A second chance for high school drop-outs in Elbert County was the topic of a discussion at the Elbert County Board of Education Meeting.

Students who have left the high school for one reason or another--not necessarily having to do with conflict or punitive reasons will have another opportunity to finish school and earn their diploma. This will not involve returning to Elbert County Comprehensive High School, but another location in Elbert County called the Elberton Education Center.

Several Elbert County students have been attending the Mountain Education Center in Stephens County to make up classes in order to graduate.

Elbert County Superintendent Abe Plummer said that 15 students from Elbert County currently attend the Mountain Center.

“This is going to put kids back in school. I told you all at a work session my goal is to have kids become producers not consumers. We don’t want people who are consuming not producing”

He says that they will try to do everything they can with the Elberton Education Center, just as the Mountain Center has.

“That tells me that if 15 kids are driving to Toccoa that they didn’t do what they should have done when they had the opportunity, but at least it’s better late than never. These people are trying to do everything they can to assist the kids, so that’s what we are trying to do here.”

The Elberton Education Center will be in the Crossroads building on Tate Street in Elberton. The Education Center is not part of Crossroads Academy.

Classes will be held from 12:45 pm until 4:45 pm Monday through Friday.

Graduation requirements are the state minimum of 22 Carnegie units and students must pass all parts of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.

For more information or to schedule an appointment for enrollment, please contact Sonya Barnett at 706-283-2294. Space is limited.

Classes begin on Monday.

More jobs and an economic boost for Elbert County.

This is the hopes with a new industrial facility that has been looking to build here.

At this week’s Elberton Rotary Club meeting, Chief Executive Officer Ernest Kauffman of GreenFirst announced that their company would be seeking permits in the next 30-45 days from the county to build a plant that would convert wood wastes and solid wastes to energy.

Kauffman gave a mental picture of what the biomass project would include and what the facility can do for Elbert County.

County Commissioner Tommy Lyon feels that the facility would put us on the map.

“We think it’s a good process for Elbert County. We think its something that can help us as far as our finances are concerned. It can put us on the map as far as Georgia is concerned because it is a waste to energy program.”

The over $400 million facility would include an incinerator to create energy by burning wood and solid waste and a landfill for the ash from the plant only.

Kauffman says that the energy would then be sold to one of the Georgia Electric Membership Corporations.

Many temporary jobs and permanent jobs would be created all with local hires with the exception of the Plant Manager and Assistant Plant Manager.

Kauffman said that a similar plant in Huntsville, Alabama recently visited by some of our County Comissioners is three miles from his house. The facility there has never had a violation and you would never know by looking at the plant, it would have solid wastes inside.

“When you get out of your car you are not going to know that there is 800 tons of solid waste—household garbage in there to be processed. All these particular systems that work, they work off negative drafts that constantly pull air into the building. That’s what controls the odor and everything that’s associated with a solid waste garbage plant.”

Kauffman says there is a Property Value for Protection Plan to ensure that property owners would not suffer due to locating the facility here.

“We weren’t satisfied on just the buffers, so we said we are going to put a Property Value for Protection Plan that says that anybody that owns a house and 20 acres within a mile of the site for the next 20 years if you are trying to sell that house and 20 acres and you can’t get the appraised value for it, then we make up the difference.”

He says that it will take six months to go through the local approval phase and two years to get state permits.

GreenFirst plans to start the local process at the next Comissioner’s meeting next month.

The Ty Cobb Medical Center in Lavonia may not be built yet, but that isn’t stopping some of the specialists who will be practicing there from treating patients in our area.

And in an effort to let the public know in a tangible way that the new medical center is on track, the physicians group building the new medical center purchased a Lavonia post office box on Wednesday.

That’s one reason NGTC Health Properties, LLC  president Joseph Slatery and CEO Larry Unger were in Lavonia Wednesday.  But they were also in town to meet with mayor Ralph Owens and Lavonia city manager Gary Fesperman to discuss opening a medical building in advance of the actual hospital.

Unger said the 50 specialists involved in the Ty Cobb Medical Center project are anxious to begin meeting patients closer to home.

