Newnan-Coweta Magazine, July/August 2005

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July/August 2005 • FREE

MAGAZINE A

P U B L I C A T I O N

O F

T H E

T I M E S

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H E R A L D

SENOIA'S FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER COWETA'S CULINARY TREASURES ROSCOE REFLECTIONS SPOTLIGHT ON GRANTVILLE

COUNTRY DUO THE WRIGHTS

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Remember When You Were A Kid ?

We Do.

S

ince 1925, generations of families in

We consider you a part of our family. We

Newnan have relied on the healthcare

were there when you were a young child,

ser vices provided by Newnan

and when you grew to be an adult. For all

H o s p i t a l . T h a t is e ig hty year s of

of those years you trusted us with the

service to our community.

health of you and your family, we thank you.

Celebrating Generations of Healthcare

Eighty Years: The Right Care. Right Here.

Newnan Hospital, 60 Hospital Road, Newnan, Georgia 30263, Phone: 770-235-1912, www.newnanhospital.org

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“ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?”

Open to the public.

Call for Tee Times 770.683.4727 300 Arbor Springs Parkway • Newnan, GA 30265 Directions: I-85 to Exit 10, West on Hwy. 154 to Hwy. 29, Turn right. Arbor Springs Plantation is 3/4 mile on the left.

KELLY’S IS LOCATED IN THE PINE RIDGE NATIONAL CLUBHOUSE. Call 770.683.4733 for reservations.

Open Tuesday - Saturday, 11:00 am — 9:30 pm; Sunday (brunch only), 11:00 am - 2:30 pm, For 6 or more, please make reservations.

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WE WORK WHERE YOU WORK. WE LIVE WHERE YOU LIVE.

MAGAZINE Established 1995 A publication of The Times-Herald

BB&T

President William W. Thomasson

You can tell we want your business.

Vice President Marianne C. Thomasson

Our philosophy is simple. Location is important, but it’s our people that make the difference. We at BB&T are part of the community.

Publisher Sam Jones Editor Angela Webster Graphic Designer Deberah Williams Contributing Writers Tray Baggarly, Sarah Fay Campbell, Janet Flanigan, Cameron Johnson, Holly Jones, Gary Leftwich, Rebecca Leftwich, Katherine McCall, Alex McRae, Winston Skinner, Julie Turner

Newnan Main

Downtown

Bullsboro

19 Jefferson Street

26 Jefferson Street

232 Bullsboro Drive

770-255-5017

770-252-5267

770-253-9749

Hospital Road

White Oak

14 Hospital Road

1421 East Highway 34

770-304-7860

770-304-7840

GIFTS FOR SUMMER

Photography Brett Clark, Bob Fraley, Cameron Johnson, Gary Leftwich, Mary Ann Meeks, Tara Shellabarger, Winston Skinner, Flynn Tracy Circulation Director Naomi Jackson Sales and Marketing Director Colleen D. Mitchell Advertising Manager Lamar Truitt Advertising Consultants Doug Cantrell, Joey Howard, Candy Johnson, Jeanette Kirby, Barbara Kirkman, RoseMary Reid, Sandy Zimmermann Advertising Design Leah Leidner FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION, call 770.683.6397 or e-mail colleen@newnan.com.

Newnan-Coweta Magazine is published bi-monthly by The Times-Herald, Inc., 16 Jefferson St., Newnan, GA 30263.

Subscriptions: Newnan-Coweta Magazine is distributed in home-delivery copies of The Times-Herald and at businesses and offices throughout Coweta County.

Individual mailed subscriptions are also available for $18 in Coweta County, $24 outside Coweta County. To subscribe, call 770.304.3373.

Submissions: We welcome submissions. Query letters and published clips may be addressed to the Editor, Newnan-Coweta Magazine at P.O. Box 1052, Newnan, Georgia, 30264.

It’s Always A Pleasure COME AND VISIT ...

GIFTS ANYONE ON YOUR LIST WILL LOVE VISIT ALL THREE LOCATIONS - EACH ONE HAS A SPECIAL GIFT SELECTION LEE-KING PHARMACY Between Old Newnan Hospital & PAPP Clinic 770.253.1622 LEE-GOODRUM PHARMACY 40 Hospital Road - 770.253.1121 LEE-GOODRUM EASTSIDE 134 Farmer Industrial Boulevard - 770.251.4808 Same Personal Service Same Dedication • Same Owners 4

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Free City Delivery Serving Newnan Since 1907

On the Web: www.newnancowetamagazine.com

On our cover Cover and contents page photos of Adam and Shannon Wright courtesy of Kristin Barlowe

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Index of advertisers These are the people who make Newnan-Coweta Magazine possible. Please let them know you appreciate their support!

Hand Real Estate 2525 Hwy 34 East, Newnan, Georgia 30265 Business (770) 254-8333 Fax (770) 251-9455

Curtis Williamson U.S. Marines (Ret.) Managing Broker

Pager: 770-707-5579 curtis.williamson@c21hand.com

Jennifer Register, Realtor

Cell 678-378-4436 jennifer.register@c21hand.com Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated

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“AS SEEN ON EXTREME MAKEOVER“

71 Postal Parkway, Newnan, GA Across from Post Office

2005

ACE Hardware . . . . . . . . . 29 Aberdeen Dental . . . . . . . 6 AIS Computer Services. . 30 Alamo Jacks . . . . . . . . . . 53 Angie’s Cleaners . . . . . . . 36 Ansley’s Attic . . . . . . . . . 64 Applause Salon & Spa . 79 Atlanta Bread Co. . . . . . . 53 Atlanta Dental Team. . . . 21 Atlanta Market Finds . . . 45 Audibel Hearing . . . . . . . 40 Rex Baker/ Beach House For Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Balmoral Village . . . . . . . 81 Bank of Coweta . . . . . . . 84 BB&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Dr. Jay Berger . . . . . . . . . 61 Brasch Park . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Buffalo Rock/Pepsi . . . . . 21 The Butcher Shoppe . . . 51 Cakes By Debbie . . . . . . . 48 Carriage House Antiques . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Century 21 Hand Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Chin Chin Restaurant . . . 48 Choice Homes . . . . . . . . . . 7 City Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Cole’s Pool Supply, Inc. . . 45 Communication Milestones Therapy. . . . . 60 Complete PC Solutions Plus. . . . . . . . . 24 Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty/ Michelle Humphries . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Contemporary Catering . 52 Coweta Festivals/ Powers’ Crossroads . . . . 81 Coweta Pool & Fireplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Dalton West Carpets . . . 57 Design Communications . 77 Ensemble Pour Deux . . . 44 Farm Bureau Insurance . 40 First Fence of Georgia . . 69 The Fish Garden . . . . . . . 40 Genesys Clinic/ Dr. Verna Thornton. . . . . 60 Grantville Package Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Bill Heard Chevrolet . 42, 43 Heavenly Laughter Daycare Center, Inc. . . . . 68 The Heritage School . . . 81 Hollberg’s Fine Furniture 16 Irish Bred Pub . . . . . . . . . 53 Edward Jones . . . . . . . . . 20 Jones Funeral Home . . . 26 Cameron Johnson Photography . . . . . . . . . . 16 Mary Kay Cosmetics/ Jennifer Hassani . . . . . . . 56 Kam, Ebersbach & Lewis, P.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Katie’s Restaurant . . . . . . 52 Kelly’s On The Green . . . . 3 Kids R Kids Learning Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Larry’s Subs . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Leaning Tower Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . 40 Lee-King Pharmacy . . . . . . 4 Legacy Realty Group . . . . 5 Lindsey’s, Inc., Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Ann Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Main Street Newnan . . . 29 R.S. Mann, Jr. Jewelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 McKoon Funeral Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Mega Granite & Marble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Mercedes-Benz of South Atlanta . . . . . . . . . 83 Milano’s Italian Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Moe’s Southwest Grill. . . 52 Morgan Jewelers. . . . . . . 20 Natural Release . . . . . . . 39 Newnan Hospital . . . . . . . 2 Nick’s Pizza Stop . . . . . . . 75 Norwalk Furniture . . . . . . 25 Overby Park . . . . . . . . . . 75 Parks & Mottola Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Parks of Olmsted . . . 72 Partners In Faith/ Dr. McAlpin . . . . . . . . . . . 65 PeachState Furniture . . . 65 The Pool Store . . . . . . . . . 57 Quail Ridge Farm . . . . . . 68 Red Orchid Thai Cuisine . . . . . . . . . . 53 Re/Max, Shirley “Sam” McPherson . . . . . 77 Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Sew Exclusive, Inc. . . . . . 48 Scott’s Book Store . . . . . . 77 Southern Cabinet Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Southern Crescent Equine Services . . . . . . . 39 Southern Regional Health System . . . . . . . . . 31 Stay Beautiful, Inc. . . . . . 68 Stemberger, Cummins & Arnall, P.C. . . 34 SummerGrove Golf . . . . 30 Sweet Sensations . . . . . . 51 TeaFusions Teahouse . . . 52 Ten East Washington . . . 49 The Times-Herald . . . . . . 27 Town & Country Restaurant. . . . . . . . . . . . 53 U Dirty Dog . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Uniglobe McIntosh Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 United Realty Group . . . . 56 University of West Georgia . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Villages of Stillwood Farms . . . . . . . 35 Welden Financial Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Wesley Woods of Newnan/PTC . . . . . . . . . . 49 Wishbone Fried Chicken . . . . . . . . . . 52 NEWNAN-COWETA

MAGAZINE

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MAGAZINE

July/August 2005

Features 12 Wrights Down the Road

Meet Adam and Shannon Wright, Coweta’s latest contribution to the country music scene.

