Madison native Kendall Sherwood continues her work for TNT

story by michael prochaska
photo special

Madison native Kendall Sherwood began her career interning for a television show titled “The Closer,” starring Kyra Sedgwick.
The show itself is coming to a close this August, but Sherwood, a graduate of Clemson University, has discovered that Hollywood moves fast in generating new opportunities.
In response to her loyalty and hard work, Sherwood will continue working for TNT network on its new drama “Major Crimes,” a spinoff of “The Closer,” that will premiere August 13.

By Isabela Rzeznik
Staff Writer

Public schools are funded through government money, a well-known fact to anyone living in the United States. So why is the Morgan County Foundation for Excellence in Public Education, Inc. fundraising for Morgan County Primary School, Elementary, Middle and High schools? Actually, the answer is in the name, according to Dr. Stan DeJarnett, a member of board of MCFEPE and former superintendent of the Morgan County School System: to bring excellence to public education in Morgan County schools. In order to keep progressing and flourishing, it is essential that the schools continue to advance the education offered.
Formed as a non-profit organization, MCFEPE receives and maintains funds for exclusively educational purposes. Founded in Jan. 2010, MCFEPE set out with a simple and specific goal: to raise money for programs that the public schools in Morgan County might otherwise be unable to pay for.
“We are not in the business of deciding which projects get funding,” explained DeJarnett. Instead, the board of MCFEPE works with the Board of Education and school system’s leaders to finance the programs the Board of Education implements to enhance the educational experience of students in Morgan County.
As of now, just over $2,800 has been donated to the school system, explains Elizabeth Bell, the chair of the board of the MCFEPE. The funding is for the experimental phase of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for MCPS, MCES and MCMS. They have also taken over the dispersal of funds for the dissolved Academic Booster Club, a scholarship program for MCHS. The board is determined to bring the best to the schools in Morgan County and to help fund new programs put into practice by the schools.

Volunteers took part in a work day Saturday, July 14, at Hard Labor Creek State Park cleaning up six miles of trails and creating 2.5 miles of new trails. The East Atlanta branch of SORBA (Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association) is working with Fort Gordon, Augusta, who sent 70 troops to help, all of whom are Second Lieutenants.  Top: Boss man Bill Pflueger (in black), leader of the project, pauses for a picture. Above: Seth Morenzoni cuts down a tree. Left: Arnoldo Martinez (from left), Ryan Owens, Tabitha ''The Boss'' Sassor, Seth Morenzoni and Jason Morehouse are pictured. photos by jesse walker

Printed in the July 19, 2012

photos by jesse walker

Printed in the July 12, 2012 edition

story by michael prochaska
photos by jesse walker

"You’re just a Southern Belle/who fell down a wishing well,” sings Connecticut native Corey Durkin. “You got time to give/You’re more than a silhouette/sleeping in a hospital bed/And I don’t know anything about you, but I want to.”

Durkin was invited by Wes Holt to perform Saturday at the Sunflower Farm Festival in a benefit for Aimee Copeland, a young woman from Snellville who contracted a rare flesh-eating bacteria. Morgan County residents and long-time Sunflower Farm visitors purchased $1 sunflowers that lined the fence around the festival with the proceeds to help pay for Copeland’s medical bills.

Durkin said he was recording in a studio in New York City when Aimee’s father, Andy Copeland posted a Facebook status about his daughter.

“I just got hit really hard by this wave of emotion from this father who is watching his daughter go through this horrible thing and is powerless to help her,” Durkin told audience members before singing “Southern Belle,” a song he wrote for Copeland that took him only two-and-a-half hours to write.

Sunflower patrons came this weekend with a magnanimous heart. About $1,300 was collected during the Cruise for the Cure Golf Cart Parade, in which participants decorated their golf carts in honor of someone battling cancer or a lost loved one. The Helen West Miller family donated $853.

Patrons were, of course, able to cool off from the record breaking heat with homemade ice cream and lemonade, two of many treats offered during an exciting weekend full of activities and sunflower picking.

Printed in the July 5, 2012 edition

profiles by michael prochaska
photos of howard, malone and veasley by michael prochaska, other photos contributed

The face of the Morgan County Board of Education will change this year. The positions of District 1 representative to the school board and District 3 representative to the school board are up for election. The Citizen would like for you to meet them. The District 3 candidates will be in a run-off at July’s end, as will the Democratic candidates in District 1.

Robyn Cook
Madison resident Robyn Cook, D, will run against Erica Veasley, D, and Dick Hodgetts, R, for a District 1 seat on the Board of Education.

Cook, 47, has an undergraduate degree from the University of West Georgia and master’s degree  from the University of Georgia. She has worked in the marketing research industry for more than 20 years, spending the last seven years working remotely in Madison for The NPD Group, an international marketing research company.
“I offer 20 years of marketing research industry experience in both leadership and team roles,” Cook said in an e-mail. “I have the proven ability to gather, analyze and act on the right information needed to make sound decisions about our children’s education…Ultimately, the purpose of our schools is to educate our children so they can live productive, successful lives.”

Cook said her research background would help in implementing a survey system to gauge the importance of specific issues facing the school board

Cook said that in talking to her constituents, parents in her district have concerns about too few post-planning days and a lack of parents elected to the board.