CMYK Thursday, March 20, 2014
features CIVIC Club meetings ROTARY CLUB OF BRASELTON The Rotary Club of Braselton will be meeting today from 8-9 a.m. with the South Hall Business Coalition. The joint meeting, being hosted by Tony Funari and Funari Realty, will be held at Houndstooth Grill in Braselton. The program will be presented by officials of the Northest Georgia Health System. An update will be provided on the progress being made on Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton which is under construction Braselton in South Hall. The $200 million future 100-bed hospital is projected to open in May 2015. It will be the state’s first net new hospital in more than 20 years. HOSCHTON WOMEN’S CIVIC CLUB The next meeting of the Hoschton Women’s Civic Club will be Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hoschton Depot. Lizzie Clack, owner of Lizzie’s Pantry, will present the program. She wil be telling us about the different organically grown flowers she has available. She also has spices, Georgia olive oil and kitchen utensils. All ladies interested in this program are invited to attend. BRASELTON WOMAN’S CLUB The next Braselton Woman’s Club meeting will be held at noon on Wednesday, April 2 at the Country Inn & Suites, located at 925 Highway 124 in Braselton. Guest speaker will be Angie McCullough of David Ray’s Northeast Georgia Deli Provisions, distributors of Boars Head products. She will demonstrate and explain how to prepare the perfect Easter Ham. She will also show us how to make some other delicious springtime dishes. Boar’s Head Brand was founded by Frank Brunckhorst in the New York City area in 1905. His products were delivered by horsedrawn wagons to small delicatessens. Today, Boar’s Head products are shipped by truck to distributors all over the country. Everyone is invited to attend and light refreshments will be served. For questions, call Jo Longo at 706-654-9266 or check the club’s face book at wwwfacebook.com/Braselton Woman’s Club.
3B
Jefferson’s team shows they are smarter than a 10-year-old kid
A tie-breaker was needed to determine the winner of the March 13 “Are You Smarter Than a 10-YearOld” competition held as a fundraiser for the Jackson County Certified Literate Community Program. The City of Jefferson’s team composed of Councilman Mark Mobley and Steve Quinn and city arborist Susan Russell put together the win after buying a mulligan with a $100 donation to overcome an opening question miss. The team knew that a spelunker explores caves, that there are nine zeros in on billion and that the Erie Canal connected New York City to the Great Lakes. The team’s one million point question was where Mount Rushmore is located and they knew the correct answer was South Dakota. The team was among those competing in the tiebreaker after scoring one million points. First Commerce Bank, the Hoschton Area Business Alliance, the Jackson County GOP, Wilbanks Law Firm and Lanier Tech competed with the City of Jefferson and First Commerce Bank advancing. Mark Mobley represented the City of Jefferson and knew that Alaska had the longest non-fresh water coastline while Jeff Blair of the bank team guessed Florida. Tanger Outlet provided
gift certificates for the grand prize winners. Tanger Outlet also put another $100 toward the program with the purchase of a mulligan to advance their team after a miss. Also needing mulligans was the American Legion team, Swirlee’s Frozen Yogurt, Southeast Toyota Distributors and Lanier Tech. Executive director Sandra Fite welcomed the crowd assembled in the Jackson EMC auditorium to see which team would best match wits with the type of classroom questions seem by 10-year-old students. Fite projected the event, held in place of spelling bees of the past, will generate $4,500 for the Certified Literate Community Program. “It did seem that everyone enjoyed it and we hope to do it again next year,” said Fite. “It was a little different and I think Andy did an excellent job as emcee.” Sandy Lipkowitz, executive director of Dawson County Read, explained the rules of the game which she, her husband, John, and sound technician David Jacobs coordinated with Andy Garrison as master of ceremonies. Serving as judges for the event were Jackson County School Superintendent Dr. April Howard, Jefferson City Schools Superintendent Dr. John Jackson and Commerce City Schools
LeAnne Akin The Paper
Committee member Shawn Watson,emcee Andy Garrison, City of Jefferson team members Steve Quinn, Susan Russell and Mark Mobley with Jackson County Certified Literate Community Program executve director Sandra Fite. Below: The American Legion team and some of the student experts await the next question to be presented.
Superintendent Dr. Joy Tolbert. The teams fielded questions from third, fourth and fifth grade Georgia curriculum in the areas of math and science, language arts and social studies to gain points on the way to the one million point question round. Providing their expertise to the teams were fifth graders Kaleigh Wood of
LeAnne Akin The Paper
Emcee Andy Garrison waits for the answer to a question from the Swirlee’s Frozen Yogurt team of Paige Watson, Nicole Parker and Maddy Ansley.
