About Barrow journal. (Winder, Ga.) 2008-2016 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2016)
Barrow County’s only award-winning Georgia Press Association member newspaper Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Barrow k Journal www.barrowjournal.com Barrow County’s Legal Organ Newspaper VOL. 8 NO. SB 24 PACES 2 SECTIONS, PLUS INSERTS A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 50« COPY Barrow Briefs Father’s Day dance, dinner set The American Legion Post 163 in Statham will host a Father's Day dance and din ner on Saturday, June 18. The dinner will be served at 6 p.m. with the dance beginning at 8 p.m. The steak dinner cost is $15 and dance tickets are $8. A special com bination price for both events is $20. Music will be provided by The Sandy Creek Band. The public is invited to attend. Fort Yargo hosts Junior Ranger Camp Fort Yargo State Park in Winder will host upcoming Junior Ranger Camps. Each camp will include tons of outdoor recreation al, educational opportunities including hiking, kayaking, fishing, nature art, and more, park officials said. There will also be a liv ing history component to the camp, with actors at the fort dressed in period cloth ing demonstrating life in the 1790s. Space is limited, please pre-register. This camp is geared towards kids 8-12 years of age. Campers should pack a lunch for each day. The day of the living histo ry program, some period food may be prepared for partici pants to try. Participants will earn a Level 1 and/or Level 2 badge. Junior Ranger Camps will be held Wednesday. June 15. and Thursday, June 16. Inside: Index: Church News 10B Classifieds 4-5B Legals 6-1 OB Obituaries 11B Opinions 4A Pets of the Week 10A Public Safety 6-8A Sports 1-3B.11-12B Contact Info: Phone: 770-867-6397 Mail: 77 E. May Street, Winder, Ga. 30680 Fax: 706-621-4115 ‘Like us’ on Facebook www.barrowjournal.com Mailing Label Below A Fair Time: Lights. Rides. Food SUMMER FUN IN WINDER The annual Winder SpringFest carnival wel comed young and old alike for several days at Jug Tavern Park. Rides of all kinds (above) were offered. Creeklen Plunkett, 2, and Oktober Plunkett, 6, (right) were all smiles at the Jug Tavern Spring Festival Friday. (Below) What’s a car nival without food as Emma Bare, 5, enjoys a snowcone Friday night. See more carni val photos on pages 2A and 12A in today’s edition. Photos by Wesleigh Sagon Better Newspaper Contest Journal once again named one of state’s top papers Once again, the Barrow Journal has been recognized as one of the top newspapers in its division by the Georgia Press Association. This year’s awards mark the seventh consecutive time the Barrow Journal has been named one of the state’s top publica tions. In the group’s annual Better Newspaper Contest for the cal endar year 2015, the Barrow Journal won second place in the coveted General Excellence cate gory, signifying the top honor for Georgia publications. The paper competes in Division G. Staff photographer Jessica Brown once again earned sever al photography awards including second place for best news photo (Apalachee High School gradua tion), second place for sports fea ture photo (Winder-Barrow High School youth football camp), second place for sports photo (high school track), third place for sports feature photo (high school football preview section), third place for feature photo (road construction) and third place for sports photo (WBHS youth foot ball camp.) The paper’s sports section won first place as did its editorial page. The judges liked the use of multiple quality photos through out its sports sections. The Barrow Journal also earned second place for local news coverage and in the layout and design category. In addition, the paper won third place for headline writing. Alex Pace won third place for Best Serious Column while Chris Bridges won first place in that division. Of Bridges’ columns, the judg es wrote, “Very tight race in this category, but I found this writer to be a true watchdog for the community and a very engaging read.” Bridges’ three columns in the Serious Column category focused on Andrew Brannan, a decorated Georgia Vietnam vet eran with post-traumatic stress disorder, who was executed by the state after killing a deputy sheriff; dangers facing journal ists around the world and an anniversary tribute to his parents. See Awards on Page 12A Qualifying for vacant BOC District 5 seat set for Aug. Barrow schools earn high ‘climate’ scores By Cliris Bridges Journal Editor Billy Parks' decision to step down from his District 5 seat on the Barrow County Board of Commissioners to run for county chairman has left a vacancy that will be filled in the upcoming November election. Elections Supervisor Monica Franklin said last week that quali fying for the vacancy will be Aug. 1-3. Qualifying times will be from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 and from 9 a.m. until noon on Aug. 3. Parks lost his bid for chairman in a close primary race to incumbent Pat Graham. Parks could run for his previous BOC seat but said during the recent campaign for chairman that he will not seek a return to the District 5 seat. By the time January 2017 rolls around, the makeup of the BOC will be different as current District 2 member Kenny Shook lost in his primary race against Bill Brown, a former commissioner who is seek ing a return to office. Brown still must face Democratic opposition in November. If Parks does not seek his previous District 5 seat, there will be another new member on the BOC. Franklin said in the May 24 pri mary election in Barrow County. 5,573 of the county’s 33,885 regis tered voters cast a ballot. The turnout in the primary elec tion was just above 16 percent. A total of 5,153 voted in the Republican primary with just 390 requesting a Democratic ballot. There will be three contested general election races in November including Districts 2 and 3 on the BOC and District 6 on the Board of Education. Sheriff Jud Smith won his re-elec tion bid by easily defeating chal lenger Tim Walker in the Republican primary. There is no Democratic candidate vying for sheriff. By Al ex Pace Journal Editor Most Barrow County schools scored high on the 2015 school climate rating. Every school in the Barrow County School System scored in the top two categories, except for Snodon Preparatory School, which was closed last year. School climate refers to the quality and character of school life — the “culture” of a school, according to the Georgia Department of Education. School ratings include: excellent, 5; above average, 4; average, 3; below satisfactory, 2; and unsatisfactory, 1. Snodon received a “below satisfactory” rating. ABOVE AVERAGE RATING Schools that received an “above average” rating were: •Apalachee High School •County Line Elementary School •Kennedy Elementary School •Westside Middle School •Auburn Elementary School •Winder-Barrow High School See ‘Climate’ on Page 3A Inside Today’s Edition: Barrow 4-H members recognized for memorable year. — Page 9A
