•Harvey J. Adams, 86•Mary L. Brown, 87•Kimberly S. Coty, 45

•David ‘Ed’ Giddens, 74•Rodney Howard, 38•Johnny L. Wheeler, 67

INDEXClassifi eds 5-6BCalendar 13AOpinion 4ASports 1-3BTV 4BTwo sections, 20 pages

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thenortheastgeorgian.com

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The Northeast Georgian

KIMBERLY BROWN/Staff

SUMMER READING PROGRAMSENTERTAIN, EDUCATE

This year’s Summer Reading Program, “Fizz Boom Read,” is in full swing at both the Clarkesville and Cornelia libraries. Clarkesville Children’s Librarian Beverly Griffi n said turnout and the programs have been great. Above, Michael Wood, his daughter, Breelyn, 6, and his son, Colton, 11, work on clay spiral pots during the summer reading program at Clarkesville Library on Tuesday. Tonya Kimsey of the ArtFull Barn showed 83 children, 52 adults and four teens how to make the pots. Right, Daniel Thomas LaRose, 13 months, is not too sure of Cornelia fi reman Mark Stavely in his turnout gear. Stavely and Cornelia Fire Lt. Phillip Kim-brell showed the gear and a fi re engine to children and parents during Summer Reading Time at the Cornelia Library on Wednesday. Cornelia Children’s Librarian Melissa Duchaine said Cornelia saw 764 in attendance at the June programs.

By CHRISTINA SANTEE

A Banks County man arrested for the armed rob-bery of a Cornelia bank branch in late April was indicted Monday.

Raymond Charles Whit-mire, 57, of Alto, was in-dicted on a single count of armed robbery by a Habersham County grand jury July 7 in Habersham County Superior Court.

Whitmire was arrested

May 11 and charged with the felony offense two weeks after he reportedly robbed United Community Bank, 1472 Highway 441 Bypass, around 11:10 a.m. April 26.

Although no one was injured during the in-cident, former Cornelia Police Chief Rick Darby confi rmed, the robbery resulted in the theft of ap-proximately $4,095 after Whitmire allegedly hand-

ed tellers a note stating he had a gre-nade, according to an incident report fi led by the Cornelia Police Department.

Darby initially released the suspect had in his posses-sion a green bag, in which tellers believed a weapon could have been concealed.

The armed robbery in-

dictment charges with intent to com-mit theft, Whitmire did unlawfully take cash from a UCB teller, “by the use of an apparent hand grenade, an article having the appear-ance of an offensive weapon,” the court document states.

Initially, authori-ties had only a still photo of the suspect from video

surveillance footage cap-tured inside the building, and witness testimony in-dicating the robber fl ed the scene in a white early ‘90s model Nissan Pathfi nder.

After weeks of inves-tigation, Whitmire soon landed on authorities’ ra-dar and was developed into the primary suspect, pre-ceding his arrest by Towns County Sheriff’s Offi ce deputies coordinated with Cornelia P.D., according to

Cornelia Police Lt. Kevin Marsteller.

Marsteller confi rmed Whitmire was apprehend-ed during a planned traf-fi c stop without incident. At the time of his arrest, Whitmire was driving a white 1997 Nissan Path-fi nder.

Search warrants ex-ecuted at Whitmire’s resi-dence, 152 Hartwick Drive,

By KIMBERLY BROWN

During its regular meet-ing July 9, the Archway Executive Committee once again addressed taking on the issue of drug addiction in Habersham County.

Archway Professional Rick Story told the com-mittee he had been ap-proached by Mike Johns, director of The Mustard Seed Counseling, regard-ing Johns making a pre-sentation to the commit-tee.

Mike Mixon, executive committee facilitator, said, rather than listening to individual presentations, the committee should consider forming a work group, which could consist of judges and law enforce-ment, including Haber-sham County Sheriff Joey Terrell.

