Newspaper Page Text
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GEORGIA NEWSPAPER PROJECT
UNIV OF G*
ATHENS GA 30602-0001
Fort Valley Mayor zonu muiuu iicua
announced his intent to run for re
election in 2013.
In an interview in his City Hall
office, the Mayor said his early
announcement was in part sparked by
City Counci I worn an Barbara Williams
indication that she plans to run against
him next year.
•Tf S' I
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'm Peach County v s Newspaper February 18, £018
Vol. 126 Issue No. 7 500
Legal Organ For Peach County, City of Fort Valley and City Of Byron
• Monday. Byron Meetings: City 6 Connell: 2nd Floor. Every Byron 2nd I Dinkins Seeking
p.m.,
6 • Mayor’s Municipal Ft. p.m. Valley Tuesday Office, Complex. City before Council: City regular Hall; Work meeting. Regular Session District 139 Seat
Public Meeting Room, City Hall.
•County Commissioners: Every 2nd
Tuesday, 6 p.m,. Public Meeting Room.
County Courthouse Annex, Ft. Valley.
•Board of Education Study Session,
Tuesday before Regular Meeting, 5 p.m..
Board Meeting Room, Regular Meeting
every 1st Tuesday. Board Meeting Room.
523 Vineville St.. Ft. Valley.
•Hospital Authority: Friday after 4th
Monday. 9 a m., Conference Room,
Peach Regional Medical Center.
•Development Authority: Every 3rd
Thursday. 8 a.m.. Conference Room.
Troutman House. Fi. Valley.
•Ft. Valley Utility Commission: Every
2nd Monday, 6 p.m.. Public Meeting
Room. Ft. Valley City Hall.
•Water A Sewerage Authority: 3rd
Monday of month. 6:15 p.m., Public
Meeting Room, County Courlhouse
Annex, Ft. Valley
•Tax Assessors: First Thursday of
month, 4 p.m., Public Meeting Room.
County Courthouse Annex. Ft. Valley.
•Byron Planning A Zoning. Every 4th
Thursday of month. 6 p.m.
• Fort Valley DDA Board: First Tuesday,
6 p.m.. Troutman House Conference
Room
•Fort Valley Historical Preservation
Commission: Second Thursday at 6
p.m., Troutman House Conference Room
• Board of Elections & Registration:
Every 2nd Tuesday, 4 p.m.. Court House
Annex Public Meeting Room
What’s
INSIDE
PMoh In & Out 1
Police Beet...... 3
Opinion 4
Country LMn| 8
Peith Mitten. 6
Sporti e•••»•• 7
School ,8
9-11
Classifieds.... IB
Black History •eaaaea•••••••••••• II
Tax Tima, 14
Local
Weather
Forecast
Wxksdoy, N>. 15
Hi: 69*
Lo: 56*
Thunder Showers Thursdoy, M>. 16
Hi: 73 s
Lo: 45*
Portly Cloudy Friday^.17
He 69*
Lo: 44*
Thundr Shown Saturday, Fab. 18
Hi: 64*
Lo: 46*
ThundorShowm Sunday, Fab. 19
Hi: 61*
Lo: 34* =7r* #
f ■ Pt I Off Yem
6ut Counci I woman
fill be published in
he had met with
Williams.
"She’s done a good job on City
Council," Stumbo said, I’ve never
said anything negative in a campaign
and l*m not going to.”
He said his campaign theme will be
“Proven Leadership and Outstanding
Results."
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
Peach County Commissioner
Michael Dinkins announced his
candidacy for District 139 of the
Georgia House of Representatives
at a Monday campaign kick-off.
The new House District 139
comprises all of Dooly, Macon
and Taylor counties and about
half of Peach County, including
Fort Valley. It was drawn in
the redistricting process follow¬
ing the 2010 Census and includes
portions of the current District
135, represented by Democrat
Lynmore James.
Fellow Commissioner Melvin
E. Walker Jr. introduced Dinkins
as a hometown product.
“This is Michael who grew up
in this community with our chil¬
dren," Walker said.