18 The Whole World of Improv Former Newnanite Brian Chapman is making a name for himself in the world of improv comedy in Atlanta.

22 Putting the world on hold Senoia’s Gary Gruby tells why his “Portrait of Senoia” may be the most important project he’s ever shot.

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32 Birds of Prey Dale Arrowood of Sharpsburg counts eagles, vultures, owls and hawks among his friends, and he’s planning to bring his Birds of Prey show closer to home.

37 Pampered Pets From mobile pet grooming services to a bakery that makes pet treats, Cowetans are fond of making sure their pets live the good life.

46 Coweta’s Culinary Treasures Coweta cooks have access to some great groceries, and we offer tips on where to find the best meat, freshest eggs and pick-your-own berries.

54 Home Organization Cluttered closets? Messy mail center? Packed pantry?

Local experts offer advice on how to make home organization a priority.

58 Scrapbooking in Coweta Preserving memories with photographs and journaling is a favorite pastime for lots of folks in Coweta County, where scrapbooking classes and vendors abound.

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66 Roscoe Revisited Life in rural Roscoe and Dunaway Gardens in the late thirties is shared through the letters of Dorothy King.

2005

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28 Healthy Living Sharpsburg’s Glenn Brightwell stays active by participating in the Highland Games, where he also pays tribute to his ancestry.

41 The Thoughtful Gardener Georgia’s state flower, the Cherokee rose can be found at several spots here in Coweta County, if you know where to look.

50 Coweta Cooks When Gayle Whaley misses family in California, she simply cooks up a family dish that reminds her of home.

62 Let’s Go For a peaceful getaway that’s not so faraway, consider serene Serenbe Bed and Breakfast in Palmetto.

70 Grantville Profile A renaissance of sorts began in Grantville several years ago, and today more than a dozen new neighborhoods are in the building or planning phase.

32 Departments 74 Local Heritage Trace your roots and explore local history by visiting the Coweta County Genealogical Society in Grantville.

76 The Bookshelf Great southern fiction and a former GBI agent’s book top our summer reading list.

78 Snapshots Who’s been out and about in recent months? Here’s a round-up of the local scene.

In Every Issue

11 Editor’s Letter 80 July/August Calendar

50 NEWNAN-COWETA

MAGAZINE

Save the date for these upcoming arts and entertainment events.

82 My Coweta Senoia’s Tray Baggarly is grateful his Coweta County school years were during the small-school era.

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Amazing How Wide-Open Spaces Bring Your Family So Close Together.

With six acres of our 26-acre community dedicated to recreation, you’ll see that at Brasch Park, we take the park part seriously. From our sparkling swimming pool and pavilion to a regulation-sized baseballdiamond,full-sized soccer field,basketball court,and playground,you’ll see there’s no other communitylike it. Here you’ll find beautiful three- and four-bedroom homes, sidewalks throughout the community, and private walking accessto Grantville ElementarySchool.Sound ideal? It is.But hurry—with only72 homesites, the opportunity is limited. Brasch Park. We provide the park. You provide the amusement.

Sales and Marketing

by The Home Source Realtors. Prices, terms, and features subject to change without notice.

Sales Center open Daily 11-6, Sunday 1-6 • www.braschpark.com Homes from the $140s $140s••678-420-1900 770-583-4016 • www.braschpark.com Directions: I-85 South to Exit 35. West on Georgia 29, one mile. Brasch Park is on the right.

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EDITOR’S LETTER

The Blue Pass

W

When we Cowetans count our blessings, one item that ought to be on everyone’s list is this: We turn out good celebrities.

Think about it. Country music star Alan Jackson was instrumental in helping open the Angel’s House, an emergency shelter for local children. Fellow country singer Doug Stone came home to perform a benefit concert for the American Red Cross. Our favorite Atlanta Falcon set up the Keith Brooking Children’s Foundation serving foster children. These men could have driven up I-85 and never looked back, but they didn’t. And oh, are we grateful.

On a recent spring night in Birmingham, I was privileged to go behind the scenes at the Alan Jackson concert, where the opening acts included Sara Evans and The Wrights. I’d heard plenty of good things about Adam Wright of Newnan, who is Alan’s nephew, and Adam’s wife Shannon, but it was such a pleasure to finally meet them in person. Adam shook my hand

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warmly and seemed genuinely appreciative the hometown magazine was in Birmingham just to see him. Shannon was a gracious hostess, showing several of us Cowetans the tour bus and talking about life on the road.

Here’s a little secret for the aspiring reporter out there: You never get tired of being handed a backstage pass. At this concert it was a small blue plastic-covered tag on a hang cord and read “Alan Jackson 2005 — All Access.” Behind the concert stage, those words work miracles.

Posted at the entrance to the backstage area were security guys who looked like they could eat any wayward fans who dared enter. Flash that “All Access” pass, however, and you got a fast smile and a quick, “Oh, you’ve got the Blue Pass.

Come on in.” It was as good as saying you were one of Alan’s sisters.

Blue Pass in hand, or on neck, actually, the curious Cowetans were free to wander around, free to marvel at miles of electrical cords

and dozens of guitars. The nosy onlooker — not to say that I personally know one — could muse about seeing a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker on a piece of sound equipment or mosey on over to The Wrights’ dressing room for a bathroom break. “Yes, I knew them in the early days,” I will say one day, when The Wrights join the list of Coweta legends who’ve hit the big time and made us proud. (Actually, they already have.)

This issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine goes behind the scenes with a lot of local folks whose talents may surprise you. Please consider this your “Blue Pass” to go backstage with us and look around to your heart’s content.

Fondly,

Angela Webster, Editor

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COVER STORY

WRIGHTS Down the Road

B Y A L E X M C R A E P H O T O S B Y A N G E L A

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W E B S T E R

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The crowd is roaring for more, but as they leave the stage it isn’t the wave of applause that gets the couple’s attention. It’s a chance remark about how good they looked on the huge projection screens at Birmingham’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Their first tour is eight days old, but Adam and Shannon Wright have been so focused on connecting with audiences they haven’t even thought about the larger-than-life images tracking their every move.

Adam just smiles and shrugs. His wife, however, is horrified. “I’ve never even looked up there. Was my makeup OK?” Shannon asks, fingers searching her face for a nonexistent blemish. “Did I look all right? Really?”

Moments later, assured she looked just as good as she sang, Shannon begins to relax. As Adam wanders toward the backstage cafeteria with the group’s bass player, Newnan’s Alex McCollough, Shannon heads for the parking lot. She beams when a female visitor compliments her earrings. “Thank you so much for noticing,” she says. “I’m stuck out here with five guys all day and they don’t understand hair and makeup and it really means a lot to get some girl input. Wanna see the bus?”

Shannon shows off her rolling home like it is the Taj Mahal, introducing the gleaming toilet with a flourish, pointing out the front and rear lounges, the two flat screen TVs and the six coffin-sized

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bunks where band members eat, sleep, dream and fret between 30-minute doses of onstage adulation.

Privacy is at a premium, but the husband and wife team have adjusted to life in the fast lane.

“When I get cold I just sneak over there,” she says, pointing to Adam’s bunk with a grin. “We’re on the road, but we try and have a life, too.”

With the May 2005 release of their first CD, “Down This Road,” The Wrights, as Adam and Shannon are known professionally, served notice they were ready for the big time. And audiences are quickly learning that the openers for Alan Jackson’s 2005 “What I Do” tour aren’t out to build a reputation on cowboy hats and cleavage, but by writing and performing the kind of close-to-the-bone music that made legends of musical couples like George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

The critics are raving and the fan base is growing, but the learning curve is steep.

Right now the couple is running on adrenaline and awe, so excited at getting their big break they still don’t bat an eye at the marathon bus trips punctuated by onthe-fly phone interviews, nerve-testing visits to truck stop restrooms and layovers at their Nashville home so brief there is barely time to pay a bill or do the laundry before hitting the road again.

“It’s not perfect, but I’m not complaining,” says Shannon.

“This is what we’ve been working for.”

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Chatting with Adam Wright, at right, before his concert in Birmingham are Cile Smith, David Van Drew and Christy Van Drew, all of Newnan.

