NASCAR fan favorite Chase Elliott, left, speaks during the NASCAR Awards on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chase Elliott simply can’t be beat when it comes to his grip on NASCAR ‘s title as fans most popular driver.
Not even with a late social media push by Ryan Blaney to end Elliott’s reign.
In a season in which he won five races and finished fourth overall, Elliott added another victory Thursday night. At the season-ending awards ceremony at the Music City Center, the National Press Association declared Elliott winner of the fan-decided most popular award for a fifth consecutive year.
Elliott had a message for Blaney, who surprised him by campaigning for the award on social media. Blaney also had fun with Elliott, whose tweets featured videos that included accusing the driver sponsored by Hooters of thinking parmesan garlic chicken wings are “too spicy.”
“I got a pretty good laugh,” Elliott told Blaney during the awards show. “But if you need a trophy or need to borrow it, you know where my room’s at.”
Elliott’s run as NASCAR’s most popular driver started in 2018, the first year of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement. Earnhardt had won the most popular award every year since 2003, the season Bill Elliot, the man known as “Awesome Bill From Dawsonville” in Georgia, asked for his name to be removed from the ballot after winning 16 times.
Now his son is continuing the tradition with this latest victory, meaning either an Elliott or Earnhardt has won the Most Popular Driver award for 32 straight years. Chase Elliott said he understands and appreciates fans continuing a family tradition of rooting for an Elliott.
“Dad had a great connection with the fans and beyond him, I look at the connection as really an extension of his career and my uncles and my grandfather and just kind of the path and the work ethic that they had to, to be able to get to where they did and to achieve the goals they did,” Chase Elliott said.
Chase Elliott held off his three rivals for the Cup championship even if he lost on the track to eventual Cup champ Joey Logano. Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell also were among the top 10 vote-getters. Others receiving votes included Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr.
The most popular driver award was first presented in 1949, to Curtis Turner, at the end of NASCAR’s inaugural season. The award has been administered by the NMPA and presented annually by the organization since 1983, and it is the only major NASCAR award determined solely by a fan vote.
Joseph “Joe” Scott, Jr., age 80, of Cornelia, passed away on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
Born on January 4, 1942, in Banks County, he was the son of the late Joe Scott, Sr. and Charity Moss Scott. Mr. Scott retired from Cornelia Veneer after 35 plus years of service. In his spare time, he enjoyed working in his garden and also enjoyed flowers, old cars, guns, and listening to music. He especially loved his family and his church family at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he sang in the choir.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Maggie Gibson; first cousin, Mildred Moss; and son, Tony Scott.
Survivors include his loving wife of 60 years, Connie Swilling Scott of the home; daughters Sandra Wilson Holloway of Stone Mountain, Beverly Scott of Los Angeles, California, Maria Scott (Michelle) of Cornelia, and Pamela Hardeman (Charles) of Commerce; daughter-in-law, Denene Scott of Lawrenceville; grandchildren, Tinisha Combs, Darius Maxwell, Joshua Scott, Selethia Gregory (Steven), Amberly Evans (Jarrell), Nyah Williams, Hannah Scott, Ryan Taylor (Jaylene), and Erin Taylor; a host of great-grandchildren; a very special, treasured cousin, within the home, Joyce Latner; special friends, Marvin and Ben; first cousin, Ralph Beckham; Kenny Pettijohn; and a host of other relatives and friends.
Mr. Scott will lie in state from 8:30 am until the service hour of 2 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, in the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin & Stewart. Rev. Ann Nicely will officiate. Interment will follow in Level Grove Cemetery.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont at the U.S. Capitol going into lunch with Senate Democrats prior to a vote on an agreement to end a looming rail strike on Dec. 1, 2022. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON (GA Recorder) — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to codify an agreement the White House brokered between rail unions and freight companies in order to avoid a catastrophic rail strikeOett but fell short of enough votes to include paid sick leave for workers.
The Senate backed the rail deal on an 80-15 vote and rejected the House-passed sick leave proposal 52-43, despite pleas from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sixty votes were required for passage.
The bill imposing the agreement now goes to President Joe Biden’s desk. Senators also rejected 25-70 a proposal by Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan and Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton to extend the cooling-off period for talks to continue.
Sanders called out railroad companies for refusing to give their workers paid sick leave and penalizing those who do take time off, calling the practices “barbaric.” He voted against codifying the September agreement.
“I gotta say that they are maybe the worst case of corporate greed that I have seen,” Sanders said of the freight rail carriers. “These guys are making record-breaking profits, giving their CEOs huge compensation packages.”
But Democrats said the looming rail strike had the potential to upend U.S. shipping and commerce just before the holidays, and Biden on Monday called for Congress to impose the agreement.
“The Senate cannot leave until we get the job done,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said ahead of the votes Thursday.
“Working together, we have spared this country a Christmas catastrophe in our grocery stores, in our workplaces, and in our communities,” Biden said after the Senate vote.
“I know that many in Congress shared my reluctance to override the union ratification procedures. But in this case, the consequences of a shutdown were just too great for working families all across the country. And, the agreement will raise workers’ wages by 24%, increase health care benefits, and preserve two person crews.
