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MONROE COUNTY
Community Calendar
Calendar items run free
of charge as a communi
ty service each week as
space allows. Mail items
for the Community Cal
endar to Diane Glidewell
at news : -mymcr.net by 8
a.m. on Monday.
New pavers at Monroe
County Veterans Me
morial to be engraved
For those who have been
thinking about honoring a
family member or friend who
is a veteran by engraving
a paver at the Veterans
Memorial on the Monroe
County Square with his
or her name and informa
tion, it is an excellent time
to follow through with that
intention. It is necessary
to wait for engraving until
there are a sufficient number
or orders. Enough orders
have been received, but
the engraver is now waiting
to receive stencil materials.
Orders placed now will be
engraved and ready to view
at the Veterans Memoria
within a few months. It has
been three years since new
pavers were last engraved.
To place an order contact
Dr. Priscilla Doster at 478-
994-9613 of PDoster48®’
aol.com.
Jan.21
Chamber Annual
Meeting & Community
Awards
The Forsyth Monroe County
Chamber of Commerce An
nual Meeting & Commu
nity Awards, sponsored by
United Bank, will be Friday,
Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at the
Monroe County Conference
Center, 475 Holiday Circle,
Forsyth. For tickets, call 478-
994-9239
Reception for Caitlin
Bennett Jackson
There will be a drop-in re
ception for Monroe County
Extension coordinator/agri
culture & natural resources
agent Caitlin Bennett Jack-
son at the Extension office,
484 Highway 83 S, Forsyth
on Friday, Jan. 21 from 3-5
p.m. She has served Monroe
County for the last five years
but has accepted a new
position and will be leaving
Monroe County. All those
with whom she has worked
and interacted over the
last five years are invited to
come wish her well at the
reception.
Jan.22
Pregnancy Center has
Open House & Silent
Auction
The Pregnancy Center of
Monroe County invites
everyone to see its new
facility at 562 N. Lee Street,
Forsyth. There will be a
drop-in Open House &
Silent Auction from 10 a.m.-2
p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Feb. 1
Culloden budget hear
ing
The City of Culloden will
hold a public hearing for its
2022 budget on Tuesday,
Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. at the
Culloden Clubhouse.
Feb. 2
Groundhog tells when
Spring will come
General Beauregard Lee,
Georgia's official groundhog
weather predictor, will make
his 2022 forecast from his
home at Dauset Trails Na
ture Center at 7:30 a.m. on
Groundhog Day, Wednes
day, Feb. 2. Gates will be
open by 6 a.m., the public
is invited and souvenir shirts
will be available for cash or
check.
Feb. 7
Historical Society to
resume meetings
Monroe County Histori
cal Society will not meet in
January but plans to resume
regular meetings on the first
Monday of the month at 7
p.m. at the Conley Building
on Adams Street in February
(Feb. 7).
Feb.24
Monroe County Demo
cratic Committee to
meet
The Monroe County Demo
cratic Committee will meet
on Thursday, Feb. 24. The
purpose of the meeting is to
elect officers and commit-
See CALENDAR
Page 2C
January 19, 2022
/^~*\ • . sEeporter
Community g]
Around Monroe County ► ► Forsyth • Juliette • High Falls • Bolingbroke • Culloden • Smarr
Forsyth’s King Day celebration brings
positive messages despite wintry blast
Left to right, Rev. Rufus Whatley, Aretha Neal Thompson, Mayor Eric
Wilson and keynote speaker Jesse Hicks bear the cold as they prepare to
speak at Forsyths Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymcr.net
The Forsyth Martin Luther King
Jr. Day program carried an opti
mistic message of hope combined
with a call to action. Speakers
repeated their favorite Dr. King
quotes emphasizing his servants
spirit and the obligation of those
who admire him to continue his
work of dreaming and turning
dreams into reality.
“I believe Dr. King is the second
most important man God ever cre
ated, and you know who the first
is,” said keynote
speaker Jesse
Hicks, long time
successful head
football coach at
Baldwin County
High School.
“Today we pledge
our hearts, minds,
spirits and bodies
to the dream an
assassins bullet
tried to take away.
We’ve been given
the assignment to
carry on.”
