Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Braselton News
Page 5B
Social
Humane Society to hold pet
Adoption Day on Dec. 15
The Humane Society of Jackson County will be hosting an Adoption
Day on December 15, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Traditions Animal
Hospital located in the Traditions Walk Shopping Center.
Up for adoption will be various cats and dogs currently being fostered
by volunteers with the Humane Society of Jackson County.
Adoption fee are $70 for cats and $90 for dogs. Interested pet owners
will need to completely fill out an application provided by the Humane
Society of Jackson County. Once the application has been reviewed, a
home inspection will be completed by the Humane Society. For ques
tions about adopting an available pets, call The Humane Society of
Jackson County at 706-367-1 111.
Established in 1998, the Humane Society of Jackson County was the
vision of a native Marjorie Butler, who worked with Bob and Sandy
Wells to make her dream a reality. The organization is a 501 (c)(3)
nonprofit and donations are tax deductible. Member meetings are held
quarterly at Beef O’ Brady’s. For more information or get involved, call
706-367-1111.
Toys, money being collected
for Peace Place shelter
WayPoint Realty, Braselton, is hosting the Helping Little Angels Toy
Drive, which will benefit Peace Place.
Peace Place is a domestic violence shelter for women and children that
serves Jackson, Barrow and Banks counties. Peace Place offers victims
of domestic violence referrals for housing, jobs, education, medical,
counseling, clothing and food. The shelter also offers support groups and
legal advocacy for victims.
Donations will be accepted Tuesdays through Thursdays, from 9 a.m.
to 2 p.m., until Dec. 22.
Toys or money may be donated. Monetary donations will be used to
purchase gift cards for older kids. The age range for donated toys is
newborn to teen.
WayPoint Realty is located at 81 Lagree Duck Road, off Hwy. 53,
Braselton. For more information, call 706-824-0318.
Angel Tree to help needy children
Upper Cervical Health Centers of America, located in Hamilton Mill,
will host its annual Angel Tree event to benefit under-privileged children
in North Georgia.
Hebron Church is collaborating with the office to locate several chil
dren who may not have many gifts this year.
A Christmas tree in the office will be set up and feature ornaments
with a child’s name. Written on the back of the ornament will be the age
and gift idea specifically for that child. For each ornament that is taken,
the gift on the back is purchased and left unwrapped.
In return, Upper Cervical Health Centers of America will offer a free
health correction or a coupon to give to a friend or relative good for a
free consultation, X-rays, report of findings and their first correction.
An Angel Tree party will be held on Thursday, Dec. 13. Refreshments
and snacks will be served throughout the day.
Upper Cervical Health Centers of America is located at 3635 Braselton
Highway, Suite B-2, Dacula. For more information, call 770-614-9444
or visit www.uppercervicalcare.com.
Blood drive set for Dec. 13
A blood and national marrow donor program drive in honor of Jackson
Austin will be held on Thursday, Dec. 13, from 3-8 p.m. in Athens.
Austin is a Jackson County boy who has cancer.
The drive will be held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education,
Hill Atrium, on the campus of the University of Georgia.
Donors are encouraged to give blood and/or register for the National
Marrow Donor Program. Since Clarke County has a grant, all testing for
the National Bone Marrow Registry is free and only involves a cheek
swab.
All blood donors are strongly encouraged to eat a full meal or snacks,
and drink lots of caffeine-free liquids before donating blood.
To make an appointment for the event, contact Danielle Austin at
daaustin@alltel.net or Janet Jarrett atjarrettja@usa.redcross.org.
For more information about donating blood, visit www.givebloo-
dredcross.org. For more information about the National Marrow Donor
Program, visit www.marrow.org.
The Georgia Center for Continuing Education is located at the comer
of Lumpkin and Carlton Streets, near the UGA track.
Genealogy class offered Dec. 18
The Athens-Clarke County Library will host its final “Getting Started
with Genealogy” session of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 18, from 2-4:30
p.m.
The monthly class is a free, informal session to walk participants
through the basics of researching family history. All participants will
receive an information packet to get started. The class is appropriate for
ages 12 and up.
Participants should bring a pencil and paper, and a sweater or light
jacket, as the Heritage Room is known to be chilly. Participants can stay
after the session to begin researching.
No registration is required for the program.
For more information, call the library at 706-613-3650, ext. 350.
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Season of music keeps piano technician busy
In Focus
with Fil
Fil Jessee
filwrites@aol.com
WORKING ON A PIANO
Following his adjustment of all strings to concert pitch, Leif
Duguay removes the hammer action section of a Janson piano in
Braselton for repairs in his home workshop.
It’s that time of year
when friends and rel
atives often gather
around the piano and
sing Christmas carols.
But, when this pastime
proves a little off key,
it may not be because
Aunt Betty had a little too much
eggnog.
Unlike guitars or violins, pia
nos have 88 keys and approxi
mately 230 strings, and if any
one of these gets loose or a ham
mer doesn’t strike it properly, the
quality of the music you’ll hear
suffers accordingly.
Add this factor to the number
of homes, churches, colleges,
and cocktail lounges that have
pianos, and there’s little wonder
why professional piano tuners
are so busy this time of year in
particular.
But, keeping these complicat
ed instruments in shape often
requires more than just tighten
ing a few screws.
A RARE BREED
According to a spokesman for
Lancaster Music in Gainesville,
there are probably only 20 pro
fessional piano turners within
a 100-mile radius of Braselton.
And, of these, even fewer are
experienced enough to call them
selves piano technicians.
Leif Duguay is one of those
rare experts who can not only
tune a piano, but can literally
rebuild one from the inside out.
