Sunday Edition July 14, 2019 BARTOW COUNTY’S ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER $1.50 Plans unveiled for $100M mixed- use project near Savoy Museum BY JAMES SWIFT and other freestanding businesses planned. [email protected] Ultimately, he said he expects the full devel- opment to represent an economic investment Barry Henderson has been waiting more exceeding $100 million. than half a decade to launch what he calls the “Assuming the economy stays like it is, I “Highlands Community Development.” And would say we could probably have this project with construction on the Savoy Automobile almost built out in fi ve years — it’s that quick,” Museum picking up, the president of JB Hen- he said. derson Properties, Inc. decided now is the most Developments have already began pop- opportune time to unveil his aspirations for the ping out of the ground on one roughly 30- mammoth mixed-use development along the acre parcel, including a Speedway gas sta- intersection of highways 20 and 411 in Carters- tion abutting Peeples Valley Road. “It’s not ville. a pie-in-the-sky kind of thing,” Henderson JAMES SWIFT/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS JB Henderson Properties, Inc. President Barry Henderson said In total, Henderson said the Highlands Com- said. “All this property is ready now to start SPECIAL a national retailer has plans to open a 15,000-square-foot build- munity Development will span about 75 acres, developing and selling lots.” Cass High rising junior Jacob ing beside the recently opened Speedway gas station. “That’s with almost 400 residential units and more Cline boxes with his favor- really going to give us some presence,” Henderson said. than 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurants SEE HIGHLANDS, PAGE 2A ite Shepherd Center physical therapist, Johnny, as part of the physical therapy he needs to recover from injuries he re- ceived in a May 22 car crash. Commissioner OKs pension CHS rising plan changes, MANUAL LABOR junior making request for ‘incredible’ sales tax progress in information recovering BY JAMES SWIFT [email protected] from car As that old saying goes, the only two guarantees in life are death and accident taxes. And as fate would have it, those two topics just so happened BY DONNA HARRIS to be the focal points of Wednes- [email protected] day’s Bartow County Commis- sioner meeting. An ordinary drive to church on The “death” portion of the equa- an ordinary Wednesday night in tion came in the form of an agenda May changed a Cartersville fami- item seeking several changes to the ly’s life forever. municipal government’s retirement Jacob Cline, a rising junior at plans. As Bartow County Ad- Cass High School, was on his way ministrator Peter Olson put it, the to church May 22 after meeting County’s current pension plan has some kids from his youth group for a rather severe “hole” in it when it dinner when, while attempting to comes to death benefi ts. cross Highway 411, he was hit on “If you work for the County and the driver’s side by a large truck. you invest with our pension and “Our whole family was on the you leave the County before your way to church,” said Jacob’s moth- retirement age, if you pass away er, Katie Cline, who teaches at before retirement age, you get noth- Hamilton Crossing Elementary. ing,” he said. “Somebody could’ve “My in-laws saw the accident hap- worked here 15 years, left to take pen, and my mother-in-law called another job, and if they died before us. We all arrived on the scene they get to the retirement age and within minutes.” pull the pension, they would get Two other young people in the nothing.” car, Tommy and Hannah, were in- The solution, Olson said, is to JAMES SWIFT/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS jured. Tommy had a broken arm, implement a “deferred vested death Bartow County Chief Magistrate Judge Brandon Bryson said the local magistrate court backed up its data just weeks and Hannah suffered a broken col- before a ransomware attack led to a statewide case management system shutdown. benefi ts” component to the munici- larbone and other minor injuries, pal retirement plan. Cline said. “We have a death benefi t now But Jacob, 16, took the brunt of where if you die on the job, you the impact and ended up with fi ve get a lump sum — your estate does Statewide system shutdown impacts broken ribs, a collapsed lung, bruis- — and obviously, if you take your ing to both lungs, a broken pelvis, a retirement … there’s different op- lacerated spleen, a lacerated kidney tions you can take there,” he said. local magistrate court services and a traumatic brain injury. “We had this sort