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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016
Winder approves purchases
for new police, fire vehicles
The City of Winder will buy several new
public safety vehicles after approving the
purchases during a recent council meeting.
Winder will purchase four Chevrolet
Tahoes for the patrol division. The Tahoes
will be purchased under state contract at
a cost not to exceed $36,500 per vehicle.
An additional $12,500 was used for police
equipment and decals.
A Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD 2WD
crew cab will also be purchased for the
fire department at a cost not exceed
ing $29,200. An additional $5,800 was
approved for emergency responder equip
ment and decals.
The council also voted to surplus nine
patrol vehicles. Safety equipment and
decals will be removed prior to vehicle
disposal according to city policy.
Also at the meeting. Winder officials
approved three alcoholic beverage licens
es. Those approved included:
•Cash & Carry Food Mart located at 115
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite A.
•Royal Blue Wine & Spirits at 321
North Broad Street.
•El Sabor Latino at 195 West Athens
Street.
TRYING OUT THE MECHATRONICS LAB
Sam Garrett, curriculum assistant and adjunt instructor at Lanier Technical
College Barrow campus, demonstrates the tools in the new Mechatronics
lab.
LTC Barrow’s new program prepares
students for today’s technical jobs
New programs at Lanier Technical Col
lege Barrow campus are prepping students
with a unique skillset needed for technical
careers.
Sam Garrett, curriculum assistant and
adjunct instructor, is working to add three
new programs at the campus: Mechatronics,
Building Automation Systems and Wireless
Engineering Technology.
Garrett recently demonstrated the hands-
on machinery in the labs, which students will
begin using as early as January. Unlike many
previous manufacturing jobs, which were
based on physical labor, new jobs are highly
technical and require a specialized skillset.
Garrett hopes the new programs will pre
pare students to work in local industries and
possibly attract new industries to the area.
“As we researched what new programs
would be offered at the new Barrow campus,
we looked for high wage and high demand
career paths," he said. “We identified pro
grams of study that were needed by local
industries as well as programs that would
make Barrow County highly attractive to
new companies looking for skilled workers.’’
Garrett noted the skillset needed for manu
facturing has change over the years.
“Today for young kids, their image of
manufacturing is a monotonous assembly
line,” he said. “...But manufacturing is now
highly technical.”
Barrow County Board of Commissioners
chair Pat Graham noted the county has a rich
history in manufacturing. But Graham said
the new programs at LTC will help students
gain the technical skillset needed for today’s
manufacturing jobs.
“Barrow’s textile manufacturing compa
nies of the past were very labor intensive,
a stark contrast to today's manufacturing
companies which are fully automated," she
said. “The technology used in today’s auto
mated manufacturing process requires a very
special skillset. The Mechatronics program
offered at the Barrow campus of LTC will
prepare our workforce to fill highly skilled
positions in automated manufacturing facil
ities.”
LTC is the only two-year technical college
in the state that has been approved to teach
Mechatronics. Barrow County Chamber
executive director Tommy Jennings said this
will be an advantage to local students.
“Advanced technical education, such
as the technology of Mechatronics, will
enable Barrow County and the surrounding
area a ground-floor opportunity to offer
cutting-edge manufacturing companies a
trained and skilled workforce, the likes of
which have not been seen before," said
Jennings. “These companies are looking
for highly technical operators, and those
employees and associates who have the
advanced knowledge will be in line for some
of the highest paying jobs around.”
In addition to Mechatronics, the campus’s
new Building Automation System class will
prepare students to work on control equip
ment.
Graduating students could get jobs as
technicians, working on air conditioning and
watering units, lighting systems and other
comfort creating equipment.
Garrett said the demand for these jobs is
“huge.” But he noted these technicians don’t
walk onto a job with a toolbox anymore,
instead they come in with a computer since
everything is automated.
And the campus’s new Wireless Engi
neering Technology program is planned to
prepare students with courses on network
ing, cellular networking, WiFi, computer
networking and more. Graduating students
could work as field service technicians
for a variety of wireless companies. For
more information, on LTC Barrow, visit
laniertech.edu.
ABOUT GARRETT
Garrett has been working at LTC Barrow
since January. Prior to that he was the faculty
chair of engineering technology at DeVry
University and a professor of engineering
technology.
Prior to that, Garrett worked in a variety of
engineering professions beginning in 1989.
He was a control system design engineer for
Turbitrol; an embedded systems design engi
neer for Americom; and a network equip
ment design engineer and R&D technician
at DCA.
OSD continued from 1A
School system ‘Food to Kids’
program to hold fundraiser
Event aimed at making up for loss in funding from food bank
1 / ■- -i
DELIVERY TIME
County Line Elementary School counselor Katy
Johnson gets ready to deliver a car full of bags
to her school. Photo courtesy Shannon Derrick
SUPPLIES
The bags come with fresh bread, fruit and other
kid-friendly food items.
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Reporter
W hen the Barrow
County School
System piloted its “Food
2 Kids” program in 2008,
it started out by serving
eight students at County
Line Elementary and Rus
sell Middle schools.
While she first ques
tioned whether food inse
curity was a major issue
within the system, school
social worker and Food
2 Kids lead organizer
Shannon Derrick quickly
realized there was a sig
nificant void that needed
filling.
The program, which
provides hungry students
in need with a bag of food
every Friday afternoon
to take to their families
for the weekend, has now
grown to 240 students at
the start of the current
school year.
