The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current, June 30, 2008, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextImportant voting information from Board of Elections - Page 6 JSlflND€R_ • Dave Barry - 8 • Editorial SUPfifl* Back Talk - 24 f (jg • Health -10 • Movie Review Get Smart-16 • Pet Page -17 • Pew News - 22 Published by Permar Publications • P.O. Box 20539 • St. Simons Island, Ga. 31522 • 912-265-9654 • ssislander@bellsouth.net June 30, 2008 Established 1972 Vol 36 Issue 26 Candidates square off in forums as July primary nears By Matthew J. Permar With Glynn Comity’s July 15 General Primary less than a month away, local candidates spent time last week facing each other and answering questions in public forums sponsored by various groups and organiza tions. The first was a Tuesday night forum on St. Simons Island sponsored by Residents United for Planning and Action (RUPA). On Wednesday night the Brunswick Golden Isles Cham ber of Commerce sponsored a forum at the Historic County Courthouse in conjunction with the Glynn County Homebuild ers Association and the Glynn County Board of Realtors. The Wednesday night event featured candidates for the Board of Education, County Commission and both state leg islature races- Senate Dist. 3 and House Dist. 167. The final forum, County Commission candidates only, was Thursday night at Bruns wick Old City Hall. It was sponsored jointly by the local Republican party and Citizens Against Wasteful Spending. Having attended the Wednesday and Thursday night forums, which spanned a total of four and a half hours with 19 candidates, it is not practical to report all the open ing statements and questions and answers in their entirety in one article. I will break the forums down into the individual political offices and cover the candidates’ responses on major issues only. Opening statements are not included. This week's article will cover the school board and county commission candidates. The candidates for state legislature will be covered in Part 2 next week. Also due to space issues, the questions and responses have been paraphrased. Board of Education Candidates include: Dist. 1 - Ray Snow (Incum bent) and Robert Strickland; Dist. 3 - Rebecca Edwards, John Mandala and Garrett Meader; At Large Post 2 - Jerry Man- cil and Lance Turpin (Incum bent). Question: How would you challenge above average stu dents? - Mandala - Emphasis needs to be on the under educated, but for above average students teachers who are trained to teach gifted students need to be hired. - Mancil: A more challeng ing curriculum for above aver age students. Also, work on reducing the drop out rate to keep the Hope Scholarship available. - Meader: Need to address ‘at risk’ students, but channel more resources for gifted stu dent programs. - Snow: More resources for gifted programs and have guidance counselors encourage more students to take advan tage of the ‘Dual Enrollment’ Turn to Page 5 Candidates public Jorum CEO hired for Career Academy • Davis replacement also approved By Matthew J. Permar After an hour long closed session last week, the Glynn County Board of Education returned to their open meeting and approved the selection of Edward A. “Andy” Lundell of Dublin, Georgia as the Chief Executive Officer of the Golden Isles Career Academy (GICA). Lundell's approval was unanimously made on Tues day, June 24 by school board members chairman Mike Hulsey, Venus Holmes, Lance Turpin, Millard Allen and Ruby Robinson. Members Ray Snow and David Smith were absent. Prior to coming to GICA, Lundell served the last two years as Director of Security and Safety for the Technical College System of Georgia in Atlanta. Turn to Page 6 GICA CEO Death of a mullet Above: Holding his former "mullet," Murphy's Tavern owner Randy Powell acknowledges that he "lost the bet" with his regulars who raised $2,101 that will be donated to Hospice of the Golden Isles. Brenann Arbo (left), Randy's regular haircutter removed the mullet last week in order to donate the hair to Locks of Love, a charity that provides hair pieces for children who have lost their hair due to illness or medical treatment. Caroline Talley, Hospice Community Relations Director (center) and Margie Dorsey, Hospice Board of Directors chairman, were on hand to accept the Hospice donation, which will total $4,202 when matched by former Murphy's owners Dave and Paula Egan. Center: Randy's daughter Samantha and head bartender Brad Pierce take their whack at Randy's hair. Bottom: Bald Randy is thanked by Margie Dorsey for his generous donation. Islander staff photos

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current, June 30, 2008, Image 1