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PAGE 14A
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011
WOW — HE’S EXCELLENT
Ethan Bortner, a fifth grader a Auburn Elementary
School was recognized at a recent Barrow County
Board of Education meeting as a WOW student of
the week. Four other AES WOW students were also
applauded. They are: Avery Fowler, Arianna Kimbrough
and Alston Leach. WOW stands for Word of the Week.
Each week at AES students learn a word describing
positive character.
SHE’S ALL ABOUT FRUIT
“Nurse Moira” Bernard-Moore at Bethlehem Elementary
School was recently featured on a Children’s Health
Care of Atlanta calendar for her Fruit Friday efforts
at the school. The theme of the calendar was “what
nurses are doing to help with childhood obesity” and
“Nurse Moira’s” program of offering only healthy fruits
for dessert, rather than ice cream, one Friday a month
caught an eye at CHCOA. She was recognized (and
given this hat) at a recent Barrow County Board of
Education meeting.
BOE presents recognitions
The Barrow County Board of Education recognized staff,
students and teachers alike at its Oct. 11 meeting.
Auburn Elementary School principal Shawn Williams recog
nized fifth grade teacher Kim Easterling for 10 years of organiz
ing 9/11 remembrance ceremonies and activities at the school.
WOW students of the week, Ethan Bortner, Avery Fowler,
Arianna Kimbrough and Alston Leach were also recognized.
WOW stands for Word of the Week. Each week at AES students
learn a word describing positive character. Their challenge is to
exemplify that word all week. Students who do an exceptional
job are recognized as WOW students.
Bethlehem Elementary School principal Marisa Grant
applauded the efforts of three long-time mentors at BES. Jamie
Holloway, Linda Johnson and Douglas Koestel were recog
nized for their above and beyond efforts on behalf of not only
the students they mentor, but all the students at BES. “Nurse
Moira” Bernard-Moore was also recognized for the Fruit
Fridays she instituted at the school. One Friday a month, fruit
is served for dessert, rather than ice cream. Because of that pro
gram, “Nurse Moira” was included in a Children's Healthcare
of Atlanta calendar with the theme “what nurses are doing to
help with childhood obesity.”
Haymon-Morris Middle School principal Sheila Kahrs
applauded Patricia Joy, school nutritionist, for gathering mate
rials and putting together “Back to School” packets for stu
dents who would otherwise go without. School Nurse Vickie
Ortego was also recognized for the dedicated, enthusiastic and
thorough care she renders to the students, faculty and staff not
only at HMMS, but at Yargo Elementary and Apalachee High
Schools.
The officers of the HMMS Beta Club gave a presentation
on the “Pennies for Polio” program. Last year the club raised
enough money to provide polio vaccinations for 872 children
living in areas still affected by polio. One 60-cent vaccination
protects a child from polio for life. The club goal is to exceed
last year’s effort.
Winder-Barrow High School JROTC instructor Maj. Tom
Evans was thanked for his successful efforts to procure technol
ogy for the entire school system. He received hundreds of com
puters, monitors, smart boards, in-focus projectors and printers
from Fort Gordon, as a result of a whole-post upgrade.
C.J. Amason, the WBHS JROTC administrative assistant,
was also applauded for using her contacts at the Environmental
Protection Agency to secure “tens of thousands of dollars”
worth of furniture and equipment for the school.
Butch Mills, the IT technician for WBHS, was recognized
for getting teachers the desktops, laptops, and monitors they
needed, as the Fort Gordon technology was dispersed.
Former Winder doctor publishes debut novel
By Blair Spiva Rivkin
mbspiva @ yahoo, com
Even as a young boy. Dr. John House
was fascinated by words. That fascination
led him to write, and the doctor has now
become author, recently publishing his
debut novel.
“So Shall You Reap” is a tale of sus
pense set in Athens, revolving around a
University of Georgia quarterback who
becomes involved in the drug underworld
after his younger brother is murdered
by tainted drugs. House added an air of
mystery to his plot by saying that the
young quarterback “risks everything in
his pursuit and discovers something more
painful than all his potential losses.”
House moved to Brunswick, Ga. in
2007 after running Family Physicians PA
in Winder for 36 years.
“My retirement lasted all of three
weeks,” he said. “I became bored and
went back to work in both Indigent Care
Centers and Urgent Care Centers (in
Brunswick), where I still practice family
medicine five days a week.”
Dr. House worked on the novel for
three years, attending writing conferences
and groups whenever he could.
“It was very difficult to find a publisher
in today’s economic climate,” he said.
“Most of the big publishing houses don’t
want to take a chance on a new writer. I
was fortunate to meet Lee Clevenger of
ThomasMax Publishing, based in Atlanta,
at a conference of the Southeastern
Writers Association. After reviewing my
work, he agreed to publish it.”
“So Shall You Reap” was published in
August of this year, and House is pleased
with his readers' responses thus far.
“The response has been very favor
able,” he said. “Eve received three five-
star reviews at Amazon.com.”
SPORTS AND SUSPENSE:
‘SO SHALL YOU REAP’ BY
DR. JOHN HOUSE
For House, writing is more than a pur
suit for profit. He explained that he has
always admired “anyone who puts words
on paper.”
As a child, his neighbor in Winder,
John Carrington, introduced the young
House to books.
“He invited me into his home library
and allowed me to take books home
anytime I desired as long as I read and
returned them,” he remembered. “That
ignited a flame that couldn't be extin
guished.”
House said that, despite his dedica
tion to the medical field, he often found
himself writing in between patient visits,
during lunch hours and at nights when he
returned home.
“It has always been a way for me to
unwind,” he explained.
Though House has been writing poetry
and short stories since his childhood, he
said that he didn’t truly “get serious”
about his craft until 1980, producing his
first manuscript.
“It was extremely lengthy,” he said.
“It was turned down by many agents and
resides in my closet, never to see the light
of day again.”
“So Shall You Reap” was inspired not
only by the doctor’s passion for words
and the suspense genre. He said that he
has been a lifelong fan of the Georgia
Bulldogs and of all sports, even serving
as Winder's high school sports physician
for 10 years early on in his practice. He
said that he became interested in the use
of drugs amongst modern athletes and
wanted to incorporate this epidemic into
his creative work.
“I’m pleased to see my work in print,
but it won't be the last,” he said. “As I
have more time available, I plan to write
full-time. I have outlines completed for
nine more manuscripts,” adding to the
two other unpublished manuscripts that
he had completed prior to publication.
“Writing anything, from a high school
newsletter to a novel, is a lot more dif
ficult than most people would believe,”
he said. “I've always felt that I would be
published, but only after I acquired the
knowledge on how to write something
that people would be willing to purchase.
Four years ago, I started attending confer
ences and reading every book on writing
that I could find in order to gain that
knowledge.”
House said that he is continuously
appreciative of fellow writers.
“I’m always amazed at the work that
people turn out,” he said. “There really
isn't such a thing as bad writing — only
some better than others.”
“So Shall You Reap” is available for
purchase as a print or electronic edition
at www.amazon.com and at Barnes &
Noble.
'Writing anything, from a high school newsletter to a novel, is a lot
more difficult than most people would believe/
— Dr. John House
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