“I certainly think it’s

Archway to address drug abusein county

Cornelia UCB bank robbery suspect indicted

By DONALD FRASER

Habersham Medical Center and county road construction and repair are slated for approximately $15.1 million of Habersham County government’s an-ticipated Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VI revenue.

But garbage is another big ticket item county gov-ernment will be spending SPLOST revenue upon.

For many people, the landfi ll is just a hole in the ground into which trash is tossed, then covered with dirt. It’s more complicated than that because of regu-lations in place to prevent

land and ground water pol-lution.

Plans call for Cell V to be constructed at the Habersh-am County Waste Manage-ment Department’s landfi ll, off Dicks Hill Parkway, at an estimated cost of $3.4 million.

“It’s a long process,” said Habersham County Manag-er Phil Sutton July 2, of the process for constructing a new cell at the landfi ll. He

noted a great deal of time is absorbed by the process of gaining permits from regu-latory agencies, including the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

While a portion of Cell V has been excavated, prepar-ing it will require widen-ing the cell and installing a liner along the bottom of the cell to prevent migration of

SPLOST funding for landfill not ‘trash talk’New cell necessary for residential, economic growth

DONALD FRASER/StaffThe proposed Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VI includes $3.4 million for improvements at the Habersham County Waste Management Department’s landfi ll. Shown are two leachate holding tanks at the Habersham County landfi ll. Leachate is contaminated water which has soaked through the buried waste. Although not slated for funding through the proposed SPLOST VI, the tank on the left needs to be replaced at a cost of approximately $390,000, to be funded through the county’s enterprise fund.

By KIMBERLY BROWN

There will be a new pre-k option for Habersham County students this fall. Clarkesville Elementary School has been granted a Georgia Lottery pre-k class, which will serve 22 students, said Rhonda An-drews, Habersham County director of elementary schools.

A lottery registration for the class will be held from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at the Habersham County School Board offi ce at 132 Stanford Mill Road, Clarkesville. Children must be 4 years old on or before Sept. 1 to be eligible. See the box for addi-tional registration requirements.

Andrews said she is excited because “we’ve nev-er been able to have a Georgia Lottery pre-k in the northern end of the county.” She said the school sys-tem has asked for a class for Clarkesville Elementary “for several years,” and this year, when they asked, “we got some feedback we might have a good chance.”

“We’re thrilled we’re able to offer this to our par-ents and our kids,” she said. “Any time you can get a child in a pre-k program, it’s going to make a huge impact on their life. The Georgia pre-k program is great. They have new standards that align with the content standards the state has. It’s a seamless tran-sition for these kids from pre-k to kindergarten. The foundation is already laid there for those kids.”

Clarkesville Elementary Principal Tim Goss said he was excited to hear the school had been approved for a pre-k classroom.

“Pre-k is a great program that provides several benefi ts for students preparing to enter kindergar-ten and helps them to begin school with the greatest opportunity for academic success,” Goss said. “The ability to offer a pre-k class at our school provides the opportunity for more students in our county to attend a state funded pre-k program. We are truly looking forward to adding these students to the Clarkesville Elementary School future Raiders.”

The classroom will have a full-time certifi ed teacher and a full-time teaching assistant, who will be school system employees, but, Andrews said, “the

State pre-k approved for Clarkesville Elementary School

WHIITMIRE

See Clarkesville, Page 2ASee Trash, Page 14A

See Indicted, Page 2A

See Archway, Page 3A

A1

worthwhile and it’s cer-tainly a project we can take on,” Mixon said. “I think Michael [Johns], [Blake Foster, executive director of Habersham United Believers], and some others can put to-gether a work group and have the work group make a presentation to us. That’s just my thought.”

“They need an idea of how we can help them, in-stead of just educating us on what they do,” said ex-ecutive committee mem-ber Steven Patrick.

Mixon said Archway’s function is “to provide in-formation and resources … being able to furnish the expertise to have a group accomplish their goals, not for us to accom-plish their goal.”

