CMYK Thursday, November 22, 2012
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Relay For Life kicks off. 3B
Acreage identified for new school No time frame for county’s third high school to be in West Jackson BY KATIE JUSTICE
kjustice@clickthepaper.com
The current real estate market ensuring relatively low prices on property, the Jackson County Board of Education is taking the preliminary steps to purchase 98 acres of land off Highway 332. The school board passed a motion for Superintendent Dr. John Green and Board of Education Chairwoman Lynne Wheeler to proceed with securing a contract for the land, which is owned by the Timms Family Limited Partnership. The land would eventually be used for the construction of a third Jackson County high school. How-
ever, the actual building isn’t on the agenda anywhere on the foreseeable future. “We do realize that land prices may not stay as they are, so we feel it’s a good time for us to use allocated SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) funds to purchase that property,” said Green, at a Nov. 12 school board meeting. “Our current plan is that would be a new west Jackson High School to relieve crowding,” said Green, of the eventual building of the new The Timms family property is located on Highway 332 near the intersection of Highway 124 in Hoschton. school. “We feel very comfortable with about the likelihood of beneficial At a District 3 town hall meeting Before the land can be obtained, what the results will be on those test results. held earlier this year, Green hinted a series of tests must be conducted studies,” said Dennis Patrick, JackAccording to Patrick, the last that the system was seeking to idenbefore the Georgia Department of son County director of facilities, time property prices were this low tify land for a school site in the West Education will approve the purmaintenance and transportation, was during 1999 and 2000. Jackson area. chase.
Hometown Community Bank seized by FDIC, now CertusBank Saturday the
The holidays are here! Debbie Purvis The Paper
Santa Claus was brought into Braselton atop a fire engine for the Saturday morning parade through downturn. He also performed a Santa magic show in Braselton Park before venturing to a special event, Cookies with Santa, R, which included photos with the jolly ol’ elf.
LeAnne Akin The Paper
Float winners in Saturday’s Celebrate the Holidays in Braselton parade included “Bark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Braselton Christian Academy’s entry, which won the Theme Award. It best represented this year’s theme: “The Holidays are Going to the Dogs!” The Spirit Award went to Gerard Prep’s “A Howlers Christmas Carol” which best represented the spirit of the holidays. Whole Foods was the recipient of the Blue Ribbon Award for best overall entries with its “Whole Foods Market Holiday Dog Pound.” Oranges and bananas were tossed to those gathered along the parade route. See more scenes on Page 3A and at ClickThePaper.com
Hometown Community Bank in Braselton was closed Friday by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. CertusBank, National Association, headquartered in Easley, S.C., is assuming all of the deposits of Hometown Community Bank to protect depositors. As of Sept. 30, Hometown Community Bank had approximately $124.6 million in total assets and $108.9 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, CertusBank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets. Hometown Community Bank, which was added to the Official Problem Bank List with a consent order being entered in April, is the 50th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the 10th in Georgia. Martha Martin, a member of the Hometown Community Bank Board of Directors, said late Friday that she was saddened by the FDIC’s action. “I hate it for the community and especially our shareholders who had confidence in us,” said Martin. “What other bank supports our Chamber of Commerce and other organizations throughout our community as much as Hometown Community Bank did?” Martin said she is hopeful the jobs of Hometown Community Bank employees will be preserved. A state banking official had previously told
See HOMETOWN, 2A
Juvenile Judge Kevin Guidry sees successes in tough cases BY KATIE JUSTICE
kjustice@clickthepaper.com
Despite having no kids of his own, Juvenile Court Judge Kevin Guidry is a Braselton man who spends the majority of his days working on behalf of children. He sees and hears things that could break the average person’s heart, but that’s just part of the role of being a Juvenile Court Judge. Guidry got his start in the legal system while working for a church bureaucracy. His knowledge of church law eventually led him to law school. In 1998 he began working part time for Judge T. Penn McWhorter. He began his full-time career in January of 2001.
Now, Guidry adjudicates cases involving children in Piedmont Judicial Circuit of Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties. “It gets draining hearing about one child being abused after another,” said Guidry, who rules on cases involving the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. Guidry handles cases over child deprivation, such as abuse or neglect, child custody and juvenile delinquency about 16 days out of the month. He says that while the numbers show he tends to more cases involving delinquency, they don’t take as much time. Thus, he spends the majority of his time working on cases regarding DFCS.
Spotlight on our judges: A periodic series
INSIDE Church 4A Entertainment 6B Features 3B Forum 6A Health 7-8A
See GUIDRY,, 2A
Volume 7, Number 3 Obituaries Pastor’s Pen Police report Puzzles Sports
4A 4A 2A 6B 1-2B
Katie Justice The Paper
Judge Kevin Guidry handles cases involving children and their families. Got a news tip? Call 706-658-2683 or e-mail editor@clickthepaper.com
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