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T1

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Gift drive for the young at heartJames HowellStaff Writerjhowell@heartlandpublications.com

Appalachian Senior Pro-grams will hold its 10th an-nual gift project for senior citizens called “Project Star,” which is a program that offers gifts to anony-mous seniors in need.

“Most of the seniors served by this project are lonely, isolated, don’t re-ally have any family and wouldn’t get any gifts otherwise,” said Tammy Taylor, Project Star’s coor-dinator.

Groups that work with the elderly in the county submitted a list of names of seniors in need, along with a list of gift ideas for each person. Those groups include the Department of Social Services, Ashe Re-ally Cares, Ashe Outreach Ministries, Spruce Hill Apartments, Mountain Living and Mountain Vil-lage.

Once the names were submitted to Appalachian Senior Programs, each name was assigned a number so the senior can remain anonymous. Each number, along with an out-line of gift ideas, has been printed on a cut-out paper star.

Since the list of seniors has been finalized, the cut-out stars were placed in different locations

throughout town. As of early November, 184 stars had been printed and were on display early this month at Wendy’s, Food Lion, In-gles and Sweet & Savory. Taylor said the project av-erages about 200 stars per year.

“For many of these se-niors, these gifts are the only presents they will re-ceive over Christmas,” said Taylor.

According to Taylor, most of these gifts are simple, inexpensive items, like blankets, clothing and food.

Debbie Wellborn, who also works for Appala-chian Senior Programs, said “most of the gifts are simple things that many

people take for granted.”She said last year a

95-year-old woman wanted a few modest gifts, which included Pringles potato chips, peppermint candy and a baby doll.

In the last nine years of Project Star, every senior wishing to get a gift man-aged to receive at least one. “No one has been left out so far,” said Wellborn.

Anyone wanting to do-nate gifts to a senior in need can pick a star and purchase the items. After-wards, the gifts will need to be returned to the Appa-lachian Senior Programs’ office so they can be dis-tributed to the seniors over the holidays.

Photo submitted | Jefferson PostProject Star left the Appalachian Senior Programs’ office full of gifts for seniors in need last year.

Out Grow Hunger program strengthens community bondsWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

A partnership with the Ashe County Farmer’s Market and the Out Grow Hunger Program in-creased the potential for growth as a new orchard was installed at Ashe County High School last month.

“Out Grow hunger is an initiative of Ashe Out-reach Ministries through which the ultimate goal is to join a community together through growing and giving,” said the pro-gram’s development man-ager Jane Gardener.

Agriculture extension agent Travis Birdsell said, “One goal of the Out Grow Hunger program is to have a perennial or-chard through which stu-dents can connect with the food they are eating.”

Eventually, the hope is that the orchards will provide enough food that every child in the school will have access to fresh fruit for a healthy snack, said Birdsell.

The orchard at ACHS is the fourth orchard made possible by this pro-gram, with three others at the county’s elemen-tary schools planted last spring. The orchards are designed the same way with the same plants, so that as the students progress from school to school, they will have a sense of continuity.

According to Daniel Calhoun, the horticulture teacher, the high school’s orchard is comprised of two pear trees, two peach trees, eight apple trees, two cherry trees and 10

Submitted Photo | Jefferson PostDaniel Calhoun and his horticulture students plant an orchard on the grounds of ACHS on a crisp mid-October day.

See HEART | Page 2

See HUNGER | Page 2

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Page 2 — The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

According to Wellborn, the concept for Project Star was created when workers from Appalachian Senior Programs recog-nized children draw most of the attention during Christmas, but there were no local programs that attempted to help the el-derly.

Since Project Star’s first

gift drive nine years ago, it has attracted the atten-tion of local businesses that wish to contribute to the cause.

Mike Powers has do-nated trees to Project Star for the past nine years, courtesy of Mountain Memories Tree Farm, and plans to do so again. Em-ployees from Gates donate between 25-30 food boxes every year to Project Star,

and Skyline/Skybest’s em-ployees also help by get-ting gifts for 20-25 stars every year for the past 9 years.

“It’s the generosity of the kind people of Ashe County that makes this project possible each year,” said Taylor.

Jamie Richardson, from the Department of Social Services, said “I’ve been here for seven years and

for most of the seniors, these are the only gifts they receive. They really look forward to getting these gifts for Christmas.”

“Ashe County is very lucky to have a Christmas program for the elderly, most places don’t have something like this,” said Richardson.

