Newspaper Page Text
32 Pages 3 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50« Copy Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Barrow
Briefs
Council on
Aging event
The Georgia Council on Aging
will be hosting an “Engage with
CO-AGE!” event 11 a.m. Tuesday.
April 17. at the Barrow County
Senior Center, 80 Lee St., Winder.
Meeting participants will be able
to find out more about the Coalition
of Advocates for Georgia’s Elderly
(CO-AGE), hear more about what
legislation affecting aging Geor
gians passed and what did not in
the 2017 General Assembly ses
sion and how to influence upcom
ing senior issues.
Family, community mourn Halstead’s death
Tripp Halstead, the toddler who was
seriously injured when a tree limb fell
on him at a Winder daycare in Octo
ber 2012, and whose journey to recov
ery went viral around the country,
died Thursday, March 15. He was 7.
Halstead passed away at 5:47 p.m.
from an infection. His mother. Stacy
Halstead, posted an update late Thurs
day night to a Facebook page dedicat
ed to Tripp and his story.
“There are no words to express
how (her husband) Bill and I are feel
ing at this moment,” she wrote. “We
are beyond devastated and honestly I
believe I am in shock. Our amazing,
perfect, beautiful miracle of a son,
Tripp Hughes Halstead, passed away
at 5:47 p.m. (Thursday). He was our
whole world. We love you Trippadoo
and you will never realize the impact
you made on our lives.”
Halstead, then 2, was outside the
daycare on Oct. 29, 2012 when a tree
limb fell on him. Halstead suffered
a severe brain injury, spent several
weeks in a coma and then spent 10
months recovering at an Atlanta hos
pital. His story and progress since the
freak accident have been documented
on the Facebook page called “Tripp
Halstead Updates,” which has 1.4
million “likes.”
Thursday afternoon, Stacy Halstead
posted an update to the page, saying
Tripp had labored breathing when
she woke him up for school at their
home in Jefferson. She first took him
to an Athens hospital and he was then
transported to Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta.
See Halstead on Page 3A
HALSTEAD
Blood
donation
opportunities
Though spring has official
ly arrived, the American Red
Cross blood supply is still
recovering from severe winter
storms in March. Donors of all
blood types are urged to roll
up a sleeve and help save lives.
Winter weather in parts of
the country forced more than
270 blood drives to cancel,
resulting in over 9,500 uncol
lected blood and platelet dona
tions in the first two weeks of
March, according to a news
release No matter the weather,
the need for blood to help can
cer patients, those undergoing
surgeries, trauma patients and
others remains.
Volunteer blood donors from
across the country are need
ed to help ensure lifesaving
blood products are available
for patients this spring.
Make an appointment to
donate blood by download
ing the free Red Cross Blood
Donor App, visiting RedCross-
Blood.org or calling 1-800-
RED CROSS (1-800-733-
2767).
The following blood dona
tion opportunities are coming
up in Barrow County:
•Monday, March 26, 2-6
p.m. — Brad Akins YMCA, 50
Brad Akins Drive, Winder
•Friday. April 20. 1:30-
6:30 p.m. — Auburn Masonic
Lodge 230, 64 Autry Road,
Auburn.
Index:
Public Safety
7-8A
Opinion
4-6A
Lifestyle columns
2, 12C
Church News
10A
Classifieds
4-5C
Legals
6-11C
Obituaries
11A
Sports
1-6B
Mailing
Label Below
Showing solidarity
WBHS REMEMBERS VICTIMS OF FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING
Winder-Barrow High School principal Al Darby stands on the tennis court with a group of
students who left class on March 14 for a 17-minute memorial to students killed recently
in a school shooting in Florida. Some students carried signs with a variety of messages.
Photo by Ron Bridgeman
WBHS, AHS students remember victims
of Florida school shooting in walkout
By Ron Bridg'eman
News-Journal Reporter
Student walkouts were carefully planned at Wind
er-Barrow and Apalachee high schools last week —
part of the national response to the recent shootings
at Parkland, Fla.