“We all get along great and it’s still pretty new, so we’re all excited about the opportunity,” says Adam Wright, shown on the tour bus with wife Shannon. “But sometimes you get the feeling you’re stuck in a submarine.”

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The two were making music almost as soon as they crawled out of the crib. Adam was playing the piano at age 5 and by the time he finished Newnan High School had mastered several instruments. When he wasn’t playing with local groups, Adam jammed with members of his musically-inclined family, including his mom and dad, Cathy and Lamar Wright.

Just a few miles down the road in LaGrange, Shannon was following the same path, wowing the family gatherings by age 5, plinking a ukelele and belting out pop hits until way past her normal bedtime. “From the time she was a little girl, it was obvious she wanted to be a singer,” says Shannon’s mom, Sharon Gay. “She really worked at it.”

While Shannon studied music at Georgia Southern, Adam pursued his passion for writing and performing, working a variety of day jobs and

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R. S. Mann, Jr. Jewelers 5 Greenville Street Historic Dowtown Newnan, Georgia 30263

770.253.4713

performing several nights each week.

Shannon hit the Atlanta club scene after college, but just as her career was picking up steam she unexpectedly found herself without a guitar player. Her cousin knew Adam and called him at Newnan’s Redneck Gourmet, where Adam was cooking, to see if he could fill in. It turned out better than anyone expected.

“I needed him to know that he could rely on me...

one last time.”

“That is why I chose McKoon Funeral Home.

Because I knew they had enough experience... enough people...enough compassion.”

McKoon ©2005 MKJ MARKETING

FUNERAL HOME

NEWNAN-COWETA

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38 Jackson Street Newnan (770) 253-4580 www.mckoon.com On-site crematory

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Weddings • Portraits • Events • Pets

Country singer Alan Jackson, at left, and RLG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante, at right, celebrated the signing of The Wrights with Jackson’s independent label, Alan’s Country Records, in September 2004.

Cameron Johnson Photography 770-254-1964 cameronjohnsonphotography.com

P ERHAPS A MERICA’ S F INEST F URNITURE Now Available at

Main Street ~ Senoia, GA 770.599.3443 www.Hollbergs.com

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“That first night together was just like magic,” says Shannon.

“There was an instant connection.”

Soon after they met, Adam and Shannon formed their own group.

Heritage Cherry played some standards but featured the couple’s original songs. Crowds were favorable but club owners looking for top 40 hits were not.

By 2001, Adam and Shannon were desperately in love and totally out of work, fired from every single regular gig they had.

They didn’t care.

“We could have gone back to playing other stuff,” says Adam, “but this is what we wanted to do.”

They decided if they were going to play their own music they’d play it for the right audience. In a single whirlwind week in 2002, they said “I do,” called U-Haul and headed to Nashville, determined to make it in a town that draws dreamers like a magnet and buries more ambitions than any place this side of Hollywood.

“We loved being together and we loved making music together and that was more important than making money,” says Adam. “We were willing to wait a while and see if it worked out.”

The first doubts showed up early.

The Atlanta club scene was merely brutal. Nashville was a musical combat zone, swarming with supertalented pickers and singers eager and willing to trample each other to catch the ear of a Music City honcho who can make or break a career with one phone call.

When Adam and Shannon attended their first writer’s night, where aspiring artists showcase original tunes, they were floored.

“The talent just blew us away,” says Adam. “We knew we had to pick it up a few notches.”

They did, and soon their playing and songwriting began to get noticed by the right people, including Adam’s uncle, country music megastar Alan Jackson.

Jackson had followed his dream to Nashville and knew what the two were facing. He asked the couple to send along any new songs they wrote and invited them to open for him at a few concerts. Adam will never forget the night he and Shannon took the stage at Atlanta’s HiFi Buys Amphitheater.

“All our friends were there and I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up,” he says.

A year later he was ready to scream when Jackson selected two of the couple’s songs, “Strong Enough” NEWNAN-COWETA

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and “If Love Was A River,” for his latest CD, “What I Do.” When Jackson signed The Wrights as the first act on his new label, Alan’s Country Records, cries of favoritism arose, but the doubters were silenced when “Down This Road,” a collection of 12 original songs, hit the stores in May and the video shot to the top 5.

The CD’s moods span the musical spectrum. “Leave A Light On” is nofrills traditional country twang. The lead-swapping vocals give an edgy attitude to “On The Rocks” and “Hard Time” would make a Baptist want to boogie.

Keith Stegall, who produced “Down This Road” along with John Kelton, has worked with Nashville’s biggest stars, including Jackson, and says there was no doubt The Wrights were ready for a shot at stardom.

“Country music goes in a lot of

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different directions these days,” Stegall says, “but it’s always been about being genuine. Adam and Shannon are as genuine as it gets.

They’re gonna be around a while.”

The future looks rosy, but as they take their first tentative steps into the

Big Time, the couple is focused on managing the little things that can break a career. Or a marriage.

“We were a little surprised at how consuming it is,” Adam says. “We make a conscious effort not to talk about the business stuff and sometimes have to make ourselves take time out so we don’t drive each other crazy.”

In the music business fame and fortune are just one hit away, but for now the two are keeping things simple.

“It’s been great so far,” Adam says. “But we’re really excited when we get to sleep in a bed that isn’t moving.” NCM

Who’s taking the pulse of Coweta County?

By 2008, it will be registered nursing graduates of the University of West Georgia’s new

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at the Newnan Center. Classes for the two-and-one-half year professional sequence start in June for students who have completed their core curriculum courses. The UWG Nursing Program is internationally recognized for pioneering learning in Caring Groups, which focus on the caring aspects of nursing while also nurturing the nursing students themselves.

Department of Nursing 678-839-6552 • www. westga.edu/~nurs Educational excellence in a personal environment

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FEATURE

Brian Chapman

E x p l o r i n g

t h e

W h o l e

Wo r l d

o f

improv S T O R Y 18

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P H O T O S

B Y

C A M E R O N

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Y

ou never know what’s going to happen at an improv show. No one does.

On a recent Friday night at Whole World Theatre on Spring Street in Atlanta, director Brian Chapman took suggestions to set up improvisational scenes for his team of five actors.

He took no guff from a crowd buzzing with excitement. There was banter back and forth but Chapman remained in control, wincing when he heard the weekly scatological suggestions. After all the shouting, he settled on a suggestion from a quiet woman in the back for the scene called “foreign dubbing.”

The actor was supposed to be sad because, just as the woman suggested, the man had learned he

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Newnan High School in 1991 and then attended the University of Georgia. He graduated from the Connecticut School of Journalism in Atlanta, worked in radio, and landed back in Newnan filming school events on Channel 7. While working for Newnan Utilities, Chapman created his own show on Channel 10 reviewing movies. Then he heard of Whole World Theatre, his friends encouraging him to check out a Friday night show.

“I always felt that I wanted to do something like this,” says Chapman.

“I just didn’t know how to get there.”

It was five years ago that the Newnan native found his way to Whole World Theatre (WWT) in Atlanta. Chapman followed his heart and refused to get stuck in a rut doing “the things that you think you should do instead of what makes you happy.”

Right now Chapman is content making his way in Atlanta. He has directed a full-length, completely improvised movie called “Crooked Run,” and since taking that first six-month class at WWT, Chapman has acted in or directed

more than 500 improv shows. He’s taken voice lessons and more acting classes, and he was in a recent NASCAR-themed Lotto South TV spot as the “Huh, batteries must be dead” guy.

“I have plenty of friends who are businessmen and lawyers,” Chapman says. “I see these guys and I know they’re happy, but if I had stayed the course, the ‘ordinary way,’ I would be miserable right now. It would be nice to say I’m making money, with a house, but I would be unfulfilled.”

Noting that acting is “a terribly iffy field,” Chapman says he’s lucky to have the support of his family.

“They knew I was doing this, but after coming to the shows they can see that it’s something really cool,” he says.

Some people don’t know what improv is, Chapman says. Although they think it’s stand-up comedy, it’s not.

“When improv is awesome, it’s the most amazing thing ever,” Chapman says. “Even when it’s not so good, the actors are still showing the audience something. It’s still something to witness, because most actors are horrified of doing improv.

would “never walk on the moon again.” The two actors on stage acted dramatically while speaking in gibberish, and two more actors off to the side “dubbed” the words.

Getting the audience behind you is crucial, says Chapman, whose theatre performs five improv shows a week. “If the audience isn’t with you, the show can tank,” he says.

Audiences lately have included more and more people from Newnan, friends interested in the sort of theatre Chapman and Whole World are performing.

Chapman graduated from NEWNAN-COWETA

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There’s no script; it’s made up on the spot.”

In addition to directing at Whole World Theatre, Chapman is also the first ever improv acting instructor at the Professional Actors Studio in Buckhead. Some aspiring actors want to take his class to improve their humor, but Chapman says they are missing the point.

“If you’re taking my class to make yourself funnier, you need to leave,” he says. “You already have your sense of humor. I can make you a better actor, a better listener. You can’t make improv about yourself.”

