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PARTNERS IN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Left to right: Current student Marcella Floyd, 2008 Graduate Tim Chereck, 2003 Graduate John Prevatte, Current student Chad Stokes, (background) 2008 Graduate Mike Randazzo, 2007 Graduate Richard Francis.

“Since 2003 CGTC has provided training in the field of Metrology for several employees at the Robins AFB Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory (PMEL). Metrology is a very unique specialty which covers a wide spectrum of measurement disciplines. The CGTC Metrology program teaches the basic principles needed by Metrology technicians. We are very pleased with the knowledge and skills of the people that have come to us through this program.”

– Warren M. Hughes Program Manager Kay and Associates, Inc.

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A Unit of the Technical College System of Georgia

volume 4

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number 2

contents departments 5 7 13 45 47

my perspective bulletpoints components of success flipside press

features

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Ruth Knox: In Her Own Words

It’s not that Ruth Knox was destined to lead Wesleyan College. It was that Wesleyan was destined for her leadership. Today, behind the desk of the president’s office is a leader who not only serves the institution she loves, but embraces the community that comes with it.

On The Cover: from left to right Ruth Knox, Virgil Adams, and Beverly Blake

By Jessica Walden

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Intown Influencers

With the excitement of its visionaries at its helm, the College Hill Corridor Commission, a publicprivate partnership between Mercer University and the City of Macon, is making more out of Intown Macon for residents and students by developing properties, creating a pedestrian friendly path, attracting new businesses and engaging students and neighbors.

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By Chris Horne

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Courtroom, Community and the Virtues Along the Way

Attorney Virgil Adams has experienced high profile success since bursting on to the local law scene. But the same man who is on fire in the courtroom is quietly subdued at his home where he enjoys his true loves, wife Paula, dog Jazz and an assortment of jazz music – in that order, of course.

By Ruth Sykes

38 www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

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address Delivering Components of Success

A product of Imedia Group 4360 San Carlos Drive Macon, Georgia 31206 478-314-2285 phone 478-314-2294 fax website: www.imediagroup.biz/addressMacon email: addressMacon@imediagroup.biz Imedia Group Publisher Ronald T. Williams Chairman David S. Canady President Dawn Burkhalter Chief Financial Officer Vicki Mills Vice President Advertising Sales Jessica Walden Editor Cheryl Fitch Graphic Designer Designed & Printed by Imedia Group Photography Ken Krakow Photography www.kenkrakow.com Contributing Writers David S. Canady Chris Horne Allyson Moody Kristen Soles Ruth Sykes Jessica Walden

address Macon is published bi-monthly by Imedia Group.

Copyright address Macon 2008. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited. Advertising rates available on request. The publishers are not responsible for the comments of authors or for unsolicited manuscripts.

Distribution is to business executives and developing young professionals in Bibb and surrounding counties. All manuscripts, photos, drawings, or letters will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes, and as such are subject to address Macon’s unrestricted right to edit or comment editorially.

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Macon’s Business Magazine

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my perspective

How did we collect so much stuff? I have spent several hours over the past few weeks going through the attic, cabinets, closets, drawers and so on finding “stuff ” we paid good money for only to sell at a fraction of the original purchase price. You guessed it – we’re having a garage sale. Fact of the matter is I’m a garage sale pro.

We’ve been through this process several times. So, not only have we collected “stuff ” we are now selling for next to nothing, but we’re repeat offenders. I don’t even want to think about the retail value we paid.

Hopefully, this time we are learning a couple lessons: Beware of impulse purchases. And stuff is just stuff. What seems so important and a “must have” one day quickly becomes someone else’s garage sale find.

So what is important? That’s really a personal decision. We all have personal collections, but for us, the items we have collected over time with sentimental value rather than just aesthetic preferences don’t make it into the garage sale pile. For me, the art in our home would be the most important: paintings by my father-in-law and Steve Penley, along with our children’s art.

Now when it comes to business, from my perspective, we are all learning new lessons these days about what is most important to keep our businesses viable. Our Vice-President Vicki Mills reminds me on a regular basis that when we are marketing our business, it’s not about what we want to tell our customers. It’s ALL about what our customers wants to hear. And they want to hear how we can help grow their business – not grow our own.

Think about it. It makes great sense, but it is harder to do than it seems.

The common thread between the value of personal Something that won't ever make the garage sale pile of Virgil and possessions and good customers is the appreciation of both.

Paula Adams is Paula's Ms. Pac-Man arcade game. The retro find is a sentimental favorite, taking them back to their college courtship days.

Honestly, either can be taken away at a moments notice, but if you care for and appreciate something, someone or someone’s business, then you are more likely to take care of them and therefore maintain their value.

In today’s market place competitive pricing, quality products In business, the key rule is to have your customer’s best interest and turn-around are expected in all transactions. They are very rarely in mind. Most business lectures focus on keeping your bottom line able to be used as differentiating factors anymore. Show your healthy, and we can all agree that is critical. Turn this around and customers you care about their business and their bottom line, and I consider your customer’s bottom line at the same time, and you’ll expect you’ll see yours grow in response. gain insight into what is best suited for your customer and how your business is viable for them.

To our mutual success, Our litmus test for our printing company is not whether a printed piece will win a design award, but rather if will it be effective for our customer’s business. With our magazines, we focus our customer-centric vision on our readers – business professionals and David S. Canady community-minded citizens like you. If you are reading and enjoying Imedia Group our publication, then we are viable for our advertisers.

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Saint Andrews subdivision residence located on the Idle Hour Country Club golf course. Five bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, living room, formal dining room, newly renovated kitchen with large breakfast dining area, family room with gas fireplace, butler's pantry, bonus room, two car garage, walk-in attic, covered patio, pool and golf course frontage.

This home features wood and tile floors and large rooms throughout. The kitchen features a commercial styled 6-burner cook-top with a griddle and dual ovens with full-size separate refrigerator and freezer. The kitchen and butler's pantry offer granite counter tops, two farm house sinks, two dishwashers, and an enclosed washer and dryer.

This property is shown by appointment only.

Inquiries should be made to Mary Moody at SSA.

Mary Moody OFFICE:

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478-746-2000 EXT. 315 CELL: 478-361-8822 mary@marymoody.com 2618 Riverside Dr. • Macon, Ga. 31204 • 800-329-9980

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BULLETPOINTS •••••••••••••••••••••••corporate

business ventures•events•awards•sales reports•moving•new products

Central Georgia Technical College Partners with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Central Georgia Technical College announces the establishment of a formal working partnership with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company that will bring expertise to students in CGTC’s Aircraft Structural Technology program and enhance workforce opportunities with the aerospace giant.

The new partnership will manifest through a relationship with CGTC’s Aircraft Structural Technology program. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will work with CGTC to

provide various information and technical assistance for the instructional program, as well as participate in targeted outreach efforts with area school districts to enhance enrollment in college aerospace programs. Dr. Ronald D. Natale, II, president of Central Georgia Technical College said, “This agreement will allow a strong player in the aerospace industry to create a program which will uniquely benefit our students and, in turn, the region.”

Wesleyan Press Launches its First Book Wesleyan College announces the flagship publication of its new press, The Architectural Works of W. Elliott Dunwody, Jr., FAIA. Written by James E. Barfield and featuring the photography of Walter G. Elliott, the book features architectural photography and insights of many historic Macon homes.

The career of W. Elliott Dunwody (18931986) spanned more than half a century and produced hundreds of residential, commercial

and institutional projects. Fortytwo residential homes in Macon are featured in the book, plus many institutional, academic, religious and commercial projects from the region.

Included in the book’s nearly 200 pages are Dunwody’s architectural drawings, historical reference material and exterior and interior architectural photographs.

Copies of the book available for purchase can be found at Wesleyan College, Barnes & Noble and Golden Bough bookstores.

Butler Manufacturing Company Recognizes Stroud and Company

Pictured are Carl Cottrell, regional sales director, Butler Manufacturing Company, congratulating Charles G. Stroud, president of Stroud and Company on reaching Million Dollar Milestone.

Stroud and Company, a Butler Builder® has been recognized by Butler Manufacturing Company for selling pre-engineered metal buildings in excess of One Million Dollars for 2007.

Stroud and Company has been a dealer for Butler Manufacturing Company for 10 years and has been a Butler Builder® longer than any other contractor in the Central Georgia area.

Butler Manufacturing Company, A BlueScope Steel Company, provides premier pre-engineered metal buildings for commercial use.

The Shoppes at River Crossing Opens Phase II Retailers Since the grand opening of The Shoppes at River Crossing in March 2008, the center has introduced several new retailers. The latest to open is a 132,000-square-foot Belk Department Store, which officially opened on October 15.

Other new retail stores include DSW Shoe Warehouse, Ulta Cosmetics, the area’s first Build-A-Bear Workshop and Merle Norman. In addition to Bonefish Grill, which opened in March, recently opened restaurants include Sticky Fingers, Wild Wing Café and Chili’s.

New retailers and restaurants will continue to open at The Shoppes at River Crossing into the holiday season and 2009, including Wolf Camera, Hallmark, Learning Express, Body Central, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Francesca Collection, Mandarin Express and Figo Pasta.

William Baker, general manger of The Shoppes at River Crossing said, “We are really excited to continue introducing new retail for shoppers to enjoy here. As we continue to www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

grow, our ultimate goal is to create the best possible shopping and dining experience for residents and visitors in the Macon area.”

These new retailers will further compliment all of the stores that opened in March, including Barnes & Noble, Dillard’s, Ann Taylor Loft, Chico’s, Coach, J.Jill and Men’s Wearhouse. For a complete list of retailers and more information, shoppers can visit theshoppesatrivercrossing.com or call 478.254.2940.

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BULLETPOINTS•corporate Security Bank Cycling Team Completes 2008 Season

The Security Bank Cycling Team is made up of 11 Central Georgia athletes who compete in amateur competitive racing events in Georgia and surrounding states during the racing season from March through late September.

The following are a list of team accomplishments for the 2008 season: * State Team Time Trial Winners * Georgia Cup Team Competition Winners * 15 Race Wins * 42 Podium Spots * 118 Top Ten Finishes * 265 Total Races Completed The team placed first and second in the five-day Tour of Atlanta stage race. Most recently, the team captured the Georgia State Championship in the team time trial discipline in Elberton.

Security Bank cycling team members include Jake Andrews, Bill Causey, Jeff Clayton, Chad Davies, Trey Gavin, Ron Hill, Eddie Hudspeth (director), Robert Jordan, Doug Ott, Drew Slocum and Todd Wilson.

Macon Businessman Nominated for the Small Business Person of the Year in Georgia Roland Neel, owner of Private Label Products, has been nominated for the U.S. Small Business Administration 2008 Small Business Person of the Year Award in Georgia by the Macon office of The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center.

The SBA Award recognizes a small business person whose business has been a substantiated business with outstanding growth in sales and profits as well as innovativeness of product, growth in number of employees and response to adversity. The award also goes to a company that shows potential for long-term business growth while providing voluntary community services.