“I have long been a supporter of paid sick leave for workers in all industries — not just the rail industry — and my fight for that critical benefit continues.”
Buttigieg and Walsh to the Hill
With the cooling-off period ending soon, giving the unions the authority to strike starting Dec. 9, Biden sent U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to Capitol Hill to brief Senate Democrats on the railroad labor deal ahead of the vote.
The Senate Republicans who joined a majority of Democrats in backing paid sick leave included Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Mike Braun of Indiana, Marco Rubio of Florida and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is currently on the campaign trail in advance of the Georgia runoff election, did not vote. Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, did not vote because he tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday morning and is currently isolating.
Senators said they had to act. “We need to figure out a way to get this working,” Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said, adding that it would be devastating to workers and the economy if the strike were to occur.
Sen. Joe Manchin III expressed concern about Congress setting a precedent by intervening in a rail strike, but ultimately said he would vote for the agreement. Following the briefing he attended with Walsh and Buttigieg, he said he felt the deal was fair.
“It’s still the best proposal out there, and it’s what we should be voting for,” Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said.
Manchin voted against giving workers seven days of paid sick leave.
The scramble for Congress to pass a rail deal came after the president directed Congress to adopt the agreement between rail workers and operators that the White House helped facilitate in September, which was based on recommendations from an emergency board that Biden established in July.
Biden, calling himself “a proud pro-labor president,” said while that he was supportive of the unions, he could not let the dispute create an economic disaster.
September deal
In September, four of the 12 rail unions voted against endorsing the deal, voicing their opposition to a lack of paid sick leave. All 12 unions — representing 115,000 freight rail workers — need to agree on a contract, and if one doesn’t agree, workers represented by the others don’t cross the picket line.
The House on Wednesday voted to pass the agreement, and separately added seven days of paid sick leave though workers wanted more. Railroad workers are not currently guaranteed a single paid sick day. Rail companies refused to agree to paid sick leave.
The House strategy could have averted a possible rail strike that would potentially cost the U.S. economy more than $2 billion per day, while also sympathizing with union members’ request for sick leave.
The agreement the White House helped facilitate would give workers a 24% raise over five years, from 2020 to 2024; one additional personal day; and some protection from the rail carriers’ punitive attendance policies so that workers can take time off for medical needs without fear of discipline. The White House suggested to the unions that they withdrawal their request for paid sick leave.
The Association of American Railroads, which is the trade group that represents the railroad companies, urged the Senate to pass the September agreement, and reject Sanders’ push to include paid sick leave.
“The Senate must now act quickly to implement the historic deals reached at the bargaining table and already ratified by eight of twelve unions,” AAR CEO Ian Jefferies said in a statement.
“Unless Congress wants to become the de facto endgame for future negotiations, any effort to put its thumb on the bargaining scale to artificially advantage either party or otherwise obstruct a swift resolution would be wholly irresponsible and risk a timely outcome to avoid significant economic harm.”
But Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, criticized freight owners and called out the use of Precision Scheduled Railroading. PSR is a method of running a railroad to streamline rail operations.
“This is an industry that has been wildly profitable,” Warren said. “They’ve doubled their profits during the pandemic, they’ve done $125 billion in stock buybacks, and they’ve cut the workforce by 30%, and the way they have been so profitable is by doing something they call precision scheduling, which means in fact, every single worker has to be available roughly 365 days. That leaves no room for people to get sick, for people to get injured.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement that the agreement from the White House fell short, and urged Congress to “do the right thing by passing paid sick days for rail workers.”
“To be clear, rail companies could do the right thing today and grant workers paid sick leave,” she said. “But they’ve refused, putting profits over people. That’s how we got here.”
Funeral services are scheduled Saturday for former Habersham County Commissioner Earl Roberts.
Roberts, who served on the commission for 11 years in the 80s and 90s, passed away Wednesday, November 30. He was 87.
A native of Habersham County, Roberts retired after twenty years in the U.S. Navy. He also worked at the Georgia Department of Corrections and worked as a builder and developer, according to his obituary.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, at the Whitfield Funeral Home’s North Chapel in Demorest. Visitation will be held at the funeral home prior to the service.
Roberts’ wife, Barbara Turner Roberts, passed away in 2020. They are survived by their three children.
The Habersham County Commission voted Thursday to approve county employee pay raises and new hires for the recreation department. Combined, the two measures will cost the county close to $1.3 million in new salary spending.
As expected, the three-block vote led by commission chair Bruce Palmer led the way for the passage of the measures. Commissioner Dustin Mealor moved to approve the county’s new pay tables, Akins seconded the motion, and Palmer cast the deciding vote.
Commissioners Bruce Harkness and Jimmy Tench were not present at the meeting, something sources say Palmer had been made aware of, but he refused to reschedule the meeting.
Akins made the motion to approve seven new positions for the county recreation department, seconded by Mealor, with Palmer again casting the deciding vote.
Just last week, Akins had voted with Harkness and Tench to table the measures until mid-December to allow themselves and the public more time to review the proposals. Two days later, right before Thanksgiving, Palmer called the December first meeting.
While the recreation department proposal was straightforward, the pay raises are more complex.
Commissioners voted to approve four new pay tables, down from six, drawn from a pay study conducted earlier this year by Evergreen Solutions of Florida.