At that recent Friday night show, Chapman had a great, fun audience and avoided some of the more predictable improv ideas that people throw at him each week.

“You don’t take a lot of the junk,” he says. “Intelligent people will pull out the raunchiest stuff. It’s too easy for the actors … Give them something NEWNAN-COWETA

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intelligent to work with and it makes it more of a challenge for them.”

Sometimes, though, the audience can get intimidated, especially if Chapman tells them not to say anything vulgar.

“Diarrhea. Tourette’s, gay, diarrhea,” Chapman says. “God bless the audience, but they sometimes do the same things.”

The shows always change, though. You can have a great show or a not-so-great show, Chapman says, but the actors are putting themselves on the line either way.

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Putting the world on hold B Y S A R A H F AY C A M P B E L L P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F G A R Y

G R U B Y

A N D

S A R A H

F AY

C A M P B E L L

Opposite, center: This photo of a night blooming cirrus from his backyard won Gary Gruby the Best in Show Award from the Southeastern Flower Show.

Opposite, far right: The United Way called Gruby in to get photos for an ad campaign. United Way planned to use photos from a book on homeless Europeans, but found out at the last minute they couldn’t get model releases. Gruby saw these children near a vacant building in Atlanta.

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FEATURE

S

Senoia photographer Gary Gruby has three criteria he considers when deciding whether to take a certain job.

“You either like the work — it’s beautiful or it’s going to look beautiful — you like the people or you like the money. If any two of those come together, I go to work.”

Taking commercial pictures and all the work that goes into them can be a pretty draining business (“It will really just wear you out,” Gruby says), so it’s nice to “put the world on hold.”

He uses the term often, and it’s about putting the world on hold to do a shoot. Cell phones are barred, and usually when he’s shooting a portrait he doesn’t shoot anything else that day.

“A lot of times people think portraiture is something other than what I think it is,” Gruby says. “If I can get them on my wavelength, then I work my butt off for them doing a portrait. But a portrait is not what you get at the storefront portrait places.”

This past year Gruby started taking pictures of 3-year-olds, amazed to find that’s when you start seeing the future in a child’s face.

“He may be adorable or not adorable, but one thing’s for sure.

The man he is going to be is in his eyes, and that’s what you want to capture,” he says.

And when you’re having a photo

NEWNAN-COWETA

MAGAZINE

session with Gruby, you’d best keep looking at the camera.

“Eyes. Eyes. Eyes!”

Often, when Gruby’s having an editing session where a family selects photos, he finds “the ones they gravitate to are the ones they probably could’ve done themselves.”

“A lot of portraiture is not the big smile,” according to Gruby. He

Gruby says. Show him a color photograph and he’s bored, “but black and white is just magnificent and has so many different tones.”

Gruby switched completely to digital photography several years ago, and while he loves the instant gratification and not having to spend money on film, it’s just not the same.

“If you’ve never had an experience with film, you’re really missing something. There is no place like the darkroom, and anybody that’s ever spent any time in there — that’s actually accomplished something — knows exactly what I’m talking about,” he says. “If you’ve seen a black and white image come up in the developing tray, you’re either hooked or you’re not. If you’re hooked, you realize how magical it is.”

gets plenty of those, of course, but that’s the off shot.

Gruby’s portraits are always black and white, or sometimes sepia toned.

“My heart’s in black and white. Also, black and white transcends time,” JULY/AUGUST

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Digital photography doesn’t look like film either, Gruby says. “It’s too sharp. It’s too flat. It has no feeling.”

So for every picture taken digitally, Gruby uses the computer program Photoshop to adjust the photos and make them look like they were taken using film.

“It gives you what is called ‘the film look.’ If you’ve never known the film look, then you are going to be missing out.”

He may miss “the look,” but he sure doesn’t miss the chemicals.

“Flushing hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, selenium, all these are poisons, down the drain, and every photographer since Ansel Adams wore

back into their packages to return to the store. (He works with a lady who has a particular talent for this).

It’s also the world of taking the whole family on shoots to the Caribbean and photographing CEOs climbing a glacier-covered mountain in Colombia.

In addition to his commercial work, Gruby has taken plenty of photos right here at home. In fact, anyone who lives in Senoia or visits there often is probably familiar with his work. Gruby’s “Portrait of Senoia” is an ongoing exhibition of photographs of Senoia residents on loan to the Senoia Area Historical Society.

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short pants has been doing that; it’s a really, really dirty thing,” he says.

While the black and white portraits are Gruby’s favorites, the selftaught photographer’s bread and butter is actually commercial photos.

That’s a world of art directors and prop makers and makeup artists and models. It’s trying to make CEOs relax, scouting out the perfect cornfield, getting hundreds of dollars of curtains perfectly refolded to fit

On Jan. 1, 2000, Gruby arranged the Millennium Portrait, and hundreds of Senoia residents turned out downtown to be a permanent, visual part of the city’s entrance to the new millennium.

Gruby, his wife Alison Baker, and their sons, Dylan, 20, and Jesse, 15, moved to their home in Senoia in 1989. “We really lucked out,” Gruby says. For years before that, they pioneered loft living in his Atlanta NEWNAN-COWETA

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Joe Atkinson communes with a butterfly in this shot from the Portrait of Senoia. Atkinson, who died last March, was “the first Marine of Senoia” and Gary Gruby’s next door neighbor.

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Gary Gruby took this shot of Atlanta’s notorious Red Dog squad for a magazine story. Gruby’s Atlanta studio was across the street from the task force working on the Atlanta Child Murders.

studio, a former blacksmith shop.

Gruby started taking pictures of folks around town, the genesis of Portrait of Senoia.

Soon after they moved to Senoia, the late Lorette Quick asked Gruby if he was going to be commuting to Atlanta. “I said, ‘I’m going to have to.’ She put her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘I’m going to have my whole congregation pray for you.’”

In Senoia he’s surrounded by “just true grit, real people, the salt of the earth. I would’ve been just crazy not to try to capture it on film,” he says.

When they first moved to Senoia, the Grubys got a bit involved in politics but then decided to get out of that.

“I put all of my effort into the photographic aspect of Senoia rather than the political,” Gruby says. The Portrait of Senoia “enabled me to make peace with this town.”

He wanted to capture the spirit of Senoia before it changes.

“My battle is to leave the best image that I possibly can,” he says. “The Portrait of Senoia is probably the most important thing I’ve ever done.” NCM

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Gary Gruby photographs Tracie Prickett, an East Coweta High School student, in his dining room studio.

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Where heart meets heft Why Sharpsburg’s Glenn Brightwell loves the Highland Games B Y A L E X M C R A E P H O T O S B Y B O B

—

F R A L E Y

W

When he put on the skirt, his world was changed forever.

Looking back on his introduction to the sport — and the wardrobe — that is now a huge part of his life, Sharpsburg’s Glenn Brightwell laughs and says, “You never know where love will lead you.”

Ten years later they still remember that first date.

Awkward, nervous, but determined to get off on the right foot, Brightwell and Lezli McDonald sought common ground. Brightwell has Campbell blood on his grandmother’s side. Lezli’s roots are Irish and Welch.

The Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival seemed like a natural.

It was. The two were enchanted by the pageantry and color, the sound of pipes and drums and the sight of thousands dressed in traditional Scottish plaids.

Brightwell felt as if he had come home. Especially when he saw the huge men in kilts toiling at the so-called “heavy” games, a set of exercises developed centuries ago by Scottish clan chieftains to improve their warriors’ strength and stamina between battles.

Brightwell was intrigued as he watched the athletes strain

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“I’m sore for a week after a contest, and when you don’t do well, you wonder why you bother. But you’re proud you did it.

And it feels like I’m honoring my ancestors.”

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to hurl huge weights and pitch telephone pole-sized timbers called cabers end-over-end. For the first time since injuries ended his high school cross-country career and a later fling with mountain biking, he felt the competitive fires stir in his blood.

“I revered those Scottish ancestors I’d never met,” he says, “and the games seemed like a way to connect to them.”

Glenn and Lezli fell in love with each other and the Highland Games. They attended contests across the southeast, and Brightwell longed to compete but stayed on the sidelines for more than five years, saying, “I was afraid I’d make a fool of myself.” It was only after he and Lezli were married and raising a family that now includes sons Connor, 7, and Brody, 2, that Brightwell made the decision that changed his life.

At the end of a competition one of the athletes offered spectators a chance to try their hand at an event.

Brightwell accepted the challenge … and immediately wished he hadn’t. “It was awkward and hard and I didn’t have any idea what I was doing,” he said.

He was crushed, but several athletes drew him aside and offered encouragement. At 6’ 1”, 235 lbs. Brightwell is stout enough to give any troublemaker second thoughts. But he is one of the smallest competitors in a sport dominated by giants who routinely top 6’ 6” and weigh more than 300 pounds. The athletes told him size wasn’t a problem, though, and that with proper training he could compete at the highest level.