Several hundred students at each school left the
school for the 17-minute memorial. That time marked
the death of each of the 17 students who were killed.
“Regardless of the topic, change can happen in
peaceful ways,” principal Al Darby told students at
Winder-Barrow.
At Winder-Barrow. Skylar Griffith, a senior, and
Gracie Griffith, a freshman, signed up for the nation
al event. The girls are not related.
Skylar posted on the national site: “This is not at
all political. It is to raise awareness to gun control,
to school safety and to commemorate those who
passed. No politics. No shouting, just a simple calm
walkout.”
Darby said he talked to about 25 student leaders in
the weeks before the event. The meetings with stu
dents were not “about beliefs, but about how many
wanted to be out (of class) so I could prepare.”
The students filed out of class, directed by teachers
on their planning periods, to the tennis courts. Darby
said the courts were a confined space outside, where
students would be relatively safe.
The Winder Police Department and Barrow Coun
ty Sheriff’s Office were mostly unseen patrollers
around the school.
“Our student leaders designed their own plan. We
had 450 walk out to our flag pole,” Jennifer Martin,
principal at Apalachee said.
“They led a ceremony. Each minute they men
tioned the name of a victim and spoke about that vic
tim’s life. Once the name on the brief biography were
spoken, a candle was lit and students stood in silence/
prayer. They did this one by one for each victim.”
Students at Winder-Barrow hugged one another
and mingled on the tennis courts. They formed a
rough semi-circle — some students carried signs
about the shootings or about gun control — and
stood in silence.
After 17 minutes. Darby spoke to the students.
He encouraged the students to “seek out” other
students and “love each other.”
“It was a beautiful event that was entirely stu
dent-led,” Martin said of the Apalachee gathering.
‘Those who did not walk out participated in class per
usual and were very supportive of the event.”
ALL HUGS
Students at Winder-Barrow High School share
hugs last week after the memorial for stu
dents killed in Florida recently.
Photo by Ron Bridgeman
■r , ' 'Ac- :<aC—.‘-tt-Q'B- v
GATHERING TO REMEMBER
Students at Winder-Barrow High School gath
ered at the school tennis courts for the
17-minute walkout. Photo courtesy of Winder-
Barrow High School
“Regardless of the topic, change
can happen in peaceful ways
— Al Darby
Winder-Barrow High
School principal
Winder
man
arrested
in child
porn ring
A total of 76 people,
including a Winder man,
were arrested for their part
in a multi-state child por
nography ring, law enforce
ment officials announced
Friday.
John Clark Miller, 57,
812 Ode Peppers Road,
Winder, a glass compa
ny technician, was among
those arrested as part of
Operation Southern Impact
II. a coordinated effort
between nine Internet
Crimes Against Children
task forces focused on peo
ple who possess and dis
tribute child pornography
and those who are sexually
exploiting children in other
ways using technology and
the internet, according to a
Georgia Bureau of Investi
gation news release.
Miller was charged with
five counts of possession
or control of child pornog
raphy.
Planning for the oper
ation began in November
and culminated in two days
of investigative actions,
including search warrant
executions, undercover
operations and arrests in
Georgia, Alabama, Florida.
Maryland, North Carolina.
South Carolina, Virginia
and West Virginia.
Thirteen children were
rescued or identified as vic
tims of the ring, the release
said.
Those arrested ranged
from ages 17-72. Some of
their occupations included
postal worker, nonprofit
employee, small business
owner, store clerk, mechan
ic, daycare administrator,
pastor, construction worker
and magician.
In Georgia, 34 people
were arrested, ranging
from ages 17-63. Some of
their occupations included
construction worker, truck
driver, disc jockey, youth
director and a restaurant
worker.
Six of those arrested in
Georgia traveled for the
purpose of meeting and
having sex with a minor.
There was one arrest
involving sextortion, a
trend involving people who
obtain sexually explicit
photos of minors and then
threaten or blackmail the
See Arrest on Page 3A