In its study, Evergreen concluded Habersham’s existing pay tables were 4.6% below the market minimum, 10.6% below the market midpoint, and 14.4% below the market maximum based on surveys from 18 counties in Northeast Georgia.
The study was not limited to similarly-sized counties with similar tax bases. It included the more urban areas of Dawson, Forsyth, and neighboring Hall County, which is nearly five times the size of Habersham, with a tax base over four times greater (see below).
(Data source: Hall and Habersham County websites and financial documents)
Uneven playing field
It’s long been suggested that Habersham County competes with Hall County for employees. That may be true, but so do other counties. In turn, Hall County competes with Forsyth and Gwinnett counties.
For small rural counties like Habersham, attempting to offer their employees salaries similar to those they could get in larger markets may be noble, but is it sustainable?
A review of the tax tables above shows Habersham collects $8 million less a year than Dawson County, which has a smaller population but a broader tax base. Likewise, Habersham collects significantly less than Hall and Forsyth.
Property owners prop up Habersham County’s budget. To provide these pay increases, three of the county’s commissioners have already proven their willingness to raise taxes. Commissioners Palmer, Ty Akins, and Dustin Mealor passed a millage rate increase this year on already higher reassessments, essentially handing Habersham property owners a double tax.
In an economy where many were already struggling due to inflation, it felt to many like a slap in the face.
Those tax increases added $3.3 million to Habersham County’s coffers. The bulk of that money will be used to pay for the pay raises and new hires.
The county has already obligated itself to over $400,000 in new spending to cover higher salaries and benefits for senior management.
Habersham County’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Sims is one example.
On January 25, 2021, Sims was hired at $90,000 a year. Just over a year later, on March 17, 2022, he was given the title of chief financial officer and an annual salary of $125,594. In addition, commissioners agreed to add Sims and newly-hired Human Resources Director Ann Cain, as well as EMS Director Jeff Adams who has been with the county for years, to the senior retirement management plan at 15% of their annual salary.
Based on the proposed pay tables the county commissioners approved Thursday, Sims has already maxed out of his salary range for a job he has held less than a year.
Employees at the low end of the pay scale will not see such sizeable increases, if they see any at all.
No guarantees
In creating the pay tables based on the Evergreen Study, Habersham County administrators reclassified multiple positions and developed the new minimum, midpoint, and maximum salaries for those positions.
Below are the proposed pay tables and reclassifications that were given to commissioners to consider last week. These are the positions and pay ranges they voted on. It’s important to note there is at least one error contained in these tables. Now Habersham brought the matter to the county’s attention, and county clerk Brandy Clark confirmed with HR director Cain that the ‘Finance Director’ position should be listed as ‘Chief Financial Officer.’
While these tables lay out a road map for future starting salaries and incremental increases, they do not point out exactly who is going to get what now. Ensuring an equitable distribution of raises from the bottom up was one of the things commissioner Bruce Harkness said he hoped to achieve had the chairman given them more time to study the plan.
Absent that review, Now Habersham decided to delve into the numbers more closely to determine how Habersham compares to similar population groups and Hall County.
By the numbers
To conduct our comparative analysis, we studied wage surveys the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) compiled from Hall County and Habersham in 2020 (the most recent publicly available data for both counties in the DCA database.)
In the table below, if the starting salary and the maximum salary are the same, that is the salary for that position at the time of the survey.
In this comparison from 2020, Habersham County was, on average, 17.1% lower in salaries compared to Hall County. However, in some positions, Habersham’s salaries were significantly less, while two of them paid more.
(Source: GA Dept. of Community Affairs)
The next table compares the 2021 salaries for Habersham’s Population Group, according to DCA. The population group of 25,000-49,999 includes approximately 22 counties, including Habersham, White, Stephens, Dawson, Hart, and Lumpkin counties. In this sample, Habersham County exceeds salaries for the population group by about 6.5% overall in this sample set.
In this table, the Habersham County Manager’s salary is 19.5% higher than the average starting salary of a County Manager within the population group. The maximum salary is 2.2% lower than the average salary for a County Manager within the same group. However, an EMT for Habersham County has a starting salary 0.3% less than their counterparts in other counties of a similar size. The same EMT has a maximum salary of 20.6% less than EMTs in similar size counties.
As you look at the table overall, Habersham County actually fairs much better in salaries for most positions when compared to other counties within their population group.
(Source: GA Dept. of Community Affairs)
The next table compares the Habersham County 2022 DCA Salary Survey that was submitted before June 30, 2022, and the Evergreen Solution Salary Study. The Evergreen Study exceeds the Habersham County salary survey salary ranges by an average of 21%.
This sample demonstrates that the Evergreen Study will increase starting salaries, on average, by 15.4% and maximum salaries by 27.2%.
The reality is that starting and maximum salaries vary drastically depending on the position. Two positions in this sample stand out where their salary range increases substantially.
Firefight/EMTs starting salary will increase by 30.9%, with their maximum salary increasing by 76.3%. Also, the Emergency Management Director’s salary range has the same effect. That position’s starting salary will increase by 67.4%, and the maximum salary will increase by 53.3%.
