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Page 2A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, July 28, 2021 Scholarships awarded to Pike, DEAF: Resourses sought Upson students SUBMITTED PHOTOS Students from PCHS and Upson-Lee High School who earned the Pike County Branch NAACP scholarships include (l-r) Ma’Sherie Blackmon, Zykia Buffin, Tayla Moreland and Jada Willis. FROM PAGE ONE Vancil was serving as a page at the micro phone and his mother, who was also attending the meeting, is deaf. “As someone with a deaf parent, I have a heart for this,” he said. “My mom thought it was awesome, so I made it a point to introduce her to John afterwards.” Blackmon gave two key motivations for his motion. The first had to do with the number of deaf in the United States, which Gallaudet University places at 600,000. According to a 2011 American Commu nity Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 11 million in the U.S. who consider them selves deaf or have seri ous difficulty hearing. The other regarded a lack of resources. Life way phased out its Ex plore the Bible: Deaf cur riculum last November. In December 2019 NAMB honored longtime South ern Baptist Deaf ministry leader Carter Bearden, but since passage of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report in 2010, NAMB focused primarily on church planting. Mark Sauter has worked alongside his wife Vesta with the IMB for the last 25 years in deaf ministry. He credited the MB’s work alongside those such as Brentwood Baptist and Union University in Jackson, Tenn., in pro viding more opportuni ties not only for deaf Southern Baptists, but those wanting to reach the deaf community. “Pastor Blackmon affirmed those efforts ... but his motion is timely in that it pushes forward a real need for access to training and resources by deaf Americans, many of whom are seeking to fol low God’s call on their lives to take the gospel to the deaf nations of the world,” he said. The Concerned Citizens for Pike County, supported by the Pike County Branch NAACP, awarded scholarships to five high school seniors from Pike County High School and Upson-Lee High School. A committee selected students based on grade point average (GPA), SAT or ACT score, letters of recommenda tion and a biographical essay. Each student was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $500. “These students are to be commended for the stellar academic excel lence exhibited during their high school career,” said Patricia Beckham who is the president of the Pike County Branch of the NAACP. Rev. Herman Lucas is the president of the Con cerned Citizens for Pike. Zykia Buffin is an Upson-Lee High School All-A Honor graduate. She is a member of the Beta Club and National Honor Society. Zykia plans to attend Gordon State Col lege to pursue a degree in nursing. She aspires to become an obstetrician- gynecologist nurse and one day own and operate an OB-GYN facility in her hometown. She is the daughter of Eddie Raven Parks, 111 and Sharon Parks. Jada Willis is a Pike County High School Hon or Graduate. She plans to attend Kennesaw State University and major in middle grades education with a concentration in mathematics. Jada plans to teach math to middle grade students because she sees a need in this age group. She enjoys playing basketball, shop ping and riding horses. Jada is the daughter of Roosevelt and Manika Willis. JaVion O’Neal is a 2021 Pike County High School Honor Graduate. He plans to attend the University of West Georgia in the fall to purse a degree in busi ness with a minor in elec trical technology. JaVion plans to own his own business after he finishes college. He enjoys spend ing time with friends and playing basketball. JaVion is the son of Andre John son and Maurice and Janelle Ogletree. Ma’Sherie Blackmon is a senior at Pike County High School. She is a member of the Beta Club. After graduation Ma’Sherie plans to attend Gordon State College to pursue a degree in computer science and become a software en gineer. She enjoys shop ping, cooking, playing card games and taking care of her puppy, Pedro. Ma’Sherie is the daughter of Marcus and Kimberly Blackmon. Tayla Moreland is a senior at Pike County High School. She is an athlete who excels in track and has won many awards in the region and Javion O’Neal earned one of the Pike NAACP scholarships. at the state level. Be cause of her astounding track abilities, she was awarded a track scholar ship from Kennesaw State University. Tayla plans to pursue a degree in physi cal therapy and aspires to be a fitness trainer. Tayla is the daughter of Reginald and Tammy Moreland. Local young athletes enjoy camp Pirates assistant coach Blake Parrott said all of the 77 camp participants loved working with the high school players throughout the camp. They were in charge of running the various stations as the students learned dif ferent baseball skills. PHOTOS BY DONNA KENNEDY At left, Jackson Moulder rounds the bases as the young athletes test their base running skills at camp