WGL May-June 2014 by Times-Georgian

West Georgia

Li V ing May/June 2014

Life . Art . Music . People

Olympic Triumph!

Elana Meyers brings medals home to Douglas County

The Goat Man

West Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oddest visitor

Susan Hayward At home in Carrollton

Plus Plan and plant your Victory Garden Light recipes for springtime ... And much more!

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Vol. 4/Issue 3

West Georgia

Li V ing Volume 4 . Issue 3 May/June 2014 Publisher Marvin Enderle publisher@times-georgian.com

Editor

Ken Denney ken@times-georgian.com

Advertising Melissa Wilson melissa@times-georgian.com

Photographer Ricky Stilley rstilley@times-georgian.com

Contributors Bob Coval Rob Duve Joe Garrett Mike Inglis Rebecca Leftwich Josh Sewell Marilyn Van Pelt Gail Wood

From the Editor to despair. He may know more about heart surgery and medical crises than any child should, but Blake is now living the normal life of a teenager.

Dear Readers: With this issue, we are bringing you a variety of features that we think will appeal to everyone. Our cover article is about Douglas County’s own Olympic champion: Elana Meyers. Meyers quite literally steered her way to a silver medal in the two-woman bobsled event during February’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. But she says her upcoming wedding is far more stressful than Olympic competition! We also present the story of Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward, who lived in Carrollton for nine years with her husband, Eaton Chalkley. West Georgia became hometown for this glamorous couple, but despite being a cinema superstar, Hayward enjoyed the way our community accepted her and – most importantly – left her alone. There’s also the tale of one of the oddest people west Georgia has ever seen: Ches McCartney, more popularly known as The Goat Man. For years, McCartney roamed across the country and made regular trips through our region with his ramshackle wagon full of junk pulled by a team of goats. On a more somber note, we tell the story of Blake McConahy, a boy who underwent a heart transplant two years ago after a medical ordeal that would surely cause most parents

migration.

Of course, we also take a look the great outdoors. Gail Woody had intended to go to Central Mexico this year to study the Monarch butterfly – but her plans got derailed by the ongoing drug wars that not only threaten the peace of that region, but also the fragile environment of that gentle insect. She tells us how we can all help their annual

And food is also on our mind. Marilyn Van Pelt offers some great suggestions for how a home “Victory Garden” can help us save on the grocery bill. And Rob Duve has his usual terrific suggestions for some light, springtime recipes designed to break the grip of heavy winter fare. But that’s not all. We think you’ll find plenty more to enjoy within these pages, so dive right on in! Sincerely,

Ken Denney

To advertise in West Georgia Living, call Melissa Wilson at 770-834-6631 West Georgia Living is a bi-monthly publication of the Times-Georgian. Submissions, photography and ideas may be submitted to: Ken Denney c/o The Times-Georgian, 901 Hays Mill Road, Carrollton, GA 30117. Submissions will not be returned unless requested and accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. West Georgia Living reserves the right to edit any submission. Direct mail subscriptions to West Georgia Living are available for $24 a year. Copyright 2014 by the Times-Georgian

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Marvin Enderle is Publisher of West Georgia Living, the Times-Georgian and the Douglas County Sentinel.

Melissa Wilson is the Advertising Director for West Georgia Living and the TimesGeorgian.

Amy Lavender-Buice is Editor Emerita of West Georgia Living, and Editor of The Bremen GatewayBeacon and Tallapoosa-Journal.

Ricky Stilley is the Photographer for West Georgia Living and IT Director for the TimesGeorgian.

ǡ At Southwire, we believe education is the key to success. Through partnerships with the University of West Georgia (Southwire Sustainable Business Honors Program), West Georgia Technical College (Southwire Center for Manufacturing Excellence), Carroll County Schools (12 for Life) and Carrollton High School (Southwire Engineering Academy), we are helping students build brighter futures. It’s another way we deliver power...responsibly.

Contents

Features

Photos and Cover Art by Ricky Stilley. On the Cover: Elana Meyers of Douglasvlle shows

10 Georgia Cowboy Poets paint a tough,, rustic picture through poetry

Douglas County Olympic medalist still reaching new heights

Susan Hayward’s favorite role was as Mrs. Eaton Chalkley

52 Georgia awakens from a long winter with a flourishing of spring festivals

42 14-year-old receives a true Christmas Miracle as a result of a 55 The breathtaking Monarch butterflies’ migration depends on very special life-saving donation

a fragile egosystem

Departments Cinema

Must-see movies of 2014

Food Away with the heavyweights, bring on the lightweights

Take 5 Meet band director Garden

David Trumble

Book Review ‘A Hank Williams Reader’ 21

The Victory Garden

Events

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

What’s happening in West Georgia

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May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

GARDEN

Grow Your Own Groceries with a

Victory I

Garden

have many friends who are expert vegetable gardeners. They graciously share what they grow because they have more than they can use. I don’t have their garden space or their energy, but I produce a surprising variety of fruits and vegetables in my garden. I think that a small garden can be beautiful and productive at the same time. Charles Lathrop Pack created the Victory Garden concept in 1917 during World War I. Throughout that conflict, and during World War II, Victory Gardens became prolific in the U.S. as a way for home growers to produce their own food and aid the war efforts. During the second world war, the government estimated 20 million such gardens were planted, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s vegetable production during the war years. In the last several years, I have seen a new interest in backyard (and front yard) gardening. Judging from the large crowds that attend the numerous gardening programs put on by Master Gardeners at the local Ag Center, it seems that more people are getting interested in growing their own groceries. Perhaps this interest is sparked by the economy – or it may be the result of the satisfaction of growing nutritious, fresh food products. A gardener needs to decide what to grow, where to plant, what tools are needed and how to prepare the soil. Here in the west Georgia area, vegetables will grow three or four seasons of the year. Vegetables and herbs can be grown in flower beds, containers or in their own designated areas. A location that has at least six hours of full sun is needed for best growth. Six hours is minimum, but 10 is better. The soil at the garden site must have good drainage. Wet soil means rotting plants. In just depressingly hard soil, consider building a raised bed by piling good soil on top of the ground. I have two raised beds that are attractive and convenient to my kitchen. This potager, or kitchen garden, concept originated among the monasteries of medieval France. “Potager” literally means a thick and substantial soup, and all the ingredients for this soup could be grown in MARILYN VAN PELT, CARROLL COUNTY MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

the kitchen garden or potager. My tall, backache-proof beds are pretty and handy for quick snips of herbs or seasonal veggies. Vegetables also need good soil. If the soil is hard, rocky, or nutrientpoor, the vegetables will be, too. In rich, soft soil, roots grow deeply and soak up nutrients for healthy, productive plants. If you have a good spot in the yard for a garden plot, remove grass, rocks, or other debris. To dig up grass, use a spade or, you can kill it with glyphosate (Roundup) and till to loosen the dirt. Work the soil to a depth at least 8 inches (12 is better) with a power tiller or garden fork, then use either tool to work in a minimum of 2 to 3 inches of compost or soil conditioner. This helps drainage, the ability to hold nutrients, and promotes beneficial microorganism activity. This is also a good time to add lime or sulfur to adjust pH, as recommended by a soil test, which can be done through the UGA Extension Office. Make sure that you can get water to your garden as needed. A drip or soaker hose is ideal because it keeps foliage dry and helps prevent disease. I often use a drip system and water from a rain barrel. You don’t have to buy every gardening gadget on the market. Just a few key tools can make all the difference. You need gloves; hand tools such as a hand trowel; cultivator and pruning shears. A garden fork, spade, shovel, and rake are all-important tools for gardeners who have flower beds or gardens larger than a container. A wheelbarrow is also a useful garden tool. Your soil will improve with each season as you add lots of compost and organic matter. In time, it will look like what gardeners call black gold – a rich, dark, organic soil that holds moisture and nutrients yet drains well. Come harvest time, you will literally reap your own reward of fresh – and free – homegrown groceries. After all, nothing is as satisfying as slicing into a juicy ’mater that you grew in your own dirt.

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Cowboy

Poets

Turning a grim, rough life into poems and songs

hen you think about the times of the cowboy, you might imagine a time long past – back when the prairies were open and men guided vast herds across empty spaces under metallic blue skies. But the times of the cowboy aren’t gone, and the reality of their life never was so romantic. Working with temperamental animals is a dangerous job. Even on modern ranches and farms, real cowboys work long days that take a real physical toll. Yet it has often been observed that adversity gives birth to great art. And the grim reality of cowboy life has been the inspiration of a specific style of poetry. Cowboy poetry is a genre that is celebrated each year in Douglasville, a place far removed from the western cattle drives of old, but right in the heart of what still is cowboy country. Last March, the Georgia Cowboy Poets presented their 18th annual Georgia Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the Chapel Hill High School Theater. The evening of contemplative ballads and poems celebrating the cowboy life featured some of the founders of the cowboy poet movement in Georgia, including Joel Hayes and Charlie Holloway, who started the first gathering in 1997. The purpose of the event, said spokesman Marsha Ackerman, is “to preserve the cowboy way.” Modern-day kids, she said, grew up without the same influences as their parents or grandparents, including such singing cowboy stars as Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. For a certain generation, such movie and TV stars represented

MAGGIE AND MIKE BIVELL 10

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

STORY BY KEN DENNEY / PHOTOS BY RICKY STILLEY

a lifestyle that celebrated open skies, life on the range and a slower pace that has all but disappeared in the 21st Century. But Ackerman said the truth of the matter is the real times of the cowboy were filled with roughing it outdoors, poor food, scant water and the ever-present danger of being stampeded to death by large animals. Cowboys, she said, began a tradition of creating songs and poems which told about their troubles and celebrated the lives of colorful partners they met on the range. The days of the long cattle drives may be over, but cowboy life continues. And although Douglas County is located far from western skies, cattle raising has long been a part of life in west Georgia. The Cowboy Poet Gathering, Ackerman said, is a way of celebrating that tradition and introducing it to new generations.

Young Cowboy Poets wait their turn at the mike.

The Cowboy Poet Gathering featured several of these amateur poets and songwriters, as well as a group of young enthusiasts called the “Cowboy Poetry Kids.” “Some of our poems and songs are very funny, and some are just heartbreaking,” said Ackerman. “And these are actual stories that happened.” She said planning for the annual event begins in September, when invitations go out to veteran performers and newcomers alike to sing, play the harmonica or recite their poetry. Ackerman said most of the poets have memorized their work, and narrate it with memorable stage performances. “We encourage anyone to come. It’s a family show that teens and preteens, parents and grandparents can enjoy.” The real star of the show this year was the band of eight performers known as the Poetry Kids. Even if they may have never roped a steer or branded a calf on the open range, these young adults have embraced the lifestyle through the words and metered rhythms of this uniquely American form of poetry. “The ones at Chapel Hill were seniors this year, so we’re bringing up the freshmen now,” said Ackerman. “We’re encouragHayden Roberts, of Thomaston, Ga. At age 13, he is one of the youngest Cowing them to go after it, and let them take boy Poets. the reins at some point in time.” WGL

Wayne Corley

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

CINEMA

In “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Logan/The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) finds himself in the distant past as he becomes the catalyst in an epic battle that can save the future.

e’re just around the corner from Hollywood’s favorite time of year: summer. That’s when kids are out of school, babysitters run out of ideas and everyone gorges on cinematic junk food like sequels, superheroes and explosions. There are already some blockbusters coming for the hottest days of the year (including “Godzilla,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”) But those are just a warm up for other movies, some of which are sure to be 2014’s biggest moneymakers.

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (May 2) I wasn’t a big fan of the rebooted franchise’s first installment, but director Marc Webb reportedly learned from his mistakes – mainly that we didn’t need to spend an hour rehashing Spidey’s origin story, since we all know it by heart. With that backstory out of the way, we can spend more time

with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and the host of villains rampaging around New York City (including Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti and Dane DeHaan). “Neighbors” (May 9) Zac Efron has struggled to find long-term success after the “High School Musical” series, but this raunchy comedy from director Nicholas Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) looks promising. He and Dave (little brother of James) Franco are frat guys who move next door to new parents played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. During a crazy party, the couple files a noise complaint and their already-tense relationship with the frat escalates into all-out war. The trailer had me gasping for breath, so fingers crossed the marketing department didn’t just cram all the funny stuff into two minutes.

JOSH SEWELL 12

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

“X-Men: Days of Future Past” (May 23) Director Bryan Singer returns to the franchise he launched 14 years ago. This time, he unites most of the original cast and the stars of 2011’s stellar “First Class” to depict one of Marvel comic’s most famous storylines. In order to stave off an upcoming mutant apocalypse, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to convince their younger selves to change the past. It’ll be great to see how the always-enthusiastic Jackman interacts with power players like Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. “Maleficent” (May 30) In theory, Angelina Jolie as a live-action version of the “Sleeping Beauty” villain sounds like dream casting. We’ll see if it plays out that way in reality. The teaser trailer is appropriately creepy and the flick boasts a fine supporting cast, but the creative team is also responsible for Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Uh-oh. “A Million Ways to Die in the West” (May 30) Seth MacFarlane’s style of comedy (“Family Guy”) isn’t for everyone, but the blockbuster success of “Ted” proved that it is for a lot more people than I suspected. MacFarlane serves as director, co-writer and star of this filthy-but-loving homage to westerns, a genre that’s ripe for revitalization. He’s backed by a jaw-dropping cast that includes Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Silverman. “The Fault in Our Stars” (June 6) Shailene Woodley is one of the most promising young actresses around. She held her own against George Clooney in 2011’s “The Descendants;” delivered a killer performance in last year’s “The Spectacular Now;” and is getting her own potential franchise with last month’s “Divergent.” Now she stars in this highly-anticipated adaptation of John Green’s young adult lit smash, with an enormous fanbase counting

movies out of them (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Lego Movie”). Now let’s see if they can work their magic on a sequel. The hilarious trailer suggests they understand why most comedic follow-ups stink, so let’s see how Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum handle college. “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (June 13) The original film was a welcome deviation from DreamWorks Animation’s typical goofy, pop culture-referencing heroes. Instead, the story of a young boy (Jay Baruchel) and his formerly-wild dragon was a moving, surprisingly original tale full of memorable characters, emotion and some genuinely cool flying sequences. Hopefully the sequel continues that philosophy instead of coming off as a cynical cash grab. “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (June 27) We don’t need a fourth installment in Michael Bay’s “giant, indeterminate robots punch each other” saga, but it’s got to be better than 2009’s “Revenge of the Fallen,” one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Besides, Mark Wahlberg steps in for Shia LaBeouf this time In “The Fault in Our Stars,” Hazel (Shailene around. That’s a big upgrade in my book. Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort) share a tender moment during a memorable trip abroad. “Jupiter Ascending” (July 18) Andy and Lana Wachowski made sci-fi history with “The Matrix,” but lightning has down the days until the film’s release. Woodley so far has failed to strike twice for them (and plays a teen with a terminal illness who falls in that includes the subpar sequels to their biggest love with a guy (Ansel Elgort) in her cancer suphit). I loved “Cloud Atlas,” but it was intensely port group. The book is on my shelf waiting to polarizing and a bomb at the box office. Hopebe read; hopefully it lives up to the rave reviews fully, the siblings’ latest – their first original I keep hearing. project since 1999 – will be a return to form. The trailer is a visual delight, boasting inter“22 Jump Street” (June 13) esting work from Channing Tatum and Mila When Sony announced a big screen verKunis, with a narrative that seems like a mixsion of “21 Jump Street” – a cheesy 80s televiture of “Star Wars” and “”The Matrix.” Works sion show about undercover cops posing as for me. WGL high school students – I rolled my eyes. It was destined to be terrible, but it turned out to be great. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have developed a reputation for taking seemingly terrible ideas and making fantastic

You can reach Sewell by email, joshsewell81@ gmail.com; follow him on Twitter, @joshsewell81; or by Facebook, facebook.com/josh8199.

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

Living The

Dream Douglasville’s Olympic Medalist is on top of the world

lana Meyers is having a very good year.

Not only did she win a silver medal in February at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, she will marry her fiancé, Nic Taylor, on April 24. “It is an incredible time for me,” Meyers said during a short break on her return home to Douglas County. “Sochi and all that went into it – to win a medal in my first time as a (bobsled) pilot – was just unreal. That whole experience was so intense, but still exciting. Now to come back, prepare for a wedding, which is way more stressful than bobsledding in the Olympics; it has been a blur.” Douglasville’s own Olympic champion spent her time home sharing her happiness with fans in a whirl of activities: from signing autographs at Arbor Place Mall; to promotional appearances for her sponsor BMW; to pre-game pep talks before local basketball teams.

Michael Sohn/Associated Press

Sochi Olympics Bobsled Women Silver medal winners from the United States, Elana Meyers, of Douglasville and Lauryn Williams.

During her four years at Lithia Springs from 1998-2002, Meyers had a reputation for working hard and going after her goals. She was a multi-sport standout, but really excelled for the Lady Lions at softball, a sport she went on to play at George Washington University. She was recently inducted into the GWU Hall of Fame.

That drive has not only made a team member, but it made her one of the best. Meyers became the first U.S. woman bobsledder to win multiple Olympic medals, taking the silver in Sochi, a follow-up to the bronze medal she captured at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She said as soon as she is finished with her honeymoon, she will start training so that she will have a full set, including the gold.

“At the age of 9, I decided I wanted to be an Olympian, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from reaching that goal,” Meyers said. “I played softball, basketball, soccer and track growing up, but I loved softball. So I went on to play in college and professionally. My dream was to make the Olympic team in softball, and I had tryouts, but did horrible and wasn’t able to make the team.

“I wanted to (pilot a sled) since I first got into the sport, but I knew the only way I’d make the 2010 Olympics was as a brakeman,” Meyers said. “Pilots (also called drivers) control their own destiny so to speak; you qualify through the points earned at races, where(as) brakemen are selected by a committee for each sled.

