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Page 4B - The Lee County Ledger, Thursday, August 2, 2001 HeritageBank’s Brian Hicks Promoted to VP, Indirect Lending Brian Hicks, who joined HeritageBank in August 1999 as Leesburg Pawnbrokers Instant Cash on Most Anything of Value T.V.’s, Guns, Jewelry, VCR’s, Computers Large Selection of Jewelry & Firearms 101 Tabatha Street Jewelry Repair (US 19 South, next to Phoebe) oo3"93/ 5 LEE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL Orientation for all new students will be held in the Robert A. Clay auditorium on Thurs day, August 9. Freshmen orientation will be conducted in two sessions designated by the first initial of the student's last name. The freshmen orientation schedule is as follows: A-L M-Z 5:00 PM 6:30 PM Orientation for new students who will be sophomores, juniors, or seniors during the up coming school year will begin at 1:00 PM on Thursday, August 9. manager, indirect lending depart ment. and was named assistant vice president in October 2000, has now been promoted to vice president. "Brian's promotions truly rec ognize outstanding perfor mance," said Lee H. Bettis, HeritageBank president and CEO. "He has developed produc tive relationships with more than 20 automobile dealerships in Southwest Georgia and made HeritageBank number one in dealer finance. He also is devel oping new markets for indirect lending." A native of St. Simons Island and a 1989 graduate of Glynn Academy, Brunswick, Hicks has a bachelor's degree in business administration, with a major in accounting, from Georgia South ern University. Statesboro. The Lee County resident has been in banking since 1995 when he joined First State Bank and Trust, Albany. When he left First State in 1998, he was assistant branch manager. Prior to joining HeritageBank. he worked for First National Bank of South Georgia. Albany, where he was assistant vice president and assis tant branch manager. Hicks is married to the former Audrey Young of Albany. She teaches at St. Teresa's School, Albany. They are the parents of three young children. The Sammy Glass Family, Sammy, Kayla and children, Justin, Candice, and Chris, will share their testimony in song Sunday morning, Aug. 5th, at Amazing GraceBaptist Church at 2217 Ledo Road during the 10:45 A.M. Worship Service. You are invited to come and bring your friends. Georgia Businesses Face Challenges With New Financing Statements, Nix Says ATTENTION LEE COUNTY CITIZENS The gate across the road that used to go to Burke’s Ferry has been removed by temporary restraining order. This road has been abandoned by the county for almost 40 years. This is known by the people who live in the area. Anyone that is concerned about the treatment of Lee County citizens and taxpayers in this situation should contact their commissioner and voice their opin ion. What is happening to the landowner in this situation can and may happen to you!!! Wake up Lee County and know the truth. Paid for by Lee County citizens who know that this has not been handled fairly by our local government. Recent changes in state law have Georgia businesses in a quandary. Procedures for filing fi nancing statements that secure property interests for lenders were changed effective July 1 to conform Georgia to national stan dards, according to Lee County Superior Court Clerk Ann E. Nix. Banks, small loan companies and businesses that provide in- house financing are largely un aware of these changes to what are commonly referred to as Uni form Commercial Code (UCC) filings. Within 30 days of the changes, substantial confusion has resulted as lawyers, bankers and other filers attempt to protect their security interest on loans for personal and real property. According to Nix, the legisla tion was promoted by a coalition of large law firms and interstate banks that do business across the United States. Local lenders have not been as aware of the changes with many observers concerned that small businesses may end up with inadequate protection for their loan portfolios. My office is receiving many re quests for clarification on the proper forms and filing proce dures, said Nix. Most lenders are unaware that the old forms are no longer valid and do not pro tect a lender's interest in loans on property. Besides changes in the form used for filing security interest, financing statements are now filed in the debtor s county of in corporation or the home address if not a corporation. This means that there will be no local record of existing liens on some prop erty located in Georgia. Lend ers now need to search the state where a company is incorporated as well as in Georgia when re searching encumbrances on real property, said Nix. All financing statements on Georgia-based corporations are filed with the Superior Court clerk in each county in Georgia. The Georgia Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority, a state agency, maintains a central database of filings at www.gsccca.org. Businesses and lenders can also get detailed in formation regarding new filing procedures at that web site. Phyllis Brown Promoted to A VP at HeritageBank Kristy and Doug Fincher Cellular Express Holds Ribbon Cutting By Brad Lofton Cellular Express, formerly lo cated in the Sunbelt Plaza, is now located at Lee Market in the Winn Dixie Shopping Center. Locally owned by Doug and Kristy Fincher, Cellular Express opened their doors for business in September of 2000. Cellular Express is an exclusive agent for Cingular Wireless, formerly BellSouth Mobility, serving Lee, Dougherty and surrounding counties. Doug and Kristy together have Lee County Head Start The Lee County Child Development Center (Headstart Program) will hold Open House between the hours of 5:00- 7:00 p.m. on August 2, 2001. Classes be gin at 8:00 a.m. on August 6, 2001. The Lee County Head Start Program is oper ated by a local non- profit organization, Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, Inc. Children who attend Head Start are be tween the ages of 3-5 years old. They par ticipate in a variety of developmentally ap propriate activities. The curriculum is de signed to help children grow mentally, so cially, emotionally and physically. The classroom environment is arranged to stimulate curiosity and exploration. The child will socialize, work on tasks with other children and solve