Private Label Products' concept began in the ladies’ department of a multi-generational family-owned department store. A hallmark of the store’s offerings was a line of excellent spa and bath products. After 107 years, the owners decided to close the store, but the customers continued to ask for the spa and bath products. Private Label Products was born to make these products available to meet the demand, but also to put those products to work for businesses that wanted to offer their own line of spa and bath products.

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Macon-Bibb Convention & Visitors Bureau Hosts Annual Meeting The Macon-Bibb Convention & Visitors Bureau held its 28th annual meeting at the Armory Ballroom with over 150 members and supporters of the travel industry in attendance.

In preparation for a challenging year with high gas prices and a downturn in the economy, the CVB invited travel consultant, Berkeley Young of Charlottebased Young Strategies, to discuss the changing habits of the travel consumer.

According to CVB President & CEO Janice Marshall’s state of the industry report, the Macon hospitality industry was “holding its own,” as falling hotel occupancies were taking their toll across the country. Smith Travel Research, a national reporting agency, reported Macon hotel occupancy to be down 2.8 percent with a revenue increase of 1.8 percent or $49,161,301 over last fiscal year due to higher average daily rates. In comparison to other markets, Macon’s hotel occupancy is near the national average of -2.6 percent with nearby Atlanta suffering a 4.9 percent decline.

Promoting Macon’s places to visit, tour, eat and sleep at the Downtown

Visitors Center at 450 MLK Jr. Drive proved successful with the “Around Town Tour” package sales netting $47,478. Reservations to area lodging and referrals to restaurants totaled $106,539.

Macon’s “flat” convention business is expected to grow in the coming year with the addition of the full service Macon Marriott City Center Hotel, which is expected to open in the fall of 2009, and another 1000 new hotel rooms along the I-475 and I-75 corridors operational 2008-2009.

Two awards were bestowed at the meeting to recognize the excellent contributions and achievements of individuals to the travel industry. The 2008 Otis Hughes Spirit of Tourism award was presented to Lynn Cass, recently retired of Macon Arts, for her initiative of advocating the arts and tourism in the city. The winner of the 2008 B.J. Cain Top of the Line award, given to front-line tourism employees embodying the finest qualities of a city ambassador to visitors, was EJ Nobles of the 1842 Inn.

Capital City Bank Opens New Office Capital City Bank officially opened its sixth office in Bibb County. The new 5,367 square-foot office is located at 5981 Zebulon Road.

According to Steve Jukes, president for Bibb County, this new office offers Capital City Bank a superior location in a growing area of the community. “Our associates are committed to Macon and the

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surrounding area, and look forward to continuing to serve as a valuable community partner,” Jukes says. “This new office will allow us to continue building on our goal of out-servicing our larger competitors while offering a greater selection of products and services than smaller institutions.”

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BULLETPOINTS•community Third Week of October Proclaimed “Junior League of Macon Week”

At an October Macon City Council meeting, Mayor Robert Reichert made a presentation of a plaque along with a declaration for “Junior League of Macon Week” in recognition of the impact that the organization of women has had and continues to have on the lives of women and children in the Central Georgia community.

Recently, JLM’s largest fundraiser of the year, Market Place, celebrated its 20th anniversary as a community event. In its previous 19 years, this event alone has put over $1,000,000 back into the community to support causes that improve the health of women and children.

Among the organizations benefiting from the time and talent of trained volunteers and funding from the Junior League of Macon during the 2008-2009 league year are the Alzheimer’s Association, Camp Little Shot, the Children’s Hospital, Cooking for a Cause and Kid’s Boutique, as a partnership with local schools, Jay’s Hope, Komen Race for the Cure, Macon Outreach, Macon Volunteer Clinic, Ms. Wizard with the Girls Scouts of Middle GA, Skills for Success with the Boys and Girls Club, the Teen Parent Center and many more.

JLM, along with the Bibb County Medical Society and Friend’s of the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail have raised over $160,000 and counting to build a handicapped usable multi-sensory KABOOM! playground at what will one day be the trail head of the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail.

The grand opening event for this playground was held November 8. For more information, visit http://jlmacon.org.

Mabel White Baptist Church Dedicates Tori Heard Park

Whitehead Family Honored with Donation

Pictured left to right: Members of the Bibb County Patrol Unit, Bibb County Drug and Vice Unit, Teavin Whitehead, Jacqueline Whitehead and Sheriff Jerry Modena.

The Bibb County Sheriff ’s Department and Bibb County Drug and Vice Unit raised money for the family of fallen deputy, Joseph Whitehead. An account, held at MidSouth Federal Credit Union, was opened in his memory in 2006, and since then, members of the community made donations totaling $11,869.05. Sheriff Jerry Modena presented Deputy Whitehead’s wife, Jacqueline, and son, Teavin, with the donation. Mrs. Whitehead will use the donation to open CDs for her children, which will be put toward their education.

Macon Arts Announces 2008 Cultural Award Winners

Macon Arts Exec.

Director Catharine Liles Sample with Cultural Award winner Kay B. Stephens.

Mabel White Baptist Church hosted a dedication ceremony for the opening of Tori Heard Park on the Mabel White campus on November 23. Tori Heard was an eight-year old girl who was tragically killed in October, 2006, and the park was created in her memory.

The park has been designed to be a multi-use facility for children, families and adults throughout the Central Georgia area. It includes two large, all-purpose playing fields, a playground that will accommodate 55 children at once, a walking/mountain bike trail and areas for quiet meditation and reflection.

Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church is located at 1415 Bass Road. www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

Cultural Award winners Sylvia Haynie, Mike Ford of NewTown Macon and Sally Murphey Heard.

In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month in October, Macon Arts announced the recipients of the 2008 Cultural Awards: Sylvia Haynie, Sally Murphey Heard, Kay B. Stephens, Delma Findlay Watson and NewTown Macon. They have contributed in various ways to the growth and success of many arts organizations in our community and, through their work, tens of thousands of Central Georgians have had access to the arts and unique cultural experiences.

National Arts and Humanities Month continues throughout the month of October with dozens of arts events for Central Georgians to enjoy. For a listing of arts events visit maconarts.org for an interactive calendar powered by 13WMAZ. 9

This year’s Otis Redding Singer/Songwriter Camp was held at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon and proved a resounding success!

Be Sure To Be Attend Next Year!!

June 22-26, 2009 Comments posted by the campers:

“I’m inspired to write and perform my own stuff!”

—DUSTY McCOOK, 14 “I wish we had this camp every day or every week. I love this camp. It has really broadened my horizons, meeting new, inspiring people. This program has really changed my life. Same time, next year?”

—JANEAL FORDHAM, 14 “Thank you. This was great and I learned a lot.”

—FRED BURTON, 16 “Thanks for giving me this great chance.

—VICTORIA RIOS, 14

Visit www.otisredding.com to learn more about The Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation 10

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BULLETPOINTS•community Museum of Arts & Sciences Hosts National Geographic Exhibit The National Geographic Society has launched a number of initiatives in an attempt to improve geographical literacy.

One approach involves a partnership with the country’s largest museum for children: The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Together, these two premier educational organizations created the traveling exhibition National Geographic MAPS: Tools for Adventure. Going to cities across North America and internationally with the goal of reaching an estimated four million visitors, the exhibition is currently scheduled to appear at only one venue in the Southeast: The Museum of Arts and Sciences. It is currently on display through January 11, 2009.

The exhibition is filled with activities to help visitors navigate through new, interactive technologies and ancient mapping techniques. In the Explorers School, children and families will manipulate and study historical and contemporary maps to learn how they are used as tools for adventure. Younger children can engage in hands-on experiences, incorporating current geo-technology, as they learn about maps and globes.

However, this exhibition is not just about reading maps. Visitors will also travel on virtual journeys with world renowned explorers.

Dynamic elements within the exhibit are grouped by land, sea, air and space exploration.

For more information, visit masmacon.com.

Macon Animal Care Improvement Fund Established at Community Foundation of Central Georgia In an effort spearheaded by Macon City Councilwoman Nancy White and Councilman Larry Schlesinger, the Macon Animal Care Improvement Fund was established at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, with the purpose of improving the control and care of Macon and Bibb County’s stray animal population. The fund will be used for projects such as funding Macon’s start-up capital and equipment costs for the transition from euthanasia by gas chamber to lethal injection, construction of a new shelter and improving the general animal welfare within Macon and Bibb County.

An oversight committee, consisting of leaders and animal lovers from the Macon/Bibb County community, appointed by the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, will serve as advisors to the fund. The five-member committee will accept written proposals from the City of Macon and/or its non-profit partners for animal control and shelter, and submit formal grant requests to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia and the foundation’s board of directors.

Fundraising is underway and recently an anonymous donor of the Community Foundation announced a one-for-two matching challenge grant. For every $2 raised, the donor will make a $1 grant from their Community Foundation donor advised fund, up to $12,500. This generous gift confirms the level of support the community has for our local animal population and reiterates the need for change with animal control in Macon and Bibb County.

If you are interested in contributing to the Macon Animal Care Improvement Fund, please send your checks, made payable to the Community Foundation for the Animal Fund, to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, 277 MLK, Jr. Blvd., Suite 303, Macon, GA, 31201. For more information contact the Community Foundation at 478.750.9338 or send an email to info@cfcga.org.

Mercer School of Medicine Awarded Grant to Study Community-Based Diabetes Prevention The Mercer School of Medicine, which last year celebrated its 25th anniversary, has been awarded the largest one-time grant in the history of the school. The National Institutes of Health will provide the Department of Family Medicine at the School of Medicine with $3.1 million to conduct a five-year study of the Church-Based Diabetes Prevention and Translation program.

The study, to take place in African-American churches in Macon and Hartford, Conn., will combine the efforts of the faith community, health and educational institutions. “The rate of diabetes in African Americans is among the highest in the country,” said Dr. John Boltri, a Mercer professor of family medicine who will serve as the principal investigator for the research team. “Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease, blindness and kidney disease, accounting for more than 18 percent of all U.S. medical costs.”

The CBDPT is a community-based program designed to prevent diabetes by partnering with churches to teach lifestyle improvement through healthy diet and physical activity. The goal is to decrease the burden of suffering and health disparities from diabetes in the African American community.

Dr. Boltri said. “The church-based program is relatively brief and inexpensive, and suitable for widespread dissemination. Our previous collaborative interventions with Middle Georgia churches have resulted in significant and sustained reductions in blood sugar, weight and blood pressure,” he said.

Dr. Boltri said the project will contribute to a greater understanding of community-based health promotion for preventing diabetes complications.

“This project is a great opportunity for collaboration between Mercer, the Medical Center of Central Georgia and the community to decrease diabetes complications in African Americans,” he said.

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BULLETPOINTS•education Wesleyan College Featured in Princeton Review Annual College Guide Wesleyan College offers students an outstanding undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The New York-based education services company features the college in the new 2009 edition of its annual book, “The Best 368 Colleges.” Only about 15 percent of the four-year colleges in America and two Canadian colleges were chosen for the book. It has two-page profiles of the schools and student surveybased ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories.