“I still had this dream however, and my parents saw bobsled on TV and suggested I try it. I then emailed a coach and they invited me up to Lake Placid, NY, for a tryout. The tryout is a combine (similar to an NFL Being from a town where the closest thing combine) where they test your athleticism. I passed that combine, and then they put me to a bobsled run is the frozen food aisle makes her achievement all the more remark- on ice behind a sled to see what I could do. I made the national team my first year. Anyable. But she said it’s all about having a dream, and doing whatever it takes to make one striving to be an elite athlete has to have a special kind of drive.” it happen. MITCH SNEED AND RON DANIEL 14

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

“Brakemen are more like linemen, while pilots are more like quarterbacks. Brakemen have to have great physical qualities and be highly athletic – and they’re judged on their athleticism, which makes or breaks their careers. Also, unfortunately, it’s a position that can be replaced if someone is slightly off. As a driver, much like a quarterback, I possess a unique skill that takes years to develop and is not as easy to replace. A driver actually navigates the sled down the track. We actually drive the sleds; it’s not just leaning back and forth.

“They say it takes between four an eight As she signed autographs for kids, she years to get completely comfortable as a pilot. told a visitor that she hopes she can show I just have about three years now. So I think them that they, too, can achieve whatby 2018, I should be at my peak.” ever they can imagine. And she has quite an inspirational story to tell: from Lithia That, she said will be her last Olympic run. Springs High School, to a star on the Meyers is looking forward to life with fiancé world’s largest stage. Nic Taylor, being a married woman and starting a family. Taylor, a former sledder who “It’s just great to see how excited the now is a strength and conditioning coach at kids are,” Meyers told her visitor. “It the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, wasn’t that long ago that I was just like Calif., proposed to Meyers as she stood on the that — a kid with a dream of being an medal stand at the World Championships. Olympian. Of course that was in softball back then, but then I got this opportunity. “He is quite the romantic guy, but I’m I hope if I can do anything, it is to show pretty sure he knew I would say yes,” Meythem that you can do anything if you are ers said. “He means so much to me. He’s not willing to work hard – and to never give up only my fiancé, but he’s like an extra coach, on what you dream. my sports psych, and my best friend. To have a person who understands what being a “And the support from here in this area world class athlete is all about, the demands has been incredible. That support means and all that goes with it as a partner is so much, because while you are out there, incredible. locked in on the event, to get Facebook messages and Tweets from all of them “While being able to share the medal run back home — you want to do your best to with all the people who have supported me represent all of them. I mean, I’ve gotten is great, I have tried to balance that with so many messages of support, even after spending time with Nic. I’m so excited about the Games were over and I’m back home. the future with him. Planning the wedding It really means a lot. To see that support — was tough, and my Mom and my sisters were it’s really been an incredible experience.” a huge help, but at the end of the day this is about us starting our lives together, and we Some of her greatest fans are her family, want it to be our day. We want it to be a day none of whom are surprised by all she has that we will always remember.” achieved.

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“I have been blessed – no question. It is just crazy overwhelming. ” — Elana Meyers Her dad, former Atlanta Falcons running back Eddie Meyers, said his daughter isn’t just any athlete. “She’s been able to compress that time frame into three years and be ranked one of the top drivers in the world,” said the senior Meyers, who still lives in Douglasville with his wife, Janet. “That’s amazing. That’s amazing. But that’s where that work ethic comes into play, because you’ve got to put in the time to get it out. She has.” No matter what she does, she does it well — and at full speed. “I have been blessed – no question,” Meyers said. “It is just crazy overwhelming. Overwhelming in a good way, because the outpouring and support of everybody who came out was astonishing. To see so many people I know and so many people who are so genuinely excited for me. It’s almost like I was doing this for everyone. Photo by Mitch Sneed

“That makes all the work even more satisfying.” WGL

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Dancing in the

wind

ere, just outside my back door, somewhere along the walk to grab the morning newspaper, it hits me.

I feel a difference … a change … almost as if something’s coming. I can’t really explain it, but mixed among the cool air is a touch of warmth. It’s a touch of something I haven’t felt in long time, but I recognize it immediately. Easter is celebrated this time of year, along with sounds of lawn mowers on ball fields and crickets chirping throughout the night. The tulips in my neighbor’s yard return once again to remind me life goes on. And so it does. As I walk into my garage, I notice my bicycle’s tires need inflating. Within minutes I climb aboard the uncomfortable saddle and leave my driveway. For a few seconds, I’m 8 years old again. Only this time, I have no clear destination. Just to ride with a slight breeze in the crisp air and return home in a couple of hours; that’s all I have to worry about for the moment. My journey starts along the rolling hills throughout Carroll County, along roads with names like Salem Church, Buttercup, Victory and Farmers High. In the peaceful sounds of spinning wheels and an occasional cranking of a John Deere tractor from a nearby farm, I have the countryside to myself – along with some cows, a few barking dogs and a fox I spot several yards away. West Georgia is a cycling paradise. Perhaps it’s our best-kept secret. Eventually, a car passes and I’m reminded of what’s good in this world. Instead of throwing something at me or shouting ugly words for slowing the driver down, people in this neck of the woods do what Southerners do best: they wave at me, a total stranger who has come for a visit. The day awaits back home when I return. There will be moments JOE GARRETT

Photo Illustration by Ricky Stilley

of household chores and watching the kids play around the house. I hope to spend some time today encouraging my son to take the training wheels off of his bicycle so he can learn the freedom and joy of riding a bike. For a moment, there’ll be no iPads, iPhones, computers or X-Box games. It will be just a boy and his bicycle; the freedom of doing nothing (even if for a little while). But right now, here I am; just me and the road. Do I go straight? Turn left? Or right? And then I know. I decide to keep heading

Just to ride with a slight breeze in the crisp air and return home in a couple of hours; that’s all I have to worry about for the moment. towards Shiloh Church and eventually turn right along Davenport Road past the old arbor that’s served for more than 100 years as a hub for camp meetings and revivals. Once again, I’ve arrived at the cemetery and the spot of my son Will’s burial. He would’ve been 10 years old this May. I stop for a moment and look at the ground as a river of tears flows from my eyes … the pain of loss … the thoughts of what will never be … the longing just to hold him one more time. After a few minutes, it’s time to leave. Here I am, once again, on the road returning to life and a home. My legs are tired, but my heart wants to move on. As I turn left on a new road, I see wildflowers sprouting alongside a pasture fence with a butterfly dancing in the breeze. Why here? Why now? And then I can’t help but ask the big question: life goes on, doesn’t it? The real answer is: I truly don’t know. But, for this moment, I believe it does. That’s the promise of springtime. I can feel it in the air. Garrett is a Carrollton resident and businessman. You can read more of his columns at joegarrett1.wordpress.com or contact him at joe_garrett@bellsouth. net. May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

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BOOK REVIEW

The Hank Williams Reader A collection of articles reveals the complex character of “The Hillbilly Shakespeare”

ometime during the early morning of New Year’s Day 1953, Hank Williams died in the back of a Cadillac limousine at the age of 29. That untimely death ended the meteoric rise to fame of one of the premiere stars of “hillbilly music,” a genre now known as country music. Songs such as “Your Cheating Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Kaw-liga,” and “I Saw the Light” have become a part of the American cultural landscape. Though Williams died young, his music has survived and his status has increased through the decades. “The Hank Williams Reader” collects articles and documents about Williams and his music into a kind of collage that gives a sense of the complex reputation of this enigmatic singer and songwriter. The editors of “The Hank Williams Reader” found nearly 2,000 documents related to Williams, his life, and his music. From that mound of material they chose 79 writings that represent a wide range of opinions and attitudes about the man and his work. Patrick Huber, Professor of History at Missouri University of Science and Technology; Steve Goodson, Professor and Chair of the Department of History at The University of

THE HANK WILLIAMS READER

Patrick Huber, Steve Goodson, and David M. Anderson, editors. Oxford University Press, 2014 West Georgia; and David M. Anderson, Asso- iniscences, and other selections provide an ciate Professor of History at Louisiana Tech eclectic insight into his complex character. The more personal entries in the collection University, introduce each entry in this collection, giving the item’s historical, personal, provide many views and insights on Williams’ and cultural context. The material is divided personal life, and the range of attitudes in into seven sections and organized chronologi- these selections is surprising. Some describe Williams as a loving family man, a dedicated cally. professional, and a saved, if flawed, Christian. From intensely personal and emotional responses from family members and friends, Other items present him as a drunken drug to more scholarly analyses, these essays, rem- addict who cheated on his wives and who May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

appeared onstage drunk at concerts – if he appeared at all. Williams seems to have been a mirror for those closest to him, reflecting what they wanted to see. His mother, Lillie, describes him in a booklet that she published to sell after his death as a loving and dutiful son, a devoted father to his children, and a devout Christian. Williams’ first wife, Audrey, published a sentimental reminiscence of their relationship shortly after his death, depicting him as a devoted husband and loving father. The proceedings of their divorce, however, provide a stark contrast. Audrey accuses her husband of being an unfaithful, violent and cruel man, while he accuses her of infidelity. Other family members, including his second wife, Billie, his sister Irene, and his son, Hank Williams Jr., give their personal recollections, and there is a retrospective by comedian Minnie Pearl and an excerpt from Alan Bock’s book that portrays Hank Williams as a devout Christian. The accounts of Williams’ professional life are equally convoluted. By these accounts, Williams was simultaneously a simple “hillbilly singer,” one of the most important country singers and song writers, and a forerunner of rock music. A number of articles from Billboard Magazine and from Rolling Stone, for example, chronicle his elevation as a singer. Articles from newspapers, as well as from publications such as Nation’s Business and books about the music industry, show Williams’ artistic rise and decline in the few years of his professional life. As with the excerpts on his personal life, the discussions of his music and performances present a range of attitudes, from the rhapsodic to the critical. Williams could be charismatic onstage, like Elvis Presley (to whom he is compared), but he was also booed offstage. Although he had 30 Top Ten singles on the Billboard country 22

West Georgia Living

charts – seven of which reached Number One - Williams’ chaotic personal life, and his problems with drugs and alcohol, interfered with his career. For some time he was not welcome at the Grand Ole Opry because of his reputation for being unreliable, and his erratic behavior made him unwelcome elsewhere in Nashville. Despite all these contradictory aspects of his life, Williams has risen to iconic status in the decades after his death. To explain why, this anthology attempts to place Williams in a larger artistic and social context. The changing culture following World War II – in entertainment, economics, racial relations and social structure – are all reflected in his music. Selections in the book show how the evolution in music from hillbilly, to country, to rock was also paralleled by Williams’ music. Other writings show how his connection to black culture rose from his early connection to Tee-Top (who taught him to play the guitar), and to how blues music influenced his work. Williams has been called “The Hillbilly Shakespeare” because of the impact his songs had on his fans. His songs appealed to the rising labor class after the war as he became the voice of their personal, cultural and economic struggles. His cultural status as an artist has been recognized by his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and by a Special Citation by the Pulitzer Prize committee. Hank Williams was a complicated man whom few knew well. His enigmatic personality, artistic talents as singer and songwriter, and his chaotic life have appealed to fans, scholars and historians from the mid1940s to the present. The Hank Williams Reader provides readers with a fascinating depiction of the man and his music from a multitude of perspectives, so that music fan and scholar alike can perhaps appreciate the sum of all these parts. WGL

May/June 2014

About the reviewer: Bob Covel is a retired university and high school English teacher and received his doctorate in English from Georgia State University. He has published one book of poetry and has another coming out this year. He is also writing a novel. When not reading and writing, he enjoys playing trivia. He lives in west Georgia with his wife, Deloris, and their dog, Monet.

BOB COVEL

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Growing Healthier Communities Local groups receive partnership grants from Get Healthy, Live Well to create new community gardens

any people dream of which received an outpouring starting a community of support from area residents garden, but may not and have generated increased have the time, organization interest in growing local food. or support they need to make The first community garden was their garden dreams a reality. launched in April in Carrollton’s Get Healthy, Live Well is partnerKnox Park, and the second ing with a broad range of local came to life in October at groups to launch nearly 50 new Stockmar Park, adjacent to the community garden plots in the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in “Come Grow With Us!” camVilla Rica. paign, kicking off this month across west Georgia. Tanner “The exciting thing about Health System and Keep Carroll this year’s project is that we’re Beautiful are co-sponsors of the expanding the model to include Volunteers with Get Healthy, Live Well helped launch the new Stockmar Park community garden in Villa Rica in educational gardens, row-crop initiative aimed at equipping October 2013. The community collaborative is working with a variety of local groups to bring nearly 50 new west Georgia groups with the gardens and gardens to grow garden plots to west Georgia this spring. education and materials they produce for local food panneed to create and sustain comtries,” said Jillian Walker, special munity gardens. projects coordinator at Tanner Health System, and co-chair of the community garden task force. “Many of “We’re thrilled to be working with wonderful partners like the University the plots will be located in highly visible public spaces that will be accessible of West Georgia, Lifeline Ministries and Heard County 4-H,” said Gina Branden- to more west Georgia residents, expanding the reach of the gardens and raisburg, program manager for Get Healthy, Live Well at Tanner Health System. ing awareness about the importance of eating fresh, healthy food.” “These groups have demonstrated their commitment to helping raise awareness about the importance of healthy foods, and are teaching our children Community gardens depend on the dedication and commitment of dozand feeding our neighbors with the food they have grown. We’re honored to ens of volunteers, and Get Healthy, Live Well staff say that this year’s project support their work and help them launch and expand their own community will involve an even broader spectrum of area residents. gardens.” “The gardens bring together such diverse segments of our community,” Local groups who submitted applications were evaluated by a selection said Jacqueline Dost, co-chair of the community gardens task force and committee composed of Master Gardeners, Get Healthy, Live Well staff and executive director of Keep Carroll Beautiful. “We’ve had retired city officials community garden task force members. The awardees will receive guidance working alongside school-age children in Stockmar Park, and UWG students from Master Gardeners as well as donated materials for raised beds. The task planting beds with residents of the Griffin Homes at Knox Park. Gardening is force will also host a training workshop and assist groups with designing a one interest that unites people from many different backgrounds, and we’ve garden plan, building planting beds, organizing seasonal garden events and discovered that everyone loves having fun in the dirt together.” establishing a yearly maintenance schedule. For example, the raised beds at Knox Park have attracted a variety of area “The garden partnership model is an innovative approach that allows us residents, including college students, single mothers and members of a local to dramatically expand our reach across west Georgia,” said Brandenburg. “In garden club. A scholarship program helps low-income families adopt garden addition to significantly increasing the number of community gardens in our plots to grow their own vegetables, and seasonal events have provided area, we are also teaching a greater number of west Georgia residents how hands-on demos to teach them how to prepare healthy meals with the food to maintain their own gardens, which not only brings healthy fruits and vegthey grow. etables to more people but also adds public green spaces and encourages community involvement and volunteerism.” The gardens have been a successful collaboration among many local organizations and individuals, according to organizers. Tanner Health System’s “We’ll be training school groups, civic organizations, garden clubs and Get Healthy, Live Well initiative, Keep Carroll Beautiful, Carroll County Master faith-based groups and assisting them with every aspect of the garden proGardeners, Incredible Edible Carrollton, City of Carrollton, City of Villa Rica, cess—from planning, plant selection, and garden installation to long-term WalMart.com, Home Depot Carrollton and Home Depot Villa Rica have all maintenance and sustainability plans,” Brandenburg explained. “The expertise contributed to various stages of the gardens project. provided by our task force members and local master gardeners is an incredibly valuable resource for these groups to draw from.” To learn more about west Georgia’s community gardens, visit www.GetHealthyWestGeorgia.org Garden plot adoption forms and scholarship applicaThe effort to bring more community gardens comes on the heels of a suc- tions can also be downloaded on the site. For additional information, contact cessful first year. Get Healthy, Live Well launched two gardens in 2013, both of Jillian Walker at 770.836.9202 or jwalker@tanner.org. 24

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Culinary Lightweights Heavy Winter meals give way to healthier Spring delights

inter’s frozen grip seems to have finally released, and it’s time for blooms to appear, fresh produce to start growing – and time to start eating a bit lighter. Heavy chowders, roasts, and plenty of crock pot cooking were standard fare against frigid temperatures, but it’s time now to get back to the lighter things that drive spring’s outdoor activities. If you’re like me and enjoy those heavy meals, it may seem like a challenge to make the transition to a lighter fare. But it’s all about taking out the heavier elements of the dish while keeping the flavor. In the preparations for this edition, you will see that I have tried to present a few options for dishes that will eliminate fats while keeping their rich flavors, and eliminate meat while keeping the dish rich in nutrients.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers This meatless recipe gives the illusion of being a heavy and rich meal like the stuffed peppers of old, yet is low-fat, quite satisfying, very flavorful, and very easy to prepare. 2 large red peppers 1 large, very ripe tomato, diced 1 shallot, finely diced 1 clove garlic, finely diced 1 celery stalk, finely diced ½ tsp ground cumin ½ tsp chili powder ½ tsp Louisiana hot sauce 1 cup Jasmine rice 1 ½ cups vegetable stock Sea salt and black pepper to taste Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the tops from the peppers and remove the seeds and veins. Remove the stem from the separated tops and dice finely. Sauté all the vegetables in a few tablespoons of olive oil until just tender. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until the rice is

ROB DUVE almost cooked through. Fill the peppers just a bit over the top and bake in a shallow baking dish with ½ inch of water in the bottom for one hour or until the peppers are almost tender.

Many dieticians will tell you that white rice isn’t the healthiest rice for regular eating. So, if you are dieting or trying to maintain a low-carb lifestyle, wild rice, brown rice – or some of the coastal heirloom varieties – may be much better for you.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

Photos by Ricky Stilley May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

Garlic Crusted Sliders with Blackberry Aioli I know. A burger doesn’t seem much like lighter or healthier fare, does it? However, using very lean ground beef, and making a smaller burger overall, will help these sliders be a lighter-than-average burger. 1 lb lean ground beef 3⁄4 cup eggplant cut into small cubes 2 shallots, finely diced 4 cloves garlic, finely diced Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Sauté shallots and garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil until just translucent. Remove from pan and set aside. Next, sauté eggplant cubes until they become very soft. Set aside to cool on a plate for about 10 minutes. Drain off any liquid that may have run off, and mix eggplant with ground beef until they are nearly combined, then form into 3-inch wide patties about ½ inch thick. Press shallots and garlic onto the surface of the patties and pan sear or grill to the desired temperature. These sliders are best when cooked to medium.

