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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Barrow it Journal
Barrow County’s Legal Organ Georgia’s Best Weekly Paper, 2012-2013
Vol. 5 No. 34
36 PAGES 3 SECTIONS plus inserts
A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680
500 COPY
Barrow Briefs:
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 invi
tation is extended to the classes
of 1982 and 1984, as well as
former teachers and adminis
trators.
For more information, email
Cindy Hemphill Ellington at
cellington30680@yahoo.com
or Cindy Garrett Royal at cin-
dycindyroyal@aol.com.
Vendor space
available
Vendor space remains avail
able for the ongoing Winder
Farmers Market, which
runs on Saturdays through
August. The market is held
each week from 8 a.m. until
noon. The market will also
feature handmade and hand
crafted items. Vendor applica
tions are available by calling
770-867-8808 or at the website
www. winderdownto wn .com.
Volunteers being
sought for
Historical Society
The Barrow County
Historical Society is seek
ing volunteers to help keep
the Barrow County History
Museum open.
Located in the "Old Jail” at
74 W. Athens St., the muse
um’s current hours are Mon.-
Fri. 1-4 p.m. and Saturday 10
a.m.-l p.m. Admission is free.
A commitment of only three
hours per month is asked of
volunteers. For more infor
mation on the museum, the
society or volunteering, go to
www.cityofwinder.com, click
on Winder History, then on
Barrow County Museum, or
call 770-307-1183.
To become
a subscriber,
call 770-867-
6397 for rates.
The Barrow
Journal is
delivered each
Thursday
by mail.
Index:
Church News
10A
Community
1C
Classifieds
9-11B
.egals
3-11C
Obituaries
11A
Opinion
4A
Op-Ed
5A
Pets of the Week
5B
Public Safety
6-7A
Sports
1B
Contact:
Phone:
770-867-6397
Fax:
678425-1435
Mail:
77 E. May St.
Winder, Ga. 30680
Web: www.baiTowjoumal.com
Journal named state’s best — again
PLENTY OF AWARDS
The staff of the Barrow Journal shows off the first-place plaques won at the
annual Georgia Press Association awards banquet held Friday in Jekyll Island.
Shown are staff members (front row, from left), reporter, Michelle Stewart; legal
advertising representative, Debby Sisk; advertising representative, Jessica Carter;
advertising director, Susan Treadwell; photographer, Jessica Brown; office man
ager, Susan Mobley, writer, Lorin Sinn-Clark and reporter, Katie Cofer; (back row
from left) editor Chris Bridges and marketing director Jeremy Ginn. Not shown
are co-publishers Mike and Scott Buffington and government news editor Susan
Norman. Photo by Steve Brown
Awards given
at annual GPA
convention
For the second year in a
row, the Barrow Journal has
been named one of the best
newspapers in Georgia.
At the Georgia Press
Association’s annual con
ference in Jekyll Island
last week, co-publishers
Mike Buffington and Scott
Buffington accepted the cov
eted 2013 General Excellence
award for the Journal. The
newspaper won the same
honor last year. The Journal
competed with weekly news
papers that have a circulation
of 3,000-4,999.
"We are extremely proud
of the Journal staff and the
very high standard of excel
lence they are setting in the
state,” said co-publisher
Mike Buffington. “To win
the top award for excellence
two years in a row is a very
big deal in our industry and
speaks to the dedication of the
Journal’s staff.”
The Journal's staff also won
the W. Trox Bankston Trophy
for providing readers the best
Local News Coverage,
“The amount of local con
tent in this weekly newspaper
is unbelievable!” wrote the
judges. "It offers a very nice
community section in addition
to the local front page, sports
and police beat news.”
Instrumental in the news
paper’s success in this year's
contest were the five awards
won by photographer Jessica
Brown. She won three first-
place awards for the best
News Photo, the best Sports
Photo and the best Photo
Essay. She also won a pair of
third-place awards in the cat
egories of Feature Photo and
Photo Essay.
The judges complimented
her "perfect” camera settings
in the winning news photo of
the Barrow County Sheriff’s
Office SWAT training, her
"great angle” in the winning
sports photo taken during a
Winder-Barrow High School
freshman football game last
fall, and how well she cap
tured the personality of each
dog in her winning photo
essay about Auburn’s 2012
"For the Love of Dogs” event.
"She’s captured some of the
cutest pictures depicting why
we love our dogs!” wrote a
judge, “I especially like the
one, ‘I call Shotgun.’ Each
picture is a unique personal
ity.”
This is the fourth consecu
tive year that Brown, a gradu
ate of Winder-Barrow High
School, has received recog
nition from the state press
association. She and veteran
Barrow Journal journalist
Susan Norman also received
national recognition last year
from the National Newspaper
Association.
See Awards on Page 12A
Training in the rain...
K-9 UNIT TRAINING IN BARROW
The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office shooting range and training facility hosted
a K-9 unit seminar Monday morning. Drills were cut short due to rain and
were moved to another location in Suwanee. There were 25 K-9 units in atten
dance, including units from Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and other areas in the
Southeast. Photos by Jessica Brown
Animal control shelter
undergoing changes
By Susan Norman
snonnan @ barrowjournal. com
Barrow County’s government has begun its search for a new
animal control director, but some improvements at the shelter
already are under way, according to those now in charge.
Former shelter director Jimmy Terrell, whose 10-week
departmental review led to the May 23 resignation of direc
tor Missy Burrell, is staying on as interim director until a
permanent director is hired. And he has undertaken the task of
correcting some of the deficiencies he identified in his May 22
report to the county.
Over the past two weeks, Terrell has reached out to animal
advocates who for years have raised concerns about the qual
ity of the shelter’s services. He and Barrow County Human
Resources Director Charlie Felts, who also is overseeing the
transition, have had two meetings with a core group of advo
cacy group representatives and plan to continue those weekly
meetings.
See Animal Control on Page 12A
NOTHIN’ SAYS SUMMER...
...quite like kids and a lemonade stand. Grayson
Castro (L) is the young entrepreneur. Her friends,
Sullivan Smith and Abby Turbeville, called her prod
uct “the best lemonade in the world!” Grayson’s
stand was at the Statham Farmers Market, which is
held downtown from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. every Saturday
through the summer.
Photo by Lorin Sinn-Clark
Sheriff’s inock school’
a first in state of Georgia
By Susan Norman
snorman @ barrowjournal. com
In an innovation new to Georgia, the
Barrow County Sheriff’s Office has built
a “mock school” to teach law enforce
ment officers how to kill — quickly —
school shooters.
Sheriff Jud Smith and his training staff
on Friday, June 7, hosted a ribbon-cutting
ceremony and tour of the 5,500-square-
foot facility built on an elevated area of
the department’s 204-acre training site off
Briscoe Mill Road in Bethlehem.
Local school resource officers and
SWAT team members designed the roof
less, wooden structure, and it was built at
almost no cost.
The sheriff said he knows of no other
active-shooter training facility designed
like a school with wide hallways, fur
nished classrooms, restrooms and other
places to hide.
Ryan Powell, director of operations for
the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and
Training Council, said he doesn’t know
of one either.
See Mock School on Page 2A
TRAINING FACILITY
Sgt. David Aderhold and Deputy Vince Schmidt, standing inside
a classroom of the mock school, will train officers in how to take
down a school shooter. Photo by Susan Norman