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THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 21,2019 - PAGE 7A
Social
ROTARY CLUB CONSTRUCTS RAMP FOR WILLIAMSON
The Rotary Club of Madison County ventured into Jackson County Thursday Nov.
15 to construct an eight-foot handicap ramp for Mary Williamson, who lives on
Lathan Road in Commerce. Williamson, 86, worked for Reliance Electric Company
in Athens for 18 years. Her late husband, Kenneth Williamson, served in the United
States Army. She is a member of the Union Baptist Church in Madison County. She
has been unsteady on her feet lately and has fallen several times and injured herself
falling down steps out of her house. Williamson made a donation to pay for the ma
terials, and she said “Thanks, thanks, thanks to all the people who came out to help
me.” Workers on the ramp included Mitchell Hill, Walton Hill, Roy Gandy, Johnny
Minish, Wade Scarborough, Alan Phillips, Johnny Westmoreland, David McGinnis
and Jerry Coutant.
Ga. Supreme Court Justice speaks to Rotary Club
By Ellen Cowne
Rotary Club
Eight judges and several more lawyers
filled the room at the Madison County
Rotary Club’s meeting Friday morning.
Supreme Court Justice John Ellington
spoke to the club, mixing jokes, apho
risms and serious information into an in
teresting hour. He said that the Georgia
Court of Appeals is the busiest court in
Georgia because 92 percent of the ap
pealed cases get to the Supreme Court.
The main reason for such activity in this
court is the tremendous growth in Geor
gia.
From 1985 to today, Georgia has
grown in population from 5.4 million to
11 million. The number of lawyers has
increased from 18,000 to 50.000. so liti
gation has grown. Courts deal with basic
quality of life since they make major de
cisions about water and waste, education
and energy, technology, taxes and trans
portation. All of these areas have been
affected by the tremendous growth in
Georgia. The Court of Appeals does three
things. They affirm a case, they reverse
Supreme Court Justice John Elling
ton speaks to the Rotary Club.
a case, or they remand a case, sending it
back to fix a part.
Ellington offered an interesting anal
ogy when he declared that America has
substitutes for almost everything — salt,
sugar, etc. — but no substitute exists for
honesty and truth. The judicial system
deals with three things that are import
ant to everyone — children, property and
freedom. He said the court’s intention is
to deal with each honestly and truthfully.
So, it is important to everyone to protect
this system. It might take a village to rear
a child, but in Georgia, it will take 11 mil
lion people to protect our freedoms.
Ellen Cowne provides news from the
Rotary Club of Madison County.
Rotary hears from student from Norway
Mathilde Bugge Gisholt (R), an exchange student from
Norway, spoke to the Rotary Club of Madison County
recently. She is pictured with Frank Ginn.
By Ellen Cowne
Rotary Club
Polar bears do not live in
Norway. Mathilde Bugge
Gisholt smiled when she told
Madison County Rotarians
about some misconceptions
her new American friends
have about her home country.
She confessed she was
tickled when her American
friends asked about Norway’s
Thanksgiving traditions.
“In Norway, we don’t
have Thanksgiving traditions
because we don’t celebrate
Thanksgiving,” she said.
Mathilde is the Rotary
Club’s GRSP (Georgia Ro
tary Student Program) stu
dent going to UGA this year.
GRSP is not an exchange stu
dent program because no stu
dent travel from the USA is
involved. It began after World
War II when Georgia Rotari-
an Will Watt had the idea that
bringing young people from
other countries to the USA
would give them an opportu
nity to share their countries’
culture and bring better un
derstanding about the world
to these future adults. It ulti
mately brings a measure of
world peace if young people
come to an understanding of
the people from other parts of
the world. GRSP is uniquely
a Georgia program, not hav
ing been adopted by Rotary
clubs in other states. But it
has been successful here for
the past 75 years.
Mathilde spoke to Rotari
ans at their usual Friday meet
ing about her home country,
Norway. Each GRSP student
speaks to their supporting
club twice each year ensur
ing that, not only do Georgia
students get to understand
the places from which these
students come, but that adults
also gain insight to other areas
around the world.
This year, Frank Ginn and
his wife, Robin, are the host
family for Mathilde who is
the 21st student they have had.
Mathilde reminded Rotarians
that Norway is a small coun
try, with only 5.5 million peo
ple living on 148,729 square
miles. Though it borders Rus
sia. it is mostly surrounded
by the ocean with every city
is close to the beach. It tick
led her, Mathilde said, when
Georgians said the beach was
only a five-hour drive because
in her country, the shore is
only about an hour from ev
erywhere.
Mathilde shared some in
teresting facts about Norway.
It has three additional letters
to the alphabet, 7E0A. It has
the world’s longest tunnel —
26 miles with a roundabout
inside. Mathilde said it’s not
always cold there. Though
temperatures can get as low
as -20 degrees Celsius (-4 F),
sometimes Norway gets very
warm, as hot as 30 degrees
Celsius (86 F). This is not ex
actly a heat wave in Georgian’s
experience, but is really warm
to Mathilde, She showed a
picture of a road sign directing
cars to different cities in Nor
way. One city is named Hell.
She said tourists love to take
pictures of themselves in the
snow-covered city so they can
tell their friends back home
they’ve been to Hell when it
froze over.
Mathilde plans to major
in social media when she
returns to Norway. GRSP
students do not declare a ma
jor when they are in Georgia
because the credits they earn
while they are here do not
transfer to their home univer
sities. It is a different kind of
education going to school as
a GRSP college student, and
the knowledge they carry
back to their home countries
benefits not only them, but
the communities back home
where they share their new
knowledge of America/Geor
gia. They become emissaries
of peace.
Ellen Cowne provides
news from the Rotary Club of
Madison County.
