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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012
Tuesday is General Election Day Early voting continues in Georgia through 5 p.m. on Friday in advance of General Election Day on Nov. 6. With the focus on the weather impacts of Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast, eyes have been focused more on the weather than the presidential election, however, early turnout is brisk in Jackson County as well as in Hall County. On Tuesday, regular polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.. for those voters who haven’t opted to cast their ballot early. According to Jackson County Election Supervisor Lori Wurtz, some voters prefer to go to their polling location for a bit of a social occasion.
Early voting has been growing in appeal to voters with balloting in advance of election day gaining favor for convenience. Wurtz said those who want to avoid waiting in lines on election day can still vote at three early voting sites in Jackson County. The satellite voting locations in Jackson County will be open for voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 2. Sites are the auditorium of the Jackson County Administration Building on Athens Street, at the Commerce Recreation Building at 204 Carson St., and at the Braselton Municipal Building, located at 5050 Highway 53. In Hall County, the Saturday voting day attracted a steady stream of voters cast their
ballots. “We had a great turnout,” said Charlotte Sosebee, Hall County director of elections and chief registrar. “The day was pretty steady like it has been. We had a continuous line that wasn’t long, but it was steady.” In Jackson County, 399 showed up for the opportunity to cast their ballot on Saturday. “We are still seeing an average of 500 voters each day for early voting,” said Wurtz, who reports at the end of the day on Monday, there had been 6,763 voting in person with another 857 ballots mailed out. With the Secretary of State’s website experiencing some issues, there was a stretch of a 15- to 30-minute wait at some points in
Tourism boost eyed for county
Rivers Alive
Water quality is goal of cleanup
By KATIE JUSTICE kjustice@clickthepaper.com
By KATIE JUSTICE kjustice@clickthepaper.com
Katie Justice The Paper
Almost 50 volunteers showed up Saturday to help clean up the Mulberry River. The Rivers Alive Clean-up lasted from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27. Volunteers cleaned up areas along the Mulberry River and the adjacent roadways along Thompson Mill Road River walk and along Highway 124 near the Mulberry River bridge. “I grew up on rivers, and I loved it, and just want to share it with my kids,” said clean-up participant Ted Bains who brought along his two sons. “With enjoying rivers comes caring for it.” Volunteer collected everything from old tires and pipes to broken down road signs. “We all draw upon the Mulberry River — Banks County, Jackson County, Braselton. We’re all a part of it,” said Jackson County’s senior development inspector
Jackson County earlier this week. Crediting pollworker, Wurtz said everything is running smoothly. The Hall office recorded 1,467 registered voters Saturday. Although averaging a daily turnout of at least 1,000 early voters, the number is not expected to go down for Election Day. “If turnout continues as it has been for early voting, Election Day will be comparable to what it was in the 2008 election,” Sosebee said. Hall’s longest wait time has been about 20 minutes at the Elections Office off Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, the only location available for early voting in Hall.
Brad Hagin, Carlos Dawkins, and C.J. Mabe, members of the WBHS Key Club, pick up trash along Highway 124. Below, Ashlie Johnston, a mother of one of the Girl Scouts, collects trash from within the river. Bottom, Saturday’s group of volunteers.
Braselton may be partially in Jackson County, but when it comes to tourism, the town and the county are worlds apart. Braselton sees almost a million visitors a year leaving tourism the city’s biggest revenue generator. That’s not the case in Jackson County as a whole where, according to Courtney Bernardi, Director of Economic Development at the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce, tourism doesn’t really impact the economy. However, the Jackson County Chamber’s Tourism Council aims to change that. The county’s biggest tourism generator is the Tanger Outlet Center, but the council wants to highlight other locations within the county.
See TOURISM, page 2A
Toast to Braselton is Nov. 13
See RIVERS ALIVE, page 2A
The Braselton Downtown Development Authority is hosting “A Toast to Braselton” on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The 6:30-9:30 p.m. event at the BraseltonStover House includes a wine tasting with a master wine steward and wines from the Chateau Élan and a dinner buffet catered by Cornbread and Caviar. Live and silent auctions will feature a variety of items including a football helmet signed by the Heisman winner Herschel Walker, golf lessons from a former Masters Tournament champ Tommy Aaron, furniture by Kathryn Cooper Robinson Interiors and a dozen pieces of jewelry.
See TOAST, page 2A
Funding, local control: Hot buttons for ballot’s charter school amendment By KATIE JUSTICE kjustice@clickthepaper.com Funding and control were the hot topics of last week’s Braselton meeting debating the proposed charter school amendment. The meeting took place Oct. 25 at the Northeast Church of Braselton and was hosted by the Conservative Citizens of Jackson County. The meeting was open to the public and an estimated two dozen individuals showed up. “Sometimes a person’s ambition for authority clouds their judgment,” said Jackson County Superintendent John
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Green, who said he believes passage of the charter amendment will be sending Georgia back in its own history to a time when the state had more than 1,200 school systems. “I encourage you to think about what those schools were like. It was a separate but unequal part in history,” said Green. Along side Green, arguing against passing the amendment was Jackson County Board of Education member Michael Cronic. Those speaking in favor of the amendment were State Rep. Brooks Coleman, State Rep. Buzz Brockway and Kelley
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Gary, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party. Gary was also part of a group of brought a lawsuit against Gwinnett and Fulton County School Systems. “This is a lot less about charter schools and a lot more about whether you want decisions made at a local level,” said Green, on the amendment. “Why do we need this additional process of approval when we already have an appeals process?” said Green. Green’s thoughts were echoed by audience member and Jackson County
See AMENDMENT, page 2A
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Katie Justice The Paper
Jackson County School Superintendent Dr. John Green maintains an appeal process is already in place.
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