CMYK Thursday, March 12, 2015
features COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS Mentoring training. Lindsay’s Legacy Mentoring is offering a free training session from 3-4:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, at the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce. Lindsay’s Legacy serves Jackson County, Jefferson City and Commerce City School Systems by providing caring adult role models who are trained, background checked and prepared for mentoring students in local schools. Lindsay’s Legacy mentors spend 30 minutes each week, during the school day, to encourage and build a mentoring relationship with their selected student. Learn more about the role mentoring plays in the Jackson County community and to find volunteer opportunities, visit www.LindsaysLegacyMentoring.org or call 706-410-5525.The next training will be April 7. Tea Party Patriots meeting. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum and Hope Resource Center director Janis Ray will speak on various aspects of the exploitation of children that are occurring in our society at the March 12 meeting of the Jackson County Tea Party Patriots. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Club House at 302 Longview Drive in Jefferson. There is no charge to atend and the public is invited. Shave-a-thon to fight childhood cancer. The Jefferson Fire Department is hosting St. Baldrick’s shave-a-thon fundraising from 3-10 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, downtown Jefferson. You cann make a donation at the event or online at www.stbaldricks.org Theatre auditions. Jefferson Community Theatre announces auditions for the spring musical, Mary Poppins. Auditions will be held from 6:30-9 p.m. on Monday, March 16, and Tuesday, March 17, and from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, with callbacks on Sunday from 4-6 p.m. Auditions will take place at the Jefferson Civic Center, located at 65 Kissam St., in Jefferson. The show will be presented July 10-12 and 17-19 in the William Duncan Martin Performing Arts Center at Jefferson High School. The production is under the direction of Jay Holl with Jeanna Atchley and Diana Norton-Bagwell. For more information, call 706-3675714. Visit jeffersoncommunitytheatre.com Life Choices program. Life & Reality is the next Life Choices program being presented March 19 by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The presentation will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Jackson County Comprehensive High School auditorium with a series of speakers on tap to share the realities of making poor choices. Among the speakers will be an inmate from Lee Arrendale Correctional Institute and Fire Chief Tammy Ayers. A Jackson County Correctional Institute inmate will also speak. Drug Enforcement Agency agent Chuvalo Truesdell, Danny Riddell of New Directions, Alfred Brooks of Respect Institute, Tony Sanchez and James Guffey of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse and Pastor Wayne Norris of New Beginnings Church will also be on the program. Book sale. Friends of the Jefferson Public Library will hold a book sale from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, March 20, and from 9 a.m.
t0 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, in the Jefferson Station meeting room. There will be lots of great hardbacks and paperbacks for kids and adults at great low prices. Night of Hope for Children. The 17th annual Night of Hope for Children live and silence auction is scheduled on March 27 at the Winder Community Center. Tickets are $40 each. Spectacular auction items will be featured. There are also raffle tickets for sale for $10 on a chance to win two University of Georgia season tickets on the 40yard line and you don’t have to be present to win. Tickets can be purchased by phone, on line under the donation tab and in person (770-868-1900, www.thetreehouseinc. org, and 173 Highland Drive in Winder). Rotary Day is March 21. The Braselton Rotary Club will be hosting a Rotary Day garage sale on Saturday, March 21, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1215 