"We have what's called the Now Program. The Now Program means we're not going to wait until the new hospital is built, meaning two years from now when it's finally opened. We're going to have physicians beginning now to get involved in the community; making a presence here; and developing a plan to have a full-time person here," he said.

NGTC Health Properties, LLC, a partnership involving over 40 primary care and specialty physicians.

According to Unger NGTC plans to use the property that once housed the World Outreach Church as the location for new medical offices.

"There's a warehouse building over there on 59 right now. We want to talk about a way of doing some retrofitting today to make some nice physicians' offices and other things that the hospital from Royston could begin to also have some things over there. So we can begin to get them here, visible, now," Unger said. 

Unger said they hope to have that building renovated and open by the first of the year.  He said plans now are for groundbreaking for the Ty Cobb Medical Center to be held in the spring of 2010.

The new hospital is expected to have 56 beds and four operating rooms, along with a full array of state-of-the-art medical technology and services, including MRI, CT, digital mammography, a sleep lab and rehab services. 

Story Courtesy of M.J. Kneiser WLHR in Lavonia

With the weather still warm, the urge to get outside is still there for most.

Make plans now to participate in one of the many FREE celebrations in honor of the upcoming 2009 National Hunting and Fishing day and in observance of Public Lands Day that will be held in this Saturday Sept. 26.

This event is a statewide celebration and there will be exciting events happening all across Georgia.

This Saturday beginning at 9:00 will be a hike at Elijah Clark State Park in Lincolnton.

Kim Hatcher of the Department of Natural Resources State Parks Division tells about the event.

“They’re going to go on a ¾ mile hike on a trail around the lake. Then everyone will have a picnic. It’s a pretty park on Clarke’s Hill Lake.”

In addition to these events, a FREE fishing day is offered to all Georgia residents on Saturday.

On this day, residents do NOT need a fishing license or a trout license to fish on any public
waters in the state including lakes, streams, ponds and public fishing areas (PFA) or Wildlife Management Area.

And if you thought the day could not get better, Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites are offering this day as a FREE which means no parking or admission fees. 

Hatcher says this day is in appreciation for visitors and volunteers.

“It’s in celebration on National Public Lands Day. We really wanted to thank all our volunteers and visitors. It has been a challenging year for us, so we really want to them for coming out and supporting their state parks.”
For more information visit the Georgia Parks website at www.georgiastateparks.org or for free fishing information visit www.georgiawildlife.org.

Elbert County Parks and Recreation has a new idea that will help you save money. Drop off your gently used books, CDs, DVDs and video games at the McWilliams Park Gym and receive a ticket redeemable for the same number of books, CDs, DVDs and or video games during Open Swap time next Saturday October third.

Hope Vaughn of the Department says this is a way to prevent having to go out and buy more.

“It’s just a way to get people to bring some of their items in. They can come a few days later and get some different items in exchange. It’s a way of getting your books, CDs and video games—you get tired of them at home, so just getting some new ones that are fresh without having to go out and buy them again.”

This is not a sale, it’s a free media swap. Items will not be available for purchase.

Vaughn says all items must be in good condition.

“Video games, books, now, the video games we would like to be pretty current. Obviously an Atari game would not be beneficial to most people. Current games, the books should be in good condition with their covers intact. Any CDs, DVDs or video games need to be in a protective case, not necessarily in their original case. Some people have even mentioned bringing software—even board games in good condition.”

Any items left after the swap will be donated to a local charity.

The Swap will be held from 8:00 am until 11:00 am next Saturday.

For more information call 706-213-0749.

Budget issues prompt Wilkes County School Board to further weigh options on where cuts can be made.

At Monday’s Wilkes County Board of Education meeting, board members discussed the State Department of Education allowing the requests for waivers to waive certain board rules to aid with the cuts. Dr. Rosemary Caddell says that there will be two requests.

One-class size waiver for the primary schools if need arises can raise class size by one or two students.

The second is an instructional extension waiver. This will allow the school board to eliminate summer school in Wilkes County. Caddell says they think it will be beneficial because then they will pull makeup classes into the year.

