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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MARCH 31.2022
Continued From 1A
Library
Partial funding of $1.8
million for the project is from
SPLOST monies, approved
by voters in 2014. To fund
the remaining portion, the
Sequoyah Regional Library
System (SRLS) applied for
Continued From 1A
and received a $2 million
Capital Outlay Grant from
the state, which is adminis
tered by the Georgia Public
Library Service. These grants
are funded by the sale of
bonds and must be approved
by the state legislature. The
Capital Outlay Grant for the
Pickens County Library’s
renovation and expansion
was approved for the fiscal
year of 2021.
The Pickens County Li
brary building is closed to the
public during construction. A
temporary, limited-service li
brary called ‘■‘Pickens Grab &
Go” is located inside the
Mountain Education Charter
High School building at 339
West Church Street. Here, li
brary patrons are able to
check-out and return materi
als, place and pick-up library
holds, request interlibrary
loans, pay fines, and browse
a selection of items from the
library’s collection. Two ex
press computer stations are
available for users to access
Wi-Fi, print, and make
copies.
Pickens County Library
programming, such as story
times and other events, will
continue and take place at
off-site locations. To view the
library’s full programming
schedule and register for
events, visit
calendarwiz.com/sequoy-
ahreglib. Visit sequoyahre-
gionallibrary.org/pcl-project
for updates and announce
ments about the construction
project, as well as up-to-date
service hours for the Pickens
Grab & Go temporary serv
ice location.
Airport
about issues pertaining to the
two hangars and storage
space he and his son lease in
volving paving and water
service in that area of the air
port. The authority and their
engineer said the issue will
be addressed “in follow up
paving” and offered some
rent reduction to the pilot.
But as a possibly larger
issue, the pilot said he had
concerns with security and
the need for security fencing
as there had been a homeless
family sleeping the parking
lot recently.
Continued From 1A
In a response, airport en
gineer Phil Eberly said at cur
rent the FAA doesn’t give a
high priority to fund fencing
but it is in the local author
ity’s five-year plans. He also
said wildlife fencing, which
may be needed for deer prob
lems at the airport, might at
tract more funding.
During this discussion,
another person chimed in that
there needs to be some
thought to the fencing as
there had been two near col
lisions of planes taxiing on
the ground.
The second speaker of
fered several larger-issue crit
icism with a much more
Tree
erected a Liberty Pole.
Principal Jennifer Halko
said, “the Liberty Tree plant
ing fit really well into our
history curriculum and fur
thered our school’s emphasis
on teaching the importance of
agriculture in our student’s
daily lives.”
Hill City’s Sonia Chap
man is the only Certified Ag
elementary teacher in the
state. She is having a “Dress
Like A Farmer Day” on
March 25th to celebrate Na
tional Agriculture Week.
Mary Turner of the
Daughters of the American
Revolution, Regent of the Se
quoyah Chapter, Jasper, pre
sented Principal Halko with a
certificate of appreciation for
the school’s planting of a
Liberty Tree.
Hill City Elementary
serves over 600 students and
was one of two schools in the
state of Georgia to receive a
2021 ESEA National Distin
guished School Award for
implementing a creative cur
riculum.
Kevin Kami holds the bucket of mulch as fourth grade
student Savannah Johnson helps cover the newly-planted
Liberty Tree with pine bark. Each of the 90 plus students
had the opportunity to assist distributing the ground cover
and what one day will be a Hill City landmark.
O
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Your online news source
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combative tone, including
him claiming the “real list” of
pilots waiting to lease T-
hangars had never been re
leased. He asked airport
manger Randy Thomason di
rectly, “Where’s the real
list?”
Chair Boggus replied that
the list has been published
and is transparent. [The
Progress published the list
provided by the county fol
lowing an open records re
quest earlier this year.]
The pilot then questioned
how the hangar project had
grown in price from
$500,000 for the 5,000
square foot building to more
than $2.3 million and how
much local taxpayers will be
responsible for. Boggus
replied that the speaker’s
numbers were not correct.
The meeting broke down
into some chaos at the con
clusion. Among the com
ments, some were directed to
Pickens Commission Chair
Kris Stancil as the meeting
was adjourning asking about
removing Boggus from the
authority. Stancil said it
would take “cause” presented
to the commissioners and no
cause has been seen.