Appalachian Senior Programs also helps se-niors with fuel assistance,

especially with winter quickly approaching.

“Donations are greatly appreciated as the money will be used for fuel as-sistance and for stars that were not collected and didn’t receive any gifts,” said Taylor.

Appalachian Senior Programs is funded by a federal grant and spon-sored by Appalachian State University.

Anyone interested in participating in the gift drive will need to deliver gift items to the Appala-chian Senior Programs’ office before Thursday, Dec. 6, next to Jefferson Drug Store. Only newly-purchased items will be accepted.

For more information, call Tammy Taylor at 336-846-4898.

From Page 1

Heart

blueberry bushes provided by Ron and Suzanne Joiner, John Roberts and Glen Sullivan.

“Most of the plants will bear fruit in the late summer months when the students are coming back from summer break. We hope to add three more early-fruiting apple trees that would bear fruit in May before they leave for summer,” said Cal-houn. Gardener said they also intend to add raspberry bushes so the orchard can have a full variety of fruit.

The results, while promising, will not be immediate.

“The reality of it is that it will probably be three to four years before the trees start produc-ing fruit, but in the meantime, we’re hoping we’ll have other opportunities, maybe through the farmer’s market, to bring fresh fruit into the schools so that students can get an idea of the different varieties of fruit they’ll eventually be produc-ing,” said Gardener.

“Our seniors probably won’t see fruit on the trees, but they can know they had a part in

getting it started and can come back years from now and see how it has progressed,” Cal-houn said.

“The orchard is a great learn-ing lab for students to see the little things they can do to af-fect the plants’ growth from soil fertility to pruning. It is also an opportunity to provide food not only to the student body but to the community as well, so what the orchard does extends beyond the students I see in class,” said Calhoun.

Birdsell, who works in con-junction with classes on educa-

tional programs, said, “Within the horticulture classes, stu-dents learn to prune and graft the trees. This process must be completed every year, so each new group of students gets a graft from a tree that they can then plant at home.”

“The great thing about this program is that it connects kids from across all different socioeconomic backgrounds with the common ground of growing food,” said Birdsell.

The orchards are only part of what Out Grow Hunger does.

In an effort to eliminate food

insecurity, address child nutri-tion and empower the poor, Out Grow Hunger gives out fresh local produce through food pantries and uses it in pre-paring community meals and mobile meals. The program also educates participants about the ability to provide food by growing a garden and provides classes for gardening skills, cooking, and preserving.

For more information on the Out Grow Hunger initiative visit http://soc.brwia.org/out-grow-hunger.html.

From Page 1

Hunger

‘Buck’ Cooper honored with key to Todd during festival

On Oct. 13, 2012, the Todd Ruritan honored Mr. I.S. “Buck” Cooper with the key to Todd.

For the last few years at the Todd New River Festival the Todd Ruritan has honored a person/persons that have lived in the Todd area and have sup-ported the Todd Community with their service and help.

Mr. Cooper was born in 1923 and at the age of 89 he said that he has seen a lot of changes over the years. Mr. Cooper said he has a lot of good memories of the Todd and Fleetwood communities. For 53 years he and his fam-ily operated a diary farm un-til business got hard and they had to close it down.

Mr. Cooper also had a fer-tilizer business where the Riverside Restaurant now op-erates. Farmers would come to purchase their fertilizer from Mr. Cooper because they knew they could trust him. The 1930s Depression was a hard time he said, but people helped their neighbors back in that time, Cooper said. In 1938, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. brought electricity to the Todd area and Mr. Cooper said that was a great help for all the people.

Mr. Cooper has served on several board of directors over the years; the Yadkin Val-ley Diarymans Association, Diaryman’s Inc, and Skyline Telephone for 30 years. When we went from the four party lines to the private lines for the people, that was a big im-provement, he said.

Mr. I.S. “Buck” Cooper is leaving a legacy for his com-munity service, honesty, and being a good neighbor in the Todd and Fleetwood area.

Mr. I.S. ‘Buck’ Cooper

Building permits issued in Ashe are increasingJames HowellStaff Writerjhowell@heartlandpublications.com

After four years of gradual decreases in the number of building permits issued, Ashe County has already had more building permits issued in 2012 than in 2011.

According to Jeff Cornett from the building inspection office, a total of 69 building permits for new, single-family houses were issued in 2011. The 2012 total already surpass-es that with 74 permits issued, and that figure isn’t counting the permits that will be issued in November and December.

