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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2023)
PAGE 8A THE JACKSON HERALD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023 Social LOVE OF LLAMAS HOSTS SHERIFF MANGUM The Jackson County 4-H Love of Llamas program recently had a lesson in empowerment with Jackson County Sheriff Janis G. Mangum. Magnum spent an afternoon talking with the 12 young ladies about how she became a sheriff and the challenges of entering and maintaining her position. The Jackson County 4-H Love of Llamas club comprises parents, volunteers, and this year, girls ranging from ages 7 to 19. The character traits of independence, hard work ethic, integrity, and persistence are applied weekly during club events. These same traits were part of the youth’s conversation with Sheriff Mangum. Mangum is the second woman to be a sheriff in Georgia and has had to work hard to earn respect in what is often considered a male-dominated career. She spoke to the girls about persistence and never giving up on what they wanted to do. She focused on the idea that obstacles in life allow us to grow. Mangum taught that you are as good as your word, so it is important to always do what you say you will do. Peo ple respect that. “She gave us the motivation to overcome obstacles,” Lily Howell said. “No matter how many times she was told she couldn’t be successful in this field, she tried harder and proved everyone wrong. She used the negatives as motivation”. Felicity Sartin said, “She said that people were judging her and telling her she shouldn’t do this, but she just ignored them and kept on going for what she want ed to do. That’s what I want to do; I want to persevere and be the boss of myself.” Altman publishes second book of poetry David Altman with his new book of poetry. By Mike Buffington mike@mainstreetnews.com It was an 11th Grade English teacher over four decades ago that first got David Altman interested in poetry. He began by writing poems to his high school sweetheart and has since ex panded into a huge range of other topics. “She’s still got’em,” he said laughing about his ear ly foray into poetry with his now-wife, Lisa. “She threat ens to make them public someday.” Altman, 70, lives in Hoschton and has just pub lished his second book of poetry, “Cold Remembered and other poems.” A native of Ohio, Altman moved to Georgia in his early teens and after grad uating high school, went to Georgia State where he wrote some for the school newspaper and did color commentary for the college basketball team. Altman majored in jour nalism and won an intern ship at WSB TV starting his junior year where he served as a news writer. After grad uating college, he continued as a news writer and pro ducer at WSB for several years before moving into corporate communications. After retiring a decade ago, the Altmans landed in Hoschton where Dave began writing columns for Mainstreet Newspapers part-time. But his love of poetry never left and in 2014 pub lished his first chapbook of poetry, “Defat in the Foyer.” Where does he get his in spiration? “I just have kinda a natu ral curiosity, I’m interested in other people and it just comes natural to me,” he said. The thread that seems to run through his latest book of poems seems to be “memories.” “I think that’s accurate.” Altman said. “I think that poetry sometimes begins with memories, it’s part memory and I guess part imagination.” That idea is reflected in his poem “Memory Lane” which ends with: ’’Her horse turns back now toward the familiar; chickens clucking, sun setting, where the memories of her youth and the sacrifices of her motherhood lay strewn across the meadow, like the smell of burins leaves, never to leave her.” Another poem, the title poem of the book, talks about memories from the past about being cold. It be gins: a child my parents wrapped my toes with aluminum foil scav enged from stadium hamburgers to prevent frostbite at a Cleveland Browns game.” “The inspiration comes from all over,” Altman says. “It’s all around us. it doesn’t matter where you’re at.” One of example of that is a poem in his book about rude patrons at a Sarah Mc- Lachlan concert: "On she sang, aging the clanging of chairs, the grinning rich, the corn salad crowd, who were not going to be de nied their dinner table conversation, even in the midst of this most virtuous voice of many octaves....” His innate curiosity is also always at play and helps inspire his poetry. “I see so much and it just makes me wonder, ‘who lives over there and what’s their story?’” he said. “It’s just like a blessing, I’m just so interested in everything.” Altman says he’s al ways plugged into poetry and often listens to poet ry podcasts and authors reciting poems. “I’m one of the few guys who listens to poetry in the shower,” he says laughing. “I’ve got my Beatles and my (Rolling) Stones and my rock-and-roll, but I do love to listen to good poetry too. I love it.” In 2014, he took a poetry class at Georgia State form noted Georgia poet David Bottoms, a poet he admires. “A great poet.” he said. “...I love learning about po etry.” • •• David Altman’s book of poetry can be purchased from Finishing Line Press at www.finishinglinepress. com/product/cold-remem bered-and-other-poems-by- david-r-altman/ PUBLIC NOTICE This notice is in compliance with state regulations regarding the destruction of special education records. Commerce City Schools’ Special Education Records will be destroyed in summer for former students who were born in 1997. If you, as the student or