One of the problems with using very lean ground beef is that it gets dry rather quickly if not cooked 26

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

properly. One of my chef friends taught me that mixing cooked eggplant with the beef is a great way to beat this problem. This recipe depends on the quality of the lean beef, whether you find it locally grown or purchase it at the neighborhood grocery. Many local beef growers who process their own meats are grinding very lean burger, as a general rule. If these options are unavailable, you may wish to buy cuts of lean beef and make your own. Meat grinders are easy to come by and aren’t terribly expensive and, in some cases, may even be unnecessary. Years before I purchased a meat grinder, I hand chopped my own burgers and had wonderful results. For an even fresher and brighter change from the standard burger, top these sliders with aioli and spring greens.

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

Blackberry Aioli

not light. This preparation does contain a bit of sugar but it is entirely fat free and very flavorful.

Aioli is simply a homemade garlic mayonnaise. The beauty of it is that it’s not only simple, but you can also create as many different flavors as you can imagine. For example, blackberries work very well with beef of any kind, and, with spring slowly coming along, there will be an abundance of them at area markets.

11⁄2-2 pints fresh Strawberries, tops removed 1⁄2 cup, packed fresh Basil Leaves 1 cup Organic Sugar 1 cup water Juice and zest of 1⁄2 Lemon Pinch of Sea Salt

1 egg yolk Juice of ½ lemon 2⁄3 cup quality olive oil ¼ cup fresh blackberries Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper In a blender or food processor, add the egg yolk, lemon juice, sea salt, and pepper. Pulse 2-3 times to combine. Turn machine on high and slowly drizzle the olive oil in a thin stream until the desired consistency is reached. Add blackberries and pulse a few more times to combine while leaving some of the berry texture.

And finally, how about a sweet treat that’s both light and one that kids will surely enjoy?

Strawberry Basil Sorbet One of the hardest things for me to give up is dessert – and ice cream is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, a good ice cream is going to contain anywhere from 18-30% butter fat and that, most certainly, is

Start by making a simple syrup with the sugar, water, lemon juice and zest, basil, and salt. Bring up to a temperature just needed to dissolve the sugar. Place in the refrigerator long enough to cool to room temperature, or below. Strain out the basil and zest, then add the strawberries. Puree with an immersion blender, food processor, regular blender - or whatever you have – to make a very fine puree. Some chefs like to strain out the seeds for texture, but I just leave them in. At this point, there are two ways to approach freezing this. If you have an ice cream machine, place the puree in the cylinder and turn on for about 15 minutes, until frozen. If you don’t have a machine, use a heavy ceramic mixing bowl that has been in the freezer for at least an hour. Pour puree into the chilled bowl and place it in the freezer until a thin crust of ice forms. With a hand mixer, whip the puree to incorporate the ice. Repeat this process a few times until the mixture is frozen through.

Enjoy!

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

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“The Goat Man, North Georgia, 1967,” © John Cohen. Courtesy: L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York

The Goat Man

ne day in 1967, John Cohen and fellow folk singer Mike Seeger – half brother of Pete Seeger – were driving through the mountains of North Georgia, on their way to visit members of a noted old-time band, when Cohen saw something incredible along the side of the road. There sat what looked like a heap of garbage piled onto a crude, six-wheeled wagon. A wagon surrounded by a small army of goats, manned by a dirty, disheveled driver dressed in blackened overalls. “I thought it was sort of extraordinary and that there must be a story there,” said Cohen, whose memory of the incident is still sharp 46 years later. A well-known photographer and filmographer, Cohen got out of the car, grabbed his camera and – in a single convergent moment of subject, time and place – took a singular portrait of the man 30

West Georgia Living

May/June/2014

Ches McCartney roamed the South in a wagon pulled by goats, never bathed and had three wives. Then the story gets a little strange. on the side of the road, the man with the goats. Ches McCartney (1901-1998), The Goat Man, had many such encounters during an extraordinary life that almost defies belief. He became a living legend in the South, especially to people in west Georgia, as his caravan of goats and Gospel rolled through tiny communities and big cities in the days before interstates. It seems impossible that KEN DENNEY

a man who lived with goats, never took a bath, swore like a sailor and shamelessly fleeced the public ever became so adored. But that’s only the first impossible truth about The Goat Man.

The Legend Begins Even as a youth, McCartney had such an odd manner that the people of Keokuk County, Iowa, where he was born in 1901, found him uncomfortable to be around. He wore his hair long, was doted on by his mother, and talked and acted strangely. When he ran away from home at age 14 to go New York, the folks around Van Buren Township were not surprised and even a little relieved. When they heard that he had married at that age to a 24-year-old Spanish woman who made her living with a knifethrowing act (with Ches as her target), they

took it in stride. Sometime later he was back in Iowa, alone and apparently with a taste for show-biz. He went to county fairs, where he earned some notoriety wrestling bears. Meanwhile, he continued to farm his parents’ land – but he lost that property when he put it up as collateral for a grocery bill, then failed to pay. Married for a second time to a local woman named Sadie Smithart, the couple had a son, Albert Gene McCartney. Bearwrestling in the midst of the Great Depression being what it was, McCartney needed steady work to support his family. So, he got a government job cutting trees. But that came to a sudden end one day when, working alone in the woods, a tree fell on him and left him unconscious and severely injured. When co-workers found him hours later, they thought him dead. They took him to a funeral home, where he came back to life just as the undertaker was about to go to work on him. The accident left McCartney with a permanently mangled arm and a desire to preach the Gospel. But, according to his several biographers, McCartney knew that to make it as an itinerant preacher, he would need some kind of “gimmick” to gain atten-

Photos of The Goat Man courtesy of Darryl Patton

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

tion. And that’s where the goats come in. McCartney was an avid reader, and one of his favorite novels was Robinson Crusoe, wherein the shipwrecked hero raises goats and dresses in their skins. McCartney got Sadie to make goatskin clothing for the whole family, and he built a wagon that could be drawn by goats. Thus outfitted, the little group began touring the countryside, preaching and selling things carried on the wagon. Oddly enough, this type of lifestyle did not suit Sadie. She began seeing another man, Homer Derby, who was also married. Eventually, it was decided that both Ches and Sadie, and Homer and his wife, would divorce; Sadie and Homer would marry – and, in the exchange, Ches would receive money. Thus was born the legend that McCartney had “sold” his wife, but biographer Darryl Patton of Gadsden, Ala., insists it was all by mutual agreement. At some point, Patton says, McCartney got a third wife, a woman from Chicago, who may have borne him a daughter. But Patton has never found either woman. After Sadie’s departure, McCartney (and often his son, Albert Gene) began to travel the country alone in their wagon pulled by goats. In the process, The Goat Man passed through each one of the then-48 states. And with each mile of country road and busy street he traveled, McCartney’s legend continued to grow.

A West Georgia Icon Sometime around the late 1950s, McCartney decided to make the South his winter home, and as summer turned into fall, he would turn his team toward Georgia, where he had established a home of sorts in Twiggs County, near Macon. Since he could only travel as fast as the slowest goat – not to mention time out for feeding and watering the animals – he could only make a few miles a day. That gave plenty of time for people who saw him pass by to alert folks down the road. Wherever he went, McCartney drew a slew of sightseers. And who wouldn’t want to see that sight? McCartney’s wagon was a ramshackle, homemade affair consisting of a

McCartney knew that to make it as an itinerant preacher, he would need some kind of “gimmick” to gain attention. And that’s where the goats come in. 32

West Georgia Living

May/June/2014

large vehicle that pulled a second attachment like a trailer. Both rolled on iron wheels. Everything McCartney owned – consisting of junk and debris he had gathered from the roadside – was piled atop. It was decorated with bumper stickers and numerous hand-painted signs. “Prepare to Meet Thy God” and similar exhortations were a favorite theme. The wagon was pulled by six goats, but The Goat Man always had about a dozen spares hitched alongside as he traveled. Animals too lame for the journey hopped up and rode atop the junk; sometimes they sat in his lap or rode a special box nailed to the side. When it was time to stop for the night, he would set up lanterns by the side of the road and pile up trash and debris for a campfire – onto which he would often toss an old tire, so that the thick black smoke would draw a crowd. Those who followed the signal got to meet a man who was probably the dirtiest, smelliest man they ever met. He claimed to have never taken a bath, and it was not difficult to take that claim seriously. The smell was part of The Goat Man’s legend. Lowell White of Tallapoosa recalls one of McCartney’s trips to Carrollton. By that time, the 1960s, radio stations like WLBB where White worked, would announce The Goat Man’s imminent arrivals. As McCartney passed down the Bremen Highway, he was invited to stop at the station and give an interview. So, he parked his goats outside and came in for a chat. “It took days to get that smell out of the station,” White recalls with a chuckle. The Goat Man used his notoriety to make money. To the crowds who gathered around his campsites, he sold some of the junk from his wagon; sometimes he would sell patent medicine. But he was mostly known for selling picture postcards of himself and his goats. He would sell one card for a quarter, two cards for 50 cents and three cards for a dollar. People would fork over the cash and only realize later they had been overcharged.

met. Most who came out to see him were people who had grown up during the rough times of the Depression and they could appreciate the romantic, hobo lifestyle he represented. But as time rolled on into the late 60s, things began to change. And time would not be kind to The Goat Man.

Eccentric to the End People got meaner to McCartney. Where he had once met friendly faces on the road, he now began to be tormented by people determined to mess with him and his goats. Sometimes, it was worse than that. On Christmas night in 1967, someone shot his favorite and lead goat with a hunting arrow. Later, he was assaulted in camp – struck over the head, and a whole team of goats slaughtered.

He carried a certificate of ordination from a Pentecostal church and had been issued a ministerial license by the State of Georgia. He never traveled on weekends, and on Sundays folks from all around would gather to hear his sermons, which were part Vaudeville, part tent meeting; Scripture mixed with profanity.

But it was the cars that finally put an end to his road trips. The two-lane country roads over which he used to travel were widened and modernized; the interstate highway system was being built, and suddenly the roads were too fast and two crowded for a slow, ramshackle wagon pulled by goats.

Somehow, all these combined eccentricities endeared The Goat Man to everyone he

It was about this time that a rumor started that McCartney had been killed by a tractor-trailer. It wasn’t true – neither

was the rumor that McCartney was secretly rich, hoarding thousands of dollars. Biographer Patton believes he never had more than $1,000 at any one time, and his abject poverty and decades of not taking care of his health took a toll. By 1978, McCartney had given up the goat caravan altogether, and had largely retired to a tumble-down house in Twiggs County. One night that year, hot ashes fell out of a poorly-maintained pot bellied stove while he slept and set fire to the house. McCartney barely escaped with his life.

McCartney and his son, Albert Gene, who was living with him, moved into a rusted-out school bus. But The Goat Man had one great adventure left in him. In 1985, at age 84, McCartney developed an infatuation for the soap opera and movie actress Morgan Fairchild – 49 years his junior – and lit out from Georgia to California to convince her to marry him. He got as far as Los Angeles before he was mugged and seriously hurt. That was the end of the road for him, literally. No longer able to adequately care for himself, the Twiggs County Department of Family and Children’s services stepped in. They helped him get into the Eastview Nursing Home in Macon on a temporary basis, and soon after he was a permanent resident.

travels through west Georgia were kids at the time and are getting older now. Most of what they know of him they learned from parents and their grandparents. But there are those whose memories of the wagon, the goats, and the man himself remain sharp and clear. When Darryl Patton decided to write about McCartney, he sent out letters to newspaper editors all across the country asking for Goat Man stories. He got back hundreds of letters and even more phone calls. People were eager to share their stories, and even today, whenever an article is published about McCartney, there is a revival of interest in The Goat Man.

Once there, he enjoyed a revival of sorts. When people found out that the legendary Goat Man was in residence, they flocked to see him. He liked autographing pictures of himself and talking to interviewers. He told people he was 108 years old – sometimes older – and he introduced folks to his “girlfriend,” another resident of the nursing home. And then in June, 1998, someone murdered McCartney’s son, leaving Albert Gene’s body in the woods behind the bus where father and son had lived. No one ever found out who was responsible, and McCartney went downhill after that. He died on November 15 that same year.

Passing Into Legend The Goat Man is now a fading memory. Most of the people who saw him on his May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

There are so many stories about The Goat Man, many with conflicting facts, that it is hard to tell which are true. But maybe for a man like him, it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessary to separate fact from fiction. Because with legends, the person becomes less significant as an individual and more important for what he meant to people, and what he continues to represent. The Goat Man did what he wanted, traveled where he wanted, and lived exactly as he pleased. He answered to no potentate or petty official; he lived by his wits and sometimes by the gullibility of strangers. He met the great, the near-great and the ordinary folk who could only dream of such personal freedom. It may have been their imagination, but many people felt that meeting him was a profound, spiritual experience. He is, and will remain, a unique figure in west Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past, forever camped out somewhere on the road of memory. WGL

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

CASINO Night

With the Carrollton DawnBreakers

Dawn Grizzard, Jill Duncan, Matt Metts and Jeanette Prince try to increase their fortune playing blackjack.

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

The Carrollton Dawn Breakers Rotary Club hosted Casino Night on February 15. It’s a fund-raiser for children’s and literacy projects.

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Nikki Bishop lets the dice fly at the craps table.

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

Leeann Fleming, left, and Brooke Porter get festive. Come By and Visit Us!

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1 Hearts BOY

Blake McConahy is living an ordinary life, thanks to the extraordinary gift of a donor heart.

lake McConahy keeps his Berlin Heart in a Christmas tin at his Carrollton home.

The 14-year-old has a fascination for how things work, and that includes this mechanical device, which for several weeks was inside his body, attached to his failed heart. It’s the only thing that kept him alive. “The way this works is, there’s an air hose, a vacuum tube, and it would go to a machine,” Blake explains, with a knowledge of such matters that is far beyond his years. “This diaphragm right here would go up and down – you could feel it move. When the diaphragm went down, blood would come in through here, and the diaphragm would be released, and blood would come out through here.” But it’s not the Berlin Heart that ultimately saved Blake on

Christmas Day in 2012. It’s the stairs, and he slept with his pilperson who donated the heart lows propped up,” his mother, now beating in the chest of the Tonya said. Central Middle School student. “They say that’s a sign, when they prop their pillows up, they’re having problems From one crisis to the next that breathing,”said Blake’s father, E.J. “They don’t even know Blake’s medical problems they’re doing it.” began with a health crisis unrelated to his heart. At 15 months When Blake still didn’t feel old, he was diagnosed with well by Halloween, the famStage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma, a ily, which now included daughrare cancer. His doctors aggres- ter Bree, headed to Children’s sively fought the disease with a Healthcare of Atlanta. They were combination of chemotherapy, in for bad news. radiation and liquid radiation. The cancer was eradicated, but The aggressive treatment that a decade later the cure nearly had saved Blake’s life as a todkilled him. dler had now wrecked his heart. He had a specific kind of heart Blake developed a nasty failure, sometimes caused by cough in early fall 2009. He chemotherapy, called anthracysays he felt bad all the time back cline induced cardiomyopathy. then. “I just couldn’t keep up,” he said. “What chemotherapy does is, it gradually hardens your heart “He couldn’t walk up the over time,” Blake explained. STORY BY REBECCA LEFTWICH / PHOTOS BY RICKY STILLEY

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

The cough, a side effect of the ailing organ’s inefficiency, was mild compared to what the youngster would face as his heart gradually failed, though doctors couldn’t specify how or when that failure might occur. “They said his heart was going to fail, you just don’t know when,” Tonya said. “We just hoped and prayed and prayed and prayed, and we made it a good while, from 2009 until 2012.” That year, during a family vacation in Florida, Blake became very ill. He was evaluated in the local emergency room and told to follow up with doctors back home. His doctors put him on a commonly used beta blocker, but the medication only made Blake sicker. His gastrointestinal follow-up turned into a 17-day hos-

Blake plays chess with his sister Brenna. pitalization as his health rapidly declined.

Blake was now a top priority for a heart transplant. When doctors told the McConaBy Sept. 25, 2012, Blake’s heart was in hys the average heart patient spends 54 days imminent danger of failure. He had a per- on the transplant list, E.J. did the math. manent IV pump full of medication to relax his ever-hardening heart. He carried a beep“I told Tonya, ‘Fifty-four days from now is er to alert his family if an organ became Christmas Day.” available. But until that time, he would need a Left Ventricle Assist Device (LVAD) – specifically a Berlin Heart – to keep his heart Waiting working and was being scheduled for surgery at Egleston Children’s Hospital. Following Blake’s surgery on Nov.

23, Tonya spent her days and nights in Egleston’s massive pediatric cardiac wing as E.J. bounced between work, hospital and home. Family and friends pitched in to help care for Bree. Tonya watched nurses as they pumped milrinone, a drug used to combat heart failure, directly into her son’s bloodstream. Despite heavy doses of pain medication, the process of keeping him alive was excruciating for Blake. Nurses came in daily to clean around his abdominal tubes and remove any scabbing. They used penlights and mirrors to check Blake’s Berlin Heart for potentially fatal blood clots. E.J. said he had a hard time seeing his son in pain. “They’d come in and give him morphine and wait for it to kick in, and then they’d come in to clean it and I’d leave the room,” he said. “Tonya would come in while they were cleaning it.” The massive machinery attached to the youngster made it difficult for him to move, but massive as it was, there were times it seemed pitifully inadequate to be the only thing standing between him and death.

Blake holds the Berlin Heart that kept him alive for 27 days, and the beads that spell out his name, both reminders of his ordeal. Each bead represents an experience during his hospital stay.