“This is definitely a sign things are picking back up,” said Cornett. He also said the

number of building permits issued has a “significant” rela-tionship to the strength of the economy.

According to Cornett, this area is usually the last to be impacted after a recession, but also the last to bounce back. In Charlotte, building permits began decreasing in late 2006, a sign of things to come; but Ashe County didn’t see the sting of the 2006 recession un-til 2008, the first year of a four-year stretch of a decrease in building permits issued.

During that four-year stretch from 2008 through 2011, the totals of permits issued have gradually decreased every year until the rebound in 2012. The highest amount of permits is-sued per year in recent history

was 2007’s total of 367 permits for new, single-family homes.

Also, Cornett said signs indi-cate this growth will continue in 2013.

“Contractors have been giv-ing more estimates and receiv-ing more phone calls, and more building permits have been issued in larger markets like Charlotte,” said Cornett. He also said the market in Char-lotte has seen improvements for the last few years, another indi-cator more building permits will be issued for Ashe County moving forward.

In addition to an increase in building permits issued for single family houses, commer-cial building permits have also increased.

James Howell | Jefferson PostBuilding permits issued for commercial building has increased in 2012. A new Goodwill is under construction near Wal-Mart in Jefferson.

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Study: Parenting more important to academic achievementMatt ShipmanNC News Services

New research from North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University and the University of California, Irvine finds that parental involvement is a more significant factor in a child’s academic perfor-mance than the qualities of the school itself.

“Our study shows that parents need to be aware

of how important they are, and invest time in their children – check-ing homework, attending school events and letting kids know school is im-portant,” says Dr. Toby Parcel, a professor of so-ciology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work. “That’s where the payoff is.”

Study finds parental involvement more im-portant than the school itself when it comes to

academic achievement.The researchers evalu-

ated data from a national representative study that collected information from more than 10,000 students, as well as their parents, teachers and school administrators.

Specifically, the re-searchers looked at how “family social capi-tal” and “school social capital” pertained to academic achievement. Family social capital can

essentially be described as the bonds between parents and children, such as trust, open lines of communication and active engagement in a child’s academic life. School social capital cap-tures a school’s ability to serve as a positive envi-ronment for learning, including measures such as student involvement in extracurricular activi-ties, teacher morale and the ability of teachers to

address the needs of in-dividual students.

The researchers found that students with high levels of family social capital and low levels of school social capital per-formed better academi-cally than students with high levels of school so-cial capital but low family social capital. “In other words, while both school and family involvement are important, the role of family involvement is

stronger when it comes to academic success,” Parcel says.

The paper, “Does Capi-tal at Home Matter More than Capital at School?: Social Capital Effects on Academic Achievement,” is published online in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Mi-kaela Dufur of BYU and Kelly Troutman, a Ph.D. student at UC Irvine.

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The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, November 20, 2012 — Page 3

Miscommunication creates confusion

James HowellStaff Writerjhowell@heartlandpublications.com

A proposed land swap for the “Old Fields” prop-erty was delayed during a working meeting of the Ashe County Board of Commissioners because of a miscommunication between all of the parties involved – the county, the Fleetwood Volunteer Fire Department, county emer-gency management repre-sentatives, and the private property owner.

That miscommunication has already had an impact on the Fleetwood VFD. In 2011, the department in-vested $15,000 to install underground water tanks on the Old Fields property, located near 457 Clarence Lyall Road, West Jefferson, and might now be forced to remove them.

During the working meeting of the county commissioners, the discus-sion focused on a piece of property used by Halsey’s Diesel Service & Parts as a driveway that crosses over property owned by Ashe County.

A land swap had been offered to Steve Halsey, the business owner, which would allow the county to receive property of equal size from Halsey in ex-change for the property that Halsey’s driveway crosses.

“Through no fault of his own, Halsey has been us-ing the county’s land for the past 28 years thinking it was his,” said Dr. Pat Mitchell, Ashe County’s manager.

If Halsey chooses to pro-ceed with the land swap, the county might build a rescue squad facility adja-cent to Halsey’s business, said Mitchell. The rescue

building could also be used as a voting precinct.

Halsey said he is con-cerned that if a rescue squad building is placed near his business’ drive-way, the large trucks he services would have a dif-ficult time getting in and out.

