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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL PAGE 7B Sports Opinion High School Football: Apalachee High School Art Demmas College football has spawned some notable players who loved com petition, but also appreciated the game for its inherent values, its heritage and the fact that win ning with honor was the way football should be played. Nobody was more of a dot ing advocate of college football played the old fashioned way — pros pering from that envious tradeoff of playing a game and becoming the bene ficiary of a free educa tion — than Art Demmas, Vanderbilt letterman (‘51- ’56), who spent his sun down years as the South ern Regional Coordinator for the National Football Foundation. Along the way he became a highly regarded umpire in the National Football League, officiating four Super Bowl games. The officers and board of directors of the Univer sity of Georgia chapter of the NFF, considered Dem mas a valuable friend and enjoyed hearing his stories about NFL officiating with humorous vignettes about well known players and coaches. A loyal friend of the Uni versity of Georgia chapter, the nation’s No. 1 chap ter for many years, Dem mas gloried in coming to Athens for the chapter’s annual shrimp cookout and golf outing at the Athens Country Club. He became a welcomed fixture in Ath ens. The Foundation has never had a greater good will ambassador than Demmas who learned foot ball under Art Guepe, let tering for the Commodores 1953-55. His successful post graduate life in the brokerage business was accented by his work as a college and NFL official and volunteering for col lege football activities, his alma mater and his com munity. A native of St. Louis, Demmas. who died recent ly, was proud of his Greek heritage. If he invited you to his home for dinner, you became the beneficiary of his wife Nancy’s expertise in the kitchen. Dinner was a feast with a fine Greek flavor. Nancy, who had Georgia roots, delighted in entertaining Art’s friends from his multiplicity of affiliations. There were a lot of friends always pass ing through Nashville, but Nancy never tired of host ing and entertaining. While Nashville has always been a laid back city, it also is electric with an accent on tradition. Music City is historical and alluring. Now major league, Nashville has a small town feel. Art was well known and high ly regarded in Nashville because of his accomplish ments and his integrity. It was always fun to see him at work as an NFL official on Sunday after noon. At kickoff, he became engrossed in his on-the- field assignment. He enjoyed being part of the action, but never want ed to be the show. All he wanted was for the show to go on without any dis tractions or faux pas. That is why he became one of the league’s most decorated officials. Art enjoyed a good story and was an entertaining raconteur himself. Before dinner he would often take out an old video tape and plug it into the VCR machine. There was a but poignant mes- contained in the Someone had taped coming into highlighting funny, sage video. the officials the stadium, the engaging and pleasant pre-game banter between the coaches and the men in stripes. Coaches would kibitz with the officials, everybody smiling and laughing. A coach would ask an official about a family member in an old home-week environment. When the game started, it became a different scene. There were epithets and intense yelling and scream ing. Suddenly the coaches were insulting, threatening barracudas. The heat of battle transformed them from nice guys on the lawn to near life-threatening advocates on the field. Or so it seemed as the video graphically exposed. One of Art’s premier episodes had to do with Bill Parcells, who became a friend of Art’s when Par- cells coached at Vandy. In a close NFL game, late in the fourth quarter, the Giants, one of the three teams with whom Parcells was a head coach, needed a critical first down in order to run out the clock. With a nice gain by a running back, it appeared that the Giants might have made the first down. The official spotting the ball did not have the best angle for marking forward prog ress. Art, however, was in perfect position, so he goes over and moves the ball back a yard which brought the first down opportunity in question. Parcells and his assis tants began to howl! The most vocal was Parcells himself, appealing to the official who first marked the ball. “He can’t do that!” was among the nice things Parcells screamed. The argument and the yell ing became rigidly intense until Demmas walked over to Parcells and said, “Okay, coach that’s enough.” Par- cells, who knew that an unsportsmanlike penal ty could be next, calmed down and said to his assis tants. “Would you believe that s.o.b. was my tennis part ner, who I coached at Van derbilt?” Football has lost a won derful gentleman and friend with the passing of Art Demmas. Loran Smith is a col umnist for the Barrow News-Journal. He is host of the University of Geor gia football tailgate show. Considering In M r) ) l buying or \jgrTvg0^ selling? 