In these two instances, the current salary range is below Evergreen’s recommended range. How will this be addressed? If the employee is at the maximum of their current salary range, will that individual go to the maximum of the new salary range? In this scenario, that could be a pay raise of $28,791 for the Firefighter/EMT. If there are three Firefighters/EMTs that meet this criterion, that could cost the county $86,374.
The same situation exists for the Emergency Management Director. If that individual is currently at the maximum salary, will that individual go to the maximum salary of the new recommended table? If so, then that individual would receive a pay raise of $46,742.
If very many of these situations exist throughout the recommended classification schedule, the vast majority of employees will not receive raises, and a select few will receive significant raises.
This last table compares the Hall County 2020 DCA Salary Survey to the Evergreen Salary Study as presented. In this comparison, the Evergreen Salary Study exceeds Hall County by an average of 6.5%. The Evergreen Salary Study brings Habersham County salaries more comparable to salaries in Hall County and, in some cases, vastly exceeds salaries of comparable positions.
However, the Hall County data is dated for a true comparison.
One fact remains, if catching up with Hall County was the intent, this study closed the gap by only a little bit. Hall County salaries may have gone up by as much as 10%, if not more, since 2020. If that is the case, lagging behind Hall County salaries will always be an excuse for poor retention and recruitment.
The County Commission has a lot of work ahead of them in reviewing and analyzing this data. Ten days was not enough time to address issues and concerns arising from the Evergreen Salary Study.
Commissioners need to understand that employees that don’t get raises will be affected and, in some cases, offended. Also, employees that don’t get raises could look differently at those who do get raises. This could have a negative impact on morale and productivity.
Rushing to a decision in the manner in which they did could have unintended adverse effects on the employees, with retention, and ultimately costing the taxpayers more money trying to fix unintended consequences.
Being fair, just, and equitable in this endeavor was an absolute necessity for all county stakeholders – employees and taxpayers alike. It is unfortunate that commissioners Mealor, Akins, and Palmer chose to rush it through.
FILE - Georgia House Speaker David Ralston turns to his wife Sheree Ralston as the House votes 166-0 for final passage of a sweeping mental health bill on March 30, 2022, at the state capitol in Atlanta. Ralston died Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, in Atlanta, at age 68 after what spokesperson Kaleb McMichen described as an "extended illness." (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)
The widow of former Georgia House Speaker David Ralston is running to fill his vacant legislative seat.
Sheree Ralston announced Wednesday that she was running for election in the 7th House District, which covers Fannin and Gilmer counties and part of Dawson County. Gov. Brian Kemp called a special election on Jan. 3 to fill the seat.
“I’m running to complete the unfinished work of my husband, David Ralston, specifically as it relates to mental health reform and protecting the interests of Georgia’s 7th House District,” she said in a statement.
The Republican Kemp quickly endorsed her.
Sheree Ralston, of Blue Ridge, is the executive director of the Fannin County Development Authority.
Conservative online talk show host Brian K. Pritchard announced Monday that he is also running.
Pritchard said in a statement earlier that he intends to run on issues including doing more to stop transgender girls from playing girls high school sports in Georgia.
“We are a republic, not a monarchy,” Pritchard said after Ralston announced Wednesday. “House seats are non-transferable. The seat belongs to the great people in the Georgia 7th District. It’s not up to Atlanta to pick a successor.”
Qualifying for the all-party special election begins Monday and ends Wednesday. If no one wins a majority on Jan. 3, a runoff would be held on Jan. 31.
Patricia J Alfonso (Oldham), 80, of Dillard, Georgia & Tampa, Florida passed away peacefully on November 28th, 2022, surrounded by her loving family.
“Pat” was born in Indiana, on November 2, 1942, to the parents of Donal Waine and Helen Louise Park. She spent her younger years in Indiana, moving to Chicago in the early 1980s with her previous husband of 38 years, Bob Oldham. Together, they raised their daughter, Sherri Calderon. In the late 90’s, the two retired to Naples, FL. She last moved to the Riverview/Tampa area where she resided with her husband, Monte Alfonso for the last several years. She purchased a cabin in Dillard, GA in 2020 where she enjoyed spending her summers with Monte and her selected family, Jim and Jeannine Ferreyra.
Pat was always full of joy with a tireless enthusiasm for life. Wherever she went she created a community of friends and family. Anyone who knew her would describe her as a wonderful person with a caring heart. Always impeccably dressed, her unforgettable smile illuminated any room she entered.
Pat is survived by her loving husband, Monte Alfonso, devoted daughter and son-in-law, Sherri and Manny Calderon, grandchildren she adored, Amanda Vazquez, Monica, and Joel Radd, her “special boys” Tyler and Noah Calderon. She was also blessed with two great-grandchildren, Micah and Emmy Radd; a stepdaughter, Shannon Alfonso; step-grandchildren Eva and Beto Rodriguez; and lastly, her cats Missy and Sox.
A private ceremony will be held for Pat’s family on Thursday, December 8th.
A celebration of life will be announced at a later date. Anyone who knew her knows Pat’s love for animals. Those wishing to honor her memory are encouraged to make a donation in her memory to FishHawk TNR, First Ladies Farm, or any other cat rescue of choice. www.facebook.com/FishHawkTNR or https://firstladiesfarm.com/donate.