In its profile on Wesleyan College, The Princeton Review gave the college an Academic Rating of 90 high with scores for interesting and

accessible faculty. The College’s Quality of Life Rating is listed at 89.

The profile also quotes extensively from Wesleyan students surveyed for the book.

Among their candid comments: “giving exceptional women exceptional education at an affordable price” and “you will love every minute here, especially if participating in lots of traditions appeals to you.”

The ranking lists in the 2009 edition of “The Best 368 Colleges” are based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 120,000 students (about 325 per campus on average) attending the 368 colleges in the book

U.S. News Ranks Mercer Among Top 10 Schools in the South for 10th Consecutive Year For the 10th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Mercer University among the top 10 comprehensive universities in the South.

Mercer is ranked No. 8 in the South in the 2009 “Best Universities-Master’s” category. The university has been ranked in the top 15 in that category for 19 consecutive years.

The university also claimed a spot in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices,” ranking No. 6, while Mercer University’s School of Engineering also repeated its national ranking among the top 50 schools focused on undergraduate engineering.

In the ranking for “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs,” Mercer’s School of Engineering placed 38th nationally, tied with 13 other engineering schools. Mercer is one of only four engineering schools in the South in the ranking. Since its establishment in 1986, Mercer School of Engineering has developed a strong reputation among employers in the state and is the single largest source of engineers for Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins.

Mount de Sales Academy Partners with Mercer University during National Peace Week

Mount de Sales Academy partnered with Mercer University to host Dr. Pakinam el Sharkawy, a Fulbright Scholar and an associate professor of political science at Cairo University. Dr. Sharkawy was a special speaker during Mount de Sales’ International Peace Week celebration. She also spent several weeks at Mercer University as part of the school’s effort to foster a greater understanding of the Muslim world. Dr. El Sharkawy holds a Ph.D. in comparative politics and development from Cairo University and has written and lectured extensively on a range of critical issues.

While in Macon, Dr. Sharkawy spoke in two World Religions classes during the school day and at a special evening event for both parents and students. Her topic, “Is there Peace without Justice? A Muslim Outlook” and interaction with her audience provided those present with a broadened perspective of the Middle East and the Muslim world.

MidSouth Donates to Volunteers in Public Schools

Georgia Partnership Announces First Education Policy Fellowship Program Class The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education has announced the names of its inaugural class of Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) participants. Doris Christopher, chief administrative officer, Center for Graduate and Professional Learning, Georgia College and State University, and Julie Pennybacker, executive director, Education First, were among the 22 selectees from across the state who will spend nine months developing a broadened understanding of the policy process within the multifaceted context of education and related issues.

EPFP is a national program now being conducted in 16 states. It is a professional development program that provides potential leaders with the knowledge and networks to advance the core issues of education policy.

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MidSouth Federal Credit Union Branch Manager Tim Becham recently presented a check to Community Affairs & Public Relations Specialist for the Bibb County School District Chris Floore. This donation will support the Bibb County School District’s Volunteer in Public Schools program. In 20072008, 10,768 volunteers donated 177,466.5 hours to the Bibb County School District.

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components of success

address Macon is a champion for business and delivers components of success for business, economic development, quality of life and lifestyles. Discover the products, services and resources available in our community and benefit from our collective success.

Photography by Ken Krakow Visit online at kenkrakow.com

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dining

Nutcracker of Middle Georgia Presents

at The Grand Opera House December 10-14 Adults $20 Students $10

Tickets may be purchased at 400 Poplar St. or The Grand Opera House Box Office, (478) 301-5470

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Ken Krakow.com

Carrying On

Lamar Fortson

July 22, 2007 changed the lives of Lamar Fortson and his family forever. Fortson, his wife Vicki, and their children – nine-year-old Ariel, seven-year-old Erin, four-year-old Tamara, and three-month-old Victor – were traveling home on Interstate 75 from Valdosta after what Fortson refers to as a “business trip/mini-vacation.”

Vicki was driving.

Lamar and Vicki Fortson were the owners of Fortson Cleaning Services, a commercial janitorial business, based in Macon with clients throughout Central and South Georgia. Established in 1994, Fortson Cleaning Services had proved to be a successful venture for the couple. “Business was going well,” says Fortson. “It had its ups and downs as small businesses go.” They had a payroll of 35 employees and clients that included a number of large companies and a string of banking institutions.

“In fact, we were returning from seeing clients in the Valdosta area when the accident occurred,” Fortson recalls. Near Tifton, Vicki lost control of the car, which ran off the road and flipped several

times. All six family members were ejected. Fortson, who had suffered a severely broken leg and wrist and concussion, was transported to a local hospital for stabilization. Ariel, Erin and Victor were taken to The Children’s Hospital at The Medical Center of Central Georgia, where Ariel’s condition was reported as critical. Unfortunately, Vicki and four-year-old Tamara did not survive the crash.

In the wake of what many would feel a nearly unbearable tragedy, Fortson, indeed, had a number of obstacles facing him as he lay in the hospital. He had not only lost his wife and a child, he had another child seriously injured, he would need to undergo three leg surgeries and learn how to walk again through a year of physical therapy, and there was no one to run the business.

Vicki’s death was a tremendous blow to the company, since she handled all of the managerial operations. Fortson points out, “Vicki handled all the administrative – all the books, everything.”

In danger of losing the business he and his late wife had built together – a dream they had realized, Fortson says he never was out of work completely, despite his five-month incapacitation. “I kind of managed everything from the hospital through my cell phone and radio. I had some good employees working for me, too. I just tried to keep in my right frame of mind to do work both at the hospital and at home, so that’s how I [kept the business going].”

Despite Fortson’s best efforts to keep Fortson Cleaning Services afloat during his recuperation, he still lost about half his clients, mostly in South Georgia. He had to lay off a number of employees, as well. “But,” he says, “I am very thankful to the local clients who have stuck by me. They’ve been integral in helping me keep the business running. And there are so many other people in the community who have been generous in helping me get back on my feet – people I don’t even know who have been generous to me and my family – and I’d like to thank them.”

A little over a year into the family’s healing, Fortson says they are all doing much better. “I’m able to get out and look for new clients, so [the business] is pretty good. It could be better, but I’m quite sure that once the economy is up again, we should be okay.”

Ariel, who was sent to The Children’s Hospital with critical injuries has fully recovered and was recently named Children’s Miracle Network’s ambassador for Georgia in the Champions Across America program sponsored by Wal-Mart. The program underscores the life-saving work done in children’s hospitals throughout the United States, Canada and Ireland. “My kids give me the drive to keep going,” shares the proud dad.

Fortson’s unyielding spirit coupled with the humanity of friends and strangers alike are the foundation on which he will build back the business he and Vicki built together. He will do it for her; he will do it for his children; he will do it for himself. “You’ve just got to keep moving forward – keep living life.”

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At Last

milestone

Tony Dorsey & Mary Holmes

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Ken Krakow.com

Veteran musicians Tony “Bone” Dorsey and Mary Holmes’ tune has recently changed. The Macon couple, now in their 40th year of marriage, rode a wave of success in the entertainment industry that took them around the world. They created a career as sought-after musicians who rarely had a weekend off – for several decades. Now newly retired, they are happy to be home.

“After all these years of performing, it is now time for us to sit down and rest,” says Dorsey.

Dorsey and Holmes first met in the late sixties where Holmes, a gifted singer, was singing with Joe Tex. Dorsey, a trombonist and arranger, was writing music for Tex’s band. “It was love at first sight,” recalls Holmes.

The two married in 1968 and lived in Philadelphia for a couple of years until hearing about the success of the Macon-based Capricorn Records. With their newborn daughter in tow, the couple settled in East Macon. Holmes happily fell into the role of motherhood, singing occasionally at local clubs. Dorsey went to work for the label’s artists whose music included a horn section.

“The music of that time did not require arrangers, so I went on the road. I was a back-up artist to Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge, Joe Simon, Johnny Teller and Al Greene,” he casually mentions with a wistful smile.

When Paul McCartney asked Dorsey to play with him in 1975, the couple jumped at the opportunity and spent the next five years touring with Paul McCartney and Wings. Holmes recalls the mania surrounding McCartney with a shake of her head, saying, “I never could understand why women would scream and cry.”

After the Wings tour concluded in 1980, the couple had their second daughter and Holmes and Dorsey started their own band, Bone Holmes & Friends. “The prestige from working with Paul gave me the ability to get good players,” Dorsey explains.

“The group was kind of wild,” Holmes says, laughing, recalls their most popular cover tunes, which ranged from the ballad “At Last” to the crowd-pumping “Shout.”

“At first, it was just that we wanted to play music together. And Mary was a great singer, so it worked,” says the proud Dorsey.

The couple was no longer just performing together. Their traveling act made them business partners. They took their show on the road for over 30 years, making a full-time career out of performing at private parties, festivals and special events and living up to their moniker as the “the ultimate dance and party band.”

The couple slowly stepped into retirement, reducing their band to just their combo under the bill of Bone & Holmes. But the couple learned that as long as they were playing, the road could go on forever, and it was up to them to come (and stay) home. “This year, we just finally said we can’t do it,” Dorsey admits.

However, the talented vocals that kept the couple busy can still be heard on Sunday mornings in the choir at Beulahland Bible Church, where Holmes sings her heart out and Dorsey does the arrangements.

It goes to prove Bones and Holmes may be retired, but Tony and Mary will never stop making music.

Allyson Moody

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Ken Krakow.com

The long-reaching effects of a breast cancer diagnosis are all too diagnosis to the family, meal vouchers and a summer camp for familiar to Laura Paxton, executive director of the non-profit Bunko children ages four to sixteen. All are offered at no charge.

“Even grandchildren can be affected by a breast cancer for Breast Cancer. After her mother Sandy Union was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, a rigorous treatment schedule which included diagnosis,” says Paxton. “If we can reduce the fear in a child and help surgery, chemotherapy and radiation sessions soon took over both support the family during this difficult time, then we have succeeded in our mission.” the mother and daughter’s lives.

While the Bunko for Breast Cancer event is still the major “When my mom was diagnosed, I had a three-year-old son and a three-month-old daughter, and I was her primary caregiver,” Laura fundraiser, this organization goes well beyond its annual celebration explains. Between her mother’s countless appointments and of life. Union’s vision to give back to the local community has treatments, supporting her own husband and father, plus starting a grown far greater than she ever dreamed. Paxton, her daughter and new business and caring for her two children, Paxton had little time caregiver, has built a legacy she will cherish for a lifetime and beyond.

With the last Bunko for Breast Cancer a sell-out event, raising to manage her own fears and concerns. She found herself longing for over $42,000, next year’s event will hold 416 seats – the biggest more information and support.

Then, in 2005, after completing her treatments, Union organized yet – and will take place on February 27th, 2009. The bar is set high, a bunko event in Macon to help give back to the community. “The the community of survivors continues to grow, and more and more event started out as a party to celebrate my mother’s journey,” women are rolling the dice for a good cause. explains Paxton. “During the survivor ceremony, I was overcome with emotion and quickly realized I wanted to get involved in the Allyson Moody next year’s event.” In 2007, after raising $50,000 for the local community, Paxton led Bunko for Breast Cancer to grow from an annual fundraiser into a registered non-profit organization.

