Newspaper Page Text
^Reporter
-| g July 13, 2016
Terry Johnson Page 1B
Public Record Pages 3B-4B
The best
coverage
for Monroe
County sports
Paw Print Classic
to begin Monday
Mary Persons softball will hold its annual fundraiser
tournament, the Paw Print Classic, beginning on
Monday.
The tournament, which will be held daily at the
Monroe County Recreation Department, will run
through Thursday. The 2016 version is the 11th playing
of the Paw Print Classic.
MPs No. 1 varsity softball team will begin play at
11:30 a.m. on Monday against Bleckley County on Field
7. The No. 1 squad will then play Tattnall at 2:30 p.m.
on Field 6. MPs No. 1 team will then play Locust Grove
at 10 a.m. on Tuesday on Field 5. MPs No. 1 squad will
then face Crawford County at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday
on Field 6 before playing Starr’s Mill at 7 p.m. on
Tuesday on Field 6. MPs No. 1 team will then square
off with Houston County at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday
on Field 6 before taking on Jasper County at 4 p.m. on
Wednesday on Field 5. MPs No. 1 team will then wrap
up its week at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday with a showdown
versus Jackson on Field 5.
MPs No. 2 varsity softball team will begin play at
4 p.m. on Monday against Peach County. MPs No. 2
squad will then face Jackson’s No. 2 squad at 1 p.m. on
Tuesday on Field 6 before taking on Wheeler at 7 p.m.
on Tuesday on Field 5. MPs No. 2 team will then play
Houston County’s No. 2 team at 10 a.m. on Wednesday
on Field 7 before facing Starr’s Mill at 1 p.m. on
Wednesday on Field 7. MPs No. 2 squad will then wrap
up its week with a showdown versus Jackson’s No. 2
team at 11 a.m. on Thursday on Field 5.
MPs Middle School softball team will begin play
at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday against Crawford County
on Field 8. MP will then face Jasper County at
2:30 p.m. on Tuesday on Field 8. MP will next play
against Bleckley County’s No. 1 team at 11:30 a.m. on
Wednesday on Field 8 before taking on Henderson at
2:30 p.m. on Field 8. MP will then take on ELCA at
10 a.m. on Thursday on Field 7 before wrapping up its
week with a contest against Bleckley County’s No. 2
squad at 1 p.m. on Thursday on Field 6.
MP’s Herring
named top
Nike camper
Mary Persons defensive line
man Malik Herring was named
Defensive Lineman of the
Week by NGSC Sports at a
recruiting event called “The
Opening” this past week. Her
ring was among the country’s
most coveted college football
recruits who assembled at
Nike’s world headquarters in
Beaverton, Oregon July 5-10.
Herring will reportedly name
his college choice next month,
and has reportedly narrowed
his choices down to UGA and
Clemson. (Photo/Kipp Adams/
CBS Sports)
Rec fall sports sign-ups underway
The Monroe County Recreation
Department opened its online sign
ups for fall sports on July 1.
Parents may sign their children
up at the department’s website
mocorec.org. Walk-in registration at
the Youth Center will also be held
starting Aug. 1 running until Aug.
17. The registration fee is $30.
Football age groups will include:
two 6U (flag football or tackle)
leagues as well as tackle football
leagues for ages 8U, 10U and 12U.
Soccer age groups will include: 6U,
8U, 10U, 13U and 16U while cheer
leading will include cheerleaders
age 5-12. Also, if enough three-year-
olds sign up for soccer, the depart
ment may have a “Muppet League.”
Ages are as of Sept. 1.
If the rec department does not
already have a copy of your child’s
birth certificate on file, the depart
ment will need copy. Persons who
register online should bring a copy
to the youth center.
For football, parents will provide
a helmet, a mouthguard, shoulder
pads, pants with pads and cleats.
For soccer, parents will provide
shin guards, cleats and shorts. For
cheerleading, the uniform fee is an
additional $20, which includes a
top, skirt, bloomers and pompoms.
Cheerleaders who have a uniform
from last year that still fits may
wear that one instead of buying a
new one.
For more information, contact
the Monroe County Recreation
Department at 478-994-7795.
Chafin-Perry win Member-
Steve Chafin and Tom
Perry shot a blistering
13-under par 59 at the
Forsyth Golf Club on
June 26 to win the club’s
Member-Member golf
event by five strokes.
Following closely behind
in the championship
flight were Rusty Hill
and Mike Swearingen
at 64, Bobby Shell and
Sonny Trammell with 65
and Mark Gay and Caleb
Speir at 66.
First Flight victors were
Gracey Colvin and Jeremy
Seymour followed by
Chester Grant and Dean
Darden. Long drive hon
ors went to Seymour and
Perry while Chafin won
closest-to-the-hole honors.
The next scheduled tour
nament at Forsyth Golf
Club is a two-man best
ball at 1 p.m. on Sunday,
July 17. The competition
is open to the public and
the cost is $60 per team.
Sign up either in the pro
shop or by calling 994-
5328. Bobby Shell is the
tournament director.
Also, the Forsyth club
championships are sched
uled for Sunday, Aug. 23.
In other golf news,
Lizella Baptist received
Member
top honors in the last
church league competition
of the spring by edging
St. Peter Claver Catholic
by one point. Playing
for Lizella was Terry
Wilbourne, Jim Soles, A1
Earls and J.R. Pope. Jim
Puster, Lance Kornegay,
Mitchell Perry and Tom
Perry represented St.
