2020 Summer Issue

community magazine 2020 SUMMER ISSUE

PUBLISHERS

Meredith & Scott Tredeau 770-788-6795 info@thenewtoncommunity.com

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DIRECTOR OF SALES

Maree Cronan 770-530-7837 sales@thenewtoncommunity.com

FEATURES 6 Throwing Out a Lifeline 11 Out of the Ashes 14 A Good Judge of Character

EDITOR

Brian Knapp PHOTOGRAPHERS

Brian Dean Michie Turpin CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

SPORTS & RECREATION

22 Rescue Mission 26 An Antidote for Anxiety

34 Building Bridges 38 Diamonds in the Rough

Kari Apted Kim Coady Michelle Floyd Douglas Gilreath Nat Harwell Darrell Huckaby Patty Rasmussen David Roten ILLUSTRATOR

Scott Fuss For subscription information, visit: thenewtoncommunity.com/subscribe/

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ARTS, EDUCATION & INNOVATION 44 Journey of Rediscovery 48 Head of the Class

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54

LIVING

54 Standing the Tests of Time 60 ‘Our Little Piece of Heaven’ 63 Scout’s Honor

The Newton Community Magazine is published quarterly.

All contents are copyrighted by The Newton Community Magazine. Reproduction, in whole or part, without permission is prohibited. The Newton Community Magazine reserves liability in error to a printed correction.

On the Cover

LIFE’S SIMPLE PLEASURES

by DAVID ROTEN

Somewhere along the line, pleasure got a bad rap. Actually, there is no mystery about when the confusion started. It began when Adam and Eve decided they would rather be God than to know Him. God created us as sensual beings with the ability to see, hear, feel, taste and smell so that we could interact with, take care of and, yes, enjoy His creation. It is when we value these gifts more than the Giver that things begin to get out of balance and turn ugly.

With that said, I love ice cream. When I love it too much, though, my intolerance for lactose kicks in. I love pizza, too, and chocolate and hamburgers and hot dogs— all the major food groups. When I indulge too often, it shows and not in a good way.

The past few months of the COVID-19 lockdown have revealed what we value and enjoy most. All favorite foods, hobbies and interests aside, I believe what we have missed most during this time is human contact. Kept from handshakes and hugs, ballgames and graduations and a myriad of other activities, the realization dawns that it is not the activity itself but the sharing of it with others that is most satisfying.

While times of solitude are good and necessary for the soul, so too are the times of being with family and friends to just enjoy the simple things of life.

Hopefully, now we realize that more than ever.

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

Happy summer to you, dear readers. Does it feel like summer to y’all, not just the weather but in general? For us, it has been a little over three months now of working from home, remote learning with the kids and social distancing. Once the kids transitioned from remote learning to summer break, time just kind of rolled on and the summer season started without the usual fanfare and celebration. It’s time to hit the reset button. Let’s embrace the new season and a new beginning.

Before the long weeks in lockdown, we didn’t realize how many things and how much time we took for granted. Time to play, to read, to rest or to do all kinds of things as a family for which we’d normally think we were too busy. Badminton anyone?

It was a reminder to focus on what really matters and to spend our time wisely; how we choose to spend it reveals what’s important to us. I hope we don’t lose sight of that this summer.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many of us still hurt—whether physically, emotionally or financially—and many of us understandably feel worried, angry or depressed. In strange and uncertain times like these, it would be easy to withdraw and disconnect, to wish things would just go back to normal. However, we can’t hold life still. This may not be the summer we imagined or looked forward to, but every day is a gift and a chance to choose joy. The stories in this issue are a reminder of that reality, and we are grateful for the chance to share them with you. We look forward to the day when we can all gather together again as a community, stronger and closer than before.

God bless and keep each of you.

Scott and Meredith Tredeau

2020 Summer Issue 5

F E AT U R E S

THROWING OUT A LIFELINE Opened in 2016, the Newton Pregnancy Resource Center utilizes a small staff and a group of volunteers to provide services free of charge to mothers in need, regardless of age, race or religion.

by KARI APTED A diaper bag led Natasha Clarke to the Newton Pregnancy Resource Center, smiles encouraged her to come back and love keeps them connected to this day. Aching physically from having just given birth and hurting emotionally after leaving a strained relationship, Clarke was scrolling through Facebook as her 3-day-old daughter slept in her arms.

“I saw a post with [a] picture of a diaper bag and women talking about how many diapers they had gotten from this place,” Clarke said. “I thought, ‘Diapers are really expensive

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right now. I should call them.’ Everyone was so friendly. I met with a lady named Shelley who smiled at me the whole time.

I told them that I like smiles [and that I would] be back.”

Clarke remembers it as the day she joined a powerful circle of women who have become like family to her and her daughters, Anna-Bella, 10, and Ajna, 10 months. A first-generation American, Clarke was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent her childhood in the impoverished Tivoli Gardens district.

“My grandmother’s mission was to get all her children and grandchildren to the States, and she did that,” Clarke said. “We have all worked really hard to make a good life for ourselves.”

Clarke became pregnant with her oldest daughter at the age of 16. After graduating from high school, the tall, slender young woman followed the advice of friends and traveled to New York to become a model.

“I was pretty successful at it,” Clarke said. “I was in a lot of publications, but the modeling world has such an underbelly to it.

I was working 16 to 18 hours a day and ultimately had to make the choice between being a model and being a mom to my little girl.”

Clarke returned to Georgia and soon found herself in a new relationship. Over time, the couple learned they were expecting a child. However, the relationship started to fall apart, sending Clarke into what she describes as the lowest point of her life.

“I reached a point where I had lost everything except my baby,” she said. “I didn’t have anything by the time I went back to my mom.” Not one to stay down for long, Clarke applied for a job at Amazon and was hired when she was eight months pregnant.

“I was in the Top 5 of my training class,” she said. Although

“They give you so much more than the essentials for a newborn baby. They are a powerfully knit group of women you can always rely on. You can call whenever you need them, anytime.”

Natasha Clarke

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premature labor made that position short-lived, Clarke was eager to return to work six weeks after daughter Ajna was born. She currently works from home as a customer service representative for a national retailer and is nearing completion of real estate school.

“This glow up that God has blessed me with is my happily ever after,” Clarke said. She credits the women at NPRC for giving her the essentials she needed during a difficult season of her life. “If every woman with a child under age 2 knew about NPRC, they would be there every week,” Clarke said. “These women—if you knew these women—when they pray, you can feel their prayers. They are real. They show me their imperfections and I show them mine, and I am able to grow.”

NPRC clients are served by a group of staff and volunteers.

Ashley McGee has been Clarke’s primary counselor since she first arrived at the center.

“Natasha wasn’t like some of the girls who come in; she was a mom who knew what she was doing,” McGee said. “She had strong convictions about the way she would raise her children and how she would take care of them. If there was one thing I knew about her, it was that she deeply loved her children. If there was one thing that came to mind when you were with Natasha and her baby, it was ‘beautiful mother.’”

After getting to know one another over the course of several months, the two women began a Bible study together at the center. Clarke came to the meetings desiring to grow spiritually but carrying a hefty dose of skepticism.

“I grew up in a strict Pentecostal church and saw a lot of hypocrisy that left me thinking, ‘Church is not for me. There’s just too much going on,’” Clarke said. “I stepped away because I didn’t want to be that messy.” Clarke credits McGee with reconnecting her to the faith. “Ashley’s flow is just amazing,” she said. “She is gifted at what she does. The way she delivers a message, I think God must be right behind her.”

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CLIENT SERVICES COORDINATOR SHELLY HALL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RACHAEL LONG, OPERATIONS MANAGER DEBBIE WYATT, CLIENT ADVOCATE ASHLEY MCGEE

NPRC Executive Director Rachael Long wants local residents to know that the center’s scope extends beyond pregnant teenagers and young single mothers. Services are provided free of charge to any mother in need, regardless of age, race or religion.

“NPRC has been open since fall of 2016. We’ve seen a total of 300 clients since we first opened,” Long said. “We serve women even after their babies are born—in fact, up to a year after the birth of their babies and in some cases even longer. Many of our moms have other children, which can make unplanned pregnancies such a burden. We seek to ease that burden as much as we can.”

BY THE NUMBERS

257

Single moms helped by NPRC

252

Clients at or below the federal poverty level

5

Members on NPRC staff

15

Because of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, in-person visits to NPRC have been scaled back and often replaced by virtual consultations. Usually, clients earn points from participating in the center’s “Earn While You Learn” curriculum program. These points are redeemable for pregnancy and baby essentials in the NPRC’s resource store.

“During the stay-at-home order, we called each client personally and simply gave them whatever they needed,” Long said. “We either delivered the items to their house or put them outside the center door for them to pick up. It was so hard not to hug them, but we did the whole air hug thing.”

Clarke wants to make sure other families in her circle know about NPRC. She refers to herself as a mediator, a voice that bridges the gap between older and younger generations. She often brings younger family members and friends with her when she visits the center.

“I’m like the neighborhood mom,” Clarke said. “Every weekend, I have several kids at the house. Any time you come by here, there’s going to be kids besides my own at the house. No matter where I am, if I can hear God’s voice, I know I’m OK. If you ask what’s the goal for my life, it’s just to love and be loved.

Love has brought nothing but joy and goodness into my life.”

The Newton Pregnancy Resource Center is located at 5278 Adams Street in Covington. For more information, call 770-415-1176 or visit the center online at newtonprc.org.

