Newspaper Page Text
he ADVANCE, August 25, 2021/Page 12A
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RTCA Holds Ring Ceremony
Robert Toombs Christian Academy
held its official class ring ceremony for the
Class of 2023. Dawson Pinckard, a junior
at RTCA, welcomed family and friends to
the ceremony Junior Sebastian Holmes
led the Pledge of Allegiance and junior
Nicole Acosta gave the invocation. Junior
Kate Kennedy spoke about the ring tradi
tion. Juniors Britton Botelho and Andrew
Tuck spoke about how to wear your ring
and the tradition of unity. Mr. Travis Ab-
sher, Head of School at RTCA, presented
the rings to the class and a representative
from Herff Jones Company gave the offi
cial declaration.
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L-R: Kate Kennedy, Charlee Ely, Marli Dryden, Mary-Claire Wolfe, Amily Mixon, Abbie
Bishop, Nicole Acosta, Britton Botelho, Addie Thompson.
L-R: Carston Tapley, Bradlan McDonald, Adria Cuevas-Ortes, Sebastian Holmes, Zach
ary Reaves, Dawson Pinckard, Andrew Tuck, Josiah Meek, Kenny Anderson, Tucker
Heath.
ask a,;
Ms. Magnolia 4
Letters have been edited for length and clarity.
Dear Ms. Magnolia,
Last week, / heard a speaker refer
to the “two wolves story.” It is sup
posed to be about how we should live
a good life or something, but I am not
familiar with it. Can you tell me what it
is?
Dan
Dear Dan,
The tale of the two wolves is an an
cient Native American story. Histori
ans typically attribute it to the Cher
okee or the Lenape people. The story
is about a grandfather giving advice
to his grandson. The grandfather ex
plains that there are two wolves al
ways fighting within each person.
One wolf is evil (anger, envy, sor
row, regret, greed arrogance, self-
pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,
lies, false pride, superiority, and ego).
The other wolf is good (joy, peace,
love, hope, serenity, humility, kind
ness, benevolence, empathy, generos
ity, truth, compassion, and faith).
The grandson asks his grandfa
ther, “Which wolf will win?” The
grandfather answers, “The one you
feed.”
The point is that as humans we
will always be battling the two con
flicting sides of our nature. We need
to recognize the conflicting feelings
and “feed” the values and choices
that matter most. The concept sug
gests that we have much power over
our own happiness. It is the way we
react to events and problems that re
ally matters. We can choose to sur
render to envy, sorrow, or greed, or
we can feed our inner peace, joy, and
hope.
We should never let circumstanc
es dictate our decisions; our values
should dictate our actions. The more
we focus on feeding the positive emo
tions inside ourselves, the less room
there is for negative feelings.
If you have a question for Ms. Magnolia, please mail it to P.O. Box 669, Vidalia, GA
30475, or e-mail to msmagnoliaadvance@yahoo.com.
University System of Georgia
sets record for degrees
awarded despite COVID-19
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
The University System
of Georgia (USG) awarded
a record 72,929 degrees
during the last fiscal year
despite the disruptions
caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
That’s 2,050 degrees
more than the system
awarded in fiscal 2020, rep
resenting a 3% increase.
“Students continue to
show incredible fortitude
despite the challenges of
the pandemic, and I am in
credibly grateful for their
hard work and the support
given to them by USG’s 26
public colleges and univer
sities,” Acting Chancellor
Teresa MacCartney said
Tuesday.
“Institutions under
stand how critical it is for
Georgians to complete
their degrees and join the
state’s highly skilled work
force. As we look forward
to a new academic year on
campus, USG remains fo
cused on fulfilling that mis
sion and helping students
succeed.”
The number of de
grees awarded annually
has increased every year
since the university system
joined the Complete Col
lege America program in
2011 and refocused efforts
on raising educational at
tainment in Georgia.
As a result, the number
of degrees awarded annual
ly has increased nearly 33%
during the last decade.
In her first report to the
university system’s Board
of Regents since taking on
the role of acting chancel
lor last month, MacCart
ney supported Gov. Brian
Kemp’s position of recom
mending that students and
faculty wear masks to dis
courage the spread of CO-
VID-19 without imposing
a government mandate.
MacCartney said
wearing masks and getting
vaccinated against the virus
will help the system pro
vide in-person instruction
during the school year be
ginning this month, which
she said is important “for
the mental health of our
students.”
MacCartney said some
campuses are doing their
part to combat COVID-19
by setting up vaccine sites.
MacCartney took over
as acting chancellor with
the retirement of former
Chancellor Steve Wrigley.
Loran
continued from page 6A
when there was little op
portunity for women be
yond homemaker duties,
teaching school or finding
secretarial work. It was
more fun to be a steward
ess, but that did nothing to
empower women.