From left to right: Beach Buddies Coordinator Donna Rumph; Board Treasurer Stephanie As executive director, Paxton Surles; Board President Sandy Union; and Executive Director Laura Paxton oversees the daily business decisions, solicits donations and spearheads the mission of Bunko for Breast Cancer.

Her mother serves as president of the board of directors.

Bunko for Breast Cancer’s mission was driven by the need for support for the “whole” family affected by a breast cancer diagnosis. “We are seeing an increase in the number of young women being diagnosed.

These women, typically age 50 and below, have different needs and responsibilities than survivors like my mother who was diagnosed at age 60,” Paxton explains. “Our programs were designed to support these needs.”

The organization currently offers bi-monthly support for these young survivors, simultaneous meetings for their children, bi-monthly family outings, children’s books to help explain the

address

development

Around the Corner Joycine’s Art, Attitude and Accessory Gallery has long been a part of Macon’s downtown retail scene. After nearly five decades at their Cherry Street location, the store recently moved to Cotton Avenue, “just around the corner” from their previous location, as owner Barbara Barry-Nishanian describes, adding “the path to long deferred dreams is not always a straight path [but is] sometimes just around the corner.”

Originally established in Vienna, Georgia in 1945 by Nadine Barry, the store moved to Macon in 1951. Now owned by Nadine’s daughter, Barry continues to strive “to bring out the best in [their] customers.” Jewelry (“virgin vintage” as described by BarryNishanian), art from a number of mediums and high fashion hats are just some of the items found at the funky boutique.

Customer service dating back to the 50s is still very much alive at Joycine’s. Advice is free and browsing is highly encouraged at the business that remains one of the longest-running retail operations in Macon.

Barry continues to live her dream. At the new location, she was able to found the Barbara Barry Creative Studio, where she can

expand her painting classes. Her husband Peter Nishanian teaches drawing and perspective classes to round out the “curriculum” offered. In addition, Barry’s non-profit organization, Art Partners and Friends, established to give art classes to talented students who could otherwise not afford them, is thriving.

Though Barry admits to recently turning 70, she declares with gusto, “I am not retiring. That word is not in my vocabulary. I just love life, and I don’t want to stop until I am made to stop.”

Barry’s background is as eclectic as her store’s merchandise. In 1963 she was the recipient of the prestigious Reed and Barton’s Southern Women’s Achievement Award for the state of Georgia. “That was a highlight of my life, and I was honored in New York City alongside Carol Burnett, Patricia Neal and Harper Lee,” she recalls, eyes gleaming. She has worked as a textile designer, studied at the Ringling School of Art in Florida and graduated with honors from the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York, where she met her husband.

One of the first downtown merchants to embrace downtown’s First Friday event five years ago, Barry has donated a portion of Joycine’s First Friday sales to the Alzheimer’s Association. Additionally, Joycine’s has partnered with Child’s Heart, a bereavement program. Barry serves as vice president of the Middle Georgia Art Association and is a member of the Macon Arts Roundtable. She credits staying busy for keeping her so young at heart.

A self-declared “feisty little lady,” Barry cites her mother Nadine as an inspiration. “Back then, there were no organizations to help a woman entrepreneur, and I truly believe my mother was a pioneer.” Barry attributes that inherited tenacity to her success as a business woman, and also quickly points out her “director of Joycine’s” and only employee, Kim Mason.

As Joycine’s enters another decade in a new location, it continues to reflect that same mother/daughter “feisty little lady” legacy that has made it a downtown retail mainstay.

Ken Krakow.com

Allyson Moody

Barbara Barry-Nishanian

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An Easy Sell

Jack Morrone

The landscape at most college campuses is different – sculpted hedges, arches, pristine sidewalks from one building to the other.

This one is a hard tile path past a row of busy, industrial deep fryers, past the prep cooks hustling seafood to meet demand, back to the little five-by-five foot office where the Jack Morrone School of Good Business holds court. Though he is no professor, he could fit in with them on appearance alone, the way he wears his jacket and perfectly circular tortoise shell glasses. But it’s his entrepreneurial knowledge and expertise that have made him a master.

“Young people are always coming to me with their ideas,” Morrone says, “about two a month. And the first thing I ask them is: ‘Have you talked to anyone who will actually buy it?’ That’s the key.”

If anyone should know, then Jack Morrone would. He has had several successes –including the invention of the turkey deep fryer –

and to hear him tell it, several more failures, like the selfpropelled wheelbarrow. Although some success hinges on dumb luck (the wheelbarrow was felled by a manufacturer who went bankrupt), Morrone says the single biggest common factor is whether or not it will sell.

It’s a lesson he’s been learning since he left college and began work with Exxon, overseeing the construction and management of 20 gas stations in West Virginia and Kentucky.

He then partnered on a boat and camper distributorship, which is actually what brought him to Macon.

“That was 33 years ago,” he says, foreshadowing the rush of moves he’s made in that time. “I stayed on in Macon after splitting from my two partners and opened a distributorship for Venture Campers. And I purchased the Meter’s Mattress Factory.

And I purchased the Quick Seal Radiator Stop Leak Company, and I sold it to BP.” Then one day, Morrone bought a fish cooker manufacturing plant, which he ran for 25 years. “As a result of having purchased the fish cooker plant, I invented the first deep fryer for deep frying turkeys.” It was practically a special request for a friend who wondered if Morrone’s company had anything big enough for turkeys, again proving that invention can be driven as much by its sellability, as its fulfillment of need. He not only had his first sale, but a whole market in New Orleans waiting for a ready-made solution for their turkey-frying addiction.

And now, six years after he left the 2.5 million units sold, Jack Morrone is back in front of a fryer, only this time it’s strictly seafood. Corky Bell’s is an institution in Macon. When he showed up one day to eat, it was closed and the lights were off. And that’s when a light went on for him. So he bought it.

Staying in the old building wasn’t an appealing option, but he wanted to keep virtually everything else, so he hired the 22 employees, cracked open the old recipe book and started scouting new locations. He settled on a building on the north side of town, near the I-75, where growth has been common.

“People already love Corky Bell’s; now we’re just trying to let people know we’re here,” he says.

They recently added outdoor seating, and the interior is festive and lively, thanks to his wife, Michael Morrone. In fact, it was her vision for a real family restaurant – no televisions or loud noises so the family could actually (gasp!) talk – that rounded out the improvements they decided to make on this long-time local favorite.

This experience, too, gets back to what Morrone says is the hardest part of every new venture. “You have got to do your research to find out who your customer is.” Everything else is tailored from there to suit their wants and wishes.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but Jack Morrone knows marketability is its daddy – without a sale, even great ideas perish.

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Chris Horne

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I

t’s not that Ruth Knox was destined to lead Wesleyan College. It was that Wesleyan College was destined for her leadership. A 1975 graduate, Knox used the best of her Wesleyan experience to enter law school and carve out a high-profile career as a successful Atlanta attorney. Still, she never went far from her Wesleyan roots. For

almost two decades, she served in various volunteer roles – from alumnae association president to chairman of the board of trustees – driven by her passion for the education provided at the historic, all-female college. It was almost natural that in 2002, she was asked to fulfill the role as interim college president. But what was more fitting was the role came naturally. A year later, Ruth Knox became the 24th president of Wesleyan College and the first alumnae to hold that position.

Today, behind the desk in the president’s office is a leader who not only serves the institution she loves, but embraces the community that comes with it.

Ruth Knox sat down with address Macon and spoke candidly about her life on

and off the campus.

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Ruth Knox, the Student

Q

You graduated from both college and law school magna cum laude. Did academics come easy for you?

The key to academic success – if that’s what you want to call it – for me is preparation. So the answer is no, it doesn’t come easily. I had to work hard and still do have to work hard, which is not a bad thing. I’m not terribly gifted naturally.

I did, and I think that’s been the case my whole life. I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember and that probably made me naturally go in the direction of English, which was my major. Law is not all that different either – lots of reading, thinking and analyzing, which I enjoy.

Q

Was there ever any subject you ever had to put that extra effort into?

I’m really very lucky that when I was here at Wesleyan, the requirements for science and math weren’t terribly strict. I joke now – I love Taylor Hall, which we’re renovating now – but I only went into the building twice, for two classes, the entire time I was at Wesleyan; one math, one science. So no, those subjects do not come easily for me. And in law school, I had a similar feeling about tax law, which I did not enjoy at all. I didn’t take many tax courses, and I regret in all those instances that I didn’t force myself to do more. I have had to teach myself. But that’s one of the wonderful things about a liberal arts degree – you learn how to teach yourself. Particularly in the law practice, though, my job would have been easier if I had had a better background in tax.

Even now when we have student scholarly presentations, I go to the ones in science and math, and I am just amazed at what these young women are studying and how they can get up and talk about their research without any notes. I don’t comprehend much.

Q

Was there a mystique to Wesleyan for you growing up?

Oh, very much. Very much. I’ve told this often, but when I was a little girl and was not outside, which I was most of the time, but when I was inside on a rainy day or whatever, my favorite books were my mother’s yearbooks. And I just pored over the pictures of the young women who seemed so glamorous

26

better because it’s inclusive. Everyone is a part of the class. And maintaining those traditions is part of what makes Wesleyan so special now.

STUNT – I think we’ve been doing these shows for 112 years now – is a class competition. Each class elects a committee. The committee then writes an original musical production under a lot of rules . . . The committee reads it to the class, the class members then audition and two weeks later, it’s on stage . . .

A STUNT Cup is awarded.

Ken Krakow.com

Q

Did you enjoy the education experience?

to me. And these were the ‘30s and ‘40s, so they had their senior pictures taken in formal wear. But at the same time, I saw pictures of the students playing soccer, which I knew nothing about. We didn’t play soccer in Thomson [Georgia]. The photos showed girls playing soccer and basketball and riding horses and painting and performing in plays. And they were just so glamorous. So that, more than anybody telling me that I should go to Wesleyan, is the reason I wanted to attend Wesleyan. I was just drawn into it. And then of course, my sister came to Wesleyan, too, and I was older by that time, but I was still impressionable. I was 12 or 13 when she was here, and I looked at her [yearbooks], too. By that time, the students had the “Villager” look – the John Romain pocketbooks – but they, too, were glamorous. I came over to visit her, and that was the clincher.

Q

Was there ever any question you would attend Wesleyan in your family?

Not really. The decision certainly wasn’t forced upon me, though; I made it on my own. When I was a senior in high school, I thought about a couple of other places, but I didn’t actually apply anywhere else.

Q

Now, tell me about being a Golden Heart, and is it traditions like this that are part of the Wesleyan experience?

Q

Did your class win?

We won once. And I had the great privilege of being in that STUNT. It was a satire on the funeral industry. Which sounds bizarre, but it was really quite wonderful. Very, very clever. And I was a dancing mortician. There were 12 of us in top hats and tails. The show was really very funny.