“The main thing that scared me about the Berlin was if that machine shut off, that was it,” Blake said. “This was the mechanical assist for my heart, and it was just this thing that looked like a bicycle pump, and then May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

Blake McConahy with his family - his sister Brenna, father and mother EJ and Tonya. a little pump on the machine. It was pretty scary.” To top it off, Blake was a medical curiosity at the teaching hospital. “We were in a secluded room because he was so critical, but they’d come in and say, ‘You’ve got to see this patient– he’s got a Berlin Heart!” Tonya said. “You think it’s cool at first, but then after awhile you feel like a freak show.” During the first part of Blake’s hospitalization, the McConahys watched eagerly for the donor heart they were certain would become available any minute. But the days dragged on, Tonya began to focus on learning all she could about Blake’s routine and medications, and even assisting the nurses when she was allowed. 44

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

And then it was Christmas morning.

A Christmas Gift Tonya was with Blake at Egleston; E.J. and Bree were on I-20 near Douglasville, heading to the hospital with a carload of gifts. Nobody was thinking too much about a heart when Tonya got a call on her cell phone. “It was the transplant coordinator, and she said, ‘We have a heart for Blake.’” Caught off guard, Tonya asked the woman if she was joking. “She went, ‘Tonya, I would never joke about this.’”

“She was crying so hard I couldn’t understand her,” E.J. said. “I had to pull over on the side of the road because I thought something bad had happened.” When he finally figured out what was going on, E.J. made quick phone calls to the rest of their extended family and hightailed it to Egleston. Half-cooked Christmas dinners were abandoned as everyone else headed to the hospital as well. Tonya and E.J., who had been at Blake’s side constantly since November, were not allowed near their son as he was prepped and wheeled to the operating room. This was tough, but after eight hours of surgery they learned there were complications in the OR.

E.J. then got a call from his “hysterical” The surgeon could not immediately close wife. Blake’s chest because the donor heart was

bigger than his damaged one. His kidneys weren’t functioning, and the transplant team feared intestinal gas bubbles could rupture his bowels. But doctors found a way to close his chest the night of the surgery. Blake’s kidneys eventually “woke up,” and there were no intestinal bubbles.

months, anti-rejection and blood pressure drugs and supplements like magnesium will be a permanent part of his regimen. He has been cleared for normal activity, but must carefully warm up, cool down and monitor his heart rate.

Blake is looking forward to this summer, when his family As Blake overcame each crisis, will travel to Ireland. It’s what he the McConahys expected to fol- requested from the Make-A-Wish low the regular recovery process Foundation. for transplant patients: intensive care, then step-down care, then “I want to research the McCoRonald McDonald House, then nahy family, to find out where we home. But after only 87 days in came from and visit some of the the hospital (and exactly 54 days little villages and places our famon the transplant list), Blake’s ily lived,” he said. WGL doctor casually announced he would be going home. That was on Feb. 9, 2013. Blake was back in school by March.

A Normal Life Blake will enter high school this fall, and is planning a career in mechanical or bio engineering, fields he intends to explore as a student at Georgia Tech.

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For now, he is getting back to normal activities like go-karting around his neighborhood, building “symmetrical” structures while dodging Endermen and Creepers on Minecraft, and spending time with Legos, paper airplanes, friends and his English bulldog, Mugsy. The McConahys keep in touch with the medical personnel who cared for Blake via Facebook. None of Blake’s heart biopsies, which he has at four-month intervals, has shown any sign of rejection. Doctors estimate Blake’s donor heart will last 10 to 20 years, “depending on how well he takes care of it,” Tonya said. Although he has come off many medications in recent May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

The Actress and the Car Dealer

Eaton Chalkley and Susan Hayward on their Carrollton farm in June, 1962 Photo Courtesy of the Atlanta History Center

Movie fans come to Carrollton in search of Susan Hayward. But the only person they find is Mrs. Eaton Chalkley 46

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

hen Greg Barker was in seventh grade and living at a California boarding school, he got a long-distance phone call from his mother that completely changed his life.

met Eaton Chalkley, a man who lived in Carrollton. He was, as Barker said, the “love of her life,” and their life together in West Georgia would give them both the only real hometown they had ever known.

“Well, pack your bags,” she said, “because For nine years they were here, living you’re moving. We’re going to Georgia.” unpretentiously among the farm folk and townspeople; a little bit of tinsel dusting the Life for Barker had already been “unusukudzu. All that time there must have been al” compared to most kids his age. His people, inside and outside of Hollywood, mother was Susan Hayward, who at that who wondered why she was here; why she time was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award and one of the most popular had chosen pine trees over palm trees, to actresses in Hollywood. Barker had spent live on a cattle farm, not in a mansion. his life growing up on movie sets, going to The answer, it turns out, is a story more school with the kids of movie stars, and about a place than personalities. A story hanging out with people like John Wayne. as sweet and down home as it is tragic and All that changed when Susan Hayward short. KEN DENNEY

The Car Dealer and the Superstar All the news articles about Susan Hayward and Eaton Chalkley focus on her; her fame, her film history. In the press, Chalkley was only ever identified as “a businessman from Carrollton, Ga.,” and so, to the glitterati, the match must have seemed unusual. But Chalkley wasn’t from Carrollton. He was born in Washington, D.C., to fairly wealthy parents. And he wasn’t just a businessman; he was an attorney who had also been an FBI agent and, during World War II, had worked with the OSS. In retrospect, it is no wonder he married a cinema superstar. One of Chalkley’s best friends was Xavier Flaherty, a newspaper columnist whose older brother was Pat Flaherty, a producer and film actor. Chalkley often traveled to Los Angeles and, between the two Flaherty brothers, he met and rubbed shoulders with many of Hollywood’s elite. On these trips, he was never adverse to meeting actresses. With his movie-star good looks, his dashing past and the fact he was recently divorced, he was an attractive catch for any of them. Chalkley had come to Carrollton in 1954 on legal business for General Motors. During that visit, he noticed that the Chevrolet dealership, then located on Newnan Street, was for sale and decided to buy it. From all accounts, Chalkley loved Carrollton. So much so that he bought a house in the Sunset Hills Country Club and moved in. Pretty soon his sister, Margaret, or “Peg,” and her husband, Matthew Irwin, took a neighboring house. For her part, Susan Hayward was no stranger to Georgia. In the spring and summer of 1950, she was on location around Helen and Cleveland, Ga., to film “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain,” and became fond of the region and its people. The movie premiered in Atlanta in 1951.

Susan Hayward and Eaton Chalkley finally crossed paths at a Hollywood Christmas party in 1955. She had just been divorced from her husband, actor Jess Barker, with whom she had two sons, Greg and Tim. The party was hosted by Vincent Flaherty, and Hester was Hayward’s escort to the event. As Greg recalls, the meeting went like this:

ple and her two sons moved into his Sunset Hills home, and Hayward immediately began making herself part of the community. “She loved everybody she met there, because they were so genuine,” Barker says. “She made many good friends, long-lasting friends in Carrollton. She enjoyed not putting on makeup to go to the grocery store. That was a big deal. And nobody bothered her. Out in California, when someone sees a star, people run up and want their autograph. It was just a real calming effect when she got to Carrollton.” Hayward made herself available to school children, and helped with fund drives for what was then called Tanner Memorial Hospital. Meanwhile, Chalkley began to sink his roots deeper into West Georgia. He bought land along Bremen Highway, where he opened the Chalkley Motors dealership in 1958 – a gutsy move, since in those days the road was practically undeveloped. And because he had spent his early life on a farm, Chalkley began buying up farm properties off Old Center Point Road, out on Highway 113. That was where Chalkley built ChalMar farm, a combination of his name and Hayward’s non-stage name of Edythe Marrenner. It was a modest (by Hollywood standards) home; 3,200 square feet with five bedrooms and three baths, clad on the outside with grey stone. There were two other houses on the property, a small cabin and a pavilion built next to a pond.

It was on this 300-acre farm that the couple began raising polled Hereford cattle, a breed known for their beef quality. Hayward’s career in Hollywood all but disappeared as she threw herself into a new calling, that of a farmer’s wife. She became a frequent visitor to Carrollton, and there are Photo by Ricky Stilley many stories of her rattling downtown in a battered, dirty pickup truck, dressed in plain Greg Barker, son of Susan Hayward, keeps her clothes with her flaming red hair bound up Oscar® at his home in Ft. Payne, Ala. in a kerchief.

“When Mom saw Eaton she said, ‘I’m Yet, some small town ways eluded her. A going to marry him.’ I mean, it was just that neighbor’s family recalled they once offered At that same time, there was a restaurant quick.” her a pecan pie, which Hayward thought had on the outskirts of the city, in Smyrna, called to be cooked. And when she once came to Aunt Fanny’s Cabin. It was owned by Harvey old Colonial grocery store where Doyle The Movie Star and the Checkout Line the Hester, a sports promoter who knew a lot of Akins worked, she tried to pay with an outthe people the Flahertys knew. His restauof-town check. When a fellow employee, rant was also a magnet for movie stars and Hayward and Chalkley were married in who had not recognized her, started to say celebrities from around the world. Phoenix, Ariz., on Feb. 8, 1957. The cou- the store could not accept the check, Akins, May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

who had seen her before, assured him, “It will be OK.” These small eccentricities, however, only endeared her more to the people of Carrollton, who respected her privacy and, sometimes amusedly, accepted her efforts to blend in. When a Hollywood reporter asked her in 1958 about why she preferred Carrollton over Los Angeles, she said:

Hollywood did not entirely disappear from the Chalkley’s lives. Hayward had commitments for at least six more films, after which, she said many times, she wanted to retire from the industry. Chalkley put his legal and business skills to work for his wife, and together they created a company that would put up some of the money for

“It’s a great place. No telephones ringing all day long, no big deals being made, no smog! People down there really know how to live – and relax.” Even so, it seems that Hayward sometimes liked to tease local people. There are many stories of her striking up conversations with people in town, just to see if they would recognize her. Most didn’t, since in person she looked nothing like her studio photographs.

mance, including a painfully realistic scene recreating Graham’s 1955 execution in the gas chamber. Released in 1958, the film did well at the box office and Hayward’s acting was the subject of much speculation as Oscar season approached. She had received four previous nominations for Best Actress, but she finally won the big prize at the Academy Awards presentation that next April. She was now at the pinnacle of her acting career and could now do anything she wanted in the industry. What she did, however, was to return home with Chalkley, back to their farm in Carrollton. The townspeople, no doubt recognizing what the gesture said about her and about themselves, gave her a parade and the Key to the City. And then the townsfolk went back to leaving her alone.

The Oscar Winner Returns Home

The Actress with the Broken Heart

For her children, Greg and Tim, living in Carrollton was fundamentally different from their old life in Hollywood. For the first time, they went to a public school, Carrollton High and lived as “normal” kids. They made friends with many local kids their own age, but their small-town life didn’t last long.

As time went by, the Chalkleys began dividing their time between Carrollton and a new home in Fort Lauderdale. Their life went on as normal, or at least as normal as possible. That’s the way things went for nine years.

Greg said that for Chalkley, newly married, even the expansive farm was close confines with two boys around the place. So during the first Thanksgiving at the new house, Chalkley made an announcement. “So we’re sitting down, and he said, ‘Next year boys, you’re going to be going to school in Atlanta, at Georgia Military Academy’ (now Woodward Academy). And I said to myself, ‘Well, I’ve got the rest of the year to have fun at Carrollton High School.’ But he meant January 1 – not the next school those films, and then reap their box office year. So I went mid-term to Georgia Mili- rewards. tary Academy; they dropped us off there and “She was smart,” said Barker. “Her IQ went on about their lives.” was 153. But she had her smarts for certain It was years afterward, when Barker had things and Eaton’s (experience) was in other retired from his veterinary practice and things. And they had mutual respect for moved to Fort Payne, Ala., that he ran into each other’s knowledge.”

a man who told him that he was a former In 1957, she and Chalkley went back to government agent and a friend of Chalkley. Los Angeles, where she began filming “I “Your parents used to have me check on you Want to Live,” a movie based on the life of boys during the weekend,” the man said. “I convicted murderer Barbara Graham. On made sure you got in on time.” screen, Hayward put on a powerful perfor48

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

In 1966, Hayward was in Rome, Italy, on the set of a movie called “The Honey Pot.” Chalkley was at the Fort Lauderdale house when he became ill from hepatitis, a condition that Barker said he developed during a blood transfusion from years before. She rushed back to the States to be with him. “He didn’t want her to know how sick he was,” said Barker. “So I guess he just didn’t let her know, and when she got back, she got mad at everybody for not letting her know he was that sick.” Released from the hospital, Chalkley was at the Florida house when he died on Jan. 9, 1966. He was 57 years old. Chalkley was buried on the grounds of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which he and Hayward had helped found, donating a portion of Chal-Mar acreage to the Church. Afterwards, Susan held a wake at the farm for her close friends, including many people from Carrollton. And then she left West Georgia, never to return in her lifetime.

The Legacy

“I think she was lost there for a little while,” said Barker, who by that time was She was born in at Auburn and busy with his own life. Other Brooklyn with the name accounts say she was stricken with grief. Edythe Marrenner. She But, Barker said, she “had to occupy her was discovered by David time,” so, living in Fort Lauderdale, she got O. Selznick and in 1939 interested in sport fishing. She became quite did a screen test for a good at it too, competing in tournaments. movie he was producing called “Gone With the Slowly, she returned to acting and hoped Wind.” Her agent to get into television. She filmed a couple of changed her name to pilots, but before any of these projects could Susan Hayward, and it come to fruition tragedy struck again. was with that name that she rose to the top of In 1955 – the same year she had met her profession, with one Chalkley – Hayward had filmed a movie Oscar, four Best Actress with John Wayne called “The Conqueror.” nominations, a Golden Produced by Howard Hughes, the film was Globe and a star on shot on location outside St. George, Utah, Hollywood’s Walk of not far from where the government in 1953 Fame. had detonated a 32-kiloton atomic bomb. After the exterior shots were made, Hughes trucked some 60 tons of dirt from the site to Any of her movie an RKO soundstage in Los Angeles, where fans can recite these the cast and crew had the stuff blown in facts, and many of them their faces during interior filming. travel to West Georgia to visit her final resting Some 20 years afterward, that same cast place beside Chalkley, at and crew began to become ill, many with Our Lady of Perpetual what proved to be fatal cancers. Barker Help. believes that exposure to radioactive soil was what caused the pancreatic cancer which She said many times that Carrollton was later spread to his mother’s brain. the only hometown she had ever known, In 1974 she presented the Best Actress award at the Oscar ceremony, but she was so ill she had to be helped to the dais and held up by co-presenter Charlton Heston. Less than a year later she was dead. She was 57; the same age her husband had been.

Many of those fans who trace her life to her final resting place leave notes on her grave, telling her how much they enjoyed her movies, how much her acting roles influenced their lives. The letters talk about her and it is a sentiment that has succeeded her Oscar, her co-stars and her spirit. in the lives of her descendants. Greg Barker The notes are addressed to Susan Haylives only an hour from Carrollton; one of his sons, Hayward’s grandson, plays in a ward, but that name was just another one Carrollton-based band and married a Car- of the many roles she played. The name she preferred was the only name she chose for rollton girl. herself: Mrs. Eaton Chalkley. WGL

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TAKE 5

David Trumble Band Director Central Middle School

• Most people would never guess I ... I have a background in road course motorcycle racing. Although I am officially “retired” right now, I have entertained the idea of getting back into some sort of motorsport competition in the near future. • My parents always taught me ... I learned a great deal about compassion from my mother. She never hesitated to stop and help a person (or an animal) that was in need. I have often found myself in situations where I can see her presence in the choices I now make in regards to helping others. My father is the epitome of what it means to be a hard worker. It’s not worth doing, unless you are going to do it to the best of your ability. • Favorite historical character ... Jesus taught us everything we need to know about how we should treat and love one another. It’s a shame that so many people today ignore his teachings about love and do so much to tear others down in the name of their religion. • My first job was ... When I was in high school, I sold drugs. I worked at a local pharmacy and sold legal prescription drugs. • When I was a kid I wanted to be ... I knew from the time that I was in sixth grade that I wanted to be a band director. • My hero is ... My father is, and always has been, 50

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Photo by Ricky Stilley

my hero. I only hope that my son will some day think of me the way I think of my father. If that happens, I will know that I have lived a good life. • If I won the lottery, I would ... I would still be a middle school band director. I would do it for free if I didn’t need the paycheck.

Submit your recipes by Sept. 10 to be considered for West Georgia Living’s 2014 special holiday food issue.

W G

• Beach or mountains? I would take both at the same time in Malibu, Calif. • When I have 10 minutes alone I like to ... I try to find time to close my eyes and relax. I don’t get a chance to do that too often during a typical day. • My favorite TV show as a child was ... I loved the Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry cartoons. That was where I got my introduction to some great classical music. WGL

L V  Submit all recipes (and pictures, if available) to Ken Denney at ken@times-georgian.com, or drop them off at the Times-Georgian, 901 Hays Mill Rd., Carrollton.

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Because I know my home and belongings are

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May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

Festival Time!

pringtime means celebrations in west Georgia, and we have a long tradition of festivals to mark the end of winter. Douglas, Carroll and Haralson counties each have special events that in different ways celebrate our region’s natural beauty and the talents and spirit of our people. These events all take place during a weekend, and all offer a host of activities for all ages.

May 3

29th Annual Mayfest Arts and Crafts Festival 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Downtown Carrollton

Carrollton Main Street will be hosting the 29th annual Mayfest Arts and Crafts festival on Saturday May 3rd from 9:30-4:30 on Adamson Square, in downtown Carrollton. Some 140 vendors from across the region are expected to be on hand with many types of arts and crafts. There will also be a “Teen Idol” contest for young singers. Event organizers have now expanded the Mayfest area to include Newnan Street, so as to provide more room for visitors to see all the booths. Arts and craft vendors from all over the Southeast have been selected according to their specialty in handmade and handcrafted items,

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Hydrangea Festival 2012 Photos by Ricky Stilley

ranging from baskets to paintings and mosaics to wire art. There will also be a number of food vendors, bringing a sampling of tastes from many different cultures. Also, a children’s area will have some new and fun events, including the Optimist Club’s popular putt-putt golf. Tanner Health System will have their own area to bring informative healthcare initiatives, including The Great Weightloss Reveal and much more. And there will a Hospitality Booth for area residents to discover the benefits of being members of Carrollton Main Street. The finals for the Teen Idol contest will be at 4:30 p.m. at Carrollton’s amphitheater, known locally as The AMP. The competition is open to all county residents between 13 and 19 years of age, and preliminary auditions will be held April 12 between 9 a.m. and noon at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center. After the finals on the AMP’s stage, winner and runner-ups will receive cash prizes and trophies. Although Mayfest ends at 4:30 p.m., the fun will continue with the organization’s new partner, Westfest, sponsored by Greenway Medical. Westfest will feature four bands at The AMP beginning at 6:30 p.m. to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs.