“What we are going to try and do is pull that into the school year and try to address those issues with children and remediate issues before they fail the grade. Sometimes summer school is after the fact, they have already failed and they’re trying to make it up. If we work this into the school year to remediate the issues and retest in the third, fifth and eight grades, prior to the school year ending.”

She says that this will not only be good for the budget but good for the children as well.

Pre-K Enrollment has had a decrease this year in Wilkes County whereas they usually have a waiting list for Pre-K.

Caddell says that since the Pre-K is lottery funded, The Bright From the Start Program allows children to attend Pre-K in other counties unless the program is held within a school system.

Caddell says that they are exploring options for this year.

“We are exploring the options for this year only, allowing school children from other counties to have access from our Pr-K program.”

She says they will look at all the options and everything that would be involved before they make a decision on this.

With recent rains causing major problems around North and Northeast Georgia, some good has come for this area.

Our Lakes in the Savannah District have been cause for concern for sometime, but with recent rains, there is some good news for lake goers and lake property owners.

Billy Birdwell of the US Army Corps of Engineers says the recent rains have had a significant impact on Lake Hartwell.

“Over the last ten days we have gone from 653.5 to 655.9 almost two and one half feet in the last ten days actually since September 20^th It was 654.1 655.9, so that’s almost two feet in the last three days.”

Rainfall recorded by the Corps of Engineers on September 20^th was near four inches in Lake Hartwell.

Birdwell says the rains have caused the inflows to run at 21,000 cubic feet per second into Lake Hartwell—only generating at 5,500 cubic feet per second outflows.

Lake Russell has not changed significantly due to its design, size and location Birdwell says. It has only risen from 472.6 to 472.7 feet.

Lake Thurmond has had no significant change going from 323.5 up to 324.1 feet. Birdwell says this is due to the area receiving less rainfall than the northern lakes.

He says that they are still running at minimum outflow for the reservoirs.

Birdwell advised that with these recent rains there will be additional hazards to be aware of.

“We just want people to know that whenever there’s significant rainfall especially hard and fast like it’s been coming in the upper basin, it will cause new debris and stumps to float up. Watch out for things like that.”

As always he says if you are in, on or near the water, remember to wear your lifejacket.

After waiting for sometime for final results, good news is in from the state for two schools here in Elbert County.

Congratulations to Doves Creek Elementary School and Elbert County Comprehensive High School for making AYP for the 2008-2009 school year.

It took some time for the state to weigh in some factors, but yesterday word came from the state that the two schools had made it.

Doves Creek Elementary Principal Connie Spivey described the mood at the school after the news came in as walking on cloud nine.

“We are all just very, very pleased. We have all been very uptight about this, but this was wonderful news. I just praise my teachers and my students for all their hard work and it really paid off.”

AYP which is an acronym for Annual Yearly Progress is one of the cornerstones of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It is a measure of year-to-year student achievement on statewide assessments.

Under Georgia Law and consistent with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, AYP requires schools to meet standards in three areas: Test Participation for both Math and Reading/English Language Arts, Academic Performance for those and a Second Indicator.

During the 2002-2003 school year, state results for the CRCT in grades 4,6 and 8 and the Georgia High School Graduation Test in 11^th grade were used for AYP purposes in the areas of Reading, English Language Arts and Math.

As of Fiscal Year 2009, Beaverdam Elementary has made AYP for nine consecutive years, Falling Creek nine years, Blackwell seven years, Bowman Elementary seven years, Doves Creek seven years, Elbert County Middle School for the past five years and this is the first year for Elbert County Comprehensive High School.

Spivey says that the bar has been raised this year as the state requires 67.7% of students to meet the requirements. This past year was 59.5%.

A woman was arrested on Thursday afternoon after a search warrant was executed by Elbert County Deputies at her residence on Washington Highway.

In a press release from Sheriff Barry Haston, he advised that an investigation had been conducted into the illegal sales of prescriptions medications.

The search warrant was served at 1507 Washington Highway Lot # 12 which resulted in the arrest of 54 year old Deborah Bond of the address.