You may sign the online guestbook or leave a condolence at www.wardsfh.com.
Ward’s Funeral Home of Gainesville is honored to serve the family of Patricia J. “Pat” Alfonso.
Roy “Earl” Roberts, Sr., age 87, of Cornelia, Georgia, went to his Heavenly Home on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
Mr. Roberts was born on May 14, 1935, in Habersham County, Georgia, to the late Elvin and Lucille Turpen Roberts. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his loving wife of 62 years, Barbara Turner Roberts, and his infant son, James Edward Roberts.
Mr. Roberts was a retired United States Navy Veteran, having served as Chief Warrant Officer with 20 years of dedicated service. He also was retired from the State of Georgia DOC with 15 years of service, and he served as a Habersham County Commissioner with 11 years of service. Mr. Roberts was also a builder and developer. Earl was a member of the First Baptist Church of Cornelia where he served as a Deacon and Sunday School Teacher, and had also served as Song Director at Tallulah Falls Baptist Church. He enjoyed restoring antique Ford tractors and attending Ship Mate Reunions. Earl was a very proud grandfather and great-grandfather; he was known to his grandchildren as “Papa Earl”.
Survivors include his daughter, Janet Kinsey and Scott Jenkins, of Demorest; sons and daughters-in-law, Roy “Rob” Roberts, Jr. and Jackie Roberts, of Cornelia; Ron and Carole Roberts, of Mt. Airy; sister, Emily Farley; grandchildren, Roy Earl Roberts, III, and Haley; Jennifer Burton and Michael; Katie Howard and Jared; Mark Roberts and Shauna; Mason Kinsey; Garrett Kinsey and 13 great-grandchildren.
Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, December 3, 2022, at the Whitfield Funeral Home, North Chapel, with Rev. David Turner and Rev. Steve Doran officiating. Interment will follow in the Clarkesville City Cemetery with Military Honors provided by the United States Navy.
The family will receive friends from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Saturday, December 3, 2022, at the funeral home prior to the service.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, North Chapel, at 245 Central Avenue, Demorest, Georgia 30535. Telephone: 706-778-1700.
Hall County is adding the Oceanbotics SRV-8 to its search and rescue team. The Remotely Operated Vehicle be used instead of divers during most search and rescue operations on Lake Lanier starting in the summer of 2023. (Oceabnotics Instagram)
Rescue dives on Lake Lanier will slowly fade out as the county turns to technology to guard the local waterway.
Hall County Fire Rescue announced Thursday that its Marine Rescue Team will begin using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for search and rescue missions starting next summer.
“They can be quickly deployed, and have the ability to retrieve and carry much heavier payloads than human divers, which is an obvious advantage,” says Hall County Fire Chief Chris Armstrong. “The use of underwater drones can also reduce the risk to human divers in contaminated water and dark water environments.”
In a press release, Armstrong says the ROV “will supplant our divers.”
The ROV can dive to depths of up to 1000 feet (305 meters), grasp onto a drowning victim with a robotic arm, and tow them to the surface. The device has a sonar system, navigation and a dual mode HD camera which provides live video feed to the operator.
The Oceanbotics SRV-8 (Instagram)
Different “add-ons” make the unit adaptable for a range of underwater search and rescue operations, as well as salvage and recovery. The operator can add buoyant robotic arms, sonar, navigation, and other search and recovery tools.
Speed is also an advantage, officials say. The ROV can be deployed in three minutes or less after arriving at the launch site.
According to HCFR Public Information Officer Kimberlie Ledsinger, the ROV will slightly change the Marine Rescue Team’s mission but, she adds, “we will still have a presence patrolling Lake Lanier on the weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day every year providing emergency response to medical incidents, watercraft accidents, fires, and robotic search or recovery.”
The Lady Indians dropped a 55-52 nail-biter in a Thursday road game at Prince Avenue Christian. Haygen James hit a late jumper to get TFS within a single point, but PAC held on for the win.
#6-ranked TFS got out to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening quarter, which was kicked off by an Allie Phasavang 3-pointer. Denika Lightbourne notched the next four points as part of the 7-0 opening run. Tanisha Seymour’s putback made it 9-2 early, though PAC charged back with a 12-1 run to take a 14-10 lead at the end of the first.
The Lady Indians’ dry spell came to an end with a second-quarter long jumper by Seymour to pull with 14-12. TFS tied it on a wide open lay-in by Haygen James off a great pass by Lightbourne. The Lady Wolverines began to pull away midway through the second when Phasavang connected on her second triple of the game to cut the deficit to 20-18. Lightbourne hit a trifecta at the top of the arc for the 21-20 lead. Prince Ave closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 29-21 halftime lead.
pictured, Allie Phasavang (Savannah Sanchez)
Out of the break, baskets by Seymour and Lightbourne quickly sparked a PAC timeout with Tallulah Falls trailing 29-25. Phasavang’s third trifecta, followed by a putback by Seymour regained the TFS lead at 30-29. Seymour stretched it to 32-29 with a jumper moments later. Again the Lady Wolverines took a lead, but Molly Mitchell’s jumper made it a 40-38 game with TFS just behind. The Lady Indians trailed 44-38 going into the final period.