NPRC volunteers 2020 Summer Issue 9

F E AT U R E S

ut of the Ashes

by DAVID ROTEN

The Zimmermans lost their home of 13 years to a fire one week before Christmas in 2010. Even as the rubble smoldered, a close-knit Newborn community rallied around the family of eight and provided hope where it was so desperately needed.

Paul Zimmerman stood alone, quietly surveying what used to be. Smoke still rose from hot embers while a few lingering flames licked up the remains of what he, his wife Laura and their six children had called home for 13 years. It was one week before Christmas in 2010. “I just stared at it thinking, ‘What am I going to do next?’” Paul said. As he struggled with the reality of what happened and a host of other questions, an older woman drove up and stopped in front of the smoldering rubble.

“She got out of her car and she walked up and looked at it, and she looked at me,” Paul said. “She had tears rolling down her cheeks, and she gave me a hug. She just stood there with her arm around me for a few minutes, and then she got in her car and left. She never said a word and neither did I, but I got a lot of strength from her.”

Expressions of support from neighbors and residents of the Newborn community began to flow in almost immediately.

“It started that night,” Paul said. “While the house was [still] burning, people started showing up.” Some brought hot coffee to ward off the winter chill, while others simply stood by to offer their sympathy and concern. Fortunately, the displaced family had a guest cottage on their horse ranch property into which they could squeeze, but almost all of their possessions had been lost in the fire. “Then,” Paul said, “we had no idea what was coming.”

The family was greeted by an avalanche of food, clothing, Christmas toys, equine tack and miscellaneous household items donated by local citizens, most of whom the Zimmermans had never met. “It was mind-boggling,” Paul said. “People came for weeks.” So great were the generous contributions that the Zimmermans were forced to turn their basement into something of a makeshift Goodwill store just to sort it all out.

“Life changed,” Paul said, remembering the day it all came tumbling down. It took a year to build a new house “just across the creek” from where the old one once stood and another year perhaps for the Zimmerman family to settle back into a sense of normalcy.

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“We literally lost everything.

I homeschooled, so I had files of paintings and pictures and stories and poems and everything they ever did stored in that house.”

Laura Zimmerman

12 The Newton

Ten years after fire burned their house to the ground, Paul and Laura use the same word to describe the experience: humbling.

“We literally lost everything,” Laura said. “I homeschooled, so I had files of paintings and pictures and stories and poems and everything they ever did stored in that house.” She lost keepsakes from her own childhood, including Bryer horses and Barbie dolls, as well as an old iron that belonged to her great grandmother.

Paul’s beloved collection of original autographed “Hardy Boys” books represented another painful loss. Each of the children had their own list of favorite things that were now gone forever.

Veronica, who was 8 years old at the time, rendered a poignant portrayal of heartbreaking loss as she sifted through the smoldering remains every day looking for anything that might have survived.

“It was really hard watching her go through that,” Laura said.

Though they hated their kids had to face such a tragedy, Paul and Laura have seen them grow as a result of it. “They learned things and have strength today that came from that experience of losing everything,” Paul said. “All of that stuff is replaceable,” Laura said.

“What is not replaceable is your family. I think it just taught us all to humble down and just appreciate what we do have, go with God’s plan in our lives and just keep moving forward.”

After spending 30 years in medical sales, the company for which Paul once worked downsized in 2017, leaving him unemployed and overqualified to start over somewhere else.

After several months of fruitless job hunting, he once again found himself asking a most difficult question: “What am I going to do next?” The answer came when Laura noticed a for-sale sign on the Biscuit Shack, a small breakfast spot in Newborn owned by former Atlanta Braves pitcher Pat Jarvis.

“Paul has always talked about opening a biscuit shack,” Laura said. When she suggested that Paul give this one a look, he thought she was joking initially but soon discovered otherwise.

“I went to look at it and started to see an opportunity,” he said, “so we bought it.” In the fall of 2018, after months of repair and renovation, ZimSkillet opened its doors for business.

More than a year and a half later, the former Biscuit Shack has been repurposed and features what Paul describes as old-school, real pit barbeque. “Everybody thinks their BBQ is the best in the world, but mine really is,” he said with a laugh.

Lunch and dinner menus outline a mouthwatering array of comfort food, including baby-back ribs, brisket, pulled pork sandwiches, tenderloin, smoked chicken sandwiches and wraps, lemon pepper chicken salad, specialty sides and more. “I try to do it the right way and put a lot of passion and love into everything I cook,” Paul said. Set up primarily as a drive-thru, the restaurant has inside seating for eight, as well as a couple of picnic tables outside for those wishing to linger longer.

Though Zimmerman had neither formal training in the culinary arts nor any prior experience in the restaurant industry, the long leap from medical sales to restaurant ownership has proven successful thus far. He credits his mother, whom he describes as an extraordinary cook, for getting him started as a young boy: “She always had me in the kitchen helping her.”

Nowadays, Paul does most of the cooking while Laura runs the business side. “I manage the money,” she said. “He’s the people person.” Married for 30 years, the Zimmermans concede they are complete opposites who complement each other well.

“I’ve always had to rein him in,” Laura said, speaking like a true horse rancher. “He’s like blind side-shot, don’t care, ‘I’m-goingto-make-it-work,’ and usually, he does.”

When it comes to the restaurant, it has taken a family—maybe even a village—to make this mom-and-pop shop work. All the Zimmerman kids have put in their time when able, sometimes at considerable personal cost. Laura referenced the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” when discussing the selflessness of her daughter. “Veronica is George Bailey,” she said, “because she let her siblings go on and she stayed home to work the bank, i.e., the restaurant. She gave up going to college to help us here, which she is still doing to this day to earn money so she can go to school.”

ZimSkillet employees Judy Whitaker and Shelaine Hawkins, described as “true friends” who go “above and beyond,” are longtime pillars of the restaurant. “Bless their hearts,” Laura said. “They wanted us to succeed so bad [that] they volunteered their time for a year.” Now accepting pay for their efforts, the two continue to make significant contributions to the thriving enterprise.

Through all the hard work and long hours, Paul finds contentment in “trying to make the world a better place one BBQ ‘sammich’ at a time.” Serving the people of Newborn who supported his family through difficult times makes his job even more fulfilling. “Our customers are some of the greatest people on the planet,” he said. “That’s what makes this fun.”

It seems only fitting that one of the few keepsakes to survive the house fire would hold a prominent place in the new family business. The cast-iron skillets are used not only in the kitchen but as part of the restaurant’s name, coupled with “Zim”—Paul’s nickname since childhood. The Zimmermans are grateful to have come safely through the fire. Laura struggled for words to describe God’s care in the aftermath of tragedy. “Oh my gosh, miracle after blessing after grace, uncountable,” she said through tears. “He’s brought us through it all, and we are all the better for it.”

ZimSkillet is located at 4142 Hwy. 142 in Newborn.

For information or to place an order, call 770-3379449. Menus are posted on ZimSkillet’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ZimSkillet/.

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A GOOD

JUDGE OF CHARACTER A unique figure in Newton County history, Sammy Ozburn’s reputation as a man of impeccable integrity and honesty led to his gubernatorial appointment as Judge of Superior Court in the Alcovy Circuit. He retired on April 30, having served in that capacity since Dec. 20, 1995.

by NAT HARWELL The time-honored process of looking up words like honesty, integrity, dedication and faithfulness in a dictionary brings with it the real possibility that one might come across a photograph of a remarkable man who exemplifies all those qualities.

Samuel D. “Sammy” Ozburn on April 30 retired from his role as Judge of Superior Court in the Alcovy Circuit, having served in that capacity since he was appointed by former Gov. Zell Miller on Dec. 20, 1995. Just how well-received was his appointment? In six subsequent elections for the post, Ozburn was never opposed—something unheard of in today’s political landscape. Ozburn has roots in humble beginnings, as he was raised in the tiny hamlet of Newborn in eastern Newton

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County. His father was the town’s mail carrier and founded what has become a pastime in the area: the Hornyhead Fish Festival, held annually to celebrate the aquatic wonder with the strange features.

As Ozburn and his sister, Julianne, grew up in Newborn in the 1950s and 1960s, he discovered that many of his playmates were black. Despite the tension and turmoil of a turbulent era that resulted in big-city demonstrations to push for civil and voting rights for African Americans, no such issues spilled over into Ozburn’s life, as he befriended Doyle Hardeman, James Hardeman and other persons of color in his circle. His elementary school days were spent in Mansfield, where he developed

2020 Summer Issue 15

F E AT U R E S JUDGE SAMUEL OZBURN BEING SWORN IN BY GOVERNOR ZELL MILLER

“Since the days of the founding of Georgia as a state, the original Constitution called for judges to travel circuits and to be elected by the people they serve, so I very much felt then, as I do to this day, that law is a noble profession.”

Sammy Ozburn

16 The Newton

friendships with Newton County fixtures like G.W. Davis and David Hayes. They eventually moved on to Newton High School, and there, from 1965 to 1969, the issues involving racially desegregating Georgia’s public schools came to the fore.

“Actually,” Ozburn said, “our Newton County High [School] Class of 1969 held our 50th reunion not long ago, and we had roughly 20 African Americans who had come to what was then called ‘the white school’ through the freedom-of-choice program in place at that time. I sought out several guys and thanked them for the courage they displayed in taking such a step back then, as it had to have taken a special degree of intestinal fortitude given the climate of our society at the time.”