June 6-8

7th Annual Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival Friday evening; all day Saturday and Sunday Downtown Douglasville

The Seventh Annual Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival, Garden Tour and Flower Show will begin the evening of June 6 and will continue all day through the following Saturday and Sunday. This year, the three-day event has a movie-related premise. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the release of the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz,” the theme of this year’s event is the “Ruby Slipper.” This hybrid of two oak-leaf hydrangea cultivars (Hydrangea quercifolia) is known for its mahogany red color during fall. There are three paid events and a host of free activities designed to appeal to both garden-lovers and those who simply want to celebrate the beauty of spring. The paid events include a $25 tour of area gardens, some of which have been featured in national magazines. There will also be a

Mayfest 2012 Summer Sampler Wine Tasting, with tickets at $25 per person. The guest speaker for this year’s Festival is Steve Bender, Senior Garden Writer for Southern Living Magazine, and tickets for that event are $10 per person. Free events include, but are not limited to, a Standard Flower Show; a Festival Market featuring artists, plants, antiques and more; Display Gardens designed and executed by different garden designers; a Miniature Gardens Exhibit in wheelbarrows; a Scarecrow Exhibit; Vintage Garden Furniture; and many others.

The annual festival was created in 2007 with the goals of beautifying the community; preserving history, historic places and heirloom plants; and generate tourism for Douglas County.

9th Annual Dogwood Fair There’s one other springtime festival worth mentionng, and it takes place every year during the second weekend of April and is May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

sponsored by the Tallapoosa Historical Society. Along with arts, crafts and music, the Fair features the largest parade in western Georgia. Each year, the event organizers try to top the previous event. It takes place along Head Avenue in downtown Tallapoosa. Last year’s event drew some 75 vendors from as far away as Albany, Ga., and east Alabama. This year’s Fair was expected to bring just as many, all with a variety of arts and crafts on display and for sale. There was also entertainment and events for children, and – of course – plenty of food. A highlight of each year is the Dogwood Fair Parade, an unusually massive event that has been called the largest parade in this part of the state. Some 50-60 units are expected to be part of this year’s event, including between 15 and 20 floats, a fleet of vehicles – including farm tractors – and horses. And many of the floats will include music and singing.

on Taliaferro Street. There are awards and certificates given for the Best Decorated Float, the Best Decorated Tractor and the Best Decorated Vehicle. This event draws hundreds of people from across west Georgia, and from all across the South, whether to be participants in the events, or just to watch. WGL

A Great Place to Live, Learn, Work and Play...

The Dogwood Fair itself begins at 8 a.m. The parade, however, begins at 2 p.m. on Bowdon Street, and works its away around the Fair events on Head Avenue by going down Robertson Avenue, along U.S. Highway 78, then up Alewine Avenue before ending up

“Helping Families and Friends Honor Their Loved One” Phone: 770-258-7239 Fax: (770) 258-7230 rainwaterfuneralhome.com 54

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

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The Amazing Monarch

Photo by Gail Woody

Butterflies’ migration depends on fragile ecosystem

For the second time in four years, I was about to leave for some serious research on the biology of the amazing Monarch butterfly and the ecology of the forest surrounding its over-wintering site in Mexico. But two weeks before our trip, the U. S. State Department began warning of fighting between drug cartels in the state of Michoacán, where we were scheduled to spend an entire week 10,000 feet above sea level, on the neovolcanic mountain

ranges of Central Mexico. We had hoped to study the winter habitat of these magnificent pollinators and to bring books for school children to teach them the life cycle of one of earth’s gentlest creatures. But the sudden and jarring intrusion of human conflict put a halt to these plans and served to underscore the increased threat to the Monarchs’ already fragile environment. The three colonies of overwintering monarchs in Michoacán were not

GAIL WOODY, CERTIFIED ARBORIST AND BUTTERFLY HABITAT PROPAGATOR May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

discovered by scientists until 1975, and only after years of research and travel. Each October, the Monarchs arrive there, completing a 3,000-mile migration across the U.S. to Central Mexico. Their arrival coincides with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), an important Mexican holiday, and popular legend holds that the Monarchs are the souls of deceased loved ones returning home. The migration is one of our most celebrated natural wonders. But researchers say the Monarchs’ epic journey is threatened by the devastation of the butterfly’s vital sources of food and shelter and that urgent action is needed lest this migration collapse. For the overwintering Monarch, this means maintaining what little is left of the region’s trees that are vital to their survival. Millions of monarchs cling to fir trees on this mountain range for six months each winter before they start their journey back to the U.S. The drug wars are but another human disruption of this critically balanced ecosystem. As we were set to depart, the fighting had begun to escalate to the point that avocado and lime farmers were arming themselves with automatic weapons for self protection. We monitored news reports with the sickening knowledge that not only were we going to miss another year of assessing the monarch population, but that the books we had hoped to bring to the children would never reach their destination. Our guide, Hugo, called from Mexico warning that we must not enter the region. He said families were being gunned down at checkpoints by drug dealers dressed as federal troops. We also knew that the end of our trip also meant great financial loss for Hugo and his family, who would have served as our hosts and taken care of our transportation back and forth from Central Mexico to the Monarch colonies.

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Photo by Ricky Stilley 56

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May/June/2014

Even without the violence, intense deforestation in Mexico is rapidly destroying a vital habitat and eco-system that can be found nowhere else on earth. This biosphere reserve is under protected status by the Mexican government, yet illegal logging is rampant due to soaring prices for lumber in Mexico. The logging is threatening the very survival of the Monarch butterfly. Past winters have left the Monarchs’ environment open to cold wind and rain due to exposure. When Monarchs become wet in the high mountains, they freeze and die. What were once many acres of Monarchs has now been reduced to less than four hectares – the equivalent of 10 acres. The weather is also a factor every spring and fall as the Monarchs travel through the U.S., but without the milkweed plant this butterfly could never make this mysterious migration. The monarch is host-specific, meaning it will only lay the eggs on the milkweed plant. Each year, adult Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants across the U.S. as they head north for the summer. Approximately four days after hundreds of eggs are laid under the leaves of the milkweed in March and April, tiny caterpillars, also called larvae, appear. The caterpillars do little else for two weeks but eat the leaves of the milkweed plant, by which time they are fat and fully grown. They then seek out a spot to anchor themselves suspended while they turn into a chrysalis. The monarch chrysalis looks like a green gem with golden dots around the top. During the 10 days the chrysalis is hanging, a rapid change takes place. The body parts of the caterpillar undergo a remarkable transformation called metamorphosis to become the magnificent Monarch. After the butterflies emerge from this pupal stage, they fly away to feed upon – and pollinate – our garden flowers. After only about six short weeks, the Monarch will lay its eggs on the milkweed plant and die. In this way, one generation of Monarchs ends and another begins. But the truly amazing fact is that it takes four generations of Monarchs to ensure this butterfly’s survival, because on the long migration to Mexico, three generations of monarchs will be born, live out their lives, and die. The fourth generation, the one seen in September, will be the Monarchs who complete the trip. Chip Taylor, leader of “Monarch Watch” in Kansas, said that losing this migration would diminish all of us. In the U.S., we

Photo by Gail Woody are developing at a rapid pace while paying very little attention to wildlife. Gardeners and native plant enthusiasts may be the only hope for the Monarch to continue this amazing migration, and conservationists are pleading for a reduction in the use of weed killer to control the destruction of the milkweed plant, which accounts for the dwindling number of Monarchs in our country. The common butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) that once grew abundantly along roadsides and pastures is bright orange and makes a beautiful statement in any native garden. It is important to never remove milkweed from the wild. The root system is extremely deep and the slightest damage will insure your plant dies. Only harvest the seeds from the milkweed plant. All seed catalogs have milkweed seed for sale and every species of milkweed do well in Georgia planted according to directions. Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnate), has a deep pink flower, while Common Milkweed, (Asclepias syriaca), is a lighter pink, and Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), a white variety, are difficult to find growing naturally in Georgia Nearly Native Nursery in Fayetteville has several varieties of milkweed for sale,

as well as over 800 native plants and shrubs. On my last visit the milkweed plants were crawling in Monarch caterpillars. Local garden centers also have packets of milkweed seeds, and quite possibly the Carroll County Master Gardeners have some on hand in their seed saver cabinet. There are many organizations with websites with more information about milkweed and the Monarch. Monarchs Across Georgia is a committee of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia and offers pollinator habitat grants to schools. Livemonarch.com and Monarchwatch. org have information on what we can do to save the Monarch. Monarchwatch.org offers three varieties of milkweed seed available for $10 and provides instructions on planting milkweed. And each purchase from Monarchwatch helps support the education, conservation, and research programs developed and maintained by the organization. Consider turning your own backyard into a pollinator garden. Not only will you provide a habitat for the Monarch, but you will also attract every species of butterfly native to our area for a summer-long vacation of “flowers with wings.” WGL May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

ARTIST CORNER

Stephanie Norton Carrollton, Ga.

• What are your preferred media? Oil painting, ceramics, and mixed media. •H ow long have you been creating art? Since I was very young, I had an appreciation for art. I found art as a creative outlet. I enjoyed drawing, creating books of comic strips, writing imaginative stories, and painting images of things around me. I also took summer art classes through the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center with Alan Kuykendall and Melanie Drew. I find it coincidental that I now teach summer art classes at the art center along with them. •W hat training and education do you have? I received my undergraduate degree in Art Education in 2004, and recently received my masters in 2013 from the University of West Georgia. During college, I went to study abroad in Bayeux, France. This experience changed my life forever. I had the opportunity to live in a Benedictine convent for a month. During my stay, I studied art history and watercolor painting under the instruction of Brice Bobick, a former Dean of the Art Department at the

University of West Georgia. • Where do you draw inspiration? My grandmother was always an inspiration to me; she was very artistic and creative. After I graduated high school, my grandmother and my Aunt Sandra took me to Paris and to Bruges, Belgium. I felt as though my heart bloomed and I was truly alive. I went to all the great museums and historic places. I visited the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and the Eiffel Tower. When I returned to France with the study abroad program, I painted everything. I painted (pastries) before I ate them; fruit from the markets; the beaches of Normandy, and the rose garden at the convent. I also find inspiration from the Dark Romantic arts of Eugène Delacroix, Henry Fuseli, Francisco Goya, and Théodore Géricault. My personal struggles have been a recent form of inspiration, and creating art from my own life has been a cathartic experience. •W here and when do you create your artwork? I have become a night owl, and I have found that I am very creative at night. I love to sit in the living room floor of my loft

INTERVIEW: SUNDAY JONES / PHOTOS BY RICKY STILLEY 58

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

Flight on a rainy night and listen to an old Norah Jones CD from college and paint. My loft is my comfort zone, and a lot of my recent inspirations for my graduate work were developed within this space. Everything

in my loft has a story. I enjoy surrounding myself with art, artifacts and objects from my travels; antique furniture from my ancestors; and decorative items I’ve collected from antique stores and salvage places. I love taking a rare find and making it something better. I pick up things left for trash and create new treasures. Life is my playground. • When did you decide to pursue art professionally? After a few years in college and several classes into the art program I felt inspired to become an art teacher. Several art teachers in my life have been role models for me. When I was in 5th grade at Carrollton Elementary, I had Amy Goldberg (during) her first year teaching. She had a way of teaching art that made me want to learn more and further challenge my ability. During my first year of college, I took Dr. Scottie Foss’ art appreciation class. She embodied the perfect art teacher in my eyes. She always wore large dark glasses, upturned collars, and big scarves. Her great stories and pictures from her European travels were intriguing. I knew from that point that I wanted to pursue the arts, but my skills were unrefined and lacking. Professors Eilis Crean and Vesta Ayers helped me hone my skills and enhance my abilities as an artist. I learned to draw what I saw, instead of what I thought I saw. This is a concept that I continuously teach my students.

Life’s Lemons

Sometimes in class, while the students are working on projects, I will work on my own projects. I think it is important for the students to see that I make art, and for them to see the creative challenges I endure as well. • What does teaching art bring to your art work and creativity?

My students inspire and motivate me on a daily basis. Watching students flourish • How do you balance your and develop from freshmen professional teaching career to seniors is gratifying and with your creative life? fulfilling. Many of my former It is not easy balancing BHS students have gone on to teaching and being personally obtain degrees in art and art creative. I’ve been teaching education. art at Bowdon High School for 10 years. In addition, I am the • What are your artistic only Carroll County teacher goals for the future? with an AP Art History class. I would love to focus more I am a very devoted teacher on paintings of people and and this is time consuming. animals and achieving more It is difficult to set aside time realistic renderings of my for my own art and creativity.

subjects. I want to continue expressing emotions and thoughts through my art that I cannot vocalize. I would also like to reach others on an emotional level and help them make connections with art

Lake Carroll at Midnight and their own life experiences. Recently, I purchased a professional digital camera. I am learning to use this camera, and I look forward to future photographic opportunities. WGL

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

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Coach Chuck Ector and Tattyanna Lorocque

The Lady Knights go to the Nationals Maybe it was the bow ties or the fluffy Second-year head coach Kenny Edwards hair. It could have been the yellow socks shared in the postseason accolades when he or the oddly worn sports sleeve, or any of a was named Coach of the Year. dozen superstitious practices born of a winning season. “I am very proud and excited for the young ladies that received honors and for Perseverance may not be as sexy an expla- the players that received nominations,” said nation as superstition for the success of the Edwards. “I have 10 well-deserving ladies on West Georgia Technical College women’s this team.” basketball team this season, but considering their lack of player height, experience, a desEdwards was equally proud of an All ignated home venue or full-time coaching “We are underdogs,” she said. “We’re staff, it’s all the more inspiring. The Golden Knights won 10 of their last 11 regular season games, earning themselves a No. 6 seed last month in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament. They raked in the postseason awards as well. Kadriana Howard was named Player of the Year, with Kelsey Walthall and sole returner Jasmine Williams, a sophomore, named First Team All-Region. Kierra Smith, Tattyanna Larocque and Keonna Harris received honorable mentions, and the entire All Defensive squad was comprised of WGTC players: Walthall, Howard, Mahogany Harris, Keonna Harris and Kierra Smith.

shorter than everybody, and a lot of people underestimated us going into the season and into the tournament.”

that is really what this is all about.” For Edwards, whose full-time job is workforce development, building that cornerstone means structure, schedules, expectations, discipline and accountability. New recruits receive an intimidating packet of paperwork at their first team meeting, including six pages of “expectations” covering everything from General Team Rules (don’t miss class, have a great attitude, put the team first) to Post-Game Procedures (shake the opposing team’s hand and go directly to the locker room). The first expectation is that all players will sign off on it. Then the real work begins.

“They will know four things when they leave me,” he said. “Be on time, give max effort, your education is important and Academic Team that included four Golden you’re going to have to work hard.” Knights: Smith, Keonna Harris and Jhalyn Edwards left a lucrative position in the Feaster – and Mahogany Harris of Tallapoocorporate world to move “back home” to sa, who maintained a 4.0 GPA. Carrollton because he felt a strong desire to “I am so proud of those four who made serve in his community. On his own since the Academic Team,” he said. “The corner- age 13, he knows firsthand how athletics can stone of our program is what we do in the prepare young people for their futures. classroom to prepare for the future, so to see “My coaching philosophy is built off the the results of their hard work academically – real world; for preparing them for life after

--Assistant Coach Jessica Heyward

STORY BY REBECCA LEFTWICH / PHOTOS BY RICKY STILLEY

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

basketball,” he said. “Life and work is all the same principle.” With many prospective employers decrying the dearth of employee “soft skills” such as good communication, work ethic, positive attitude and ability to perform well under pressure, Edwards not only trains successful athletes, but successful future employees by combining his experience in workforce development and his passion for basketball. “This whole basketball thing is like a job,” said Smith, a freshman. “You learn to be on time, listen to (the) coach – to get along with other people. Teammates are like people you work with. You learn to be disciplined, to not talk back. To look a person in the eye – it’s new.” At least four hours a week of tutoring and study hall are a mandatory part of the program, as is community outreach. Edwards personally meets with instructors who report discipline or performance problems in the classroom. Players are required to account for their work in class, and they receive academic counseling from Edwards and his assistant coaches, Chuck Ector and Jessica Heyward. “It’s not just about the program and major they’re in now,” said Heyward, who was a student coach for Edwards at Central High School in Carrollton. “We ask them what they want to do beyond WGTC. We click on what the majors are, and make sure they understand what it means and what’s involved.”

Jhalyn Fester, Keonna Harris, Moe Dyer, and Mahogany Harris “If they ask us something, we say ‘Google it,’” said Heyward, who is considering pursuing a master’s degree at UWG after she graduates with a psychology degree from Kennesaw State University in May. “By not telling them exactly the answers to everything, we’re giving them the tools to find out for themselves.”

Echols, who played under Edwards from 2004-2007 at Central, said players have to Coaches monitor study hall to make sure master scheduling and time management the students are working and encourage the early on in the program. flow of information. “Coach taught us that everything is a process,” said Ector, a sports management major at the University of West Georgia, who is aiming for a career as an athletic director. “We have a folder for everything – and a checklist and a notepad, and a to-do list – and we mark things out daily. Even practices are organized and written out before we even start.”