Buckets by James and Phasavang got the game within 44-42 early in the fourth. With 3:04 to go in the game, Lightbourne connected on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 46 apiece. Phasavang hit her fourth 3-pointer in the closing seconds, and James had a late jumper to make it a one-point game, but Prince Ave held on for the victory.
Phasavang led TFS with 17 points, while Lightbourne had 14 and James 11. Seymour finished with eight points and Mitchell two. The Lady Indians are now 2-3 on the season and play White County on Saturday at home.
#6-ranked Tallulah Falls took a 50-47 win Thursday night at Prince Avenue Christian in what was a rematch from last season’s region championship game. Just like last year’s overtime game, this one once again came down to the wire.
A Wolverines 5-0 run to open the game had the home team in front. Vlad Popescu’s runner got the Indians on the board, and a dunk by Anfernee Hanna had TFS within 10-5, and Popescu connected from downtown to highlight the opening quarter, though PAC held a 15-9 lead.
Tallulah Falls flipped the script in the second, outscoring the Wolverines 20-9 as Hanna had 12 points in the quarter. The senior got a pair of quick buckets, and then Krystian Jankiewicz had a laying to get within 18-15. Moments later, Jankiewicz splashed a shot from deep as the go-ahead triple and the 19-18 lead. From there, Hanna converted several free throws, and added another dunk. Prince Ave made a run to tie the game at 25 apiece, but the dunk got the Indians back out in front, and Lincoln Hall’s spin around jumper was good. Tallulah Falls held a slim 29-26 halftime lead.
In the third, Popescu had a layin early on to to pull ahead 31-30 after Prince Avenue had taken a one-point lead momentarily. Hanna had a jumper and a 3-point play to go ahead 36-35, but the Wolverines continued to hit a flurry of 3-pointers and outpaced TFS 12-8 in the quarter to hold a 38-37 lead going into the final stanza.
Hanna continued to rack up points at the charity stripe, keeping the game close until Popescu nailed a triple for the 43-41 lead. Once again, the Wolverines came back for a 45-45 tie before Popescu hit on his third tri-fecta to reclaim the 48-45 lead with just a few minutes to go. TFS held a one-point lead with 27 seconds to go and possession when Jankiewicz banked in a shot in the lane with eight seconds to go, pushing the lead up to 50-47. The defense held on for the win despite Prince Ave getting the last shot.
Hanna had a game-high 27 points, and Popescu had 14 including three 3-pointers. Jankiewicz finished with seven and Hall had two. The Indians are now 4-1 on the season, and return to action on Saturday as they host White County in a non-region contest.
JV
The JV Indians secured a blowout win of 41-10, moving their record to 2-0 on the young season.
This combination of photos shows, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 3, 2021, left, and Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker speaking in Perry, Ga., Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo)
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters have cast more than 1 million ballots ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, with Warnock looking to juice an apparent Democratic head start in early voting with a visit Thursday from Barack Obama.
The former president will campaign with Warnock on the eve of the final day of early voting. The rally, which promises to be the largest event of Warnock’s four-week runoff blitz, underscores the two parties’ different approaches to early voting in the final contest of the 2022 election.
Democrats have employed an all-hands-on-deck push to bank as many votes as possible while Republicans, especially Walker himself, have taken a less aggressive approach that could leave the GOP nominee heavily dependent on runoff Election Day turnout.
“I think the turnout we’re seeing is good, and I want to encourage people to stick with it,” Warnock said as he campaigned this week, comparing voting to waiting in line at a popular Atlanta lunch spot. “The other day I went to the Slutty Vegan and the line was wrapped around the block, and folks still waited and got their sandwiches,” he said. “I went and voted yesterday, and it was pretty painless.”
Walker, meanwhile, is expected to vote on the runoff Election Day, as he did in November.
Warnock led Walker by about 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast in the general election, but fell short of the majority required under Georgia law. That triggered a four-week runoff blitz, with a shorter early voting window than occurred during the first round.
Statewide early voting data, including some weekend and Thanksgiving weekdays in certain counties, shows higher overall turnout in the most heavily Democratic counties and congressional districts. Still, both parties are finding data to tout as they jockey for any advantage in the final contest of the 2022 midterm election cycle, and both campaigns agree generally that Warnock will lead among early voters, as he did in the first round, while Walker will have the advantage in Election Day ballots, as he did in November. The respective margins will determine the eventual winner.
TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm, analyzed the identities of the 830,000-plus voters who’d cast ballots by the end of Tuesday and concluded that Democrats have increased their advantage by 14 percentage points over what it was with six days to go before the Nov. 8 election. That analysis did not include the 240,000-plus additional ballots cast Wednesday.
Scott Paradise, Walker’s campaign manager, pushed back on notions of Democratic domination. He argued that their advantage comes only because it was heavily Democratic metro-area counties that held weekend early voting, while more Republican areas waited until the statewide mandatory early voting window that began Monday. Republicans had sued, unsuccessfully, in state court trying to block Saturday early voting for the runoff.