recently. At right, PCHS Pirates outfielder Jaden Bone teaches young athletes about playing in the outfield during the baseball camp. He ran the outfield drills for all of the young athletes. PHOTO BY RACHEL McDANIEL / PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL REPORTER Students in the summer reading club open eggs to learn about the developing stages of chickens. Young readers learn about chickens Students show the stages of chicken development, including (l-r) Eli Clower, Grayson Pennington and Harper McEntyre. QUALIFYING: Dates, info announced FROM PAGE ONE The qualifying fee for Williamson council seats is $25 and the city clerk/ qualifying officer for the city of Williamson is Karen Brentlinger. The city of Zebulon will hold a general election Nov. 2 for the District 1, Post 1 seat currently held by William Thomas and the District 2, Post 2 seat currently held by incumbent Anthony Nalls. Qualifying will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 16-18 at Zebulon City Hall. The qualifying fee for council seats if $35. The city of Concord will hold a general elec tion on Nov. 2 for mayor, council seat Post 1 and council. If needed, a runoff election will be held Tues day, Nov. 30. Candidates may qualify for the posi tions from Monday, Aug. 16 to Wednesday, Aug. 18 in the office of the city clerk at Concord City Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. The qualifying fees are $18 for mayor and $9 for council seats. The last day to register and be eligible to vote in the November general election is Oct. 4, 2021. County discusses growth, impact; American Rescue Plan Funds Pike commissioners discussed growth in the county and the impact that is having on county offices as well as $3.5 million in American Res cue Plan Funds during their Wednesday, July 14 meeting. Chairman Briar Johnson said as the county grows, several county offices are expe riencing growing pains and asked the county manager to do a needs assessment to see what the county needs to do to plan for the future and whether a munici pal building or justice building may be needed. County manager Bran don Rogers said several offices are suffering from the growth and that changes and quick fixes have been attempted in the past to alleviate issues. “There was a plan a couple years ago that was worked out with the school system to move to another build ing. That plan has not moved forward. The needs assessment would just be a study to see what it will take from the county to move forward,” said Rogers. He was asked to move forward with the study and discuss issues and needs with the sheriff’s department and consti tutional officers in the county. Commissioners also discussed the $1,841,573 the county has received in American Rescue Plan Funds and heard the other half of the fund ing will be received next year. The county has until 2024 to obligate the funds to specific proj ects and until 2026 to complete the projects. The funds can help with infrastructure projects such as broadband and water improvements. Some of the projects considered by the coun ty include installation and extension of water lines from McKinley Road to the subdivision being built at the corner of Drew Allen Road and Williamson Road. The Pike County Water and Sewer Authority recom mends using a 10 inch pipe and continuing ex pansion down William son Road. Installation and grading of pipes for the excess storm water that creates a hazard and floods property at Owens Street, grading work to redirect storm water at Second Street and grading and instal lation of pipe to control storm water run off at Fourth Street, all in the Hill Top Community of Concord were all consid ered as well as $11,000 to complete other projects in the Hill Top Community. Rogers noted that Southern Rivers Energy will help with broad band expansion in the county in the coming years and commissioner Jason Proctor asked for information on ways to help non-SRE customers with broadband. THE COUNTY ALSO: • Heard that Kevin Teate resigned from the Parks and Recreation Authority and thanked him for his years with the county. It was also noted that job vacan cies for that job as well as the fire department chief and senior center site manager have been posted and advertised in the Journal Reporter. • Approved first reading of bereave ment policy for full-time employees with at least 30 days of continuous employment or more. • Approved a revision to the 2021-22 budget to include LM1G grant revenues in excess of $25,000 that was left out. • Approved the first reading of a Whistle blower policy as part of the county’s anti-fraud policy in Chapter 37 of the county ordinance. • Reduced a new building permit fee to half cost at $631 since COV1D-19 delayed con struction and a second building permit was re quired to complete the wedding venue buildint on Highway 19 north. • Approved $15,000 from the Economic Development Authority budget to purchase a new sign for the Busi ness Park. • Approved annual Three Rivers Area Agen cy on Aging contract.