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Vol. No. 119 tissue 27
Whats Inside:
World History
Crossword —........ -2A
Police Beat----------- 3A
Flea Market Robbed
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■4
A
Opinion------------ 4A
Victor Kulkosky
Financial Focus 4A
Rob Pelissier
Magnolia Moments ..5A
Faith Matters ••••••••••a 6A
Billy Powell
Angie Carr
Sports.....—.. IB
Big Guys-Randy
McMichael Foundation
II
, &
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JL
Food—....—.—..... 2B
Magic from the Kitchen
Fresh From the Orchard
w. 1
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■
Legals....... 3B
Classifieds — 6B
Local....— _____8B
Car Show— Peach Cnty Ford
301
ADC FOR PROJECT
ALL * * * ★ * **** NEWSPAPER GA 30602 GA
GEORGIA OF
+ *■*■*★* UNIV ATHENS
Blue Bird
Coachworks Coach
and RV product
Serving reach Count\ For Over 100 Wars
FORMER
President Carter
brings sermon to Blue Bird
God is & our our refuge strength
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Blue Bird Corporation today
announced a definitive agreement
to sell its Coachworks Coach and
Wandertodge RV product lines and
manufacturing facility to Complete
Coach Works of Riverside,
California. The transaction is part
of Blue Bird’s long-term strategy
refocusing the company exclusively
on the school bus market.
“The sale of Blue Bird Coachwotks
JULY 18, 2007
By Brian Shreve
News Editor
On Jan. 20, 1977, Jimmy Carter stepped
into the White House to become 39th presi
dent of the United States. Last Wednesday,
July 11—equipped with the same smile and
distinguished Southern charm—the former
free-world leader strolled into the cafeteria
of the Blue Bird bus factory for a lunchtime
sermon his fellow Georgians would not
soon forget.
Though still the outspoken pundit. Carter
was not in town to talk politics, but to
simply preach of faith and loving thy neigh
bor, as part of the company’s bi-weekly
chapel service.
When the clock struck 11:30 sharp, hun
dreds of the company’s employees and
other guests from throughout the commu-
to Complete Coach Works marks the
endofour initial product line rational
ization plan,” said Bob Shaughnessy,
Chief Executive Officer of Blue
Bird. “This transaction represents
an important step toward returning
Blue Bird to its roots as the nation’s
premier school bus manufacturer.”
Shaughnessy also expressed his sat
isfaction that as part of the new
agreement, Complete Coach Works
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nity and beyond were given the opportu
nity to comply with that once-in-a-lifetime
request: to rise for a president of the United
States.
As applause quieted, Carter began by
thanking tKe crowd, as well as compli
menting the Blue Bird workers, saying he
visited the facility often during his service
as chairman of the Sumter County school
board decades ago.
“We never bought any buses unless they
came from right here,” he said to more
applause.
Carter continued by updating the crowd
of his life since—as he joked—being
“involuntary retired” from office in 1981
by Ronald Reagan, a period he referred to
as “a good time.”
He said the Carter Center has now
launched 71 programs around the world,
particularly in Africa, which aim to assist
%mm :
will remain economically commit
ted to the Fort Valley and Central
Georgia communities.
The sale of Blue Bird’s remaining
non-school bus lines represents yet
another key element of the corporate
strategy being implemented by Blue
Bird. Earlier this fiscal year, Blue
Bird’s transit bus products (Ultra
SCC COACHWORKS pg. 4 A
2 Sections, 16 Pages 500
those stricken with poverty and disease,
afflictions he added many residing within
the “rich world” knew little about.
According to the former president, such
efforts were helping to eradicate trachoma,
a major cause of blindness in Africa, had
so-far overseen more than 200,000 surgi
cal operations, provided millions in free
medicine as well as education of mundane
procedures to which much of the “third
world” has yet to adapt.
He added that through the center’s
mission, more than 600,000 latrines, or
outdoor toilets, had been built in Ethiopia
alone. In reference to that accomplishment.
Carter joked that he had grown up using an
outdoor restroom and that this particular
undertaking had landed him a new title.
“Now instead of being known as former
see President pg. 3 A