Foster said the commu-nity has “an abundance of people” who want to ad-dress the drug abuse prob-lem.

“It’s all about public awareness in our com-munity,” Foster said. “All these problems are under the radar. It’s so huge, the average person does not know how bad it is. Until you talk to people like [Su-perior Court] Judge Rusty Smith and [Mountain Ju-dicial Circuit District At-torney] Brian Rickman … Mike Johns handles about 2,500 cases a year, 1,800 here in Habersham County, drug-related prob-lems.”

Foster said he has been told by Terrell that “99 percent of incarcerations are somewhere related to drugs.”

“It’s that big,” he con-tinued. “The community has got to be aware. You’ve got all the leadership in the community [in the Archway Executive Com-mittee], and that’s a start. How Archway can help … who knows? Whether you go through a work group or what, we’re willing to do that.”

Whether the new work group would be part of the already existing health work group, led by Clarkesville Mayor Terry Greene, MD, or if it would be separate, is to be deter-mined.

“I think the response to Michael Johns would be we’re interested in help-ing and being a resource to him, and we’re going to try to help any way we

can,” Mixon said. “I’ve talked to Brian

[Rickman] at length, and he’s supportive of any-thing we want to do,” Sto-ry said. “He’s just waiting for a directive.”

In other business, the committee:

• Heard an update on the Habersham Success Academy and Great Prom-ise Partnership imple-mentation from Success Academy teacher Mike Rhoades and Hilda Smith, GPP coordinator. GPP partners with schools and local businesses to provide part-time jobs for students as long as they do well in school. Rhoades told executive commit-tee member Wade Rhodes they need 20 jobs begin-ning in September for the students, and they are still working on transporta-tion to the job sites. Mixon asked if Habersham Tran-sit could handle the trans-portation, and Habersham County Commissioner Natalie Crawford said she would check into it;

• Saw the rendering of Phase III of the Mt. Airy Schoolhouse project, ex-ternal design and land-scape, presented by Story;

• Heard Story say “the general consensus” is to hold off on a countywide water study right now;

• Heard Baldwin Mayor Jerry Neace and Crawford briefly discuss solar pow-er projects throughout the county. Neace said he spoke to Shane Owl-Grea-son, Georgia Solar Utili-ties co-founder, regarding solar power generation for municipalities’ water and waste water plants. Craw-ford said grant opportuni-ties are available;

• Briefly discussed the Hidden Gems and agricul-ture brochures. Story said they are still in the works;

• Heard Sue Chapman, Archway coordinator for operations, say senior UGA students will work with Habersham County this fall on a public rela-tions campaign for the county. She said the proj-ect will include gathering feedback, conducting fo-cus groups, developing a logo if necessary, a media plan and presentations to local civic groups;

• Heard Story say UGA student Rosanna Cruz met with Mary Beth Hor-ton and Walton Smith,

and they went through a draft of the state Route 197 N. scenic corridor man-agement plan. The draft should be finalized after Cruz receives some infor-mation from Georgia De-partment of Transporta-tion;

• Heard Story say they are ready to present the final design for the Bald-win Farmers Market proj-ect. Chapman said, “It is a nice looking park that can double as a farmers mar-ket;”

• Heard J.R. Charles, executive director of Habersham County Eco-nomic Development Au-thority, say he, Story, Brent Edwards and Rope Roberts went to Atlanta to meet with economic devel-opment project managers, including Department of Community Affairs rep-resentatives;

• Heard Rhodes say there will be a meeting Aug. 12 for county and city officials and private sector representatives, facilitated by Roberts, to discuss restructuring the community “from an eco-nomic development stand-point.” Executive com-mittee member Gilbert Barrett suggested leaders of municipalities and enti-ties, such as mayors and chairmen, be the ones involved in the effort. “If you don’t have that key leader from a municipal-ity, the commissioners, the school board … if you don’t have those chairs embrace it, it’s not going to work,” he said;

