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September 2, 2010
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A look back ...
Published December 27, 2009
The top national story of 2009 was the backdrop for the year in Walton County as well.
Walton Tribune staff members chose economic turmoil as the top local story for the past year. The economy had far-reaching effects on the paper’s top 10 list, as local governments’ challenge to balance budgets ranked No. 7.
Unemployment rates in northeast Georgia topped 10 percent at one point this summer before retreating slightly by year’s end. There was some hope late in the year as the number of new unemployment benefit claims in Walton County fell in November, both from October and from November 2008.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.2 percent in November, up from 10.1 percent in October. The Georgia unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in November 2008.
Georgia’s unemployment rate has exceeded the national rate in 24 of the past 25 months.
“Georgia’s job market is mired in a prolonged and painful economic downturn,” state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said in a statement recently. He promised a jobs summit on Jan. 18 in Atlanta to discuss strategies for spurring the economy.
Home foreclosures continued have a major effect on the economy as banks re-took hundreds of Walton County houses. School officials were forced to make tough decisions during the year as sinking tax revenues forced spending cuts. Teachers, along with other state employees, were furloughed. Construction of a new Walton Regional Medical Center was delayed in 2009. Health Management Associates, which owns the Monroe-based hospital, delayed building projects during the year but is poised to resume work at the West Spring Street site in the late summer of 2010.
The new Walton Regional is projected to open in 2011.
There were bright spots. General Mills picked a site in Social Circle as the home of a new distribution center, expected to open this spring. The 1.6 million-square-foot facility will be the company’s largest U.S. distribution center.
Downtown Monroe was designated as an Opportunity Zone and the city also received the coveted Main Street City designation.
Some 25 Georgia-based banks failed in 2009, but only one had operations in Walton County. The state shut down Winder-based First Piedmont Bank on July 17 and transferred its deposit accounts to First American Bank and Trust Co. First Piedmont operated a branch on West Spring Street in Monroe, which closed a few months after the new bank took it over.
The Monroe location of Starbucks Coffee was another victim of the poor economy, one of several locations across the country to close.
One local developer said he can foresee improvement in at least one sector next year.
“Admittedly, it has been a devastating year locally for real estate; however, it is these times that bring about great opportunity,” said Geoff Hurdle, of Loganville. “As a real estate broker and developer, I see Georgia still trailing the nation with our recovery rate, but I do have hope for the housing market in 2010. I can’t say I have the same positive outlook for the commercial market. ... The good news is every decline is eventually followed with an incline.”
On Sept. 8, Walton County was reminded of the tragedy of war when native son Joseph Helton was killed following a roadside bomb blast outside of Baghdad, Iraq.
Following his death, Waltonians joined together to remember the fallen airman and Monroe Area High School graduate.
Helton was laid to rest following a ceremony at First Baptist Church in Monroe, where family, friends, military personnel and members of the community whose lives Helton had touched over his years growing up in Monroe came out to commemorate the 24-year-old Air Force serviceman.
His funeral procession saw residents standing in rain, lining streets on his ride to the church.
A picture of the procession was taken by city of Monroe employee David Little, enlarged and framed. Helton’s mother said she would like the picture to be hung in Monroe Area High School as an “inspiration” to students there. Walton County Public School officials have not said if the picture has been hung yet.
Helton was an honor graduate of the Air Force Academy’s 2007 class; he ranked in the top 10 percent of his class. Electing the Air Force Security Forces, he was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base, near Tampa, Fla.
At MacDill, he volunteered for combat for one year, and he was later accepted for assignment as an adviser to the Iraqi Police in Southern Baghdad. Helton finished that tour and extended his assignment for further Security Forces operations elsewhere.
Walton County residents were not shy about voicing their opinion about the ongoing health care reform debate taking place in Washington.
Few, if any, topics raised such back-and-forth in the community as evidenced by the pages of The Walton Tribune.
In August, The Tribune ran a four-part series on the health care debate, talking to national lawmakers, health care professionals, those who would be affected by the change and regular joes.
