Newspaper Page Text
The Braselton News
Page 3A
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Jackson Co.
West Jackson man owns rare tree
A Franklinia tree, a species extinct in the wild
since the 19th century, sits on the front porch of
Bill Lott on Hwy. 53 in West Jackson.
Bill Lott stands next to a rare Franklinia tree on
his front porch.
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
Bill Lott said there some
“unusual things here and
there” around his Hwy. 53
property on the far western
edge of Jackson County.
One of them is on his front
porch.
Lott, who lives on the last
house in the county before
the Hall County line, owns
a Franklinia tree, a species
extinct in the wild since the
19th century.
The species has survived
from seeds originally col
lected by botanist William
Bartram on the Altamaha
River and subsequently ex
tracted from trees over the
past 200 years. Experts be
lieve the tree possibly went
extinct because cotton re
leased a type of fiigus that
gave the tree root rot.
“You can’t plant that
(tree),” Lott said from his
porch in late August. “I have
to keep that one in a pot or
carry it up to the mountains
where they didn’t grow cot
ton.”
The 69-year-old Lott was
gifted the rare Franklinia by
a professor with the Uni
versity of Georgia, where
Lott worked for the forestry
school for 38 years.
That’s not the only gem
around Lott’s house.
A short trip on Lott’s
all-terrain vehicle reveals
another rarity, a Torreya tree,
which sits on the federal en
dangered list. Lott planted
the tree 10 years ago.
“With (the Franklinia) and
the Torreya, I have the two
rarest trees in the whole state
of Georgia right here,” said
Lott, who has lived his entire
life at the Hwy. 53 location.
Lott said the Atlanta Bo
tanical Gardens is interest
ed in visiting the property
to study the species, which
only grows in one county in
Georgia — Decatur County
— and two counties in Flor
ida. The tree is flourishing
on Lott’s property, which is
part of family land situated
between Hwy. 53 and Hwy.
211 as part of the “Goldmine
woods” which once drew
people from as far away
from Arkansas to pan for
gold out of a creek.
As for the Franklinia
growing on his front porch,
Lott said if it grows too tall
for a room, he’ll see about
relocating it to a retired ag
riculture teacher’s property
in Hiawassee, where cot
ton was never grown and
wouldn’t pose a threat to the
tree. Or he could send it to
Clemson University where
work is being done ensure
a place where the disease
wouldn’t affect it.
Lott said it’s important to
him to preserve these spe
cies, making note of a Sweet
Birch also growing behind
the house that came from the
north Georgia mountains.
“I keep stuff going,” Lott
said.
Schools
JCHS ranked among
America’s best high schools
Jackson County High Jackson County ranked ness, state assessment pro-
School was recently ranked inside the top-quartile of ficiency, state assessment
among the U.S. News’ Best high schools across the na- performance, underserved
High Schools rankings. tion. student performance, col-
The top 7,072 high Schools are ranked based lege curriculum breadth,
schools in the nation were on a multitude of factors, and graduation rate,
recognized in the rankings, including college readi-
Appointment continued from lA
en-member council (includ- the November elections as five municipal races (four for
ing the mayor’s seat) after Hoschton is slated to hold council, one for mayor).
Charter continued from lA
in our vision of opening a
tuition-free public charter
school: Four Points Prepa
ratory Academy. Their deci
sion to approve our charter
application put us one step
closer to realizing our vision
of bringing high-quality ed
ucational choice to our com
munity. We cannot wait to
see what the future holds.”
The group won its charter
bid for Four Points Prepa
ratory Academy despite a
recommendation of deni
al from the commission’s
staff.
“We knew we had to go
into (Wednesday’s) August
board meeting of the com
missioners and fight our
way through this,” NSG’s
Pam Estabrooke said.
Estabrooke said the group
had multiple elected offi
cials “really come to bat for
us” in earning the charter,
noting the support of Bra
selton Mayor Kurt Ward,
State Senator Clint Dixon
(Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Education),
State Representative Chuck
Efstration (Senate Majority
Leader) and State Represen
tative Derrick McCollum.
With the charter in hand,
NSG and National Heri
tage Academies (NHA) will
continue to pursue a lease
agreement with the Town
of Braselton to house the
school at the former site
of West Jackson Primary
School on Hwy. 53.
