the news, november 15th, 2014

Rockdale Career Academy students and pro-grams were on display as bioscience industry and information technology leaders and college and career professionals from around the state came together for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s sev-enth annual Business and Education Summit Thursday at RCA.

“First of all, Rockdale is the largest career and college academy in the state,” said Cagle, on why RCA was chosen to co-host this year’s summit. “We have seen tremendous success within the institution. Every year – this is our seventh year – we travel around the state do-ing our summit. It’s always done at a college and career academy. This year Rockdale was

selected not only because of their size but also their excellence.”

The two-day summit focused on the biosci-ence industry in Georgia and healthcare infor-mation technology during panel discussions on Thursday at RCA and Georgia’s film industry on Friday hosted at the Newton College and Career Academy.

Thursday morning’s first discussion panel focused on the needs of Georgia’s bioscience industries. It’s an exciting time to be in the bioscience industry, said panelists, because of the impact it can have on people’s lives and the wider economy and the state’s com-mitment to grow the industry.

Panelists said while many might have the perception that bioscience is about research,

about three-quarters of the jobs available are in the manufacturing side of bioscience. Mil-ward said, “Our industry doesn’t function just with biologists. The maintenance folks are just as important as the biologists. If the machines don’t work, you don’t work.”

While science background and skills are im-portant, soft skills such as being able to work in a team, communicate effectively and constantly learn and change are almost as important as the initial skill set students will emerge with after

The Conyers-Rockdale Planning Com-mission recommended approving two new ordinances, moving the church closer to operating as private school and a daycare center.

In two 4-0 votes Thursday night, the board gave approval to Kingdom Builders Covenant Church, 1151 Flat Shoals Road, Conyers for two special permits that would allow the place of worship to operate as a private elementary school and a daycare center as an accessory use to the church.

Board member Allan Jones was absent for the meeting and didn’t get a vote, but did make an appearance just before the meeting adjourned.

The first special use permit allows the church to provide private school education for grades kindergarten through fifth. The church initially sought to be a private school for middle school and high school grades as well, but doesn’t meet the required number of acres of land to allow such as use.

According to Rockdale County law, for a private school needs at least 12 acres of land to operate as a middle school and 20 acres

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See CHURCH, Page 15

Raising the debate

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Church gets thumbs up to opening private school

By Martin Rand [email protected]

GivinG Back

RCA hosts Lt. Gov summit with bioscience, health IT focus By Michelle Kim

[email protected]

The Hopkins family lost two children while the debate over medical marinjuana rages on

Medical Marijuana

See IndUStRy, Page 15

online exclusive

County budget to dip into

reserves by $9 million

Budget hearings Nov. 18 at 901 Main Street Go to rockdalenews.com for full story

Captains of Industry(Left to right) Melissa Nikolic of Ga. BioEd Inst., Lt. Gov Casey Cagle, Frank Milward of Merial, Ken Hower-ton of Baxter Health-care Corporation, Joe Zorzoli of UCB, Inc. (Below) NCCA CEO Chad Walker, Cagle, RCA CEO Miki Edwards

‘Addams Famly’The News2 • Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014

LocaL Faces

Board of Commissioners budget hearing, work session, Tues., Nov. 18, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. 901 Main St.

Board of Education meeting, Thursday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m., 954 N. Main St.

Conyers City Council meeting, Wed., Nov. 19, 7 p.m., 1194 Scott St.

Conyers Housing Authority, Wed., Nov. 19, 4:30 p.m., Jack Turner Community Center, 1214 Summer Cir.

Meeting Place

1Suspected metal thieves caught at house

2TitleBucks robber caught with help from license

plate reader

3 Newton County man fatally shot

Most-viewed storiesrockdalenews.com

Nov. 7-14

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office 770-787-6397 , FAX 678-253-5988tips: 770-728-1437, [email protected] / Circulation 770-728-1414 / Advertising/sales 770-728-1436subscribe to the News for home delivery: $15 a yearCall 770-728-1418or subscribe online at rock-dalenews.com

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Barlay named to Business Chronicle’s ‘40 Under40’

Submitted photo/The News“The Addams Family” is the first

musical comedy performed by Heritage High School as part of its Arts Academy. The show dates are November 13 - 15 and November 20 - 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays November 16 and 23 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 adults, $8 senior citizens and $5 students. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 770-483-5428 x27177

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Conyers-Rockdale's former Chamber Chairman Thua Barlay was recently named by Georgia Trend and Atlanta Business Chron-icle to their "40 Under 40" list for his accomplishments in Rockdale.

Earlier this month, Georgia Trend magazine recognized 40 outstanding Georgians under the age of 40 in its' 18th annual "Geor-gia's Best and Brightest" edition. On Thursday night at a ceremony in downtown Atlanta, the Atlanta Business Chronicle spotlighted the next generation of Atlanta business leaders in its "40 Under 40" edi-tion, which hit stands Friday. This group, chosen out of 600 nomina-tions, have made significant career achievements and have demon-

strated social responsibility.Barlay, 39, of McDonough was

recognized for his work as a for-mer Conyers-Rockdale Chamber of Commerce Chairman, his role in starting the Rockdale Leadership Collaborative to bring together the school system, city and county in discussion, and his work with the Family Promise of Newton-Rock-dale, an interdenominational hos-pitality network for homeless fam-ilies.

Barlay said Thursday night, "It's definitely an honor. It's a testament to some of the things we're trying to get accomplished in Rockdale... My main thing is how do we devel-op and build a better community?"

- Staff Reports

Just days before 21-year-old Mary Elizabeth Hopkins passed away, her father, Mike, stood in the driveway of their Covington home at dawn and listened to her singing in her bedroom. Mary Elizabeth was known for her love of music, and would often sing to herself and her family.

“She was happy,” he says of his daughter’s last week. “She was just very happy, but under-neath she was a fragile child.”