Once Ozburn began weighing possible careers, Dr. Johnny Maloney took him under his wing and introduced him to dentistry. Maloney brought him to Emory University, hopeful the introduction would sway his decision. Life had other plans.

“I really took a good look at it,” Ozburn said with a chuckle, “and didn’t think I could spend my life looking into other folks’ mouths, so I decided to head for the University of Georgia, where I majored in finance and banking as preparation for possibly going to law school one day.”

Upon graduation from Georgia, Ozburn was hired by Herbert Vining to work for Newton Federal Savings and Loan in Covington. However, fortune smiled at almost the same time, as Mercer University’s School of Law accepted his application in the fall of 1973.

“Law resonated with me,” Ozburn said. “I don’t laugh at lawyer jokes, because I’ve always felt law to be a noble profession. Since the days of the founding of Georgia as a state, the original constitution called for judges to travel circuits and to

be elected by the people they serve, so I very much felt then, as I do to this day, that law is a noble profession. It’s given a bad name by all those television ads which seem to offer a financial bonanza if you’ve suffered an injustice, and that’s unfortunate, because to me, the relationship between the legal system and the people it is designed to serve is a very special thing.”

While studying law at Mercer, Ozburn wed a young woman he had known but not dated in high school. He and Rhonda, married in 1974, have two sons—David practices law in Covington with an office on The Square, and Britt works in library science, serving in a three-county system based in Rome—and three granddaughters. Following graduation from Mercer, Ozburn began his law career with 45th District State Senator Don Ballard in 1976. Ballard was a longtime fixture in government, with contacts in virtually all aspects of the field of law and connections to a broad spectrum of society.

“I learned so very, very much from Don Ballard,” Ozburn said.

“There wasn’t a whole lot he didn’t know a very great deal about, and I benefited so much from our relationship as I was starting out.”

Ozburn branched out on his own in 1979, and his reputation as a man of integrity and honesty traveled far and wide. When a

vacancy occurred in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit some 16 years later, Miller called on Ozburn to fill it. He began his official duties on Jan. 1, 1996 but later had to run for office on his own when that term expired. Ozburn spent more than two decades on the bench without facing opposition at the voting booth.

“I’m fortunate to serve with some fine judges in our circuit,” he said. “I realize my limitations, and I pray a lot, as I need strength from the Lord to help me do my best; and our judges get together and we pray together weekly, as we set about doing our jobs. Also, I believe that courts must be accountable and transparent to the public. To that end, I have conducted tours of the court for school students over the years to explain to them how the courts work and why they work for the betterment of society.

“We stopped counting when we passed the 7,000-student mark,” Ozburn continued, “and that was several years ago. I’m guessing now, but counting tours from scout troops, school groups and other interested parties, I’d say we’ve shown every aspect of the court to over 11,000 young folks. I want them to know, as they grow up and get out on their own in society, that the court is a friend to the public [and] here to serve them.”

Much as it may seem so given the genteel manner of this unique figure in Newton County’s history, not every aspect of being a judge is easily handled. Some events bring about angst and a degree of difficulty that must be handled with kid gloves. The most difficult cases for Ozburn were three that involved the death penalty. One of the guilty parties is serving a life sentence, and another is currently on Death Row awaiting an appeal to the Supreme Court.

“These cases are without question the toughest ones with which I’ve had to deal,” Ozburn said. “That’s because human beings are involved—not only the accused, but you have the family of the victim or victims to consider, plus the family of the accused; and anytime you’re dealing with that degree of hurt, you have to be thoroughly prepared and certain that your jury understands their responsibility, as well as understanding your own role.”

Just as there are difficulties in administering the law, there are gratifying moments, too. Ozburn served with the three Newton County Accountability Courts that seek “Justice That Restores.”

They are Adult Felony Drug Court, Veteran’s Court and the one over which Ozburn held sway: Resource Court.

“This Resource Court has by far been most gratifying to me personally,” he said. “Society cannot expect folks with mental illnesses and/or cooccurring substance-use disorders to simply be able to stop and turn over a new leaf without some sort of structured help. That’s exactly what Resource Court does; we provide a program to help them turn their lives around. It’s structured in such 2020 Summer Issue 17

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a way that the participant is accountable to the court and the public.

They attend regular individual and group treatment sessions, attend court once a week, submit to frequent and random drug screens and they have a curfew. Incentives help these folks complete their courses of healing, but those who find it impossible to complete the requirements have to return to terms of prior sentences.

“We have an encouraging and positive rate of recidivism in this program, which renders a valuable service to the community,” Ozburn continued. “One of the best aspects of our Accountability Courts is that they are transparent from top to bottom. They serve the public need as a vital step in returning offenders to responsible citizenship, and [they] are accountable in full.”

Despite his retirement, Ozburn will continue—at least for the foreseeable future—to remain true to his lifelong commitment to the legal profession.

“Well, the Governor will designate me as a Senior Superior Court Judge,” he said. “As such, I’ll continue my work with the Resource Court, until my replacement has been satisfactorily trained in those responsibilities, and as a Senior Judge, I will be able to fill in anywhere in Georgia should a judge become ill or if a vacancy occurs in a circuit.”

After practicing law for 19 years and serving as a judge for 25 more, Ozburn hopes people come to see the court as a foundational piece of society.

“The more people are educated about the court,” he said, “the more they trust the court as an important part of their community.”

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H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

22 The Newton

RESCUE MISSION

by KARI APTED

Familiar white buses have trumpeted the arrival of blue-shirted heroes every weekday since March 17, as the Covington YMCA delivers much-needed food and supplies to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Covington Family YMCA’s familiar white buses have set out on an important journey every weekday since March 17.

Driven by blue-shirted YMCA staff, each bus has English and Spanish signs taped to the windows, announcing their mission.

Volunteers help load the buses with large bags, boxes and coolers packed with simple, yet vital, cargo.

When the drivers pull into their designated neighborhoods, children pour out of their homes and run behind the buses, eager to see what is on board. They line up patiently, then head back home, their arms filled with food and other necessities. For months, the combined efforts of dozens of donors have been faithfully delivered into the hands of those who need it. When the COVID-19 epidemic hit, it was especially challenging for families that were already under financial stress. Many found themselves laid off or unemployed at the same time their children began doing school at home. Covington Family YMCA Executive Director Louly Hay-Kapp saw an opportunity to help feed children in need while schools were closed.

“We started out providing lunches that kids could pick up at the Y,” Hay-Kapp said. “Then we realized we had the donations to do more lunches and had three buses we could use to deliver them.” Although the Newton County School System’s COVID-19 2020 Summer Issue 23

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lunch program reached many children, neighborhoods at the far reaches of the county were not as fortunate. The YMCA hunger relief program focused on reaching these underserved neighborhoods. “Our service spans Newton County. We serve some families out on Highway 36, others out on Highway 142,” Hay-Kapp said.

“We’re delivering up to 375 lunches per day right now.”

Between March 17 and May 22, the Covington Family YMCA delivered 13,774 individual meals to children in need.

These lunches were sometimes supplemented with breakfast foods. In addition, 1,116 “Pantry Packs” were delivered to the children’s families. These special boxes included a variety of grocery staples to provide food for other times of day. HayKapp hopes to continue the food program throughout the summer if donations and volunteers remain at the same level.

“We’ve had countless donations from individuals, businesses and churches,” she said. “Some churches donate food while others are making sandwiches for us. We still need food and financial donations, but every time we start to get low, this amazing community comes through for us.”

While eliminating hunger is the primary goal of the project, Hay-Kapp has been taken aback by how community involvement has allowed them to meet other needs.

“One of the things we’ve learned is that we’re not just dropping off lunches,” she said. “We’re checking in with them to see what their current needs are, to see if they’re alright or if anyone is sick.

24 The Newton

That’s been one of the unexpected benefits of doing this. As we came back every day, they began to trust us and tell us things they need.”

Due to a partnership with the Rotary Club of Covington, the Y has also been able to deliver shoes, clothing, baby supplies and other necessities to families in the program. As Hay-Kapp got to know the families the YMCA served, she learned that for some, the impact of the lockdown was severe.

“Some families don’t have a vehicle to go get food,” Hay-Kapp said. “Some have cars but no gas money to get to the store.

In some families, both parents have lost their jobs due to the

“We still need food and financial donations, but every time we start to get low, this amazing community comes through for us.”

Covington Family YMCA Executive Director Louly Hay-Kapp

restrictions. In some areas, the kids run up behind the buses because they’re so excited to see us coming.” Hay-Kapp appreciates the overwhelming response the YMCA has received from the community during the unprecedented lockdown situation.

“People just want to help, to do something tangible in the lives of people most impacted by COVID,” she said. “It’s making such a great impact. The community has been so responsive.”

Hay-Kapp has a personal commitment to the program and finds it fulfilling to see the substantial way families are being helped during this trying time. Although other staff members and volunteers could drive the bus routes without her, the director makes it a point to go out on deliveries every day.

“We have been in the lucky spot, because we get to see the donations come in and we also get to see the recipients when they receive the food,” Hay-Kapp said. “We are so lucky to get to see both.”

Covington Family YMCA is accepting food donations at 2140 Newton Drive, Covington GA 30014. To inquire about specific needs, call 770-787-3908.

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H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

by PATTY RASMUSSEN

Sedation dentistry offers those afflicted by odontophobia—an irrational and overwhelming fear of dentists—a new option through which to combat their condition.

