Newspaper Page Text
24 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, January IS, 2020
County eyes having part-time state court
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
Barrow County is taking steps toward
having a state court that will handle misde
meanor and traffic cases, a move designed
to decrease the caseload burden on other
courts.
During its Tuesday, Jan. 14 meeting, the
county board of commissioners authorized
county manager Mike Renshaw to proceed
with a request for local legislation that
would establish a part-time state court in
the county.
The legislation, which will be introduced
in the Georgia General Assembly in the
coming weeks, would also allow for future
expansion to a full-time court at commis
sioners’ discretion. Renshaw said he would
be working with the executive director for
the Council of State Court Judges, who
would conduct a feasibility study for a state
court in Barrow County.
The study would examine current and
future projected caseloads and determine
what resources would need to be allocated
to a full-time court.
During the board’s annual planning re
treat in March 2019, Renshaw addressed
what he described as challenges the District
Attorney’s Office was facing with process
ing traffic and misdemeanor cases, which
was also leading to increases in the inmate
count at the detention center because in
mates were awaiting trial.
Renshaw said many of the misdemeanor
cases go untried as prosecutors focus on
more serious felony cases.
A part-time state court would draw all of
the Barrow County Superior Court’s mis
demeanor cases and a portion of its civil
case workload and would allow the District
Attorney’s Office to process felony cases
more expeditiously, Renshaw said.
All traffic cases currently heard in Bar-
row County Probate Court would also go
through the state court.
All state court judges would have to meet
statutory requirements, including hav
ing practiced law for a minimum of seven
years, Renshaw said.
Renshaw said counties of similar popu
lation size — he cited Jackson and Bulloch
counties as examples — have had success
with state courts. Jackson County’s state
court has been in place for over 20 years,
he said.
Chairman Pat Graham said Superior
Court Judge Currie Mingledorff had spoken
favorably of having a state court, saying it
would improve the overall efficiency of the
county’s court system.
Graham and commissioner Rolando Al
varez, a former county school board mem
ber, also said the state court would help the
school system with truancy cases by pro
cessing them more quickly.
See BOC, page 2A
Barrow
Briefs
ANNUAL MLK
CELEBRATION SET
The Barrow County Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Day
Committee will host its
annual MLK celebration
Sunday and Monday. Jan.
19-20.
The MLK Gospel Con
cert will be held at 6 p.m.
Jan. 19 at White Oak Spring
Missionary Baptist Church,
123 East New St., Winder.
Church choirs and various
singing groups will per
form. All MLK community
choir members are asked
to contact Cathy Simmons
at 678-963-8243 for choir
rehearsal schedule. Each
church choir will be asked
to perform two selections.
The annual march
through Winder will be held
at 10:45 a.m. Jan. 20. The
march will begin at Quality
Foods on Broad Street and
take about 40 minutes to
complete, ending at White
Oak Spring Baptist Church.
All of those needing trans
portation to the beginning
point of the march are asked
to meet in the parking lot
of the church no later than
10 a.m.
The annual MLK ceremo
ny will be held at 11:50 a.m.
in the church sanctuary and
is scheduled to last about
two hours.
The keynote speaker
will be Tommie Smith, a
1968 Olympic gold medal
ist in track and field and a
promoter of human rights
around the world.
The theme of this year’s
celebration is, “Your life
begins to end, the day you
become silent about things
that matter.”
A KID’S DREAM OF
FERING NEW CLASSES
Winder-based nonprofit
A Kid’s Dream is offering
See Briefs, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
'0 4879 14541
o
Top science projects recognized
LET'S GO
BELOW
Photos by Ron Bridgeman
Dave Holland, with ArtsNow, talks to students who entered the Barrow County Science Fair about
vibrations.
Barrow County School System
presents ‘gold’ to top science projects
By Ron Bridgeman
ron@mainstreetnews.com
Nine in the junior division and two in the senior division
were awarded gold medals in the recent Barrow County
School System science and engineering fair.
Students from Russell Middle School took four of the
gold medals in the junior division, grades 6-8. Students at
Winder-Barrow High School won the two senior division
golds.
The gold medal projects will compete in the Northeast
Georgia Regional Fair Jan. 31 in Wmterville.
The “top projects” went to a Haymon-Morris Middle
School student and the high school award went to a team
of seniors at Winder Barrow. Brianna Ashe, eighth-grad
er at HMMS, won gold for her project, “Which Cup Will
Keep Water Cold or Hot?” The WBHS team of Justin Ri
ght. Aryana Payne and Brittany Vicente-Francisco, took the
top prize for their project, “Measuring Sugar Content with
a Laser Pointer.”