Tuscany Drive in Braselton. This fundraiser event faetures a large indoor space filled with furniture, art décor, paintings, household items, bedding, clothes and more. All proceeds to go club efforts to support the Northeast Georgia Flag Garden, Jackson County Humane Society and educational scholarships. Performance of Spamalot. The JCCHS Lofty Inside Outside Hey! We’re Back in the Box Players will present Monty Python’s Spamalot! at 7 p.m. on March 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 in the Jackson County Comprehensive High School Auditorium. Seats are general admission $5 and may be purchased from any JCCHS Drama student or at the door. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students at the door. Tickets for the Sunday, March 29, matinee are $5. WJMS Glow Run. Come and run with West Jackson Middle School to support the Student Leadership Team during the March 20 Glow Run, which begins at 8 p.m. at the school where it also ends. Registration is $20 prior to March 10 and $25 afterward until race day. Glow in the dark T-shirt is guaranteed to runners that register prior to March 10 and as supplies last afterward and on race day. Registration is also available online at www.active.com/ jefferson-ga/running/ distance-running-races/ panther-prowl-5k-glowrun-2015. JHS Theatre presents The Little Mermaid. Jefferson High School Theatre will produce the ever popular Disney musical, The Little Mermaid, on Friday, March 20, and Saturday, March 21, at 7 p.m. During the school day on March 1920, there will be more than 1,600 students from Pre-K to fifth grade sitting in the audience while more than 30 high school students entertain them with song and dance from The Little Mermaid. Tickets are general admission and can be purchased at the door for just $5. Run time for the production is one hour. Fur Ball 2015. A gala to benefit the Humane Society of Jackson County will be held March 21 at the Braselton-Stover House. Viva Paws Vegas is this year’s theme. The black-tie optional affair is a benefit gala for the Humane See HAPPENINGS, 4B
3B
Jefferson is repeat champ at ‘Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old’
By FARAH BOHANNON
fbohannon@clickthepaper.com
Among the 10 teams participating in the Are You Smarter Than A 10-YearOld fundraiser event, the City of Jefferson was the winner, with Jackson EMC and Southeast Toyota Distributors coming in second and third place, respectively. Jefferson’s team consisted of city councilmen Steve Quinn and Mark Mobley and city arborist Susan Russell. The family-friendly event held March 5 in the Jackson EMC auditorium in Jefferson was a fun time for all, thanks to one of Jackson County’s finest, Andy Garrison serving again as master of ceremonies. The battle is wits benefited the Jackson County Certified Literate Community Program, a program that supports adult education. Admission was free, but money was raised throughout the evening with the funds from the silent auction as well as during the game — teams were only allowed mulligans if someone in the audience donated $100 to the program. Mulligans were not allowed during the million dollar question answering time. After the welcome, the judges, who kept tabs on the scores throughout the evening, were Dr. Ray Perren, president of Lanier Technical College, Dr. John Jackson, superintendent of Jefferson City Schools, and Billie Izard, executive director of Georgia’s Certified Literate Community Program. Eight fifth-grade students were used by the teams to assist them in answering the first four questions taken from third-, fourth- and fifth-grade Georgia curriculum. Teams began with the lowest level question, third grade level, and advanced in sequential steps to the highest level question worth one million points. The questions were divided up into math and science, language arts and social studies categories. As grade level questions increase, so do the number of points received – From 25,000 to 1 million. At the completion of the 500,000 level, the teams no longer could utilize the assistance of the 10-year-olds.
