About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2017)
Page A2 Lake Oconee News Friday, February 24,2017 ATHENS/OCONEE OCAF presents Youth Art Month exhibition Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF) is proud to present the Oconee County Schools Youth Art Month Exhibition from Feb. 25 through March 23 in its Main gallery located at 34 School Street in Wat- kinsville. This exhibit high lights over 250 young artists from Oconee County’s public and private schools, grades K-12. Youth Art Month (YAM) is an annual ob servance each March to emphasize the value of art and art education for all children and to encourage public support for quality school art programs. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 2 from 4 to 6 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information visit www.OCAF.com. Art work by Laney Chestnut, a kindergartener at Colham Ferry Elementary School, will be exhibited at OCAF's Annual Youth Art Month Exhibit. Contributed Contributed Painting by Georgia Nunn, a seventh-grader at Prince Avenue Christian Academy, will be exhibited at OCAF's Annual Youth Art Month Exhibit. Contributed Art work by Margeaux Konzelman, an 11th grader at North Oconee High School, will be exhibited at OCAF's Annual Youth Art Month Exhibit. LAKE COUNTRY Former Ocmulgee D.A. seeks U.S. Attorney job Fred Bright now ’cancer-free and re-energized' Contributed Fred Bright smiles in his office at home, saying he is ready to get back to work. Lynn Hobbs lynn@lakeoconeenews.us Former District Attorney Fred Bright has thrown his hat in the ring to be one of President Donald Trump’s new appointees. The now-retired D.A. said he has submitted his appli cation to become the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “My entire 34-year career was spent as a prosecutor in Ocmulgee and I loved every second of it; but I was ready for a new challenge,” Bright said in a telephone inter view with The Messenger. “If I get (the appointment), it will be somewhat similar but in a new court system.” Bright was hired as assis tant district attorney in the Ocmulgee Judicial System in 1981, when he was freshly graduated from the Univer sity of Georgia School of Law. After serving 13 years as the assistant D.A., Bright was elected to be district attorney in 1994, and he was re-elected for the next 21 years until he chose to retire. As he talked about being re-elected, Bright said he is proud of his and his wife Cinda’s successful records of winning elections. Cinda has served as Clerk of Superior Court for Wilkin son County since 1981 - also an elected position. But the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia position and all the 93 other federal pros ecutors in the country are appointed by each new president. Georgia has three districts - Northern, Middle and Southern. Noting “the lines are drawn diagonally across the state,” Bright said.The middle district has 70 counties, including the eight in the Ocmulgee Judicial System, which covers Baldwin, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jones, Morgan, Putnam and Wilkinson counties. Although the appoint ment is by the president, Bright said the two U.S. Senators from Georgia, Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, named a six-person committee that will screen out the applicants. The ap plications are due the end of February, but Bright already has emailed his. All appointments are subject to confirmation by the senate and are for four-year terms. At the federal level, prose cutors handle cases such as bank robbery, white collar crime, crimes that go across state lines, wire fraud, mail fraud, tax fraud, welfare fraud, big drug cases, big firearms cases and murders of federal officers, Bright said. As district attorney, Bright prosecuted more than 100 homicide trials as well as other notable cases such as the trial of Nuwaubian leader Dwight York and the sexual assault allegations against the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger. However, he doesn’t name any single trial as a career highlight. “I treated every case as if it’s the most important case in the world,” he said in a previous interview about his retirement. “Whether it’s murder, armed robbery or burglary, every case is serious to that family, and I always tried to keep that in mind.” Bright retired Aug. 31, 2015 even though he wasn’t ready to, he said. At that time, he already had suffered from a slow-pro gressing Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for three years, and he retired to battle the cancer more aggressive ly. He underwent 12 total rounds of chemo treat ments in March, April and May of that year. Then he had a bone marrow trans plant in June. “It was rough,” he de scribed, acknowledging that he isn’t the first person, nor will he be the last, to endure the treatments. “But it worked and it was successful and now I’m cancer-free, and that’s a blessing,” he added. “I give credit to all my supportive praying friends and family, and attitude has a lot to do with it,” Bright said, noting his two sons were always there for him and “Cinda never left my side” through 50 days of hospitalization at Emory hospital. Retired now for a year and a half and free of cancer, Bright said he walks three to four miles every single day and does yoga once a week. He also has completed many projects around the house that he let sit dormant for 34 years, he said. “I feel completely back to normal. I’m re-energized, and quite candidly, I’m a bit bored and miss the work,” Bright said. “I miss helping the victims, miss the court house environment and miss the people. So I’m ready for the challenge of being U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.” It is not yet known when the choice for that appoint ment will be announced. CO' CALM! & go to James Men & Women Cuts & Color Walk-ins Welcome Full Service Salon James Family Hair Care Serving the Lake Area for 25 Years 706-485-5523 ■ 669 Old Phoenix Rd. Eatonton GA AUTO LOANS PINNACLE CREDIT UNION PUTNAM COUNTY BRANCH OF PINNACLE CREDIT UNION 1076 Lake Oconee Pkwy. Eatonton, Ga. 31024 706-485-2039 ■ www.pinnaclecu.org t=i Loan rates are based on credit, term and collateral. APR=annual percentage rate. Credit restrictions apply. Pinnacle Credit Union loans are excluded from the refinance offer. 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