Lee Bane, the district’s director of innovative learning,
said about 50 projects were entered. The district had an in
crease in the number of senior division projects entered.
The three seniors with the top project Kight, Payne and
Vicente-Francisco, were from the school’s AP environmen
tal science class, as were all the Winder-Barrow students.
All said it took about two weeks to prepare the projects —
after coming up with the concept and gathering the mate
rials.
The laser pointer also could be used with passers-by who
stopped to ask questions. Kight demonstrated with a couple
of questioners.
The sixth-grader Ariel Brooks explained her project on
“sensory stress relief’ to Brad Bowling, special education
director for the district. She said she made a video creating
stressful situations, including the sound of fingernails across
a blackboard. Thirteen to 15 people were tested, she said.
Gold winners in the junior division were:
•Russell Middle: seventh, Frances Beckemeyer, “Hali
tosis and Hypotension”; sixth, Natalie Mays, “Fabric With
Scotchguard”; sixth, Josephine Lundy, “My Hamster is
A-MAZE-ing!”; and sixth. Emma Pittman. “Are Our
Tastebuds Colorblind?”
Arts & Innovation Magnet program: seventh, Hannah
Oliver and Kendall Sanders, “Recapture” and sixth. Kayla
Boebel and Alexis Williams, “Who’s is the Nastiest?”
Bear Creek Middle: sixth. Michael Huebner, “Slime
Time.”
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Ariel Brooks, sixth-grader at Haymon-Morris Mid
dle School, explains her science exhibit to Brad
Bowling, special education director for the Bar-
row County School System.
Haymon-Morris Middle: sixth, Ariel Brooks, “Sen
sory Stress Relief’ and eighth, Brianna Ashe, “Which
Cup Will Keep Water Cold or Hot?”
Senior division: WBHS. Kendraya Jones, Ivory
Coates-Powell and Kristain Johnson, “Chemical Anal
ysis of Slime Components” and Justin Kight, Aryana
Payne and Brittany Vicente-Francisco, “Measuring
Sugar Content with a Laser Pointer.”
Science fair exhibitors also heard a presentation from
Dave Holland, with ArtsNow. Holland told the students
that “every molecule” in their bodies vibrate and vi
brations can be targeted for health and for emotional
response.
“You’re mostly water.” he observed.
He talked about frequency and amplitude of vibra
tions, about the “angle of vision” and friction.
Holland often thanked the students for responding
with correct a nswers. “Thank you very much,” he
would say after feeding them obvious clues about his
point.
He had a host of “musical” instruments. Tambou
rines were evident, as were “homemade” concoctions
with spoons and other items. It included various kinds
of metals and rocks.
“In science.” Holland said, “the very first thing we
have to do is learn to observe.” He interspersed his
comments with rhythmic tunes.
He encouraged the students to cultivate “probably
the most valuable skill” they could leam — “doing
nothing” and thinking.
Derrick Maxwell
Maxwell
‘interim’
principal
at WBHS
By Ron Bridgeman
ron@mainstreetnews.com
Winder-Barrow High
School has a new “interim”
principal, one who has some
experience.
Derrick Maxwell, who
was hired in October as the
Barrow County School Sys
tem’s “strategic initiative
coordinator,” has replaced
A1 Darby, who graduated
from Winder-Barrow and
has now moved to the dis
trict’s central office.
Maxwell has the “inter
im” tag on his title. He will
hold the job for the remain
der of the year. He also will
be a candidate for the per
manent job.
Maxwell was the princi
pal at Cedar Shoals High
School in Clarke County
when he was hired by the
Barrow County Board of
Education. He had been at
that school since 2018. He
is in his 18th year in educa
tion.
Cedar Shoals has about
1,600 students and Wind
er-Barrow has about 2,100.
Maxwell said he expects to
lose about 300 students to
the new Barrow Arts and
Sciences Academy.
Maxwell also was the
principal at Commerce Mid
dle School for two years. It
was his second tenure at Ce
dar Shoals. He had been an
assistant principal there.
Darby will be the “chief
administrative officer for
athletics and student activi
ties” on a district-wide lev
el.
He will be in the support
services department, where
Ken Greene is the assistant
superintendent.
See Maxwell, page 3A