An Elberton Native is serving as Chief of Plans and Operations for the US Forces in Iraq. Lt Col Otha Thornton has been in Iraq since May.
“Things are going well,” Thornton said. “I've been over here since May, and my time is winding down, so I look forward to getting back to Georgia.”
Although he wears many hats in the Iraqi theatre, Thornton’s main responsibility is the oversight of casualty operations, what he calls “a zero-defect business.”
“That is the most critical, from the perspective of making sure we honor our fallen comrades, and also when service members are injured in combat, that we get them through the system over here and back safely home,” Thornton said
The number of casualties has gone down in recent months - no US servicemen died in Iraq in December. Thornton says that’s due in large part to the Iraqi forces assuming more of the national security roles, while the US forces shift to training and support.
“What we did with the Iraqi Government back last year was enter into a Security Agreement,” Thornton said, “We’re partnering with the Iraqis, we’re providing economic assistance, and just plain support so that they can establish a Democracy in their country.
There are currently four members of Thornton’s extended family serving in the Army. Thornton says that because of deployment schedules, he’s seen his brother Eric more times in Iraq in the last three months than he’s seen him in the last five years back in the States.
To listen to the entire interview with Lt Col Otha Thornton,
click here
MAYOR PROCLAIMS FEB. 12 “TJ AND FRIENDS DAY” – audio extra
Elberton Mayor Larry Guest yesterday paid official tribute to Terry Mark TJ Johnson, the person who sparked the TJ and Friends Foundation.
TJ’s wife Angela said yesterday the Mayoral proclamation was a reinforcement of all the stories of TJ’s inspiration of others. Stories she continues to hear from all over.
“I’m just so amazed,” Angela Johnson said, “I saw the strength in him the first day I met him and fell in love with him, and I had always hoped that everybody would see that, and he would touch people like he touched me. He’s a wonderful man.”
Since its inception almost two years ago, the foundation has given away over 70,000 in direct financial support in 7 counties in Northeast Georgia. A fact that TJ and Friends Co-founder Darren Scarborough is proud to point out.
“He was just an inspiration to everybody,” Scarborough said. “It’s an honor to be a part of this foundation, and we look forward to keeping it going. That was what TJ wanted us to do.”
TJ’s Son Bennie called the proclamation an awesome tribute to his dad.
“I knew that he helped a lot of people,” Bennie said. “I do miss him, and I know other people miss him. I hope he’ll always be in our hearts.”
The proclamation from Mayor Guest, asks that all residents of the city of Elberton pause at noon today to honor the Memory of TJ.
To hear the proclamation click here
To hear WSGC’s Special Tribute to TJ, containing clips from his many radio interviews, click here
A new report shows home foreclosure activity in Georgia is starting to decline, but the news isn't all good.
While foreclosures statewide dropped 13 percent from December to January. They still climbed 13 percent compared to January of last year.
“We’re starting to plateau a little bit,” said Realty Trac’s Darren Bloomquist. “We’re not seeing the increases that we were seeing.”
Bloomquist says there's an explanation for January's drop in activity.
We saw a pretty big jump in the December numbers in Georgia,” Bloomquist said. “So it’s not surprising that we’re down from that, and we saw the same pattern nationwide.”
Still, Georgia is sliding towards the bottom of the top ten nationally in foreclosure activity, a signal, according to Bloomquist, that the problem is becoming more widespread nationally.
WATER STEWARDSHIP BILL IN REP. McCALL’S SUBCOMMITTEE
State Representative Tom McCall is watching House Bill 1094, the Georgia Water Stewardship act, which was introduced by Governor Perdue this week.
The legislation requires more water efficiency on new construction, and provides incentives to encourage retrofitting existing construction.
It also calls on the EPD to set better standards of leakage detection for all medium and large public water systems.
McCall says there is no language in the bill concerning Inter-basin water transfers, a hot topic in the Savannah River Basin. The bill is currently in the Environmental Quality Subcommittee of Natural Resources, which he chairs.
McCall says he hopes this bill “strikes the right balance between conservation and meeting the states water needs.”
The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today 95,264 laid-off workers filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in January, a decrease of 5,632, or 5.6 percent, from 100,896 in December. Also, there was a decline of 24,875, or 20.7 percent, from 120,139 claims filed in January 2009.
“Typically, initial claims rise in January, due to layoffs following increased hiring of temporary workers for the holiday shopping season,” said State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “However, this past November and December, retailers didn’t hire as many seasonal workers as they usually do, resulting in fewer January layoffs.”
Most of the first-time claims filed were in manufacturing, trade, construction, and administrative and support services.
