Newspaper Page Text
Tuesday, May 4,2021
arnesville.com
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
HERE’S THE
SCOOP
One cart
system for
B'ville
garbage
pickup
with
recycling
changes
SEE PAGE 3A
LC vs. Bremen
Elite 8 doubleheader Wednesday
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
The Lamar County soccer
program has a chance to es
tablish itself as a powerhouse
Wednesday when Bremen
comes to town for a rare Elite 8
playoff doubleheader at the LC
soccer stadium. Both the Blue
Devils and Lady Devils come
in as the #1 ranked Class AA
teams in Georgia.
Action begins with the girls
match at 5:30 p.m.
The Lady Trojans are ranked
#7. The Trojans remained un
ranked as of Monday morning.
The Lady Devils clobbered
Elbert County 11-0 in the first
round of the playoffs then blew
out Fannin County 9-1 in the
Sweet 16.
The Lady Trojans advanced
with a 5-1 win over # 8 Thom-
asville here last Wednesday.
The visiting Lady Dogs got a
goal in the first five minutes off
a Lamar defensive lapse before
the Lady Trojans roared back.
Freshman Samiya Smith had
two goals and drew a foul in
the box that led to LC’s first
goal, a PK successfully con
verted by fellow freshman Cara
Bishop. Deshunna Bowles and
Alaina Cato added single goals
for Lamar (13-3). Coach Wayne
Calvert’s team is on an 11-
game winning streak during
SEE DOUBLEHEADER 1B
Bluffton man
arrested in
1-75 road rage
incident gets
25 years
WALTER GEIGER
news@barnesville.com
A Bluffton, SC man who shot
out his own windshield during
a holiday road
rage incident on
1-75 was sen
tenced last week
to 25 years in
prison by Judge
Bill Fears.
Lamar depu
ties were dis
patched to a traffic accident on
Memorial Day 2019 in which
shots were reportedly fired.
Dep. Cynthia Patten found a
wrecked 2002 Honda Civic. The
driver, Richard Charles Brown,
admitted he had a gun but
said it was in a book bag in his
trunk.
Brown said a white SUV had
cut him off in traffic and he
shined a flashlight at it.
In the meantime, Dep. Blake
Redding found the SUV. The
driver, Jerrod Echols, admit
ted he accidentally cut off the
Honda. Echols said Brown
pulled up beside him and
pointed a gun at him so he
rammed the Honda which went
off the roadway. Echols’ twin
daughters were in the SUV at
the time.
The investigation revealed
Brown had fired four shots
through the windshield of the
Honda at Echols’ vehicle.
Brown, 35, waited until a
jury was selected before enter
ing guilty pleas to aggravated
assault and possession of a
firearm during the commission
of a felony.
PHOTOS: WALTER GEIGER
LC, Bremen collide Wednesday
Both the Trojans and Lady Trojans prevailed in Sweet 16 matches last week and battle Bremen in an Elite 8
doubleheader here Wednesday. Both Bremen teams are ranked #1.
LC’s Deshunna Bowles (17) collided with the Thomasvile keeper (left) in a 5-1 win last week while Lamar’s Joe
Davies (10) was thwarted by the Fitzgerald keeper in a 3-2 Sweet 16 win (right).
BROWN
April Mason
named
Career
Woman of
the Year.
SEE PAGE 2A
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Val and Sal have been friendly
rivals all through school years
Valedictorian Ryla Traylor and Salutatorian Saffron Abreu.
KAV S. PEDR0TTI
kayspedrotti@gmail.com
They have different person
alities, different backgrounds,
different aspirations - but vale
dictorian Ryla Nicole Traylor
and salutatorian Saffron Soleil
Abreu are close friends and
fierce competitors simultane
ously for academic achieve
ments. Both are brilliant, hard
workers and concerned with
the fate of the world; both have
younger brothers; both were in
Girl Scouts and other groups
together.
“Being valedictorian is
definitely an honor. The hardest
part of getting here was beating
Saffron,” Ryla said, whereupon
both girls burst out laughing.
“Me too,” said Saffron. “1 tried
to keep up as we went along.
But 1 am glad now 1 don’t have
to make a speech.”
Ryla said she does not like
speech-making either, but un
derstands those things are part
of the well-rounded person she
is now and will be even more so
as she enters the biology and
pre-med program at Tennessee
State University in July. She will
follow the Meharry Medical/
Dental Accelerated Pathway,
which will partly support col
lege expenses.
There are “summer intern
ships” in the program, she
said, and if she does well on
the MCAT (the equivalent of
SAT for medical school) she
will have a spot there. The only
doubt about a career in the
medical field is “which kind of
surgery I want to do, sports
or general orthopedics.” Her
interest in that career has not
wavered since her father, Ryran
Traylor, “took me to work with
him when I was young and he
worked in the medical field.”
Ryran now is a GSC instructor,
as is Ryla’s mother, Dr. Jessica
Traylor.
Ryla also has signed to play
softball at the Division 1 rated
college. Her softball stats at
Lamar County High are note
worthy; in addition to being
named to second-team All State
in 2020, she had the highest
GPA on the team in 2018 and
2019. On the day of the inter
view, she was still waiting for all
the stitches to come out of her
lower lip, which got split by a
softball.
Ryla also has a job at Chic-
Fil-A in Thomaston and has
been part of the Gordon State
College Honors Council since
2019. She made the Dean’s
Merit List at GSC for 2019 and
2020. She has a unique view on
conflicts in the country at pres
ent; she said, “A lot of people
are good at pointing out what’s
wrong and needs to be correct
ed, but very few are willing to
be part of the solutions. I don’t
even like to talk about situa
tions that are wrong until 1 have
figured out in my own mind
ways that could help.”
Both Ryla and Saffron like
to be with friends and family,
but each feels a deep need for
solitude sometimes, to “decom
press” from hectic schedules.
Saffron is this year’s STAR stu
dent at LCHS, and said she is so
driven for perfection and doing
SEE VAL AND SAL 2A
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