Deputies located evidence of the sale of prescription medications which led to charges against Bond for Possession of Schedule III Drugs with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Schedule IV Drugs with intent to distribute.

Bond was transported to the Elbert County Detention Center.

Haston says doctors over prescribing pills are not always the case. Sellers obtain prescriptions in other ways.

“It’s not the doctor in all cases; usually they will buy a prescription from somebody. If somebody will go to the doctor and get prescribed Loritabs or pain medicine and they will sell the prescriptions for ever who is selling them.”

He says the pill problem is the number one problem in Elbert County.

Elbert Memorial posted a red August, but finished the month well above expected results.

At last night’s monthly meeting of the Elbert Memorial Hospital Authority Board, CFO Ray Cann presented the finance report. For the month of August, the hospital posted a negative net income of $42 thousand dollars, which was above the budgeted monthly loss of $68 thousand, and exceeding last years results, in August of 2008 Elbert Memorial finished the month $94 thousand dollars in the red.

During his finance report, Cann said that, when you take away debt owed to the hospital, EMH was close to breaking even for the month.

“Without the extra bad debt we probably would have had a break even or a gain, but that’s not bad.”

Bad debt still continues to plague Elbert Memorial. For the month of August, bad debt was $120 thousand dollars over budgeted expectations.

Currently, the hospital has 64.3% of revenue being deducted. This means that EMH currently collects 35.7 cents of every dollar billed.

At the recent Calhoun Falls Town Council meeting, Utility Department Committee Co-Chairmen Michael Johnson and Council member David Back motioned that all Utility Department employees receive a $1 an hour raise.

Last month, Johnson stated that the fact the majority of the Utility Department works at minimum wage has led to the inability to hire qualified employees with experience.

Mayor Johnny Waller stated that he was not in favor of a raise to just one department, that if you raise wages, do it across the board will all employees.

Councilmen Jimmy Dove argued that the raise was not in the budget and that a raise is something that should have been brought up in June when the Council was doing budget work.

Johnson went on to say that, if across the board raises were the policy, why had two police officers received promotions and pay increases recently.

After much back and forth between the two men, Waller finally stated that the Utility Department is losing $100 thousand dollars per year and that they are running out of money.

Waller then stated that the town would have to borrow money to make it through to February, when property taxes money will help the town’s budget woes.

Johnson then said that they had borrowed money three of the last four years he had been in office, and criticized Waller, to which the mayor reminded Johnson that this year is an election year.

Waller, Johnson, and Jimmy Dove are all up for reelection.

The pay increase failed, deadlocked at 2-2 without Council member Lillie Bell Tinch present to cast the tie breaker.

Reminder for all the unemployed. The Georgia Department of Labor’s Elberton Career Center, along with several other local organizations, will sponsor a job fair for employers and job seekers in the area.

The event will be held tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 100 on the Elbert Campus of Athens Technical College.

There will be more than 25 employers and some will be hiring.

Applicants should be prepared to fill out company applications and interview for available job openings.

Organizations will be providing educational and other resources.

Employers expected to participate in the event include: Davis Transfer Company, Fenner Dunlop, FlexStaff, Georgia National Guard, Mandura, McDonald’s, Manpower, Pilgrim’s Pride, Primerica, Tupperware, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Wal-Mart, and Wellstone Mills.

Employers or job seekers wanting more information about the job fair may contact Employment Marketing Representative Sarah Byrum of the Elberton Career Center at (706) 213-2028.

With Flu Season approaching and with the new strand of flu H1N1 posing a pandemic threat, Wilkes County Schools are taking precaution.

Dr. Rosemary Caddell, Washington Wilkes School Superintendent says the School Board approved a precautionary measure to help keep down the flu.

“We did a request and did receive from the board approval to offer flu shots to our High School and Middle School students on sight and this is something our Health Department is offering.”

Caddell says that will take another approach to the lower grades.

“For our Elementary and Primary School students we are going to just make parents aware that shots are available at the Health Department. We felt like so many times those young children don’t like to get shots and that might become a problem without their parent not to be there to comfort them and be there with them.”