The average length of time jobless Georgia workers drew UI benefits in January increased to 15.8 weeks, the longest duration on record. The duration in January 2009 was 11.5 weeks. The number of jobless workers receiving regular state unemployment benefits decreased 34,292, or 18.7 percent, from 183,829 in January 2009 to 149,537 in January 2010. Another 198,000 received federal Extended Unemployment Compensation.
The Georgia Lottery Corp. recently announced record first-half profits for education.
Georgia Lottery profits for the first half of fiscal year 2010 totaled $429,754,000, surpassing the previous record set last fiscal year by more than $8.49 million.
According to the Lottery, 773 Elbert County University Students have received more than $4.9 million from Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program since the Lottery’s inception; 533 private college and university students have received more than $2.1 million from HOPE: and 2,008 technical college students have received more than $3.5 million from HOPE.
More than $7.3 million has gone to Elbert County schools for Georgia’s Pre-K Program since ‘93, benefiting 1,670 students. The county has received an additional $1.1 million for capital outlay and technology initiatives.
Since its inception, Elbert County lottery retailers have more than $8.8 million in commissions.
Lucky Elbert County residents have won more than $66.4 million. Many of those dollars have been reinvested into Georgia’s economy.
FIVE ATV DRIVERS ARRESTED IN ROCK BRANCH COMMUNITY
Acting on complaints of four-wheel ATV’s driving recklessly in the Rock Branch area of Northern Elbert County, the Elbert County Sheriff’s office stepped up patrol of the area.
On Sunday Sheriff’s deputies spotted 5 four wheelers and were forced to give chase.
An additional unit was called in when the ATV’s split up. In the end, all of the subjects were stopped, one on Ruckersville Road, the other four on Turner Hill Road in the Rock Branch area.
All five were arrested and charged with No Insurance, Fleeing or Eluding an Officer, Reckless Driving, No Registration, and Driving to Fast for Conditions.
Hart County wasn’t the only thing that was swept over the weekend. Elberton Police held its Super Bowl Blitz sobriety campaign.
Elberton Police Sergeant Scott Marunch said, “With the help of the Georgia State Patrol, we were able to conduct several license checks at the same time.”
Marunch says the Super Bowl Blitz was a high scoring affair for the police department.
“18 arrests, 48 citations issued and 10 DUI’s,” Marunch said, “along with a couple of minor misdemeanor possession charges.”
For the policemen involved the sobriety checkpoint campaign was one for the record books.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for ten years, and have participated in multi-jurisdictional license checks,” Marunch said, “and never have we had a license check event that has been this successful.”
SCHOOL FURLOUGHS ANNOUNCED IN RESPONSE TO IMMEDIATE STATE BUDGET CUTS
Faced with immediate State Budget Cuts of over $230,000, the Elbert County School System has announced its much-anticipated furlough days. According to School Superintendent Abe Plummer, January 8, will be counted as a furlough day, along with the in-service day, February 16th.
Originally, the board opted for three furlough days.
We will have one day that can be used as a furlough day, if we needed it,” Plummer said. “But the board will pay for the additional day. The employees will only be responsible for two of those three days.”
The School System will use reserve funding to absorb the cost of the additional day, something Plummer says is an exception to the rule around the state.
“I’m not aware of any [other school system] that is doing that,” Plummer said. “The employees [in other systems] are having to take all three furlough days without pay.”
According to School System CFO Phil Pitts, 9 School Districts across the state started the School year in a deficit. An additional 40 are expected to be running deficits by the end of the year.
An additional $500,000 worth of state funding cuts are expected in Elbert County between now and the end of the year.
February 5th marked Legislative Day 13, putting us more than a quarter of the way through the General Assembly’s 40 day legislative session. This week debates continued on the House floor, committees considered dozens of bills and the House Appropriations committee delved further into the budget. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the amended budget next week, which will set state spending levels through the end of June.
Over the past year, banks have also felt the pinch of the economic downturn. This week, the Georgia House of Representatives debated House Bill 926, which would allow state-chartered banks to more easily renew loans or lines of credit to customers in good standing. This is a necessary step to help Georgia’s banks, businesses and citizens who rely on them. Current law prevents state-chartered banks from renewing or restructuring loans or credit for any customer if it would cause the bank to exceed the amount it can lend to a single borrower. House Bill 926 will assist Georgians by giving banks more flexibility and helping to ensure that financially responsible Georgians have the loans and credit they need to ensure their businesses can grow.
The House also passed a series of education-related measures this week to give local school boards more flexibility and the tools they need to make the best decisions for their students, teachers, and schools. House Bill 905 extends sunset provisions for the school construction capitol outlay program from June 15, 2010 to June 30, 2015. This measure will enable school systems to continue to earn and use Advance Funding, Exceptional Growth, and Low Wealth School Capital Outlay Grants.
