Entries by Sharon Hogan

The annual Nicholson Daisy Festival will be held this weekend with a parade, booths and entertainment planned.

The festival is held on the city grounds where the community center and City Hall are located.

The festival will kick off at 3 p.m. on Friday when the booths open. A cakewalk, comedian and karaoke are all on tap Friday evening.

The festival opens at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The parade will be at 10 a.m. with Margaret Ward as grand marshal.

On Sunday, the festival will open at 1 p.m. with gospel music planned throughout the afternoon. Among those to perform are The Dyer Family, I Am, Anointed by Faith and Glory Road.

A Jackson County jury held the city of Commerce not liable in a wrongful death lawsuit tried last week in the Superior Court of Jackson County.

Amanda Ramey sued the city in connection with the May 2008 death of her father, David Loggins. Loggins, a passenger in a feed truck, died from injuries sustained when the truck crashed on Interstate 85.

Judge Joe Booth presided over the trial that began on April 8, with testimony concluding on the afternoon of April 10. The jury of six men and six women deliberated approximately three hours on the morning of April 11 before they came out with their verdict.

At 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, the jury foreman read the verdict ruling in favor of Commerce.

For the full story, see the April 17 issue of The Commerce News.

Approximately 40 people turned out at Monday’s Nicholson City Council meeting, with most of them expecting a vote to be taken by the council on the proposed package sale of beer and wine in the city.

The alcohol issue wasn’t on the agenda for Monday night and the council didn’t discuss the issue during the meeting. No timeline was given as to when a vote would be taken. [Full Story »] 

Approximately 100 people turned out Thursday evening for a hearing in Nicholson on the proposed package sale of beer and wine in the city.

Of the nearly 100 people packed into the Nicholson Community Center, approximately 25 spoke out in opposition to the proposal. No one spoke in favor of allowing alcohol sales.

For the full story, see the Jan. 30 edition of The Commerce News.

Could a liquor store be in Nicholson’s immediate future?

At its monthly work session meeting on Nov. 29, the Nicholson City Council agreed to hold a public hearing/public forum at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, to hear from city residents on the sale of alcohol in the city.
Dan Shah, owner of Dan’s Food Mart, and Paul Makeem, came before the council to request that the city allow for the sale of alcohol in the city. [Full Story »] 

If a meeting Tuesday morning is any indication, it appears that the Jackson County Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) negotiation will go into mediation.

Representatives of the county and the cities held two meetings during the past week to continue discussion on how LOST revenue will be distributed among the county and its cities over the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, the cities’ consultant, Phil Sutton, presented a proposal to the county for a 58.6-41.4 percent split.
[Full Story »] 

Daisies are back in style in Nicholson.

After weeks of back and forth votes, the Nicholson Water Authority (NWA) said “yes” to painting daisies on the new water tank.

[Full Story »] 

Not everything is coming up daisies in Nicholson.

The city council is threatening to withhold SPLOST revenue unless the Nicholson Water Authority allows the city to put a logo featuring a daisy on the new NWA water tank. The water authority voted last week to rescind a previous offer to let the city paint the logo on the tank. [Full Story »] 

In the latest meeting to discuss the City of Nicholson’s proposed 2012 budget totaling $426,000, council member Chuck Wheeler questioned the amounts included in the proposed budget for equipment and roadwork.

Wheeler said, “I know people think I want to cut the budget, but that’s not it. I think we might want to put more in some places.”

Mayor Ronnie Maxwell advised Wheeler that road work and equipment will come out of special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) revenue over the next six years – not out of the general fund.
[Full Story »]