of doughnut in the “From the scene of the accident, middle — where it doesn’t happen BY JAMES SWIFT don Bryson said he’s heard from state decades’ worth of data. he was transported to Cartersville very often, where someone dies that [email protected] offi cials that approximately 50 coun- “Fortunately for Bartow County, we Medical [Center] until he was young — but it did happen a couple ties — and, potentially, multiple courts were in the process of changing over stable enough to be transferred,” of times and their families called and There are close calls, and then there’s within each of those counties — have from the state system over to a private Cline said. “He was then airlifted found out there were no benefi ts.” the catastrophe that almost struck Bar- been affected by a statewide system company for a more effi cient case man- to [WellStar] Kennestone [Hospi- Olson also said the County will tow County’s magistrate court. outage. agement program,” Bryson said. “In tal], where he stayed for 20 days. be “tweaking some defi nitions” to In the wake of a ransomware attack And according to what he’s heard just the last month, we had saved and On June 11, he was transferred to better fund the plan. on Georgia’s Administrative Offi ce of from those state offi cials, Bryson said backed up all of our data.” the Shepherd Center.” Bartow County Commissioner the Courts several weeks ago, Bartow there’s a likelihood that some of those Steve Taylor voted to approve the County Chief Magistrate Judge Bran- courts could end up losing almost two SEE MAGISTRATE, PAGE 7A SEE CLINE, PAGE 8A recommended pension plan changes. “It didn’t seem fair when we looked at it and discovered that some of the people who had worked for the County for so many years could pass away with no re- Record number of CHS students tirement or no death benefi ts,” he said. Then there’s that part about taxes. pass AP macroeconomics exam “A new statute was passed last year to authorize local gov- BY DONNA HARRIS said. “I let students know about the ‘free ernments to request a little bit of [email protected] lunch’ on the first day of class. High school sales tax information,” Olson said. students will do anything for free food, es- “We’ve talked many times before It’s true — high school students really will pecially at Chili’s. At this point, many of the about how little information the do anything for a free meal, even voluntarily students have heard about the event and look State shares with local govern- take and pass a really tough exam. forward to it.” ments about sales tax payers … In 2017, Cass High social studies teacher This year, 51 of 70 students passed the it says we can at least request, an- Kevin Busse partnered with Coosa Valley exam that they voluntarily took May 15 at nually, a list of businesses that are Credit Union to host a lunch at Chili’s in the high school, eclipsing last year’s record paying sales taxes in the County.” Cartersville for his 27 Advanced Placement of 38 students. Olson said the details culled macroeconomics students who passed their “I’m very happy,” Busse said. “It’s more from local businesses would re- AP macro exam. than has ever passed the AP macro exam at RANDY PARKER/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS main confi dential — “it’s only go- Now two years later, the number of stu- Cass High, which says a lot about the Class Cass High School AP macroeconomics teacher Kevin Busse ing to our CFO,” he said. dents who scored a 3, 4 or 5 on the difficult of 2019.” speaks with Jenna Keeler, a recent CHS graduate and AP mac- test has almost doubled. roeconomics graduate, at the class’ annual lunch at Chili’s, SEE COMMISSION, PAGE 6A “Economics is about incentives,” Busse SEE CHS, PAGE 5A sponsored by Coosa Valley Credit Union. INSIDE TODAY Mostly VOLUME 73, NO. 60 U.S. & World .........................4A Classifieds............................ 4B cloudy Business............................... 6A Weather ................................ 5B High 88 www.daily-tribune.com Blotter ................................... 7A Around Town ....................... 1C Sports ................................... 1B Entertainment ...................... 7C Low 71 2A Sunday, July 14, 2019 • www.daily-tribune.com Local The Daily Tribune News in here, beginning probably in track, so really we have a total ContactUs February of next year.” of 150 acres in it, but we’re not Highlands Henderson said he’s held the going to be doing anything to The Daily Tribune News property for close to two de- the property for the time being From Page 1A Address: cades. Naturally, development over there,” he said. “We have 251 S.