Walker commented on the
timing and location of the
anm during Black
History Month, at Central Union
Missionary Baptist Church,
which he said highlighted the
vital role of the black church in
Miss Peach County High Crowned
f
I
V
0
BMS Student Wins
District Spelling Bee
*
"i ■ %
/
V. :
Tristan Sledge from Byron
Middle School, winner of the
2012 Peach County School
District Spelling Bee, with
Superintendent Joe Ann Den¬
ning in the background. She
is wearing a throw knitted for
the Bee winner by Kay Road
Elementary teacher Cindy
Harmon. Photo by Victor
Kulkosky
"If my record doesn't speak for itself,
there's nothing I can say to get people's
votes," Stumbo said.
His record includes working with
various agencies and the community
to secure funding for the Woolfolk site,
a federal Superfund project. About
$32 million went into cleaning up the
Woolfolk site and plans are underway
to redevelop the site, he said.
The Woolfolk project and various
others were not Stumbo's work alone.
D
i
Estate house oi
the community.
He said it is easy for a community to talk
about what it doesn't have and forget the good
things. Peach County has has “good people,
good churches and good schools," from which
Dinkins and other leaders graduated. Walker
said.
Last Saturday night, February 4, the
Peach County High Auditorium took
on the persona of the 50’s Rock ‘N
Roll era as the GREASE theme came
to life for the 2012 Miss Peach County
High Scholarship Contest. Four beau¬
tiful ladies competed for the coveted
title.
Miss Alexis Gabrielle McGhee took
home the crown and rights to be
called Miss Peach County High for
2012. First runner-up went to Miss
Amelia Jocelyn Browning. They each
were awarded flowers, trophies, and
$800 & $400 scholarships respective¬
ly. Other members of the court. Miss
Sherry Davis and Miss Kierstin Stum,
received $100 scholarships each.
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
“Ulterior" provided a moment of
drama at last week's Peach County
School District Spelling Bee, but there
was no apparent motive.
Zakyah Freeman and Tristen Sledge
were the last two contestants standing
when caller Ken Banter gave Zakyah
the word "ulterior" to spell. Neither
Zakyah nor Tristen spelled it cor¬
rectly, both beginning the word with
'a' instead of 'u.' Several audience
members commented that Banter's
pronunciation sounded that way.
This lead to questions from parents
and official school representatives.
It fell to Paula Phelps, a Fort Valley
Middle School Teacher and Spelling
Bee Coordinator, to explain the
rules. The authority for spelling,
definitions and pronunciation for the
National Spelling Bee is Webster's
Third International Dictionary. The
diacritical marks (symbols that guide
pronunciation) in the Webster's are
the authority, rather than the caller’s
pronunciation, which can vary with
regions and accents.
So. despite what the contestants
might have beard, the word in
Continued to page 10
1 l>(>tu h Publishing ( u. Sewspaper
he said.
“No mayor ever does anything by
himself," Siumbo said. “My pronoun
is always 'we* and never T," he said.
His record in 14 years includes
$27,568,000 in grants for various proj¬
ects, Stumbo said. Those include a
$1.5 million housing grant and four
federal Community Development
Block Grants of $500,000 each and
the $1.5 million State University Drive
Streetscape project, scheduled to begin
Mackey Unveils
High School
Comeback Plan
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
„ Bruce .. Mackey , . began . his . presentation
with ... some frank , . admissions. . . .
“We’re still struggling," the Principal
, „ . _ . , „ , . . , .
^ ^ B ^, rd of p^canoi,
al | ast Tuesday's ./ regular ? meeting, where
, he unveiled ... the , ir Diamond . „ Design . „ t for
c
restoring . . | luster ..... to the school. , ,
pcH js jp |hc fmmh ycar of Nceds
improvement ^ status based on failing *
ake AY p The school is operatin
with .. a federal , . . c School . , , Improvement
Grant „ to support _ reforms, r
^ D| J£ 1]d ^ was halched
w ilh input Y from inside and outside Ihe
school . , system . and . got approval , from ,
lla j e officials overseeing the S1G.
Mackey ' used a PowerPoint slide
show , as part of his presentation.
The fact is, our current structure
designed , ...... without input .. from PLUS
was
stakeholders, . . . ,h internal . . . and . external, . , „
Ma ,? y a ' followinc * g the T slide show
With the t , exception of an improv- £
ing graduation ... rate, . .. the .. high . schools
'° e
, academy , structure . . , hasn t
^ ^ achievement and
^ needs (>f
Mackey said.
“Due to a lack of one-to-one instruc¬
tion at the Learning Support Academy,
student achievement is dismal,” Mackey
said.