With a prior business
effort that didn’t fare well,
Richard owned a lease of
a well-located property
on Piedmont Road in At
lanta’s Buckhead district.
Over dinner one night, the
Lewis-DeRose team de
cided to venture into the
restaurant business. That
is how the first big-time
steakhouse in Atlanta came
to be. Bone’s will celebrate
its 43rd birthday this year.
Bone’s flourished as the
city flourished and is rec
ognized nationally as one
of the finest steak houses
in America.
Neither partner had
any restaurant experience
but developed an auspi
cious modus operando by
interacting with custom
ers. They underscored
good relations with em
ployees and have the dis
tinction of seeing many
retire, without ever having
worked anywhere else.
Today under their
company umbrella are two
more popular restaurant
locations, the Okay Cafe
and the Blue Ridge Grill,
both located at the inter
section of Northside Park
way and West Paces Ferry
Road, only a stone’s throw
from 1-75 North.
A lot of business deals
have been brokered over
breakfast, lunch and din
ner at these Liberty House
properties. Good food,
good service, good atmo
sphere and great locations
have brought enviable suc
cess for Susan and Richard.
Recently, a new ven
ture came about for Rich
ard and Susan. They are
principals in a movie which
premiered last weekend.
“Charming the Hearts of
Men,” was filmed in Athens
and Madison. It principally
stars Kelsey Grammer,
whom Susan and Richard
met to pitch their movie
idea. “It is a heartfelt and
unique look at life, family
and friendship in a small
Southern town, circa 1964,
where the centric char
acters tell all sides of the
complex story of race and
gender in America.”
Susan amplifies on
the foregoing: “(It is...) a
romantic story thru a po
litical time, playing out in
a juke joint, fading planta
tion life, a whorehouse and
the Halls of Congress.”
Susan always wanted
to produce a movie, and
now it has come to pass.
She wrote the script, found
a Hollywood producer
who saw the merits of her
story and helped under
write the production.
“My family,” she says,
“is 5th generation Athe
nian. My mother married
military men, so we moved
around, but my summers
were always spent in Ath
ens, and I attended Athens
High School.”
As a result, Athens
plays a significant part of
the movie. “Before com
puters, box scores and
sprawling neighborhoods
covered farmland, my
youth’s America was small
towns,” she says. “Every
one knew each other and
stayed put, so relation
ships forged across race
and class. We pretty much
all got along. I wanted to
show this in my film since
Hollywood movies typi
cally portray the South
differently; to show the
richness of the people and
of the time. So many inter
esting characters came into
my young life: beauticians,
chicken-pluckers, maids,
politicians, even prosti
tutes.”
She then referred
to Effie, the well-known
madam of the town years
ago and how she was intro
duced. “When I was 16,”
Susan explains, “I worked
at a jewelry store on week
ends. The manager used to
open up early on Saturday
mornings for Ms. Effie to
bring in her girls. They
would buy jewelry on lay
away. I found them timid
and respectful. Effie is the
only real character in my
story. Everyone else is a
composite.”
Vidalia Man Arrested Following
Drug Probe in Toombs County
Authorities arrested
Clarence Lee Bostic, age
40, of Vida
lia, on Au
gust 19 fol
lowing a drug
investigation
initiated by
the Georgia
Bureau of In
vestigation Southeastern
Regional Drug Enforce
ment Office (SRDEO).
A search warrant was
served at 1114 JR Rollins
Road in Vidalia, by GBI-
SRDEO and the Toombs
County Sheriff’s Office.
During the search, a felony
amount of Methamphet-
amine, a misdemeanor
amount of marijuana and
two firearms were seized.
Bostic, who was
booked into the Toombs
Countyjail, is charged with
the following: Sale of Crack
Cocaine, Sale of Powder
Cocaine, Sale of Metham-
phetamine, Trafficking in
Methamphetamine, Use of
Communication Facility
in Commission of Felony
(x3), Possession of Meth
amphetamine, Possession
of Firearm by Convicted
Felon, Possession of Fire
arm during Commission of
a Felony.
The Toombs County
Sheriff’s Office and the Vi
dalia Police Department
assisted the GBI-SRDEO
in this investigation. The
SRDEO covers a 39-coun
ty area in Southeast Geor
gia.
This investigation was
conducted in an effort to
make an impact on the cur
rent street level drug dis
tribution within Toombs
County and promote a
safer place for productive
citizens. GBI-SRDEO and
Toombs County Sheriff’s
Office need your help. If
you have information relat
ed to drug activity, please
call the Toombs County
Sheriff’s Office at (912)
626-6778 or GBI-SRDEO
at (912) 685-5345. Anony
mous tips can also be sub
mitted by calling 1-800-
597-TIPS (8477), online
at https://gbi.georgia.gov/
submit-tips-online, or
by downloading the See
Something, Send Some
thing mobile app.
Bostic
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