But a sudden cut in
funding from the Food
Bank of Northeast Geor
gia, which supplies the
food, has forced the sys
tem to trim that total to
215 and sent Derrick
and program volunteers
scrambling for ways to
make up the difference.
“It was kind of a shock
to the system to come into
the school year assuming
we would be serving 240,
and now we’ve actual
ly had to take kids who
needed the food off the
program this year,” Der
rick said. “It was a hard
decision to make.”
In an effort to replenish
the lost funding, Derrick
and Ellen Petree, school
and community relations
specialist for the system,
are planning the first of
what they hope will be an
annual fundraiser dedicat
ed to helping the program.
The inaugural “Fill the
Bowl” fundraiser will be
held 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Nov. 8, a teacher work
day for the system, in the
cafeterias of Winder-Bar
row and Apalachee high
schools.
For $5, those who pur
chase tickets will receive
a lunch consisting of veg
etable soup, cornbread or
crackers, dessert and tea
or water.
Visitors will have an
option to dine in or carry
out and will be able to win
prizes through drawings.
Tickets must be pur
chased in advance
through Oct. 21 and can
be found at the following
locations: Winder Police
Department, Winder Fire
Department, Hill’s Ace
Hardware, Bethlehem
United Methodist Church,
Barrow County Historic
Courthouse and Bank of
the Ozarks (Statham and
Auburn branches).
System staffers will be
able to purchase tickets at
schools.
Petree and Derrick said
last week they are hopeful
that at least a few hun
dred people will purchase
tickets.
“My primary goal here
is community awareness,”
Petree said. “Up until this
year, we’ve been able to
serve the students in need,
but it's gut-wrenching to
know that we aren’t able
to right now.
“If kids are hungry and
don’t have nutrition, they
aren’t able to learn. So we
need help from individu
als and businesses and all
our community partners.”
Petree said it costs $275
to feed one child for an
entire school year through
the program and that, at
that rate, the system needs
to raise just over $59,000
throughout the year to be
able to feed the 215 stu
dents.
Employees within
the school system have
contributed more than
$18,000 over the past
year through optional
payroll deduction, but the
cut in funding from the
food bank along with an
increase in food prices
pose significant challeng
es, Derrick said.
According to school
system statistics, 58.4
percent of the more than
13,000 students in Barrow
County are considered
“economically disadvan
taged.”
And, several pockets of
rural Barrow are classified
as “food deserts” because
they don’t have the same
level of access to food
pantries through public
transportation as more-ur
ban communities such as
Athens-Clarke County do.
So while Food2Kids
has provided vouchers to
families to purchase food
from the pantry operated
by Barrow County Coop
erative Benevolence Min
istries, that's not necessar
ily a viable option for all
of the families that have
been cut from the pro
gram, Derrick said.
“This program means
so much more than I
think a lot of people can
even fathom,” she said.
“There are so many fam
ilies living on that edge
that anything can send
them spiraling. I would
love for more people to be
aware that food insecurity
is a real issue here and
throughout the country.
“There is no reason we
should have any hungry
children in Barrow or in
the U.S. I definitely think
we can conquer this issue
if we work together.”
If approved by voters
in the Nov. 8 election, the
amendment would allow the
state to take over “failing”
schools.
Rep. England said these
are schools that have “given
up.”
“In Georgia, we have
communities and counties
that have done something
I never see happening in
Barrow County, they have
given up on their schools
and school systems,” said
Rep. England. “For what
ever reason, socioeconomic,
generational or other rea
sons, these communities at
some point decided that a
good solid education was
no longer a priority for their
area. That is not fair to the
students."
Rep. England said the
amendment would allow the
state to take over a failing
school if it has “failed” for
three consecutive years and
hasn't implemented chang
es. Barrow County does not
have any schools on the list,
and Rep. England said he
doesn’t think it will in the
future,
“We love our schools in
Barrow County,” said Rep.
England. “Yes, there is
always a possibility that one
of our schools could have a
failing year for many rea
sons at anytime just as any
other system. However, as
I said, we love our schools,
our students, our teachers
and our administrators here
and know them by name.
We go to church with them,
we are in civic organizations
with them, we see them in
the grocery store and many
of us are kin to them. Should
one of the schools fail here, I
am confident our communi
ty will do what needs to be
done to make sure it is not
there a second or third year.
This amendment is for those
children in communities
where this is not the case.”
Still, the amendment has
several local school boards
concerned. The Barrow
County Board of Education
passed a resolution opposing
the proposed amendment
last week.
Those opposed are con
cerned that the amendment
takes away local control;
the state could change what
it considers “failing;” the
wording on the ballot item
is misleading; and that the
amendment would allow the
state to “privatize" educa
tion.
Others are concerned that
the state is not addressing
what causes schools and stu
dents to fail.
IS AMERICA BETTER OFF TODAY?
2008 - 2009
U. S. DEBT $10 TRILLION
FULLTIME WORKERS 118 MILLION
WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION 65.9%
RATE
MEDIAN INCOME $53,644
POWERTY RATE 13.2%
PEOPLE ON FOOD STAMPS 31.9 MILLION
2016
$20 TRILLION
117 MILLION
62.5%
$51,017
15.0%
47.6 MILLION
CUT TAXES & REGULATIONS TO CREATE JOBS
MORE FREEDOM FOR OLDER & YOUNGER WORKERS
FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR OUR CITIZENS
VOTE REPUBLICAN - NOVEMBER 8
Paid for by the Barrow County Republican Party, Ken Young, Chairman, Clay Kelley, Treasurer • www.barrowgop.org