NSG has partnered with
NHA, a national charter
school organization, to ran
the proposed charter school
with NSG overseeing its
operation. The school’s
attendance zones would
be identified as Gwinnett,
Banks, Barrow, Jackson and
Hall counties, and Buford,
Gainesville, Commerce and
Jefferson city schools.
NSG plans to open Four
Points Preparatory Acad
emy in August 2024 with
grades K-5 with plans to ex
pand to K-8 in subsequent
years.
According to Estabrooke,
240 parents have request
ed information about the
charter school and indicat
ed intentions to enroll their
child.
Summit continued from lA
to not have the experience
I had to live through,” Ward
said.
Cherokee Bluff students
also heard from a 24-year-
old woman who suffered
major injuries after her ve
hicle was struck by a train.
The five-hour summit,
held in partnership with
the Georgia Department of
Transportation, included
breakout groups led by trau
ma center doctors and nurs
es, law enforcement officers
and commercial trucking
professionals.
“So, I lost Philip, and this
is what Philip has brought
here today — everybody
here,” Lutzenkirchen said,
“so that we can help you get
what you’re not going to get
in the classroom, and that’s
real-world expertise.”
Three Cherokee Bluff se
niors, who are part of the
school’s Legacy program,
were instrumental in bring
ing the summit to the school
after attending a February
Lutzie 43 driving summit at
Lanier Technical College.
“We saw how personal the
story was,” explained Annie
Gwinn, one of those seniors.
“It brought it back to fami
ly and brought it back to a
community, and that’s what
our program here at Cher
okee Bluff is all about is
community service. So, we
thought that would be a good
thing and that it would bring
attention to the students and
grab their attention.”
Lola Kate Peck, another
member of that senior trio,
said the February program
was eye-opening.
“It was a lot, especially in
the breakout rooms,” Peck
said. “There’s a bunch of
different things that they
bring to your attention that
really get you involved. For
us, it was like, ‘Wow, our
school would really enjoy
this and learn something
from it.’”
Riley Smith said the group
was “ecstatic” to learn the
Lutzie 43 Foundation was
coming to Cherokee Bluff.
“We thought that we
would have him (Mike Lu
tzenkirchen) come speak to
our school as an assembly
or even a smaller group, but
the fact that he proposed
all of this just for us, he’s a
very selfless person, just like
Philip was. And it just really
touched us. They mean a lot
to us, too.”
“It just shows how much
they care about the cause,”
Gwin added.
The three hope the pro
gram will return next year
after they’ve graduated.
“We have had some ju
niors that attended the sum
mit with us in February that
are really interested in may
be carrying this on,” Gwinn
said.
0 1 4. * 10
Photo by Ben Munro
Shown is a section of Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton’s new
surgery center. The facility is set to open in October.
Center continued from lA
Health System President
(NGHS) and CEO Carol
Burrell said, “having the
right care in the right place
so that here you can come
and have a surgery and get
to go home the same day,
which frees up capacity in
our hospitals for those who
have to (stay) overnight.
“We’re really excited
about this continued ad
vancement in care.”
Northeast Georgia Health
System Chairman Spence
Price said plans for the fa
cility predated the pandem
ic.
“Little did we know the
havoc the pandemic would
cause throughout our com
munity, especially for the
healthcare workers, consid
ering how hard this area was
hit,” Price said. “Yet some
how, dining this genera
tion’s greatest global health
crisis, the NGHS team not
only managed to care for
patients in the toughest of
circumstances, but Carol
(Burrell) and her team also
kept their eyes on where we
need to be as a system after
the pandemic.”
The hospital looks to open
the surgery center on Oct. 2
and be at full operation a
few months afterward.
“It’s a little bit of a slow
ramp-up,” hospital presi
dent Anthony Williamson
said. “There’s some accred
itation and licensure pro
cesses that we have to go
through. So, it will probably
be a little later in the year,
first of the new year, before
we’re really full-bore ... But
we will then be opening our
system’s very first surgery
center.”
Dr. David Bailey, the sur
gery center’s medical direc
tor, called the facility “im
maculate” and pointed to its
features, which include four
large operating rooms, two
procedure rooms, onsite
sterilization, onsite pharma
cy and pre-operation and re
covery areas with individual
patient rooms.
“It’s just set up to be a
really nice place to have an
operation,” Bailey said.
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