770-867-9026 www.maynardrealty.com PUBLIC NOTICE The Town of Carl regular town meeting, September 15, 2016 @ 7:00 p.m. Elusive victory slips away from Wildcats Union Grove rallies to force tie with AHS last week By Chris Bridges Sports Editor It wasn’t a loss for the Apalachee High School football team this past Friday, but players, coaches and fans couldn’t help but ask “What if?” following a 22-22 tie against Union Grove on the road. The Wildcats moved in front 22-2 at one point but had to have a blocked extra point by Jason Craig in the final minute to prevent a pos sible loss. “We didn't feel great coming off the field,” AHS coach Steve Sims said. “We missed two field goals that could have put the game away. We just couldn’t make a play in the second half. They converted some long third downs. Those final two touchdowns hurt us. We gave up an easy one early in the third quarter.” The blocked extra point did pre vent Union Grove from coming all the way back and AHS actually moved into position to possibly win the game. However, the Wildcats were at a disadvantage with an injury to their kicker and had to throw the football into the endzone to try and win the game. Union Grove inter cepted an AHS pass on the final play of the game. “We are proud of how we came back and had a chance to win at the end,” Sims said. “We have tried to focus on that. It’s about baby steps. The first game we were careless with the football. This time we jumped out and got a lead. Our one turnover during the game didn’t hurt. We didn’t have another one until the final play.” While officially the Wildcats’ los ing streak, dating back to 2014, is over, Sims wants his team to be able to take that final step toward a victory. “We have to be able to finish a game,” the coach said. “These kids don't have a lot of experience clos ing out games. It’s still a process although I know people get tired of hearing that. At the end of the day, we played better. A big part of what we are facing is learning how to win. We had several chances last Friday to make plays to stop their final score.” See Wildcats on Page 8B E ^ sS=l I EMOTIONAL LEADER Apalachee High School senior Jason Craig has played well in his team’s first two games this seasons. Photos by Jessica Brown ON THE LINE Austin Jones lines up at wide receiver for the Wildcats. AHS will travel to Discovery High School this week. Barrow County Board of Commissioners PUBLIC NOTICE The Barrow County Board of Commissioners does hereby announce that the millage rate will be set at a meeting to be held at the Barrow County Historic Courthouse Building, 30 N. Broad Street, Winder, GA on September 27, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. section 48-5-32, does hereby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the tax digest and levy for the past five years. TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY Incorporated Other 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Real & Personal 295,793,114 266,519,955 275,377,203 285,640,047 352,297,830 385,821,659 Motor Vehicles 20,359,960 20,260,860 21,722,040 17,445,510 13,429,870 9,758,270 Mobile Homes 993,103 1,033,624 950,535 897,852 891,767 879,400 Timber-100% 0 0 0 0 - 0 Hvy Duty Equip 0 0 0 0 - 0 Gross Digest 317,146,177 287,814,439 298,049,778 303,983,409 366,619,467 396,459,329 Less M&O Exemptions 43,776,062 47,452,861 48,253,086 46,255,554 52,751,981 77,136,550 Net M&O Digest 273,370,115 240,361,578 249,796,692 257,727,855 313,867,486 319,322,779 Gross M&O Millage 13.980 17.129 17.009 16.462 14.935 15.000 Less Rollbacks 3.050 3.620 3.750 3.710 3.410 3.461 Net M&O Millage 10.930 13.509 13.259 12.752 11.525 11.539 Net Taxes Levied 2,987,935 3,247,045 3,312,054 3,286,546 3,617,323 3,684,666 Incorporated Winder Real & Personal 294,950,929 259,108,995 257,795,869 277,299,072 326,984,136 331,506,408 Motor Vehicles 29,480,390 29,649,260 31,145,270 25,044,920 18,714,490 13,425,250 Mobile Homes 386,226 396,286 342,786 245,947 258,632 190,084 Timber 100% 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hvy Duty Equip 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gross Digest 324,817,545 289,154,541 289,283,925 302,589,939 345,957,258 345,121,742 Less M&O Exemptions 39,461,871 37,340,882 37,383,501 37,414,413 40,826,349 37,803,867 Net M&O Digest 285,355,674 251,813,659 251,900,424 265,175,526 305,130,909 307,317,875 Gross M&O Millage 13.980 17.129 17.009 16.462 14.935 15.000 Less Rollbacks 5.272 6.172 4 696 4.790 3.410 3.461 Net M&O Millage 8.708 10.957 12.313 11.672 11.525 11.539 Net Taxes Levied 2,484,877 2,759,122 3,101,650 3,095,129 3,516,634 3,546,141 UNINCORPORATED Real & Personal 1,187,578,984 1,024,295,084 1,013,417,920 1,055,046,463 1,247,120,052 1,279,368,268 Motor Vehicles 110,178,750 110,683,970 119,858,390 97,128,590 76,390,330 60,119,060 Mobile Homes 6,206,168 6,480,715 5,651,330 5,281,532 5,290,977 5,228,895 Timber-100% 25,506 752 1,568 66,514 37,653 37,653 Hvy Duty Equipment 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gross Digest 1,303,989,408 1,141,460,521 1,138,929,208 1,157,523,099 1,328,839,012 1,344,753,876 Less M&O Exemptions 291,906,554 253,853,629 246,410,416 240,587,022 283,082,427 278,574,171 Net M&O Digest 1,012,082,854 887,606,892 892,518,792 916,936,077 1,045,756,585 1,066,179,705 Gross M&O Millage 13980 17.129 17.009 16.462 14935 15.000 Less Rollbacks 3.050 3.620 3.750 3.710 5.470 5.628 Net M&O Millage 10.930 13.509 13.259 12.752 9.465 9.372 Net Taxes Levied 11,062,066 11,990,682 11,833,907 11,692,769 9,898,086 9,992,236 TOTAL COUNTY Total County Value 1,570,808,643 1,379,782,129 1,394,215,908 1,439,839,458 1,664,754,980 1,692,820,359 Total County Taxes Levii 16,534,878 17,996,849 18,247,611 18,074,444 17,032,043 17,223,043 Net Taxes $ Increase 10,806 1,461,971 250,762 -173,167 -1,042,401 191,000 Net Taxes % Increase 0.06% 8.84% 1.39% -0.95% -5.77% 1.12%