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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016
Jackson teens survive little Tybee Island mishap
Make it back safely
Alton Wise and Jacob Hammonds made it home to Jackson
Little Tybee Island.
Two Nicholson teenag
ers found themselves in
a scary situation during
a recent camping trip.
Alton Wise and Jacob
Hammonds got stuck on a
nature reserve with limited
food and water during a
trip in June.
The two had previously
camped in the mountains
but wanting something
different, they opted for
Little Tybee Island, a nature
reserve off the coast of
Georgia.
“We decided to test our
limits a little bit,” said Wise.
They arrived on the island
around 6 p.m. that Friday.
The tides were down and
the trip was easy, according
to Wise.
But the rain started pick
ing up when they unpacked
at their campsite. They
mshed to unpack and cook
as the storm got worse.
Their tent collapsed that
night and rainwater soaked
their belongings.
The trip hadn’t started the
way they had planned but
the two were still in good
spirits, albeit sunburned.
They woke the next morn
ing and fished for crabs. But
when they returned to their
campsite, they saw they had
only one bottle of water left
for the remainder of their
trip.
“The first day, we drank
them all...just not thinking,”
said Wise. “We chugged
them down.”
The two returned to the
main island to get more water
and something to eat. But
when they set back for Little
Tybee Island the next day the
tides were coming in.
“The waves were pretty
rough,” said Hammonds.
The winds were blowing
from the main island and,
with the tides pulling them
out, it wasn’t an easy trip.
“It was pretty aggressive
pulling us back to the
swamp,” said Wise.
The two stopped for
breaks on areas where the
island showed through the
tide. But Hammonds said
he knew the waves would
get stronger and said they
needed to hurry. They were
about 35 yards from the
island where they had set
up camp.
“All we had to do was
paddle straight across,” said
Hammonds. “...I said, okay we
can make it through this. We’ve
already made it this far.”
Hammonds started first
and when he got halfway
there, the waves knocked
him and his kayak over.
Shortly after, Wise ran into
Hammonds and fell over,
too.
County after being stuck on
“It came so fast,” said
Wise. “It was scary.”
The two didn’t realize it at
the time, but they had lost
the water they had just pur
chased, along with Wise’s
paddle.
But they had reached the
island and they dragged
their kayaks across the sand,
the two of them still ankle
deep in water. Searching for
high ground to leave their
kayaks, they had to make
their own trail, walking
through briars on their bare
feet.
“Everything is so sharp
out there,” said Wise. “It’s
ocean water, so it has to be
really tough. There were
briars and spiders and mos
quitoes like nothing I’d ever
seen before.”
They secured their kayaks
and headed back to their
campsite, now walking
on their hands and knees
through the water.
“It was probably the
worst thing I’ve ever went
through,” said Hammonds.
They stopped at a spot
where they could look
around the island to see
how far off they were.
“I kept telling Alton that
we were almost there,” said
Hammonds. “But I knew we
had a long ways to go.”
The two had easily
walked the 1.5 miles down
the beach on the first day
but going back through that
on their hands and knees,
they say “it felt like forever.”
The two eventually made
it back to the campsite.
They unsuccessfully tried
to set up their broken tent
and unburied their pots and
pans that the wind had cov
ered with sand.
Eventually, they set up
their hammocks to sleep in.
When they woke the next
morning, they took a walk
on the beach to talk about
the situation and come up
with a plan to get off the
island and get water.
The two saw an opened
water bottle that had washed
up in the tide. Hammonds
tasted it, and determined it
was fresh water.
“We got lucky,” said Ham
monds.
Wise and Hammonds
had this half bottle of water
between the two of them,
and wet their lips with the
water, trying to use it con
servatively and not waste it.
They also had a renewed
interest in getting off of that
island and started hunting
a stick to use as a paddle.
They eventually settled on
halving Hammonds’ pad
dle and trying to cross the
water. But 10 minutes into
their efforts, Hammonds
realized they weren’t getting
anywhere.
Instead, he later decided
to paddle out to the boats
that had come to park on
the sand bar. He asked two
people for help, but they
turned him down. The last
boat he went to agreed to go
get Wise.