Head coach Kenny Edwards 62

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

social skills and professional skills, but also that in everything we do, we’re representing the school and the team, and it’s not all about you. That’s what Coach Edwards teaches.” By the time the season starts, the team’s structure already is in place and players come to depend on and work within that structure as the season progresses. “We have to be at a gym two hours before game time,” Heyward said. “We were kind of late one day – still an hour early, but it really threw them off. It was kind of funny.” Still, that kind of structure allowed f or a fairly seamless transition when the whole operation had to be packed up and flown to Minnesota for the national tournament. Some players never had been on a plane, so preparing for travel involved more checklists and packing lists and instructions. That allowed 10 players, three coaches and assorted supporters from WGTC to be on a bus exactly at 4:30 a.m., headed for early arrival and check-in at the airport.

With more than a dozen college-age women interacting daily, scheduling Players even held study hall as usual, becomes a way of combating drama as well. sharing laptops and using a meeting room at their hotel, and stuck to their schedule as “You have to leave it outside,” said Hey- closely as possible. ward, who, as the only female on staff, counsels many of the players about personal mat“The show is still going on,” Heyward said ters. “As soon as you step inside these lines, from Minnesota prior to the tournament. it’s nothing but basketball. They talk to me “We’re not here on vacation. We still have a about everything, and I tell them the way to job to do.” get through the struggles is structure. A loyal group of supporters was on “It’s all about buying into the program,” hand all season to boost the team’s confiHeyward added. “They learn things like dence, Williams said, and her own mother

and brother were scheduled to fly in for the opener.

at how hard these guys have been working, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes I think Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m more excited than and that they got this far in their first year.â&#x20AC;? they are,â&#x20AC;? he said before the event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been hard work, but I got to experi- deserve everything they get. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just amazed Heyward agreed. ence a lot by just coming to Minnesota,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never even been on a plane. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are underdogs,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re been our goal ever since August, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m shorter than everybody, and a lot of people very excited to be here.â&#x20AC;? underestimated us going into the season and into the tournament.â&#x20AC;? Smith had never flown, either. She said she closed her eyes and held her breath dur*** ing takeoff, but Echols opened all the window shades around her and convinced her to In the end, a very young West Georgia look out as they flew. They even took photos. Tech team fell in back-to-back games before Heyward, who plans a career working bouncing back to drub Massasoit Commuwith youth, said the experience could broadnity College 84-45 in the tournament finaen horizons for other players as well. le. WGTCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interim president, Pat Hannon, cheered from the stands in Minnesota, just â&#x20AC;&#x153;I come from a military family, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve as he has praised the Golden Knightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; efforts been all around the world,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To see throughout the year. kids who have never been on an airplane go to a place theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never been, to see someWhat about Edwards and his staff? thing outside of Georgia, to go outside their Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already getting folders ready for a comfort zones â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motivating. Some of return trip to the national tournament. them never had means to travel, so doing it through school is giving them an extra boost. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a great group of freshmen who Maybe theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re thinking if I keep doing baswill come back next year and learn from this ketball, or something else that will give me experience,â&#x20AC;? Edwards said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so excitmore opportunities like this, I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spend ing as we look ahead to next year after commy life living inside a box.â&#x20AC;? ing here and playing against the best in the country. Those freshmen play so hard. They Ector said that, despite the odds, the bought in to the system early and got better Golden Knights belonged at the tournament. Coach Jessica Heyward and Damia Andrews as the year went on.â&#x20AC;? WGL

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West Georgia Living

May / June

Calendar of Events

Mayfest 2012 Photo by Ricky Stilley

May MAY 1

MOMS Club of Villa Rica will meet from 10 a.m. until noon at Fullerville Baptist Church, 423 Old Town Road in Villa Rica. Serving the Bremen, Carrollton, Temple and Villa Rica areas of West Georgia, the MOMS club plans a monthly calendar for moms and their children, including park play days, field trips, tours, crafts, book club and a monthly momâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night out. For information, visit momsclubofvillarica.org MAY 2

A Cruise-In will be held from 5-9 p.m. at Bojangles, 750 Hwy 61 in Villa Rica. Cars, trucks and motorcycles are welcome at 64

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

the event, which will feature music and food. Cruise-Ins are held the first and third Fridays of each month. For information, call 770-459-5624. MAY 3

The fifth annual Douglasville First United Methodist Church Run for a Child 5K will be at 3 p.m. at Clinton Nature Preserve, 8720 Ephesus Church Road in Villa Rica. The family-friendly race is open to all ages and abilities, from serious runners to walkers, and also features a one-mile Fun Run and Tot Trot. Proceeds will benefit A Gift of Love, which sends backpacks of food and hygiene supplies to 579 local elementary students each Friday, and provides food

for those studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families during school breaks. A Gift of Love also supplies a new outfit, book bag and school supplies to almost 1,000 students each school year. Online registration is available at http:// www.active.com/villa-rica-ga/running/ races/run-for-a-child-2014 For information, contact Melissa Shepherd a 770-942-3146 or Runforachild5k@gmail.com . Buchanan Cruise Night will be on the Square from 5-8 p.m. every first Saturday of the month from April through October. Visitors can enjoy antique cars, trucks and motorcycles and the event also includes food, music and nostalgia. For information, call Greg at 404-550-3475.

MAY / JUNE 2014 MAY 6

The monthly meeting of the Douglas County Cemetery Preservation Commission will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Board of Commissioners Conference Room, located on the third floor of the Douglas County Courthouse. The commission protects, cleans and preserves historic and unmanaged cemeteries in Douglas County and its meetings are open to the public. For information, contact Sandy Whittington, chairman, at s_whittington@bellsouth.net . MAY 9 – JUNE 27

Gary Curtis presents “Watercolorasa’ in the Roush Gallery, while Donald Holdman presents “Layers” in the Galleri\a, at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center. Opening reception May 9 between 5-7pm. MAY 10

Beyond the Front Porch, a non-profit organization which provides educational field trips to school-aged youth in Douglas County and surrounding areas, will travel to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Participants will use a scavenger hunt to tour the Outdoor Gardens, Fuqua Conservatory and Children’s Garden. Cost is $25 until May 3 and $30 after, which includes activities, transportation and lunch. For information, email info@beyondthefrontporch.org or call 404-408-6448. Mill Town Music Hall in Bremen will host Christian singer and songwriter David Phelps at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 Premium Reserved (Rows A-N), $25 Reserved (Rows O-X) and $25 General Admission (behind Row X). Ticket prices increase by $5 each at the door. For information, contact the Mill Town box office at 770-537-MILL (6455). A Trout Rodeo will be held at Smith Farm in Bremen from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. The event includes fishing, prizes and food and is for children 15 and under, senior citizens and

Tom Worthan will host “Chat With the Chairman” from 6-7 p.m. at Fire Station No. 5, Chapel Hill Road at Central Church Road. The event, which will provide one-on-one The 5K Battlefield Mud Run will begin at conversations with Worthan on any topic, is 9 a.m. at SweetWater Valley Park in Villa Rica free and open to the public. For information, to benefit Relay for Life. For information, visit contact Worthan at 770-920-7269 or http://www.thebattlefieldrun.com . tworthan@co.douglas.ga.us

handicapped individuals. It is sponsored by Haralson County Fish and Game. For information, call 770-510-8977.

Community Organizing Resources for Excellence (CORE) Monthly Forum will be at 9:45 a.m. at Cornerstone Baptist Church, 7167 South Sweetwater Road in Lithia Springs. CORE is a collaborative group of non-profits and government services working to coordinate programs and services. For information, contact Executive Director Amanda Bryant at 770-920-7438 or abryant@co.douglas.ga.us .

The Carroll County Cultural Arts Alliance presents the 2014 Arts Gala on from 7-9 p.m. at the Depot on Bradley Street in Carrollton. Admission is 2014-2015 membership in the Arts Alliance. Gala Chair: Linda Fulford. Call the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center for a membership card and invitation. 770-838-1083 , or email Penny Lewis at plewis@carrollton-ga.gov.

Carrollton Teen Theatre Improv InTeensive Workshop and Performances will be held between 6-9 p.m. Planned workshop activities for all day on Friday are optional. Instructor: Tommy Futch. Fee:$25. Register on line at www.cprcad.org , or call 770-838-1083 for information or registration.

MAY 13

MAY 17

Spring Fair on the Square in Buchanan will include arts, artainment for all ages. For information, call 770-646-8976. MAY 17 & 19

Carrollton Teen Theatre auditions for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for Ages 13-19 will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. and Monday at 6 p.m. at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center in the Theatre Rehearsal Room. Call 770-838-1083 for more details. Kathy Waldrop, Director. Fee: $50. MAY 19

Douglas County Commission Chairman

MAY 27-30

MAY 30

A Cruise-In will be held from 5-9 p.m. at Bojangles, 750 Hwy 61 in Villa Rica. Cars, trucks and motorcycles are welcome at the event, which will feature music and food. Cruise-Ins are held the first and third Fridays of each month. For information, call 770459-5624.

June JUNE 2 -30

The Newnan-Coweta Art Association will hold its 9th Annual Juried Art Show. The event, open to members only, will be at the Coweta Center for Performing Arts and is expected to attract 700 area art May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

JUNE 2014 Buchanan Cruise Night will be on the Square from 5-8 p.m. the first Saturday of each month JUNE 5 April through October. Visitors MOMS Club of Villa Rica will can enjoy antique cars, trucks and motorcycles and the event meet from 10 a.m. until noon at Fullerville Baptist Church, 423 Old also includes food, music and nostalgia. For information, call Town Road in Villa Rica. Serving Greg at 404-550-3475. the Bremen, Carrollton, Temple and Villa Rica areas of West JUNE 10 Georgia, the MOMS club plans a monthly calendar for moms A Government Contracting and their children, including park Seminar will be held at the play days, field trips, tours, crafts, Burson Center, 500 Old Bremen book club and a monthly mom’s Road in Carrollton, from 9 a.m. night out. For information, visit until noon. Information will be momsclubofvillarica.org provided on the requirements enthusiasts. www.newcaa.com.

for the Small Business Administration’s WomenOwned Small Business (WOSB) Super Saturday Carnival will Federal Contract Assistance be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Program. There is no charge Dog River, Douglas County and to attend, but pre-registration Lithia Springs libraries to kick off is recommended. For more Vacation Reading Program 2014. information or to pre-register, Each branch will have inflatables, visit www.gtpac or call Jerry games and more, and the events Shadinger at 678-890-2342. are free and open to all ages. For Community Organizing more information, contact Lindy Resources for Excellence Moore at 770-577-5186 or email (CORE) Monthly Forum will lindy@wgrl.net . be at 9:45 a.m. at Cornerstone Veterans Association Annual Baptist Church, 7167 South Bar-B-Q will be from 10 a.m. until Sweetwater Road in Lithia Springs. CORE is a collaborative 4 p.m. at Helton Howland Park in group of non-profits and Tallapoosa, featuring food and government services working a car show. For information, call to coordinate programs and 770-574-2482. services. For information, contact Executive Director Amanda Coffee and Conversation Bryant at 770-920-7438 or with District 1 Commissioner abryant@co.douglas.ga.us Henry Mitchell III will begin at 10 a.m. at Stitch and Fit Alterations, JUNE 13 6971 South Sweetwater Road in Lithia Springs. Open to the public. A Cruise-In will be held from Mitchell provides the coffee; 5-9 p.m. at Bojangles, 750 Hwy. you provide the conversation on 61 in Villa Rica. Cars, trucks and any topic. For information, call motorcycles are welcome at the Mitchell at 770-920-7266 or email event, which will feature music hmitchell@co.douglas.ga.us . and food. Cruise-Ins are held the JUNE 7

West Georgia Living

May/June 2014

JUNE 19 first and third Fridays of each The Carroll County Tea Party month. For information, call 770will meet from 7-8 p.m. at the 459-5624. Stallings Community Center, 118 South White Street in Carrollton. JUNE 14 For information, call 770-6684942. Beyond the Front Porch, a non-profit organization which JUNE 21 provides educational field trips to school-aged youth in Douglas Possum Pickin’ Bluegrass County and surrounding areas, Concert Series featuring live will travel to Helen for a twobands from West Georgia and hour tubing trip down the East Alabama will perform on Chattahoochee River at 8 a.m. the third Saturday of each month Cost is $25, which includes tube, from 6-9 p.m. on Head Avenue in Tallapoosa. For information, life vest and shuttle service. contact Lowell White at 770-574For information, contact Kascia Lipford at 404-408-6448 or email 2929, or Johnny Moss at 770-7895985. info@beyondthefrontporch.org . JUNE 16

West Georgia Shutterbugs will meet from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Neva Lomason Memorial Library, 710 Rome Street in Carrollton. The group welcomes all digital and film photographers, from beginner to professional, and meets on the third Monday of each month with a focus on sharing knowledge and educating, encouraging and expanding the photographic knowledge and capabilities of its members. For information, visit www.wgshutterbugs.org . Chat with the Chairman will be held from 6-7 p.m. at Fire Station No. 6, Riverside Parkway, Palmer Village. Douglas County Commission Chairman Tom Worthan will have one-on-one conversations with members of the public on the topics of their choice. For information, contact Worthan at 770-920-7269 or email tworthan@co.douglas.ga.us

JUNE 23

Agency D3: Discover. Decide. Defend. VBS will be June 23-27 from 6:30-8:45 p.m. at Faith Community Church, 305 N Burnt Hickory Road in Douglasville. Agency D3Kids will enjoy Discovering God’s word with this ‘Secret Agent’ theme and will be able to Defend God’s word by the end of the week. Final night include family fun night with food, games, obstacle course and more. For ages Pre-K through fifth, the event is free. For information, email Rebecca Lachance at rebecca.joyce84@ gmail.com . JUNE 27

A Cruise-In will be held from 5-9 p.m. at Bojangles, 750 Hwy. 61 in Villa Rica. Cars, trucks and motorcycles are welcome at the event, which will feature music and food. Cruise-Ins are held the first and third Fridays of each month. For information, call 770459-5624.

www.pcgofwestga.com

May/June 2014

West Georgia Living

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Ask the Ex ert What every West Georgian should know about...

Selling A House Britt Duffey/ Duffey Realty ................ 69

Preparing Your Lawn for Spring

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of the Thumb Sucking Habit My Kidz Dentist ................................... 75

NG Turf .............................................. 70

Funeral & Cremation Specialist

Buying An Automobile

Ellen Wynn McBrayer / Jones Wynn Funeral Home ............... 76

Walker Cadillac, Buick, GMC, INC. ... 71

Insurance Nationwide / Michelle Allen Agency 72

Family Fitness and Nutrition Tanner Health System ....................... 73

Oak Mountain Academy Oak Mountain Academy .................. 74

Chronic Low Back Pain Integrative Body Health ..................... 77

Chronic Kidney Disease Douglasville Dialysis Spa ................... 78

Proper Diet with Orthodontics Long Orthodontics ............................ 79

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What every West Georgian should know about... leave half of the commission, with a portion going to Selling A House the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broker to pay for business expenses

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Why should I use a REALTOR to sell my house?

Selling your house yourself, without the assistance of a real estate professional may save you the commission fee, yet it can cost you in other ways. Buyers often expect a lower price if the property owner is listing the house, and finding those buyers can be challenging. A REALTOR has the experience to help you price your home in the current market.

Q A Britt Duffey REALTOR ÂŽ Duffey Realty

Qualifications Britt has been a RealtorÂŽ since 2002. As a life-long resident of Carroll County, he knows the West Georgia market as well as anyone. Britt has been a recipient of The Top Producers Award for the past 11 years. In addition, he is a recipient of the Phoenix Award from the West Metro Board of Realtors in 2012 in recognition as a Top Producer for 11 consecutive years. Britt is a licensed RealtorÂŽ in Georgia and Alabama.

Q A

What are the Duties of a REALTOR? The duties of the REALTOR include marketing the property to potential buyers and agents with buyers to get the highest possible price for the listing and to protect the interest of the client. It is not necessarily the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duty to find a buyer personally. By belonging to the REALTOR Association and MLS database, the REALTOR is able to network and reach out to hundreds of other agents with buyers looking for properties similar to the property listing.

Q A

What are a REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Fees? While the fees may differ between REALTORS, a common arrangement is one where the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s payment comes from a percentage of the sale price. Yet, commissions are negotiable and there is no standard commission fee. Typically, the REALTOR offers a portion of the commission, such as half, to the agent bringing a buyer. This would

such as insurance or office expenses, a portion going toward marketing expenses for the listing, a portion going toward the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business operating expense, such as business cards and real estate classes, and the remainder is the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s income.

What about Marketing Costs? If the REALTOR charges just a commission fee on the final sale price, this typically means the seller pays nothing if the property fails to sell before the listing agreement expires. Even if the listing doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sell, the REALTOR pays marketing expenses covered in the listing contract, which might include the MLS listing fees, advertising and open houses. For the property owner without funds for marketing, listing with a REALTOR can be an affordable way to market the property

Viewing

Listing your own property can tie you down. If you want to go away for the weekend or are at work, your house is â&#x20AC;&#x153;off the marketâ&#x20AC;? during that time. When you allow the REALTOR to put a lock box on your property, other REALTORS can show the property when you are not home. When listing with a REALTOR, it is the REALTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duty (not yours) to separate qualified buyers from those who canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford your home. To find out more about selling your house please give me a call for a no cost, no strings attached consultation Please call me at 770.354.0120 or email me at Britt. Duffey@Duffeyrealty.com, and let me get to work for you.

Duffey Realty

Â Â? Â Â? Â? Â? Â? Â Â

Britt Duffey

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What every west Georgian should know about... Preparing Your Lawn for Spring

Should I sod or seed my lawn?

What type of turf should I use in my lawn?

Nothing enhances a landscape more than a beautiful lawn. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the quickest way to achieve that beauty? Sod. A sodded lawn needs no special care because it is a healthy mature lawn when installed, unlike a sprigged or seeded lawn which requires years of nurturing to reach maturity. After it has been installed, just water, mow and fertilize as needed and it will remain a healthy, green carpet of grass requiring very little maintenance.

Can I install sod myself or do I need to hire a landscaper?