There was only one question.

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“They said, ‘You’ve got to have the heart,’” Brightwell recalls. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

The next week he was shopping for kilts.

Brightwell threw himself into his newfound passion and quickly shot to the top of the amateur ranks. After just four years of competition he is rated number two in Georgia and number 155 in the nation.

“It’s pretty amazing,” he says.

“I’ve never been this good at anything.

The “heavy events” are not tests of endurance or finesse. They are short, focused bursts of brute strength — gut-straining lifts, armburning heaves and muscle-ripping whirls — that can shoot blood pressures and pulse rates through the roof in a split second.

A single mistake could damage a disc or cause muscle tears requiring weeks of recovery. “It’s not something you forget about,” says Brightwell.

“You can get hurt in a hurry.”

Although Brightwell has been banged up by the weights, stones and

caber, his most serious injury came in the sheaf toss, in which competitors hoist a 20-pound burlap sack with a pitchfork and send it sailing overhead.

On the advice of a well-meaning competitor, Brightwell tried a new technique and wound up with his

razor-sharp pitchfork stuck in his lower leg.

“I went back to the old way real fast,” he laughs.

As far as he knows, Brightwell is the only Highland Games competitor in Coweta County. He and Lezli and the boys travel to more than a dozen

A Quick Guide to the Highland Games “Heavy” athletic events test the athlete’s strength and power, while “light” events — such as highland dancing, sprinting, running and jumping — test agility and stamina.

Most U.S. Highland Games include seven heavy events: the hammer throw, heavy weight throw, light weight throw, stone throw, weight toss for height, sheaf toss and caber.

A brief description of the heavy events: Hammer Throw. The 22 lb. longhandled hammer is 42” in length. The athlete swings the hammer around faster and faster, and then releases, with the longest throw winning. The athlete must remain in one spot, so most competitors wear boots with long spikes to anchor them to the ground while swinging the hammer.

Weights. Includes a “light” weight of 28 lbs. and a “heavy”

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weight of 56 lbs. Both weights are thrown for distance and the heavy weight is tossed for height. Weights can be held with only one hand.

Stone put or “clachneart.” This event involves “putting” a stone weighing between 15 and 22 lbs. as far as possible. The stone may not be thrown underhand like a softball, or overhead with two hands.

The Sheaf Toss. The sheaf is a 20 lb. bag of hay tossed over a bar with a three-pronged pitchfork. Highest toss wins.

Turning the Caber. The caber is a 19- to 20-ft.-long pole athletes attempt to flip end-over-end.

Competitors hope to execute a “twelve o-clock turn,” where the caber falls straight away from where the athlete released it with the caber landing at the center of an imaginary — Alex McRae clock face.

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events each year. Games attract huge crowds, but commercial sponsors are rare. Highland Games professionals earn prize money, but amateurs like Brightwell consider free admission an honest day’s pay for eight hours of pain.

“I’m sore for a week after a contest,” says Brightwell, “and when you don’t do well, you wonder why you bother. But you’re proud you did it. And it feels like I’m honoring my ancestors.”

Only one thing could make it better.

Brightwell’s workouts are often family affairs. Lezli helps with equipment (and first aid) while Brody offers encouragement to his dad and to Connor, who is already working with special lightweight equipment.

One day Brightwell hopes he and his boys will compete together.

“That’s the ultimate,” he says. “I don’t see how I could ever ask for more.” NCM

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FEATURE

Birds of Prey

BY REBECCA LEFTWICH PHOTOS COURTESY OF RICKY

D

Days after his brother passed away last January, master falconer Dale Arrowood experienced something amazing. Back at work presenting Callaway Gardens’ Birds of Prey show, Arrowood was flying an American Bald Eagle named Woodward when four wild eagles suddenly appeared and flew over the amphitheatre for about 15 minutes.

It was a fitting memorial and a memorable moment.

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STILLEY

PHOTOGRAPHY

“My brother’s favorite bird was the eagle,” Arrowood said, “and that had never happened before.”

In a career filled with memorable moments, that’s saying a lot. A highlight of the Callaway show always has been the breathtaking flight of the eagle and the story about its flirt with extinction. Show-goers have chuckled at a clownish vulture named Igor, strained to catch the near-silent swish of an owl’s wings

and ducked to avoid low-flying, single-minded hawks during the Sharpsburg resident’s two-year partnership with EarthQuest and Callaway Gardens.

Now, Arrowood is planning to bring a similar experience closer to home, even looking at a few sites right here in Coweta County.

Arrowood’s love for the sport of falconry and the birds involved is obvious as he fires off his “wish list” NEWNAN-COWETA

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interesting. They aren’t raptors, but they are considered migratory and are protected.”

Although Arrowood’s first experience with falconry came when he was about 15, when he did some trading for a gyr falcon, he later took on a full-time law enforcement career in Fulton County that left little time for flying birds. He met and married Elizabeth Ann Millians, daughter of the late Bobby Millians, in 1977 and they started their family. Through daughter Ginger, who came across his old falconry photos and became interested in exploring the sport, Arrowood found himself back in the field in 1990.

“Ginger wanted to be permitted, so I got back into it,” he said. “We went out and trapped our birds and got started. Pretty soon, people began to want programs and I began to give lectures.”

Arrowood, who is a director of the Georgia Falconry Association, retired from law enforcement in 1999. In 2001, he got a call from Steve Hoddy of EarthQuest, a nonprofit environmental education organization, who offered him the stint at Callaway. Arrowood has flown everything from the enormous Indian condor to the tiny hummingbird and is one of only a handful of people in the United States legally qualified to handle a bald eagle. He counts among of show birds: bald eagle, peregrine falcons, Harris’s and red-tailed hawks and exotics like the Mediterranean Lanner falcon, the Russian Steppes eagle and the Eurasian eagle owl, which is the largest flightable owl on the planet at 3-1/2-feet tall. He plans to secure another black vulture like Igor as well. “(Igor) was very popular at Callaway,” Arrowood said. “Black vultures are easy to train and NEWNAN-COWETA

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his friends and mentors the likes of Okefenokee Joe and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom legend Jim Fowler.

As co-permittee with British falconer David Newby, Arrowood plans to run his educational program out of his home. Newby, who trained under Jemima PerryJones, runs Custom Falconry in Alabama. Together, the two men plan on an educational program which includes public flights and information about protecting wildlife.

“The main environmental message is to reduce, reuse and recycle,” Arrowood said. “That was

the key to bringing back the eagle from the verge of extinction. People use things so senselessly and don’t realize we really can do without

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certain things. When you’re going in with development, I don’t see a problem with reducing the amount of buildings per acre and preserving the greenspace. There is a very delicate balance there, and more people are clear-cutting and not replanting. It’s a shame.”

“By no means am I a tree-hugger extremist,” Arrowood added. “I consider myself an enviromentalist with common sense. When you’re looking at the value of the environment, you’ve got to put limitations on what you’re going to put there. There has got to be a happy medium.”

One of the easiest ways to make your own backyard wildlife-friendly is to have as much ground cover as possible to draw raptors into the area.

“That attracts rodents, which attract migrating raptors,” Arrowood said. “If you have areas where you

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can put brush piles, that will attract barred and great horned owls. Voles will attract small screech owls, too.”

As Arrowood forges ahead with his plans for a local birds of prey show, he can be sure of his family’s support. Though general falconer Ginger is now dormant as the 20year-old focuses her efforts on a career as a patient care tech for Crosspoint Hospice, her younger sister Savannah, 16, is full throttle into the sport. An apprentice NEWNAN-COWETA

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falconer, the East Coweta High School junior worked with her dad at Callaway and currently is in possession of a red-tailed hawk, which hunts over her Arkansas treeing fiest in a dog-bird tandem.

Falconry appears that it will affect a third generation in the Arrowood family as well. Eighteen-month-old Will Sipes, daughter Katie’s son, may already have given the family a glimpse of the future.

His first word was “bird.” NCM

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Master falconer Dale Arrowood of Sharpsburg, above, is a director of the Georgia Falconry Association and is trying to bring a Birds of Prey Show to Coweta County.

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FEATURE

Pampered B Y R E B E C C A L E F T W I C H P H O T O S B Y B O B F R A L E Y

L

Lady Bass lives a life of luxury.

She has a beautiful Newnan home with a well-kept lawn, private pool and servants to attend to her every need. If she could speak, she might complain that her hair is itchy in the summer or that squirrels tend to taunt her from the tops of the tall Georgia pines, but in general, she is one happy girl.

Lady is one of approximately 73 million dogs who, along with some 317 million cats, fish, birds, small animals and reptiles, has pushed the

A N D

PETS

B R E T T

C L A R K

her needs sometimes become problematic. Owner Jane Bass laughed as she told of Lady’s pool.

“It was hot and Lady was outside with our grandchildren, playing,” Bass said. “It occurred to me that she needed a swimming pool, and I said so. My granddaughter turned to me and said, ‘What about us, Gram?’”