These bills, as well as other legislation that came before the House floor this week passed, although there were a couple that concerned me about teachers that I voted against. Each piece of legislation will now move to the state Senate and be studied by committees before moving forward in the process.
Finally, I would also like to mention a piece of legislation that was just introduced this week. As you know, water is such a crucial issue for our state. In the last few years, Georgia faced a devastating drought and ongoing litigation between Alabama and Florida that brought this issue to a head. In 2008, a law was passed to help build reservoirs throughout the state and improve conservation efforts. This week, House Bill 1094, the Georgia Water Stewardship Act was introduced. It is my hope that this legislation will strike the right balance between conservation and meeting our state’s water needs. There is no language concerning Interbasin Transfers in the bill. It is in the Environmental Quality Subcommittee of Natural Resources which I chair. I will be monitoring it as it moves through the process to ensure the protection of our river basins.
As we continue to move bills to the floor for a vote, I would like to know your opinions on these important issues. Please feel free to call me with any questions or comments that you might have regarding legislation or issues under consideration at the state Capitol. You can reach me at your Capitol office at 404-656-5115. Thank you for your time.
EC BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS GIVES GREENFIRST “GREEN LIGHT,” AMID PROTESTORS – AUDIO EXTRA
As you heard live on WSGC, The Elbert County Board of Commissioners Monday night unanimously approved the resolutions to allow GreenFirst LLC to proceed with its plans for Plant Granite, a waste-to energy incinerator in Western Elbert County.
Among the actions taken were adoption of the amendment to the County’s Solid waste plan allowing Plant Granite, a determination of Plant Granite’s Consistency with the plan as amended, approval of the Host Agreement, and authorization for Commission Chairman Tommy Lyon to provide a letter of land-use compliance to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
The vote came after over an hour’s worth of public comment on each of the issues. David Daniel’s family has owned the same pieces of property for seven generations. He says that GreenFirst and Plant Granite are, in his words, “tentacles” for the larger Covanta Energy, the corporation believed to be chosen to operate the facility.
“Covanta has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for polluting the atmosphere, and the land on which their plants operate.” Daniel said. “So they’re no stranger to running afoul of the law as far as pollution is concerned. Know who you’re dealing with.”
Elberton resident Audrey Hardin spoke about her recent trip to a Covanta facility. She said that she saw no ash residue on the vegetation around the plant and its environs, but not until after her comments were interrupted by a group of people who protested the decision to close off the meeting when there were people waiting outside.
“[among shouts of ‘LET ‘EM IN!’]” Hardin said, “I wish they would be polite.”
Monday night’s actions came as the Anti Incinerator Group Citizens for Public Awareness announced that it had gotten over 3500 signatures on its “right to vote petition.” Those signatures are at the probate Court’s office for validation. If 2,505 are validated, the issue can go before the voters.
Regardless, the commissioners voted in favor of all the items pertaining to Plant Granite, which drew jeers as the meeting closed.
“Puppets!” “2012! We’re not forgetting y’all! “Election Day Cometh” “We’re going to recall ‘em!” “See you, [Commissioner] WD! [Albertson]
GreenFirst CEO Ernest Kaufmann said he appreciated the commissioners decision and the faith they have in the project.
“We promise,“ Kaufmann said, “to build the very best project we can build here, and one that’s environmentally friendly and safe for the community.”
Plant Granite still faces approval and permitting from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.
To listen to both Public Hearings and the Monthly Meetings click here
Elbert County Sheriff Barry Haston is calling it one of the largest marijuana arrests of his administration.
27 Year Old Gregory Lamar Norman was the target of a very lengthy investigation after a previous bust in October of 2009. Deputies were conducting surveillance on Norman prior to a traffic stop on Thursday afternoon, when it was discovered that Norman was carrying 20 pounds of suspected Marijuana in the trunk of his vehicle.
Deputies found ten 1-pound bags of pot, along with another 10-pound brick. The street value of the drug, according to Haston was an estimated $35,000.
Because of the weight of the marijuana found in his vehicle, Norman was charged with marijuana trafficking. He is being held without bond at the Elbert County Detention Center.
All eyes in Elbert County will be on the Superior Courtroom of the Government Complex this afternoon.
The County Commissioners will vote on amending the Solid Waste Plan to allow the Plant Granite Waste-to-Energy facility, and if Plant Granite is consistent with that plan. Two public hearings are scheduled for each of these issues, before the vote this afternoon.
The group Citizens for Public Awareness has come out strongly against the incinerator project, and will submit signatures collected from its “right-to-vote” petition to force a referendum on the facility, proposed by GreenFirst LLC.
Last month, over 100 were relegated to the hallway of the County Building, because the Meeting Room was over-capacity, causing Administrator Bob Thomas to change the venue for the hearings.