Flu clinics are going on this week at the Wilkes County Health Department. If you are considered high risk for the flu, you can get yours this week. Flu shots are covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Cost of the shots are $25.

For more information you can call the Wilkes County Health Department at 706-678-2622.

Two separate accidents claim the life of two men this past Friday.

Around 6:42 am on Friday, Wilkes County EMS and Georgia State Troopers from Post 17 were dispatched to the scene of an accident one mile north of Washington on State Route 10.

On the scene, it was observed that a driver identified as 68 year old Edward Teague of a Toccoa address had struck the rear of a log truck. Logs had entered the front windshield of the truck killing Teague.

A passenger in the vehicle received injuries and was transferred to the Medical College of Georgia.

Around 9:52 pm on Friday Post 17 Troopers along with Oglethorpe County EMS and authorities were dispatched to Skull Shoals Road in Oglethorpe approximately ten miles south of Lexington.

Oglethorpe EMS Director James Mathews gives details of the accident.

“Apparently he had run off the road and flipped probably two times ejecting him out and rolling over coming on top of him. He was down an embankment probably about 50 or 60 feet, so it was a pretty long rescue operation.”

The driver identified as 23 year old Marc Taylor Gregg of Athens was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mathews says that the vehicle was one that appeared to be for some off road use.

“It was like a CJ5 with roll bars, big tires with a five point hitch. It looked like it was made for mudding. With all the rain they were definitely in a good location.”

He says that a passenger in the Jeep was not inured and was wearing what he understood to be a five point harness safety belt.

View Full Album

A delivery driver escapes injury from an accident on Highway 17 not two miles outside Elberton city limits.

Multiple agencies responded to Highway 17 at Dunn-Worley Road yesterday just past noon after reports that a delivery truck carrying mostly empty oxygen tanks had overturned.

On the scene, Trooper Tracy Webb says the accident was likely caused by the driver swerving to miss a turning vehicle.

“The driver of this truck was traveling south on Washington Highway 17. There was a vehicle in front of him attempting to turn left into a driveway. The driver of the truck swerved to the right to avoid striking the vehicle that was attempting to turn—ran off the road on the Westside shoulder and overturned on it’s side.”

He says that the wet weather likely contributed to the accident and no other vehicles were involved.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Eddie Mitchell Miles of Hepzibah, GA.

Elbert County EMS Director Chuck Almond reports that Miles received no injuries from the accident.

Stacy Lunsford of Callaway Wrecker Service says the accident took until around 2:15 to cleanup.

All Elbert County School Principals were in attendance at yesterday evening’s Board of Education meeting.

Our local schools have met the qualitative standards that the state of Georgia requires once again.

Superintendent Abe Plummer gave credit to our principals and all the hard work they do.

“We are very pleased of the hard work that you all have put in. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication that you all put in order to achieve this. I just want you all to know that we are very proud and pleased for what you all do.”

Our schools provide a quality of education that the community has a right to expect and can be proud of here in Elbert County and yesterday, all principals received their certificates of verification that we here have quality schools.

Our principals are Mrs. Sandra Guest Principal at Falling Creek Elementary School, Barbara Gailey, Principal at Beaverdam, Vickie Smith, Blackwell Elementary, Jon Jarvis, Bowman Elementary, Connie Spivey, Doves Creek Elementary, Paul Garrett of Elbert County Middle School and Rick Higginbotham of Elbert County Comprehensive High School.

High School parents are encouraged to attend Open House at Elbert County Comprehensive High School this evening. The Academic Boosters will meet in the cafeteria at 5:00. Two gift cards will be given away at this meeting. Open house will be from 5:30 to 6:30 where parents will have the opportunity to visit with teachers and there will be technological demonstrations for parents.

If you received a packet recently in the mail for your child, or if you are interested in getting your child free supplemental educational services there will be a Title I Parents meeting in the cafeteria at 6:30pm.

Child deaths in motor vehicle crashes have declined since 1975, still each year approximately 1,800 children ages 14 and under are killed as occupants in motor vehicles, and more than 280,000 are injured. 