Selecting the right type of turf is the most important step in creating a beautiful lawn. Certain varieties are adapted to better handle conditions such as shade, traffic and drought. NG Turf offers many of the newest cultivars that are best adapted to our region. Zeon Zoysia is our most popular variety and considered the luxury grass of the West Georgia market. Because of its superior shade tolerance, low fertility and maintenance requirement, Zeon is considered by many to be the best turf variety for use on home lawns and golf courses. Along with Zeon, NG Turf offers 10 varieties of Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede and Fescue. One of our sales representatives would be happy to assist you select the right turf for your next sod project.

Jutt Howard Director of Sales North Georgia Turf, Inc. Qualifications Jutt Howard has been involved in the green industry for 15 years. He received a marketing degree from the University of West Georgia in 2010 and a certification as a Turf Grass Professional from the University of Georgia and PLANET in 2011. He has been involved with the family business, NG Turf, since 2010. He currently oversees production and sales at one of their 5 locations throughout the state where they grow 10 varieties of Bermuda, Zoysia, Fescue and Centipede grasses.

NG Turf has a team of trained experts that can work with you through the entire process. We can provide you with guidelines for site preparation, sod installation as well as watering and fertilizer recommendations. NG Turf can also recommend a landscape contractor in your area if you would prefer to have the work professionally done. Visit http://ngturf.com/ about-us/resources/ for all the guidelines above.

LEARN MORE www.NGTurf.com 770-832-8608

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What every West Georgian should know about... Buying an Automobile

Q A

Sales Manager Walker Cadillac, Buick, GMC Inc.

Qualifications

Todd has been in the Automotive Industry Since 1978 in Sales, Service and Finance and has worked with Walker Cadillac Buick GMC as Sales Manager since 2000.

With Cadillac, Buick and GMC Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles and you’ll get something you never thought possible: new car confidence with a used car price tag. The name “Certified” has always meant passing our strict standards, but now it also means Owner Care: a vehicle benefits package that raises our already great coverage to new heights. It’s why our vehicles deliver more satisfaction and certainty than any ordinary used vehicle.

Todd Rupp

Q A

whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service. Most credit scores estimate the risk a company incurs by lending a person money or providing them with a service, specifically, the likelihood that the person will make payments on time in the next two to three years. Generally, the higher the score, the less risk the person represents. The higher the credit score, the better the interest rate a customer should receive.

Why Buy A Certified Pre Owned Vehicle?

What is Onstar?

Built into every new Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, OnStar keeps you safely connected while in your vehicle. With OnStar, you’ll enjoy services like Automatic Crash Response, Navigation, Roadside Assistance,Hands-Free Calling, Emergency Remote Unlock of Your Vehicle, and Theft Detection.

Why is knowing your Credit Score important? A credit score is a complex mathematical model that evaluates many types of information in a credit file. A credit score is used by a lender to help determine

LEARN MORE www.walkergmauto.com - 770.832.9602

www.walkergmauto.com

770-832-9602

Highway 27 N Park St (HWY 27) • Carrollton

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What every West Georgian should know about... INSURANCE

Q A

Michelle Allen (770) 841-5060 allenm48@nationwide.com Qualifications Michelle Allen has 13 years in the financial services industry where insurance was integrated. Â She began by offering credit insurance on loans. Â From there she went on to helping families with life insurance and annuities. Â Opening her agency and working with Property and Casualty insurance was her way of being able to offer more to her clients. The Michelle Allen Agency is 2013 On Your Side Certified which is an award given to agencies that have a proven track record of excellent customer service. Â Her agency operates daily on the principal of putting people first and building true relationships with every member. Â

Q A

Why is it important to have motorcycle insurance? Just like automobile insurance, you need the liability coverage in order to protect you if you were to cause an accident. In addition, you need property coverage in order to cover your motorcycle. The physical damage coverage with Nationwide Insurance includes, for free, $3,000 in coverage for custom equipment. That is important for the chrome upgrades and such you make to the original bike. We also offer OEM parts coverage which stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. What that means is that if you are in a covered accident, the parts used for repairing your bike are those from the manufacturer and not after market parts. What if I do not ride during the winter, should I cancel my coverage? We recommend that you keep coverage year round as theft or damage to your motorcycle can happen at any time. Nationwide Insurance offers a Winter Savings Program to help with those months

that you will not be riding. Starting October and continuing thru March, we lower coverages such as liability, which in turn reduces your premium. In March, those limits automatically increase to the limit you had before so your coverages are ready for when you take your motorcycle out for the first time of the year.

Q A

What other coverages do you recommend? I highly recommend to get Road Side Assistance in addition to other coverages. The reason is because the cost to tow a motorcycle is more than the cost to tow a car. It takes special equipment to tow a motorcycle properly. The Road Side Assistance is affordable compared to what it would cost to pay out of pocket for that expense.

Call the Michelle Allen Agency for help in protecting what matters most to you! 770.841.5060

Saddle up. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got you covered. In the Nation, our custom coverage and superior claims service provide you and your motorcycle the same quality protection youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come to expect from our home and auto insurance. Plus, with Vanishing DeductibleÂŽ, you get $100 off your deductible for every year of safe riding, until it could vanish completely. We put members ďŹ rst, because we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have shareholders. SM

Join me in Villa Rica. Michelle Allen Michelle Allen Agency (770)841-5060 allenm48@nationwide.com Details and availability vary by state. Products underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliated Companies, Columbus, Ohio. Not all Nationwide affiliated companies are mutual companies, and not all Nationwide members are insured by a mutual company. Nationwide Insurance, We put members ďŹ rst because we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have shareholders, and the Nationwide framemark are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. ÂŠ 2013 Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Vanishing Deductible is an optional feature. Annual credits subject to eligibility requirements. Max. credit: $500. NPR-0656AO (09/13)

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What every west Georgian should know about... Healthy Local Eating on a Budget

What are some affordable ways to eat local?

What if I can’t make it to the farmer’s market on the weekend?

Visit our west Georgia farmers’ markets from April to September. You’ll find a delicious—and reasonably priced—array of fruits, vegetables and other foods grown in Georgia soil and produced by our neighbors. By supporting the local economy, you help farmers provide nutritious, sustainably grown food that’s kinder to your diet and the environment.

If the weekend market isn’t convenient, you can find many of the same products through various community-supported agriculture (CSA) outlets. Farmer’s Fresh CSA on the square in Carrollton sells fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy products all grown locally, as well as a variety of prepared foods from area growers.

Many local markets are now accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars, making their products accessible to even more area residents. Some markets offer live music performances, as well as cooking demonstrations, so patrons can learn how to prepare a meal using local products. Shopping at the farmers’ market can be a fun learning opportunity for your whole family—and help you stretch your budget while shrinking your waistline.

Melissa li B Brillhart, illlh t RD

Registered Dietitian and Health Coach Tanner Health System

Qualifications Brillhart is a registered dietitian and health coach with Tanner Health System. She earned her master’s in health studies from the University of Alabama and her bachelor’s in dietetics from Kansas State University. She has more than 10 years of experience in nutrition counseling, health coaching and the development and implementation of health and wellness programs.

Can I buy other items besides vegetables at the farmers’ market?

Farmers’ markets offer a wide variety of products in addition to fruits and vegetables. Organic grass-fed meat, fresh eggs, cheese, homemade breads and baked goods, salsa, jams and honey are some of the many additional foods available. Many markets also feature Georgia-based artisans who sell specialty items such as pottery and stained glass.

Other CSAs offer weekly pickups of fresh produce from local farms for a seasonal subscription fee. It is amazing how much food you receive from most CSA vendors, and many farms are also open on certain days to sell products directly.

Q A

How can I encourage my kids to eat more vegetables? Many kids will learn to love eating vegetables if they help you plan and prepare healthy meals. One fun way is to review recipes together and let them choose part of the menu. Make your trip to the grocery store or farmers’ market a fun family outing, then let them help you cook the fresh veggies. You’ll be amazed at the things kids will eat when they’ve helped with the preparation. Growing a vegetable garden together is another fun way to introduce vegetables. You can rent a plot in one of our area community gardens—there are several available now at Knox Park in Carrollton and Stockmar Park in Villa Rica. And you can always plant simple containers. Either way, your kids will enjoy growing, harvesting and eating their own fresh vegetables.

LEARN MORE: www.GetHealthyLiveWell.org | 770.836.9871

Tanner Urgent Care is here for you. Most boo-boos just need a kiss and a Band-Aid. For those that need a little more care, Tanner Urgent Care offers walk-in care for minor medical emergencies, including:

Cuts and scrapes Sprains and strains Burns and rashes

Fevers Cold and flu And more www.TannerUrgentCare.org 770.836.9445

When you visit a Tanner Urgent Care location, mention this ad to receive a free gift.

TANNER IMMEDIATE CARE/CARROLLTON Across from Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

TANNER IMMEDIATE CARE/VILLA RICA Near Publix at Mirror Lake Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

TANNER URGENT CARE/BREMEN Adjacent to Ingles on Business 27 Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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What every west Georgian should know about... Oak Mountain Academy

Is there an early childhood education program at Oak Mountain Academy, and if so, what grades are taught?

Oak Mountain Academy is a college-preparatory school with classes ranging from 3-year-old pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, providing a comprehensive early childhood education (ECE) program.

concepts about literacy and its functions. In Pk-4 math, children learn through hands-on experiences, discussion, exploration, and oral/written practice. They discover the calendar and practice counting, patterning, telling time, and counting money. In language arts, reading comprehension and early writing begins. This developmentally-based curriculum uses a variety of manipulatives to assist in the development of small muscles in a child‘s hand as well. Vocabulary, thinking, and speaking skills are developed through weekly lessons. At both levels, the study of science and social studies promotes an appreciation of and respect for the world and each other. Learning to become compassionate, responsible members of a community is an ongoing journey.

How important is an early childhood education program to a student’s development? Studies indicate that pre-school education is important in creating the foundation for a child’s development and success in life. Shonkoff and Phillips explain that the brain is at its most receptive for learning between birth and three years of age. Consequently, the growth of mental and physical abilities occurs at a proportionally high rate until age six. The 2013 Casey Foundation study notes that “high quality early care and education play an important role in preparing children for success and lead to higher levels of educational attainment, career advancement and earnings.”

Paula Gillispie

Head of School Oak Mountain Academy, Carroll County’s only independent, collegepreparatory, faith-based, day school

Qualifications

A life-time educator, Paula Gillispie taught in the public schools for twenty-five years, twelve of those in neighboring Fayette County. Earning her graduate degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, she began working in independent schools in Virginia. In 2010, she returned home to Georgia to begin her tenure as Head of School at Oak Mountain Academy. Additionally, Paula chairs school accreditation teams for the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a division of AdvancED.

Describe the early childhood program at Oak Mountain Academy.

Oak Mountain Academy has both three-year-old and four-yearold pre-kindergarten classes. The focus is on the academic, social, and physical development of the students. In the PK-3 classroom, the math content is rich and varied and focuses on five important areas: number and operations; patterns and functions; spatial sense; measurement; and data analysis. In language arts, children take their first critical steps toward learning to read and write. Long before they can exhibit reading and writing production skills, they begin to acquire some basic understandings of the

How important is play in the OMA early childhood curriculum?

Following the suggestions of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, even with the importance of the academic component of the OMA curriculum, it is understood that play is vitally important to the learning and emotional development of children. Through functional play, along with having fun, children learn about and develop relationships, social skills, motor skills, and values. While constructive play provides opportunities to build and create things, pretend play permits children to express themselves. Together with the academic focus of the pre-kindergarten, a complete curriculum is provided by Oak Mountain Academy.

Learn more at: www.oakmountain.us 770-834-6651 paulagillispie@oakmountain.us

Where do our students go when they leave the Mountain? ��! i � � � ! ��n �� tod�� e� Clas� c�� st � P�ea�

ANYWHERE THEY WANT. STOP BY ANYTIME FOR A VISIT Please visit us on the Mountain to learn how we help our students make the most of their potential.

NOW ACCEPTING CLASS RESERVATIONS FOR THE 2013—2014 SCHOOL YEAR.

Financial Aid Available

Find out more about OMA by scanning this QR code.

222 Cross Plains Road Carrollton, GA 30116 770-834-6651 www.oakmountain.us

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What every West Georgian should know about... Breaking the Thumb Sucking Routine

Q A

Q Dr. Lona D. Bibbs

Pediatric Dentist

Qualifications

Dr. Bibbs earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Bibbs is a Diplomate, American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and a member of the American Dental Association, Georgia Dental Association, Northern District Dental Society, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, Georgia Dental Society, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She is currently on staff at Piedmont Hospital--Newnan, Georgia. Dr. Bibbs has been in private practice since 2005 and has offices in Newnan and Carrollton, Georgia.

Also, social difficulties can result from the child being subjected to ridicule from being taunted by their peers.

Why Do Children Suck Their Thumb? Thumb sucking is a behavior found in humans, chimpanzees, and other primates. It usually involves placing the thumb or toe into the mouth and repetitiously sucking for a prolonged duration. It’s a natural reflex that often begins in the womb. This sucking reflex continues throughout breastfeeding where the child associates comfort, pleasure, warmth, and selfsoothing.

Q A

What’s So Bad About Thumb Sucking?

How Can I Stop My Child From Sucking Their Thumb? During the 1950s, parents used “hay-rakes” or sharp prongs cemented to a child’s teeth to discourage sucking. Others used bitterants on their child’s hands—such as peppers, or some other pungent flavoring or smell to discourage thumb sucking. None of these are American Dental Association recommendations. However the American Dental Association does recommend:

According to the American Dental Association (ADA), after a child’s permanent teeth come in, thumb sucking can cause problems. It can interfere with proper mouth growth, teeth alignment, and cause changes to the roof of the mouth. As the child is eventually weaned off the nutritional sucking, they can develop other means for receiving those same feelings of physical and emotional fulfillment, or they can continue experiencing those pleasantly soothing experiences by beginning what many perceive to be as a bad habit and suck their thumbs or fingers. Most children stop sucking on thumbs, pacifiers or other objects on their own between 2 and 4 years of age. Risks involved for thumb sucking include: Damaging physical aspects to permanent teeth if the behavior continues beyond 6 to 8 years of age or before the eruption of the permanent teeth. At this time, it may affect the shape of the oral cavity or dentition. Additionally, risk of infection from communicable diseases, after all – the thumb is not sterile and often the object of many infectious agents.

1. Praise children for NOT sucking, instead of scolding them when they do. 2. When a child is feeling insecure or needing comfort and begins to suck their thumb, focus on correcting the cause of the anxiety and provide comfort 3. If a child is sucking on its thumb because of boredom, try getting the child’s attention with a fun activity. 4. Involve older children in the selection of a means to cease thumb sucking. 5. Discuss with your pediatric dentist they can offer encouragement to a child and explain or show pictures of what could happen to its teeth if the child does not stop sucking. 6. ONLY if these tips are ineffective, remind the child of its habit by bandaging the thumb or putting a sock/ glove on the hand at night.

LEARN MORE: www.mykidzdentistry.com | (770)253-4488

Loving your child's smile, like our very own! www.mykidzdentistry.com

1741 Newnan Crossing Blvd. Newnan, GA 30265 P: 770.253.4488 F: 770.253.4498

Two Locations To Serve You!

1109 South Park 6W Suite 203 2 Carollton, GA 30 P: 770.253.4488 F: 770.253.4498

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S PSEPCEI A C LI AAL DAVDE VR ET R I STI INSGI NSGE C S TE ICOTNI O N

What Whatevery everyWest West Georgian Georgian should should know know about... about... Cremation, Cremation,burial burial and and funeral funeral planning planning Why dodo families families choose choose cremation cremation afterafter years years of of QQ Why traditional traditional burial? burial? Why Why do some do some families families choose choose a a cremation cremation society society over over a funeral a funeral home? home?

More individuals individuals are are choosing choosing cremation, cremation, and funeral and funeral directors directors are are striving striving to make to make families families aware aware of allofthe all choices the choices available available to them. to them. AA More Funeral Funeral homes homes havehave beenbeen helping helping families families withwith thesethese options options for for

many many years. years. Cremation Cremation is another is another option option in addition in addition to earth to earth burialburial or or entombment entombment in ainmausoleum. a mausoleum. Many Many people people believe believe they they have have fewerfewer options options when when theythey select select cremation, cremation, but that but that isn’t isn’t true.true. Cremation Cremation offersoffers as many as many options options as ground as ground burial, burial, or maybe or maybe eveneven more.more. According According to the to the Cremation Cremation Association Association of North of North America, America, cremation cremation was the was the method method of disposition of disposition for 23.75 for 23.75 % in%1998 in 1998 and then and then increased increased to 36.86 to 36.86 % % in 2009, in 2009, andand thisthis percentage percentage is projected is projected to continue to continue to increase. to increase. OftenOften times times societies societies might might charge charge extraextra fees fees or membership or membership fees and feesfuneral and funeral homes homes do not do not charge charge fees.fees. Remember Remember that that having having “cremation” “cremation” and and “society” “society” in the in the titletitle doesn’t doesn’t mean mean theythey are non-profi are non-profi t. During t. During a focus a focus group, group, I recently I recently readread about about families families that that felt the feltcremation the cremation societies societies specialized specialized in cremation in cremation and and werewere oftenoften timestimes non-profi non-profi t. Always t. Always ask ask questions questions so that so that nothing nothing is misleading. is misleading. Also,Also, remember remember that funeral that funeral homes homes havehave beenbeen helping helping families families withwith cremation cremation for years. for years. Cremation Cremation is not is not a substitute a substitute for aforfuneral; a funeral; it is itsimply is simply another another method method of preparing of preparing someone someone for for finalfinal disposition. disposition. Cremation Cremation doesdoes not preclude not preclude a visitation a visitation or funeral or funeral service. service. Psychologists Psychologists havehave found found that that families families who who choose choose direct direct cremation cremation withwith no funeral no funeral service service may may havehave a more a more difficult diffitime cult time dealing dealing withwith the the lossloss because because theythey didn’t didn’t havehave an opportunity an opportunity to “sayto “say goodbye”. goodbye”. Funerals Funerals andand memorial memorial services services are important are important partsparts of theof the grieving grieving process. process.