Well, of course, the luck of the draw made me a Golden Heart. Because every year the classes rotate, so you don’t choose – you are what you are. I just love being a Golden Heart. I would have been fine if I’d been a Green Knight, or Pirate, or Purple Knight, which are the other three classes, but the What was your first day arriving on camGolden Heart group is a sisterhood unto pus as a student like? itself. Many times, the first question with My most vivid memory about that day is alumnae who don’t know each other is, ‘What class are you?’ We form connections the reaction of my parents when they left. Of with people who weren’t here at the same course, I do remember also that it was very hot, as you can imagine, and my dad had on a time, just by being in that same group.

The class system is vitally important coat and tie and only took them off after he because it gives everyone an identity and had made several runs from the car to my builds camaraderie, and of course we do have room. But that was just the time. My mother healthy competitions through the classes, too was dressed up, too. I was the last of their four – sports competitions, “STUNT,” our theatre children. My mother, who was very, very stoic, production. The class is Virgil like a&sorority but and daddy, who was the emotional one, both Paula Adams

Q

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Pictured second from left, Ruth Knox in the 1974 Washboard Band, a student-organized band and Wesleyan campus icon since 1953.

just dissolved into tears when they left me. It was so unlike her to do that. To this day, I don’t quite know what that was all about, but that’s what I most remember; moving into my room in Persons Hall and my parents leaving, sad that they were letting their little baby girl go away to college.

Q

At one point you thought of teaching.

What changed your mind?

I’m not exactly sure how that happened.

I think I got so interested in the English classes I was taking that I didn’t want to make time for the education classes I needed in order to be a teacher. I wasn’t being thoughtful about my career – I wish I could tell you that I was but I was not. I was following my heart and studying the things I wanted to study, and I just didn’t want to take the education classes. So I didn’t. By the time I got to be a junior, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. And I just started thinking about it. My father was a lawyer, my brother is a lawyer, I knew about that, I knew what it was like – at least what a small town practice was like – so I took the LSAT and did well enough to get into law school, and that’s what I did.

The decision wasn’t as thoughtful as I wish it had been, but it worked out fine.

pointing. There was some of that. But from the practice side, I really enjoyed almost everything I did. And I handled a pretty wide variety of cases. I think two career highlights came from a couple of clients I worked for, and the reason I liked them so much is because I could see the good that was coming from the work we were doing at the firm. The first was MARTA – we were actually involved in the building of the transit system and acquiring property and working with land owners and creating some rather complex legal structures to allow buildings to be built near the MARTA stations. It was just fascinating work. Really fascinating work. And then the second one was the new Underground Atlanta. After the Underground Atlanta of the

‘60s struggled, Underground Atlanta came back in the ‘80s, and that, too, was so rewarding. We could see the good that was going to come and in fact did come to the city of Atlanta in both cases. I was working with a group of terrific people, and it was challenging, challenging commercial real estate work.

Q

You have served Wesleyan in so many different capacities after you graduated and before you became president. Did this role come naturally for you?

In a way. But probably more important is that serving in all those capacities helped me know the people of Wesleyan – and by that I mean not only the people who work here,

Ruth Knox, the Business Woman

Q

You spent 24 years practicing law. What do you consider your highs and lows?

I didn’t have any lows in the substantive sense. When you’re in a big law firm and work with lots of people, there are always going to be internal politics that are disap-

Ruth Knox in 1975, her senior year at Wesleyan College. She is one of 15 women in her family to attend Wesleyan.

but the alumnae, the trustees and the friends.

That’s so critical – to understand the culture.

Understand what motivates people. Why they care so much. And helping make connections between the Wesleyan they knew and what we are doing now. Certainly serving in all those previous roles helped me a lot.

Q

Was there ever any hesitation?

A little bit. But surprisingly, I didn’t have much hesitation about the career change.

Practicing law for 24 years was a wonderful experience, but when I stepped back from it I realized I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I was going to. So that part wasn’t particularly hard. But saying goodbye to clients was extraordinarily hard. The day to day practice I didn’t miss, but dealing with my clients, I really hesitated about that because I had some wonderful long-time clients. And I cared about them deeply and still do . . . And then I had some hesitation about leaving the life I had in Atlanta. I’d lived in Atlanta for 24 years, had made some wonderful friends there, and just not seeing those friends on a regular basis was a little bit of a difficult transition.

Q

What about going from a big city to Macon?

That was not hard at all. I grew up in a very small town. Didn’t take me a lot of time to adjust to living in the big city, but Macon is the right size community for me. And of course, just by virtue of my role here at Wesleyan, people were so warm and welcoming. Perhaps they would have been anyway, but I felt a part of the community almost immediately. That was lovely. So any trepidation that I had went away pretty quickly.

Q

What about your first day coming into this office – was there any parallel to your first day as a student?

Well, the situations were different, because when I came here my first day in this office, I had no idea that I was coming to stay.

I was appointed as an interim president. So I was excited. In some ways it was like that first day as a student because I had a mixture of confidence and skepticism – apprehension maybe is the better word, about whether I could do this. But what was different is I had

no idea I was going to stay as long as I did.

This current role was expected to last six months, and six months turned into six years pretty quickly.

Q

You often talk about Wesleyan graduates taking risks with their careers. Do you think you have done this?

Ken Krakow.com

Oh sure. And I use my own classmates as examples of what the Wesleyan experience does for women. My college roommate, for example, majored in history, pretty quickly went to grad school, got a masters in journalism, became a writer for a newspaper, did a wonderful job with that, got married, had children, continued to work and then, for some reason, gave all that up to become a communications director for a museum. A completely different job from anything she had ever done.

And it was a real risk. To go from the security of working for the Orlando newspaper to doing this other job that she’d never done before, and she still is doing it exceedingly well. I have lots of other examples like hers – where confidence in your ability allows you to try something new and do it well. I think that is taking a risk. Moving from one career to another is a big risk. In my case, probably the biggest risk I ever took was moving from a partnership in a relatively large firm in Atlanta to a two-person partnership, where we didn’t know if any of the clients that we had were going to come with us. And they did, and we did fine. And then I went from there to being all on my own.

Q

Do you think there is such thing as failure when you take a risk?

I don’t know. In the law, for example, if you take the risk and go to the smaller firm and it fails, you still have your legal education; you still have your legal training and you can find another job, so it’s a calculated risk. I don’t advocate taking risk for the sake of risk. I’m an advocate of thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons, realizing you might not make it, but in all likelihood you will, and if you don’t, what are you going to do? So I thought about all that before I actually did it. And even if the new venture fails miserably, it’s worth it. You wouldn’t have made the change in the first place if you were happy where you were, right? I guess the bottom line is, if you want something, you want a change, you want to try something new, whatever you want, if you want it enough, it’s going to be worth the risk. And it all goes back to that very first question you asked me – you’ve prepared, done your homework, you can do it. You can handle it. And that’s the kind of thing we try to teach our students.

Ruth Knox, the Servant Leader

Q

How do you want servant leadership to radiate on campus?

I want service to be ingrained in the Wesleyan education, because that is part of our history from the beginning. My image of the Wesleyan woman, based on years of experience, is someone who is talented, capable, prepared, whose life –sometimes in dramatic ways, sometimes not – is dedicated to helping others and being a part of something bigger than herself. So, I wanted to make sure that was an intentional part of the Wesleyan experience now . . . That’s why we created the Lane Center for Community Engagement and Service – to make sure our students have lots of opportunities to serve in the community and to understand that Wesleyan is not isolated but rather is very much a part of Macon, Bibb County and Central Georgia.

Part of our role as an institution is to help improve the quality of life of those around us.

That’s why we created the Center and the programs at the Center, including the two most visible: Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table, which already existed but which we have embraced and expanded, and WOW! Day, our twice a year days of service to the community. The other piece is making service a part of the academic experience, where we still have a way to go. We have some classes with service as part of the curriculum – like an accounting class that helps with a tax preparation program organized by the Macon Housing Authority. That’s just an easy example of what I’m talking about – making the connection between what you’re studying and what you’re going to do with that knowledge to make the world better. And we have to be more intentional still about including service as part of the classroom experience.

Completing one or two service learning classes should be a requirement to graduate from Wesleyan. We aren’t there yet, but I hope we will be soon.

Q

You do so much in our community. Do you consider yourself an example of putting this to action?

I don’t do what I do in order to be an example. That’s not what motivates me. I’m serving causes that I care about and love and think I can help. But if being an example is a by-product, that’s fine. And maybe it is. I’ve tried to get involved in causes that matter to me. And again, I have to have something of value to give that helps the

organization. Education First is an example because we’re in the business of education here, too. One of our strongest programs is teacher education, so it’s logical that I would try to help with the education system in Macon. The Tubman Museum – same thing. Wesleyan has a wonderful art program, and we have a wonderfully diverse student body, so that’s natural. And both the college and I have a deep connection with Mulberry Street United Methodist Church because faith is a very important part of the Wesleyan experience, too.

Georgia Women of Achievement is another, where its mission of recognizing important women in history interests me and the organization actually started here at Wesleyan. So I really enjoy this kind of service.

Ruth Knox, the College President

Q

You developed your long-term vision to involve a series of academic centers. Why? Two reasons. The first is to get our students more involved in the community, and the second is to help the community know Wesleyan and get involved with Wesleyan.

We say we want to bring the community to Wesleyan and take Wesleyan out into the community. We picked four areas where Wesleyan has particular strengths. The first one I’ve already talked about – the Lane Center for Community Engagement & Service. Through the Center for Women in Science and Technology, as an example, our students go out into the public schools and take their science experiments with them.

Last year, we had students from the fourth grade come here and conduct experiments around our lake, then go into our brand new Munroe Science Center and look at everything under these really cool microscopes. The Center for the Creative and Performing Arts sponsors art exhibits, musical performances, that sort of thing. When the community comes here, we hope we are enriching the cultural life of the area, just as we are when our students go out and sing and perform in the community as well. And with the Center for Educational Renewal, we are having a direct impact on the community by training teachers in non-traditional ways, all of whom are committed, every single one of them, to teaching in Bibb County public schools. We’ve started all the centers, but they’re all still in their infancies. We have lots of dreams to accomplish yet. And we will. www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

Q

What about Wesleyan as a “ClimateNeutral Campus”?

I read about the concept and just thought ‘we can do this.’ And one step we’re taking is pretty amazing, actually. It’s rare to renovate a building and make it a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building. Certification for new construction is much more common . . .

LEED is a program that awards points for meeting certain requirements that basically add up to a “green” or environmentally friendly building. We’re renovating a building that was built in 1928, which will look exactly the same on the outside, but the renovation itself is going to be done in such a way that the building will become LEED certified. And that’s rare with a building renovation, particularly one that’s architecturally and historically significant like ours . . .

And then Wesleyan is tremendously blessed to have so much lovely green space. We are committed to making sure that the forest land we have is cared for and that we quickly replace any trees that naturally die. When a storm causes damage, we replace what’s lost.