problems. This experience helps children become self - confident. Their listening skills, sentence length and speaking skills improve. At the beginning of the school term each child is screened for language, articulation, motorskills and cognitive skills. This helps the teachers to make an Individualized Education Plan for each child. Services are also offered to meet the special needs of children with disabilities. Resources within the community are used to ensure the needs of all children are met. Head Start also offers comprehensive services in all areas of family develop ment, including social services - (com munity partnership), education, parent involvement - (family partnership), health, nutrition, dental health and dis abilities. Head Start offers each child access to nutrition assessments, proper health and dental health check ups, by skilled professionals. If the child needs follow up services the Head Start staff will make the necessary arrangements. The children receive a well balanced breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. If a child qualifies to enroll in the pro gram, these services are offered at no cost to the parents. Head Start staff members offer chil dren love, acceptance, understanding and the opportunity to learn and expe rience success. Each child will leave Head Start more prepared for kinder garten, excited about learning and ready to succeed. The Lee County Head Start staff are excited about the upcoming year and serving Lee County families. For more information contact the Center Super visor, Terry Parker or the Family Ser vice Worker, Sandra Brooks at 759- 2559 or 759-2544. over ten years' cellular experi ence, They offer cellular phones and service at great prices and pride themselves in friendly cus tomer service. They carry a wide variety of accessories like: col ored face plates, batteries, leather cases, car chargers, holograms, colored key pads, hands-free car kits, external antennas and more at great prices. Cingular Wireless has the larg est local and extended calling area around. They offer "roll over" minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited national long distance, interactive messaging and more. They service everyone's needs, if its personal or for your business. Call or come by to see them. 446-6522. Phyllis Brown, who joined HeritageBank in 1997 as a per sonal service officer and now manages the bank's Telephone Services Center, has been pro moted to assistant vice president. Before moving in to her current position. Brown was assistant branch manager of HeritageBank’s Westover Office in Albany. A native of Americus, Brown graduated from high school there in 1978. She then attended Geor gia Southwestern University, Americus. She graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in soci ology from the University of West Georgia, Carrollton. She com pleted in 1997 the Georgia Credit Union Affiliates Lending School. Before HeritageBank, Brown worked for 10 years with Bank of America, first in Atlanta, then Albany. Before that, she worked for four years with Citizens Bank of Americus. She is married to Lorenza Brown, and they have a daughter and a son. The Telephone Services Center opened six years ago. By tele phoning 883-5701 or 800- 227- 7989, a HeritageBank customer can receive a variety of banking services, including the opening of anew account or applying for a consumer-type loan. A staff of 11 employees handles an average of 27,000 calls per month. Rain Mixed Blessing for Georgia Peach Crop By Brad Haire Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations This summer, timely rains have Kati-Morgan Johnson Participated In District 4-H Competition Kati-Morgan Johnson, a sixth grader at Twin Oaks Elementary School, participated in the Dis trict 4-H Club AP competition. Her presentation was in the area of communication. She presented the history of sign language and signed portions of her presenta tion. Kati-Morgan won first place in the district in her area of com munication. Kati-Morgan Johnson also par ticipated in the National Ameri canism essay contest sponsored by the American Legion Auxil iary. Her essay "I Thank Veterans For My Freedom", was the win ning essay for Lee County. Her essay was entered in the State competition. It was announced at the Department of Georgia American Legion Convention, held in Macon, Georgia, that Kati-Morgan's essay had been award the Americanism metal at the state level. Kati-Morgan was notified by Mrs. Pizzo, of Ameri can Legion Auxiliary Unit 30, of this award July 23. She will be presented an Americanism metal at the Legion Youth Night to be held at later date by American Legion Auxiliary Unit 30. Kati-Morgan is the daughter of Darren and Chimene Johnson. Parrish Johnson is her sister. Kati- Morgan lived in Lee County and attended Lee County schools. She and her family moved in June to East Point, Florida and are living on St. George Island, Florida. Kati-Morgan will attend Apalachicola Middle School in the fall. helped Georgia farmers recover from three years of severe drought. Peach growers, however, know too much of a good thing can bring a whole new set of problems. This season, peach producers face the worst disease prob lems in years, said Phil Brannen, an Extension Service plant pathologist with the University of Georgia Col lege of Agricultural and Environmen tal Sciences. Extended, frequent rain has caused long stretches of moist, soggy conditions, he said. These have opened the gate for diseases, causing fungi and bacteria to thrive and attack Georgia's $24 million peach crop. "This year, we had nearly perfect conditions for dissemination of spores and subsequent germination," Brannen said. Over the past three years, because of drier conditions, peach producers have had little worry with diseases, he said. But this year, diseases have consumed as much as 25 percent of some orchards. The blight, the spot, the rot A dis ease known as blossom blight entered orchards early in thegrowing season. This condition led the way for brown rot, a much more serious disease, to appear during harvest, he said. "We don't often have blossom blight," he said. "But we had wet con ditions during bloom this year, and we had a goodly amount of infection dur ing bloom. Spores were formed... . This set us up for a heavy brown rot See Peaches, Page 7B