parent(s) of the student, desire copies of these records prior to destruction, contact the Department of Special Educa tion at 706-335-5500. You will be required to produce identification or provide verification data. Jefferson Elementary School Registration 2023 - 2024 Visit our website, www.ieffcityschools.org. and follow the directions for each grade level. • Pre-K: Begins Feb. 1 st -28 th • New Kindergarteners and Out of District: Begins April 1 st • New 1 st and 2 nd graders and Out of District: Begins June 1 st • Returning Students: Begins July 1 st Pendergrass author published in Chicken Soup for the Soul’s ‘Lessons Learned from My Cat’ By Alex Buffington alex@mainstreetnews.com Dogs may be man’s best friend, but cats hold a special place in many hearts. That includes the hearts of Andrea Peebles and her sister, both of whom had cats that alerted them to a previously unde tected medical condition. Peebles, who lives in Pendergrass, has written about both of those expe riences in the books for “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” Peebles’ first story was published in 2007 in a Chick en Soup book titled, “What I Learned from My Cat.” “It was a true story of how my 17-year old cat began to act strangely, pawing and nudging at a very specific spot on me which turned out to be a melanoma,” Pee bles said. “According to my doctor at the time, they are almost never found before they are in advanced stages and because of my cat, mine was discovered and removed at the earliest possible stage.” Peebles said she thought the story was remarkable and reached out to Chicken Soup. “I had enjoyed ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul' books for many years and I knew it was the kind of story that they published, so I sent the sto ry in and they bought it," she said. “That began my 15-year relationship with ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul.’” Peebles’ most recently published story can be found in the new “Lessons Learned from My Cat,” which details another unique medical-re lated cat story and her sister. “My sister is a leukemia survivor thanks to a stem cell transplant eight years ago,” Peebles said. “She has a lot of health problems due to her treatments and immu nosuppressant medications and she is also a diabetic. Even a common cold can be life-threatening to her.” Peebles recalls her sister's blood sugar had been high and she had been given a new medication. “Not realizing how quick ly and efficiently it would work, she had continued to take her regular dose of in sulin, which made her sugar start dropping drastically — and worse still, in the middle of the night while she was asleep,” Peebles said. Her sister’s cat woke the woman multiple nights in a row by yowling and refusing to stop until she got up. Each time the cat woke her up, she didn’t feel well. “Upon checking her sugar, she found it dangerously low and so she would eat a light snack to raise it and then go back to bed,” Peebles said. “She called her doctor and he adjusted her dose again and that took care of the problem, at which point she realized the cat also stopped waking her up screaming at 4 a.m. Had her cat not insisted she get up, her sugar would have been so dangerously low that she most likely would have died in her sleep.” Andrea Peebles, of Pendergrass, has been published in a number of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books, including the recent book “Lessons Learned from My Cat.” Peebles has been pub lished over a dozen times in “Chicken Soup" books. In addition to the two books focused on cats, you can find her stories in Devotion al Stories for Tough Times, My Dog’s Life, Married Life, Messages from Heaven, An gels Among Us, Home Sweet Home, Life Lessons from the Dog, Miraculous Messag es from Heaven, Magic of Moms, Parenthood, Touched by an Angel and Grieving, Loss and Healing. “I feel like a synopsis of my entire life story can be read in ‘Chicken Soup' for the Soul books,” Peebles said. “And my family now knows they are fair game as well." While writing isn’t Pee bles’ career, it is a lifelong passion. She said she’s al ways been an avid-reader and that writing came nat urally to her from a young age. “I kept journals, wrote letters, poems, stories and personal essays," she said. “I loved the written word and never had a shortage of something to write about. Everyone has stories and I just saw them in every situ ation." Peebles said she writes mostly non-fiction and slices-of-life pieces. She’s also been published in The Rockmart Journal, Farm and Ranch Magazine and Guide- post. Peebles, a native of Geor gia, moved to Pendergrass, about 25 years ago. They wanted to be closer to family and Peebles' long-time best friend. Peebles previously lived in Rockmart, where she operated a part-time gar den wedding business. She also worked in commercial insurance for 34 years as an executive assistant and account representative. She retired in 2018 from the National Aviation Practice of USI Insurance, formerly Wells Fargo Insurance Ser vices. PURCHASE BOOK You can purchase “Les sons Learned from My Cat" on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Edwardjones Compare our CD Rates Bank-issued, FDIC-insured > edwardjones.com | Member SIPC 3-month 5.00 % APY* 6-month 5.00 % apy * Call or visit your local financial advisor today. Michael B Housworth Financial Advisor 1953 Homer Rd Commerce, GA 30529-1254 706-336-6547 * Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective 03/21/2023. 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