The debate also raged on The Tribune’s opinion pages.
“We now have the best health care system in the world,” wrote Bob Guhl, of Social Circle. “Some changes may be in order, but what is the need to rush into accepting this 1,100-page bill? The answer is obvious — the more the voters understand its content, the more objectionable it becomes.”
“When my own father was dying, he resisted any planning beyond his will,” wrote Phil Lanier of Monroe. “It was left to me to get him and his doctor to discuss it. The doctor was about as comfortable with it as a parent giving the big talk to a budding teenager. It wasn’t until hospice provided some guidance that we got it all straight.”
Like the debate in Walton, it is still a hot topic in Washington, D.C.
While the final tally won’t be official until the end of the year, all indications are 2009 was one of the wettest years in Georgia’s history. And while rain has been making headlines in recent months, the year started with the state still in a drought — and snow blanketing the area.
A snowstorm on March 1 made headlines as more than 3 inches of snow was reported in Walton County, with cars littering the sides of Highway 78, roads and schools closing and the county turned into a rare winter wonderland. The snow did not stick around too long, as temperatures quickly rose and most remnants of the snow were gone within a few days.
Shortly after the snow, state officials started to lessen the watering restrictions on the 55 counties — including Walton —which were under Level IV drought restrictions. Following 7.13 inches of precipitation reported in March, by April, state officials had declared the drought officially over, though Walton County and 70 percent of the state were still suffering from a “moderate” drought as determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor. In June, state officials relaxed watering restrictions and the state’s water woes seemed to wash away.
August, September and October each recorded twice the average rainfall, including 9 inches for the Walton County area in October. The rains of the past 11 months has put 2009 as the third wettest year since 1895. Rain falling recently and any before the week’s end could edge 2009 closer to the 70.01-inch record set in 1929 or 70.66 set in 1964, washing away any remnants of thought given to the drought that plagued the state for the past three years.
While the teetering economy caused many cities to scale back on civic projects, both Walnut Grove and Social Circle were unafraid to look to the future.
Walnut Grove finished construction on the Walnut Grove Parkway and welcomed the opening of Walnut Grove High School, with plans to eventually annex the school into the city limits proper.
The city is still in talks with the state to hopefully bring a library to the city and has future plans to begin creating a full downtown along the new parkway.
Social Circle also had big plans for the future. In the early months of the year, the city annexed large tracts of Newton County land into the city limits, including 342 acres in March and 449 acres the next month.
The city also opened the new City Hall in April, converting a historic home into the civic building and allowing the Social Circle Department of Public Safety to move the police force into the old building.
In addition, the city held a series of public meetings to discuss a new re-design of downtown Social Circle. The final plan would cost $1.2 million and includes widened sidewalks, more green space, a larger public area and further accomodations for downtown business. While city officials have yet to move on the plan, the city hopes to begin moving faster in the coming months, especially if construction on the rest of the Social Circle bypass begins.
Whether he was forced to resign or left on his own accord, the post vacated by former Social Circle Department of Public Safety Chief Steve Shelton remains unfilled heading into 2010.
In August, city officials were approached by members of the uniformed patrol division within the SCDPS about the way they were being treated by Shelton and Lt. Chauncey Dixon, a supervisor within the department. The complaints initiated an internal investigation by the city into what was cited as “violations of personnel policies and standard operating procedures.”
Dixon was terminated.
The internal investigation, whose findings were not revealed for weeks pending investigations by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Walton County District Attorney’s Office, did not paint a flattering picture of what went on inside the walls of the SCDPS.
A total of 14 members of the department confirmed reports of verbally abusive behavior toward employees, damage and destruction of city property, ticket fixing as well as a host of violations of city policies.
City Manager Doug White initially reported Shelton resigned after the two went over the findings of the investigation together. Attorney Mary Huber, who was representing Shelton at the time, claimed the former director was told either to resign or be fired.
Attempts to reach Huber for an update on any possible legal action on Shelton’s behalf were not returned.
With the economy struggling throughout all of 2009, everyone had to cut back on budgets, including local school systems and government bodies.