Paradise said a Walker campaign analysis found that nine of the 10 counties with the highest turnout Monday were counties Walker won in November with a combined 70% of the vote. He added that of the state’s most populous counties — those with more than 100,000 registered voters — it was two Republican strongholds, Hall and Forsyth, that posted the highest turnout percentages Monday. Paradise said those trends reflect high enthusiasm among Republicans.
Still, Republicans have catching up to do.
According to state voting data compiled by Ryan Anderson, an independent analyst in Atlanta, four of the state’s five Democratic-held congressional districts had already seen advance turnout through Tuesday of at least 43% of the total early vote for the November election, when every Georgia county had at least 17 days of early in-person voting. Just one of Georgia’s nine Republican-held congressional districts had eclipsed that 43% mark.
Warnock first won the seat as part of concurrent Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, 2021, when he and Sen. Jon Ossoff prevailed over Republican incumbents to give Democrats narrow control of the Senate for the start of President Joe Biden’s tenure. Warnock won a special election and now is seeking a full six-year term.
This time, Senate control is not in play: Democrats have already secured 50 seats and have Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote. That puts pressure on both Warnock and Walker’s campaign to convince Georgia voters that it’s worth their time to cast a second ballot, even if the national stakes aren’t as high.
Warnock got about 70% of his overall first-round votes from advance voting; for Walker, it was about 58%. That translated to an advantage of more than 256,000 votes for Warnock. Walker answered with an Election Day advantage of more than 200,000.
The senator’s campaign, Democratic Party committees and aligned political action committees, have all tailored their voter turnout efforts toward early voting. Republicans have countered with their own wide-ranging push, including a direct-mail push from one Super PAC featuring Gov. Brian Kemp, who got 200,000 more votes than Walker to win a second term comfortably.
Yet Republicans are battling some internal party narratives, including from former President Donald Trump, that question some advance voting, especially mail-in ballots, pushing some Republicans toward an Election Day ballot. As recently as Tuesday, Trump declared on social media that “YOU CAN NEVER HAVE FAIR & FREE ELECTIONS WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS – NEVER, NEVER NEVER. WON’T AND CAN’T HAPPEN!!!”
Walker himself does not mention early in-person voting or mail-in ballots at all as he urges his supporters to vote.
Democrats, meanwhile, see Obama as a key figure in repeating Warnock’s advance voting lead because the former president remains intensely popular among core Democrats and has a solid standing among independents.
By the numbers: A closer look at Habersham’s pay raises
The Habersham County Commission voted Thursday to approve county employee pay raises and new hires for the recreation department. Combined, the two measures will cost the county close to $1.3 million in new salary spending.
As expected, the three-block vote led by commission chair Bruce Palmer led the way for the passage of the measures. Commissioner Dustin Mealor moved to approve the county’s new pay tables, Akins seconded the motion, and Palmer cast the deciding vote.
Commissioners Bruce Harkness and Jimmy Tench were not present at the meeting, something sources say Palmer had been made aware of, but he refused to reschedule the meeting.
Akins made the motion to approve seven new positions for the county recreation department, seconded by Mealor, with Palmer again casting the deciding vote.
Just last week, Akins had voted with Harkness and Tench to table the measures until mid-December to allow themselves and the public more time to review the proposals. Two days later, right before Thanksgiving, Palmer called the December first meeting.
While the recreation department proposal was straightforward, the pay raises are more complex.
Commissioners voted to approve four new pay tables, down from six, drawn from a pay study conducted earlier this year by Evergreen Solutions of Florida.
In its study, Evergreen concluded Habersham’s existing pay tables were 4.6% below the market minimum, 10.6% below the market midpoint, and 14.4% below the market maximum based on surveys from 18 counties in Northeast Georgia.
The study was not limited to similarly-sized counties with similar tax bases. It included the more urban areas of Dawson, Forsyth, and neighboring Hall County, which is nearly five times the size of Habersham, with a tax base over four times greater (see below).
Uneven playing field
It’s long been suggested that Habersham County competes with Hall County for employees. That may be true, but so do other counties. In turn, Hall County competes with Forsyth and Gwinnett counties.
For small rural counties like Habersham, attempting to offer their employees salaries similar to those they could get in larger markets may be noble, but is it sustainable?
A review of the tax tables above shows Habersham collects $8 million less a year than Dawson County, which has a smaller population but a broader tax base. Likewise, Habersham collects significantly less than Hall and Forsyth.
Property owners prop up Habersham County’s budget. To provide these pay increases, three of the county’s commissioners have already proven their willingness to raise taxes. Commissioners Palmer, Ty Akins, and Dustin Mealor passed a millage rate increase this year on already higher reassessments, essentially handing Habersham property owners a double tax.
In an economy where many were already struggling due to inflation, it felt to many like a slap in the face.
Those tax increases added $3.3 million to Habersham County’s coffers. The bulk of that money will be used to pay for the pay raises and new hires.
The county has already obligated itself to over $400,000 in new spending to cover higher salaries and benefits for senior management.
Habersham County’s Chief Financial Officer Tim Sims is one example.
On January 25, 2021, Sims was hired at $90,000 a year. Just over a year later, on March 17, 2022, he was given the title of chief financial officer and an annual salary of $125,594. In addition, commissioners agreed to add Sims and newly-hired Human Resources Director Ann Cain, as well as EMS Director Jeff Adams who has been with the county for years, to the senior retirement management plan at 15% of their annual salary.
