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NOTICE or MEETING CHANGES
The CC Board of Commissioners will meet
Thursday, January 3rd, 7 p.m.
The Development Authority of Crawford
County will meet Januaiy 3rd at 5 p.m.
Thursday, January 3,2013
2 Sections, 14 Pages
Benefit
Concert
Packed
By Abigail Adams
The Georgia Post
How many Crawford Coun
ty residents can you pack into
a theater? Apparently a lot as
was evident at the Cox Capi
tol Theater December 22nd,
2012. Supporters of Kaden
Howard, a brave little boy
who has been battling cancer
since the summertime, came
out to a benefit concert in the
theater performed by up and
coming singer and Roberta
native Meiko along with some
her friends.
Meiko decided to put on the
concert in hopes to help the
family with some of the ex
penses they are facing with the
many trips they will have to
make to Tennessee. Although
Kade’s latest CT scan came
back clear, he will be receiv
ing 31 treatments at St. Jude’s
Children’s Hospital in Tennes
see. Kade actually spent his
Christmas in the hospital and
was unable to attend the con
cert performed in his honor.
Although Kade was not pres
ent it did not stop residents of
Crawford County from pour
ing into the theater to enjoy
the show consisting of Meiko,
Josh Rifkind from Songs for
Kids Foundation Inc., Angel
Snow, and Cranford and Sons.
Performers at the Benefit Concert were Josh Rifkind, Angel Snow,
Cranford and Sons are the last four guys with Meiko in the very
middle of the photo (green dress). The concert was for Kade How-
All the acts censored their
language for the “kid friend
ly” concert and most played
Christmas songs in their sets
in honor of the season.
To start the show, Josh Rif
kind native of Atlanta, GA
and foimder of Songs for Kids
Foundation Inc., took the
stage. Rifkind founded Songs
for Kids in 2007 in Atlanta,
GA. The foundation takes
singers to children’s hospitals
across the nation to sing and
entertain the children receiv
ing treatment there.
“Our mission is to enrich
the lives of children in need
through music. For kids suf
fering from an illness or hard
ship, music is a powerful tool
to inspire, motivate and up
lift,” the brochure about the
foundation states.
Songs for Kids currently
services seven children’s hos
pitals and over fifteen special
needs kids camps. Rifkind
entertained the children in the
crowd at the Cox Capitol The
ater bursting into “Wheels on
the Bus” and getting the audi
ence to sing along. One little
girl was seen dancing along to
his songs in the audience. To
find out more about the Songs
for Kids Foundation you can
find them online at www.
songsforkidsfoundation. org.
Next on the set list another
Georgia native making her
way in the entertainment world
ard and the Cox Capitol Theatre was filled to capacity for the per
formance. Meiko is a native of Crawford County and a graduate of
Crawford County High School Class of 2000.
A Look Back At The Year That Was
This year has been filled to
the brim with the election, ne
gotiations over LOST funds
and let us all not forget the end
of the world that never hap
pened, but now we have come
to the end of it and must move
on to a new year. To start the
New Year out right let’s have a
look back at what’s happened
in the community in 2012:
January:
-Starting the year, The Geor
gia Post columnist and histori
cal writer, Billy Powell took a
look into “Crawford’s Greatest
Mystery,” and wrote about the
life and descendants of John
Turner Spillers.
-Commissioners Dean Fripp
and Paul Chapman were re
elected unanimously as Chair
man and Vice Chairman.
-Crawford County teacher,
Rhonda Harris goes through
a scary ordeal when her purse
was snatched in Macon, Ga.
-The county advances the
city of Roberta funds to com
plete several water projects
until the city received their
SPLOST funds in July of
2012.
February:
-Cooley Farms was recog
nized for environmental excel
lence during the 2012 Interna
tional Poultry Expo in Atlanta.
-Newly formed Recreation
Board meets and elects offi
cers. Brad Cody was elected
as president, Greg Blasingame
as vice-president, and Pamela
Busbee as the treasurer/secre
tary.
-Subway is named Busi
ness of the Quarter by the RC-
CCOC for the first quarter of
the year.
-Over $180,000 in money,
vehicles, firearms, and prop
erty was confiscated by the
Crawford County Sheriff’s
Department after a year long
investigation of a drug traf
ficking ring.
-Missing woman Rebecca
Ruth Thaxton is foimd in the
woods off Giles Circle, af
ter being missing for almost
twenty-four hours.
March:
-Roberta Evangelical
Church builds pavilion to re
place the gazebo that burned
in 2011 in David Bailey Park,
Roberta.
-Peaches to Beaches state
wide yard sale running along
341 linking peach-growing
counties in middle Georgia to
the Golden Isles takes over Ro
berta. The annual event covers
240 miles and 19 counties and
happens the second Friday and
Saturday in March.