Although 96 percent of parents who use child safety seats, booster seats and safety belts to protect their children think they are doing it correctly.

You may receive a ticket if your child’s safety seat is not properly installed.

Prevent a terrible tragedy and a costly ticket this Saturday and get you’re child’s seat inspected.

The Child Safety Seat inspection that was scheduled for this past Saturday was cancelled due to wet weather has been rescheduled for Saturday, October 3—weather permitting.

Have your child and their seat ready for one of several technicians from the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office, the Elberton Police Department and the 4-H Office to make sure they are riding safe.

The check point will be held at Elberton Walmart from 10:00 am until 2:30 pm.

Prepaid calling cards may seem like a great value, claiming to provide hundreds of minutes for a few dollars. However many phone cards are so rife with fees and service charges that they deliver far fewer minutes than advertised.

Fred Elsberry President & CEO of the BBB Serving Metro Atlanta, Athens & Northeast Georgia says some companies are under suspicion of lying to customers.

“There have been many allegations against companies about lying about the amount of minutes available on the cards and failing to disclose the cost of maintenance fees and other costs that may be associated with the card’s usage.”

As part of a national crackdown on the prepaid phone card industry, the FTC has already gone after several companies for deceiving customers.

Elsberry offers advice for getting the most for your money when buying a prepaid phone card:

• Read the disclosures about expiration dates, surcharges, maintenance fees and any fees that might vary based on where you are calling to and calling from. 

• Find out the rates for both domestic and international calls. Be wary if the rates aren’t posted on the card or with associated advertising or displays.

• Compare rates, but don’t be immediately sold by a low rate. Very low rates may be enticing, but they should also serve as a red flag that the card may not deliver the number of promised minutes.

He says make sure your card has not been tampered with.

“Most importantly, the card should come in sealed packaging with the personal identification number not displayed. If the coating has been removed from the pin, you should not buy this card. The cards and their packaging should certainly be intact.”

For more advice from your BBB to help you save money and avoid being ripped off, visit www.bbb.org.

Two men are dead after their plane crashed into Lake Russell in Abbeville County Saturday morning.

Abbeville County Coroner Ronnie Ashley identified the men as 66 year old Jimmy W. Cash of Marysville, TN who piloted the plane and 30 year old Lance Justin Davis of Knoxville. They were killed when their small single engine plane went down into the lake after some possible engine trouble.

Ashley reports that fishermen on the lake heard the plane circle above, but did not see at it at first. A few minutes later the fishermen heard what they thought was the motor skip and back fire then saw the plane coming straight for them. One of the fisherman said they could see the pilot of the plane just seconds before he steered a hard right—what appeared to be avoiding a crash into the boat.

Ashley says the plane crashed into only around 10 feet of water and that there was only around five to ten gallons of fuel spilled into the cove contrary to earlier reports.

Cash’s wife reported to authorities that the two men were on the way to a gun show in Georgia.

Ashley advised that there is an ongoing investigation into the crash by the Abbeville County Coroner’s Office and the F.A.A.

More arrests have been made for an Elberton couple accused of Theft by Taking after allegedly requesting that persons purchasing burial plots make payment checks to another company other than the cemetery owners.

It has now become a joint investigation by the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office and the Secretary of State’s Office of Inspector General into the alleged theft charges and violations of the Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act.

35 year old Whitney Richert and 39 year old Devin Richert both of 145 Parkwood Drive were arrested after the investigation into a series of thefts at Forest Hills Memorial Park and Hicks Funeral Home.

Elbert County Sheriff Barry Haston says that they were arrested first back in August.

“The two were initially arrested in early August of 2009 on 18 counts of Felony Theft by Taking. On Wednesday, September 16, the individuals turned themselves in on warrants taken by Elbert County Investigators.”

Devin Richert was charged with an additional 22 counts of Felony Theft by Taking and Whitney Richert was charged with 22 counts of Theft by Taking, one count of Forgery and one count of Fraud as a Notary Public.

