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Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Barrow it Journal
Barrow County’s Legal Organ Georgia’s Best Weekly Paper, 2012
Vol. 5 No. 32
36 PAGES 3 SECTIONS plus inserts
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680
500 COPY
Barrow Schools still have 68 job openings
Barrow Briefs:
Walley to
return home
Almost a year after becom
ing seriously injured in
Afghanistan, U.S. Army
Specialist Sam Walley of
Winder is coming home. Local
veterans groups are asking the
community to give the 2010
graduate of Winder-Barrow
High School a big welcome
home on Thursday, May 30.
Organizers hope business
es will light up their signs
with welcome-home mes
sages and residents bearing
American flags and signs
will line the motorcade route
along Highway 11 into Barrow
County, then west on May
Street and north on North
Broad Street.
The motorcade is to arrive
in Barrow County around 3:45
p.m. and wind up at the First
Baptist Church of Winder
where local officials will pay
tribute to Walley's tremendous
sacrifice.
Law enforcement agencies
are teaming up to provide a
police escort all of the way
from the Georgia State line.
Joining in along the way will
be AMVETS Riders Chapter
13, American Legion Riders,
AMVETS Post 12, the Patriot
Guard and other groups.
— By Susan Norman
Class of 1983
plans reunion
The Winder-Barrow High
School class of 1983 will be
celebrating its 30-year class
reunion on Saturday, June 15,
from 7-11 p.m. in the banquet
room at Dakota’s Bar & Grill
in Auburn. Tickets are $25 per
person in advance and $30 per
person at the door.
Anyone attending school
with the class of 1983 is wel
come to attend. A special
invitation is extended to the
classes of 1982 and 1984, as
well as former teachers and
administrators. DJ Hawk with
Trammell Entertainment will
provide music.
For more information, email
Cindy Hemphill Ellington at
cellington30680@yahoo.com
or Cindy Garrett Royal at cin-
dycindyroyal @ aol.com.
To become
a subscriber,
call 770-867-
6397 for rates.
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered each
Thursday
by mail.
Index:
Church News
9B
Community
1C
Classifieds
10-11B
Legals
4-12C
Obituaries
11A
Opinion
4A
Op-Ed
5A
Pets of the Week
3C
Public Safety
6-7A
Sports
1B
Contact:
Phone:
770-867-6397
Fax:
678425-1435
Mail:
77 E. May St.
Winder, Ga. 30680
Web: www.barrowjoumal.com
'0 4879 14541 7
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal.com
The Barrow County School
System is experiencing signifi
cant turnover of employees this
month. Since last Friday, the
school system’s website has
posted 68 openings for certified
employees — administrators,
teachers and counselors.
That is almost triple the num
ber of openings at any of the
adjacent school systems.
Walton County schools with
13,450 students has 18 openings
for certified employees. Clarke
County schools, enrollment
12,557, have 24 openings. And
Oconee and Jackson counties’
schools, whose systems are about
half the size of Barrow’s, have
only two openings for certified
employees each.
Only Gwinnett County schools,
where enrollment is 12 times big
ger than Barrow's, have more
openings for certified employ
ees. Gwinnett has more than 300
openings for certified person
nel, but only 194 of the posted
openings for teachers are due to
turnover. The other 85 positions
are new ones to accommodate
another 1,700 students expected
this fall, a spokesman said.
School superintendent Wanda
Creel said some of Barrow's
posted positions also are due
to the school system's growth.
Enrollment growth has averaged
about 200 students over the past
three years.
“We have retirements we are
posting for, resignations from the
contracts, and we have growth
positions,” she said, noting that
Bethlehem Elementary School
alone had five retirements this
month.
“We are also adding additional
early intervention positions and
additional gifted positions,” Creel
said. The early intervention posi
tions are being pursued due to
additional funding that is avail
able for them.
Creel said employees who are
moving on are making career
choices that are in the best inter
ests of their families and them
selves.
But she said the movement is
not one way.
See on School Openings Page 2A
Remember their sacrifice...
IN REMEMBRANCE
The Laying of the Wreath is a tradition at each year’s Memorial Day service at Rose Hill
Cemetery. The service then concludes with the playing of “Taps.”
Photo by Jessica Brown
MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY
(TOP) Rose Hill Cemetery is the location each May for the Winder-Barrow County
Memorial Day observance. (BELOW) Ed Greaslish helps coordinate the ceremony each
year. Photos by Jessica Brown
Honoring those
who gave all
By Chris Bridges
cbridges @ barrowjournal. com
One by one the names are read.
From World War I to the current Iraq-Afghanistan
Wars, the list includes all Barrow County veterans
who died in the line of duty in defense of their
country.
The annual Barrow County Memorial Day service
was held once again at Rose Hill Cemetery. Monday’s
ceremony was coordinated by Ed Grealish, who
served in the Marines, and others who want to make
sure proper respect is given to these American heros.
“Remember their sacrifice,” Greaslish said.
“Remember what they gave for each of us.”
See Memorial Day on Page 12A
Animal control
director quits
10-week review finds dept,
is ‘failing ’ in its mission
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal. com
The director of the Barrow County Animal
Control Department quit her job last week after
being informed of the results of a 10-week
review of her department.
The top recommendation in the May 22 report
was that county officials consider demoting
Missy Burrell and finding a new director. Barrow
County Human Resources director Charlie Felts
said he and the report’s author, Jimmy Terrell,
were in a meeting with Burrell on May 23 when
she walked out.
“She is no longer the director,” Felts said in
response to a reporter’s inquiry the following
day.
Burrell worked for the department for 11
years and became director in 2011 after Terrell
resigned from the same post. Two months ago,
county manager Jock Connell asked Felts to
oversee the department and Terrell to conduct
the review.
See Animal Control on Page 9A
Local grad rates up,
but still in bottom tier
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal. com
The graduation rate for the Barrow County
School System improved last year, but local
schools in 2012 still had among the lowest gradu
ation rates among Georgia school systems that are
the same size or larger.
According to numbers that the Georgia
Department of Education released May 21, Barrow
County’s overall graduation rate rose to almost
68 percent. That was a jump of about 4 points
compared to 2011, when the rate was just over 64
percent.
What the rate means is that even with the
improvement last year, almost one-third of the 873
local students who were in the ninth grade four
years earlier did not graduate on time.
See Graduation Rate on Page 2A
Again: Herring named
development director
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal. com
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners
on Tuesday night appointed the county’s former
planning director to the key post of director of eco
nomic and community development.
Guy Herring starts work June 3.
It will be the fourth time that he has worked in
the county’s planning department since graduating
from college in 2000. The county hired him right
out of college in June 2000 as a senior planner, but
he left after 10 months. He returned as the senior
planner in November 2003 and stayed six months.
Then he returned in April 2005 as the director of
planning and zoning but left that post weeks after
Danny Yearwood began his four-year term as BOC
chairman in early 2009.
See Herring on Page 2A
CRAZY LIKE A FOX
This baby fox seemed to be observing the
Memorial Day service Monday at Rose Hill
Cemetery. Barrow Journal photographer
Jessica Brown captured this image of the
animal.