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Sports: IB Football practice begins for BCHS Community: 8A Legends of Ponca City 2008 50<t • Homer, Banks County, GA 30547 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. • 20 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Supplements • Vol. 39 No. 52 BCHS student dies in accident Sat Two others injured in one-vehicle wreck on Hwy. 441 LEOPARD STANDOUT TRAGIC ACCIDENT Cody Gowder was being looked Banks County High School student Cody Gowder died as a result of a one-vehicle accident late upon by Banks County High Saturday evening on this stretch Hwy. 441 just north of the Banks County Sheriff’s Office. Gowder School football coaches as a was the driver in the accident in which passengers Bill Redmon and Kane Duncan, also students at leader for the Leopards during BCHS, were injured. Redmon and Duncan were airlifted from the scene to Grady Memorial Hospital the upcoming 2008 season. in Atlanta and were expected to recover from their injuries. All three competed on the Leopard varsity Photo by Randy Crump football team together. Photo by Chris Bridges — Runoff election — Smith wins DA seat with 57% Butterworth defeats Schaeffer BY KERRI TESTEMENT A hotly-contested race for District Attorney of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit ended Tuesday night with a decisive win for Brad Smith. Smith garnered a total of 5,502 votes to Donna Sikes 4,218 votes, a 57 percent to 43 percent margin. Smith will replace Rick Bridgeman, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Sonny Perdue after the resig nation of Tim Madison. Bridgeman finished third during July’s primary election and later endorsed Sikes. The election marks the first time in about 40 years that voters have chosen a District Attorney for the Piedmont Judicial Circuit. Smith, who had finished in second place in the primary election, said continued on page 7A BCN delivery day changed Subscribers to The Banks County News will receive their newspa per in the mail on Fridays instead of Thursdays starting with next week’s issue, Aug. 13. Newsstand copies of The Banks County News will be available on Thursday nights. The change is being made to accom modate press upgrades at the newspa per’s printing plant. News -2-3A •Banks administrative building nears completion — page 3A Op/Ed - 4-5A • ‘Political process slant ed against third parties’ — page 4A Other news • Social News — pages 7A, 8B • School News — page 6B • Public Safety — page 6A • Legals — page 4B •Church — page 5B • Obituaries — page 7B BY CHRIS BRIDGES A Banks County High School junior died as a result of injuries suffered in a one-vehicle accident on Hwy. 441 Saturday evening, just north of the county sheriff's office. Two passengers in the vehicle had to be airlifted from the scene. Cody Gowder, a member of the school’s football team, died after the pickup he was driving crashed and flipped several times on Hwy. 441 shortly before 9 p.m. The vehicle left the roadway just past Windmill Farm Road, shuck a guardrail and apparently flipped over several times ejecting all three from the truck, a 2005 extended cab pickup. The two passengers, Bill Redmon and Kane Duncan, classmates and foot ball teammates of Gowder's, suffered injuries in the accident after all three were ejected from the buck. Redmon and Duncan were both airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital. Redmon and Duncan were released from the hospital earlier this week. The Banks County Sheriff’s Office responded immediately to the scene, sheriff Charles Chapman said, although the Georgia State Patrol worked the accident. The official report from the GSP office was released Monday after noon. The report indicated Gowder lost control as he attempted to negotiate a curve. Gowder's funeral was held Monday at Grove Level Baptist Church. Little- Ward Funeral Home of Commerce was in charge of arrangements. BCHS athletic director and head football coach Blair Armstrong can celled practice for Monday afternoon. News of the accident spread quick ly through Banks County during the weekend. “Cody had a profound impact on this community and my family,” said Banks County superintendent Chris Erwin. “We all loved Cody, as was evi dent in the outpouring of support that has been displayed by the high school students. Cody will be remembered as a special young man who touched the lives of all who knew him.” “He was an outstanding young man,” Armstrong said. “He was a hard work er and someone you never had to ask to do something twice.” The Leopard head coach said the coaches were expecting big things from Gowder on the gridiron this fall. “He played tight end for us last year and Coach (Chuck) Hudson and I were going to move him to guard this sea son,” Armstrong said. “We asked him about it and he