Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, December 24,2008
Vol. 1 No. 9 22 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY
Last week
for $5 deal
This will be the last week for
Barrow County readers to sub
scribe to the Barrow Journal
at the introductory rate of just
$5 per year.
The rate is for charter sub
scribers to the Journal who live
in Barrow County. The special
rate will end Dec. 31. The
maximum number of years at
$5/yr. is three years, but sub
scribers may purchase mul
tiple subscriptions for friends
and family. Starting Jan. 1, the
subscription rate will move to
$15 per year.
During the introductory
period, the Journal has been
mailed to every household
in Barrow County for free.
Starting with the Jan. 7 issue,
only subscribers will receive a
copy in their mail.
“The response to the Journal
has been tremendous,” said co
publisher Mike Buffington.
Subscribes may drop or
may mail their subscription to:
Barrow Journal, 77 East May
Street, Winder, Ga. 30680.
Early deadline
set for holiday
Due to the New Year’s holi
days, the deadlines for submit
ting church, social and school
news to the Barrow Journal
have been moved to Friday,
Dec. 26.
Items received after the
deadlines may not be pub
lished.
The Journal office will be
closed on Thursday, Dec. 25,
for Christmas and Jan. 1 for
New Year’s.
The offices will be open on
Friday, Dec. 26, and Jan. 2.
Holiday kids
featured today
The first Barrow Journal
Holiday Kids pages are feau-
tured in today’s edition.
See four pages of photos
beginning on page 6A and
continuing through 9A.
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A tale of two churches...
Sacrifice brings life back to old church
REVITALIZED INTERIOR
The inside of the Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit has a
new look after much work. Photo by Jessica Brown
BY SUSAN NORMAN
hat members of the
Sanctuary of the
Holy Spirit recently
dressed up as Charles Dickens
characters to sing Christmas
carols the night of Winder’s
annual parade seemed fitting
since the tale of their church
building’s salvation after a
series of tribulations and per
sonal sacrifice reads like a
story straight out of a Dickens
novel.
Less than four years ago,
Rev. Phillip Adair was the
pastor of a small congrega
tion that met in Loganville
in rented meeting space. One
day in March of 2005, his
wife, Linda, picked up a real
estate book and noticed an
ad for an old brick church in
Winder.
On a whim, the couple
drove to 71 W. Candler St.,
where they found the once-
proud church with three bell
towers padlocked, but a for-
sale sign was nowhere to be
seen.
About to drive away, the
couple spotted a woman near
by getting into her car and
asked her if she knew who
owned the vacant church.
She said she had worked for
its owner, long-time Winder
physician C.B. Skelton.
The Adairs arranged to
meet Dr. Skelton and his wife
Penny about a week later on
a Sunday afternoon, when
members of their Loganville
congregation could come too.
That closer inspection of the
building revealed an original
1904 roof that leaked all over
the place, interior walls with
holes so large the visitors
could walk through them, and
a basement that had become
an unsavory haven for cats.
rats and fleas.
Dr. Skelton, who many
years earlier had operated a
Christian supper club at the
church, had once sold the
building nearly a decade ear
lier, but that congregation had
been unable to raise funds to
restore the building and in
late 2004, handed it back to
him.
NEAR DISASTER
While members of Adair’s
Loganville congregation
looked around the church
that afternoon, their pastor
went down to the basement.
When he came back upstairs,
he stepped on rotted floor
ing and near-disaster struck.
He fell from a floor in one
of the bell towers down into
the basement, landing hard
on his left foot and nearly
severing his tongue in the
process. Bleeding copiously,
he crawled back upstairs and
was assisted by his 34-year-
old son, Sean, and another
man who half-carried him to
more solid ground.
An ambulance rushed Adair
to Gwinnett Medical Center,
where doctors initially feared
he had broken his back, his
leg and his foot. The injuries
proved not to be quite that
serious, but he did walk with
a limp and a cane for a year
and also had to ask his wife
to speak for him for about a
month.
Then, just a week after that
accident, a chronic medical
condition landed his son Sean
in the hospital, where doctors
determined they needed to
perform life-saving surgery.
Battered and hurting, the pas
tor decided to put his church
buying plans on hold.
But a couple of days after
their son’s successful surgery,
the phone rang. It was Dr.
Skelton, and he had a surpris
ing proposition.
“He said, ‘Phil, what is it
that you believe about God
and the church?’
continued on page 3A
THE PROCESS BEGINS
The steeple is lowered as work began on the church
located on Chandler Street.
New surroundings
WALL EXPLAINS HER OFFICE SET-UP
Gloria Wall (R), Barrow County Clerk of Superior
Court, explains the set-up of her office in the new
Barrow County Courthouse to newly-elected Superior
Court Judge Currie Mingledorf on Friday. Wall will
be retiring at the end of this year after serving the
county as clerk of superior court since 1997. See
more photos of the courthouse tour on page 5A.
Photo by Blair Buffington
Non-profit group to run local camp
1,000 kids with special needs
to be served next summer
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Fort Yargo State Park next
year will greatly expand
its recreational services for
Georgia children with spe
cial needs.
A non-profit organization
devoted to providing camp
ing experiences for chil
dren with serious medical
or disabling conditions has
signed an agreement with
the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources to reno
vate and to operate Yargo’s
Camp Will-A-Way.
On Jan. 8, the Camp Twin
Lakes organization based
in Rutledge will take over
the Winder campground and
begin the first phase of a $4
million renovation.
“The problem is that the
camp has fallen into disre
pair. There have been a lot of
needed improvements over
the years that were not com
pleted because of budgetary
issues,” said park manager
Eric Bentley. “This organiza
tion is going to assist us by
taking over the campground
and taking over the capital
improvements.”
Bentley said Camp Will-
A-Way from now on would
exclusively serve special-
needs campers instead of
other large groups that have
been using it for church events
and also family reunions.
’’They will be operating
the facility for special needs
children only; that’s what the
camp was originally designed
for,” he said.
The first phase of improve
ments will be funded through
the Joseph B. Whitehead
Foundation’s $1.5 million
grant to Camp Twin Lakes.
The initial improvements
will include the renovation
of eight of the 16 camper
cabins; rebuilding the medi
cal lodge, the multipurpose
building and amphitheatre;
improving the arts and crafts
center and overall acces
sibility with sidewalks and
other features; and adding
new program areas such as
archery, biking and climbing,
according to a press release.
Camp Will-A-Way will
be closed until the renova
tions are completed in May.
Then the park will welcome
an estimated 1,000 children
over 11 weeks of camps,
Bentley said.
The second phase of capi
tal improvements will be
completed in time for the
2010 camping season.
"They’re going to renovate
the rest of the sleeping cab
ins and they’re talking about
building a new swimming
pool and improving the din
ing facility and the rest of the
camp,” Bentley said.
Under the DNR conces
sion agreement, the state will
retain ownership of all of the
improved facilities.
The agreement is for five
years and is renewable, offi
cials said.
Once the improvements
have been completed. Camp
Will-A-Way will operate
year round, serving the chil
dren through weekend and
weekday programs, accord
ing to a press release.
continued on page 3A
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