Mary Elizabeth died Friday November 7 of cumulative ef-fects related to the mitochon-drial disease she was born with. She is survived by her parents, Kelli and Mike, and her sisters Michala, 17, and Marlee Ann, 12. Her 6-year-old brother Abe, who also suffered from seizures, passed away in July.

Kelli and Mike say they feel lucky to have loved, and been loved by, Mary Elizabeth for so long, especially given her deli-cate health.

“I think it’s something we knew was going to happen, eventually; I just didn’t expect it to happen three months after her brother ,” Kelli says, her voice breaking. “The timing, I mean, I know—we’re Christians, and we know the scripture and the date was planned already and God knew but I just…I expect-ed to have had more time to pro-cess what happened with Abe.”

The Hopkins also extend their thanks to the community that has rallied around them throughout the years, espe-cially in times of hardship. In addition to being active church members, the Hopkins have also been vocal about sharing their story in hopes of educat-ing others about special needs children and encouraging leg-islation that could help them, particularly a medical mari-juana bill that would allow for cannabis based treatments.

Although they are in mourning, the family is going ahead with their plan to move to Colorado this week so that Michala, who has Aicardi Syndrome among other medical issues, can have ac-cess to cannabis oil supplements. Cannabis oil has reportedly been effective in treating seizures in

children and is currently undergo-ing clinical trial.

The move was a last resort for the family after failing to enroll their children in studies that would have allowed them to travel for treatment but con-tinue to live in Covington near family and friends. Now, they are faced with maintaining two homes, one in Boulder and one in Covington, while Mike flies back and forth to continue his job as executive director of the Newton County Water and Sew-age Authority.

“We just feel like we can’t lose another child. We have to do all that we can to get Micha-la some help and Georgia’s not doing anything,” Kelli says in reference to Georgia lawmak-ers’ failure to pass a medical marijuana bill on March 20.

“Hopefully they will do some-thing in 2015 and we’ll be able to come back home.”

The bill has faced opposition from law enforcement, faith based groups and some in the medical community, but Mike says much of that resistance is rooted in misunderstanding. He emphasized the difference be-

tween medical marijuana leg-islation and bills allowing rec-reational use such as those that passed in Washington, Colorado and Washington D.C.

“I would say to those really hard core people who are just completely against it: We’re here every day of the week. Come stay with us, and if you’re still able to walk away and say ‘I still oppose anything that would help a child that’s going through what these children are going through’ then ‘God bless you’ is all I can say,” Mike says.

Georgia State Representative Allen Peake, a champion of the medical marijuana bill, says the Hopkins’ case is “a clear exam-ple of why we cannot move fast enough on medical cannabis legislation in Georgia.”

Peake’s charity, Journey of Hope, is helping the Hopkins and other families move to states where medical marijuana and cannabis based treatment is legal. He said he would oppose recreational use as strongly as he supports the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

“It is insane that families are having to leave Georgia, leave their support networks, their families and their jobs, to go to another state where cannabis oil is legal,” he says. “We have to [pass legislation] before more children die.”

By Meris [email protected]

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We have to do all that we can to get Michala some help and Georgia’s not doing anything ... Hopefully they will do something in 2015 and we’ll be able to come back home.”

— Kelli Hopkins

“

After 21-year old Mary Elizabeth Hopkins passed away the family requested donations in lieu of flowers. Here’s where they requested:

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children’s Foundation, Park North 1577 Northeast Expressway Suite A, Atlanta, GA 30329, [email protected]

The Children’s Miracle Network at donations.childrensmiraclenetwork-hospitals.org

Give Kids The World 210 South Bass Road, Kissimmee, FL 34746, www.gktw.org.

How you can helpSubmitted photo

Rockdale County Post 2 Com-missioner JaNice Van Ness at-tempted to get the version of an eth-ics ordinance she proposed passed again during the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners voting session Tuesday morning.

However, the legalities surround-ing the practice of approving a new ordinance prevented any vote from taking place.

The existing laws on the three-member ethics board, which hears ethics complaints filed against county commissioners, outline that the board be composed of one per-son appointed by the Rockdale Bar Association, one person appointed by the Board of Commissioners as voted on by the majority of com-missioners, and one appointed by county employees who live in the county drawn from a list of nomi-nees chosen by the Rockdale Co-alition of Homeowners and Civic Associations.

Although this law was passed in 2008, the ethics board has not yet been activated.

Van Ness stated her ethics or-dinance proposal that allows the Rockdale Bar Association, the county commission board and Co-nyers-Rockdale Chamber of Com-merce to each nominate one mem-ber to the ethics board as well as allowing citizens to apply for two reserve positions in case of emer-gency.

Rockdale County Chair Rich-ard Oden then stated his ethics or-dinance proposal that allows one ethics commission member to be appointed by the Rockdale County Democratic Party, one by the Rock-dale County Republican Party and one by the Rockdale Bar Associa-tion.

Rutledge informed the board that the matter at hand was only a dis-cussion about the ethics ordinances, and since no official ordinance had been submitted prior to the meeting a vote shouldn’t take place. Both Van Ness and Oden stated they would submit their proposals to the Rutledge in time to be put on the next week’s work session agenda. That meeting will begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 18 at the Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers.

School calendar options proposed for 2015-2016

Rockdale County Public Schools is looking at two very similar cal-endar options for the 2015-2016

school year with a difference of a few days in the start and end dates. The school system is also looking at alternative graduation sites for high school graduations in May 2015 in order to get a jump start on replacing the grass in all three high school stadiums with artificial turf.

The calendar options both have 180 instructional days for students and 190 days for teaching staff and will end the students’ school year before the Memorial Day holiday in 2016. Holidays and intercession weeks would be the same in both options; intercession days (such as fall break, February break, spring break) would be subject to make up any inclement weather days through the year.

Option 1 would start the school year on Thursday, July 30, 2015, and end Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Option 2 would start the school year on Monday, August 3, 2015, and end Friday, May 27, 2016.