In introduc
ing Hicks, James
Hogan said that
he has been his
friend for 20
years. He said he
met him through
his work as a football official and
Hick’s position as a football coach.
Hogan noted that when he was
playing high school football a
number of years ago there weren’t
many coaches or officials who
looked like him.
“But I was impressed with him
not as a coach, but as a shaper of
men,” said Hogan.
Hicks said that he was shaped by
the close relationship his mother
and grandmother, Big Mama,
had with Jesus Christ and by their
admiration for and adherence to
the teachings of King. He said Big
Mama’s formal education ended in
6th grade but that he learned more
from her than he did from all of his
university studies. He asked those
listening to imagine the impact
they could have if they took King’s
words and used them every day in
their interactions with others.
Hicks said he grew up without
a father in his life until he was 12
years old and decided to go into
coaching so that he could stand in
that gap in the lives of young men.
He said he was born in 1971, after
King was assassinated in 1968,
so he didn’t get to see him speak.
But Hicks said he gets chills up his
spine hearing King speak on televi
sion or on film. His favorite speech
of Dr. King’s is his “drum major”
speech.
He said Big Mama told him,
’’Your flesh is
going to die
but your spirit
and soul need
somewhere to
go.” She told
him that he
didn’t know his
great grand
father but she
wanted him to
leave a legacy
so his great
grandchildren
will know who
he is.
He reminded
everyone to
give of their
time, some
thing we give
that we can’t
get back, and
to remember to say thank you. He
said he was thankful to King, to
Forsyth for inviting him for the
program, to Hogan for his friend
ship and what he has learned from
him over the years, to his mother
and to Big Mama.
The Forsyth Martin Luther King
Jr. Day Committee presented an
successful program in spite of
the challenges of COVID, which
prompted them to forego the tra
ditional march from the square to
Kynette United Methodist Church,
the program inside the church and
the social meal afterwards. The
outdoor program on the square
faced uncomfortably cold tempera
tures accentuated by biting wind
during midday.
With the thermometer at 39
degrees and 12 mph gusts making
it feel like 33 degrees, according to
the weather service, many of those
who attended enjoyed the program
from their cars. It was taped to
reach some of those who couldn’t
come.
A highlight was Adolph Rawls
on keyboard, opening the program
singing “We Shall Overcome” and
accompanying Elliot Chambliss
as he sang “Precious Lord,” King’s
favorite hymn, and later “Lift Up
Every Voice and Sing.” The notes
carried clearly across the court
house square.
Hogan served as master of cer
emonies. Aretha Neal Thompson
welcomed everyone and empha
sized the theme of continuing the
dream, especially by voting, en
couraging others to vote and being
involved in the community.
Mayor Eric Wilson said it was
an honor to be part of the pro
gram; he said his favorite quote
from Dr. King is that life’s most
urgent and persistent question is
‘What are you doing for others?’
Rev. Clarence Thrower gave the
opening prayer, thanking God
that Forsyth could come together
for the program; asking Him to
guide us to uplift one another and
to guide local leadership to work
together; and expressing gratitude
that things were a little better than
last year.
Rev. Rufus Whatley closed the
program with the admonishment
not to be a dream killer because
there are already so many among
us who are. He said to continue to
dream and to make dreams reality,
especially in light of, as it says in
Matthew 9, “The harvest is plenti
ful, but the laborers are fewJ’
Whatley said thoughts of Martin
Luther King Jr. bring him to the
movie,”King,” which has scenes of
the Monroe County Courthouse
and a number of community lead
ers. He encouraged those listening
to watch the movie and to think
about the contributions of those
community leaders.
Reflecting on the last three years
of the pandemic, Whatley said
one of his parishioners had asked
him if it’s the end of the world.
He answered no, it’s a test because
we have strayed away from the
church. He said we need to get
back to people coming to church
like they came to the celebration of
the University of Georgia’s national
football championship on Saturday.
He said now you can throw a rock
in church and not hit anyone. He
urged everyone to ask, “Lord, what
more can I do?”
The MLK Day Committee col
lected donations for a scholarship.
Those who would like to contrib
ute may contact any committee
member: Linda Hampton, Charles
Wilder Sr., Bernice Smith, Johnnie
A good audio system carried the
inspiring voices and music of Adolph
Rawls, left,and Elliott Chambliss,
middle, across downtown Forsyth
during the MLK Jr. Day program.