Farah Bohannon The Paper
The City of Jefferson team repeated its last year’s winning performance in the fundraiser for the Certified Literate Community Program. Garrison read each question aloud while they were also displayed on the projector at the front of the auditorium. After the question was read aloud, the students wrote their answers on their own mini dry erase boards, and turned them face down. Each team had 20 seconds to collaborate and agree on an answer. They had only one opportunity to “copy” - meaning the team must go with the student answers, and one opportunity to “peek” – which means they could choose that or go with their own. The team A students consisted of Alayna Castaneda (North Jackson Elementary), Morgan Kesler (South Jackson Elementary), David Garcia (Benton Elementary) and Tucker Bennett (Commerce Middle). Team B students consisted of Dave Merlos (Maysville Elementary), Riley Baugh (West Jackson Intermediate), Caroline Kinsey (Jefferson Academy) and Isaac Palmer (East
Farah Bohannon The Paper
Master of ceremonies Andy Garrison with the second-place Jackson EMC team and (below) the Southeast Toyota Distributors team, which took third-place honors. See more scenes from the fundraiser at ClickThePaper.com
Jackson Elementary). The City of Jefferson was first up, and quickly blitzed through each question with no hesitations whatsoever. They were the winners from last year’s event, so a second win was on their agenda. When they reached the million dollar question, which solely dealt with United States presidents, they stated the correct answer yet again without much thought. The crowd cheered and clapped as the judges marked the city’s score at one million — a tough score for other teams to beat. However, First Commerce Bank followed in their footsteps until the million dollar question, where they walked away with 500,000 points instead of risking everything. The other teams following, which included Hoschton Area Business Alliance, Jackson County Family Connection, Jefferson Area Business Association, Jefferson Rotary Club, Lanier Technical College and Tanger Outlets all did a wonderful job answering the questions, but just did not match up to the academic prowess of the City of Jefferson, Jackson EMC and Southeast Toyota Distributors. The top three teams rarely needed their 10-year-old experts for help, and took only seconds to state their answers. However, the real competition happened at the tail end of the game. The tiebreaker, which was between the City of Jefferson, Jackson EMC and Southeast Toyota Distributors was a nail biter for all. All three teams had received one million points, so a representative from each one took the stage and stood several feet apart from one another. Garrison asked them a handful of questions, but it turns out the three representatives from each team displayed correct answers on their mini dry erase boards each time. Finally, Toyota answered one wrong, leaving the competition up to Jackson EMC and Jefferson. Jefferson was victorious, thanks to councilman Mark Mobley who answered the winning question — What is the letter between q and e on a computer keyboard? He knew the correct answer was “w”. Other happenings from the evening included concessions by the Jefferson Woman’s Club and prize giveaways for volunteers. Garrison picked both children and adults out of the audience and asked them questions based on their age. If they answered the questions correctly, they won various prizes from Sandra Fite, Jackson County’s Certified Literate Community Program executive director. Prizes included gift certificates, coolers, notebooks and other items. The audience enjoyed the interaction and the ability to participate in answering the academic questions as well.
Braselton: Where to be Saturday
By FARAH BOHANNON
fbohannon@clickthepaper.com
Braselton is hosting “Milling Around Downtown” this Saturday, March 14, and the activity-packed event should be the perfect way to jump into spring and officially kick the winter blues to the curb. There will be a lot to do for people of all ages, so this is an event that no one should miss. Downtown Director Amy Pinnell says she expects Milling Around Downtown to be a huge success and become an annual happening. “I am so excited for this event and for everything it stands for,” said Pinnell. “We will highlight some of Braselton’s historic buildings as well as raise money with the ‘Seat Yourself’ fundraiser, to name a few.” The day will begin with a 5K run — Rockin’ The Green – so be on the lookout for runners and walkers, including some who will no doubt be decked out in attire that would make an Irishman proud. Frances Street will be closed off for a sidewalk chalk art competition that will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Pinnell notes there are still “squares” available for those who still want to participate. Categories will be based on age as well as single and group entries. There will also be opportunities for anyone
to create artwork on the sidewalks without competing, especially for the little ones who enjoy playing with chalk. Also on Saturday will be the Seat Yourself fundraiser that DDA member Cheri Winham is also excited about. She said she believes that sales of the artistically-crafted benches and chairs will be great due to the beauty of the artwork of local artists which have been on display at downtown businesses. At least one more selection is scheduled to be donated before the event. Seat Yourself will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Pinnell secured three food trucks that are returning after a successful small business Saturday event back in November. The old roller mill next to Braselton Gallery will be open for tour and tour guides are ready to share information about this piece of history. Braselton Gallery will have a handful of artists on-site giving art demos. 2K steel will demonstrate how they make some of their metal work and Terri Estes will be basket weaving. Karen Cigrand Beckstine will demonstrate spinning yarn. There will be so much to do – such as enjoying good eats and treats in downtown and food trucks will also be bringing in more option. Plan to be Milling Around Downtown on Saturday as you learn about Braselton and its offerings. Contact Downtown Director Amy Pinnell at apinnell@braselton.net or call 706-684-0369.