• Heard Story say Jason Christian of the UGA Col-lege of Engineering met with Tallulah Falls Police Chief/Water Superinten-dent Bill Goatcher about water issues on Hickory Nut Mountain. Story said the project “is too big for us to handle,” but Arch-way will provide some recommendations and “useful information;”

• Heard Story discuss the recycling center proj-ect. His investigations include talking to Lump-kin County officials about their dealings with Haul All, a Canadian recycling company. He will present information from Haul All at a future meeting, and he will investigate other similar companies;

• Heard story say he has “a number of signatures”

on the Memorandum of Understanding, but some municipalities still need

to sign it;• Heard the next Arch-

way Executive Commit-

tee meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at Piedmont College.

Friday, July 11, 2014 The Northeast Georgian 3A

By CHRISTINA SANTEE

Sometimes, all people need is a helping hand to get back on their feet.

The Mountain Judicial Circuit Accountability Court is doing just that, and changing the lives of other-wise convicted criminals one graduate at a time.

The MJCAC is a post-plea model, offered to eli-gible offenders from Haber-sham, Rabun and Stephens counties, charged with but not limited to felony drug or related offenses.

The mission of the state-funded program, as stated on Habersham County’s of-ficial website (habersham-ga.com), is “to enhance public safety through a coordinated effort of treat-ment and intense supervi-sion within the judicial sys-tem; to promote abstinence, law-abiding behavior, com-pliance and participation through prompt interven-tion.”

MJCAC’s stated goal is to “reduce the recidivism rate by offering offenders an alternative to incarcera-tion and the tools to ab-

stain from illegal activity.” Through a combined effort of cost-effective measures promoting rehabilitation, the offender is encouraged to become a productive and law-abiding citizen.

MJCAC is also offered as an alternative at a re-vocation for those offend-ers who are on probation and may subsequently test positive for or are battling substance abuse. The pro-bationer may enter the pro-gram in lieu of incarcera-tion that provides intensive rehabilitative services.

According to Jackie Rob-erts, MJCAC coordinator, since its establishment Jan. 18, 2011, the state-funded program has produced 11 Habersham County gradu-ates thus far, and two Ste-phens County graduates. On July 24, the program will witness its first gradu-ation of two Rabun County offenders, a male and fe-male.

“Our team is dedicated to providing every person the tools to succeed and celebrate each accomplish-ment they make,” Roberts said.

Most offenders partici-pating in the program have been involved in metham-phetamine, prescription pills, marijuana and alco-hol, she said.

“We have several re-sources for the participants we serve,” Roberts said. “From employment readi-ness offered through pro-bation, education options, daycare needs, community support, etc.”

Active participants are required to attend pro-grams to increase literacy skills, and of MJCAC par-ticipants, seven have re-ceived their GED (General Educational Development) while active in the pro-gram, she said.

Currently, 79 offenders remain active in the pro-gram, Roberts said, 24 of whom are Habersham resi-dents.

“We are the last resource before prison, so we’re hop-ing they get engaged in their recovery and most of them do,” she said.

So far, the program’s overall success rate is 81 percent, Roberts said.

“It is so hard to pick

one situa-tion that has been so reward-ing,” she said. “Our first gradu-ation was so emotion-al. Tears [were] shed and thank yous [re-ceived] from their children. When our first drug-free baby was born, [the] cycle was finally broken. The graduate that got her GED and never thought she could do it, the participant that broke down because he realized how far he had come … each is very spe-cial.”

However, to date 32 of-fenders within the circuit have been terminated from MJCAC, Roberts said. Ter-mination can result from an offender facing new charges, having consecu-tively dirty drug screen-ings, violating the rules, etc.

“The biggest disappoint-ment is when a participant has to be terminated for failing to comply with the guidelines of the program,” she said. “We know the po-

tential of each participant and offer every resource we have to help them reach success, but in the end they have to do the work.

