In the State of the Union address delivered last Tuesday night, President Bush declared the U.S. a society “addicted to oil,” making a radical departure from his statement of a year ago calling for drilling in Alaska in order to preserve America’s way of life. This was a welcome departure for 13th District Congressman David Scott.
A somewhat sobering vision, as officials shied away from the Authority’s proposal to use portions of the property for residential development, urging patience during the sale and warming to few of the site’s selling points.
Butts County’s Relay for Life is scheduled for Friday, May 19 from 6 p.m. to Saturday, May 20 at 7 p.m at the Charlie Brown track.
The municipalities have made their Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax requests, amended those requests, and it has all come down to County Administrator Dr. Van Whaler’s recommendations, which were made to the Board of Commissioners at a called meeting last week.
The Authority met with representatives of Trammell Crow, a commercial real estate company in Atlanta, to discuss the marketing of the 298-acre tract located off Highway 36 West.
In three consecutive days, Butts County Sheriff’s investigators netted three significant arrests, all of which were marked by large seizures of methamphetamine, cash and vehicles.
Big D’s is known for its excellent and plentiful selection of jewelry, and the robber must have known this, too. The culprit smashed out a pane of glass above the store’s entrance on Oak Street, and made his way into the store somehow through that new opening.
The new prescription drug benefit for Medicare that took effect on January 1 is the most significant expansion of Medicare since creation of the program in 1965. So no one expected things to go smoothly, but few expected things to go as wrong as they have. “It didn’t work,” said Stan Hogan, pharmacist at Jackson Drug Company.
For Butts County’s new Land Use Coordinator, Moniqua Williams, being the catalyst for change is nothing new. She even had an award named for her – the Moniqua L. Williams Social Change Award – by her undergraduate alma mater, Clarion University in Pennsylvania.
The Library Board has requested the release of $100,000 of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds. There is thought being given to converting the Hawkes Building, which is the current home to Community Development and the Butts County Industrial Development Authority, into a children’s library.
The Butts County Board of Education spent some time at its January meeting reviewing the initial success of its new driver’s education program at Jackson High School, and recognizing the achievements of students and staff members.
The proposal would require all school clubs and organizations to be approved by the school and include a staff member as sponsor. Parents would also be allowed to forbid in writing their children from joining any club or organization.
The lanes will be installed on Highway 36 East, north of Jackson. In addition, the state will make improvements to the Fincherville Road intersection.
It’s no secret that Butts County’s population is growing, and that the first people to feel the impact is the Board of Education. In 2005, the Board purchased over 20 acres off Stark Road to build a new elementary school to replace North Mulberry Elementary School. In January, the Board entered into a contract for 25 acres off Brownlee Road to eventually replace Jackson Elementary School.
At the January meeting of the Board of Commissioners, County Administrator Dr. Van Whaler suggested not placing the county police referendum on the March 21 ballot, instead recommending a series of summit meetings between the commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office to take place throughout the year.
The Butts County Board of Commissioners started the year with the election of a chairman and vice chairman, and praise of outgoing Chairman Gerald Kersey.
Following the swearing in of the mayor and two councilmen, the Council voted to table one rezoning and approve another.