North Jackson Elementary, Samantha Sokoloff of South Jackson Elementary School, Maddy Ward of Benton Elementary, Marcus Tipton from Gum Springs Elementary, Chris Koenig of Maysville Elementary, Sydney Blackwell from West Jackson Intermediate, Hannah Sirmans of Jefferson Academy and Nick Cosby from East Jackson Elementary School. The audience also got into the question-and-answer fun for a chance to win prizes. A silent auction was also held to raise money for the Certified Literate Community Program which supports adult education classes, provides books, computer programs and materials for classes offered on Lanier Tech’s Commerce campus, at Jefferson First Baptist Church, Potter’s House and the Jackson County Correctional Institute. The program also awards GED testing scholarships and recruits and trains literacy tutors and volunteers. A live auction for a golf experience at Athens Country Club won by Steve Quinn netted $150 for the program. American Legion Albert
Gordon Post 56’s team included Hal Puett, John King and Gene Bennett. First Commerce Bank was represented by Jeff Blair, Josh Weaver and Lisa Sheppard. Hoschton Area Business Association was represented by Nancy Rhodes, Dianne Wright and Corey T. Stephens. Jackson County GOP was represented by chairman Ron Johnson, treasurer Larry Ewing and secretary Kim Galbreath. Southeast Toyota Distributors was represented by Keith Franks, Johnny Lee Klugh and Roberta Prather. Swirlee’s Frozen Yogurt was represented by Paige Watson, Nicole Parker and Maddy Ansley. Tanger Outlet was represented by Lee Andra Vaughn, Breanna Gibboney and Elizabeth Evans. Wilbanks Law Firm was represented by Dylan Wilbanks, Lisa Wilbanks and Belinda Lewis. Lanier Technical College team, which was sponsored by Jackson EMC, was represented by Rushia Cooper, Gwen Chung and Larry Mauzey.
Republicans host Grayson, McDonald and Johnson By Katie Griffin
klgriffin@clickthepaper.com
The Jackson County Republican Party met March 8 for its monthly meeting at the new county GOP headquarters at Higher Grounds Coffee House in Braselton. There were 10-15 elected officials there including State Reps. Regina Quick and Tommy Benton and State Sen. Frank Ginn. “Qualifying went well [last] week. There were only incumbents who qualified for the school board, so I congratulate our school board members for all you have done and will do,” said Jackson County Republican Party chairman Ron Johnson. The party qualified Jackson County District 3 Commissioner Bruce Yates as a can-
Katie Griffin The Paper
Derrick Grayson, a candidate for the US. Senate seat, was welcomed to the meeting by chairman Ron Johnson.
didate for re-election. Ralph Richardson Jr., also qualified to seek the post in the May 20 primary. For the District 4 Commission post, incumbet Dwain Smith qualified to see re-election. Also on the ballot will be John Owen Ring Jr. At the meeting, Johnson then welcomed Derrick Grayson, candidate for U.S Senate, to speak. Grayson spoke briefly about the issues that concern him the most. “The problems in the local level of government is a reflection of what is happening in Washington,” said Grayson. He went on to say that the government has overreached and the recent attacks on the Second Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights are proof of that. Grayson describes his campaign as a clean-up movement, using a flashlight, broom and whistle to spot the problems, sweep them out and to “blow the whistle” on any future non-constitutionalists in office. As a minister, Grayson said he understands the call of serving others and hopes to serve the people of Georgia by re-establishing their rights and their voices. ”The power that established this nation and that sets us apart from other nations is the American people, for them to decide what is right and wrong,” said Grayson. The next speaker was Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, incumbent candidate for Public Service Commission. As a Jackson County native, he spoke about the importance of solar energy because it is the one source of energy that is always free. Because of his work, Georgia is one of the top five states in the nation for solar energy use. He says that they are making great progress in renewable energy in this state and he hopes to see greater advances during his next term. “I have grandkids and, in 30 years, I want them to be able to say they are proud of the difference I have made. And I also want them to have more options in energy sources than
Katie Griffin The Paper
Jackson County native Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, a member of the Public Service Commission, said he wants his granchildren to have more options in energy sources in the future. we have today,” said McDonald. The last guest speaker was Fitz Johnson, candidate for State School Superintendent. Johnson is a 21-year retired veteran of the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserves. He is a businessman, having owned and operated a large scale defense contracting firm, Eagle Group International, where he was in charge of 1,700 employees. “Leadership counts,” said Johnson. He talked about his twin daughters and his son and their experiences in the public school system and how much he has learned from them, too. Johnson is a wrestling and football coach at Wheeler High School and launched the women’s professional soccer team, “Atlanta Beat.” His heart for academics and extracurricular activities is just one of the many things that drives him. Johnson said he believes that the power needs to be given to each school board to
decide what is best for their district because what is best for some districts is not what is best for others. Johnson was able to stay after the meeting to answer questions and discuss other issues with the members and visitors. A May 1 forum is planned for the candidates for Board of Education and the District Commission posts. The GOP office is located on the second floor of the Polaris Building, formerly Hometown Community Bank in the Hometown Walk shopping center on Highway 53 in Braselton. The office has polticial campaign signs for all Republican candidates. Contact Ron Johnson at 770-310-4515. For more information about the Jackson County Republican Party and their monthly meetings or upcoming events, visit jacksongop.org or “Like” Jackson County Georgia Republican Party of Facebook.
Katie Griffin The Paper
Fitz Johnson, candidate of State School Superintendent, was among the speakers at the March 8 GOP meeting. He said leadership counts when he comes to selecting the best candidate for the statewide post.