With opportunities for everything from luxury hotel stays to customized birthday parties, pampering pets has never been easier. In Coweta County, caretakers can take advantage of self-

service dog washes, mobile pet grooming, pet sitters and professional dog walkers and a slew of veterinary and kennel services. Sweet Sensations, a bakery in Newnan’s Avery Park, offers special treats for your horse, cat or dog, while No Place Like Home can give your city dog a country dog experience.

Bill and Gloria Carswell, who own the state-licensed and countyapproved commercial boarding facility, run it on their secluded, 50acre farm between Senoia and

Dogs romp in the exercise area of No Place Like Home, a boarding facility located between Senoia and Sharpsburg. Owner Gloria Carswell, at left, even gives dogs rides in her golf cart.

number of pets in the United States to an all-time high. Her beginnings were, perhaps, a bit more dubious than some of the more high-profile pets who grace Hollywood’s red carpet, but she is no less beloved by her humans.

In fact, Lady is so beloved that NEWNAN-COWETA

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Sharpsburg. According to Bill Carswell, No Place Like Home is an alternative to traditional boarding facilities, where dogs sometimes are cooped up in small kennels and walked just twice a day.

“We have large indoor/outdoor runs for dogs, plus a 1-1/2-acre exercise area where they can play with other dogs, if they are compatible,” Carswell said. “We take rides around the pastures and hayfields in the golf cart and take the dogs on long runs.”

At The Butcher Shoppe in Newnan, Mary Beth Lindamood has seen customers come by to shop for their pets instead of themselves. “We have vegetarians who come in to buy ground lamb and beef for their pets,” she said.

Lindamood regularly takes tidbits home to her dogs Diesel, an American bulldog mix, and Leela, a pit bull mix.

She recently purchased a pool and canopy for her pooches to keep them cool in the Newnan heat, and she takes them for rides in the car “just to get out of the house.”

Local artist Kris Adams’s dog Abby is a traveler and athlete. She completed the North Umpaqua Trail in Oregon in 2000, hiking the 78-mile trail over weekends with her owners. Because Abby is athletic and loves to swim, it was the best way imaginable for Adams to pamper her.

“She slept in the tent, chased elks and swam in the river,” Adams said. “She had a great time.”

Nationwide, the pampered pets trend is nearly keeping pace with the number of pet owners, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, which

NEWNAN-COWETA

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recently released its annual National Pet Owners Survey. It found: • Three-quarters of dog owners and half of cat owners treat their pet as a child or family member.

• Eight out of 10 dog owners and 63 percent of cat owners purchase gifts for their pets on birthdays and holidays.

• Nine percent of dog owners and five percent of cat owners hold birthday parties for their pets (pergift average is $17).

• Nineteen percent of dog owners take along their dogs when traveling or vacationing.

• Three percent of dogs and one

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Pet lover Robyn Wheichel helps son Orion, 3, give treats to dogs Maverick and Bandit outside Sweet Sensations at Avery Park in Newnan.

percent of cats now have health insurance.

• Obesity is such a concern among pet owners that the weightcontrol market for pet food has grown 25 percent.

With pets so important in their owners’ lives, their deaths are equally important. More pet owners are showing interest in urns for their pets’ remains, and remembrance memorials that incorporate a lock of the pets’ hair or some other token mixed into perennial seeds also are growing in popularity. Nearly one in 10 plans to mark their pet’s final resting place with a headstone.

All this seems far removed from Lady’s home, which she shares not only with her humans but also with cats Cosmo and Lucky-Lucky. Cosmo reigns supreme in the cat world as a moody brooder who will sit beside people but not on their laps and refuses to drink anything except halfand-half. Lucky-Lucky is aptly named.

“I heard a meowing from under my car and found her,” Bass said.

“She’s lucky that she didn’t get cut up in the car, and I’m lucky I didn’t cut her up. My husband said we couldn’t keep her, so naturally, she has the run of the house.”

With at least a couple of her nine lives intact, two indulgent humans and two furry playmates, Lucky-Lucky is as pampered as she wants to be.

Purrrrrrrr, indeed. NCM NEWNAN-COWETA

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THE THOUGHTFUL GARDENER

A

On the Trail of the Cherokee Rose

S T O R Y ,

P H O T O S

A friend once said to me, “Things have meaning only if you use them,” and I believe she is right.

I treasure my Mimi’s milk glass cup with the cobalt blue silhouette of the three little pigs. Why? Those summer weeks spent roaming sultry South Georgia pine forests, the Flint River, and my Grandfather’s pharmacy started with morning “coffee” (mostly milk and sugar) at my grandparents’ breakfast table with the little cup at my place.

Plants should be that way, too.

They should carry memories and meaning for us, connect us to the past, communicate to us. How special it is to walk through someone’s garden

A N D

A R T W O R K

B Y

as they point out a huge, profusely blooming flame azalea and say, “That came from my mother’s yard,” or to brush past the enveloping, heady smell of gardenias as they remark, “My grandmother always had a silver

K A T H E R I N E

M C C A L L

bowl filled with these in the middle of her dining room table.”

Plants can be a tangible link to the past for reasons other than sentimental ones. Many antique lovers pick certain plants because of

A Cherokee rose hedge graces the home of Pat and Julie Yancey of Newnan.

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Cherokee rose blossoms cover an old dock at the home of Moreland’s Mary and Sharon Denney.

their historical significance and age.

You are holding history in your hands when you examine the Baltimore Belle, the same rose Thomas Jefferson planted at Monticello.

Like interior decoration, the decoration of our yards and gardens should adhere to that old adage “form follows function,” otherwise we become hedonistic. It is always pleasurable to have something purely for beauty, but to have a plant, tree, or shrub fulfill a specific function, be historically significant, or have special memories attached, that is truly a labor of love.

I challenge you to become a thoughtful gardener and relate something of yourself to others with your garden. As the old Persian proverb says, “The world is a rose. Smell it and pass it to your friends!”

In the coming months, I will hold up some worthy specimens essential to the

thoughtful southern gardener.

The first one was a serendipitous discovery. I was convinced the fragrant white rose shrub blooming in the yard of neighbors Bob and Jan Witt, on Happy Valley Circle, was a Cherokee. It seemed to possess the same characteristics as the Cherokee: evergreen, very thorny canes, pure white flowers with yellow centers, glossy green leaves and fragrant.

Some features did not seem to fit, however. The Cherokee is essentially a climber. If not pruned it will sprawl over whatever is available, and pruned it mounds 10 to 12 feet.

As I perused gardening books in search of the elusive Cherokee, I became very intrigued. Introduced in 1759 from China, it quickly became widespread, partly because of the Cherokee Indians who later immortalized it by planting cuttings

along the tragic Trail of Tears. It was used widely throughout Georgia as a hedge as evidenced in James Cothran’s “Gardens and Historic Plants of the Antebellum South.” Generous information combined with quotes from historical documents gives a complete picture of Rosa laevigata. He quotes the “Southern Farmer and Planter” (circa 1854): “A great many shrubs and trees have been used for the formation of hedges, but none is better adapted to this purpose than the Cherokee or Carolina rose. This plant is of hardy nature, rapid growth, ease of cultivation, and makes a durable, compact, and perfectly impenetrable hedge, and, so far has been ascertained, is not subject to any disease nor the attacks of depreciations. This rose is propagated from roots, seeds, layers, or cuttings … In about three years from the insertion of cuttings, if the soil has been well prepared, and well worked, a hedge will be formed, which, by its impenetrability, will repel the attacks of any animal, and by its beauty soften, in a degree, the desolate and gloomy appearance of our winters.”

A rose that was used as a hedge, that is the stuff of “The Secret Garden” or “The Hedge of Thorns”! I could imagine the beauty of it in my mind’s eye: the white frame farmhouse set back from the road,

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flanked by green pastures with horses grazing contentedly and encircled by, not a white fence, but a thick hedge of white roses, slowly dripping their fragrant petals to the ground.

Yes, I definitely had to find out about that rose. I would need some cuttings to get my own hedge started.

A fellow garden club member, Marihope Troutman, introduced me to her dear friends Mary and Sharon Denney. They graciously invited me to Moreland to see their Cherokee. It was spectacular, arching out over an old dock, profuse with white blooms.

To finally be in the presence of one was undeniably exciting, and I had to agree with an article in “The Southern Cultivator” (1855) that the Cherokee rose “ … with its evergreen leaves and flowers of snow, is gloriously beautiful.” I had brought some of the thorny cuttings from the Witts’ rosebush. Mary and I sadly concluded it was not the same rose, but I’ve made some new friends who (hopefully) will want to share a few cuttings! NCM

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FEATURE

Discovering Coweta’s

Culinary Treasures

Richard Lindamood, above, now runs the Butcher Shoppe in Newnan, below, but he is also a past gold medalist in the Culinary Olympics.