When our cherry trees become too old, we have a plan to make sure that we’ll always have Yoshino cherry trees on the Wesleyan campus so that it will continue to be a stop during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Q

What do you think is Wesleyan’s biggest challenge as an academic institution?

Our biggest challenge is competing with “free.” When the HOPE scholarship allows a Georgia student with a B average or better, which is our student, to go to one of our many fine public institutions for free, it’s a challenge for us to convince the parents sometimes more than the students that they should pay to come to this special college.

We’ve been meeting this challenge well since the HOPE scholarship started, but the competition with free public institutions will always be there. So the simple answer is, maintaining and increasing our enrollment is our biggest challenge. HOPE is a major reason.

Q

What is Wesleyan’s biggest asset?

I think it’s the total experience. And that starts with the academic experience, of course. You can’t find a better academic experience where the faculty is first-rate and it’s small enough that every single student gets individual attention in the classroom every single day. And I’m not exaggerating. There is such a vast, vast difference between the class29

room experience at Wesleyan and anywhere that’s a lot bigger, where you’re in 300, 400, 1,000 student classes. And it’s not just the size; the quality of the faculty and their commitment to the individual students is incredible, too. Then we extend that education out into the leadership opportunities our students have, the student life activities, the living space, the friends, the faith, the service . . . It’s not any one thing. Our biggest asset is the total experience.

Q

Salary was not an issue to you. In fact, it compares to some of today’s graduates’ starting salaries. Why did you do this?

I did that because I am part of a team that creates the Wesleyan experience.

And I’m no more important than anyone else.

Everyone’s contributions are important. So that’s just my way of being a part of the group.

Ruth Knox, in Person

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Do you consider yourself an over-achiever?

And is there anything wrong with that?

No. But there is nothing wrong with being an over-achiever. Let me take that back. If I’m entirely candid I would have to say yes, I probably am an over-achiever. The downside to being an over-achiever is that, at least in my case, over-achievers tend to get over-committed. And if I could change one thing about myself it would be that I learn how to say ‘no’ more often than I do.

Because what suffers is my friendships and

my time with family, and I don’t like that. I wish – and probably 9 out of 10 people would tell you this – I wish I could find a better balance. It’s not a major issue, but it’s an issue.

Q

So, what’s good about being an over-achiever?

Life’s always interesting! There is a new challenge every day and that keeps one energized. And in my case, I’m an optimistic person anyway, and I generally look at situations as opportunities rather than as challenges or reasons to fret.

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What’s the best compliment somebody could give you?

That I’m kind. One thing I am not is patient . . . So to have someone say I am is always a good thing.

Is it ever hard to go to the grocery store and not be Ruth Knox, the Wesleyan president?

Yes, oh goodness yes. I very rarely go to the grocery store without my hair and makeup done. But I’m very much at ease and very much myself most everywhere I go. There’s a casual atmosphere around this office, for example, and my attire is generally fairly casual. Business casual maybe. The décor in this office is much more modern than anything else on the Wesleyan campus, which reflects my taste. So I’m pretty much myself.

Lots of folks know that I’m a Bruce

Courtesy of Wesleyan College

Springsteen fan. They have a hard time believing that sometimes, but I am. And I actually sang a karaoke number in the dining hall last fall– I sang Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.” And the students thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen. It was pretty funny.

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Is there ever a moment in which you feel you’ve made it?

Made it? No, I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point. I think I’ll always have more to do.

And more to become . . . I always have pause when I hear someone say, ‘That was the best day of my life.’ Because my view is I haven’t experienced the best day of my life yet.

There’s always going to be one better.

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What are some of the items on your agenda you haven’t achieved?

I think of the things that I want to accomplish at Wesleyan within the next few years. Three simple categories: 850 students; an endowment of $75 million; and a chapel on this campus. We also need to renovate several buildings, but these are the three primary goals I’d like to accomplish.

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Is politics something you’ve ever been interested in?

No. But I do have some other interests.

I’m realistic to know that my time at Wesleyan will end at some point. I don’t know when that will be. But when it does, I want to write. I definitely want to write. There were times during my days practicing law that I aspired to be a poet. And I haven’t thought about that so much lately because I haven’t had time. But I still think I’d like to try. And I have lots and lots of family stories that I want to write, for posterity more than anything else.

Just to make sure that – I’ve lost some relatives that I want to make sure people don’t forget. I want to write about them.

Q

Who are some of the leaders you admire locally?

On November 6, 2004, Ruth Knox was inaugurated as Wesleyan’s 24th president.

She is the first alumna in the history of the college to hold that position.

I have great admiration for the new mayor, Robert Reichert. I admire his brother, Albert. I’m going to talk about a lot of lawyers. I admire Albert Reichert as a Rotarian also. He is a wonderful example of service above self and a quintessential Rotarian, and I admire the Rotary organization itself. And I admire Tom Bass. All three of them are law partners, and Tom Bass served as board chair here for my first six years. He’s a wonderful

leader. I admire Sharon Patterson, Juanita Jordan, Katherine Dennis. It’s really, really risky for me to be naming names, isn’t it? So, I’d better stop.

Q

What about personally – do you have idols?

I have great admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. I read a wonderful book by Doris Kearns Goodwin about the Roosevelt era and I just developed great appreciation for Mrs. Roosevelt . . . what she accomplished .

Q Q

Have you ever thought about returning to your original thought to be a teacher?

keep on my refrigerator. The Bible verse I wrote in my own hand and taped to my make-up mirror. So I see both thoughts every day.

Q

Why is Wesleyan College such an important part of your family legacy?

First was the connection between the educational experience and the United Methodist Church. My grandfather was a Methodist minister, and all four of his daughters graduated from Wesleyan. The church has always been an important part of our lives – everyone in our family. And my aunts on the other side who attended Wesleyan –

the two that married my father’s brothers, also were life-long Methodists. So Wesleyan is not just a college. It’s a college that has a deep connection with the church that also is important to us. And when Wesleyan is part of your heritage, as it is for so many of my family, there is a sense of responsibility – and I don’t mean that in a burdensome way – to care for one’s heritage. That’s also part of our family tradition. We all care very much for each other, and supporting and helping one another is what we do. Wesleyan is a part of our family. It’s that simple.

Jessica Walden Photography by Ken Krakow

I don’t think so. Unless I become a poet and then I could teach poetry. But I’ve got to learn how to write poetry myself first.

Ken Krakow.com

When you are walking around campus on a beautiful day, what are your sentiments?

Sometimes I have to pinch myself. That sounds cliché. But sometimes I really do just have to shake my head and say I am so blessed to be here, doing exactly what I want to do at this time in my life, when I was ready for it, on this beautiful campus with these wonderful people. I really do feel like that.

Q Q

Do you have moments when you can just get some quiet time by the lake on campus?

I do. And another spot on campus that I just adore is the Burden Parlor. It’s the prettiest room on the campus to me.

Who is the Ruth Knox we don’t know?

I don’t think there’s much about me that’s not known. I joke about Bruce Springsteen, but I really love rock music, and I really, really love the ‘60s and ‘70s music that I grew up with – be it Buffalo Springfield or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which probably would surprise some people.

Q

Do you have any favorite quotes?

I see two quotes every day: the Bible verse that my grandmother loved that I try to follow myself: ‘This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ Psalm 118:24; and then, a paraphrased quote from [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, ‘A person should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful that God has implanted in the human soul.’ That’s a timeless truth that I www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

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y developing properties, creating a pedestrian-friendly path, attracting new businesses and engaging students and Intown neighborhoods with exciting events, the College Hill Corridor Commission (CHCC) is a public-private partnership between Mercer University and the City of Macon. Funded by several sources – most recently receiving a $250,000 planning grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for the design of a master plan – the CHCC has entered just its second year. With the excitement of its visionaries at its helm, the CHCC and has already made progress in making more out of Macon for residents and students.

The Fickling Company building isn’t the biggest in the world. It isn’t even a skyscraper.

But standing at its large, bay windows overlooking downtown Macon is like a quick fix of hope. For some reason, from there, the way things could be are self-apparent.

Beverly Blake doesn’t loom long, but she admits that the view is nice. Then she flashes her 100-kilowatt smile and starts talking about the amazing work the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation enables in 26 communities through their funding.

Asked about herself, she demurs. “No one wants to know about me.” A moment later, unguarded, she admits that Happy, Texas is her favorite movie. Better still, “I grew up reading Mad Magazine and Kurt Vonnegut.” Finally, she eases into the professional biography.

First with the Trust Company and then Wachovia, Blake worked with trusts for 26 years in Atlanta, thinking of places like Macon the way people in Atlanta tend to think of places like Macon: small, slow, boring.

Then she worked with Mercer through Wachovia, spending more and more time in Macon. When she took this position, which oversees grants and programs in Macon, Columbus and Milledgeville, she was hit with this city’s full charm.

“I couldn’t believe the beauty of the place, the history – and it sits in a perfect place on the planet,” Blake says. “It is unique because of its architecture and its historic housing stock. It just doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

This unique place now has a unique organization that she’s helped bring into existence: the College Hill Corridor Commission. Getting permission to waive a foundation rule against sitting on the board of any organization that they give grants to, Blake helped navigate the CHCC through its early days. Once it was standing solid on both feet, she resigned, but remains excited about its potential.

“The last thing I want would be to influence their decisions in any way. I want them to feel the freedom to come up with the big ideas.”

To that end, the Knight Foundation awarded the CHCC a $250,000 planning grant to find an innovative firm for the corridor’s Master Plan design. Once complete, the CHCC will go back hoping for additional funding to continue their plans, among which is building a coalition of businesses and organizations tied to the area.

She hopes this concerted effort to draw out the specific qualities of this small corridor will encourage others to begin thinking regionally in the same sense. In other words, to package everything Central Georgia offers through Macon, Warner Robins and Milledgeville instead of thinking of them as irreconcilably separate. She sees success in cohesiveness.

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Seeing the Potential Beverly Blake - Program Director John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Former CHCC member On location in Bealle’s Hill neighborhood

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Ken Krakow.com

Residency First Kevin Dubose - CHCC Co-Chair Economic and Community Development, The City of Macon On location at Ingleside Village Pizza at Montpelier in Mercer Village

When a delegation of Macon movers and shakers visited Knoxville, Tennessee, to witness, prod and question the town’s renaissance, CHCC co-chair Kevin Dubose stood on familiar ground. He spent five years working on the downtown residential incentive program in Knoxville’s Community Development Division. Now, as the director of Macon’s Economic and Community Development (ECD), he was back, brushing up on a program whose success he’d like to duplicate in downtown Macon.

“They added about 500 units when I was there,” he says, talking about the number of residences Knoxville’s program opened up and filled. “And they’ve added about 500 more since I left. When we started, people literally laughed at us because they didn’t think there was any market at all, that no one would want to live downtown. Now, they’re saying it was too successful, that developers are making too much money.”

Half of that sounds very familiar in Macon – the battle between the naysayers and its latent potential. Preaching “build up residency

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first,” Dubose’s job with the ECD requires his attention citywide, but in his capacity with the CHCC, he’s able to focus his experience on growing the number of people living in and around downtown. With a healthy city center, all of Macon prospers.

