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'"^w 1 ww.mymcr.net • VOL. 41 MO. 50 USPS 997-840 2 sections, 28 pages • Forsyth, GA * Wednesday, December 12, 2012 * $1
Inside
How will
MP hoops
fare this
year?
See pages 1-5B
Deaths
Early James
Buckner
Col. Thornton Akin
Burns Jr.
James Albert Evans
Marjorie Nell Smith
Hammond
Fredric Harvey
‘Fred’ Greene
William Robert
‘Bob’ Land
Lee Ann Scott
Jack William
Turner Sr.
See page 6A
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MP: The Write Stuff
BY WILL DAVIS
Mary Persons High School jun
iors led all of Middle Georgia and
most of the state in scores on the
state writing test released last
week.
Of the 226 MP juniors who took
the test earlier this fall, 99.6 per
cent met or exceeded the standard
set by the state. That put MP at
No. 1 among Middle Georgia high
schools and at No. 20 among the
428 state schools that took the
test. In fact, Mary Persons juniors
outperformed some of the best
high schools in the state such as
Kennesaw Mountain High School
in Cherokee County and Johns
Creek High in Fulton County.
MP principal Jim Finch said he
is very proud of his juniors, even
more so because writing is one of
the most important skills the
school teaches.
"We put more stock in writing
because that's a skill indicative of
student learning," said Finch.
Asked why MP's writing scores
have improved so much, Finch
said the school system imple
mented a K-12 writing initiative
around 2007 that is starting to
bear fruit.
"This is not just an MP thing,
See MP page 7A
#
% Meets
% Exceeds
Mean Writing
School
Tested
Standard
Standard
% Pass
Scale Score
1
Baker County K12 Sch
16
100
0
100
219
2
Savannah Arts Academy
172
83
17
100
237
3
Pope High
372
74
26
100
243
4
Early College Academy
37
73
27
100
245
5
Dekalb School of Arts
67
70
30
100
245
6
Forsyth Academy
21
95
5
100
226
7
i-Achieve Academy
20
95
5
100
227
8
Fulton Science Acad
37
78
22
100
235
9
Gwinnett Math Sci Tec
176
46
54
100
265
10
Houston County Career
10
100
0
100
218
11
Baconton Comm Charter
33
91
9
100
231
12
Columbus High
337
76
24
100
242
13
Davidson Fine Arts
95
70
31
100
248
14
Carver Early College
91
82
18
100
238
15
Buford High
214
72
28
100
245
16
Trion High
99
88
12
100
233
17
Fayette County High
264
85
14
100
233
18
Alpharetta High
490
67
32
100
248
19
Lassiter High
470
76
24
100
240
20
Mary Persons High
226
86
14
100
233
21
Creekview High
402
77
23
100
238
22
Cambridge High
185
81
18
100
239
23
River Ridge High
363
80
20
99
236
A list of
the
schools
with top
scores on
the writ
ing test
shows
MP at
20th in all
of Ga. out
of 400+
schools,
(rounded)
Locals portray Greatest Story
Christ United Methodist Church and Rocky Creek Baptist Church teamed up this past weekend to present a
Live Nativity, re-creating the scene at Jesus' birth. Among those participating were Josey Rafferzeder, Ken
Smith (shepherd in fore), Aimee Freeman, Joshua Harrell, Austin Benson, Bucky Allen (Joseph), Emilee Ben
son (Mary) and Willow Waldrep. See more photos page 10A. (Photo/William Haun/www.whaun.com)
Bus chief
admits to
servicing
his car in
bus shop
BY WILL DAVIS
It appears Monroe County schools
transportation director John Courson
will face legal and job sanctions after
he admitted using the county's bus
shop to work on his personal vehicle.
See COURSON page 7A
i M
7*
A 1
L tuml
This photo supplied to the Reporter
anonymously shows Courson’s vehicle
on the rack at the county bus shop.
Movene Futch is county’s Citizen of Year
Movene Futch receives the Citizen of the Year
Award from Will Davis, publisher of the Re
porter. (Photo/Darlene McLendon)
Saving lives, passing
A founding board member of
the Monroe County Pregnancy
Center, Movene Futch has
given countless hours to
counseling women in crisis
pregnancies, teaching
abstinence classes in
Monroe County schools and
raising money so that every
county student can have a
book about relationships
and abstinence. It’s long
hours and no pay, but it is
all worth it, said Futch,
when a lady stops her at
Ingles and hugs her neck,
reminding her that she per
suaded her not to abort her
son, now a Mary Persons foot
ball player.
She may not have needed any
more thanks, but she got it
anyway on Thursday night
when Futch was named
Monroe County's 2012 Citizen
of the Year. The award is pre-
Citizens of the Year
2007 Jo Anna Banks
2008 Jo Shipman
2009 Dr. Bob Fountain
2010 Jim Buff
2011 Bob Harris
2012 Movene Futch
sented each year by the
Reporter and the Forsyth-
Monroe County of Commerce
at the chamber's annual ban
quet, held at the Georgia
Public Safety T'aining Center.
A surprised Futch told the
on values
crowd of more than 150 that
she’s very humbled to receive
the award, adding that she’d
rather share it with
Pregnancy Center volun
teers.
Also honored Thursday
were the Bill Bazemore
Volunteer of the Year, given
to Telsa Stokes, and the
Small Business of the
Year, given to Caldwell
Veterinary Clinic (see page
7A).
Futch was nominated by
Anita Dumas of Forsyth.
Here's the nomination:
Movene Futch gives of her
self for her family, church and
community and through hun-
See CITIZEN pg 7A
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