A survey for the calendar options will be on the RCPS website, www.rockdale.k12.ga.us

School taxes on

table for AcuityThe issue of possible school

tax abatements over five years for Acuity was brought up at Thursday night’s meeting, at the request of the Conyers-Rockdale Economic Development Council, said school board Chairman Jim McBrayer.

McBrayer said CREDC Director Marty Jones had approached him-self and Superintendent Autry with the idea.

“It was the joint response that in the interest of good communi-ty partnership the school system would be willing to further com-munications if the city, county and economic development team were all in favor,” said McBrayer. “It was made clear this did not repre-sent the Board of Education as a governing body.”

School board member Man-dy North asked if this abatement would be on all Acuity property in the county, including existing prop-erty. McBrayer and Autry replied it would be for new development, not existing property.

“We would be losing what we don’t have right now,” Autry said.

The News4 • Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014

Civil War 150th anniversary

Sherman’s March historic markers to be dedicated Nov. 16

Ethics board vote delayedBy Staff Reports

[email protected]

neWs Briefs | full story at roCkdaleneWs.Com


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Happy Thanksgiving!

The Rockdale County Histor-ical Society will mark the 150th Anniversary of Sherman's March To The Sea through Co-nyers on Sunday, November 16, 3 P.M. at a public dedica-tion of an official Georgia Civil War Heritage Marker in Olde Town Conyers at the Conyers Depot.

Conyers is part of the Sher-man's March To The Sea Trail which depicts two historic driving routes following the Left and Right "Wings" of Ma-jor General William Tecumseh Sherman's 62,000-man army in November and December of 1864.

The afternoon's special guest speaker will be Steve Longcri-er, founder and executive direc-tor of Georgia Civil War Heri-tage Trails, Inc.

A second marker will also be placed earlier in the day at Philadelphia United Methodist Church by Longcrier, the Soci-ety, and church members.

The Georgia Civil War Her-itage Trail, founded in 1999 is a 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit corporation which interprets Georgia's Civil War era along six regions.

The public is invited to attend the 3 P.M. dedication. For more details contact Harriet Gattis, Conyers Convention & Visitors Bureau, 770-929-4270.

By Staff [email protected]

My five-year-old son tells people that his big sister came from

the airport. We’re trying to teach him that she’s actually from Uganda, but I can see why he thinks she m a g i c a l l y appeared at H a r t s f i e l d Jackson Inter-national one evening. I’m kind of glad that my sweet little guy has no idea what all was involved in creating that airport moment. Ac-tually, I find that few people have any idea what families commit to when adopting a child.

International adoption isn’t for everyone. Neither is older child adoption. It’s expensive, ex-hausting, lengthy, intrusive, and has no guaranteed outcome. And according to the experts, we did everything wrong. They recom-mend using a reputable adoption agency. We adopted independent-ly, having met our girl through a friend’s ministry. With the benefit of hindsight, and months of ago-ny thanks to a totally inept Ugan-dan lawyer, I’d say the experts were right about using an agency.

But you’re definitely not sup-posed to disrupt birth order, meaning that the adopted child should be the youngest in the family. Our daughter was 12 when she came home, to brothers aged 16, 12 and 5.

You’re also not supposed to artificially twin siblings through adoption. As you can see, we

blew that one, too. My middle son was actually our biggest cheerleader throughout the pro-cess, and six months later, the “twins” get along well, with just a dash of healthy sibling compe-tition.

Though we had the support of all our dearest friends, and most of our family, there were some who were very lukewarm to the entire thing. Thankfully, every-one is OK with it now.

When I outline all the things we did wrong, we sound like crazy rebels happily bucking the system. But the truth is, we had the courage to do everything “wrong” because we had deep faith that this was what we were supposed to do.

Even so, I tortured myself with the experts’ advice while the pro-cess dragged out over two years, fretting over every little thing that could go wrong. And a lot of things did.

Fundraising was excruciat-ingly slow. Our attorney would go months without replying to

emails or doing anything at all. The Ugandan courts closed for weeks, then reopened, then closed again before anything could hap-pen. Our assigned judge got stuck on a lengthy tribunal, further de-laying our court date.

Parenting from afar isn’t for the weak-hearted. We communi-cated every few weeks via Skype and Facebook instant messenger, as much as we could understand one another. We mostly “spoke” with smiles and nods. Our daugh-ter contracted malaria-not once, but three separate times-while we waited to come for her. Once, she was sick enough to be hospital-ized.

We were constantly worried that she might die before we came for her. And she cried her-self to sleep, worried that we’d never come.

But things began to improve. Incredibly generous friends do-nated the funds we still needed to travel. Our January court date was settled. We bought our tick-ets. We flew to Uganda.

And on a warm, balmy after-noon, in a jet-lagged haze, we met our sweet girl.

Her mile-wide smile and spar-kling eyes stole our hearts, and all the stress of what we’d been through faded as we basked in the joy of hope fulfilled.

Sadly, instead of bringing her home as planned, we had to leave her. Due to factors out of our hands, one journey to Uganda ended up becoming three sep-arate trips. The waiting during those last months felt completely interminable.

Finally, the embassy said “Yes” and a few days later, she clutched her new dad’s hand as the jet rose up from the red African soil. 24 hours later, my youngest son bonded instantly to her with their very first airport hug.

I often tell people that we won the adoption lottery, because our daughter is funny, consider-ate, helpful and just about every beautiful thing a parent hopes her child to be. It’s uncanny how well her personality melds with ours, as if she’s always been here. That doesn’t mean we’ve not had mo-ments of conflict-of course we have. But despite the struggles, her adoption-this thing that we did totally wrong-has felt entirely right.

Older child adoption might not be for everyone. But I think it might just be intended for more families than those who ever con-sider it.