During the last commis-sion meeting, Commis-sioner Gerald Price said he had concerns that Halsey may have been coerced in some way to participate in the deal. “Are we sure that Halsey hasn’t been met with coercion of any kind to reach this agreement?” said Price at the meeting in October.

This was confirmed during Monday’s meeting when Halsey said he felt pressure to accept the deal from a rescue representa-tive for the region. How-ever, Halsey said, “coerced was too strong of a word.”

Halsey said he was un-der the impression that if he didn’t agree to the land swap, county offi-cials would do what they wanted with the land they owned, which could poten-tially harm his business.

“I feel like I’ve been pushed into it (the land swap), one way or anoth-er,” said Halsey.

At that point, Board Chairman Judy Porter Poe quickly interjected by say-ing “Steve, if you’re against it (the land swap) in any way, the deal is off, and that’s fine with me.”

After the meeting, Mitchell said “I think what happened was (the rescue representative) might have suggested to Halsey that a straighter property line would accommodate a res-cue building better,” she said.

According to Mitchell, Halsey may have left the

discussion with the impres-sion that the rescue repre-sentative was encouraging him to follow through with the property swap.

However, the problems with the Old Fields prop-erty extend far beyond Mr. Halsey and his business.

During the last commis-sioners’ meeting, members from the Fleetwood VFD voiced concerns that the land swap would void the fire department’s lease on the county’s land at the Old Fields property. On Monday, more details were revealed about the situa-tion.

In July 2011, the Fleet-wood VFD leased some of the land currently owned by the county for a 99 year period with plans to install water tanks that would be filled by a nearby stream. According to Mitchell, the county told the Fleet-wood VFD they should wait before they installed the tanks because the area was in the process of being surveyed.

Three months after sign-ing the lease, the Fleet-wood VFD installed the un-derground water tanks on the property, unknown to the county, said Mitchell. Afterward, new surveys re-vealed the tanks had been installed on land belonging to the N.C. Department of Transportation; not Ashe County.

Steve Craven, chief of the Fleetwood VFD, said the county wasn’t com-pletely forthcoming with much-needed information.

According to Craven, Patty Gambill, the county’s emergency management coordinator, told the Fleet-wood VFD they shouldn’t install the water tanks due to “discrepancies with an adjoining property owner,” said Craven.

Craven said the Fleet-wood VFD interpreted that statement to mean the fire department needed to get permission to install the

tanks from Halsey, who, they believed, was the only adjoining property owner.

Once Halsey agreed, the Fleetwood VFD installed the underground tanks, at an investment of about $15,000, according to Cra-ven.

However, the adjoining property owner Gambill referred to was actually the NC DOT, said Craven after the meeting.

Craven said the Fleet-wood VFD wasn’t aware the DOT owned a portion of the Old Fields property because it didn’t appear on their original lease is-sued by the county. “We assumed the lease was correct,” said Craven.

“If we had the entire sto-ry from the beginning, we would have done things differently,” said Craven.

Because the DOT plans to widen U.S. 221, the tanks may need to be re-moved in order to com-plete the project.

The Fleetwood VFD

asserted the county shouldn’t be involved; that the Fleetwood VFD should deal with the DOT themselves because they have a monetary invest-ment in the land (the wa-ter tanks) and the county doesn’t.

When the property swap was first mentioned, their were discussions among county officials to place a rescue squad build-ing on the county’s newly-acquired land, an asset the county may need with the widening of U.S. 221, said Mitchell.

Poe asked the Fleet-wood VFD to forgo instal-lation of any new equip-ment on the property until everyone has a better idea of where the property lines are.

Several options were of-fered to resolve the issues at the Old Fields property during the meeting.

One option offered by Commissioner Larry Rhodes was to let Halsey

buy the land from the county, if Halsey is will-ing. This would require the fire department’s lease to be renegotiated. Also, Commissioner Gary Roark said the county could donate the land to the Fleetwood VFD.

The county may not be allowed, legally, to use either solution offered by Rhodes and Roark, said Mitchell. Those questions will be investigated by the county’s attorney before the board of commission-er’s next meeting in two weeks, she said.

“Counties are very limit-ed in what they give away and what they can sell to other entities, so resolv-ing this problem will take some more research mov-ing forward,” said Mitch-ell.

It’s most likely, said Mitchell, the county will leave the lease in-tact and have a second survey of the of the Old Fields property.