B Y J A N E T F L A N I G A N P H O T O S B Y B O B F R A L E Y M A R Y A N N M E E K S

Y

You really have to crane your neck to see them, high atop the refrigerator and casually looped over a trophy, but there they are: Richard Lindamood’s gold medals from the 1992 Culinary Olympics.

Lindamood was among the top

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chefs from the United States who competed that year in Frankfurt, West Germany against the best chefs from around the world. Never heard of the Culinary Olympics? If you visit The Butcher Shoppe in Newnan with its dazzling display of meat,

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seafood and specialty foods, you might be able to get the modest proprietor to tell you about his past days of culinary competition.

Lindamood and his wife Dawn brought their vision of a true oldstyle butcher shop to Newnan two years ago along with their personal business philosophy. “Customers should be able to purchase the highest quality meats, any kind they want, cut to their exact specifications,” Lindamood says.

There are rich, red steaks of seemingly infinite cuts, roasts of all kinds, ground beef, lamb, many varieties of seafood and ready-to-cook items which allow customers to prepare dinner on the run.

Before coming to Newnan, Lindamood had a storied culinary past working for such upscale Atlanta restaurants as The Abbey, The Coach and Six, The Capital City Club and Nikolai’s Roof. The Lindamoods could have traded in on his notoriety in Atlanta, but they are dedicated to their hometown. One visit to their shop and you’ll be very glad they decided to come home.

A completely different kind of meat store is the famous Williams Grocery, located just a beautiful country drive away in the tiny town of Haralson in southeastern Coweta County.

One bite of their nationallyknown sausage links and even chefs like Lindamood would acknowledge their quality and unique flavor. Many in Newnan just call it “Haralson Sausage,” and it shows up everywhere from breakfast to the cocktail buffet.

Tony Yeatman purchased the grocery from the Williams family about two years ago, but he said the Williams family still owns the property as well as the recipe for the sausage. “It’s a secret family recipe and Sandra Williams keeps it,” he NEWNAN-COWETA

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Mack Clayton, above, whips up the secret recipe Haralson sausage. Clayton and wife Juanita, foreground at top right, and Frank Marshall, at back, chop meat. Marshall and Clayton, right, work on some of the famous link sausage, and Ann Garner, below right, prepares sausage biscuits for the breakfast crowd.

says with a twinkle in his eye.

During the summer, two of the three types of sausage are available – the regular link and bulk which are available year round. The famous smoked sausage is made only in the fall when the temperatures drop and frost is on the ground. But each style has its fans; the incredible link sausage with its special casing is unlike any you’ve ever had, and the bulk is seasoned perfectly. They also sell fabulous biscuits, country bacon, ham, pork chops, souse, steaks and fresh ground beef. (The sausage is now sold at Newnan’s Avery Park Chevron, too, along with the famous “Haralson Sausage” biscuits at breakfast.)

Employees Ann Garner and Mack and Juanita Clayton have been with Williams for nearly 30 years.

They count former President Jimmy JULY/AUGUST

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Carter and Newnan’s own Alan Jackson as customers, yet everyone who comes to Williams is important and treated with a wink and a smile.

Back in Newnan, you’ve seen the folks for summer after summer and never stopped. They’re congregating under sheds at the Old Fairgrounds and sitting at the back of their cars, but what are those people doing?

They are selling glistening red tomatoes, sugar sweet corn, blueberries like jewels, crisp greens, lemon-yellow squash, bushels of apples and peaches, homemade jams, jellies and more. If such a list doesn’t pique your interest then go ahead and open that can of peas when supper rolls around, but remember — three days a week, all summer long, the freshest produce around is yours for the buying.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday through October, local backyard gardeners will once again be offering their surplus backyard produce for sale. Manager Mary Payne has been involved with the Farmer’s Market for 25 years. “My late husband Sanford started working the market because it was fun,” she said, “and I helped him and took over when he died.”

The Farmer’s Market merchants will gradually move into new brick facilities at the Asa M. Powell Expo Center this year, but while the new buildings are still located at the old NEWNAN-COWETA

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fairgrounds off Temple Avenue, they are not as visible from the road.

However, there will be plenty of signage directing customers to the growers.

Have a hankering to get on the farm but don’t want to do the growing yourself? Blueberry Hill Farm in Newnan (770251-0843) has blueberries through August, and Bob Harrell of Newnan (770-251-1507) has blueberries and muscadines through the end of summer. If it’s farm fresh eggs you want, Karen Parrish of Senoia (770-616-6869) has a flock that lay traditional brown and more exotic green eggs from the Aracauna chickens from South America. For a wider variety of produce, Welcome Farms Fruit Patch in Newnan (770-251-2921) offers public fishing as well as fruits, nuts, honey and jellies.

We Cowetans are fortunate to have so many culinary treasures available to us. Remember to support them and to treat your family to these foods on the table. We all deserve the best our county has to offer. NCM

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Manager Mary Payne makes a sale to Marion Truett at the Coweta County Vegetable Market.

NEWNAN-COWETA

MAGAZINE

A Retirement Community For Gracious Living • www.wesleywoods-newnan.org Wesley Woods of Newnan-Peachtree City is a part of Wesley Woods, Inc., a not-for-profit charitable corporation affiliated with the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

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COWETA COOKS

I

Whaley cooks up memories of home B Y J A N E T P H O T O B Y

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“I really didn’t want to move to Newnan,” Gayle Whaley admits while she cooks up a Chinese stir-fry for three of her four daughters on a sunny, summer afternoon. “We loved Paso Robles, California.” But when her husband John had an opportunity to create a business here, Whaley and her family were completely supportive of him.

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Whaley first learned to cook from her dad, and many of their family recipes and culinary traditions were brought to California from their relatives in Louisiana. As the Whaley family ventured back South, the old traditions as well as new family favorites made their way back with them. They’ve found recipes are a way of bringing “home” with you wherever you go.

While Whaley may have been a reluctant Georgian at first, she did not let that stop her from becoming almost instantly involved. “Involved” for some might mean attending an athletic event or joining the PTA. But for Whaley it meant running in the last school board election, serving as head of the Newnan High Girls Basketball Booster Club, and serving on the Leadership Team for Walking in Joy interdenominational Bible study — all that in addition to working outside the home.

Whaley is an orthopedic nurse at Grady Memorial Hospital, but is able to dine with her family because she works nights. What are the family dinner favorites? Teen-age daughters Marissa, Jeannette and Angelica all started calling out at once: “Spaghetti,” “Mom’s Secret Gumbo,” “Mac ’n Cheese,” “Chinese Food,” “Sweet Potato Pie” and “Salad.”

Whaley says her best dish is “really good gravy.” (Oldest daughter Gabrielle is away at college and not able to enjoy mom’s home cooking as much right now.)

While Whaley has certainly jumped feet-first into her life here in Newnan, she and her family still get homesick from time to time for their family and friends in California. When that happens, there’s only one way to beat the blues: select a recipe that conjures up the best memories, and the food will help take you home again. NCM NEWNAN-COWETA

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Recipes courtesy of Gayle Whaley JOHN’S SALAD WITH THE WORKS 1 package baby spinach or bunch of spinach, picked and washed thoroughly 2 red apples, cored and chopped small 1 green apple, cored and chopped small 1 tomato, sliced (or 10 cherry tomatoes) 1/2 cup bell pepper, thinly sliced 1/4 cup onion, thinly sliced 1/2 cup raisins 1/4-1/2 cup nuts, such as sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans 1/2 cup mango, sliced (fresh or canned) 1/2 cup papaya, sliced (fresh or canned) 1/2 cup pineapple, sliced (fresh or canned) Raspberry-Orange Vinaigrette 2 tablespoons orange zest 1/4 cup raspberry vinegar 3/4 cup vegetable oil Vanilla extract Grate the orange zest and combine with the vinegar and oil. Mix well.

Add vanilla to taste.

Using the spinach as the main ingredient for your salad, add all other ingredients, omitting or adding any items you like to make the salad that you love. Serve with RaspberryOrange Vinaigrette or dressing of your choice. Serves 6-8.

SWEET POTATO PIE Pastry for one 9-inch pie crust 2 cups hot, cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (about 2 medium-size sweet potatoes) 3/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1 egg, beaten 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1-1/4 cups evaporated milk or regular milk Heat oven to 425°F. Prepare pastry. Cover edges of pastry with aluminum foil to keep from burning.

Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl or blender (Whaley uses her blender).

Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.

Pour filling into pastry and place pastry-lined pie plate in oven. Bake 15 minutes and reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 more minutes.

Makes 1 pie to serve 6-8 people.

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80-B Newnan Station Dr. • Newnan, GA (located across from the Carmike theaters off Hwy 34) www.thebutchershoppe.net JULY/AUGUST

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Hue

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678 • 423• 2150

1067 Bullsboro Drive, Suite D Newnan, GA 30263 • 770.251.0068 • fax 770-251-8651 Hours: Mon-Sat 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

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HOMES

O

rganization Getting the disorganized house under control B Y J A N E T F L A N I G A N P H O T O S B Y B O B F R A L E Y

Lisa Shaak of Functional by Design shows clients how to use organizing systems like this one from Closets and More to help keep the pantry tidy.