“It’s a very structured, serious program,” Roberts continued. “So if they’re not ready to make that change, get off our choo-choo [train] because there’s plenty of people who want that help.”

Wanda Dimas, certified addiction counselor with the MJC Accountability Court, said seeing the suc-cess of participating offend-ers is especially important given the impact it has on their loved ones.

“When I think about our graduates, I not only think about them, but their children, their wives and husbands … it affects the entire family,” Dimas said. “When our graduates com-plete the program, it not only changes their lives, it changes all the lives of those families.

“To watch them change is amazing,” she continued. “Imagine changing every-thing you’ve ever thought, believed, done. It’s a won-derful process to watch [unfold].”

To qualify, partici-pants must be 17 or older,

a U.S. citizen, reside in the Mountain Judicial Circuit (Habersham, Rabun, Ste-phens counties), and facing but not limited to felony charges due to substance abuse. Offenders must also have violated conditions of their probation related to substance abuse, have at least 36 months remaining of their probation sentence, and may not live with any-one (legally married or otherwise) using narcotics (prescribed or illegal).

Roberts advised any of the following disqualifies an offender from partici-pating in the program: vio-lent convictions or history; involvement in trafficking, manufacturing or multiple sale(s) of narcotics; severe and/or untreated mental/physical health problem which would impeded their ability to participate in/complete the program; not a legal citizen of the U.S.; receiving medical manage-ment of addictive pain med-ication; and sex offenders.

Upon successful comple-tion of the program, an of-fender’s case may be dis-missed, expunged or their sentence modified.

For more information, visit habershamga.com.

Mountain Judicial Circuit Accountability Court changing livesVoluntary post-plea model pointing o�enders in right direction

ROBERTS

Archway From Page 1A

By KIMBERLY BROWN

The Northeast Georgia community is “devastated” by substance abuse. Re-sources are in place to help it heal, and those resourc-es are beginning to come together in a concerted ef-fort.

On June 9, 71 partici-pants from “many disci-plines” attended a five-hour training held at Piedmont College. Those included representatives from Cir-

cle of Hope, law enforce-ment, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Celebrate Re-covery, Habersham County Family Connection, Free-dom Hill, Victory Home, Legacy Link, Division of Family and Children’s Ser-vices and churches, said Michael Johns, director of The Mustard Seed Coun-seling.

The Community-Based Recovery Initiative train-ing was sponsored by The Mustard Seed, the Geor-

gia Council on Substance Abuse and the Georgia Mental Health Association.

“It was very good train-ing, basically about how people in prevention/in-tervention treatment and aftercare agencies and others interested in the healing community can all work together supportively to aid in the healing in our community,” Johns said.

Jody Thompson, direc-tor of the mentoring pro-gram at LAMBS (Love and

Ministry Between Sistas) Ministry, attended the June 9 training. She said the Northeast Georgia community is “devastated” by the addiction problem.

“I have a good 15 years in this community, so I know the pulse of this com-munity, and I know very few things are working,” she said. “It’s not that peo-ple don’t have a heart for it, but many of these [efforts] need the Lord. We need to be able to work together

with what God has gifted us, and agree that the Lord can do what we can’t do. If we acknowledge that, I think we’ll start seeing this community heal.”

She said addicts “need the community to come to-gether” and for those com-munity members who have integrity, character and a healthy family to “reach out to those who don’t even know what it looks like, and to walk with them in friendship and mentoring

and support them.”Thompson said the June

9 training had “a lot of solid Christians” in attendance.

“They might be in secu-lar positions, but they’re solid Christians,” she said. “It was good. I felt people walked away with hope, for [the future] to be better than we even anticipate.”

Jackie Roberts, Haber-sham County Account-ability Court coordinator,

State-level drug abuse training aims to help community heal

See Training, Page 7A

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