Kari Apted is a freelance writ-

er, mother, wife, and blogger. You can find more at www.kariapted.com

We welcome letters to the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. They should be limited to issues of public interest and may be edited for content, grammar, spelling and length. • Mail: Editor, The News, 1009 Milstead Ave., Suite 200, Conyers, GA 30012 • Email: [email protected]

HAVE YOUR SAY

OpiniOnSaturday, Nov. 15, 2014

RockdaleNews.com/opinion

Our Thoughts

EditorMichelle Kim

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SalES dirEctorAnnette Godwin

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dESign EditorSabastian Wee

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the NEWS

BudgetRockdale County is still in

a recovery process from the great recession of 2008.

That is why we find it hard to understand why Rockdale County Board of Commis-sioners Chairman Richard Oden would propose a budget that exceeds the revenue pro-vided by the current tax base.

This year’s budget request exceeds last year’s budget by $5 million dollars.

Granted, a goodly portion of the proposed budget will go for public safety, which we are sure a majority of local taxpayers support. However, if the Rockdale government had to operate like a private business in order to increase the expense for public safety, then some other departments would have to be cut to come up with the requested increase in expenses.

If this budget is approved as presented, either money has to be taken from the re-serves or you are going to be asked to pay more taxes.

Let your BOC representa-tive know how you feel, but don’t doddle; you only have until December 9

Doing everything wrong for an adoption so right

Facebook FeedbackYour thoughts on “Man, 29, fatally shot in alleged drug transaction in Newton County Saturday;

27-year-old Covington man charged with Murder” on facebook.com/rockdalenews

Dorene Westberry Holmes said: Another mother is without her son due to drugs!

Deborah Odom said: No matter

what the circumstances, my prayers

go out to this young man’s family

and friends. You people who are so

ugly in your remarks forget he was

loved by someone.

Kathleen Hodgens said: I wish people would stop this nonsense.

Eddie Albert said: You are so

right

Kari Apted

Columnist

Tracey Logan Conroy

said: Not surprised.

I’ve been asked many times by readers and friends to relate my military experiences for “A Veteran’s Story.” Well, perhaps at a later date, but for now I’m delighted and honored to repre-sent and convey the stories of my brothers and sisters. I will grant one personal narrative, a report on the best Veterans Day this old Nam vet has ever experienced.

The best Veterans Day ever began about two months ago with an email from Mrs. Katy King, a teacher at the General Ray Davis Middle School. She asked for my assistance in the planning for the school’s very first Patriotic Program on Veter-ans Day. I had penned a story on the Medal of Honor Marine whose namesake graces the school, so I understood the rev-erence behind the invitation. I was grateful for the opportunity.

Mrs. King, other faculty mem-bers, and I met to hash out the agenda for one heck of a Veter-ans Day tribute. After leaving the meeting my only thought was, “Pete, old boy, you may have overextended your contacts and organizational abilities this time.” God granted me good luck and good friends; we pulled it off. So here it is: Veterans Day, 2014.

My first call that morning came from Mrs. June Hipps, the wid-ow of Iwo Jima veteran, Gerald Hipps. Her husband guarded the celebrated flag-raisers on Mount Suribachi with his BAR (Brown-ing Automatic Rifle) before fight-ing his way across Iwo Jima for 36 days. Out of 240 Marines from Easy Company, Gerald was 1 of the 27 who walked off the island. Mrs. Hipps wished me a blessed Veterans Day and thanked me for my articles. I could not have wanted a more heartfelt send-off on my very special day.

I’ll avoid too many details and cut to the chase. Lt. Col. Jack Coyle and my daughter’s beau, Mr. Bill LeCount, helped me clear debris from the football field so the Army Aviation Historical Foundation could land a helicop-ter safely, either the legendary Huey or deadly Cobra gunship. I guess the AAHF couldn’t decide on which one because they flew in both choppers. Huey pilots Ron Disney, Army combat vet-eran of Nam, and Joe Wade, US Army National Guard, had Cobra gunship pilot and Desert Storm veteran LTC John Woodward on their tails. Along with the crew

members, George Meeker, Nam veteran, Saint Clair Williams, USMC veteran of Afghanistan, and SFC Frank Speights, US Army, the choppers made a low level pass over the school that rocked the walls.

The students were ecstatic. “Whoaaaaaaa, did you feel that?” Students on the outside witnessed the choppers gracefully land on their football field as the Cobra bent trees over with its prop wash. Here come the students, by class and grade. “Oh, man, the Huey has 2 machine guns attached!” (Non-lethal, of course). “Dude, a Gatling Gun is on the nose of that other thing!” The aviators allowed the students inside the Huey including the opportunity to sit in a pilot’s seat. Students were allowed to sit behind the machine guns, even a few teach-ers. I’m not sure, but I believe a couple of teachers were disap-pointed to discover the machine guns non-lethal.

The Cobra gunship fascinated the students. A sleek but deadly aircraft, the Cobra saved a lot of lives in Vietnam. You may have heard the song, ‘What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger,’ well, that doesn’t apply to a Co-bra gunship; it will kill you. A special needs young man kept saying, “This is awesome, this is awesome,” as he gawked at the Cobra. I don’t think I have ever seen a happier face.

And this is where the aviators excelled; this, to me, was the best event of the day, the pilots and crews helping the special needs kids through the Huey and help-ing several of them into the pilot’s seat. One of the girls could hard-ly walk, but I noticed how she picked up her pace as she neared the Huey. Nothing was going to hold her back, and nothing kept her out of a pilot’s seat. Special

kids on a very special day…..that, really is special.

Time for the choppers to ‘dust off.’ The rotor blades start to whine and whirl, prop wash blows dead grass off the football field into the hairdos of 8th grad-ers. They begin laughing, so did I. As the choppers gain their power for dust off, I spot four Stearman biplanes approaching from the West for their flyover. Uh-oh, choppers taking off into the flight path of Stearman biplanes; this is not a good thing.