Following the rancorous
public comment section, the
actual business-session lasted
about 10 minutes and saw au
thority members approve the
new terminal roof design and
final drawings and the five
grants associated with the
new facility. Manager
Thomason informed the Au
thority of continuous fuel
price increases. He said due
to the international situation,
“fuel goes up every three
days.”
Jet traffic has increased
along with sales of jet fuel. In
February 19 jets were
recorded at the airport and
this month will exceed that.
Thomason is working on
repairing or building a new
catwalk and has upgraded the
wind sock so “that it is lit up
like a harvest moon.” It is the
first time in 15 years that a
wind sock can be seen at
night, he said.
Airport Engineer Phil
Eberly, president of Lead
Edge Design Group, reported
site work planning for the
new terminal continues and
is coordinating the new pave
ment project. In addition,
he is looking at restriping
some hangar areas.
Responding to a question,
Eberly said with construction
there may be some closings
but they will give as much
advanced notice as possible.
Continued From 1A
105
standing at work all day, the
evenings would find her on
the dance floor dancing well
into the night to such hits as
"In the Mood," "Begin the
Beguine," and "Moonlight
Serenade."
When asked about her
passion for dancing, Maddie
answered, "I love to dance!"
It is interesting to note, that
despite her now being mostly
confined to a wheel chair, she
answered in the present tense
and not the past, even more
evidence of her optimistic
and positive attitude.
In the midst of World War
II in 1943, it was at a dance
where she met a man who
also loved to dance. His
name was Melville and they
would soon marry. Maddie
moved with her new husband
to Harrisburg, Penn, where
the Schmoyers had two
daughters. Their progeny
would eventually include two
grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren, with the
eldest great-granddaughter
being named after the great
grandmother.
Maddie and Melville
would be married for more
than 50 years until his pass
ing in 1994.
Following retirement, the
Schmoyers moved to Venice,
Fla., and at her new home,
Maddie became an avid gar
dener. She soon developed
another passion, playing
Bridge, and she joined a
Bridge club. According to
daughter Sandra Scharf, al
though her mother often
complained that she "was too
busy," Maddie joined yet a
second Bridge club. When
she was reminded of her ear
lier complaint about being
"too busy," Maddie re
sponded, "Dear, they serve
Bloody Marys." Sandra con
fessed that those drinks must
have been of the virgin vari
ety, because her mother was
not known to partake of alco
hol.
However, despite always
being busy, Maddie
Schmoyer found the time to
log thousands of hours vol
unteering for a local Venice,
Fla. hospital auxiliary.
She found her way to
Pickens County about 10
years ago when she moved in
with Sandra who lives in Big
Canoe, and later, Maddie be
came a resident of Rock
Creek Manor.
Maddie Schmoyer was
bom during the First World
Maddie is wheeled into the lobby of Rock Creek Manor
by an attendant much to the delight of her many well-wish
ers. As a young woman living in the Great Depression and
in the midst of the Big Band era, Maddie developed a pas
sion for dancing.
With her age displayed prominently by the balloons above her, Maddie sits behind the
extremely large birthday cake to honor her 105th. The cake was provided by Matt Cox of
Caritas Hospice.
War and as an infant, she sur
vived the Spanish Flu as well
as in her later years, the
Coronavirus Pandemic. She
struggled through the Great
Depression only to emerge in
the midst of the despair and
destruction that was World
War II. She witnessed the
dawn of the Atomic Age with
its resultant Cold War, and
later the Cuban Missile Cri
sis, and the assassinations of
the Brothers Kennedy and
Martin Luther King, Jr. She
experienced the heights of
human achievement with
Neil Armstrong's landing on
the moon and also the depths
of man's inhumanity to man
with the devastation of 9-11.
For a woman who had
lived through and seen so
much, how would she view
how things had changed? In
her interview, when she was
asked her thoughts on the
state of the world today, her
eyes twinkled in a knowing
way and she replied, "Well,
it's still going 'round and
'round, isn't it?"
It was an answer worthy
of Maddie Schmoyer's opti
mism and of the wisdom she
has garnered from 105 years
of "good living."
It is extremely rare to see a birthday cake emblazoned
with the words, "Happy 105th Birthday. "Although it was
a very large cake, for obvious reasons, candles were not
used as it would have required five score and five to mark
the milestone.
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