If you have ever been filled with anxiety or dread at the thought of going to the dentist for a routine checkup, let alone for a filling, extraction or other procedure, you might be one of the millions of people worldwide suffering from odontophobia— an irrational and overwhelming fear of dentistry. A 2017 study estimated that odontophobia affects 15 to 20 percent of the world’s population. The condition not only leads to poor dental hygiene but to an overall loss of confidence that affects almost every facet of an individual’s life, from personal to professional.

According to Dr. Travis Hampton, who owns Alcovy Family and Cosmetic Dentistry in Covington, patients have a new option available to them to combat fear. Hampton is licensed to practice what is known as sedation dentistry. He gives medication to his patients, which calms them to the point that they can be injected with a local anesthetic, typically Novocaine, necessary to perform the dental work. However, getting a patient to that point requires conversation and trust.

“Odontophobia is a real condition that a lot of people don’t understand, perhaps even some dentists,” Hampton said. “Even early in my practice, I don’t think I understood how serious it was. I can pick out a phobic now, but I used to think people were overreacting. I’d think, ‘You can’t possibly feel that. I’ve numbed you 10 times,’ but now I understand that it’s a phobia.”

Hampton explains that the condition is rooted in trauma, usually a poor dental experience as a child or even as an adult.

“The brain is traumatized by a bad experience,” he said.

“When you’re in that situation, you’re like an animal ready

26 The Newton

to flee. The brain begins releasing chemicals, from the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. You don’t have control over your hypothalamus. You cannot say, ‘Stop being a baby. You’re being silly.’”

The chemicals—adrenaline and cortisol—are hormones secreted by the adrenal glands located on top of the kidneys.

Among other physiological changes, they increase the heart rate and blood pressure and can cause the phobic person to sweat. “[The patient] becomes very edgy and has a heightened sense of awareness, and that’s what gets us in dentistry,” Hampton said.

“I can touch someone who’s phobic and they’ll jump and say it hurts even though it shouldn’t, but pain is felt in the brain. They feel everything 10 times more, so you give an injection to numb them up but they don’t get numb or their lip is numb but you try to work on their tooth and they jump out of the chair and start crying. You give them another injection and another and another. This frustrates the dentist, and it’s another nightmare experience for the patient.”

Instead, Hampton gives his sedation patients triazolam, or Halcion.

“It is the antidote to what the brain is releasing,” he said.

“I’m very careful to stress to my patients [that] I’m not trying to make them go to sleep. That’s general anesthesia. I’m just trying to get them to relax. My intention is to balance the chemicals in their brain so they’re not scared anymore. Then I can give them one injection [of Novocaine], and they’ll go perfectly numb.”

Hampton wants to break what he calls the “vicious cycle” of the phobia.

“You’re so afraid to go to the dentist that you don’t go,” he said. “When you finally go, you’re forced to [do so] by a bad problem, which leads to emergency dentistry, which typically leads to another traumatic experience. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to tooth loss, poor dental hygiene, relationship problems [and] work problems.”

Hampton’s goal: to make the process as simple as possible for patients who are medically able to undergo the treatment. His office will not do sedation dental work on children or elderly patients because the dosages are based on weight, which can be challenging to calibrate in children. Elderly patients typically have too many underlying health conditions to safely use sedation. Patients cannot be health-compromised in any way, and Hampton will not use sedation on patients with respiratory issues such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

For those phobics in good health, sedation dentistry can be a Godsend.

“Phobia is about trust. Over time if you begin to trust, you can wean yourself off the medication. It’s really wonderful to help people who don’t even know that there’s an option.”

Alcovy Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Owner Dr. Travis Hampton 2020 Summer Issue 27

H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

“This affliction affects one in six individuals,” Hampton said.

“It’s not an uncommon thing. A lot of times I recognize the phobia before they do. I recognize the tension. Maybe they have never been able to get numb.”

At Hampton’s office, sedation appointments are always booked early in the morning. Because they will be under sedation, patients have to be driven to and from the office and cannot drive the day of the dental work. They take one pill the night prior, and they cannot have food after midnight, only clear liquids. Once they arrive at the office, they are given the second dose sublingually, or under the tongue. A trained assistant sits with them for 30 minutes to an hour while it takes effect.

“If I come back and they’re not ready, I’ll give them more,” Hampton said. “If that means I push back on my schedule, I do it, but I won’t start their dental procedure until they’re ready [which doesn’t mean falling asleep]. It’s all about managing expectations.”

Because many of the sedation patients have put off dental visits for years, Hampton often plays catchup. He usually does more work than a typical dental visit during a sedation procedure, but at the end of it, the patient does not remember anything.

“The wonderful thing about this drug is that it’s short lasting and it has amnesiac properties,” Hampton said.

“Patients remember coming to the office, but they don’t remember anything after that. We can have full conversations, but they don’t remember it. It’s wonderful for patients who are scared.”

They do remember that what happened to them in the past did not happen to them again, and therein lies the key. “One of the most rewarding things I do is to take a patient whose smile is a wreck because they haven’t been to the dentist and get them to believe that they can be helped,” Hampton said. “When they get their smile back, they get their confidence.”

In short, sedation dentistry helps improve quality of life.

“Phobia is about trust,” Hampton added. “Over time if you begin to trust, you can wean yourself off the medication. It’s really wonderful to help people who don’t even know that there’s an option.”

For more information, visit alcovydental.com or call Alcovy Family & Cosmetic Dentistry at 770-787-6453.

What is it?

Sedation Dentistry

Who can do it?

Certified Dentists who also have their Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Certification. The dentist will also have an Enteral (Conscious Sedation) License. The dentist must have special training, maintain his or her office equipment and maintain his or her professional qualifications.

What types of sedation are there?

• Inhaled minimal sedation: Nitrous oxide—also known as “laughing gas”—is inhaled through a mask over the nose.

The gas helps the patient relax but wears off quickly. It is the only form of sedation with which the patient is able to drive after its use.

• Oral sedation: This form ranges from minimal to moderate and includes pills Halcion and Valium. It makes the patient drowsy or groggy. Some patients might fall asleep.

• IV moderate sedation: This form of sedation is given through the vein and goes to work quickly but allows the dentist to quickly control the amount of the sedation.

• General anesthesia: These medications will put the patient to sleep and require special training and monitoring during the procedure.

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H E A LT H & W E L L N E S S

GRACE & TRUTH

‘Don’t Waste a Crisis’ God oftentimes uses the darkness of fear and failure as windows of opportunity for growth.

by DOUGLAS GILREATH

Many years ago, an old mentor in the ministry would say to me, “Don’t waste a crisis.” This often followed a conflict, failure, disappointment or disagreement in the church I was serving. His cryptic, blunt advice was packed with meaning: “Learn from this. Grow from this. Become stronger, wiser, better because of this.” He knew better than me that a crisis was an opportunity to choose—life or death, not literally but figuratively. A crisis is nothing more than a crossroads that forces us to make a choice: “Will this make me or break me?

Will this define me or destroy me?” The same can be asked of our current crisis.

Crises, while unwanted, are windows of opportunity for growth. I read recently of a study on “spiritual formation” by the Barna Group that asked thousands of churchgoers when they grew most spiritually and what contributed to their growth. The response was humbling, at least for someone who is part of the clergy. The number one contributor to spiritual growth was not transformational teaching, being in a small group, reading deep books, dynamic worship experiences or finding meaningful ways to serve. It was suffering. People grew more during seasons of loss, pain and crisis than they did at any other time.

Leslie Weatherhead was no stranger to suffering, grief or despair. He preached in London during the days when the bombs fell all over England during World War II. In one of his sermons he wrote the following: “I can only write down this simple testimony. Like all men, I love and prefer the sunny uplands of experience when health, happiness and success abound, but I have learned more about God, life and myself in the darkness of fear and failure than I have ever learned in the sunshine. There are such things as the treasure of darkness. The darkness, thank God, passes, but what one learns in the darkness, one possesses forever. When it is darker than midnight under an

iron skillet, remember these ancient words, ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.’”

Don’t waste this crisis or whatever crisis you might be experiencing. While it is certainly unwanted and not thrust upon you

by God, it can be used as an amazing time of growth. If we have courage to make changes in our lives, something can happen in our souls. The Holy Spirit will bring the courage if we keep struggling, keep fighting and keep faithful while the experience of adversity is fresh. Ultimately, a crisis is a temporary opportunity for a permanent gift that can produce hope in a reality much larger than ourselves. In the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “Today, I’m hopeful. I am a prisoner of hope, because the One who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world.”

Dr. Douglas Gilreath is the senior pastor at Covington First United Methodist Church.

“The number one contributor to spiritual growth was not transformational teaching, being in a small group, reading deep books, dynamic worship experiences or finding meaningful ways to serve. It was suffering.”

Covington First United Methodist Church Senior Pastor Douglas Gilreath 2020 Summer Issue 31

S P O R T S & R E C R E AT I O N

Brid 34 The Newton

dges

by BRIAN KNAPP

BUILDING

When Marquis Gilstrap retired as a professional basketball player, he packaged together his knowledge and experience, brought them home and started opening doors for the next generation.

Whether he intended to or not, Marquis Gilstrap took Yoda’s six most profound words from “Return of the Jedi” and put them into practice: “Pass on what you have learned.”