WARD NAMED ROTARIAN OF THE MONTH’
Calvin Ward (right) was recently recognized as the “Rotarian of the Month” for
September. Ward has been an active Rotarian for many years and gives the inspi
rational moment at Rotary meetings each week. He is pictured with Neil Azevedo.
Transfer station to be
closed Nov 28-29
The Madison County Transfer
Station will be closed Nov. 28-
29 for Thanksgiving.
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library announces upcoming events
PAYTON DONATES BOOK TO LIBRARY
Larry Payton and his cousins visited the Madison
County Library recently and donated a copy of his
book “Payton/Peyton Descendants From Northeast
Georgia IV” to the library. The book will be added
to the Heritage Room collection in the near future.
Pictured (L-R) are Gary Payton, Jennifer Ivey, Lar
ry Payton and John Payton.
The Madison County Library
has announced its upcoming
events:
•Family movie and craft:
Saturday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. "En
joy a Thanksgiving family mov
ie on our big screen and make a
craft to take home,” said orga
nizers. Movie is rated PG. This
program is free and open to the
public of all abilities. Children
under age 10 must be accompa
nied by their adult caregiver.
•LEGO Club: Thursday,
Nov. 21 at 4:30 p.m. “Cre
ate LEGO art and enjoy LE-
GO-based games and activi
ties,” organizers said. “No need
to bring your own bricks.” This
event is free and open to the
public of all abilities, ages 8 and
up.
•Pajama Story Time for
toddlers and preschoolers and
their caregivers Thursday, Nov.
21 at 7 p.m. "Please join us
for bedtime stories, songs and
a light snack in the children’s
area,” organizers said. This
program is free and open to the
public of all abilities, ages birth
to 7 years.
•Author Kenneth Bridg
es: Sunday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m.
Bridges recently donated his
book, “Life of a Man Named
Kenneth” to the Madison Coun
ty Library and will speak about
his book and share memories
of growing up in rural Geor
gia, his family, and his career in
agriculture and education. His
book is available for checkout
in PINES. This program is free
and open to the public of all
ages and abilities.
•“Coffee and Conversa
tion”: Mondays in December
from 10 a.m. to noon. "Enjoy
coffee and chat with neighbors
in the Jere Ayers room,” said
organizers. This program is free
and open to the public of all
ages and abilities.
•“Crazy 8s” Math Club:
Thursdays, Dec. 5, 12 and 19
at 4 p.m. “Explore math games
at this interactive program for
students in grades K - 2,” or
ganizers said. This program is
free and open to the public of all
abilities. Space is limited. Call to
register.
•Make and Take Holiday
Cards craft program: Fridays,
Dec. 6,13 and 20. “Drop in any
time on these dates and make a
holiday card or two for friends
and family,” organizers said.
All materials provided. This
program is free and open to the
public of all abilities.
•“Homeschool Hangout”:
Mondays, Dec. 2, 16 and 30 at
2 p.m. “Homeschool families
are invited to join staff for an
introduction to library resources
geared toward homeschooling.
This program will include dif
ferent activities each week. This
program is free and open to the
public of all ages and abilities.
•Inclusive Book Club:
Thursdays in December at
1 p.m. This facilitated book club
serves adults of all abilities and
will be reading out loud and dis
cussing “Cat Stories” by James
Herriot. This program is free
and open to adults of all abilities
•LEGO Club: Thursdays,
Dec. 5 and 19 at 4:30 p.m.
“Create LEGO art and enjoy
ing LEGO-based games and
activities," said organizers. “No
need to bring your own bricks!”
organizers said. This event is
free and open to the public of all
abilities, ages 8 and up.
•A Christmas movie: Sat
urday Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. “Enjoy
hot chocolate and a family hol
iday film on our big screen!"
organizers said. This program
is free and open to the public of
all abilities. Children under age
10 must be supervised by their
adult caregiver.
•“Full STEAM Ahead”:
Tuesday Dec. 3 at 4:30 p.m.
This S.T.E.A.M.-based pro
gram meets the first Tuesday
of every month at 4:30 p.m.
and this month will practice
engineering skills and build
gum-drop Christinas trees. This
program is free and open to the
public of all abilities, ages 5-10
with a caregiver.
•“Teen Thursdays”: Dec.
5, 12 and 19 from 5-7 p.m.
Teens can drop in each week for
a different activity. This month's
activities include book-themed
snacks, a super hero movie, and
button making. No registration
necessary. This program is free
and open to the public of all
abilities, ages 13 -18.
KMCB hosts tire amnesty event
Keep Madison County Beautiful is hosting a tire amnesty event
through Nov. 30. Tires will be accepted on Wednesday Thursday, and
Friday during those dates from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Citizens will be
allowed to bring up to 10 tires for no charge (please no rims and no
large heavy equipment tires). More information is available by calling
706-795-5151.
Select Fence Group: (678) 201-6548
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Buckle up. It’s the law!
Headmaster’s
Corner
by
Steve Cummings
CONGRATS ACS ONE ACT
TEAM! - We want to congratu
late our ACS One Act Team, as
they tied for First Place at this
weekend’s ACSI One Act Play
Festival. We also want to con
gratulate ACS Senior, Robert
Loveall, who was named Best
Actor at the Festival.
The Festival is the brainchild
of ACS One Act Director, Jack
Bamford, and it was started, in
part, to provide an opportunity
for ACSI schools in Georgia to
come together and hone their one
act skills.
Congrats also to ACS student
actors Virginia Green, Lydia
Anne Mitchell, and Noah Walk
er, who were named to the All-
Star cast. And, thanks to all of
the ACS parent volunteers who
made this wonderful weekend
possible.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristianschool.org