-City council denies a re
quest to close a road that had
residents concerned about lo
cal children’s safety due to the
increased traffic on Church
Street. The street is actually a
dirt roadway and residents of
the street asked that the city
to consider closing the road
down after several had close
calls with vehicles. The coun
cil, after some discussion, de
nied the request much to the
dismay of those present at the
meeting.
-John Turner Spillers’ grave
site was foimd by historian
Sidney Goodrich and colum
nist and historical writer Billy
Powell at Providence Cem
etery outside of Roberta, GA.
-The recreation facility be
low Wallace Field gets a make
over thanks to the help of the
community. A ribbon cutting
ceremony was held in March
for the newly renovated fields.
Just in time for ball season!
April:
-A brand new store opens
out in the county. Crossroads
Store on Marshall Mill Road
owned by Roy Walker and
managed by Cheryl Pritchett
opened in early April.
-Roberta and Knoxville go
4G! PS Data Wireless began
offering 4G LTE Wireless
broadband to customers in Ro
berta and Knoxville.
-Crawford County and Tay
lor County combine their ef
forts in the fight against cancer
as Crawford invited Taylor
county residents to participate
with them in the Relay for
Life.
-Benjamin Thiessen, student
of Crawford County Junior
High was picked as student
ambassador for showing sev
eral qualities including leader
ship, citizenship, and his desire
to leam about diverse cultures.
He spent the summer touring
Europe.
-Farm Bureau was picked as
Business of the Quarter by the
RCCCOC for the second quar
ter of the year.
-Human remains were
found by a park ranger patrol
ling Camp Benjamin Hawkins
April 21st. The remains could
have been that of a man that
went missing earlier in the
month of April.
-“The Pink Building” on the
square in Downtown Roberta
receives a makeover after be
ing sand-blasted back to its
original color after being an
antique rose color for several
years.
(Year in review will con
tinue in next week’s edi-
and now hailing from Nash
ville, Tennessee, Angel Snow
dubbed Macon as “the cutest
little town,” and proudly told
the audience her brother is a
second year student at Mercer
University Law School in Ma
con, GA. Her last song “Holy
Night,” had the entire theater
quiet in rapt attention before
their loud roimd of applause.
“My thoughts and prayers
are with Kade and his family
and I am so happy to be a part
of this tonight,” Snow said
during her set, “Thoughts and
prayers also go out to all the
families affected by the recent
tragedies in our country.”
Next on the list was the act
most of the crowd had been
patiently waiting on. Meiko,
in a glittering green, festive
dress took to the stage with
her guitar. She started her
set with the song that got her
recognized during her time
performing at the cafe where
she waited tables starting out
in L.A. The song “Reason to
Love You,” was heard by a
lady from Grey’s Anatomy
and Meiko’s career has been
moving steadily up from
there.
Keeping true to the kid-
friendly concert, one of
Meiko’s Christmas songs was
one from her childhood that
she said, “is about bullying
and how you shouldn’t bully
someone because you never
know, they might become ‘the
most famous of all’,” Rudolph
the Red-nose Reindeer. After
that Meiko performed the song
she played earlier this year for
Jay Leno on The Late Show,
“Leave the Lights On.”
During her set the children of
the audience gathered at the
front of the stage sitting on
the floor. Although all the pro
ceeds from ticket sales (minus
the rental fee for the theater)
went to Kade and his family,
Meiko also announced that
she had her childhood piggy
bank set up and encouraged
people to “feed the pig,” to
donate to Kade as well.
Before ending her set with
one last Christmas song,
“Merry Christmas,” she sang
a quick funny little ditty called
“You and Onions Make Me
Cry,” that she had written for a
friend in film school who was
making a short five minute
film about a man encounter
ing a hotdog girl after a bump
to his head.
“I didn’t quite understand
the gist of the movie and there
was this really weird ketchup
and mustard scene, but I fig
ured what the heck,” she said
before giving the audience
the giggles with the cute little
song.
After Meiko left the stage
and took to the audience to
sign autographs and meet with
people, a band hailing from
Hilton Head, SC, Cranford
and Sons burst onto the stage
with their unique “bluegrass
with a kick,” style of music.
The band had the audience
dancing in the aisles and in
front of the stage as their foot
stomping music filled the the
ater. It even had Meiko danc
ing a jig as she met with her
fans.
“Give it up for all the ladies,”
the Cranford and Sons lead
singer said in between songs
and laughingly added, “It’s
nice to watch people who can
actually play their guitars, in
stead of banging around and
hollering like I do.”
To find out more about any
of the bands above you can
visit some of these sites:
Meiko- meikomusic.com,
Josh Rifkind- www.songs-
forkidsfoundation.org, Angel
Snow- angelsnow.net, and
Cranford and Sons-www.fa-
cebook.com/cranfordandsons.
