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GEORGIA NEWSPAPSJ PROJECT
UNIV OF GA
ATHENS GA 30602-0001
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Vol. 126 Issue No. 9 500
Legal Organ For Peach County, City of Fort Valley and City Of Byron
Dev.
Authority
looking
at Exciting
Prospects
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
The Panama Canal keeps making
the news in Middle Georgia. The
century-old canal that connects the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans is in the
middle of a widening project that will
allow it to accommodate larger ships.
That project is expected to be finished
in a few years. Along with canal’s
expansion, a multi-million-doliar
deepening the Savannah Harbor will
help that port handle the larger ships
that will go through the Panama Canal;
and that prospect has development
officials throughout Middle Georgia
seeing dollar signs.
Among them is Charles Sims,
Executive Director of the Development
Authority of Peach County. At the
recent meeting of the authority’s board,
Sims expalined the significance of the
Canal and Savannah Harbor projects.
Huge increases in freight traffic from
Savannah would flow across Interstate
16 and up and down 1-75 and Georgia
% and 341. Communities that are pre¬
pared for the increased rail and truck
traffic will be able to prosper from that
development, Sims said.
Continued to page 3
What's
INSIDE
Patch In fir Out £
Police Beat...... S
Opinion........... 4
Country Living. S
Faith Matters.. 6
Sports.............. 7
School............ .8
Looal 9-10
Legal*----------- 11-18
Classifieds.... 14
Black History. 18
Tan Time....... 18
Local Weather
Forecast
Cloudy Wednesday, Feb. 29
Hi; 79'
lo: 63*
TJwndtr Storms Thursday, Mar. 1
Hi: 79*
Lo: 63 *
FawShomn Friday, Mar. 2
Hi: 78*
Lo: 65*
TWiar Stoma Saturday, Mor. 3
Hi: 70*
Lo: 45* - -
Cloudy Sunday, Mar 4
HL 66*
Lo: 43*
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See page 8
Peach
Chamber Honors Local Education Stars
1 s C96
4. i
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*
L-R: Rhianna Baldree, 2012 STAR Student for Peach County; Victor Hedgpeth, 2012 STAR
Teacher ; Jason Bowling, Chairman, Peach County Chamber of Commerce Education Com
mittee. Photo by Victor Kulkosky
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
Melvin Walker told the audience at
last week's Focus on Education Banquet
that he is still learning.
The Chairman of the Peach County
Board of Commissioners, a veteran
teacher of agricultural economics,
was the guest speaker at the annual
event sponsored by the Peach County
Chamber of Commerce to honor each
year's STAR Student and Teacher and
the Teachers of the Year for the Peach
County School District.
But to sound knowledgable. Walker
still had to do some learning.
The STAR program, run by the
Professional Association of Georgia
Educators, was begun 53 years ago and
has so far supported over 25,(MX) stu
dents and teachers. Each Georgia dis
trict has a STAR Student and Teacher,
and above them is a statewide winner.
“Education is a life-long process, and
I learned something today,” Walker said
after telling the STAR story.
Walker said he had considered
various angles for his brief speech.
The STAR Student and Teacher
could be examples of “success against
the odds," he suggested.
“On the positive side, you could say
rewarding excellence,' /*• Walker said.
County Officials Outline 2015 SPIOST
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
Why put a SPLOST renewal on the
ballot now when it won’t expire until
2015?
Dr. Melvin F.. Walker Jr. had a
straightforward answer to that ques¬
tion in a presentation to the Fort Valley
Kiwanis Club last week.
The Chairman of the Peach County
Board of Commissioners said there have
been many publicly voiced complaints
about the Transportation SPLOST
scheduled for a July 2012 vole For the
T-SPLOST, the state has been divided
in 12 regions, and a county would have
to participate if its region votes in favor
even if the county rejects it.
“We re up front about wanting to get
ahead of it.” Walker said.
The Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax. or SPLOST, has “become a
{»rt of what talker said, and
the county wouRrbe hard-pressed to
carry out many needed projects without
Continued to page 3
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See page 9
"or - things have changed but they
haven't."
For older people, himself included,
Walker said, “If you want to start
trouble, mess with education."
Parents want their kids to be
equipped for the future, while employ
ers want employees who are qualified
for the jobs they have to offer,
As an economics teacher. Walker is
well aware of the connection between
better education, higher income
and better quality of life, he said,
Businesspeople will tell you that
about 70% of the cost of doing busi
ness is labor, so they want the most for
their money.
