Thursday, February 19, 2004

Ice storm damages Christmas evergreen
After twice serving as the focal point for Columbia County's Christmas celebration, the county's official tree may have lent its limbs to lights for the last time.

School ties three generations
Jeanine Dorsey feels like she's come home.

County will honor Arbor Day
Arbor Day will be celebrated in Columbia County with two planting events.

Couple wins contest honoring long marriages
Herb and Bettye Dittmer celebrated 60 years worth of valentines during a ceremony in their honor Saturday.

Lakeside grad just misses post as UGA student leader
He may have lost his presidential bid, but a political career is still a possibility, said a Lakeside High School graduate who recently vied for the top dog spot of the University of Georgia Student Government Association.

Fire-study talks stay heated
The discussion about countywide fire services continued between county and city leaders last week, with a plan for the change still unclear.

Friends begin trust fund to continue woman's cancer fight
To her children, Stephanie Hackett is known as Mommy. To her husband, she's the devoted wife he married six years ago. To people in Columbia County, she's known as the woman who worked diligently at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce for many years.

County seeks tax-project ideas
Columbia County residents will have one more opportunity this week to pitch their ideas for projects they want funded with 1-cent sales tax money.

Volunteers undergo disaster training
A tornado rips through Columbia County. Telephone lines to 911 are jammed. Police and rescue crews are doing all they can, but it's not enough. People are hurt, some dying.

Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Current events
A softball clinic for girls ages 8-14 will be Saturday at Patriots Park, with all proceeds going to a scholarship in memory of Greenbrier High School golfer Daniel Hall. The clinic had been set for this past Saturday but was postponed because of to rain. For information, call 854-0829.

Pet of the week
This male 6- to 8-week-old shepherd mix puppy is energetic and playful. He is available for adoption from Columbia County Animal Care and Control. For more information, call Roman Howerton at 541-4077 or visit www.co.columbia.ga.us and follow the links to Animal Care and Control. Adult animals cost $25 to adopt and the adoption fee for puppies, such as today's Pet of the Week, and kittens cost $20. All animals must be spayed or neutered.

Heart to heart
Lizzy Doty, a first-grader at Bel Air Elementary School, delivers her valentines to classmates. First-graders made individual mailboxes and put them in alphabetical order for easy delivery.

Get Up and Go
The Aiken-Augusta Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management will meet 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta. Guest speaker M. Allen Smith will give an overview of OSHA. Cost is $15, and registration is required. For information call 481-7457.

The STARS are out
Columbia County's STAR students Adam Colligan (left) and Anant Mandawat talk to well-wishers after the STAR student reception, which is sponsored by the Harlem Woman's Club. Both students are from Lakeside High School and tied for the STAR student title with perfect SAT scores of 1600.

Woods for Wildwood
Crews are at work planting trees in Wildwood Park at the new parking lot and boat ramps. A total of 51 pine trees, 29 oaks and 26 wax myrtles are being planted.

Community Calendar
The Augusta West Rotary Club will hold A Taste of Something Wild, a wild-game tasting to benefit the Alzheimers Association of Augusta. The fund-raiser will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. March 6 at the Julian Smith Barbecue Pit. For more information, call 731-9060.

Time capsule
As reported 25 years ago in The Columbia News and The Martinez-Evans Times, Feb. 21, 1979:

Area Activities
Mistletoe State Park in Winfield will celebrate Arbor Day from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the park with a shrub-planting party. For information, call 541-0321.

School lunch menus
Here are school lunch menus for the remainder of the week.

Bridge work
Mike Kessler, a resident of Blue Ridge Crossing, looks at the work being done to the bridge on Blue Ridge Drive over Reed Creek. The road closed Monday morning while repairs were made, and reopen-ed in the afternoon.

Wal-Mart donations
Evans Wal-Mart Supercenter co-manager Chris Gennarelli presents a $2,000 check to Hannah Boone, of United Way. The United Way helps support 21 member agencies and more than 60 programs in the CSRA.

Cop next door has challenge
He's a popular incumbent sheriff in a growing, safe east Georgia county, being challenged by an aggressive, younger candidate who's hoping to take over the county's top law enforcement post.

Defending our airwaves
My all-time favorite television program is probably The Andy Griffith Show.

Is it still 'the economy, stupid'?
Either the critics and I are not reading the same reports, or they're not driving by packed parking lots and waiting 30-45 minutes in a restaurant line as I am. In the familiar words of Sen. Fritz Hollings, "there's a lot of consumin' going on out there."

Consensus needed on tax spending
What a difference a county line makes.In Augusta, geographic and cultural differences are wreaking havoc with a proposed extension of Richmond County's 1-cent, local-option sales tax, or SPLOST.

Bottom Line: AC grad is solid pitch man for Owls
Former Augusta Christian School standout Sammy Reed got his senior baseball season at Kennesaw State University off to a solid start by throwing five innings of two-hit ball, as the Owls blanked Belmont Abbey 7-0 last week.

Athlete Spotlight
Athlete Spotlight: Lakeside High School - Stephen Newman, Michael Clark and Lee Vick.

Comeback robs Lions of region crown
For the eighth straight season a basketball squad wearing red and black won the Georgia Independent Schools Association Region 3-AAA title, but this year's trophy presentation left the Augusta Christian Lions feeling blue.

Tourney losses end hoops season for public schools
The Greenbrier and Lakeside high school girls basketball teams stood toe-to-toe with favored opponents in region playoff action last week, but each team suffered the same fate as the other prep hoop squads in Columbia County.

Lakeside wrestles back title
There's something Sam Jasinski has learned during his four seasons with the Lakeside High School wrestling team - when you fall, there's no choice but to get back up.