Newspaper Page Text
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Move
THURSDAY. JANUARY 29. 2015 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 15A
Pickens UGA Extension Office 4-H Agent Jessica Sarten packs
up items at the Jasper Depot. The extension office has operated out
of the depot in downtown Jasper since 1991.
Leadership Pickens 2015
takes on the courthouse,
jail and school system
light. I think it’s going to change
the whole public perspective.”
Sarten also said the move will
save the expense of renting out
rooms at other buildings for ex
tension office events, and she ex
pects their heating bill to go
down.
The extension offices have
contracted with the chamber for
one year. The Pickens County
government will pay an annual
fee to lease the space, which is
the same amount that was paid to
Georgia Northeastern Railroad
to lease the depot. As part of the
contract, the extension office
will be responsible for honoring
2015 rentals of the chamber
community room that have al
ready been scheduled.
No new reservations will be
taken for that space.
Chamber director Denise
Duncan called the arrangement a
“win-win” and said it will be
business as usual for the cham
ber, which will continue to oper
ate out of the same space they
have operated from in the past.
But Duncan noted that without
the time-consuming job of han
dling events in the community
room she feels her office will be
able to better serve chamber
members.
“By the end of the day we
were barely breaking even with
rentals when you take into ac
count staff time and damages to
the room caused by rentals,” she
said. “This arrangement is going
to work out very well and I an
ticipate more foot traffic coming
into the chamber because of the
extension office, which will ex
pose more people to chamber in
formation.”
Duncan said parties interested
in hosting events in Lee Newton
Park should still call the chamber
for information. She also said her
staff will help find venues for in
dividuals or groups who have
rented the community room in
the past.
“If people call, we have
chamber members who can pro
vide event facilities and depend
ing on the size and needs of the
event we can help get them with
the right people,” she said.
The extension office’s move
came about after bids were so
licited for roof repairs on the
depot. Estimates came in at ap
proximately $20,000 because as
bestos was found in the shingles.
Because the county didn’t own
the building but was responsible
for upkeep under terms of the
lease contract with Georgia
Northeastern Railroad they opted
to look for alternatives.
The extension office will be
closed Monday, Jan. 26 through
Friday, Jan. 30. They will reopen
on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at the Cham
ber of Commerce building at 500
Stegall Drive, Jasper, Ga.
To learn more about services
offered through the UGA Coop
erative Extension Office in Pick
ens visit
www.caes.uga.edu/extension/pic
kens. Contact them at 706-253-
8840.
The 3rd session for Leader
ship Pickens began with the
class learning about the local ju
dicial system. Chief Magistrate
Judge W. Allen Wigington pro
vided an overview of the state
of Georgia’s court system as
well as the local process. Chief
Probate Judge David W. Lind
sey was also present to explain
the duties of the Probate Court.
It was very interesting to learn
that both Judge Lindsey and
Judge Wigington, although
elected for the specific court,
are able to serve as judge in
both Probate and Magistrate
Court.
Class continued with hearing
from the District Attorney, B.
Alison Sosebee. Unlike Judge
Lindsey and Judge Wigington
who only serve Pickens County,
the district attorney serves the
entire Judicial Circuit, which in
cludes Pickens, Gilmer and
Fannin counties. The district at
torney is also elected, but it is a
combined total of votes from all
3 counties in the Judicial Cir
cuit. The district attorney’s of
fice has many responsibilities
focusing on the criminal divi
sion of enforcing the law. They
present cases to the Grand Jury
for indictment and then prose
cute cases in court. Jurors are
Continued from Page 1A
STAR
have selected as having the
most influence on their aca
demic success. To obtain the
STAR nomination, high school
seniors must have the highest
score on a single test date on the
three-part SAT and be in the top
10 percent or top 10 students of
their class based on grade point
average.
Mr. Haygood plans to attend
Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tn., after graduation.
Andrew states that he selected
Mr. Oubre as his STAR Teacher
for several reasons saying that
“He has played a vital role in
my life since the summer before
my freshman year, at my first
band camp. From day one, I
knew that he was the kind of
leader I wanted to be. He was
strong, firm, determined and
caring. I vastly improved as a
musician under the direction of
Mr. Oubre, but that is not what
is most important to me. The
life skills he taught me are the
most important. Mr. Oubre is
the reason that: I will always be
everywhere I go long before I
have to be there because, as he
always says, ‘early is on time,
on time is late, and late is laps,’
I will always rise above what is
expected of me and go the extra
mile, and I will always be the
change I want to see in the
world. Mr. Oubre taught me the
true meaning of excellence, and
I will never be able to repay him
for that. Yay Band!”
Andrew is a member of the
Pride of Pickens Band (captain),
PHS Academic Team (captain),
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl
Team (president), 4-H (presi
dent), Beta Club (secretary),
Student Government Associa
tion (12th Grade Rep.), FBLA,
FCA, Youth Leadership Pick
ens. He attends First Baptist
Woodstock/Jasper on Sundays,
and is part of the Mountainview
Alliance Church Youth Group.
His hobbies include reading,
hanging out with friends and
going to concerts. Here are
some interesting things about
Mr. Haygood: last year he spent
90 days training a previously
untouched wild mustang to pre
pare for a competition and he
placed 4th overall. He became a
Master 4-H’er this summer
through a speaking competition
where he placed 1st in the state.
Haygood was voted by his peers
to be this year’s Mr. PHS. He
was also one of only 109 stu
dents from Georgia to be se
lected to attend the Washington
Youth Tour last summer spon
sored by Amicalola EMC.