“Lots of people have an interest in
the schools,” Walker said.
From the angle of “things have
changed but they haven’t,” Walker
recalled his own early education in
Southern Mississippi. He grew up in a
log cabin on his grandfather’s farm. It
was. he said, a community that had to
get the most out of limited resources.
“My parents believed in educa
tion,” Walker said. His mother taught
school. She had only an lith grade
education, but nobody else in the area
had gone any higher,
Walker's school was perhaps half
the size of the auditorium of the Byron
Municipal Complex where the Focus
I cki • • •n
T fVlENl
w
nuj
t
g oarc / Q f Commissioners Chairman Melvin Walker talks to
the Fort Valley Kiwanis Club last week about the proposed
projects for the 2015 SPLOST renewal.
Photo by Victor Kulkosky
\r% SA*>> £«o*/.'
When yen kmy local, the sole* taxes
collected support hometown services
such as public safety, roads and
tensers, as well as the SPLOSTproj¬
ects you younelf votedfor.
Spend a fete dollars at your
hometown business today!
on Education Banquet was held. It was
divided into two r(x»ms, one for grades
1-8 and the other for grades 9-12.
Walker's graduating class included 26
people. The school had one teacher
and a principal.
Each day, the teacher divided each
room into groups according to grade
and gave assignments to each group,
which had to do their work while they
teacher moved on.
“We learned how to work indepen
dently.” Walker said,
During recess, Walker and his
schoolmates played games that
required obeying the rules. Rule vio¬
lators were asked to sit out the game.
Students also learned responsibility.
It was their job to gather wood to fuel
the pot-bellied stove that heated the
school on cold days,
Walker and his schoolmates learned
practical skills, such as shop and
typing. Walker won contests in brick
laying and math - but not, he admitted,
in English. Out of all of his classmates.
Walker said, he can't think of one that
has ever been unemployed.
“Parental and community involve¬
ment are intertwined," Walker said of
his school days. “We had it right and
we had it in two rooms.”
Continued to page 2
February 29,2012
New Face
Joins Peach
Regional
Ellen Terrell
By Victor Kulkosky
News Editor
_ _
When Peach County's hospital
teamed up with Macon's leading hos¬
pital last year, Ellen Terrell decided to
knock on opportunity's door.
Having spent 30 years in the health¬
care field and the last eight years with
the fundraising wing of the Medical
Center, Ellen felt the urge to bring her
expertise to Peach County.
“When the Medical Center joined
this partnership, I asked for this
opportunity and I'm excited to bring
this community together," Ellen said
during a recent interview.
The Macon native started her new
position as Director of Development
with Peach Regional Medical Center
just days ago and has been making
the rounds of the community. She
comes from the Medcen Community
Health Foundation, which does the
fundraising for Central Georgia Health
System Inc., the parent company of the
Medical Center of Central Georgia
Under the agreement between PRMC
and CGHS, CGHS is assuming day-to
day management at PRMC and will
lease the new hospital once it opens
around Summer 2013. Groundbreaking
is scheduled for March 29.
“I've known for years how you guys
have wanted a new hospital,” Ellen
said. “It's a win/win - it's great for
the Medical Center, it's great for Peach
Regional. Everyone's excited."
To build on the excitement, Ellen’s
project at PRMC will be to launch a
capital campaign that would give the
local hospital the kind of war chest it
hasn't had during the years of financial
struggles.
Ellen has the experience to make that
dream a reality. She earned her certifi¬
cation as a Fundraising Executive last
year and has been a member of the
Association of Healthcare Philanthropy
and the Georgia Association of
Development Professionals since 2006.
Health care runs in the family. Ellen
is married to Dave Terrell. Director of
Wellness Programs at Georgia College
& State University. They have four
adult children, ages running from 24 to
31. Ellen loves spending time with her
children, scuba diving and travel.
Her new position should change
family life a bit.
“Our home is in Macon, so
Dave heads north each morning to
Milledgeville and I now head south to
Fort Valley."
They might have to schedule
weekend meetings.
PCHS Offers Eighth
Grade Parent Night
The PCHS Eighth Grade Parent
Night will be held on Thursday.
March 1, 2012 beginning with a
tour of the campus at 5:30 p m At
6 p.m.. presentations will be held
in the cafeteria concerning registra¬
tion, graduation, and extracurricular
information.
You are invited to attend the Band
Showcase following the meeting at
7 p.m. in the auditorium.