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Jefferson voters will go to the polls on Nov. 8 to cast their ballot on allowing the Sunday sale of alcohol, as well as the sale of distilled spirits in the city limits.

The vote calling for the referendum on alcohol sales passed 4-1 with councilman Bosie Griffith voting against the action and Kathy DuBose, Steve Kinney, C.D. Kidd and Roy Plott voting in favor of it.

“Personally, if it was on the ballot tomorrow, I would not vote for it but I feel I should let my constituents decide if they want it or not,” said councilman Steve Kinney.

A Congressional map proposes that Jackson County get a new representative in the U.S. House that will come from the 9th District — which will cover most of Northeast Georgia in the state’s mountain region.

Jackson County is currently part of the 10th Congressional District — served by Paul Broun, a Republican who lives in Athens.

Under the proposal, the 10th Congressional District would shift more to middle Georgia and pick up Barrow County along the way. Barrow County is currently served by Rob Woodall in the 7th Congressional District.

The new 9th Congressional District would include more counties in Northeast Georgia, while dropping counties in Northwest Georgia — such as Dade, Walker and Catoosa counties, near Dalton and Ringgold.

The 9th District is currently held by Republican Tom Graves, who was sworn into Congress in June 2010, after a special election. Before that, Nathan Deal held the seat for a number of years prior to his successful gubernatorial campaign.

The revamped 9th Congressional District will absorb all of Jackson, Banks, Madison, Hall, Lumpkin and other Northeast Georgia counties. It will also include portions of Forsyth, Pickens and Athens-Clarke counties.

For the full story, see the Aug. 24 issue of The Jackson Herald.

Qualifying begins in less than three weeks for council positions in Braselton, Commerce, Hoschton, Jefferson, Maysville, Nicholson, Pendergrass and Talmo. The Town of Arcade doesn’t have a city election this year.

The city elections will be held from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

BRASELTON
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. beginning on Monday, Aug. 29, and ending on Wednesday, Aug. 31, at Town Hall. The qualifying fee is $36.
Qualifying is open for the positions of Town Council District 1 (currently held by Richard Mayberry) and council District 3 (currently held by Tony Funari).
Those council seats – along with a referendum on whether to allow Sunday alcohol sales in the town will be on the ballot.
For more information, including a map of the voting districts, visit the “Elections” page of the town’s website at www.braselton.net

COMMERCE
Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day beginning Monday, Aug. 29, and ending on Friday, Sept. 2, in the city clerk/election superintendent’s office, 27 Sycamore Street, Commerce.
Qualifying is open for Mayor (currently held by Charles L. “Buzzie” Hardy Jr, council seat Ward 3 (currently held by Mark Fitzpatrick), Ward 4 (currently held by Clark Hill), and Ward 5 (currently held by Johnny Eubanks); school board seats in District 3 (currently held by Bill Davis), District 4 (currently held by Rodney Gary), and District 5 (currently held by Paul Sergent, who serves as chairman).
All positions are for four years.
The qualifying fee for mayor is $126, council seats are $81 each and school board seats are $72 each. [Full Story »] 

While one state legislature appears fine with a proposed redistricting map, another seems disappointed in the changes.

State Rep. Tommy Benton (R-Jefferson) is set to represent all of Jackson County for the 31st District in the Georgia House of Representatives, according to redistricting maps released on Friday. Benton’s district currently extends into Hall County and a small portion into Barrow County, mostly in the Chateau Elan area.

The new state representative map would give most of Jackson County to Benton, with a remaining portion in South Jackson represented by the new House district number 117.

The General Assembly started a special session on Monday to redraw new state House and Senate redistricting maps using population data from the 2010 Census.

But State Senator Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville) isn’t as happy about the proposed district lines.

Ginn represents the state Senate’s 47th District — which currently includes all of Barrow, Madison and Oglethorpe counties, most of Jackson County, a portion of Elbert County and the western portion of Athens-Clarke County.

Under the proposal, Ginn would still represent all of Barrow and Madison counties, but he’d no longer serve voters in Oglethorpe and Elbert counties. The 47th District would further expand into Athens-Clarke County, while giving up a large portion of Jackson County to District 50 in the state Senate.

That district would also include Banks, Franklin, Stephens, Habersham, Rabun and Towns counties, according to the preliminary map. State Sen. Jim Butterworth (R-Cornelia) represents the 50th District.

“I’m not very happy, quite honestly,” Ginn said. “It cuts me out of about half of what I’ve got in Jackson County and pushes me much more into Athens-Clarke, an area I don’t currently serve.”

Benton was less thrilled about how Jackson is split on the proposed Senate map, with its lower half remaining in the 47th District but the upper half going to the 50th, which runs north to the North Carolina line.

“I won’t have anything to say about that,” Benton noted, observing that it is customary for the House to approve whatever Senate redistricting plan the Senate sends over (and vise versa).

For the full story, see the Aug. 17 issue of The Jackson Herald.

The trees around the old Jackson County Courthouse began coming down Wednesday.

The move was recommended by an advisory committee and approved by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

Some of the trees were reportedly in bad health. The county plans to replace the trees with new species more appropriate to the site, according to the advisory committee.

Members of the Jackson County Industrial Development Authority agreed last week to offer bond financing to a company considering three Jackson County sites for a distribution center.

The company, whose representatives say it would employ 300-plus workers, is also looking at sites in five other states, said IDA chairman Scott Martin. The IDA discussed the matter during a called meeting and behind closed doors last Wednesday (Aug. 3).

For the full story, see the Aug. 10 issue of The Jackson Herald.

The Northeast Georgia Regional Transportation Roundtable (RTR) will meet on Wednesday, August 10, at 12:30 p.m. at the Oconee County Civic Center to review proposed road projects.

The projects would be funded by a penny tax for transportation that will go before voters in 2012.

The RTR will review the draft list of projects developed by the executive committee. 

Proposed projects in Jackson County include:

A Braselton Parkway extension; Jefferson bypass from State Route 82 to State Route 15 Alt.; Gum Springs Church Road at Jackson Trail; State Route 11 intersection improvements; Hog Mountain Road from Valentine Industrial Parkway to State Route 82; I-85 at State Route 60 proposed interchange; Sam Freeman Road extension from State Route 523 to State Route 124; State Route 11 at State Route 124/Galilee Church Road intersection improvements; State Route 53 improvements; State Route 82 at County Farm Road intersection improvements; State Route 82 realignment/Airport Road; State Street/State Route 326 from Hwy. 441 to Hwy. 98; Thompson Mill Road at Ednaville Road intersection; west side parallel taxiway at the county airport; widening and reconstruction of Hwy. 53; widening projects along I-85; and widening of State Route 11/Hwy. 129 from State Route 332 to State Route 323.

Public meetings will be held next month at three locations throughout the region. The schedule is as follows:

•September 8, 6 p.m., Oconee County Civic Center, focusing on Jackson, Barrow, Clarke and Oconee counties.
•September 13, 6 p.m., Crawford Depot, focusing on Elbert, Greene, Madison and Oglethorpe counties.
•September 22, 6 p.m., location to be determined in Newton County, focusing on Jasper, Morgan, Newton, and Walton counties.