They traveled out far
enough in the boat to see
Wise sitting on the island.
With no paddle to help
him cross, Wise walked
on oyster beds pulling his
kayak with the water up to
his chest.
“It was like walking on
razor blades,” said Wise.
“My feet were all sliced up.”
But he made it to the boat
and the two finally made it
back to the main beach on
Tybee Island after traveling
across the last bit of water to
find a police officer waiting
at their car. A search party
had been called to look for
the two of them.
After reassuring them that
they were OK, Hammonds
and Wise got a hotel room
and went to a buffet.
Hammonds and Wise
laugh about it now looking
back. But at the time, they
say returning to the main
island and having a place to
rest “felt like heaven.”
They still plan to camp
in the future, but may take a
little break before the next
trip.
“...and maybe bring a
boat next time,” said Ham
monds.
Sign new students up for free/reduced price meals
Commerce 2016-17 Meal Prices
All meal prices are the same as last year:
Reduced-price breakfasts and lunch are 30
cents at all schools
Full Price
•primary and elementary schools —break
fast, $1.30; lunch, $1.85
•middle and high schools — breakfast $1.40;
lunch $2.20
The Commerce School
System’s new food service
director wants to make
sure that when school
starts Friday Aug. 5, all stu
dents who should be get
ting free or reduced-price
meals actually get them.
“The biggest thing is that
even if a child has been
free or reduced-price in
the past, if they have a
sibling or another family
member coming in as a
new student, we will not
know unless they tell us,”
said Rich Friedman, who
joins the city school sys
tem this year following
the retirement of long
time food service director
Susan Harvin.
From 60 to 65 percent
of Commerce students
qualify for free or reduced
meals, the vast majority of
them for free meals, Fried
man reports.
Qualification for free
and reduced meals is by
household, but the system
must know to qualify the
name of each child from
the household attending
school. Otherwise, parents
will suddenly be confront
ed with a cash balance on
the child’s account.
The issue is most often a
problem with younger chil
dren entering school and
the system not knowing
that another child in the
family already qualified for
free or reduced meals. If
they know, the qualifica
tion is extended to the new
student; if not, the parents
will be on the hook for the
full cost of the meal until
the matter is straightened
out.
Every student in grades
K-8 will be given a letter
and an application for
free and reduced meals
on the first day of school,
but sometimes children
forget to give the material
to their parents, sometimes
parents ignore the infor
mation and sometimes the
child bringing back the
completed application for
gets to turn it in.
Each child who qualified
during the last school year
remains qualified in 2016-17
for 30 school days, during
which time a new applica
tion should be turned in.
“Sometimes, the rollover
date happens and we don’t
get the application and
they have to pay full pric
es,” Friedman said. “Sud
denly they have a $20 bal
ance, and the parents are
freaking out. Under federal
regulations, I cannot back
date the application.”
Important Data
Having an accurate
count of free and reduced-
price meals is important
to the school system for
other reasons as well. It is
used to assess the poverty
level of a school system for
state and federal purpos
es, including some other
funding.
New Jackson high
school gets green light
A new high school in
West Jackson got the official
green light last week.
The Jackson Coun
ty Board of Education
approved moving forward
with construction on the
building during its July 21
meeting.
Phase one of the high
school will begin when Edu
cation Local Option Sales
Tax reserves total atleast $12
million. The cost for the first
phase is projected to be $25
million.
The district is respond
ing to projections of a large
population increase coming
to the West Jackson area.
The west side schools all
have the largest expected
enrollment for the upcom
ing school year.
The BOE also approved
closing one of its small
er east side elementa
ry schools at its meeting,
which could save the dis
trict approximately $500,000
a year (see related story).
Those savings may be put
towards the high school
construction.
The high school will likely
be a compact, multi-story
building and will be located
on the district’s Hwy. 332
property. The district will
utilize the Jackson Coun
ty Comprehensive High
School athletic facilities until
it can construct facilities at
the new site.
The BOE’s original plans
were to construct a new
middle school in place of
the closed West Jackson
Primary School. The district
still plans to construct a new
middle school in the future,
but is shifting its immediate
focus to the high school.
The BOE is considering
how it will use the WJPS site
in the meantime.
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