I metamorphosed into an Al-fred E. Newman mode: ‘What? Me worry?’ Pete Smart was in the lead plane, a KC-135 pilot and Vietnam veteran. Larry Tay-lor flew the #2 position, a C-130 pilot in Vietnam. My friend and fellow veteran, John Laughter, a Vietnam combat fighter pi-lot with experience in both the F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom jet, was in the #3 position. Vic Syaracuse flew in the # 4 posi-tion, a highly skilled aircraft builder and Air Force veteran of Vietnam. With that much know-how behind the sticks one can understand a ‘What? Me worry?’ mentality. These pro-fessional aviators even had Jim Ratliff, a Conyers resident, on ‘ready standby’ with his Stear-man just in case one of the other aircraft needed to abort.

The 2 choppers took off, rock and rolled the school building, circled the field then disappeared below the tree line. One of the students asked, “Where did they go?” Up came the Huey at tree-top level then passed over the field at about 150 feet with the Cobra on its tail laying down a trail of smoke. On came the Stearmans. These skilled war-riors made 3 passes. The first pass was in a Finger Four Strong Right and the 2nd pass was in the

diamond formation as the slot man laid smoke. The 3rd and final pass was the awe-inspir-ing ‘Missing Man’ formation. As they flew over the school, one peeled away trailing smoke and headed west. The ‘Missing Man’ always heads west. In pi-lot jargon ‘heading west’ means he’s gone, lost in combat or an accident, a traditional tribute to those that gave their all.

As the choppers and Stearmans winged their way home and 8th graders dusted dead grass out of their hair, the student body began assembling in the gymnasium for the Patriotic Program. A thou-sand students filled the bleachers while VIPs such as Commission-ers Janice Van Ness and Richard Oden took seats near the podi-um. Veterans, families and other guests completed the gathering.

Patriotic music, the posting of the colors, singing the National Anthem, and a drill by Heritage High School’s ROTC started the festivities. RCPS Superinten-dent Richard Autry and Principal Mike Mauriello presented open-ing remarks, the band played, then Principal Mauriello intro-duced me as a guest speaker.

Yours truly gave a presentation on the true cost of freedom, plus ended the event with a recital of “The Final Inspection.” Herb Smith, a former Tomb Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns gave an informative speech on the history of Arlington Nation-al Cemetery. The school cho-rus gave a presentation and the cheerleaders performed. Before my recitation I introduced a very special guest, Mrs. Anne Good-win. She served in the Army Air Corp during WWII and is a very beautiful looking 90 year old. The students and gathering gave

her a standing ovation.Herb Smith and I also re-

ceived standing ovations but we were the ones who should have been applauding. The students at General Ray Davis Middle School range in ages from 11 to 13 years old; often considered a bit disorderly phase. Not these kids. These students were gra-cious and respectful, and more importantly, these kids listened.

The students at General Ray David Middle School made me feel good. I was proud to be one of their speakers, and I was proud of them. I felt as if the insults and disrespect endured upon my re-turn from Vietnam had come full circle and closure had been ob-tained. Yes, I know, many other schools most likely had the same kind of program, the same type of celebration. But they didn’t have a Cobra gunship and Huey chop-per sitting on their football field, they didn’t have the Stearman Squadron performing an airshow, and they didn’t have me. Not that “Me” was important, because “Me” was just another patriot who answered the call to duty and did what he had to do. But “Me” did serve in Vietnam, and as “Me” stood there receiving a long standing ovation from the Davis Middle School students, I felt the specters of Vietnam leave my soul. I was not basking in the glory, but I was basking in a long needed acceptance. My war was finally over.

To the students and faculty at Davis Middle School, you made this old Nam veteran a very happy guy on Veterans Day. Thank you.

Hoooorah! (On Veterans Day, this was a Davis Middle School thing; ask one of the students, they’ll be glad to explain)

By Pete [email protected]


Darrell Everidge/The News

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The best Veterans Day everCELEBRATING VETERANS DAY

On Veter-ans Day, in the centennial of the start of World War I, please join me in recalling the black soldiers who were bare-ly mentioned when the end-of-war celebrations took place and memorials were built across the South. In my hometown, Conyers, Ga., there is at least an “Army, colored” section on the memorial placed in the old courthouse by the local Ameri-can Legion, dedicated to: “Vet-erans of the World War Who Enlisted From Rockdale Coun-ty”. The war started in Europe in July 1914; the United States joined the Allies three years later. “Major hostilities,” as the historians say, ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

Those “colored” Rockdale

County veterans, young farm boys uprooted and sent abroad to fight “the war to end all wars,” included my future grandfa-ther, Clarence Shipp; his future brother-in-law, Lucious Holden; and his future cousins-by-mar-riage, Buster and William Giles. (My grandmother, Celia Holden Shipp, who married Clarence a few months after his discharge from the Army, was a Giles granddaughter; Lucious Holden was her brother.)

Clarence Shipp was 23 years old and single when he enlisted on Feb. 25, 1918. The registrar described him as just over 5’7” tall and dark complexioned with black hair and brown eyes. As a private in the Army’s 514 En-gineers unit, he saw action in France from Apr. 29, 1918, to June 6, 1919 (exactly 36 years before I was born!). He was not wounded, was in “good” phys-ical condition and had “excel-lent” character, according to the discharge records I found in the

courthouse. Upon his discharge, he apparently received $90.87, which included a $50 bonus au-thorized by the Revenue Act of 1918. (That’s Big Daddy Shipp in the photo, on the left. He’s with my father, Johnnie Will Shipp, who saw action in France after the D-Day invasion in World War II.)

On the maternal side of my family: My grandmother’s un-cle, Jodie Aiken, answered the draft in Covington, Ga., on June 5, 1917. The registrar described him as “tall, stout, black hair and eyes”. After unsuccessful-ly claiming exemption because his parents and a child under the age of 12 were dependent upon him, Jodie was sent abroad and, according to an entry in Big Mama Moore’s Bible, he died in France in 1919. I have not been able to locate military records for him. Jodie Aiken may have fall-en victim to the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed 20 million to 40 million people worldwide.