Peter Claver.
Leadership class to hold
The 2016 Leadership Monroe class
will hold a Luau Fundraiser from
7 p.m.-ll p.m. on Friday, July 22
to benefit Operation All-Aboard
Playpark.
Tickets for the event, which will
be held at the Monroe County
Conference Center, will cost $500
per table, $40 per person or $65
per couple. The event will include
food, fun, dancing, a cash bar and a
silent auction. All proceeds from the
event will benefit the all-abilities
playground addition to the Monroe
County Recreation Department.
The 2016 class decided earlier this
year to pursue building an all-abili
ties playground as its class project.
Class president Daniel Stickler said
he hopes construction on the play-
luau July 22
ground will begin by January 2017.
For interviews and questions, con
tact Stickler at 478-808-6234.
For more information about the
event, call the Forsyth-Monroe
County Chamber of Commerce at
478-994-9239 or email the Chamber
at lindsey@forsyth-monroechamber.
com.
Bulldogs brave the heat
Mary Persons hosted a 7-on-7 passing camp on
Tuesday morning, squaring off against Northeast
(Macon) and Taylor County. The Bulldogs will next
travel to Washington County on Thursday for yet
another summer camp. (Photo/Richard Dumas)
Monroe Outdoors
Take time to report summer turkey sightings
tions and examples of
how sightings need to be
recorded. If you have any
questions, contact Bobby
at 478-825-6354.
If you take part in the
survey, your data will be
used to develop an index
of the 2016 turkey pro
duction. Once received
biologists will analyze
these data on a statewide
and physiographic region
basis.
We Monroe Countians
have an excellent chance
to spot hens and/or
broods during the next
couple of months. As
such, if you will just take
a few minutes to record
your sightings, these
unexpected encounters
become much more than
exciting events —they
will be invaluable data
that will help ensure that
wild turkeys will prosper
in our beautiful county. I
know I will be reporting
my sightings; I hope you
will report yours too.
Terry Johnson is the
retired Program, Manager
of the Georgia Nongame-
Endangered Wildlife
Program. Pie has written
an informative column
for the Reporter for many
years.
BY TERRY W.
JOHNSON
tjwoodduck@bellsouth
net
E arly summer
is an impor
tant time
for Monroe
County’s wild
turkeys. This
is especially
true for hens,
their nests
and offspring.
Recently two
chance encoun
ters with
the big birds
reminded of
just how true
this is.
The first
event took
place on June 24, the
day of the Piedmont
National Wildlife Refuge/
Rum Creek Wildlife
Management Area
Summer Butterfly Count.
While searching for but
terflies in a road shoul
der alongside Georgia
Highway 83 in eastern
Monroe County, one of
the members of the count
team flushed a hen tur
key from a blackberry
thicket adjacent to the
nearby woods. Suspecting
that the hen was sitting
on eggs, he walked over
Terry W. Johnson
to the spot where the hen
flushed and found a nest
containing eight large,
buffy white eggs adorned
with small brownish
spots. When the bird took
flight she passed over me
and landed in a tall pine
on the other
side of the
busy highway.
Nine days
later, on
July 3, as I
was driving
down a rural
road in west
ern Monroe
County, I hap
pened across
two hens and
10 large poults
feeding in the
tall grass adja
cent to a narrow county
road. The young birds
and their mothers did not
move until I stopped to
take a closer look at the
poults and adults. As I
reached my camera, the
hens and their young
simply sauntered into the
woods and vanished.
The success of these and
countless other hens that
are currently nesting or
raising young throughout
the county will have a
tremendous impact on
the health of Monroe
County wild turkey flocks
as well as the quality
of our turkey hunting
in the not too distant
future.
Wildlife biologists
have long recognized
that there is a strong
correlation between
observations of hens
and poults during the
months of June, July
and August and the
numbers of gobblers
available to hunters.
With that in mind,
in 1978 the Georgia
Wildlife Resources
Division launched the
Turkey Production
Survey. The goal of the
study was to collect
data on as many sight
ings of hens and broods
as they could.
The success of this sur
vey is directly linked to
the level of participation
of hunters and other con
servationists interested in
the health of the state’s
wild turkey popula
tion. With this in mind,
the Wildlife Resources
Division strongly encour
ages the public to report
all of the wild turkey
hens seen with and with
out broods that they spot
during June, July and
August.
The WRD doesn’t want
anybody to make a spe-
Turkey poults like these can be spotted around Monroe
County in June, July and August if you watch for them.
(Photo/Terry Johnson)
cial effort to seek out hen
turkeys and their broods.
Instead they want folks to
report the birds they see
driving to church, work,
the grocery store or just
taking a Sunday after
noon ride.
Volunteers are asked to
record sightings on a form
which should be submit
ted at the end of August
to Bobby Bonds, Senior
Wildlife Biologist, WRD,
Game Management
Section, 1014 MLK Blvd.,
Ft. Valley, GA 31030.
This form can be obtained
by going to Google Search
and typing in Georgia
Turkey Production
Survey. This will bring
up a page titled Turkey
Production Survey. When
you browse the page you
will see the words ‘this
form’ highlighted in bold
print. When you click on
the highlighted words
the form will appear.
Accompanying the form
are easy to follow instruc-