“We have over 1,000,000 vacant square feet in downtown Macon, above the storefronts,” he says with an assurance that shatters uncertainty about its feasibility. Entering his fourth year in Macon, Dubose’s faith in Macon is a combination of good timing and excellent vision.

During his tenure in the State of Georgia’s Office of Coordinated Planning, he often had meetings here. “I always loved Macon,” he says. Dubose saw – and still sees – “all that could be.”

Leaving Tennessee this time, Dubose had learned something new.

“As progressive as the core group in Knoxville is, I don’t think they’re as progressive as the group in Macon. I really think we’re preparing to experience an explosion in five years.”

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Urban Appeal Sarah Gerwig-Moore - CHCC Co-Chair

Ken Krakow.com

Assistant Professor, Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University On location with her family at their Intown home

Her day begins with her two young children, Eliot and Dean and everything it takes just to get them out the door. Then Sarah GerwigMoore goes to her day job: Mercer Law and Public Service professor.

At 3 p.m., she’s hearing pleas for billboards and daycare centers as a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The moment she gets home, Gerwig-Moore starts basting a turkey for an evening dinner with friends as she meets with her College Hill Corridor Commission cohorts, Kevin Dubose and Josh Rogers. Just after 9 p.m., the last of the guests leave, and she’s finally alone with her children, her husband, Jesse and their pets in their 120-year-old Rembert Avenue home.

Two years ago, before the PNZ, before the CHCC, she was just settling in at Mercer, transitioning from her work in Atlanta as a public defender and adjunct law professor. Now she is defining a young Law and Public Service program. This – at the college where she enrolled in an English program as a 16-year-old early graduate from Central High – pulled her away from the bright lights, big city.

Initially, a career in international human rights defense was her goal, even taking her to South Africa. At Emory University’s Candler School, she matched her interest in social justice and religion with her dislike of law school. “I knew I wanted to be a lawyer but I hated law

school.” And so she left with a Masters of Theology and a law degree.

Then the globetrotting and a trip to San Francisco, where she thought she’d found everything in this progressive city that she could ever want. But during a speech on the failings of the legal system in Alabama and Georgia to protect indigents she realized, begrudgingly, that her place was in the South.

Her roles at Mercer, on the CHCC and in the community are hard to separate from the other. Gerwig-Moore does what she does because she enjoys it, because it needs to be done and because it brings Macon one step closer to reaching the potential that has always been present.

Her titles and responsibilities – if anything – simply give her an excuse to throw herself full force into the things she loves doing most.

“Having lived in a lot of incredible places like San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Oxford, England, I appreciate the amenities of a hip urban center and don’t like living without them. The more that we can work on making this a more walkable, friendly, attractive community, the more my family will benefit,” she says. “But it also means that I understand the concerns of neighbors about keeping the neighborhood’s lovely residential character intact. I’m not an outsider who doesn’t appreciate the area – I love this place, and I feel really fortunate to be able to work with my neighbors and friends to make it even better.”

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Ken Krakow.com

The Creative Classman Josh Rogers Director, College Hill Corridor Commission On location at Mercer University

The creative class – the term was popularized by sociologist Richard Florida, who has helped several cities realize the economic and cultural potential that is latent in the groups of “knowledge workers” whose jobs place high value upon intellect and creativity.

Having previously worked with NewTown Macon to bring Mercer students downtown via the trolley, Josh Rogers soon found himself volunteering with them. That eventually led to a full-time job.

“I always liked the old buildings in downtown,” he says, explaining his passion for the unique and historic architecture in Macon.

On a Rotary scholarship, Rogers completed a master’s degree in historic preservation at University of York in England and began looking for a job. The people at Historic Columbia (South Carolina) laid an offer on the table, and he was almost certainly about to accept it when he found himself back in Macon, driving through on the way home to Waycross. ECD Director Kevin Dubose took him to lunch at the Market City Café.

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“He brought Sarah [Gerwig-Moore], and they’d just started putting together the College Hill Corridor Commission. They said they had no money, but to give them two days to figure it out,” he recalls.

Once they did, Rogers says, “It was an easy sell.” As CHCC director, he has the opportunity to not only save the old buildings he loves so much, but to help breathe new life into them. That passion is evident in everything, from the fast re-population of the buildings in Mercer Village to the campus bicycle loan program that encourages students to do as he does and pedal their way around town.

“They [Dubose and Gerwig-Moore] made me believe this project could and would succeed, and that this could be the turning point for Macon,” Rogers says. “I really believe that it will because we have all the right people at the table.”

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Connecting the Campus Bill Underwood President, Mercer University On location at Jittery Joe’s coffee shop site in Mercer Village

The 18th President of Mercer University is a giant man, tall and broad-shouldered. He swings around the side of his large polished wood desk and sits down, making small talk about the historic Kirby Godsey Administration Building, named for his celebrated predecessor. This is the oldest building on campus, and everything about it seems majestic.

He says he played hard to get when Mercer came calling. A lawyer turned professor turned interim president of Baylor University, Underwood finally relented, but came a couple days earlier than his scheduled visit with the university. He rented a car, wandered around and was smitten with the city’s potential – not just in its historic architecture, but also in the people he met, especially the young ones.

“This just looked to me like a community that was poised to really take off,” he recalls. “And I feel that way even more so since I’ve been here.”

When a group of Mercer undergrads presented their ideas to better connect the campus with downtown – itself a product of a class project – President Underwood’s wheels started turning. The general idea was something he’d already had, but their specific points were almost revolutionary. He took them to then-Mayor C. Jack Ellis, and the two leaders started the College Hill Corridor Commission on the spot. He appointed Sarah Gerwig-Moore – “She is the sort of person

I knew we wanted to attract, so I wanted her on the commission.” – and former Mayor Ellis appointed Kevin Dubose – “I don’t think he could have made a better choice than Kevin.” His praise for Mercer grad and current CHCC director Josh Rogers is similar.

Underwood says, “I think one of the great opportunities I have is to find ways to empower these really bright and creative young people, let them see if they can accomplish some things that could make Macon more special than it already is.”

It’s a unique approach in a city seemingly set in its ways, but with the CHCC, that’s exactly what he has done. He’s empowered them to move this project – and this city and his university – forward.

Citing the impressive work the group has done with the “social dimension” of their plans – the Screen on the Green, the Second Sunday Gospel Brunch, Mercer Bike Week – Underwood says, “That’s why people will want to live here. Making this area more attractive makes it easier for me to bring in the most talented students, faculty and staff.”

He says it all when he says, “As Macon goes, so goes Mercer.”

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Chris Horne Photography by Ken Krakow 37

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ourtroom, ommunity

and the Virtues Along the Way His handsome looks could rival those of a lawyer on a television courtroom drama. Virgil Adams has everything Hollywood fancies in a leading man – debonair looks, a passionate personality and the ability to command (and captivate) an audience.

But there is no studio set for Adams; his career is what scripts are made of. The 1987 trial and conviction of Keith Patillo – the last case in which the death penalty was given in Bibb County – where Adams was the lead prosecutor, was more dramatic than any “Law & Order” episode.

Having worked as an assistant district attorney for the Macon Judicial Circuit’s trial division since graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University seven years prior (and upon admission to the State Bar of Georgia), Adams entered private practice at the end of 1987 as a partner in the law firm of Mathis, Sands, Jordan & Adams. Since 2000, the law firm has been known as Adams, Jordan & Treadwell, P.C., and operates offices in both Macon and Milledgeville that primarily deal with personal injury litigation.

Since bursting on to the local law scene, Adams has been named the 2001-2002 Macon Bar Association’s “Lawyer of the Year” and voted as one of the best attorneys in Macon in 2008 by Georgia Informer readers. Martindate Hubbell, which ranks attorneys based upon their professional and ethical conduct, awarded Adams its highest designation, AV. But beneath the accolades, praises and courtroom victories beats the heart of a humble hero. The same man who is on fire in the courtroom is quietly subdued at his home where he enjoys his true loves, wife Paula, dog Jazz and an assortment of jazz music – in that order, of course.

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Virgil Adams & Jazz

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rowing up in Macon, Adams, like many American boys, was an aspiring professional baseball player playing pick-up games in the neighborhood field, organized and coached by a neighboring pastor called “Rev” who also worked at Borden’s Dairy.

He lived in a mostly-female household – his grandmother, mother, two older sisters, an aunt and a male cousin (until he went to Vietnam when Virgil was in junior high) – all under one roof. Athletics, from baseball to football and basketball, were his entertainment and his social outlet. Many of those early teammates are still friends and Macon professionals today.

He started off at Ballard Hudson Junior High and entered Central after integration. It was during his junior year of high school that he lost his grandmother. “She was pretty much the head of the family,” he says. “A strong woman, but a caring woman.”

The following year another woman would become a strong influence in Adams’ life. Betty Phillips, a now-retired educator and

former member of the Bibb County Board of Education, taught a business law class at Central. She hosted speakers such as Fred Hasty, the district attorney at the time, and even took her students on a field trip to the Bibb County courthouse where they were able to witness retired judge George

“

Adams went on to receive his undergraduate degree in psychology from Albany State University before returning to Macon to earn his law degree. The summer after his first year, Adams called his friend, then-Assistant District Attorney Louis Sands, and asked if he could volunteer in the D.A.’s

Had it not been for Betty Phillips bringing in the

resources and taking us down to the courthouse, I might not have been an attorney”, he says. “But I would have done something — because my family would not have it

”

any other way.

Culpepper, Sr., preside over a dramatic rape case. Adams found his calling. “I just remember sitting there being fascinated, thinking, ‘This is really what I want to do,’” recalls Adams.

“That’s what really sealed it for me.”

—Virgil Adams office for the experience. He did, and proved his worth the next two summers working as a law clerk there. He also worked part time for Sam Hart’s Upward Bound Project, as a counselor, continuing

Virgil and Paula Adams

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his family legacy of encouraging youngsters to stay in school, find opportunities and go for their best. It all arrived full-circle when he entered the courtroom as an assistant D.A., fresh out of law school, with George Culpepper still a sitting judge.

“As far as me being an attorney, had it not been for Betty Phillips bringing in the resources and taking us down to the courthouse, I might not have been an attorney,” he says. “But I would have done something – because my family would not have it any other way.”

His mother always said that “a good education leads to good opportunities,” and Adams continues to instill that advice in others. “I tell kids all the time; put yourself in a position for where you want to go. It’s not

“

She provides a lot of

encouragement and support in whatever I do, and that’s

”

the most important thing.

always about being paid. It’s about finding or creating opportunity.”

Another strong woman in Virgil’s life, Paula admires that about her husband, remembering that even when they first met at Albany State he had the drive to make the most of his education for the future. “He was just so smart,” she says. She found herself motivated by him, and remembers thinking, “I just have to make dean’s list every single time because he does. I can do this too. And I did.”

They dated throughout college and became engaged on graduation day. But marriage would have to wait. “We decided it would just be better if he didn’t have so much to deal with at that time,” she says. “I just felt like he would have enough to manage with law school without a wife and marriage, too.”