He services 800-1,000 pianos a
year in north Georgia, includ
ing those at North Georgia State
College and University, Brenau
University, and Lancaster Music
in Gainesville.
“We use Lief because he has
the same customer service phi
losophy that we do. And, his
reliability and workmanship is
strictly top notch,” said Brant
Barron, a third generation mem
ber of the Lancaster Music fam
ily.
That’s quite an endorsement
when you consider the fact that
Lancaster Music has been sell
ing pianos since 1949, routinely
keeping a least a 100 of the
instruments in stock, and main
taining approximately 50,000
titles in sheet music. In recent
years, this company has man
aged to keep up with the latest in
keyboard technology by offering
a number of digital player pianos
in addition to the traditional con
soles, full uprights, and grands.
Duguay is himself an accom
plished pianist, but seldom
accepts jobs as a musician any
more.
“I’m just too busy fixing pia
nos, now,” he said. And, he’s
been doing that for about 20
years.
Although piano tuning in the
past mainly required a good ear
and turning forks, Duguay uses a
hand-held computer with a soft
ware program he says hears bet
ter than the human ear. However,
he told me that he still relies on
his hearing for two thirds of his
work.
“Every piano is different and
only the human ear can detect
subtle harmonic differences cre
ated by the various materials that
comprise each instrument,” he
explained.
“This can get tricky when
you’re tuning a group of pianos
to be played together in the same
recital or concert,” he added.
Duguay further explained that
he always tunes pianos to concert
pitch, although some technicians
may not.
“Concert pitch is essential when
other instruments are expected to
play with a piano,” he said.
With so many moving parts of
wood and felt, a piano’s action
is particularly subject to subtle
damage from humidity. And to
address such a problem is some
thing that requires a lot more
skill than merely tuning the
instrument.
Since most of this work is done
on site, Duguay carries a pleth
ora of parts and thousands of
dollars worth of tools. But, when
extensive repairs are involved,
he sometimes has to relocate the
instrument or its internal action
section to his Gainesville area
workshop.
Such was the case when he
recently worked on our 38 year-
old upright. Some of the ham
mers were sticking, and lubrica
tion alone proved insufficient to
fix the problem. He also had to
replace a number of the springs
that the hammers require to
return to their original positions
after striking the strings. And in
addition to that, some of the keys
were sticking in the down posi
tion due to swelling of felt from
years of too much humidity. In a
nutshell, our piano was one sick
puppy.
From an amateur pianist’s
point of view, I was particularly
pleased that Duguay took the
time to show me every little
thing that was wrong and how
he planned to fix each problem
before he actually did the work.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the
mechanics that work on our cars
were all that considerate!
Duguay also explained that a
piano should be tuned at least
once a year and, definitely, after
each time it is moved. These
instruments have to adjust to
new environments kind of like
houseplants, I learned. But, I
also found out that it’s a good
idea to give them a little time to
complete this period of adjust
ment. Two or three months are
the norm, I was told.
Duguay generally charges $90
to $150 for a simple tune-up,
depending on the amount of time
it takes him to bring the instru
ment up to snuff. A total restora
tion job could easily run into the
thousands.
Needless to say, I’m glad ours
wasn’t that far gone. And I’m
also glad our church pianist
recommended Leif Duguay. As
a piano technician, he’s a true
craftsman in every sense of the
word and, thankfully, one who
still makes house calls.
Fil Jessee lives in Braselton,
where he works as a freelance
journalist. He can be reached at
fi Iwri tes@aol.com.
Rotary International Foundation raising funds to eradicate polio
North Georgia Rotary
International District Governor
Nathan Carmack recently
announced a partnership between
the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and the Rotary
International Foundation.
The partnership includes a $100
million challenge grant to assist in
the eradication of polio, a crippling
and sometimes fatal disease that
still paralyzes children in parts of
Africa, Asia and the Middle East
and threatens children everywhere
worldwide.
The Rotary Club of Braselton
is included in this challenge to
Rotary International. The Rotary
Club of Braselton meets at 7:30
a.m. on Thursdays, at the Legends
at the Chateau Elan clubhouse.
According to Rotary
International, The Rotary
Foundation has received a
$ 100-million Gates Foundation
grant, which Rotary will match
with funds raised, dollar-for-dollar,
over three years.
“The Rotary Clubs of North
Georgia, District 6910, have made
an initial contribution in the about
of $10,000 towards the project,”
said Carmack. An additional dona
tion is planned for April 2008.
“Anyone interested in assisting
in contributing to the effort to
eradicate polio may make give
their contribution to any Rotarian
or local Rotary Club,” added
Carmack.
The Evanston-based volunteer
service organization will spend tine
initial $100 million within one
year in direct support of immuni
zation activities carried out by the
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
(GPEI), a partnership spearheaded
by the World Health Organization
(WHO), Rotary International, the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and UNICEF.
The polio eradication grant
is one of the largest challenge
grants ever given by the Gates
Foundation and tine largest grant
received by Rotary in its 102-year
history. Polio eradication has been
Rotary’s top priority since 1985.
Since then, Rotary has contributed
$633 million to the eradication
effort.
Founded in Chicago in 1905,
Rotary is a worldwide organization
of business and professional lead
ers who provide humanitarian ser
vice and help to build goodwill and
peace in the world. Rotary’s glob
al membership is approximately
1.2 million men and women who
belong to more than 32,000 Rotary
clubs in more than 200 countries
and geographical areas.
WJJC Radio
Will bring High School Basketball throughout December and January,
Coverage includes:
Commerce Tigers> East Jackson Eagles, Jefferson Dragons
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