County, Fleetwood VFD, business land swap on hold after details emerge

James Howell | Jefferson PostAshe County Manager Dr. Pat Mitchell explained the location of the property lines of the Old Fields property as Chairwoman of the board of commissioners Judy Porter Poe looked on.

Exceptional support for Ashe’s exceptional childrenWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

Even though voting was in progress throughout the nation Tuesday night, around 30 people came to show support, share infor-mation and celebrate the successes of Ashe County’s exceptional children and ex-cellent teachers and admin-istrators.

“I am very pleased with the turnout and diverse representation from com-munity members, to school administrators and teach-ers, to parents,” said Terry Richardson, Exceptional Children’s Director.

An exceptional child is typically a child with any disability, disorder or delay that hinders his or her abil-ity to learn under average circumstances.

Following a short wel-come by Richardson, several EC teachers and teachers’ assistants presented dif-ferent aspects of their jobs working with exceptional children. Among those pre-senting were Casey Smith from Blue Ridge Elemen-ary, Megan Young from Mountain View Elementary, Cindy Wells from BRE, Sara Benfield from Westwood Elementary, Holly McClure from Ashe County Middle School, Pachia Brinegar from ACMS and Jennifer Treva from Ashe County High School.

Smith presented informa-tion on a program for im-proving instruction for stu-dents with disabilities. The N. C. State Improvement Project is a research based, best practice method for instruction in reading and math that has improved the quality of instruction and in-creased positive learning ex-periences for EC students.

“Our next step in Ashe is to create an advisory board to make sure we’re imple-menting our best practice methods. The board would include EC teachers and a parent,” said Smith.

Young and her assistant

Alecia Giles demonstrated how visual thinking maps assist children in learning.

“We use thinking maps to accommodate students with processing delays. The maps help students visualize concepts,” said Young. The tiers of thinking maps vary from high to no assistance for students, depending on their level of independence.

Wells demonstrated some engaging technology with multi-sensory components that is available to students.

“We’re lucky to have a central office and adminis-tration that allows students access to current technol-ogy. The students can blow you away when given the right tools to show you what they know,” Wells said.

She said that even non-verbal children can use this technology to demonstrate their understanding of cer-tain concepts.

Benfield along with an-other EC teacher at her school started a social skills club for their students in which the students set self-directed goals. These skills that most people take for granted are important to students’ success. “In order for children to be functional, they have to be able to col-laborate with another per-son, be it another child, or an adult. Our goal is to help them be successful in the classroom and in the general curriculum at large,” said Benfield.

McClure spoke about the unique situation of the middle school where all of the Ashe County children cone together for the first time. ACMS’s EC commu-nity consists of 68 students, four teachers, and three as-sistants whose classes take a variety of formats from self contained classrooms, to pulling students out of regu-lar classes to fully integrated classrooms with a stan-dard curriculum teacher as well as an EC teacher.

“Our main focus is to highlight our students and show their success-es,” said McClure.

A teacher’s assistant and mother of two exceptional children, Brinegar shared a poem called “Welcome to Holland” about the expec-tations of a mother for her children. The poem used the analogy of planning a trip to Italy and all the preparations for a certain course being interrupted when the plane lands in Holland instead. The place is no worse, just different, but changing one’s mind from set expectations can be difficult, just like a parent who learns their child has special needs. Brinegar said, “My Hol-land is full of love, and hugs, and dinosaurs.”

Whitney Weaver | Jefferson PostRepresentatives from all facets of the exceptional children community attended the Ashe County EC Stakeholders meeting at the Early Learning Center on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Parents, teachers, assistants, administrators and community members stand together in their support for exceptional children. Attending were (from left, back row): Dr. Travis Reeves, Earl Penning-ton, David Blackburn, Callie Grubb, Terry Richardson, Jennifer Robinson, Jodie Grubb, (from left, front row) Phyllis Yates, Pachia Brinegar, Dwayne Farmer, Sharon Houck, Kristina Worrell and Lynn Robinson.

T4

Page 4 — The Jefferson Post Shopper, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

New student information system introduced at school board meetingWhitney WeaverStaff Writerwweaver@heartlandpublications.com

This month’s Ashe County Board of Education meeting consisted of recogni-tions, requests, and reinvention of tech-nologies and policies.