She applied for a teaching job in Bibb County, but there was a hiring freeze so she returned to her hometown of McRae. “I was pouting,” she recalls with a smile, “then the week before school started, I got a

Ken Krakow.com

—Virgil says of Paula

call from the elementary school principal, who said ‘I know you have a teaching degree, so if you’ll just come until I can find someone…’ I did and ended up loving it.” She taught there for two years before getting the call to come to Macon as a teacher at Georgia’s first magnet elementary, Alexander II. School was about to start and the faculty and staff were busy trying to get ready, www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

including Paula. “That’s where I lost my first engagement ring. Painting.”

Having celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary this summer, the couple obviously did not let a lost ring affect their commitment. As Virgil built his practice, Paula continued with the Bibb County School system, teaching second grade before becoming an instructional lead teacher at 41

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Danforth Elementary School before retiring this past May. Now that she’s retired, Paula says, “I want to connect more to the community; really make a difference. I know I made a difference in my professional career. Now I want to do the same in my community.”

She still works with the school occasionally, and says she will always be connected to Bibb County Public Schools, but is also enjoying her newfound freedom from the workforce, lunching with friends, volunteering with the many community organizations Virgil and she support, especially the Tubman Museum, where she most recently worked on the All That Jazz fundraiser committee, and building her own business.

“I’m repositioning myself,” she says.

Virgil supports his wife all the way. “She is so creative and talented,” he says.

Her business, Signature Chocolates by Paula, specializes in personalized candy that can be used as favors for weddings, parties and other occasions.

“She provides a lot of encouragement and support in whatever I do, and that’s the most important thing,” Virgil says of Paula. She says he supports her the same way as she ventures out into her new life.

Paula’s strength comes to her naturally. Her 80-year-old mother lives in an assisted living facility in Albany, where she can be close to her friends in nearby Sylvester. Even though Paula would like her mother to live closer, there is no arguing with the retired educator who, while living in Sylvester, ran for mayor, served on city council and Georgia’s State Board of Corrections, was an advocate for voting and now stumps on behalf of keeping active.

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According to Paula, her mother continues to be a strong woman. “She keeps everyone and everything straight over there,” she jokes.

Similarities come out in the couple’s upbringing and strong maternal influences.

“There wasn’t a thought in my head about college – I knew what I was going to do. I even taught all my dolls when I was a child,” says Paula. And while Virgil was reared

“

I want to connect more to the community, really make a difference. I know I made a difference in my professional career. Now I want to do the same in my community.

”

—Paula Adams

in a house full of women, she says, smiling, “He was catered to. But he’s not spoiled.”

The couple’s one “child,” Jazz, is a sevenyear-old standard schnauzer with whom Virgil has competed in several obedience challenges. “Jazz and I entered two competitions in Perry and in Atlanta. We won www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

them all,” he says proudly. They beat out 300 dogs in the Atlanta show, but nowadays keep closer to home, enjoying the river’s Ocmulgee Heritage Trail, the Cherry Blossom Festival and other local activities. “She’s a great dog; a part of the family, who I absolutely, absolutely love.”

Another love for Adams is golf. “I enjoy hitting that little round ball with that crooked stick,” he quips when asked about other activities outside the courtroom.

“I love playing golf.” He’s been playing seven years, since June 2001 when he attended a State Bar meeting at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, and was invited to join his partners on the links.

“On the next to the last hole, a par three, the caddy said to grab the 3-iron,” he recalls. “I swung it and landed three feet from the hole.

I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s my favorite thing to do. I love it.

Followed by fishing.”

Serving as both a partner in the law firm and as Bibb County’s Attorney, as well as a vice chair of the Tubman African American Museum board of directors, where he also is co-chair of the museum’s $8.5 million capital campaign, and a board member or supporter of several other community organizations, most people would feel stretched beyond comfort level. But Adams takes it all in stride, as calm, cool and collected as his television counterparts.

The difference is that he is far from acting. His is a real-life commitment.

“He didn’t even apply to work anywhere else when he finished law school,” says Paula.

She suggested other, larger markets he might try, but his response was always, “This is

Ken Krakow.com

“ Ken Krakow.com

This is my home.

I want to make a difference in the town that made a difference for me.

”

—Virgil Adams

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Ken Krakow.com

my home. I want to make a difference in the town that made a difference for me.” And he is making a difference.

His firm is not the largest in town, and he says he and his partners are happy with its size: three partners, one associate here and the office in Milledgeville with one attorney.

After his success in the D.A.’s office and experience in criminal law, Adams says he wanted to get more into civil law – medical negligence, nursing homes, automobile accidents, so he and his friend and assistant D.A. colleague Louis Sands joined forces with Jimmy Jordan and Charles Mathis when the time was right. Mathis later moved to Atlanta, and Sands was named a superior court judge,

moving to Albany. Mark Treadwell has been a partner since 2000. Adams says firms like theirs provide a system of checks and balances in the civil arena.

“We see it as our responsibility to speak for our clients and see that the same situation doesn’t occur to others. We see ourselves as advocates for those who need their voices heard and their rights protected,” he explains, adding, “There are legitimate claims by people who’ve been legitimately damaged and who need to have their situations addressed.”

Many times no law has been broken, but through their actions, or lack thereof, individuals or entities have caused harm, damage or even death to others. As Adams Ken Krakow.com

puts it, “You can’t arrest them, you can’t put them in jail, but the law provides for civil action to set it right. You can’t un-ring the bell, but you can provide some level of compensation to help those individuals or their families to be able to live without the benefit of their loved one.”

Virgil’s own loved ones, particularly his mother and aunt, were very proud of his making the transition from the security of the district attorney’s office to the risk of setting out on his own. According to him, they trusted in his decision to go into private practice.

“They trusted in their own judgment; the job they did in bringing me up to be able to make good decisions,” he says. Their trust was well placed, as Adams has become not only a successful law partner, but a leader in the community as well.

What’s next? When asked if politics could be in his future, Adams simply grins and says, “I’ve kind of enjoyed working on campaigns over the years,” before changing the subject.

Paula, however, is a little more candid. “I think he would make a wonderful judge,” she says. “Because he is a hard worker, and he’s truly concerned about people.”

Ruth Sykes Photography by Ken Krakow

Mike Fuller, the Magician I became interested in magic when I was sevenyears-old. I often tell people it was that or take piano lessons with my sister . . . and magic was more fun. I began reading books about magic and magicians from Washington Library. These were the first books I read that a teacher didn’t make me read. There was a trick and novelty shop downtown on Second Street – Edwell’s Trick and Novelty. Although most of what they carried was itching powder and fake vomit, they did have some small magic equipment. I spent every penny I could find on their magic tricks and books.

At age 11, an older local magician heard about my interest in magic. His name was Bill Vaughan, and he was the most prominent magician in the Central Georgia area.

He was also a member of the Atlanta Magic Club. Bill would take me to some of his shows and to the Atlanta Club’s meetings . . . I was taken in “under the wings” of some pretty powerful old conjurors. By reading, practicing, meeting other magicians (they called me “the kid” since I was so young), and presenting my own shows, I learned so much at a very early age.

All through college, I performed at malls, nightclubs, private events, birthday parties and even had my own five minute segment every Saturday morning on 13 WMAZ’s “Scrunch,” a kids’ television show. Later, in January 2000, I had my own 30 minute television show on 13 WMAZ called “The Magic Club.” The show came on every Saturday morning for six years.

The first rabbit was named Harry. A biology professor at Mercer gave me Harry when I was about 10-years-old. Harry lived 5 years. After Harry died, a friend gave me a rabbit I named Sniffy. He lived 6 years. When Sniffy died, I wasn’t going to have another rabbit since it almost killed me when they died. But, I needed a rabbit for an effect I wanted to present on “The Magic Club.” I just wanted to borrow or rent a rabbit for the taping of the show. The pet store at Macon Mall had one they said I could have . . . I said I’d bring it back the next day. Yeah, right. I had “Butterbean the Baffling Bunny” for eight years . . . she died this past May. Kids still come up and ask, “How’s Butterbean?” She was the star of the television show. I have not replaced Butterbean . . . For now, I continue to use the white Java doves I have been using in shows since I was 15. I have several of them all from the original pair I bought as a teenager.

Most of the shows I do, about 90 percent are out of town events. Many of these are repeat shows at fairs, malls, trade shows, schools and corporate functions . . . I have an agency in New York that books me for all of their events in the Southeast. I stay pretty busy, mainly on the road. www.imediagroup.biz/addressmacon

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Mike Fuller, Meteorologist I have always been amazed by the weather – it’s true magic! What causes it, where does it come from, why did it happen, why didn’t it happen? I enrolled in the meteorology program at Mississippi State. Three hard years later, I became a meteorologist.

I didn’t know if I would ever do the weather on television, but Ben Jones is an old friend. After completing the degree, Ben worked with me teaching me the parts you don’t learn in school . . . on-camera presentation, setting up the graphics, the maps, the computer programs, all the behind-the-scene works and the green wall. Then, he wanted me to fill in one night. I was scared to death . . . doing the weather was serious business and live television . . . Now, I fill in when they need me and if I’m in town. I love it!

Trying to give an accurate forecast in the little time available can be hard . . . Sometimes, I get caught up trying to explain not only what should be expected, but why to expect it. The causes and effects of weather are so interesting and important. It can change in a second.

I have always loved television. I was in advertising for 20 years. 13 WMAZ-TV is such a powerful broadcast facility and has been for over 50 years. But most importantly, it has been a part of our community . . . our community being the 100-mile radius the station covers.

Jessica Walden Photography by Ken Krakow

It has become kind of a joke at the station that if I show up to do the weather, we are going to have some kind of severe weather warnings. It seems like every time I am scheduled, we have bad weather. The first time I filled in, December 9th, 2007, we were having a draught. That night, it poured!

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press

Ashley K. Griffin

Rhonda Green-Barnes

Named Staff Coord., Friends of the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail

Named Director, Wesleyan’s Lane Ctr for Comm. Engagement & Service

Arizona White

Named V.P. of Sales and Marketing, Progressive Consulting Technology

Sharon Patterson Joins the Tubman Museum Board of Directors

David Lanier

Joins the Tubman Museum Board of Directors

Julia Wood Named Director of Donor Services, Community Foundation of Central GA

Duke Groover Named Chairman, GA Defense Lawyers Assoc. Bus & Comm. Law Section

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press

George McCanless

J.D. Collins

Rudell Richardson

Joins the Tubman Museum Board of Directors

Joins the Tubman Museum Board of Directors

Joins the Tubman Museum Board of Directors

Patricia Duncan Launches Women on the GO Talk Show on 1280 AM WIBB

FREE PRESS for your business or organization

Helen Stembridge

Mike Cook

Anita Dailery

Inducted into 2008 Home Builders Assoc. of GA Hall of Fame

Named General Manager, GA Farm Bureau

CGTC Program Chair Named Educator of the Year, GA Assoc. on Young Children

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