WSGC will broadcast the Plant Granite Hearings, this afternoon, beginning at 4:30, and you will hear the Commissioners’ vote live as it happens.
We will also stream the hearings on our website, wsgcradio.com, click “listen live.”
PURDUE PLAN TO APPOINT “CABINET” MEETS COLD REACTION
Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposal to appoint, rather than elect, four statewide constitutional officers ran headlong into opposition Friday.
Critics from both parties said the plan was unlikely to win the needed two-thirds vote in the Legislature and would consolidate too much power with the state's chief executive.
“I have serious reservations about taking power away from the people like this,'' state Sen. Tim Golden, a Valdosta Democrat, said.
Perdue's plan would hand the governor the power to appoint the state schools superintendent, labor commissioner, agriculture commissioner and insurance commissioner. Those posts are currently elected. The change would take place in 2014, after Perdue leaves office. It would require a constitutional amendment, which means that should it receive the needed supermajority in the state Legislature, it would then need to be approved by voters. The plan must also pass muster with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act, according to the state Attorney General Thurbert Baker's office. A spokesman for Baker said Perdue did not seek their counsel on the proposal. Georgia's longtime state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said Friday that the proposal was a “terrible idea.''
“You would not have an independent agriculture commissioner, as I've been,'' said the Democrat, who was first elected in 1969. “Let the people vote.''
State Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox said the plan would “lessen the voice that parents and educators have. I am not convinced that less democracy is better,'' she said. Cox is one of several Republicans who were skeptical.
House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey called it “very doubtful'' that voters would give up their right to have a say.
“Traditionally the voters, once they have been given the right to vote on something, they are reluctant to take that right back from themselves,'' the Atlanta Republican said. State Rep. Jill Chambers, an Atlanta Republican, called the chances of the Legislature giving more power to the governor “slim.''
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter questioned Perdue's timing, saying lawmakers are already more than on-fourth of the way through their legislative session and Perdue has less than one year left in his final term.
“Why now?'' asked Porter. “Possibly this is something that should be looked at but there are so many other things -- jobs, transportation -- that reorganizing state government in this way is not a high priority.'' Still, the plan has supporters.
“It's like the president picking his cabinet. The governor should have the same privilege,'' state Sen. Jeff Mullis, a Chickamauga Republican said. “It might help (the governor) to control the budget better.'' Several legislators noted that with schools such a high priority it made sense to have the schools superintendent and the governor reading off the same playbook.
Research from Perdue's office found that Georgia is one of only five states that elect a labor commissioner and one of only nine states in which voters select an agriculture commissioner. Twelve other states elect an insurance commissioner. Fourteen vote for state school superintendent.
The Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, announced that VA can now provide health care for more veterans due to changes in eligibility rules.
The change allows Veterans with incomes exceeding VA means test thresholds by 10 percent or less to receive VA health care. “This is not only great news for many veterans here locally that can now be enrolled in our outstanding health care system, but also includes rural communities surrounding Aiken, South Carolina and Athens, Georgia, where we have VA outpatient clinics.” stated Rebecca Wiley, Medical Center Director. “We expect this to improve access to timely and quality health care for many more of the 100,000 veterans living in the area,” added Wiley.
Applications will be automatically reconsidered for Veterans who applied for enrollment after January 1, 2009 and were denied due to income levels. Veterans who applied before January 1, 2009, must reapply to take advantage of the relaxed income restrictions. Veterans with questions are encouraged to contact the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at (706) 733-0188, extension 3215 or 1-800-836-5561.
U.S. Congressman Paul C. Broun, M.D. (GA-10) invites students in grades nine through twelve to participate in the 2010 Congressional Art Competition. Each year, members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsor a nation-wide high school arts competition. This competition provides a wonderful opportunity to recognize the artistic talents of high school students from across the nation. The winning entry that Dr. Broun selects to represent the Tenth Congressional District of Georgia will be displayed for one year in our nation’s Capitol in Washington, D.C. The first place winner will be invited to a national reception and will also be eligible to receive an art scholarship from Savannah College of Art and Design.
“I invite all students in grades 9 through 12 to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to display their artwork in a national exhibit. The prestigious competition is all about showcasing the rich, artistic talents of our young people, and previous winners have proven that Georgia definitely does have talent. The halls of Congress need a splash of art, and I know that our local students can come up with the perfect picture,” said Broun.
For the 2010 Art Competition, all entries must be submitted to one of Congressman Broun's three district offices byFriday, March 19, 2010. If you have questions about the competition, contact Jessica Morris at (706) 447-3857.
Click HERE to view competition rules and guidelines, the student release form, and the 2009 winning artwork of Jackson County student, Aaron Edwards.