The soon-to-be 33-year-old Gilstrap at one time seemed destined to become the first Newton County-born player to reach the NBA. After a stellar career at Eastside High School, the 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward was poised for a breakout at the junior college level—until he ruptured his patella tendon in 2005 and saw his career grind to a halt. Gilstrap chose not to complete his rehabilitation, gave up on basketball and moved back home, where he bounced from one job to the next. He missed two full seasons before an about face brought him back to the court at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida, where he earned All-America honors and emerged as one of the top players in the country.

During his one season at GCSC, Gilstrap put up 22.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. His efforts drew the attention of Iowa State University, the same institution that was once home to former Newton High School standout Kantrail Horton. After he

consulted with Horton, Gilstrap joined the Cyclones as a senior during the 2009–10 campaign, pumped in 14.9 points per game and ranked among the Top 35 nationally in rebounding (9.3).

He was the only player in the Big 12 Conference to average a double-double in league play.

Gilstrap was ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the 2010 NBA Draft, but subsequent medical exams revealed residual damage from his knee injury and likely cost him his chance to compete at the sport’s pinnacle. He spent the ensuing years playing abroad in Turkey and Slovakia while also suiting up in the NBA Developmental League.

“That injury always held me back from me being as good as I could have been,” Gilstrap said. “I couldn’t practice on certain days because it was swelling. I know I took Ibuprofen every day for probably three years. I was taking it just to get through practice and games.”

The demanding schedule in Europe offered him little opportunity to manage his injury, and he continued to deteriorate physically as the tread on his tires began to wear.

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S P O R T S & R E C R E AT I O N

“I always knew I wanted to play professional basketball—and I did—but God put something in me as a kid. I always said that whenever I was done playing, I was coming back home.”

Marquis Gilstrap

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“The grind of playing overseas is totally different from here,” Gilstrap said. “I remember being in Turkey. We practiced for like 30 days straight with no days off—two-a-days, plus weights—and so my body just wasn’t holding up. The last time it swelled, they sent me to the doctor and he told me some of the muscles in my quad weren’t firing and that surgery couldn’t fix it.”

So it was that he made the decision to call it a career. He returned home once more, served as an assistant coach at his alma mater and took a job as a physical education teacher at Livingston Elementary School in Covington. Gilstrap also established annual summer basketball camps and trained some of Newton County’s most accomplished prep players, including University of Arkansas guard JD Notae and University of North Carolina-Greensboro guard Isaiah Miller.

Gilstrap’s personal development was impacted by current Newton head coach Charlemagne Gibbons, who connected him to an Amateur Athletic Union team when he was a freshman in high school. He drew upon the experience in 2017, when he started his own AAU program under the Team Strap banner.

“Every senior that I coached when I was at Eastside and who has come through my AAU program has graduated from high school and gone on to play college basketball or gone on to

academic scholarships,” Gilstrap said. “I have a 100 percent success rate with all of my seniors.”

Gilstrap’s AAU program, which caters to prospective players in and around Newton County, features a 16-year-old team and two 17-year-old teams, one of which Gilstrap coaches himself. He has also considered starting a fourth- or fifth-grade team for his 10-year-old son, who already stands 5-foot-3 and weighs 130 pounds. However, Gilstrap’s efforts extend beyond the sport.

“The bigger picture with me is building a brotherhood and a network where I try to tell them, ‘I know all of you are not going to play professional basketball, but you all can be entrepreneurs or doctors or lawyers,” Gilstrap said, “and when you’re in a time of need, you can just pick up the phone and call one of your brothers.’”

The AAU season typically runs from March through the middle of summer and offers players the chance to test their skills against high-level competition under tournament conditions. It covers 30-plus games—the equivalent of an entire high school season.

Gilstrap estimates he has at least 50 players under his wing.

“I try to play in everything that’s NCAA-certified,” he said.

“There’s only a certain time when college coaches can come out.

I just wanted to give these kids in our area a platform to show

off their talents and to show they can compete with the kids from out of state. I got a lot of flack growing up here in Covington. People were like, ‘Yeah, you’re good for this area, but you can’t compete with the kids in Atlanta.’ I just want to put that myth to bed.”

Mentorship drives Gilstrap’s approach, a modern-day Yoda raising up the next generation of Luke Skywalkers on the basketball court.

“I try to take all of my experiences in and give these kids everything that I learned later on in life,” he said. “I try to expose them to it early. I know what it takes to get to wherever level you need to get to. There are certain things I try to harp on to get the high school kids to college and to teach the college kids what they need to know to get to the professional level.”

While the reality that Gilstrap was never afforded the opportunity to play in the NBA will always be something of a thorn in his side, his priorities have changed with time.

“I always knew I wanted to play professional basketball— and I did—but God put something in me as a kid,” he said.

“I always said that whenever I was done playing, I was coming back home. I just wanted to give back, so I think that’s why I’m happy now. I’m at ease with it.”

2020 Summer Issue 37

S P O R T S & R E C R E AT I O N

Diamonds

Rough in the

by NAT HARWELL

The Oaks Course and Ashton Hills Golf Club endear themselves to local golfers by offering world-class amenities with close-to-home convenience.

Whenever an assignment pops up, I try to keep my personal views and experiences out of the mix. Generally, my duty is to report on a given subject objectively and to present only the facts, thus allowing readers to form their own opinions on the material. However, I decided to throw caution to the wind while introducing two first-rate recreational establishments. Though many of the roughly 100,000 residents in Newton County have roots dating back to when it was first formed, more and more newcomers arrive on the scene every year.

Let us talk about golf, a sport that frustrates the masses like no other. On the west and east sides of Covington sit two diamonds in the rough. They are championship-caliber, 18-hole layouts and fall within 200 yards of being equal in length. The Oaks Course, located on Crowell Road, has seniority; Ashton Hills, located on the Covington Bypass near Eastside High School, opened in 1997.

The Oaks in the 1930s began its life as a nine-hole course that was owned by the Bibb Manufacturing Company and known as the Porterdale Golf Club.

The local Moose Club later purchased the course, converted it to 18 holes and renamed it Fox Run. It then fell on hard times and abandonment until current owners, Dick and Nancy Schultz, reopened it some three decades ago. The Oaks has flourished ever since. It offers a modern clubhouse with restaurant, meeting facilities, pro shop, driving range, lockers and membership, all while it remains open to the public.

2020 Summer Issue 39

S P O R T S & R E C R E AT I O N

“Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots and you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play where it lies.”

The Masters Co-Founder Bobby Jones

I played The Oaks many times as a younger man. Although any course should be fined heavily for even allowing a hacker like me to set foot upon it, I consider it a good round if I find more golf balls than I lose while looking for those I lost. My game resembles what Mark Twain once said about the sport: “Golf is a good walk—spoilt.” The Oaks’ 18-hole layout has since been renumbered, but while participating in a tournament in the late 1980s, I was overlooking the tee box on the Par 3 hole that adjoined the clubhouse. The hole featured a dogleg right to an elevated green, just behind a nearly equally elevated pond. Along came State Farm agent Bill Taylor, whose ability to “hit ’em long” was legendary. Eschewing the safe route to lay up in the dog leg, Taylor gripped it and ripped it, clearing the pond and landing on the faraway green. People still talk about that shot.

To the east, Ashton Hills Golf Club features cart tunnels under major thoroughfares, elevation changes and a world-class layout that demands attention on virtually every shot. The course was designed by Desmond Muirhead, who left his signature on every hole. One of them featured a green in the shape of an eagle’s head back when it was known as Indian Creek Golf Club. Surrounded by sand, the hole was so difficult that management at the time removed the eagles’ head—a decision that prompted one local golfer to write the designer to apprise him. Muirhead wrote back, indicated he was humbled to have designed the course and allowed that management could do whatever it wished. He went on to tell the story behind the

40 The Newton

design of his signature Par 3—now Hole 3—as he sat in an English pub and drew it on a cocktail napkin. The hole features a green surrounded by a network of rectangular traps. Muirhead’s original plan called for the rectangles to alternate, with sand in one and water in the next.

Two local attorneys, Phil Johnson and Brian Pulliam, and golf pro Bryan Raines currently own Ashton Hills. Under their infused energy and vision, it features a clubhouse with restaurant, pro shop, driving range and membership while also remaining open to the public. Ashton Hills has been voted one of The Top 10 public courses in Atlanta and was also named one of GolfAdvisor.com’s Top 20 courses in Georgia.

The Oaks Course and Ashton Hills Golf Club have for years provided local golfers—newcomers and old-timers alike—with a respite from the grind of day-to-day life. Whether you play the two courses on a regular basis, frequent their restaurants or simply drive by them on the way to school or work, there is far more to both establishments than meets the eye.

For more information, visit The Oaks Course and Ashton Hills Golf Club online at golfoaks.com and ashtonhillsgc.com.

A R T S , E D U C AT I O N & I N N O VAT I O N

JOURNEY OF REDISCOVERY

by MICHELLE FLOYD

Margaret Warfield thought she lost her ability to paint when ‘life got in the way,’ but a combination of prayer and perseverance brought her skills back to the surface and provided her with the means through which to find her true calling.

A founding member of a prominent local art gallery sought divine intervention after she seemingly lost her creative abilities.

Margaret Warfield’s prayers were answered.

During Warfield’s formative years, she enjoyed art and “dabbled” in painting. She attended college at Tennessee State University, where she studied art while majoring in clothing and textiles. “When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a fashion designer,” Warfield said, “and I’ve always loved fabric.”