Michael Oubre is in his
fourth year as the band director
at Pickens High School and he
has taught for 15 years. Previ
ously, Mr. Oubre was the band
director at Winder-Barrow High
School in Winder, Ga., from
2007-11. Mr. Oubre came to
Winder-Barrow in 2000 as the
assistant band director. A native
of Sumter, S.C., Mr. Oubre
graduated from Furman Univer
sity in 1998 with a Bachelor of
Music in Music Education de
gree. While at Furman, Mr.
Oubre served as trumpet section
leader for the Wind Ensemble,
randomly selected by the state
from the list of licensed drivers.
The session then offered the
class to tour the courthouse.
The facility was reopened after
remodeling and expansion in
July 2013. The original court
room still exists, although it has
been redesigned and updated
with new technology. The court
house has remarkable security
which is mandated by law to be
operated by the office of sheriff.
Lt. Shane Padgett showed the
group the use of cameras
throughout the courthouse to
provide safety for the judges
and other courthouse personnel.
The class then traveled to the
Pickens County Pickens County
Adult Detention Center where
participants toured the facility.
The office of the sheriff is also
responsible for operating the de
tention center. The jail opened
in 2006 and houses male and fe
male offenders. There is work
detail both inside and outside
the jail. Chief Deputy Jeff Hall
shared thoughts about the bene
fits of the increased use of tech
nology for the deputies. The use
of cameras in the jail as well as,
on deputy patrol cars and per
sons has proven to be valuable
for the community and the
deputies.
Symphonic Band and the Pal
adin Regiment and also served
as the Drum Major. He then
went to The University of Geor
gia to complete a Master of
Music Education degree in 2000
with an emphasis in conducting.
While he was at UGA, Mr.
Oubre was a graduate assistant
with the Redcoat Band and Uni
versity Bands program. In 2007,
Mr. Oubre completed the re
quirements for a Specialist De
gree in Instruction and
Curriculum from Piedmont Col
lege in Demorest, Ga.
Mr. Oubre has been active in
the Georgia Music Educators
Association District 13 and has
served as the District Band
Chair twice and as Co-Orga-
nizer of the Large Group Per
formance Evaluation for seven
years. Mr. Oubre served as the
state chair for the National Band
Association, Georgia Chapter
for five years and has recently
begun that service again. He re
cently finished serving as the
District 9 GMEA Band chair
(2012-14). He served as the
District Honor Band (11 -12) or
ganizer and host and has also
served as the host for the Solo
and Ensemble event. He has
served as the district
secretary/treasurer. He is an ac
tive judge in Georgia for march
ing and concert band events.
Mr. Oubre taught trumpet at
ENCORE! Music Camp, lead
ership at Joycliffe Summer
Camps and served as the clini
cian of the Symphonic Band at
the Furman University Band
Camp in the Summer of 2009
and as the clinician for the
Floyd County Honor Bands in
2012.
Mr. Oubre says this about
Andrew: “Andrew is a phenom
enal young man. I work with
many talented, motivated and
intelligent students, but it has
truly been a pleasure to work
with someone like Andrew who
encompasses all of those traits
and more. Andrew has been
able to do all that he has done
academically and still maintain
a very active presence in many
school groups like the band, the
Academic Team and through
the 4-H Club. He has served as
Band captain and section leader
in our program and has done an
The last stop for the session
was the Pickens County High
School where the class was
greeted by Dr. Chris LeMieux,
principal, Chris Wallace, assis
tant principal, and Dr. Lula Mae
Perry, superintendent. Dr. Perry
shared some very impressive
statics regarding Pickens
County graduation rate and SAT
scores. Mr. Wallace gave the
class an overview of the CTAE
(Career, Technical and Agricul
tural Education) programs of
fered at the high school. The
class then toured the CTAE
wing of the school and the foot
ball field house. The tom ended
at the high school Performing
Arts Center. Dr. Carlton Wilson,
principal of Jasper Elementary,
met the class there to express
his insight about instilling lead
ership in youth.
Leadership Pickens is spon
sored by the Pickens County
Chamber of Commerce. The
2015 class would like thank all
of the speakers and information
provided at this session. We also
thank the magistrate and pro
bate judges for breakfast, the
Pickens County Office of the
Sheriff for providing lunch and
the Pickens County School Sys
tem for refreshments.
outstanding job of it in so many
ways. Andrew relates well to
everyone around him and truly
wants everyone to be success
ful, involved and active with
what we do. I love his person
ality - he doesn’t take himself
too seriously and he is a great
blend of scholastic aptitude and
personality. He is very well-re
spected among his peers and
teachers alike.”
The Optimist Club of Jasper
will host the annual STAR Ban
quet on Thursday evening,
March 5. The banquet will be
held at 7 p.m. at Chattahoochee
Technical College, 100 Campus
Drive, Jasper. Anyone interested
in attending the banquet should
e-mail the Optimist Club at
pickensstar@etcmail.com
Reservations are required
and tickets are $22 per person.
The Woodbridge Inn, who has
catered the Optimist STAR pro
gram since the first banquet,
will again cater this years’ ban
quet.
Ms. Cathy Cox, president of
Young Harris College and for
mer Georgia Secretary of State,
will be the guest speaker for this
year’s banquet.
For 25 years the Optimists
have recognized the PHS STAR
Student and Teacher along with
nine STAR finalists with the
largest and most unique local
STAR Banquet in this statewide
program. In the local program,
the Optimists not only recog
nize the STAR Student and
Teacher, but an additional nine
STAR Student and Teacher fi
nalists.
The Star finalists are
(students and teachers):
Jesse Brooks - Christi Hob-
good
Johnson Collins - Joe
Wright
Ryan Evans - Lynn
Cantrell
Savannah Friedman - Gail
Culbreth
Abygayle Gibson - Lisa
Payne
Kari Henke - Robbie
Cheatham
Olivia Parker - Nikki Tow-
ery
Brad Rutledge - Sue Gib
bons
Kyle Watters - Bobby
Timms
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