Family Connection looks at data on Monroe County families
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymcr.net
On Jan. 4 Monroe
County Family Connection
held its annual meet
ing to share data on the
well-being of children and
families in Monroe County
and compare it to data
from the state. The meeting
was held virtually with a
dozen people attending in
addition to Adam Swymer,
who led the meeting, and
Dr. Virginia Dick, who
presented the data.
Each of Georgia’s counties
has a Family Connection
organization, funded partly
by the state and partly by
the county. The purpose of
Family Connection to to
bring various organizations
that serve needs in the
community together and
coordinate them so that
there aren’t groups provid
ing redundant or overlap
ping services while there
are gaps related to other
needs.
Family Connection meet
ings try to bring represen
tatives of various groups
together so that they are
aware of both resources
and needs and can work
together to reach broader
goals. County Family
Connections organiza
tions are asked to select a
specific area of focus each
year where there is a need
for improvement.
Georgia’s Family Con
nection organizations are
divided into 12 regions;
Monroe County is in Re
gion 6 with 10 other coun
ties that primarily surround
Bibb County. Swymer is
the regional manager for
Region 6. He is currently
leading Monroe County
Family Connection in the
absence of a county direc
tor since the former direc
tor, Drew Winters, resigned
in September. Brandi Pye
resigned as chair of the
Monroe County Family
Connection board shortly
afterwards.
Swymer introduced Dick,
an evaluation consultant
with Georgia Family Con
nections, to present the
latest data available for
Monroe County. She said
the information comes
primarily from the U.S.
Census, the Department of
Public Health, and Child
Welfare Services. The data
is available for counties
throughout the United
States, which can be help
ful for comparisons. It is
available on-line at various
sites. Dick said the public
can find data tools at the
Family Connection website
at gafcp.org.
Unfortunately most of the
“latest” data provided by
Family Connection is from
2019. Swymer said the lag
in data collection and avail
ability is even greater than
usual because of COVID
influences. The changes
in data collection by the
schools through Milestone
tests are making it difficult
to compare 2020 and 2021
with previous years. He
said that pre-COVID num
bers can’t really be com
pared to current numbers.
For example, in working
with suicide prevention
initiatives, counties are hav
ing difficulty measuring the
impact of COVID on the
problem. The state is ask
ing county level partners
to share applicable data.
Swymer said the data avail
able does help to see how a
county is doing in different
areas over long term and
how a county compares
with the state as a whole.
For example, Dicks said
that cases of child abuse
and neglect in Monroe
County in 2019 exceeded
the state average. The rate
of substantiated child
abuse incidents in Mon
roe County was 4.5/1,000
children compared to 2.2
incidents in Georgia. The
rate of substantiated child
neglect incidents in Mon
roe County was 5.2/1,000
children compared to 2.0
in Georgia. The actual
numbers were 25 incidents
of abuse and 29 incidents of
neglect in Monroe County
in 2019. Monroe County
ranked 116 out of 159
counties for child abuse
and neglect combined, with
a county rate of 9.3 inci
dents/1,000 versus the state
rate of 3.9.
Sametrice Adams-Carter,
director of Monroe County
Department of Family &
Children Services (DFCS),
said there was a deep dive
in the number of child
abuse and neglect reports
in 2020, but it was gen
erally agreed that was
misleading because of chil
dren not being in school
and not being involved
in community activities
where they were seen and
concerned adults made
reports. Adams-Carter said
there was a slight increase
in reports in 2021, but it
wasn’t at the 2019 level.
She said there were also
changes in how her office
was able to handle reports
in 2020 and 2021.
Dicks said that histori
cally numbers of reports
go up when children go
back to school, such as
after holidays, supporting
the perception that the
decrease in reports in 2020
and 2021 reflects a decrease
in reporting rather than a
decrease in incidents.
In analyzing Monroe
County data, Dicks said the
county is below the state
average for teen pregnan
cies and births in 2019. She
said it appears that most of
the children in the county
who are eligible for Medic
aid or Peachcare are being
served. She said Monroe
County is a rock star in the
See FAMILIES . Page 6C