However, once she relocated to Florida to start her career in the clothing industry, she stopped painting. The reason: “Life got in the way.”

Warfield worked for several clothing boutiques and major companies before moving to Georgia, but her heart remained in the arts.

“Every time somebody asked me what I did,” she said, “I always told them I was an artist.” After she put down roots in Macon, her desire to paint returned. Warfield gathered supplies but struggled to recapture the magic. Devastated, she asked God to restore her ability, and in time, it returned.

A gallery in Lithonia was the first to carry her work in Georgia, and it eventually led to an opportunity in the film industry.

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2020 Summer Issue 45

A R T S , E D U C AT I O N & I N N O VAT I O N

“I hope people will identify with the strength of my women. I hope my art will bring a smile to people’s faces because they are pleased and feel comfort and hope.”

Margaret Warfield

Someone from the popular television cop drama “In the Heat of the Night”—the series was filmed primarily in Covington and aired on NBC and CBS from March 6, 1988 to May 16, 1995—saw one of her pieces and recommended that it be used on the show. Warfield and her husband appeared in an episode, which featured her art in a gallery fundraiser.

“I decided then that I never could be an actress,” Warfield said. “I stood around forever for a few seconds on the show.”

Warfield and her husband, along with her mother and mother-in-law, settled in Oxford some two decades ago, and

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she eventually came into contact with local artists that would help shape her creative future. During a local art festival at Salem Campground, Warfield met Elise Hammond, who was director of the Southern Heartland Arts Festival at the time.

“Her color palette is pretty much the same as what she started with, mostly real vibrant colors and a lot of complimentary colors,” Hammond said. “She is a very creative person.”

Hammond was quick to point out her affinity for Warfield’s clothing, which the Oxford resident continues to design and use through her artwork, like her soft-sculptured dolls, polymer clay sculptures and jewelry. The two women later became part of the founding group that started the Southern Heartland Art Gallery on The Square in downtown Covington in 2004.

“We’re like a family, rather than like a business,” Warfield said.

Warfield also works with another art gallery on The Square: WildArt, where she helps decorate the store’s window displays.

“She’s a powerhouse talent and is so generous with her advice,” said WildArt Owner Ann Wildmon, who has known Warfield for 15 years. “She makes us look so good.”

Warfield admits she enjoys painting women the most, although she does not consider herself a portrait artist. She described her work as peaceful, not shocking.

“Most of them are from my imagination, and every now and then, I’ll do somebody that I’ve met,” Warfield said. “I think I’m still a fashion designer because I paint women with beautiful

clothing and jewelry.” She hopes people see movement in her art. Prior to his death in 2014, Warfield’s husband told her that he believed she was painting herself over and over again. “I hope people will identify with the strength of my women,” she said.

“I hope my art will bring a smile to people’s faces because they are pleased and feel comfort and hope.”

Warfield now clings to the talent she once thought was gone forever. She concedes the death of her mother in 2007 and her husband seven years later affected the way she paints, but she nevertheless forged ahead with pushing her creative bounds.

Painting allowed Warfield to escape the increased sense of isolation brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, insulated her from the fear that gripped much of the globe and afforded her the chance to sharpen her skills.

“I always say my house could burn down and I would be sitting there painting,” said Warfield, who still lives with her mother-in-law in Oxford. “I’m so focused on what I’m doing.

I take on the weight of the world. I don’t want it to leave me and forget.”

For more information on Warfield’s artwork, visit her website at margaretwarfield.net, the Southern Heartland Art Gallery website at southernheartlandart.com or the WildArt website at thewildart.com.

A R T S , E D U C AT I O N & I N N O VAT I O N

Head of the Class

by MICHELLE FLOYD

An educational trailblazer as the first female superintendent of the Newton County School System, Samantha Fuhrey has begun drawing national attention for her efforts to improve the scholastic experience.

It took nearly 150 years for Newton County to hire its first female superintendent of schools, and Samantha Fuhrey is putting her community on the map in more ways than one.

Named to her current position in 2013, Fuhrey has been chosen as one of four finalists for Georgia’s “Superintendent of the Year” in each of the last three years. She won the award in 2020, when she was also selected as one of four finalists for “National Superintendent of the Year.” Dedication to students has been her calling card.

“It is a tremendous honor to represent the work of our school system and, of course, our community,” said Fuhrey, who joined the Newton County School System as an assistant principal at Indian Creek Middle School in 2001. “There are a lot of great things going on in our state. To be the person to shine a light on all of that is a tremendous honor. We’ve got some really talented superintendents in the state of Georgia.”

After moving to Newton County in the early 1990s, Fuhrey began her career in education as an elementary school teacher in Decatur. Although she admits the commute was “horrible,” she called the professional development and leadership training she received “outstanding.”

“In the 1990s, DeKalb [County] was an awesome place for a new teacher to start a career,” said Fuhrey, who grew up all over the world as the result of her father being in the United States Navy. “I was lucky to have that experience early on.”

Dr. Nikkita Warfield, director of secondary education and professional learning with Newton County Schools, met Fuhrey while working in Decatur as a first-year teacher, the same year the latter was a first-year assistant principal.

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2020 Summer Issue 49

A R T S , E D U C AT I O N & I N N O VAT I O N

“I want to look back and say the school system is better off since I was there, maybe not seeing my handprint but a small fingerprint.”

Newton County School System Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey

“Ms. Fuhrey took me under her wings by not only verbally sharing she had a vested interest in my success as a teacher but by demonstrating through her actions that she wanted me to be successful,” said Warfield, adding that the two women spent that year exchanging ideas about innovative ways to make learning come to life for students, then implementing those strategies to show how theory matches practice. “I have witnessed that over the years Ms. Fuhrey has not changed.

She has been very consistent in her leadership.”

Fuhrey taught and was in administration at several Decatur middle schools before she landed a job as assistant principal at ICMS in 2001, when she was approached by Newton County School System administrators who had heard about her successes.

“I thought it would be so much closer to home,” Fuhrey said, “and I would get to work and share my talents with [the] community in which I lived.”

Nearly 20 years have passed since Fuhrey first walked through the doors at Indian Creek. She also worked as principal at

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ICMS before crossing over to the NCSS administration team as director of professional learning, director of secondary education and deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

“She is one of the most selfless people I know. She never wants the credit for an accomplishment. It’s always a team effort, and she believes that she would not be where she is today without her team and support system. The staff is her team,” said Newton County Board of Education Vice Chair Abigail Coggin, who represents District 5. “She believes in her staff and students and wants to see them succeed. She includes the over 19,000 students enrolled in the school system as her own.”

Mandy Angulo, a teacher at Indian Creek Middle School, concedes that plenty of administrators claim they put students first but believes Fuhrey backs up such words with action. She points to Fuhrey’s visits to classrooms, where she often “jumps right in” with the lessons while engaging with both students and teachers. “I stay in Newton County because of Samantha Fuhrey,” Angulo said. “She’s a phenomenal leader.

Newton County is very fortunate to have someone with this insight.”

Although Fuhrey has maintained a role in leadership for some two decades, her heart remains in the classroom. “I loved teaching— I still try to do it. It’s rare you get to develop the type of relationships with students [that] you do when you’re in the classroom,” said Fuhrey, who credits her mother for encouraging her to pursue education. “In the future when I retire, I would love to go back to the classroom. I cannot see myself in any other profession than education.”

Fuhrey understands the gravity of her position and the opportunity it affords her to make an impression on young people, especially females.

“I have a daughter, so I want her to be able to see herself in any role she chooses, including those non-traditional female roles, but I also want that for all of our females. I want all of our kids to be able to achieve whatever it is they want to achieve,” said Fuhrey, who thinks women are underrepresented in educational leadership despite outnumbering their male counterparts in teaching positions. “CEOs of organizations can be women, and there are pathways to get there. You can balance the responsibilities of family and be a successful leader. You can have the best of both worlds.”

Fuhrey never tires of trying to positively impact the lives of students in Newton County.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to serve our children,” she said. “The goal for me is to successfully serve as superintendent of our school system and move our district forward. I want to look back and say the school system is better off since I was there, maybe not seeing my handprint but a small fingerprint.”

COADY’S CORNER

Getting a Read on Literacy The ability to read and write remains one of the great divides between the haves and the have-nots, even in 2020.

by DR. KIM COADY

What does it mean to be literate? In the simplest terms, an individual is considered to be literate if he or she can read and write. Now that we’ve established what it means to be literate, let’s ponder a few questions. Does every person living in the United States deserve to be become literate? In other words, does this ability to read and write become something of a civil right? If our civil rights were designed to protect us from unfair treatment, then it stands to reason that people who are not given this opportunity are being denied access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There are many questions concerning such a seemingly simplistic topic, but this is one of the most important issues we face in today’s society. Literacy remains one of the great divides between the haves and the have-nots. This should not be the case in 2020.

As I’ve worked with students over the past 25 years, I’ve personally found that literacy is a skill that determines the quality of life for most of them. While I don’t have the specific

statistics to share, all you have to do is read or listen to see the impact of illiteracy in our country today. Think for one minute what it must be like to not have the ability to read. You visit a grocery store, and you can only identify what you need by the packaging. You buy a car, but you can’t read the contract. You buy a house or rent an apartment, and you can’t read the details.

No wonder people get into difficult situations. The saddest part of all is watching students struggle with reading text when they haven’t been given the tools they need or, worst of all, being wired differently and not having the prerequisite skills needed for their brain to access the text adequately.