According to some accounts I’ve read, about half the American World War I casualties in Europe were flu-related.

On this Veterans Day, let’s re-member all who have answered the call in all American military actions, but especially the un-sung black veterans and, more specially, those who served in World War I when democracy for them at home was still a few wars away.

E. R. Shipp is a Conyers na-tive, member of the Rockdale County High School Class of 1972 and journalist former-ly with The New York Times and New York Daily News. In 1996 she won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her column in the New York Daily news. She is now a journalist in residence at Morgan State University and resides in Bal-timore, Md.


Honoring Rockdale’s black soldiersCELEBRATING VETERANS DAY

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ER Shipp’s grandfather Big Daddy Clarence Shipp and her father Johnnie Will Shipp

submitted photo /The News

The News8 • Saturday, Nov. 15, 20144 • Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014 The News

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Family dentist Dr. Fred Hedrick was named the Rockdale County Public Schools Foundation’s “Champion of Education” for his continued support of Rockdale schools. Hedrick was recognized at the Foundation’s annual fundraising gala Oct. 25 at the Acuity Peoples Center. The gala raised more than $7,500 towards supporting Rockdale educators and students. (Left to right) RCPS Superintendent Richard Autry, Hedrick, Foundation Board Chair Dawn Butler, Chamber Chairman Pat Cavanuagh.

Submitted photo /The News

RCPS Foundation’s Champion of Education

On Saturday, October 25, three local organizations- Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Chi Tau Omega chapter, NewRock Legal Society, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Stone Mountain-Lithonia and Covington chapters- co-sponsored a forum on child sex trafficking for teens and their parents. The Newton County Sheriff’s office also assisted with the event by having one of their officers speak to attendees about human trafficking and its prevalence in the metro-Atlanta area. Additionally, in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness, survivors of domestic violence also shared their stories with the attendees of the forum. The forum was held at Porterdale Elementary School in Covington and was well attended by local youths from Newton and Rockdale County.

Submitted photo /The News

Fighting Human Trafficking

Family, friends and Arts Council board members came togther Oct. 25 to dedicate the black box theater on Center Street in Olde Town in honor of the late Paula Vaughn, founder of the Conyers-Rockdale Council for the Arts. Vaughn’s daughter Rebekah Vaughn Tiller and Vaughn’s close friiend Judy Mauran spoke with affection and admiration about the quiet yet determined and creative Vaughn and her efforts to enrich the community.

Michelle Kim /The News

Paula Vaughn Theater Dedication


9

Oh What a Night!P.O. Box 81551, Conyers, GA 30013P: 770.262.7816 • F: 770.761.3827www.familypromiseofnewrock.org

Email: [email protected]

Family Promise of NewRock Held Our Second Annual

Dinner and Silent AuctionBenefiting Family Promise of NewRock on Friday, November 7, 2014 at Rockdale Career Academy.Celebrating two years of working together to provide caring and life changing solutions for families

facing homelessness, with 250 friends & family.

We were Blessed by these Sponsors this YearVisionary

Evans Tool & Die, Inc. • His Wonderful Works, Inc. • Jim ‘n Nick’s

DeveloperJohn Miles Chevrolet, Buick, GMC • Robert J. Brayton, CPA, LLC

NavigatorSign Solutions of East Atlanta, LLC

TransporterChick-Fil-A Conyers • THP Creative Group • eMetro Times

Precision Locksmith • Cowan Ace Hardware • Barlay Law Group, LLC

PaverConyers Jewelers • Colonial Heating & Air • United Bank Covington

Cartridge World • Huck’s Tours • Wall Street Conyers • Julian Harwell CLU, CHFC• Gryphus Accounting Service • SCI Land Development Services

And Special Thanks ToRockdale Career Academy & The Culinary Arts Program

and to our

Master of CeremoniesReverend Billie Cox, Macedonia Baptist Church

Allen Memorial UMCChrist Community Church

Conyers First United MethodistConyers Presybterian ChurchEpiphany Lutheran Church

Milstead Baptist ChurchRockdale Alliance Church

Rockdale Baptist ChurchRockdale Community Church

St. Pius X Catholic ChurchThe Father’s House

Trinity Baptist Church

Host Congregations

Grace Community ChurchGrace United Methodist Church

New Covenant FellowshipHaven Fellowship Church

Macedonia Baptist ChurchSmyrna Presbyterian Church

Starrsville United Methocist Church

Support Congregations

250 of Our Neighbors

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If you missed the dinner you can still make a yearend donation.


The Community Calendar dead-line is noon Thursday. Email a description, place, time, phone num-ber to [email protected].

SATURDAY, NOV. 15Ella the Elephant at Stonecrest

11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m., join Ella the Elephant for her Christ-mas Adventures; free; Stonecrest Mall off Turner Hill exit on I-20, Lithonia

HHS “The Addams Family”7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-15, 20-22; 2:30

p.m. Sundays Nov. 16, 23; musical comedy at Heritage High; tickets $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students; 770-483-5428x27177, [email protected]

SUNDAY, NOV.16Prematurity Awareness Service

8 a.m.; Hosted by The Phi Omicron Zeta Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta Soror-ity, Inc; Bethlehem Baptist Church of Covington; Near Usher, St Clark St and Emory St; to educate the public about the importance of prenatal care

Civil War 150th Anniversary marker dedication

3 p.m.; Olde Town Conyers Depot/Welcome Center; dedication of state historical marker for Conyers events along the path of Sherman’s Army and Sherman’s March to the Sea

THURSDAY, NOV. 20XYZ Organization meeting

10:30 a.m.; First Baptist of Conyers at 2100 GA. Hwy.; Lunch is $6; rsvp by Nov. 14; call 770-760-0083.

