Newspaper Page Text
Mrs. Arden Finalist
--See Page 3-A
VOLUME CII- NU) , % XKL
Report cards will be distributed next
week to students in the Chattooga
County school system and parents
shouldy make a special effort to review
the grades of their children, school of
ficiafl- said this week.
“One problem we've always had is
where kids would take their report cards
home and not tell their parents about
them,” said Will Hair, vocational super
visor at Chattooga County High School.
Hair is also chairman of the education
committee of the Chattooga Chamber of
Commerce.
DON'T CARE?
“Or," added Hair, ‘‘maybe the
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Chris Edwards, left, Summerville, looks nervously at
Red Cross nurse Ruby Finney just before becoming a
first-time blood donor last week. The Red Cross con
ducted a blood drive at Summerville's First Presbyterian
Church and 34 potential donors showed up. Jean
Lambert, blood services director for the Red Cross, said
32 pints of blood were obtained. The goal was 45 donors
Prison Work To Begin
Company May Begin Receiving Applications
The general contractor for
the new state prison at Penn
ville hopes to have an office on
the site within two weeks and
to begin receiving applications
from area residents who are in
terested in construction jobs.
Richard Miller, project
estimator for: (Farlson
Southeast Corp., a
Massachusetts-based firm with
offices in Smyrna, said the
company hopes to have an of
fice on the prison site at Penn
ville by the third week in this
month. . T
“We will be employing peo
ple from the local area, those
with experience (in construc
tion), or we will train them,”
Miller said.
“NEIGHBOR”
Carlson Southeast Corp.
“will be a neifilhbor for the next
two years,”’ Miller added, and
will purchase as many
Che Summerville News
Parents Asked To Look For Report Cards
parents don't care about their children’s
grades. Some students even change the
cards but we try to cut down on tfiat at
school.”
The extra push this year by school
officials for parents to ask l%r their
children's report cards next week is part
of the system's overall effort to I?eep
children in school and reduce the coun
ty’'s dropout rate, Hair indicated. The
News revealed early this year that the
county system had the highest dropout
rate in Georgia.
Hair said that grades will not be
distributed next week by the Trion Ci
ty System, which is on the semester
system. The effort this week involves
Are You Sure This Won’t Hurt?
materials and supplies as possi
ble from local imrividuals and
businesses. The company has
already purchased a truck for
thzf)roject from a Summerville
dealer, he said.
Mike McConnell will be the
general superintendent for the
project, Miller added, and
McConnell will have two assis
tant superintendents under
him, along with numerous
foremen.
The company hopes to
begin work on the project as
soon as paperwork involved
with beginning the prison con
struction has %een completed,
Miller continued.
LOW BID
Carlson Southeast submit
ted the low bid of $23,866,000
for the prison job. The state
had allocated $23-million for
the project. Nine bids were
received for the project on
SUMMERVILLE, CHATTOOGA COUNTY, GEORGIA — THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1987
and 40 pints. A drive earlier last week at Trion netted
62 donors and 49 pints, slightly below the goal of 64
donors and 52 pints. Mrs. Lambert said the fied Cross
was pleased with the turnouts. See more blood drive
ph?tos inside on Page 7-A. (Staff Photo By Tommy
Toles).
Sept. 15 and the Georgia
Department of Corrections was
in a quandary for several days
over whether to seek new bids
or negotiate with Carlson.
John Siler, a DOC
spokesman, said the DOC
decided last week to ‘‘set
aside” some ‘‘cosmetic’’ alter
nates and proceed with the
Carlson bi(f Siler indicated
that the DOC plans to seek ad
ditional funds from the
Georgia General Assembly
during its 1988 session to
finance the alternates.
Rep. Lauren ‘‘Bubba”
McDonald, chairman of the
House Appropriations Com
mittee, saié) Monday during a
visit to Chattooga that the re
quests would likely be contain
ed in the state's amended 1988
fiscal year budget.
Grading of some 30 to 40
acres on a 186-acre tract east
of the Pennville residential area
‘Dogs Zap Bowdon
--See Page 15-4
© Copyright 1987 By Espy Publishing Co., Inc.
DISTRIBUTION NEXT WEEK
only county system students.
INTEREST
“Parents should be interested
enough to see their children’s grades
and if their child has a failing grade,
they should be interested enou%h to call
the school,” Hair said. “We'll follow
up.”
Any child with poor or failing grades
is a student ‘‘at risk’’ of dropping out
of school before graduating, the school
official said.
“The main thing I want to stress on
grades is that parents should see all
their children’s grades,” Hair continued.
For example, he said, most high school
began last year and ended late
this summer. The DOC had ex
pected to advertise for bids in
June or July but various delays
caused advertising to begin in
August with bids schedufled to
be %pened on Sept. 15.
he fact that all the bids
were over the allocated
$23-million surprised David
Evans, DOC commissioner,
who had thought the project’s
bids would be well under that
figure.
In addition to an undeter
mined number of construction
jobs expected to be available to
Chattooga residents within the
next few weeks, the completed
grison will also employ about
50 people and have an annual
payroll of $6-million. Around
90 {)ercent of that number will
be local residents, Evans told
the Summerville-Trion Rotary
Club last August.
see PRISON, page 17-A
students are enrolled in six courses and
their report slié) should contain six grade
sheets, he added.