Superintendent Dr. Travis Reeves and board members Polly Jones, Dr. Lee Beckworth, Charles King, C.B. Jones and Terry Williams were all in attendance as the meeting was called to order on Mon-day, Nov. 5 in the Ashe County Schools central office annex.

Reeves recognized Alecia Giles as the employee of the month. Giles is a teach-er’s assistant at Mountain View Elemen-tary, and was described by a coworker as “enthusiastic and positive when working with kids.” While working as a teacher’s assistant, Giles is pursuing a teacher cer-tification degree.

Sharon Houck was recognized for out-standing work as well, as she was named a Teacher of Excellence for Exceptional Children. Houck has been at Mountain View since 1991 and contributed to the school’s record review from the state de-partment.

Phyllis Yates presented the board with proposed projects for long range plan-ning and facility needs. Among the four requests, three were granted including air conditioning units for cafeterias at Ashe County Middle School as well as Blue Ridge and Mountain View Elemen-tary schools, electronic security locks on outside doors at all schools and electrical upgrades to the vocational classrooms at Ashe County High School.

These proposed improvements will cost a total of $182,500, and will be paid using Ashe County Schools’ share of lot-tery funds.

The request to replace the gymnasium doors at West Jefferson School was de-nied because it is not a K-12 institution. Williams said that he would like to dis-cuss the matter further. “It’s not only a safety issue, but potentially a vandalism issue as well,” said Williams.

The board accepted the proposed improvements and agreed that the matter of the gym doors should be

taken into consideration.A great deal of discussion surrounded a

change to the student information system that is to be implemented starting next school year. Sandy Rhodes and Travis Bennett gave a presentation on the new PowerSchool information system that will replace NC Wise.

Bennet was confident in the reliability of the system.

“The flexibility (the new system) is go-ing to offer will be amazing,” said Ben-nett.

He also said the system created stu-dent and school portals in addition to ad-ministrative, teacher and parent portals, making the system more accessible for different groups of users.

One of the major challenges associated with the change is the limited amount of time to enter data and train teachers. Rhodes said the transition was on a “very aggressive timeline,” making the process happen two months ahead of usual opera-tions.

Reeves said that despite the issues inherent in changing systems, he has heard from other users that using Power-School will be a positive experience for teachers, and expressed his appreciation for Rhodes and Bennett for leading the schools through the transition.

Having already missed two school days this year, the school calendar needed ad-justment. Reeves said that the calendar had been updated, and that Oct. 30 and 31 would be made up Wednesday, Nov. 21, and Thursday, Dec. 20, respectively.

On a related note, Reeves asked who would develop next year’s school calen-dar in light of new legislation decisions.

The 2012 Senate Bill 187 (Session Law 2012-145) placed restrictions on the school calendar, requiring that the school year must consist of 185 days or 1025 instructional hours and setting a late-August start date. Due to the number of days missed for inclement weather, Ashe County qualified for a waiver, allowing our schools to start one week earlier than schools that did not qualify. However, even with the waiver, the start date can be no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 19.

“This legislature takes away all local

control and flexibility. Other school sys-tems can make this work, but in a system like ours, we don’t have the flexibility that larger urban schools have,” said Reeves.

Reeves said that in making the school calendar, the board realizes schools will miss an average of 11 days, and plans early start dates accordingly.

“We start early so that we can finish high school exams before Christmas. Many of our students are dually enrolled in classes at the high school and at Wilkes Community College and it needs to be on the same schedule,” said Reeves.

Faced with these restrictions, Wil-liams volunteered as he said, “Mr. Chair-man, I think I can take on that daunting task again, unless someone else wants to.”

Hearing a request from Daniel Cal-houn to take the Ashe County High School Future Farmers of America to a dairy judging event in Salisbury, Polly Jones motioned to allow the trip, and the motion was seconded by Williams.

At the competition, two teams of four students each would judge cattle and pro-vide oral reasonings for their decisions. Calhoun said that public speaking was “a strong component” of the competition, allowing students to practice that life skill along with principles learned in class.

Another request was granted to ACHS’s Husky Band to perform in three Thanksgiving parades in Salisbury, Spen-cer and Charlotte. The parades would allow the band to practice performing in front of an audience and would provide scholarship opportunities for seniors, said band director Carrie Mitchell.

Whitney Weaver | Jefferson PostSuperintendent Reeves and Exceptional Children’s Director Terry Richardson con-gratulate Sharon Houck on her achieve-ment of Teacher of Excellence for Excep-tional Children.