Mobile Food Pantry12-4 p.m.; The Resource Center for

Community Action; 1400 Parker Road

Conyers, GA. 30094; food is available while quantities last to anyone in need; 678-288-5433 ext.101

SHS “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

Nov. 20-22, 8 p.m. and Nov 23, at 3 p.m. Salem High, 3551 Underwood Rd SE; Tickets presale $5 students/seniors, $7 adults. At the door $6 students and seniors, $8 adults. (770) 929-0176

SATURDAY NOV. 22Charity Banquet

The Covington-Conyers Cotton Boll Quilters Charity Banquet will feature everything from hand made quilts to Christmas decorations at Epiphany Lutheran Church, Hwy. 20 SE, Conyers.

Elks Aidmore Turkey Trot 5K8 a.m. registration, 9 a.m. event; at

Elks Aidmore home for youth, 2394 Morrison Road Conyers; registration adults $20 befeore/$25 race day, chil-dren $8/$10; register at www.raceros-ter.com/3640

TUESDAY, NOV. 25Rockdale Retired Educators Association

11:30 a.m.; Rockdale Baptist Church at 1295 Smyrna Rd.Conyers; Reserva-tions required; 770-483-6808

THURSDAY, NOV. 27In His Name Thanksgiving Feast

11 a.m.-2 p.m.; A free Thanks Giving Feast for fellowship; Hosted by Conyers First United Methodist Church; 921 N Main St NW, Conyers, GA 30012; Reservations are appreciated, call 770-778-9764 for reservations and further information on donations.

SATURDAY, NOV. 29

Aubrae Gunderson Memorial Scholarship 5K/1M/High Heel

7:30 a.m. registration, 8:30 a.m. race; Heritage High, 2400 Granade Rd.; $16 registration online, go to http://aubrae-gunderson.com

FRIDAY, DEC. 5Olde Town Christmas5-8 p.m. Celebration in Olde Town Conyers, with children’s activities, shop specials

Choral Guild Christmas Concert“A Choral Guild Christmas: A Musi-

cological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas,” Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. First Baptist Church, 1139 Usher St, Cov-ington, and Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. Rockdale Auditorium, 903 Main St, Conyers; $10 tickets at www.choralguild.org

SATURDAY, DEC. 6Hometown Holidays Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony

4:30 p.m. parade through Olde Town ending with Santa Claus, followed by 6 p.m. tree lighting celebration

SUNDAY, DEC. 7Pilot Club Christmas Tour of Homes

Five homes are on this year’s tour decorated to the nines; Tickets are $12 before Dec. 7 and are $15 on the day of the tour at the Olde Town Jail

FRIDAY, DEC. 12Living Christmas Tree at Conyers First Baptist

Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.; Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; a musical and visual Christmas extravaganza by the Conyers First Baptist Music Ministry; free; rsvp at 770-483-8700

SATURDAY, DEC. 13Shop with a Cop

8 a.m. Saturday Dec. 13; donations needed before Dec. 13; Conyers Police

and Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement accompany children experiencing financial hardships to shop for Christmas gifts; 770-483-5780 or [email protected]

Community Christmas Celebration

12-4 p.m.; The Resource Center for Community Action; Rockdale County Annex; 1400 Parker Rd. Conyers GA, 30013; 770-760-1346

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rockdalenews.com SportSSalem athlete of the week:

Ayanna Mitchell

Your Majesti is headed to UGA

(From Left to right) Majesti Bass’ mother Cumba Bass, Rockdale Coun-ty High School Volleyball Head Coach Stephen Sansing, Majesti Bass, RCHS Volleyball Assistant Coach Gladys King, Majesti Bass’ father Craig Bass.

Senior Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technol-ogy Student Majesti Bass signs her letter of intent to play col-legiate level volleyball with the University of Georgia. Bass has won numerous athletic awards during her time playing for the Rockdale County High School varsity volleyball team and says that she’s really excited to finally make her commitment to UGA official.

Mitchell makes it official, signs with LSU

Martin Rand lll/The News

The Johnny’s Pizza Salem Athlete of the Week is Ayanna Mitchell for her official sign-ing with LSU. It’s been known for some time now that Ayan-na Mitchell was signing to play basketball at LSU. She made it official Wednesday afternoon when she put the pen to the pa-per in front of friends and fam-ily. Mitchell averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game last season as a junior. You can watch Ayanna’s signing at rockdalenews.com’s video section.


Rocky Mauriello of Salem High School signed to play baseball at Maryville College on Thursday. Pictured (left to right) Front row: Jim McBrayer, father Mike Mauriello, Rocky Mauriello, mother Tracy Mauriello. Back row: Salem Athletic Director Darren Wilkins, Jim Lovejoy, Tolley Lovejoy, Asst Principal Rodney Williams, Head Baseball Coach Bobby Link, Asst Baseball Coach Rickey Bailey.

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Clingerman headed to Emmanuel

Riley Clingerman can do it with the best of them. That includes the boys. Clingerman, who signed a four-year scholarship to play soft-ball at Emmanuel College on Friday morning, played baseball for three years at Peachtree Academy before the school established a softball team and now she is headed to college with all of the support of her school, friends and family.

Shakeem Holloway/The News

Mauriello signs with Maryville

14 • Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 The News

14

high school, with an additional acre for each 100 students en-rolled for both types of schools.

Kingdom Builder Covenant Church sits on five acres of land, which is the minimum required to operate an elementary school privately. The maximum num-ber of children that can be en-rolled at one time cannot exceed 99 students.

“By code, once you go over that 100 (students) mark it re-quires more acreage,” Marshall Walker, director of Planning and Development for Rockdale County, told the board members. “There just isn’t enough acre-age.”

Bright from the Start, Geor-gia’s program for early child-hood learning, will determine the max number of children allowed to be enrolled in the daycare at a given time, Walker added.

There’s precedent for this land operating as a private school and a daycare center. The land used to be owned by Midway Holiness Church, also known as Victory Tabernacle. Victory Tab-ernacle operated as an elementa-ry private school until May 2012 and an early learning center until July 2012.