ARDS
The various types of report cards us
e in the county system are rgf)roduc
ed in this week’s edition of The News for
the benefit of parents.
In addition, Hair said employers of
students should ask to see their
employees’ report cards next week,
whether the students hold fulltime or
parttime jobs.
“If you have a student emgloyed and
they’re not passing their school work,
we wish you'd call the school about help-
Newspaper Begins
Survey Of Dropouts
.. Study Takes Aim At Root Of Issue
Distribution of a questionnaire to some 600 dropouts
from Chattoog{g County High School will begin this week,
sgonsored by The Summerville News in cooperation with
the county schools. Purpose of the massive project is to
help determine why the students failed to graduate and
how they've fared since that time.
THIS WEEK
The detailed <Luestionnaire
is also being published in this
week’s edition of The News as
a public service. Only those
dropouts who do not receive
the survey in the mail should
complete the form in this
week’s paper. It should be
mailed to The News, P. O. Box
310, Summerville 30747.
Winston E. Espy, publisher
of the newspaper, said the
survey is not totally scientific
but that it should provide some
areas to consider in the effort
to reduce the county school
system'’s dro(imut rate. The
News revealed early this year
that the county had the
highest dropout rate in
Georgia.
ANONYMITY
~ Those who respond to the
questionnaire should do so
anonymousl{, Espy said.
There is no place on the form
for a person’s name or address,
he ?ointed out.
n addition, those who
receive the mailed question
naire in a Chattooga High
envelope will also be sent a
postage-paid return envelope
containing The News’ address.
“All a person has to do is to
take a zzw minutes to fill out
the questionnaire, put it in the
pre-addressed, pre-stamped
return envelope and drop it in
the mailbox,” the publisher
said. :
The newspaper is financing
the entire cost of the survey, in
cluding the printing of
envelopes, survey forms and
Eostage, according to David
spfi', general manager of the
weekly newspafier.
“We think that our dropout
rate is much too high and as a
member of the community, we
Special Report
By The News
What Can Be Done
About Chattooga
County’s Dropout Rate?
have an obligation to do as
much as we can to help
students stay in school and
graduate,”’ ille said. ‘‘This
survey form should iive a bet
ter indication as to the factors
that caused many of our Koung
people to quit school before
ther earned a high school
diploma. Once we define the
ing that student,’’ the vocational super
visor said.
In, some cases, the schools can
reduce a junior’s or senior’s school time
to 20 hours per week under the Diver
sified Cooperative Training (DCT) or
VocationaF Office Training (VOT) pro
grams, Hair pointed out.
“Together, I think we can work
something out for the child,” he said.
“That’s our job.”
By the 19905, he said, 90 percent of
the new jobs will require a hxfih school
digloma and 75 percent of those new
jobs will require education beyond high
specific causes of the problem,
we will have a better chance of
finding workable solutions.”
COORDINATED
Anonymity of each person
who dropped out of Chattooga
High during the last several
Top Photos On Display
A compilation. of award
winning news and feature
photographs has been placed
on display at the Chattooga
County Library in recognition
of National Newspaper Week.
The display includes some
of the top pflotos entered in the
Georgia Press Association’s
(GPA) Better Newspapers Con
test earlé this year, said
Winston E. and David Espy,
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THE NEWS PROVIDES PRESS PHOTO DISPLAY TO LIBRARY
Librarian Linda Floyd, Gene Espy, David Espy
Trion Man Charged
--See Page 9-A
TOGETHER
years has been assured, ex
plained both owners of the
newz&vaper and Will Hair, voca
tional supervisor at the hiih
school. l—fan' coordinated the
project at the high school.
The newspaper provided
Hair and CHgstaff members
with the questionnaires,
%ostage, a cover letter from
ommy Toles, editor of The
News, and envelopes, said
David and Winston Espy. The
names and addresses of hiih
school dropouts on file at the
high school were then placed
owners of The Summerville
News, sponsor of the
exhibition.
NEWSPAPER WEEK
The photos, which are pro
fessionally matted and
displayed inside a free
standing display, were obtain
ed by The News as its contribu
tion to National Newspaper
Week, which is being observed
school. “You've got to have a high
school education!’’ to compete in the job
market, he exclaimed.
Parents and employers can help to
reduce the droPout rate by working with
school officials, the Chamber of Com
merce official said. However, unless
they review the report cards that will be
handed out to students next week,
parents and employers won't know
whether a {)robl'em exists, he pointed
out. It would be helpful if parents and
employers would encourage students to
remain in school until they earn a high
school diploma, Hair indicated.
see PARENTS ASKED, page 9-A
by the school staff on the “car
rier” envelope containing the
questionnaire, letter and-return
envelope, the newspaper
publisher said. At no time did
any newspaper official or staff
member see those names and
addresses, both owners
emphasized.
PRE-ADDRESSED
The return envelope is pre
addressed to The News and not
Chattooga High. That will fur
ther assure the anonymity of
see NEWSPAPER, page 8-A
this week.
The photographs may be
viewed at the %irbrary through
the middle of next week during
regular library hours. The ex
hibit was erected by members
of the newspaper staff Monday
morning.
“We've already had a
number of Eeople to view the
photographs,” said Linda
see TOP PHOTOS, page 17-A
PRICE 25¢