Based on the proposed pay tables the county commissioners approved Thursday, Sims has already maxed out of his salary range for a job he has held less than a year.
Employees at the low end of the pay scale will not see such sizeable increases, if they see any at all.
No guarantees
In creating the pay tables based on the Evergreen Study, Habersham County administrators reclassified multiple positions and developed the new minimum, midpoint, and maximum salaries for those positions.
Below are the proposed pay tables and reclassifications that were given to commissioners to consider last week. These are the positions and pay ranges they voted on. It’s important to note there is at least one error contained in these tables. Now Habersham brought the matter to the county’s attention, and county clerk Brandy Clark confirmed with HR director Cain that the ‘Finance Director’ position should be listed as ‘Chief Financial Officer.’
While these tables lay out a road map for future starting salaries and incremental increases, they do not point out exactly who is going to get what now. Ensuring an equitable distribution of raises from the bottom up was one of the things commissioner Bruce Harkness said he hoped to achieve had the chairman given them more time to study the plan.
Absent that review, Now Habersham decided to delve into the numbers more closely to determine how Habersham compares to similar population groups and Hall County.
By the numbers
To conduct our comparative analysis, we studied wage surveys the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) compiled from Hall County and Habersham in 2020 (the most recent publicly available data for both counties in the DCA database.)
In the table below, if the starting salary and the maximum salary are the same, that is the salary for that position at the time of the survey.
In this comparison from 2020, Habersham County was, on average, 17.1% lower in salaries compared to Hall County. However, in some positions, Habersham’s salaries were significantly less, while two of them paid more.
The next table compares the 2021 salaries for Habersham’s Population Group, according to DCA. The population group of 25,000-49,999 includes approximately 22 counties, including Habersham, White, Stephens, Dawson, Hart, and Lumpkin counties. In this sample, Habersham County exceeds salaries for the population group by about 6.5% overall in this sample set.
In this table, the Habersham County Manager’s salary is 19.5% higher than the average starting salary of a County Manager within the population group. The maximum salary is 2.2% lower than the average salary for a County Manager within the same group. However, an EMT for Habersham County has a starting salary 0.3% less than their counterparts in other counties of a similar size. The same EMT has a maximum salary of 20.6% less than EMTs in similar size counties.
As you look at the table overall, Habersham County actually fairs much better in salaries for most positions when compared to other counties within their population group.
The next table compares the Habersham County 2022 DCA Salary Survey that was submitted before June 30, 2022, and the Evergreen Solution Salary Study. The Evergreen Study exceeds the Habersham County salary survey salary ranges by an average of 21%.
This sample demonstrates that the Evergreen Study will increase starting salaries, on average, by 15.4% and maximum salaries by 27.2%.
The reality is that starting and maximum salaries vary drastically depending on the position. Two positions in this sample stand out where their salary range increases substantially.
Firefight/EMTs starting salary will increase by 30.9%, with their maximum salary increasing by 76.3%. Also, the Emergency Management Director’s salary range has the same effect. That position’s starting salary will increase by 67.4%, and the maximum salary will increase by 53.3%.
In these two instances, the current salary range is below Evergreen’s recommended range. How will this be addressed? If the employee is at the maximum of their current salary range, will that individual go to the maximum of the new salary range? In this scenario, that could be a pay raise of $28,791 for the Firefighter/EMT. If there are three Firefighters/EMTs that meet this criterion, that could cost the county $86,374.
The same situation exists for the Emergency Management Director. If that individual is currently at the maximum salary, will that individual go to the maximum salary of the new recommended table? If so, then that individual would receive a pay raise of $46,742.
If very many of these situations exist throughout the recommended classification schedule, the vast majority of employees will not receive raises, and a select few will receive significant raises.
This last table compares the Hall County 2020 DCA Salary Survey to the Evergreen Salary Study as presented. In this comparison, the Evergreen Salary Study exceeds Hall County by an average of 6.5%. The Evergreen Salary Study brings Habersham County salaries more comparable to salaries in Hall County and, in some cases, vastly exceeds salaries of comparable positions.
However, the Hall County data is dated for a true comparison.
One fact remains, if catching up with Hall County was the intent, this study closed the gap by only a little bit. Hall County salaries may have gone up by as much as 10%, if not more, since 2020. If that is the case, lagging behind Hall County salaries will always be an excuse for poor retention and recruitment.
The County Commission has a lot of work ahead of them in reviewing and analyzing this data. Ten days was not enough time to address issues and concerns arising from the Evergreen Salary Study.
Commissioners need to understand that employees that don’t get raises will be affected and, in some cases, offended. Also, employees that don’t get raises could look differently at those who do get raises. This could have a negative impact on morale and productivity.
Rushing to a decision in the manner in which they did could have unintended adverse effects on the employees, with retention, and ultimately costing the taxpayers more money trying to fix unintended consequences.
Being fair, just, and equitable in this endeavor was an absolute necessity for all county stakeholders – employees and taxpayers alike. It is unfortunate that commissioners Mealor, Akins, and Palmer chose to rush it through.