Other problems include lack of
choice for freshmen, dual-enrollment
classes with Middle Georgia Tech being
academy specific, and the deterioration
of CTAE courses, which are oriented
towards job-training. Some of PCHS's
Continued to page 9
Denning Won't
Take Failure
for an Option
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
_
Part 2 of a two-part series
Data, data everywhere...
Superintendent of Schools Joe Ann
Denning always harks back to data
driving decisions in the Peach County
School District. Today, the data say
one basic thing:
“Everyone is focused on the fact that
we’re here to improve achievement,"
Denning said in a recent interview in
her office.
Regardless of what tests are required
higher up Ihe education food chain, the
Peach Schools have been busy gather¬
ing data from their own tests through
a practice called benchmarking. A
benchmark is simply a starting point;
the student and teachers can measure
progress based on quick tests admin¬
istered starting early in the school year
and redone every nine weeks.
“We’re not waiting on the CRCT,”
Denning said.
The district's Title I schools have
been especially focused on improv¬
ing math scores. How are the schools
doing that? By any means necessary
-and effective.
“We're using every initiative in the
world,” Denning said, always with
data.
“We want to know exactly what your
needs are,” she said.
Title I funds have been paying
for Monday tutoring, with about 88
children getting the service at Hunt
Continued to page 9
He is a dedicated, hard-work
and ... he seeks „
„r.r... ing person answers,
Sa *
Walker noted , i that , Dinkins rv v h had a
received some entrusm for spend
mg r mne i on rave , u com
missioners had designated him as
their . . economic . development . . r . spe- r
cahst. ....... which requires some _ travel. ,
he will .>° start i ; a telling ’j’ 1,11 you on about 8 enou eco- 8 •
nomic development. * Walker said.
... In his own remarks, . r. Dinkins i •
, began w„h ... n , Ivnet . ,,,. . „ He
^oni 1971 ' and "i" graduated T : n H from ' p’ Peach 'h
CouMy „ . Hwh ... T School |n 1W0. .. He
en jome e ■ ■ a, J
served in Operations Desert Shield
, . c
Alter .... . ., the Army, .
six / years in
Dinkins . returned . . home and .
graduated ir from c Fort _ \i Valley n State c. .
University in 2000. He worked for
former , o Sen. Max f-i Cleland, i j whom c _
Dinkins . . called ..... of , greatest . .
one our .fir
...... leaders, and then went . onToworT .
w,.h a community outreach organ,
Continued to page 10
The new Miss PCHS is the daugh¬
ter of Tammy and Reginald McGhee
of Fort Valley. She is a junior in the
Human Services Academy, a member
of the school's Yearbook staff where
she specializes in photography which
she presented as her talent. She is also
a member of HOSA at PCHS. Alexis’s
platform focused on the Homeless and
particularly on providing shelter for
those less fortunate.
In addition to crowning a queen, the
pageant presented a number of other
awards. People’s Choice award went
to Kierstin Stum, Miss Congeniality,
Continued to page 2
Childhood
Campaign Obesity
Tina Fletcher asked the children at
The Learning Tree if anyone could tell
her what a grant is.
The concept proved a little too
advanced for the 2-6-year-old kids,
so Fletcher, chapter president of The
Links Inc., explained that her organiza¬
tion had been given some money for a
project to combat childhood obesity.
In just a few decades. Fletcher told
her audience of children and parents,
the obesity rate among children 6 to 12
years old has jumped from 7% to 19%.
Obesity increases the risks of car¬
diovascular problems, which one child
correctly identified as problems with
the heart.
Obesity also increases the risk of
diabetes, Fletcher said and asked if
anyone knew what (hat was.
‘Too much sugar,” came the answer.
As part of an ongoing campaign
to fight childhood obesity, the Fort
Valley Links are participating in a
genuine scientific study, conducted
by the Morehouse College School of
Medicine. Two Links members had to
undergo extensive training to correctly
gather and handle data, and the study
requires the same number of partici¬
pants at the beginning and end of six
Continued to page 10
in 30-45 days.
The Streetscape contributes to a
total of about $14 million in road proj¬
ects scheduled to begin soon. About
$12 million - mostly in state funds
- will go to the Camellia Boulevard
project, which involves tearing up the
street and replacing old and undersized
stormwater pipes.
Of the Streetscape project. Stumbo
Continued to page 13