The ordinances for Victo-ry Tabernacle expired after six months of not being in operation.

There will be a public hearing for both special permits applied for by Kingdom Builders Cov-enant Church at the Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers, on Nov. 25 at 9 a.m.

On Dec. 9, the ordinances will have a second reading in front of the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners during its voting session. The county board can either approve, deny or defer the special merits during the meet-ing, which is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. at the Assemblly Hall.

In other business, the planning board approved of a new ordi-nance that would redefine the classifications for children and adult daycare centers.

The proposed law will bring the county’s law on child and adult day care centers up to the state’s standard laws, says Walk-er.

Board member Max McFarlin asked how this new ordinance would affect the City of Co-nyers, to which Walker told him it would only affect operations based in Rockdale County.

“It actually puts us a little more closely inline to what the city’s (ordinance) is,” said Walk-er.


CHURCHFrom front page

graduating from a two- or four-year college.

“We’re in a field that evolves very rapidly,” said Milward. Students need to “be prepared for change.”

Baxter is initially looking for peo-ple with 15-plus years of experience as the plant is being built and set up. However, Howerton said, in about a year or two, Baxter will be hiring for a wide variety of positions. “What we’re doing starting today, we’re looking for a variety of roles. We’re looking to hire nondegree individ-uals with a military background. We’re looking to establish strong relationships with technical colleges in the area.”

Thursday’s second panel focused on the healthcare IT industry. Pan-elists included Ryan Sloan, Chief Marketing Officer of Solo Health, Baha Zeidan, Co-founder and CEO of Azalea Health out of Valdosta, Shea Ross, PR/Marketing Specialist of the Georgia Partnership for Tele-Health, Dan Rivera, Area Director for Intel, and moderator Pat Wil-liams, President, McKenzie Dan-iels & Associates and Institute for Healthcare Information Technology Board Chair.

The beauty of the IT field, said Cagle, is that “we’re no longer

bound by bricks and mortar. The world is the marketplace today and it’s all because of technology.”

Some of the services and tech-nologies offered included tele-

health visits allowing patients access to specialists that would otherwise be difficult to reach, or biometric machines diagnosing customers at kiosks at grocery stores and big box stores, or the use of health data ana-lytics to home in on a correct treat-ment for an ailment.

The IT panelists expressed the

same importance for potential em-ployees to have soft skills as well as their field’s hard skills.

Sloan said, “It seems obvious but it’s actually very important - having that good attitude, being willing to roll up their sleeves.”

Cagle concluded Thursday’s dis-cussions by emphasizing the power of CCAs in making education ex-citing and relevant for students and attractive to industry.

“If you make a workforce an in-dustry will come,” said Cagle.

INDUSTRYFrom front page

high school, with an additional acre for each 100 students enrolled for both types of schools.

Kingdom Builder Covenant Church sits on five acres of land, which is the minimum required to operate an elementary school pri-vately. The maximum number of children that can be enrolled at one time cannot exceed 99 students.

“By code, once you go over that 100 (students) mark it requires more acreage,” Marshall Walker, director of Planning and Devel-opment for Rockdale County, told the board members. “There just isn’t enough acreage.”

Bright from the Start, Geor-gia’s program for early childhood learning, will determine the max number of children allowed to be enrolled in the daycare at a given time, Walker added.

There’s precedent for this land operating as a private school and a daycare center. The land used to be owned by Midway Holiness Church, also known as Victory Tabernacle. Victory Tabernacle operated as an elementary private school until May 2012 and an ear-ly learning center until July 2012.

The ordinances for Victory Tab-

ernacle expired after six months of not being in operation.

There will be a public hearing for both special permits applied for by Kingdom Builders Cove-nant Church at the Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers, on Nov. 25 at 9 a.m.

On Dec. 9, the ordinances will have a second reading in front of the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners during its voting session. The county board can either approve, deny or defer the special merits during the meeting, which is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. at the Assemblly Hall.

In other business, the planning board approved of a new ordi-nance that would redefine the clas-sifications for children and adult daycare centers.

The proposed law will bring the county’s law on child and adult day care centers up to the state’s standard laws, says Walker.

“We want to get on the same page,” he said. “We don’t want two sets of criteria confusing folks.”

Board member Max McFarlin asked how this new ordinance would affect the City of Conyers, to which Walker told him it would only affect operations based in Rockdale County.

“It actually puts us a little more closely inline to what the city’s (ordinance) is,” said Walker.


CHURCHFrom front page

uals with a military back-ground. We’re looking to establish strong relationships with technical colleges in the area.”

Thursday’s second panel fo-cused on the healthcare IT indus-try. Panelists included Ryan Sloan, Chief Marketing Officer of Solo Health, Baha Zeidan, Co-founder and CEO of Azalea Health out of Valdosta, Shea Ross, PR/Mar-keting Specialist of the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth, Dan Rivera, Area Director for Intel, and moderator Pat Williams, President, McKenzie Daniels & Associates and Institute for Healthcare Information Technol-ogy Board Chair.

The beauty of the IT field, said Cagle, is that “we’re no longer bound by bricks and mortar. The world is the mar-ketplace today and it’s all be-cause of technology.”

Some of the services and tech-nologies offered included tele-health visits allowing patients access to specialists that would otherwise be difficult to reach, or biometric machines diagnosing customers at kiosks at grocery stores and big box stores, or the

use of health data analytics to home in on a correct treatment for an ailment.

The IT panelists expressed the same importance for potential em-ployees to have soft skills as well as their field’s hard skills.

“We could find people with technical skills but they didn’t have the people skills,” said Ryan Sloan. “It seems obvious but it’s actually very important - having

that good attitude, being willing to roll up their sleeves.”

Cagle concluded Thursday’s discussions by emphasizing the power of CCAs in making edu-cation exciting and relevant for students and attractive to industry.

“If you make a workforce an in-dustry will come,” said Cagle.

INDUSTRYFrom front page

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