The charges date back to incidents which occurred between 2005 and 2009.

Haston says the investigation was initially started after the Richert’s resignations.

“Once they resigned from being Directors of the Funeral Home, the company themselves started looking through the books and started seeing money missing and different stuff. That led to the investigation and it’s led to more now, so the investigation is still continuing.”

Both suspects have been released on bond.

The Secretary of State’s Office of Inspector General and the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office are continuing their investigations.

A summit meeting of many held Thursday evening to discuss the future of the hospital gave insight on what direction Elbert Memorial needs to take.

Hospital board, staff, dignitaries, government officials, healthcare workers and many more were in attendance at the summit.

Ken Taylor, Hospital Authority Chairman says this meeting was to give a chance to hear everyone’s opinion.

“It was just pretty much a summit to find out what the community felt like they could do to help save the hospital. We gathered ideas. We like a brainstorming session to get ideas from all the community leaders on what they could do to help the hospital survive.”

Votes were taken among those in attendance on suggestions already made and new suggestions were brought up at the meeting.

After all the suggestions were in, each in attendance voted on the top four they thought were best.

“There were probably 20 -25 suggestions or ideas from people. A lot of them, the Authority has already talked about. We are glad to know the community is thinking along the same lines.”

Taylor says this summit was not a decision making session--only for opinions to be heard.

Some ideas voted on at the summit included dismissing the management group Quorum and running the hospital locally or to investigate similar situations of other hospitals. 35 were in favor of this.

Sixteen were in favor of installing a 24 hour urgent care and or other Revenue generating services.

Twelve were in favor to get local doctors to admit more.

Forty-five in attendance were in favor of considering a referendum for a tax by the County.

Taylor says that this is a good idea, but a long term one.

“Quite a few of them are ideas that we’ve talked about, problem is that some of them are long term—which we needed, but the hospital is short on cash today. One example is the referendum for taxes. The time you get a referendum, approved, voted on and on the books, it will be two years—and we don’t have two years.”

Only nine in attendance were in favor of obtaining the 1 yr financial assistance from Elbert County, Elberton & Bowman as requested by the authority in previous months.

Six were in favor of delivering Babies again which of course would require recruiting another obstetrician.

Ranking high on the list of items--43 in attendance voted to encourage a new attitude within community to use Elbert Memorial Hospital.

The Georgia Department of Labor’s Georgia Works initiative is receiving national praise.

This is according to a report in the latest edition of Stateline.org, an online publication of the PEW Center which highlights innovative state policies and programs.

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond explains how the initiative works.

“We are proud that people around the country are recognizing the importance of the Georgia Works Initiative. Georgia Works is an innovative strategy that allows employers to train potential employees while they continue to receive UI benefits. This allows employers to create a more productive employee without putting them on the payroll and it gives the job seeker the opportunity to get their foot in the door in what is a very difficult job market.”
Approximately 60 percent of job seekers who complete the training are hired.
Since its inception in 2003, more than 6,000 Georgia employers have utilized Georgia Works to fill jobs in a wide range of fields, including health and business services, construction, manufacturing, and finance. Participating employers have collectively reduced hiring costs by an estimated $14.7 million.
The article can be read at www.stateline.org.
Information about Georgia Works is available at www.dol.state.ga.us or from any of the Georgia Department of Labor’s 53 career centers including Elberton.

At the Calhoun Falls regular Town Council meeting on Thursday evening, Mayor Johnny Waller presented a letter landowner Jim Hester sent to the town stating that the roof of the police department crosses the property line and into the vacant lot he owns behind the police department.

According to Hester, the roof's over hang impedes on his property line by six inches.

He has given the town 30 days to fix it, or he will take potential legal action.

The Mayor and Council cited that the town had a building connected to the police department for years before it was knocked down to make room for the Highway 72 expansion.

The Council agreed to table the issue for now to investigate where the property line actually is through the County Assessor’s records.

Last month Hester sent a proposal to the Council to sell the land for $25,000—four times the assessed value. After some discussion the Council voted to reject Hester’s offer and negotiate with Hester to bring the price down.