Due to cuts at the state level, budget woes were especially pronounced for local school systems. As both Walton County Public Schools and Social Circle City School dived into the budget process, expectations were high due to the passage of stimulus aid by Congress.
Yet even with the expected stimulus funds — more than $600,000 for Social Circle and $6 million for Walton — the systems foresaw budget deficits. The problem was compounded for Social Circle when Gov. Sonny Perdue announced cuts to the state’s equalization grant, cutting $1 million from the system’s expected revenue.
Walton announced a .51 increase to the millage rate, yet still expected to receive less taxes due to falling assessments.
Less than a week before teachers were due to begin arriving for the new year, Perdue announced an additional 3 percent cut to all school funding, leading to a scramble by schools to cut additional costs.
Both systems passed revised budgets, but expect further difficulties next year as the state looks to furlough teachers in the spring semester and does not anticipate more revenue for next year’s budget. System officials are already looking for areas to cut next year - Walton County has already looked at various measures, including closing the Walton Career Academy.
Outside of school, the Walton County Board of Commissioners also faced issues. To balance the $47.5 million budget, the board was forced to dip into its reserve fund. The county took $2 million from the reserves, as well as adjusting employee health insurance to require employee co-pay for the first time.
Walton County worked hard to get alcohol flowing — or stop it from doing so — with a series of city regulations on the sale of alcohol.
Social Circle kicked off the new year by putting liquor by the drink on the agenda, setting a referendum for March.
Mayor Jim Burgess said the proposed ordinance would give Social Circle a better chance to attract more business to the city and give local restaurants a more competitive edge with eateries outside the city that already served liquor by the drink.
The voters seemed to agree, approving the referendum by almost a 2-to-1 ratio, 180-104. The Social Circle City Council voted to approve the final ordinance the next month.
Despite the move, Social Circle has yet to see any move by local restaurants to take advantage of the new ordinance.
While Social Circle weighed the referendum, the Good Hope City Council rejected a proposed ordinance to allow the sale of beer or wine within the city after owners of the Good Hope General Store requested a license for alcohol sales. After rejecting the possibility of an ordinance, the Council took matters one step further, proposing an ordinance to formally ban the sale of beer or wine in Good Hope. The prohibition ordinance passed in July by a 3-0 vote with two abstentions.
In 2010, ground will be broken on the dam for the 1,370-acre, 12 billion gallon Hard Labor Creek Reservoir. But 2009 was also a banner year for the joint venture between Oconee and Walton counties as it was touted as a possible initial solution to the state’s pending water shortage.
A federal judge ruled this year Georgia has no right to pull as much water as it does from Lake Lanier, a major source of water for much of Atlanta. While some headway has been reported with the negotiations with officials between the three states, Hard Labor Creek Reservoir may be a quick fix should negotiations peter out.
In August, reservoir officials met with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Chief of Staff Ed Holcombe and other deputy executive counsel in talks about the possibility of the role Hard Labor Creek Reservoir can play in regional water concerns. Much of the discussion centered on how fast the reservoir can reach its potential capacity of 62 million gallons per day to fill the void if the spigots are turned off at Lanier.
Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service searched the Angel Food headquarters and the Good Hope Food Co. offices of Andy Wingo on Feb. 11.
Angel Food officials said they provided copies of all information the federal agents sought and said no computers or other documents were removed from the premises.
Federal officials have been tight-lipped about their investigation, but Angel Food’s Senior Vice President for Communications Juda Engelmayer pointed out there have been “no allegations of wrongdoing made.”
Angel Food and the Wingo family also settled a lawsuit that two former board members filed against them.
As part of the settlement, Andy Wingo agreed not to work with Angel Food, which agreed not to do business with Good Hope Food Co.
The plaintiffs, Craig Atnip and Tony Prather, resigned their seats on the Angel Food board and gave up their employment.
Angel Food also agreed to cancel company credit cards and to get vouchers to reimburse travel expenses.
Atnip and Prather were awarded part of their salaries and both men agreed to drop their claims against Angel Food.
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