Ellen Ellen Wynn Wynn McBrayer McBrayer

does not doesalways not always mean prepaying. mean prepaying. However, However, paying paying for yourfor service your in service advance in advance can eliminate can eliminate the unexpected the unexpected cost of cost a funeral. of a funeral. Often times Oftenfamilies times families don’t talkdon’t talk about about their wishes their wishes of being of buried being buried or cremated, or cremated, so making so making decisionsdecisions ahead ofahead of time can timeprevent can prevent familyfamily discorddiscord at an already at an already difficultdiffi time. cult time. Don’t Don’t be afraid be afraid to shoptoaround shop around for a funeral for a funeral home and home remember and remember to ask to ask questions questions so thatsoyou that fully youunderstand fully understand every aspect every of aspect your of wishes. your wishes. This willThis will help tohelp insure to insure that you that and you your andfamily your family feel confi feel dent confi in dent the options in the options you you choose. choose.

What are some are some ways ways that we that can wepersonalize can personalize our loved our one’s loved one’s Q QWhat service? service? It’s notIt’seasy nottoeasy talktoabout talk living about and living dying, and but dying, knowing but knowing what matters what matters most most topeople the people you love youis love important. is important. We realize We how realize many howquestions many questions people people A Atotrulythehave trulyabout have about end ofend life options of life options and choices and choices that arethat available. are available. Have “Th Have e “The

Jones-Wynn Jones-Wynn Funeral FuneralHome Home&&Crematory Crematoryand and Meadowbrook MeadowbrookMemory MemoryGardens Gardens As always, always, we weremain remain “A Family Family Serving ServingFamilies®....Since Families®....Since1950” 1950”

Qualifi Qualifications cations

Jones-Wynn Jones-WynnFuneral FuneralHome Home&&Crematory Crematoryhas hasbeen beeninin business business forfor over over 64 years years and andisisnow nowthree threegenerations generationsstrong strongwith withthe thesame same loving loving family, family, offering ering the the highest highestquality qualityservice servicewith withthe themost most affordable ordable funeral funeral&&cremation cremationpackages. packages. Ken KenDuncan, Duncan, Vice Vice President, President, has been been part partof ofthe theJones-Wynn Jones-WynnFamily Familyfor for3232years. years. Some Recent Some Recent Distinctions Distinctionsfor forJones-Wynn Jones-WynnFuneral FuneralHome Home&&Crematory: Crematory: National National Funeral FuneralDirectors DirectorsAssociation Association(NFDA) (NFDA)Pursuit Pursuit ofof Excellence Excellence winner winner for for 11 11years years(2003-2013) (2003-2013)Th Th e eNational NationalFuneral Funeral Directors Directors Association Association (NFDA) (NFDA)Pursuit PursuitofofExcellence ExcellenceWinner Winnerofof Best Best of of thethe Best Best Award Award (One (Oneofofonly onlythree threeininthe theCountry Country2007), 2007), 2010 2010 Georgia Georgia Family Family Business Businessofofthe theYear YearAward, Award,2009 2009Ellen EllenWynn Wynn McBrayer McBrayer named named to Georgia GeorgiaTrend TrendMagazine’s Magazine’s“40 “40under under40”, 2004 40”, 2004Dana Dana Wynn Wynn was was nominated nominated top top55Funeral FuneralService ServicePerson Personofofthe theyear yearinin thethe Country. Ellen Country. Ellen McBrayer McBrayer has hasbeen beeninterviewed interviewedon on Fox FoxBusiness Businessabout about funeral funeral service service on the the show show ––“Where “Wherethe theJobs JobsAre” Are”and andalso alsofeatured featured inin thethe NFDA NFDA Nationwide Nationwide Consumer ConsumerEducation EducationVideo Videoabout aboutfuneral funeral and and cremation cremation service. service.

Advance Advance funeralfuneral planning planning can be can an important be an important part of end-of-life part of end-of-life decision-decision-

making. Many Many individuals individuals are finding are fithat nding planning that planning in advance in advance offers offers A Amaking. emotional emotional and financial and financial benefits, benefi as well ts, as as,well peaceas,ofpeace mind.of mind. Pre-arranging Pre-arranging

WeWe are are thethe onlyonly funeral funeral home home in Douglasville in Douglasville withwith our own our own on-site on-site Crematory Crematory thatthat we use we use onlyonly for the for families the families we serve we serve at ouratVilla our Villa Rica Rica andand Douglasville Douglasville Chapels. Chapels. Having Having our own our own crematory crematory provides provides so many so many benefi benefi ts totsthe to the families families we serve. we serve. If you If you are unsure are unsure as toaswhether to whether or notor not thethe funeral funeral home home or cremation or cremation society society has its hasown its own crematory, crematory, pleaseplease remember remember to ask. to ask. Some Some example example questions questions include, include, “What “What crematory crematory do do youyou use?” use?” andand “How “How far will far will you you havehave to travel to travel to take to take my loved my loved one one to be to cremated?” be cremated?”

What’s What’s thethe process process of planning of planning for for the the funeral? funeral? Should Should we we cremate? cremate? What What areare thethe advantages? advantages?

Talk” with Talk”your withloved your ones lovedabout ones what aboutmatters what matters most and most what andarewhat the most are the most important important thingsthings to them. to them. It’s then It’syou then willyou realize will how realize to how personalize to personalize their their end ofend life of service life service and create and acreate celebration a celebration of life. of A life. few touching A few touching stories that stories that we have wedone have for done some for of some the families of the families that wethat havewe served have include served include giving giving out guitar out guitar picks to picks family to family and friends and friends at the funeral at the funeral of someone of someone who loved who loved teaching teaching othersothers to playtothe play guitar, the guitar, servingserving ice cream iceatcream the cemetery at the cemetery followingfollowing the service the service for a grandfather for a grandfather who had who a bowl had aofbowl ice cream of iceevery creamnight everybefore night before bed, and bed,having and having biscuitsbiscuits duringduring a grandmother’s a grandmother’s visitation, visitation, becausebecause cookingcooking for herforfamily her family every day every wasday onewas of one her life’s of herjoys. life’sTalking joys. Talking with your with funeral your funeral director director is an important is an important step instep helping in helping to createtoacreate celebration a celebration of life for ofyour life for your loves one’s loves fione’s nal chapter. final chapter. Remember Remember to ask to questions ask questions so thatso youthat understand you understand and are and aware areofaware your of your options. options. SelectSelect a licensed a licensed professional professional with a good with areputation. good reputation. Talk about Talkyour about your familyfamily and your andemotional your emotional and financial and financial needs and needs we and (or the we funeral (or the home funeralofhome of your choice) your choice) can help canguide help and guide protect and protect you during you during this timethis in time your life. in your life.

To submit To submit a question a question aboutabout Funeral Funeral or Cremation or Cremation Service: Service: email ellen@jones-wynn.net or email ellen@jones-wynn.net or send asend message a message to Jonesto JonesWynnWynn Funeral Funeral HomeHome & Crematory & Crematory Facebook Facebook page. page.

Ask the Ex ert Clyde Navarro Doctor of Chiropractic

Qualifications Dr. Clyde Navarro graduated from Life University in Marietta, Georgia in 2001. He is certified through the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the State Board of Puerto Rico. Dr. Clyde is a Chiropractic BioPhysics Practitioner and is fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Dr. Navarro is Webster’s technique certified (chiropractic technique designed to relieve the musculoskeletal causes of intrauterine constraint), had a special interest in pediatrics and was a member of the pediatrics club at Life University. During his education at Life he pursued and earned a Fellowship with the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Through the ICPA, he is Webster’s technique certified to work with pregnant women as well. Dr. Clyde is also Cox technique certified. Dr. Navarro and the team at IBH offer a new approach to chiropractic by utilizing Chiropractic Biophysics technique and protocols.

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What every West Georgian should know about... Chronic Low Back Pain

If a person has a disc bulge or herniation does that mean surgery is required?

It really depends on the case. Most of the time back surgery can be avoided by using corrective spinal care. There is a huge population of people having disc bulges without having any related symptoms. I suggest getting many opinions from various providers that are reputable. It is important for patients to educate themselves and ask questions of concern. Ask your providers if they will co-manage your case or if they prefer working alone.

What kinds of things contribute to having low back pain?

Any kind of physical trauma can cause damage to the spine and the way it works. If a structure is weakened, improperly loading that body is risky. More injury can occur this way. Improper postures while sitting, sleeping, and standing will aggravate the already damaged spine.

What are the most common mistakes people make while having low back pain and problems?

Many men tend to sit continuously on their wallets. This type of habit will displace the pelvis tremendously. In our office, we call this a posture distortion. This is a repetitive habit that eventually creates muscle memory within the spine. This leads to future problems down the road. Women carry excessively heavy purses on one shoulder. Usually, women choose the same side to hold their bags. This creates a shifting called a shoulder drop distortion. These are merely two poor habit choices people make without realizing the consequences.

Are chiropractors qualified to work with severe low back problems?

Chiropractors are taught in school to address most full spine conditions and can normally handle low back problems without concern. There are many chiropractors that take a special interest in severe low back degeneration or chronic problems. Traditional adjustments may not completely handle some types of conditions. Luckily, there are several techniques that are designed for these special cases. Being a Cox technique certified doctor allowed me to learn the different kinds of disc degenerations that may occur and how to help. This technique addresses spinal canal stenosis, disc herniations, disc bulges, lumbo -sacral facet syndrome, neck pain, radiculopathy, persistent pain after back surgery, etc. The extra knowledge improved my clinical skills and broadened the patient demographics I could serve. In the present, we address these conditions with Chiropractic Biophysics protocols and spinal decompression. We utilize digital xrays, chiropractic exams, and posture analysis software to pinpoint misalignments in the spine. This is more effective due to the ability of correcting and restoring the ideal curves , which is not addressed in Cox technique.

Learn More: www.integrativebodyhealth.com (770)832-1640 or (770)832-1645

“A Different Approach to Chiropractic”

775 South Park St. Ste. 102 Carrollton, GA 30117

((770) 77 832-1640 OR (770) 832-1645 Se Habla Español www.integr ativebodyhealth.com ww

Changes... Results... Optimal Health

Ask the Ex ert

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What every West Georgian should know about...

Chronic Kidney Disease

What should we know about Chronic Kidney Disease?

To understand Chronic Kidney Disease, we W

Qualifications

Who is at risk of developing Chronic Kidney Disease?

Affi liated with WellStar Health System

Rafiq El Hammali, M.D. Nephrology and Hypertension Consultant

Board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Received Nephrology subspeciality training at Emory University Southern Nephrology Clinic 6095 Professional Parkway, B205, Douglasville

need to know the multiple functions of the kidneys. The kidneys’ main function is to fi lter our blood to remove waste products our cells produce as part of the cell metabolism, as well as any excess water our body does not need. The kidneys also produce and activate hormones required for red blood cell production, maintain our blood pressure, as well as maintain the integrity of our bones. Chronic Kidney Disease occurs when diseases damage kidney cells, which causes reduction in the kidney functions mentioned above.

26 million American adults actually have W

Chronic Kidney Disease, and many millions more are at risk of developing it. The most common risk factors of developing Chronic Kidney Disease are hypertension, diabetes, and family history of kidney disease. Also aging, inherited kidney disorders, certain autoimmune diseases, long-term use of certain medications like Non Steroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen, as well as recurrent blockages from kidney stones are known causes.

Q A

How is Chronic Kidney Disease treated? The most important goal is prevention. As mentioned above, hypertension and Wdiabetes are common causes of this disease, and controlling them will prevent or delay progress to Chronic Kidney Disease. It is important to have routine medical checkups by a primary care physician to monitor blood pressure, and to have blood and urine tests for early detection. If disease is found and diagnosed, then the goal is to maintain the remaining function of the kidneys for as long as possible. A Nephrologist ( Kidney Disease Specialist ) can recommend treatment to delay the progression of the disease if possible. When Chronic Kidney Disease progresses to the point that the entire function of the kidneys is lost, there are multiple options available to replace the kidney function including kidney transplant and different forms of dialysis if a transplant is not available. Dialysis, in use for decades, has been refined and improved. Patients now have more and better options, and can also benefit from dietary consultation, complementary therapies and other services. LEARN MORE 678.903.4470 www.DouglasvilleDialysisSpa.com

Welcome to Douglasville Dialysis Spa Douglasville Dialysis Spa practices high standards of medical treatment in a life-affirming atmosphere. We offer a total approach to dialysis centered on patient wellness and comfort. We believe patients deserve a supportive, nurturing atmosphere of care planning and treatment reviews, disease management, social and dietary services. Assistance with all insurance concerns and transportation coordination is also available. We provide dialysis services to patients with end-stage renal disease and chronic kidney failure without changing physicians. All physicians are welcome. We currently provide in-center hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and home dialysis in an exceptional environment designed for well-being, harmony and relaxation. In-center nocturnal dialysis soon to be available. (Patients accepted now for waiting list.)

DOUGLASVILLE DIALYSIS SPA 678.903.4470

“W here Care is Our Pleasure” 3138 Golf Ridge Blvd. Douglasville, GA 30135

www.DouglasvilleDialysisSpa.com

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What every West Georgian should uld know about...

Proper Diet with Orthodontics ontics

How do I handle the first few days with braces?

Many people undergo orthodontic treatment during childhood, adolescence, and even into adulthood. Wearing orthodontic appliances like braces is sure to produce a beautiful smile. Though orthodontic treatments at Long Orthodontics are designed to accommodate your lifestyle, chances are you will need to make some dietary modifications to prevent damage to your braces and prolong orthodontic treatment.

James Long, DMD

How can I continue to eat the foods I love most?

Keep in mind that you may still be able to enjoy some of the foods you love by making certain modifications to the way you eat them. For example, steaming or roasting carrots makes them softer and easier to consume with braces. Similarly, you can remove corn from the cob, or cut up produce like apples and pears to avoid biting into them. Other tips include grinding nuts into your yogurt or dipping hard cookies into milk to soften them. If you must eat hard candies, simply suck on them instead of biting into them.

The first few days wearing braces may be the most restrictive. During this time, the adhesive is still curing, which means you will need to consume only soft foods. This probably will not be a problem, however, as your teeth may be tender or sensitive while adjusting to the appliances.

Long Orthodontics

Qualifications

Dr. Long received his DMD degree from the University Of Louisville, and was named Alpha Omega Honor for outstanding scholastic achievement in Dentistry, graduating fi rst in his class. He graduated from Emory University in Orthodontics and Maxillo Facial Orthodontics in 1976. Dr. Long is a fellow in the National Academy of Dental Science, and a Diplomate in the World Federation of Orthodontics. He has practiced on the southside of Atlanta for over 30 years. Dr. Long has offices in Douglasville, Newnan and Peachtree City.

What are Orthodontic Dietary Restrictions?

You can eat most foods normally the way you did without braces. However, some foods can damage orthodontic appliances or cause them to come loose. Examples of foods you will need to avoid include: Chewy foods like taffy, chewing gum, beef jerky, and bagels Hard foods like peanuts, ice chips, and hard candy Crunchy foods like chips, apples, and carrots

If you have any question whether a food is safe to eat during your treatment with Long Orthodontics, we encourage you to err on the side of caution. Of course, you can always contact our Peachtree City, Douglasville or Newnan, GA office with any questions you have about your diet and the foods that should be avoided during treatment. By following our dietary instructions and protecting your orthodontic appliances from damage, you will be back to chewing gum in no time.

Learn more at www.LongOnSmiles.com

LONG

Orthodontics

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been straightening teeth for over 30 years

We Run on Passion

Lisa Long and Lt. John C. Long, graduating artillery school in Ft. Sill, OK

For a Beautiful Smile for Life!

James Long,DMD

Everyone is approved for interest-free in-house financing!

One of Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Elite Providers of InvisalignÂŽs

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Douglasville 3666 Hwy. 5, Suite 100 Douglasville, GA 30135 (770) 949-7259

Peachtree City 1280 Hwy. 74 S., Suite 110 Peachtree City, GA 30269 (770) 461-9642

Newnan 84 Jefferson Pkwy., Suite B Newnan, GA 30263 (770) 251-2660

Please mention this ad offer when making your appointment!

Everyone is approved for our interest-free, in-house financing! Offer not valid with any other discounts.

For the second year in a row, names Tanner among top in state. NO. 1 AMONG CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS

NO. 2 AMONG MEDIUM-SIZED HOSPITALS

HIGGINS GENERAL HOSPITAL

TANNER MEDICAL CENTER/CARROLLTON

NO. 4 AMONG SMALL-SIZED HOSPITALS

TANNER MEDICAL CENTER/VILLA RICA

For the second year in a row, Tanner Health System's hospitals — Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and Higgins General Hospital — have been recognized among the Top Hospitals in Georgia by Georgia Trend.

At Tanner, exceptional care is a team of providers using the best practices and latest research to deliver the best possible outcomes. Success is ensuring that we provide the best care to every patient, every time.

This caps an outstanding year of accolades for Tanner Health System, which continues to receive recognition among the nation’s top healthcare providers.

Some healthcare organizations focus on how many people they serve. At Tanner Health System, we focus on YOU.

Joint Commission's Top Performers on Key Quality Measures Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, Higgins General Hospital 2013

Quality Honor Roll Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton, Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica and Higgins General Hospital 2014 Elite Circle, Hospital Engagement Network Patient Safety Leaders Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica 2013 Hospital Engagement Network Safety Leaders Circle Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica 2013

Outstanding Patient Experience Award Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica 2013 Ranked No. 1 in Georgia for Overall Orthopedic Services Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award Tanner Ortho and Spine Center 2013

iVantage HealthStrong Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals Higgins General Hospital 2012, 2013

To find a physician on Tanner's medical staff, call 770.214.CARE.

Guardian Award Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton 2013

HomeCare Elite Top 500 Tanner Home Health 2013

Top 25 Physician Group Practices in Metro Atlanta 5BOOFS .FEJDBM (SPVQ t