All of this to say: Why in the world is this still the case in the United States? We push for access to technology, yet we ignore the most important part of using it. You must be able to read.

Putting the technology in the hands of students is a worthwhile pursuit, but if they do not have the skills to read and unlock the meaning to words, it all becomes moot. When did we become a nation that “acts” to equip people, even as it continues to limit them by withholding the most important right— the right to read?

Dr. Kim Coady is the former principal at East Newton Elementary School. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s and specialist’s degrees in early childhood education from Georgia College and State University and her PhD in Teaching and Learning: Language and Literacy at Georgia State University.

“We push for access to technology, yet we ignore the most important part of using it. You must be able to read.”

Dr. Kim Coady 2020 Summer Issue 51

LIVING

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STANDING THE TESTS OF TIME

by NAT HARWELL

Reborn out of the rubble left by an April 3, 2017 tornado that struck Mansfield, the generational, family-owned Hays Tractor & Equipment company carries on the legacy of its founder and continues its customers-first approach at a spacious new campus just south of The Hub. The voices still echo for those who listen closely enough. “Well, why don’t you just go ahead and put a bed up there?” she asked. “You spend more time there than you do at home, and for goodness sakes, why go there on Sundays?” Lamar Hays had the answer ready for his wife, Carrie: “I don’t mind tellin’ you. I’ve got to take care of my customers. Yes, sir.”

So went the conversation back when Hays Tractor & Equipment rested at the State Highway 11-County Road 213 intersection in Mansfield. The two-story brick building was a landmark until 1:36 p.m. on April 3, 2017—the exact time a tornado ripped through eastern Newton County and took part of the venerable structure with it. Hays Tractor’s story runs much deeper than a natural disaster. Today, the company has settled into a newly designed, functional and spacious campus just south of The Hub—the once-thriving and now revitalized crossroads where U.S. 278 meets State Highway 11.

Back in 1951—those golden years between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Korean War—E. Lee Hays had partnered with W.C. Benton in Covington to sell international trucks and Farmall tractors. They operated out of a building that still sits on U.S. 278, adjoining Newton Electric Supply and across the street from United Bank. That same year, Hays bought the Farmall tractor side of 2020 Summer Issue 55

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“It was just like you’ve heard folks say. We heard the railroad train sound at 1:36, and it lasted for exactly three minutes. Parts of the building were torn off and some bricks did some damage, but not a one of us was hurt.”

Hays Tractor & Equipment Owner Sheila Massey the company and founded Hays Tractor & Equipment. His son, Lamar, took over the operation in 1973, and the family aspect of running a business took off.

Lamar wed Carrie on March 4, 1962. They were married for exactly 47 years, until his death on March 4, 2009. Over the last quarter of the 20th century, Lamar’s daughters played vital roles as administrative assistants. Susan Hays Boss was his secretary for 16 years, and Sandra Hays Johnson—“the tomboy of the family”—served in that capacity for 15 years. Sheila Hays Massey arrived on the scene in 2002, and today, she owns Hays Tractor & Equipment.

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Farmall tractors and farm implements, with all the associated equipment any farmer could ever need, was sold and serviced by the Hays family. Lamar’s penchant for taking care of his customers and the foresight to put them first built a loyal and ever-growing base.

The company flourished. Then came the fateful day in April 2017.

“My husband is Brian Massey,” Sheila said. “At the time, he was acting fire chief, although today he’s a full-time fireman for Newton County, as well as the general manager here. He called on the phone and told us the weather was really going to be rough that afternoon and to be ready to take shelter.”

Sure enough, the civil defense sirens started to sound just after 1:30 p.m., and the employees took shelter as the tornado approached.

“It was just like you’ve heard folks say,” Sheila said. “We heard the railroad train sound at 1:36, and it lasted for exactly three minutes. Parts of the building were torn off and some bricks did some damage, but not a one of us was hurt. We were truly blessed.”

Not long after the damage was assessed, the decision was made to relocate the business. As much of the old building as possible was salvaged and can be seen on “the history wall” at the new facility and on the exterior brick sign. Parked out front sits the Farmall Cub model, which was sold to Oxford College years ago. Sheila recently repurchased the tractor.

“Daddy’s favorite model tractor of all-time was the Farmall Cub,” she said. “This one doesn’t run any longer, but I’ve got it outside my office window and can sort of feel his vibe when I look at it.”

Despite beginning with the Farmall line, Hays Tractor made a switch to Kubota farm equipment in the early 1990s. The engines for the Kubota tractors are made in Japan, but the other components are manufactured in America, and there are distribution warehouses and sales centers spread across the nation.

“We like Kubota for a number of reasons,” Sheila said. “Our sales and management staff attend annual conferences to be apprised of the latest advances and models, and our service technicians take classes and are certified to work on all of the equipment we sell.”

Two important elements of that sales staff and service department appear in the form of the fourth generation of family members at Hays Tractor & Equipment. Andrew Hays recently graduated from Georgia State University, having worked on his business administration degree. Andrew is focused on sales and digital marketing, and his resume includes having been a national finalist and first runner-up in agricultural sales proficiency as a Future Farmers of America member. Not to be outdone, younger brother Alex, 14, just finished his freshman year at Eastside High School. Alex has been interested in the service side of the business for years, belying his age, and the straight-A student credits Eastside FFA Advisor Katrina Pollard’s FFA tutelage as a major boost.

Hays Tractor & Equipment’s new campus sports fully staffed sales, parts and service departments and employs 14 full- and part-time workers. The company sells the L series Kubota tractors and associated implements, and it also boasts a turf division, with lawn mowers and RTV side-by-side vehicles.

From its beginning in 1951 to the present day, Hays Tractor & Equipment has been and continues to be a family affair. The customer always comes first tenet has propelled the company through the years. Lamar Hays’ favorite model now stands guard outside Sheila Massey’s office, day and night. It seems totally within the realm of reason to picture that gentleman standing up on the shoulder of State Highway 11, near The Hub, while he looks down on the glistening, modern campus of Hays Tractor & Equipment.

LIVING

NOT JUST A

HAIRCUT

by MICHELLE FLOYD

A modern barbershop that caters to men, Gent’s Grooming Lounge in Porterdale has allowed Michael Maurice to breathe life into his unique vision.

Those missing that special something from their current barbershop might want to check out Gent’s Grooming Lounge in downtown Porterdale.

“It’s an experience rather than just a haircut, and that’s what I appreciate,” said Mark Ross, who has been a customer since Michael Maurice opened the shop in December 2016. “Michael is a consummate professional. The environment is unlike any barbershop I’ve ever experienced.” Ross notes that the shop comes across as a clean and wholesome place where he can feel comfortable taking his teenage son. “Michael is engaging, and he’s always got great music playing,” said Ross, who pointed to the hot towel treatment as an extra touch. “I’m glad he’s a staple in the community.”

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Maurice opened the lounge because he could not find a place in the area for men to get custom grooming services that were exclusively tailored for them. In the near future, he hopes to incorporate a few more services, like manicures and pedicures for men while also adding additional personnel.

“I felt as though women already had a place for them; they have nail and hair salons,” he said. “I thought it would be a great addition to the community, something brand new, giving our guys a place, a social man cave.”

Currently, the lounge offers services like a straight razor shave, haircuts for men and young men, shoe shines, beard trims and facials. Ever since he was a teen growing up in Florida, Maurice was interested in the barbershop environment and mastering the service. After serving in the United States Army for five years after high school, he moved to Georgia. One day while driving through town over the Yellow River Bridge, he spotted the building on Main Street, near the Porterdale Mill Lofts.

“I was thinking there should be a really nice barbershop there.

It was the fit I was going for, a nice warm feeling that you don’t really encounter in a traditional barbershop,” Maurice said. “The people in and around town are great, fascinating people. I enjoy meeting new people every day.”

Book an appointment online at gentsgrooming.org.

“The environment is unlike any barbershop I’ve ever experienced.”

Gent’s Grooming Lounge Customer Mark Ross

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‘ O u r L i t t l e P i e c e o f H e a v e n’ A sprawling bamboo garden brought to life by David and Elaine Ellis provides a sanctuary for quiet reflection, focused study and faith-based outreach.

by DAVID ROTEN A man’s voice called out in welcome: “Hello.” Turning to face the direction of the greeting, the visitor quickly scanned the bamboo grove but saw no one. “Come on in,” the voice beckoned. Searching, the visitor found a trellis entrance and followed the winding path inside. “I love to sit right here and watch people come in and see their face,” retired stone mason David Ellis said, “because most people are like, ‘Oh, my goodness! Oh, wow!’” Indeed, it becomes readily apparent that theirs is no ordinary bamboo stand. “It’s unique,” said Elaine, David’s wife of 45 years. “It’s peaceful.”

“As we’re sitting here in the evening and the sun’s going down, the bamboo looks like it’s on fire in places.”

Elaine Ellis Inside the couple’s bamboo garden, rays of sunlight force their way down through a dense maze of green, leafy stalks, some as tall as 30 feet. The vegetation casts dark shadows below that sway with the wind while light beams bend into colorful reflections that hover above marble-top tables. “As we’re sitting here in the evening and the sun’s going down, the bamboo looks like it’s on fire in places,” Elaine said. “You can see how the sun glistens on the canes,” David added. “You get a different look as it changes all through the day.” As a breeze gently blows, the melodic tinkling of wind chimes adds to the ambience.

