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he ADVANCE, August 25, 2021/Page 12A Slfre Aiiuancg 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. i ■ y s Mmi v * SiKv 4 1 * •r. % S!. i m 1 l .r. . _ . ’-- I M ^91 1 ^Hk fill! J1 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 1 7 8 9 2 3 5 0 4 3 9 5 4 7 6 2 8 1 2 0 4 5 8 1 7 3 9 4 0 1 2 3 7 8 9 8 9 8 3 8 5 4 1 2 7 / 2 6 8 1 9 3 4 5 5 1 9 3 4 8 6 7 2 6 3 2 7 9 5 4 1 8 8 4 7 1 6 2 9 5 3 ulhc Aimance IS NOW ONLINE! Get all the local news you need on your computer, smart phone or tablet. Call 537-3131 www.theadvancenews.com