Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MAY 14. 2020 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
More environmental
reviews of Ga.
spaceport project ahead
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
The Federal Aviation Ad
ministration (FAA) has de
cided to revisit part of the
environmental review
process required to approve a
controversial commercial
spaceport in Camden County
because of a major change in
the project’s design.
While revising the envi
ronmental impact study (EIS)
will require a second public
comment period, sponsors of
Spaceport Camden say the
new development actually
represents progress for their
plans.
Camden County officials
have been working since the
middle of the last decade to
build a commercial spaceport
they say would create up to
2,000 jobs and convince the
next generation of aerospace
engineers, many of whom
graduate from Georgia Tech,
to stay in Georgia to pursue
their careers. The project en
joys the backing of Gov.
Brian Kemp and the state’s
congressional delegation.
Flomeowners on nearby
Little Cumberland Island
have spearheaded opposition
to the spaceport as a public
safety and environmental
threat.
Officials with the National
ParkSp Service also have
spoken out against the proj
ect, warning it could disrupt
tourism at the popular Cum
berland Island National
Seashore, while the Defense
Department has raised con
cerns over the proposed
launch site’s proximity to the
Kings Bay Naval Submarine
Base.
The county submitted a
revised license application to
the FAA in January that calls
for launching only small
rockets from the site rather
than the medium-to-large
rockets envisioned in the
original plan.
Conservation and envi
ronmental groups opposed to
the spaceport sent a letter a
month later asking the FAA
to order the supplemental
EIS.
“Small rockets fail at a
much higher rate than
medium-to-large rockets, so
the FAA must now consider
the environmental impacts of
these risky, unproven vehi
cles,” said Brian Gist, senior
attorney for the Southern En
vironmental Law Center.
“Given the enormous risks
Spaceport Camden poses to
public health, private prop
erty and Cumberland Island,
this is not the time for short
cuts and half measures.”
Jimmy Starline, chairman
of the Camden County Com
mission, said the FAA order
for a revised environmental
impact study is good news
for the spaceport because it
means the federal agency has
signed off on other key proj
ect milestones.
“With only environmental
review and policy review
outstanding, Spaceport Cam
den has cleared critical safety
and launch location reviews,”
Starline said. “Camden
County has had good conver
sations with the Pentagon
and leadership at Kings Bay,
and we are confident that we
can deconflict any remaining
issues pertaining to the De
partment of Defense.”
“The EIS has been the
longest and most expensive
part of this project,” commis
sion Vice Chairman Gary
Blount added. “I am hopeful
we are nearing an end to that
process.”
School nurses honored
(Standing L to R): nurse Michael Scott (PHS); nurse Traci Baggett (JMS); Gail Smith, Pickens Schools health
services director; nurse Pat Lee (PJHS); nurse Debra Richmond (HES); and nurse Melissa Faucett (HCES). Tate nurse,
Donna Underwood, not pictured.
(Seated L to R): Destini Sliope, Pickens Schools director of Community Engagement & Public Relations; Dr. Rick
Townsend, Pickens Schools superintendent; Rob Jones, Pickens Commission chairman; Tucker Green, chairman, Pick
ens BOE; and Jill Liberatore, Pickens Schools chief accountability officer
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
The Pickens County
Board of Commissioners de
clared Wednesday, May 6th
as School Nurse Day in Pick
ens County.
Nurses from Pickens
County schools attended the
proclamation signing and
told stories about the wide
variety of clinic visits - some
which involve very severe
health issues - that they han
dle on a day-to-day basis
with students and staff. One
nurse recalled performing
life-saving CPR on a teacher
who was choking. Another
nurse spoke about serious
cardiac conditions many stu
dents face.
“People think school
nurses just put on Band-Aids
and fix cuts,” said Pickens
Schools Director of Commu
nity Engagement & Public
Relations Destini Shope. “It’s
a lot more than that.”
The school system’s new
director of health services
Gail Smith, as well as other
local leaders present, thanked
nurses for their important
role within the community.
A portion of the proclama
tion signed that day by Com
mission Chair Rob Jones
reads: “COVID-19 pandemic
has emphasized the essential
role school nurses play in stu
dent health and academic
success,” and further that
“school nurses have served a
critical role in improving
public health and ensuring
students’ academic success
for more than 100 years...
school nurses understand the
link between health and
learning and are in a position
to make a positive difference
for children every day.”
The local proclamation
coincided with National
Nurses Day, also on May 6.
Counseling
Individual, Couples and Family Therapy
with Adults, Teens and Children
Robin W. Dunn M.S.