David started growing his special garden almost 30 years ago as a way to remember his grandfather, in whose bamboo stand he often played as a young boy. “I wanted a part of my ‘Big Papa’

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here,” he said. From his grandfather’s stand, he transplanted just three roots, each about a foot and a half long. “It has grown from that to this,” David said, his gaze sweeping the roughly 50-by-100-foot area the Ellises bamboo garden now comprises.

In the early years, as the garden began to grow, so did David’s vision of what he could build inside. He started by “making a room,” which involved creating empty spaces by selectively knocking down bamboo and kicking over what he calls “buttons,” or little bamboo shoots. Decor consisting of an old, white plastic table and matching chairs would prove to be temporary. “One day I looked out here and the table was about this high off the ground,” he said. “One of the canes was up under it pushing it up. I finally thought, ‘David, you’re a stone mason. You can do something to accent this.’”

So began in earnest a labor of love that would transform a wild thicket into a multi-purpose sanctuary. David cut down plum and cedar trees and fashioned the stumps into bases for tables. He had heavy slabs of fieldstone, one weighing 1,200 pounds, delivered by truck and dumped in the yard outside the bamboo stand. Through a painstaking process utilizing a pry bar, PVC pipes and a whole lot of sweat and smarts, David moved the rocks—by himself—little by little to their final resting places, where they now serve as benches. Smaller stones, expertly pieced in to provide support and a framework for each bench, help to create a beautiful and functional mosaic.

Through the years, the garden has been the distinctive setting for tea parties, Bible studies, baby showers, cookouts and celebrations of birthdays, from Year 1 to 90. “We have a lot of memories here,” Elaine said. A wooden bluebird box, made by their daughter Tiffany as a sixth-grader three decades ago, hangs on to a bench swing support post. A beloved butterfly wind chime that belonged to Elaine’s late mother dangles from a cane.

However, of all the memories living in the garden, none is treasured more than one: “I got saved here,” David said.

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“[For] 28 years, I prayed for him,” Elaine said, “because he was a good husband, son, father, friend. He was good, but he was good and lost.” David in 2001 suffered a severe break to his left arm when he fell backward into a ditch while on the job. His condition worsened when he developed osteomyelitis—an infection of the bone. “I almost lost my arm,” he said.

“It was nine months of horror, four surgeries, pain like you can’t imagine.”

It was also a time of finding contentment in the midst of uncertain circumstances, according to Elaine. “We had zero income for nine months,” she said, “but it was just amazing how the Lord provided and blessed us.” The experience left David humbled and grateful. “We never asked anybody for anything,” he said, “but the money just kept coming and coming.” The unsolicited generosity of friends, acquaintances and even a total stranger touched David to his core: “I learned how much people love me.”

When the Ellises’ pastor witnessed to David in the garden after his last surgery, he opened his heart to receive Jesus Christ.

This side of the struggle, with body and spirit now healed, he believes it was all worth it.

“If I had to go through all the pain I went through to get what I’ve got now,” David said, “I would do it over again.”

Like the bamboo garden David planted so many years ago, the Ellises have put down roots that continue to grow and spread. They still live in the same house into which they moved the day after they were married almost 46 years ago. Two children have produced four grandchildren. Together, David and Elaine are enjoying their life’s journey as “best friends,” and yet, it almost never happened, or so it would seem.

“We didn’t know each other,” Elaine said. “We went all through Newton County High School together, and our paths never crossed.” After a chance first meeting the following year, Elaine and David soon discovered their birthdays were only two

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days apart and that, in fact, they had both been born at Emory Hospital. With hospital stays lasting several days for new mothers back then, newborns David and Elaine were almost certainly there at the same time. “We were in the nursery together,” she said. “Our daddies probably stood there looking at us at the same time.” Little did those fathers know that their child’s future spouse was resting nearby.

All grown up and in love 19 years later, the young couple had been dating for about eight months when Elaine made her move: “I told David one day, ‘I’m tired of dating. Let’s get married.’” David’s response was a bit more cautious. “Let’s wait and see how the economy’s going to do,” he said. “Well, that didn’t work. The next thing I knew, I was buying a ring and building a house.”

Theirs was a match made in heaven. “We’ve been very happy,” David said. “Blessed,” Elaine added. Knowing they will have been together from cradle to grave and through all eternity leaves them with a sense of wonder and gratitude. Their peaceful bamboo garden seems like a perfect place for a deep breath to take it all in. “It’s our little piece of heaven,” Elaine said, “but it’s something we enjoy sharing with our family and friends.”

Scout’s Honor

Bert Adams Scout Camp relocated to Newton County in 1960, and for six decades, it has stood out as one of the community’s crown jewels.

by DARRELL HUCKABY It was the middle of summer in 1963. I was 11, and my buddies and I met on a Sunday afternoon at the Porterdale Scout Hall, a few houses up from where I lived. I endured being kissed goodbye by my mother, and we piled into the back of Scoutmaster Aubrey Barnes’ pickup truck and headed for Bert Adams Scout Camp, south of Covington. The ensuing week would change my life forever.

The original Bert Adams camp was located in the Vinings area of Cobb County, near where Cumberland Mall and the Cobb Galleria now sprawl. It opened in 1927—the same year Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic and Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs. Having outgrown that property, the Atlanta Area Council began to look for a spot to build a larger reservation as the 1950s began to wind down. Thanks to the vision of Covington’s S.J. “Sappy” Morecock and others, 1,300 acres of property in south Newton County were purchased, and in 1960, the “New Bert Adams” opened shop.

The first summer camp was held there in 1961. I missed the first two years but would camp there for each of the next 18, as a scout, adult leader and staffer. They were glorious years, but none were more magical than that first week. It was the first time I had been away from my parents for six straight days, and even though I was only 10 miles from home, I was plagued by pangs of homesickness. The very first night, as bedtime approached, I developed a stomachache and our Troop guide, Terry McClellan—a high school football player, I recall, from Dykes High School—took me to the health lodge to visit the nurse and have my temperature taken. I don’t remember who she was, but she was young and beautiful, and honesty compels me to admit that I found an excuse to get to that health lodge every day that week.

When I wasn’t acting like a homesick little boy, I embraced the adventure of my first week of Boy Scout summer camp.

I was always at home in the water and took swimming merit 2020 Summer Issue 63

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“I had been assured by every staffer I encountered all week that anyone who rubbed the buffalo’s nose was destined to return to Bert Adams year after year. It’s kind of the same principle as throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome.”

Darrell Huckaby

badge from erstwhile instructor Charles Lassiter in the EmersonGorman pool, and I vowed that one day I would teach swimming at Bert Adams, just like him. At week’s end, I completed the mile swim in Lake Bulow Campbell, the centerpiece of the property. In the meantime, I slept with my troop in three-sided structures called Adirondacks, went on nature hikes, sang songs around nightly campfires and became forever hooked on scouting and outdoor living. By the time we headed home on Saturday morning, I had taken my first baby steps on the way to becoming an Eagle Scout.

I made sure on that first Saturday morning, right after breakfast, to go up and rub the nose of the buffalo head that hung over the immense stone fireplace in Woodruff Hall, where

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Camp Emerson and Camp Gorman scouts took their meals.

I had been assured by every staffer I encountered all week that anyone who rubbed the buffalo’s nose was destined to return to Bert Adams year after year. It’s kind of the same principle as throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

What an impressive structure Woodruff Hall was to an 11-year-old boy who had rarely left Porterdale. It had a high cathedral ceiling, and the walls were adorned with huge game trophies—elk, moose, deer and, of course, the aforementioned buffalo. As the name implies, Woodruff Hall was the gift of Mr. Anonymous, Coca-Cola magnate Robert Woodruff. All the animal trophies were his, too. I was told by a person in position to know that when Mr. Woodruff donated the money

for the immense dining and meeting facility, longtime Atlanta Area Scout executive Country Gorman told him that the scouts wanted to do something for him. Gorman offered to save Mr. Woodruff a lot of money on storage fees by displaying his hunting trophies at Bert Adams.

For a long time, there was Boy’s Life cover art hanging in frames on the wall, too. Then someone realized that they were original Norman Rockwells—also from Mr. Woodruff— and they were moved to a more secure location.

I would indeed return to Bert Adams, summer after summer after summer—and on fall and spring weekends for district and area camporees. I encountered young men working there who would become heroes to me, and I became more determined to work there myself one day. However, college doesn’t come cheap and the Osprey Mill paid better than the Atlanta Area Council, so it was not until I graduated from college that I managed to realize my dream of becoming a member of the summer camp staff. I was waterfront director, King of the Jamison Waterfront, for six years and program director at Emerson-Gorman, which we Jamison men called Weenie Land, for one memorable summer.

Bert Adams, for decades, was my happy place. I can close my eyes and smell the aroma of rich woods dirt and fresh pine.

I lived on the reservation year-round and helped “look after things” the first two years of my adult life; and I knew every inch of the property from hours and hours and hours of hiking its acres and swimming in its waters. As the camp approaches its 60th anniversary, it is bigger and better than ever. Impressive new facilities have been built. Cub scout day camps are held

there and, of course, the cornerstone of scouting, summer camp, still goes on. It is also used throughout the year for weekend troop camps, district camporees and a wide variety of training sessions.

It has been a minute since I have been there, but I did rub that buffalo’s nose a bunch of times. Maybe someday soon I’ll get a chance to go back and enjoy the magic.

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