simply wanted to do whatever would help the team.” Duncan and Redmon are expected to return to the team in coming weeks, Armstrong said Monday night. Rylee transferred from BCES Former asst, principal named to new position PRE-PLANNING WORK Banks County Middle School sixth grade math teachers Bartley Williams and Jason Elliot go to work on the first day of pre-planning Monday. Photo by Chris Bridges Banks students set for new school year BY CHRIS BRIDGES In a unanimous decision by the Banks County Board of Education, Lori Rylee will work dur ing the upcoming 2008-09 school year as assis tant transportation director. The decision was made last Friday during a called meeting held exclusively for personnel matters with the new school year beginning later this week. The decision regarding Rylee was one of five personnel items approved by the BOE during a closed session. Rylee had been assistant principal at Banks County Elementary School for the past two years, but had become the target of criti cism by some fifth grade parents following an alleged incident last May near the end of the 2007-08 school year. The parents contended Rylee ordered male fifth grade students to drink from a water fountain at the school from which a substance had been poured into. There was a question whether the substance was urine or Gatorade. Tests performed on the water fountain several days later showed no bacteria was presented. Rylee was placed on paid leave for two weeks and then returned to her job as assistant princi pal at BCES. Several parents, however, felt she should be removed from her position and terminated from the school system because of her intimidation of students allegedly telling them not to speak of the incident on the threat of law enforce ment and Department of Family and Children Services being contacted. Michael Daniel, who helped represent Rylee during the ongoing investigation, said Monday afternoon they are looking forward to having the “community come together.” “We are happy that this has been resolved,” Daniel said. Chan Caudell, who has represented the par ents of several students who were fifth graders at the time of the incident issued the following statement regarding the board’s decision: “For the most part we believe the unfortunate inci dent involving Ms. Rylee and the school chil dren can be put to rest. We are, however, still working on one or two issues that we anticipate will be resolved within the next few days. My clients are hopeful the school year will kick-off on a positive note that will continue all year long.” Banks County Superintendent Chris Erwin said Monday the decision to have a new assis tant transportation director was an economic decision. The housing of Banks County Alternative School students at the Stephens County Alternative School (Crossroads) was discon tinued. “We are now utilizing a part of our high school campus for our own alternative school, thus saving the school system over $200,000,” Erwin said. “The assistant transportation direc tor position will assume the administrative responsibilities of operating the alternative school for the system as well as assisting with the transportation department duties. I feel that Ms. Rylee will have a positive impact in this position.” Erwin said the school system is currently advertising the vacancy of an assistant principal and plans to fill the position in the immediate near future. The BOE also approved the following per sonnel items during the closed session last Friday: Certified personnel, new hires: Edith Ross, teacher and Gerald W. Payton, part-time teacher. Classified personnel, new hires: Amos Browning, technology specialist and Cassie Keller, 2008-09 school year only. BY CHRIS BRIDGES A new school year is knocking on the door for students in the Banks County School System and has become the norm in recent years, growth continues to be a word school leaders have to contend with. School officials are expecting approxi mately 2,850 students to attend classes as the 2008-09 school year begins Friday. This number once again represents an increase from the previous school year. At the begin ning of the 2007-08 school year, 2,773 stu dents were enrolled. Banks County High School will continue to offer a driver' education program for the second year in a row. BCHS will also con tinue to employ a graduation coach. Advanced placement classes will be added in history, science and English/language arts. Banks County Middle School will also continue to have a graduation coach, school system officials said. All four school principals — Art Wheaton, Matthew Cooper, Jan Bertrang and Janice Reiselt — return for the new school year, along with superintendent Chris Erwin. School system officials are also working to obtain grants for additional programs for the 2008-09 school year.