Licensed Professional Counselor
Over 30 years experience helping people live better
770-548-1966 • 505 Cove Rd. • Suite 3 • Jasper
www.robinwdunnlpc.com
Viburnum Shrubs, a reliable and
showy southern classic
A viburnum in the writer’s yard. The sturdy plant pro
vides showy and very reliable foliage.
By Dee Boggus, Pickens
County Master Gardener
It is hard for me to recom
mend a more varied and adapt
able shrub for your landscape
than a viburnum. There are
more than 150 species of
viburnum shrubs and many are
native to North America. They
are admired for their reliabil
ity, foliage, flowers, and fruit
and are happy with the soils of
our area in full sun to partial
shade.
Viburnums are usually
shrubs, but their habits vary,
many with large and spreading
growth tendencies. Depending
on climate, they can be ever
green, semi-evergreen or de
ciduous shrubs. Most
viburnums in cultivation have
attractive foliage that varies in
size, texture, and color.
Leaves can be rounded,
lance-shape, or lobed and may
or may not have toothed
edges. Deciduous viburnums
have great Fall foliage color,
ranging from yellow to red to
burgundy, depending on the
species or cultivar.
Viburnums usually flower
in Spring, with colors ranging
from white to cream to pink,
and have two major types of
flower heads: flat-topped clus
ters of flowers that resemble
lacecap hydrangeas and snow
ball types with globe or dome
shaped flower clusters. A few
have blooms with strong fra
grances and many produce
fruit that is also of visual inter
est, with red, dark purple, or
black berries that often serve
as an important food source
for birds. Viburnums bloom on
old wood, so hold off on prun
ing until after flowering to
shape or maintain size.
1 love my Eastern snowball
viburnum (V. opulus) because
it is a naturalized heirloom
shrub that is an undemanding
showstopper in my garden.
There is some confusion with
this plant as there are a few
other shrubs (including other
members of the genus Vibur
num) also referred to as a
"snowball bush".
This beautiful deciduous
shrub tolerates most soil types
well and produces large and
showy white blooms similar to
Pee-Gee Hydrangeas (but in
April rather than Pee-Gee’s
Fall bloom).
The ball shaped florets start
out lime green and then open
to brilliant white flower clus
ters that often reach 6 to 8
inches across. Unfortunately,
snowball viburnum blooms
are not fragrant and do not
produce fruit but do provide
fantastic flowers for cutting.
(When cutting flowers place
stems in water immediately
after cutting, then recut stems
again at an angle before ar
ranging in a sturdy vase filled
with water. )
Hardy in our planting zone,
snowball viburnums prefer
full sun through part shade and
grow 12 to 20 feet tall and
about that wide. 1 suggest that
you plant this shrub in the
back of a border as an accent
specimen.
Another viburnum that I
love in my yard is V. plicatum
and 1 have two different types.
The first grows about eight
feet tall, produces lacecap
flowers beginning in April,
then reblooms sporadically
throughout the summer.
As with all lacecap blooms,
a number of larger sterile outer
florets surround a group of
tiny fertile flowers to create a
lacy visual effect. The
blooms are held horizontally
above the foliage. Although it
flowers well, it sets few
berries in my landscape, but
this could be from the lack of
a proper pollinator.
When fruiting does occur,
berries start out red then
change to black. Fall foliage
color of this deciduous shrub
is a reddish-purple.
The second, V. plicatum f.
tomentosum, is the real floral
stand out of my viburnum
world- the doublefile vibur
num. This viburnum shares
most of the characteristics out
lined in the paragraph above
with one major difference- it
only blooms once a season (in
April) and boy does it bloom!
A double line (hence the name
“doublefile”) of large lacecap
blooms run the entire length of
each long horizontal branch
two inches above the foliage.
It is also a larger plant with
heavier stems than my other
viburnums and does not seem
to mind being planted as an
understory shrub. In fact, V.
plicatums are extremely shade
tolerant, and benefit from
mulching to keep the soil cool
during our hot seasons.
Once you plant a viburnum
(or three) in your garden, you
will be certain to enjoy them
from season to season and for
many years to come. During
this time of social distancing,
you can contact me with plant
questions or concerns at dbog-
gus@etcmail.com.
Inhaling air from a hair dryer WILL NOT
help cure the coronavirus, regardless
of what a YouTube clip claims.
1
Russia DID NOT unleash
500 lions to frighten people
into staying indoors,
as seen on Twitter.
There are NO approved
home testing kits for C0VID-
19, despite many online
vendors offering them.
In times of crisis, not all sources
of information are created equal.
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