s governmental affairs from her Atlanta office. She is one of the company representatives with whom city officials have met about ongoing complaints about service. The company was asked to appear at a public meeting to share information about the upgrade and to listen to citizens. Willis introduced the five other Windstream representatives in attendance. Among them was William Martine, who works in broadband engineering, Scott Morris, and John Cheek, vice president of operations. “We understand there have been Internet speed issues,” said Willis, who pointed to tremendous growth in the use of devices and consumption of more band width
as the culprits for the congestion which has been created on the Windstream network. She shared the upgrade plan and also provide some company information. Windstream has customers in 48 states, has 372,400 customers in Georgia with 9,850 miles of fiber in the ground.In 2013, $74 million in capital investments were made and $3.7 million in taxes were paid. The $62.7 million payroll to 1,130 employees also went into the state’s economy. Willis said the end of the twoyear upgrade project is near, and a press release from Morris said, “The work necessary to carry out these upgrades is complex, costly and time-consuming, especially in rural areas, and we appreciate our customers’ patience.” Willis indicated work would be 59 percent complete by April 30, with another phase of 27 percent of customers being upgraded by the end of July with 100 percent by the end of September. Two new broadband remote access server (BRAS) units are now in place in Commerce where Jefferson traffic aggregates. It then goes to Atlanta to the World Wide Web. According to Willis, the congestion starts in Jefferson with the DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer), a network device. “We are migrating customers to the new network and, by Sept. 30, they will all be upgraded to new equipment,” she said. Martine then provided the tech-
See WINDSTREAM, 3A
Braselton Adopt-A-Stream gets state recognition Georgia’s largest volunteer cleanup program, Rivers Alive, named the Braselton Adopt-A-Stream program as the state’s best group working to improve waterways “one trash bag at a time.” The recent award ceremony at Zoo Atlanta recognized individuals and groups for leadership and noted that more than 27,000 volunteers cleaned more than 1800 miles of waterways. Rivers Alive is a program of the Georgia Department of Resources Environmental Protection Division. Its mission is to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters. “Rivers Alive cleanups provide important opportunities for citizens to make a big difference while volunteering just a few hours of their time,” said EPD director, Jud Turner. In Braselton, the volunteer group is coordinated by Environmental Specialist Yvette Wise. She reported collecting trash, tires, paint and a propane tank totaling 815 pounds from the creeks, Mulberry River and local roadsides during the spring Rivers Alive event held April 12. More than
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50 volunteers participating in the cleanup. “We couldn’t do this work without all the volunteers and sponsors,” said Wise. “This event brings people in our community together to raise environmental awareness and assists us in keeping our river, streams and roadways cleaner for everyone to enjoy.” The next Rivers Alive cleanup effort in the Braselton area will be Oct. 25. Volunteers are always welcome and sponsorship of Rivers Alive is encouraged. Monetary donations to Rivers Alive are used to purchase door prizes, food and beverages for the volunteers. Other items which can be donated include gift certificates or gift cards from restaurants, stores and service providers of all types. Bird houses and feeders, garden art and other outdoor-related items are also possibilities. Business promotional items including umbrellas, key chains, pens, flashlights, etc., are also welcome. For information about becoming a volunteer or being a sponsor, contact Yvette Wise by email at ywise@braselton.net or contact her office by calling 706-654-3915 ext. 1012.
Volume 8, Number 27 Obituaries 4A Pastor’s Pen 4A Police report 2A Puzzles 4B Sports 1-2B
For The Paper
Pictured at the recognition event at which the Braselton program was honored is Matt Treeter of Barrow County, Yvette Wise and Roy McHaney of Braselton and Lynn Cobb of Rivers Alive.
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