About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2023)
PAGE 8B PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21.2023 Civil Air Patrol Squadron Honors Veterans on Wreaths Across America Day Civil Air Patrol cadets Lieutenant Isabella Hunt, Chief Master Sergeant Luke Hardeman, and Senior Airman Hannah Crohn place wreaths on veterans’ graves at Geor gia National Cemetery. Cadets and senior mem bers of the Ellijay Composite Squadron (which includes Pickens members), alongside thousands of local volunteers, placed wreaths in a solemn ceremony on veterans’ graves at Georgia National Ceme tery on Saturday, December 16th as part of Wreaths Across America Day. This year, more than 2 million veterans’ wreaths were placed across local, na tional, and military cemeter ies as well as veterans’ memorials and historic sites. At Georgia National Ceme tery, nearly 30,000 wreaths were placed on the graves of our country’s fallen heroes. Wreaths Across America was founded in 2005 to con tinue the tradition started in 1992 when the first wreath was laid at Arlington Na tional Cemetery. In 2006, with the help of the Civil Air Patrol and other civic organi zations, simultaneous wreath laying ceremonies were held at more than 150 locations around the country. Today, this tradition con tinues at 4,000 locations across our nation to place re membrance wreaths on veter ans' graves every Christmas, in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and serve and sup port their families and loved ones. The Ellijay Composite Squadron, also known as the Flying Bobcats, serves Gilmer, Cherokee, and Pick ens counties as a local unit of Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Founded in 1941 and estab lished as the official civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force seven years later, Civil Air Patrol is chartered by Congress as a nonprofit or ganization for the purposes of youth development, aero space education, and to pro mote general aviation. In an auxiliary role as a Total Force partner of the Air Force, CAP operates the world’s largest fleet of single-engine aircraft for search and rescue, disas ter relief, training, and educa tion. Civil Air Patrol is dedi cated to serving America’s communities, saving lives, and shaping futures, and is honored to participate in somber remembrance of our Veterans every year on Wreaths Across America Day. May His word bring exceeding great joy to you and your family on Christmas Day and all season long. Merry Christmas Rick & Marcia Jasperse State Representative s > School Board ends year on a positive note By Larry Cavender Contributing Writer In what would be the last regular meeting of the Pick ens Board of Education be fore Christmas break and the new year, local school offi cials had much for which to be merry. Academic and athletic achievement were just some of the reasons for the board members' merriment as two groups of Pickens students were recognized for achieve ment at the Thursday, De cember 14th meeting. A dozen students were honored for their winning awards in the American Revolution History Fair. Historic Place - Second Place - Caroline Jones and Camila Omellas; First Place - Evan Loudermilk. Historic Person - Fouth Place - Evie Ellison; Third Place - Mollie Thomas; Sec ond Place - Kennsington Williams:First Place - Emma Hedelius. Historic Event- Fourth Place - Landon Millsaps: Third Place - Kaleigh Dick erson and Savannah Carter; Second Place - Teagan Deer- ing First Place - Emma Zen- der. The competition, whose complete title is"The Endur ing Legacy of the American Revolution History Fair," was open to fifth through eighth grade students. Com petitors chose either a per son, place, or event which left a mark on United States history and then created a project in which to teach oth ers about their focus. The competition was sponsored by the Sequoyah Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and funded by a grant from the national organization. The board also recognized the Pickens High Drag- onettes softball team for their extremely successful season in which they ad vanced to the Elite Eight of the state championship com petition. Superintendent Travis Thomas congratulated the team for representing PHS so well in what he called an "historic season." More good news came as the board heard their monthly reports. As is al most always the case, system finances are in good shape and Chief Financial Officer Amy Smith said, "Every thing is on target and we have no issues." In his report, Maintenance and Operations Officer Chris Wallace said that the field house project is now under way with erosion control measures being installed and the grading contractor is ex pected to deliver equipment "any day." Wallace added that a no tice of intent should be filed within days. To meet the requirements of House Bill 147 which went into effect last July, Wallace reported that the sheriffs office and campus law enforcement officers had conducted staff safety train ing sessions at every school with further training sched uled for later. Wallace also said that Transportation Director Todd Harris reports that the new Bluebird Buses recently or dered should arrive soon and are requesting that several older buses be surplused with two of those vehicles to be provided to the Boys and Girls Club of Jasper to re place their aging buses that are currently in use. More positive news came from Superintendent Thomas's report to the board. Thomas congratulated the PHS Gameday Cheerlead ers for placing in the top 6 of AAA Class competition and also recognized the PHS Competition Cheerleaders for their top five finish in the state which is the highest fin ish for that sport in school history. Thomas also had high praise for PHS senior Char- Smiling broadly, Superintendent Travis Thomas proudly looks down upon some of the winners of the DAR's "American Revolution History Fair" competition. Pictured are (l- r): (front row) Evan Loudermilk, Kennsington Williams, Emma Hedelius, Landon Mill- saps, Savannah Carter, Emma Zender, and Supt. Thomas; (back row) Steve Lowe, Amy Gibson, Tommy Gartrell, Joe Wigington, Sue Finley. Members of the softball team were congratulated for an "historic season " and for their representation of Pickens County as they advanced to the Elite Eight in the state competition. Pictured L-R: Coach Todd Morrissey, Jaycee Beck, Makenna Moody, Curly Patterson, Coach Sarah Pinson, and Supt. Travis Thomas. lie Gibbons who has been chosen by the local chapter of the DAR to compete at the state level for their "Good Citizen" award. In other action items: • The board approved the 2024-2025 and 2025-26 school system calendars as well as approving two mem orandums of understanding, one with the University of Tennessee College of Educa tion, Health, and Human Sci ences and the other with the Pickens Sheriffs Department for their aforementioned safety training classes. Before adjourning the meeting, Board Chair Tommy Gartrell paused to wish "Merry Christmas to everybody," and also to say, "We've had a wonderful year." United Ti^e offer 1 £/W£! up t0 Tm- MJ MWTIOHto- t? COW F \Q°l'0Pf 0H VOUk IH£TJtU4Vl10H Additional wvims for tof«r\|, health where m fret reepow CMC fc^TIMArTE 1.888.844.1632 Metal Roots Expires 12/31/2023 New orders only. Does not include material costs. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Minimum purchase required. Other restrictions may apply. This is an advertisement placed on behalf of Erie Construction Mid-West, Inc fErie*). 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