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A half hour before their dinner guests were set to arrive, the young couple raced frantically through the downstairs of their home, hiding stray papers in drawers and pushing other messes under beds and into closets.

They gave each other a knowing glance as their guests rang the doorbell. They made it just in time.

Many of us understand this scattered running around. Our homes might be considered a mirrorimage of how we feel and live; the home looks pretty on the outside, but on the inside, everything is stuffed in drawers and closets.

“It’s normal to be disorganized,” says Lisa Shaak of Functional by Design. “With today’s busy lifestyles, we accumulate so much, it’s hard to figure out what to keep out, what to store and what to throw away.”

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Shaak helps families set up a system they can use every day to keep the whole family organized. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, a group which provides her with continuing education on keeping families organized.

“Every family needs a system to sort mail, to handle laundry, to put away groceries, what schoolwork to keep and throw out,” Shaak says. “I put that all in place for them.”

Comparing each family’s situation to an archeological dig, Shaak says her job is “digging through their years.” Because she is not personally attached to the belongings, it is easier for her to say, “Put it in storage – get it out of the prime real estate!”

Sally Hensley and her partner

Suellen Smith of Hensley Smith Interior Redesign have a slightly different approach to home reorganization. They work with the furnishings and accessories in a home to streamline and clean up the appearance of the space.

“One of the best illustrations is the use of picture frames,” says Hensley. “When grouping pictures together, either use frames all of the same color together or group the same kinds of photos or pictures together for a cleaner look.”

Hensley says, “Organization doesn’t have to be boring. You can put your children’s things in old school lockers, which are big enough for backpacks, tennis racquets or whatever and still look great.”

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• New Construction • Resales • Land • Farms • Commercial When she worked for Reebok, Lori Swords of Newnan liked the slat wall system used to keep offices organized.

Now the mother of four uses a similar system to keep her home organized.

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plugs for hair dryers and electric rollers in the top back of drawers.

Then, just plug in the appliance and keep it in the drawer to turn on and off for use. Simply close it up in the drawer when finished.

Naturally, you don’t need to hire a professional to get your home organized and running smoothly.

There are books in the library that offer helpful tips and plans to get you on track. Look around stores, even your workplace, to see how space is designed and see what you can take into the home with you.

That is what homeowner Lori Swords did when she made the transition from working in specialty tennis sales at Reebok’s corporate headquarters to being a mother of four in Newnan.

Swords always liked the slat wall system Reebok used to keep all their offices organized, and she figured it would be a great way to keep her growing family organized as well.

She purchased the system from a store in Atlanta that normally sells to NEWNAN-COWETA

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the retail and commercial development, but they were impressed with her innovation to use it in the family home.

“I don’t know if the system gives me more space, but it definitely keeps me more organized,” said Swords. Slat boards are mounted on the walls of the closets or room, and then rods, basket and arms are mounted into the slats. Hangers face the front instead of sideways, allowing for more use of space and more visual awareness in the closet as well.

“You can also hang rods and shelves and can keep moving the slats up as the children grow in height,” Swords said.

She also uses the system in her office with a series of hard plastic baskets mounted on the wall going up in order according to height and age. “It’s the only way to do it when you’ve got to keep the papers of four children filed!” she laughed. The key is to be creative, look around you, and see what you can use in your home to make your life easier and more efficient.

However you decide to do it, get yourself organized. The next time you’re waiting for guests to arrive, would you rather dash through the house, pushing stuff into closets, or relax and listen to some music? It can be done! NCM

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Douglasville, GA

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FEATURE

Story & Photos

by Angela Webster hristina Carlton was walking past a booth at the Sharpsburg Fall Festival three years ago when she noticed a display of scrapbooks by some local Creative Memories consultants. Their beautiful albums appealed to Carlton, who was soon filling up albums of her own, and the rest is history — photograph-filled, neatly-cropped, archival-quality, acid-free, pageprotected history.

Scrapbooking enthusiasts like Carlton abound in Coweta County, and their ranks are growing every day.

While one in five U.S. households has a golfer in it, one in four has a scrapbooker. (Sorry, Tiger.)

Preserving memories is what got Carlton hooked. Wanting to explore the heritage of her Greek grandmother, she bought a basic kit and worked up the nerve to cut that first photo (“crop” in scrapbookerese), a gesture she laughingly described as “traumatic.” Through scrapbooking she learned her grandfather had worked as a salad chef when he came to this country. “I thought that was kind of cool,” she said.

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“Crop Nights” in her home, meeting friends like scrapbooker Beth Blair of Newnan. Blair believes scrapbooks tell a life story in photographs. She likes to “dress up” her pages with pretty sheets of design paper, stickers and emblems.

And while Blair enjoys preserving memories, she also derives satisfaction from the process itself. “I feel good about myself when I accomplish a page,” she said.

Pam Cosper of Newnan discovered scrapbooking when a friend from church invited her to a Creative Memories Crop. “I enjoy going to crops because you learn new techniques, share ideas, and it is a time of fellowship,” Cosper said. The Ladies Ministry at her church has Crafters Night twice a month, and most of the women are scrapbookers.

Some consult idea books, while others have great ideas of their own.

Idea swapping is one reason scrapbookers take classes like those at Michaels in Newnan, where Events Coordinator Vicki Walker says the

scrapbooking craze shows no signs of slowing down. “It’s been growing year by year and week by week,” she said.

Since many scrapbookers document their travels, she said, manufacturers are introducing stickers themed to specific cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, New York and New Orleans, as well as foreign countries and famous sites.

Walker loves the decorative papers, too. By layering papers or cutting them differently, a scrapbooker can create new looks.

Today’s consumer sees so many

Darlene Melville scrapbooks at home

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Janel Starnes of Newnan finds some of her favorite scrapbook pages are those starring daughters Rachel and Lauren.

excellent images in advertising, Walker said, the average person gets exposed to some really sophisticated graphics. With scrapbooking, “we are creating a generation of graphic designers.”

Another trend is the “cross-over” from one craft into another.

Scrapbookers are using fabrics and fibers which were once the domain of the seamstress. Polymer clay, once used by jewelry and miniatures crafters, is being used in scrapbooking to create decorative discs, tags, letters and emblems.

“People are just going wild with manipulating the different media,” Walker said.

Janel Starnes of Newnan would agree. Working on an album at Matte Magic in Newnan on a recent Friday afternoon, Starnes said she recently became enamored of fabrics and fibers.

Scrapbooking since 1998, Starnes got involved when her children were toddlers and now documents the lives of daughters Rachel, 9, and Lauren, 7.

Starnes doesn’t like to have supplies scattered all over the house, so she takes her projects on the road.

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“Here is my favorite place,” she said, sipping a soft drink in the Cropper’s Den at Matte Magic. “That works good for me.”

Each year, Starnes and some friends from college meet for a scrapbooking weekend. Her motherin-law has loaned her house for the weekend, and another time the friends gathered in Panama City, Fla. hat do husband Joel Starnes and her daughters think about mom’s scrapbooking?

“They love it,” she said. “They cannot wait to see the book when I come home.”

Matte Magic was opened three years ago by Rose Carter and daughter Rebecca Miller of Fayetteville. They chose Newnan since there was already a scrapbooking store in Fayetteville at the time, and they thought it was important to be near the interstate.

The hobby has changed a lot in three years, Carter said. “It was just papers and stickers” in the early days, she said. “Now it’s grown into so much more.” Suppliers have introduced more ethnic items, so

while early supplies featured white faces, “now there’s Latino and black.”

Customers now use threedimensional embellishments or stamp their own designs, and even the “canvas” for scrapbooking has changed. Scrapbooking techniques are used on items such as paper bags and empty Altoids candy tins. When Carter’s son Chad left for Iraq, he got a gift of an accordian-style “scrapbook” of family photos in an Altoids tin. Chad, who is in the Army, is a scrapbooker, too. “He’s doing his own Army book,” Carter said.

That won’t be hard since today there are stickers and supplies for every branch of the military — along with just about any other special theme imaginable. Whether you’re into Confederate re-enactments, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the Red Hat Society, Major League Baseball or NASCAR, if you like it, there’s probably a scrapbook product for it. “If not, it will soon be here,” laughed Carter.

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Central, a workstation which — among its many talents — prints actual 12 x 12-inch copies, a standard size favored by scrapbookers. Matte Magic got one of just a handful of machines in the whole country.

Because it’s impossible for her to keep up with all the new products, Carter has a “Design Team” whose members get to test the latest offerings, items like stitchable paper that can be threaded with fibers, ribbons and yarn.

Design Team member Darlene Melville of Peachtree City is often on the road to Newnan to teach classes or pick up items she’s ordered.

Carter said local students just love Melville, who began scrapbooking in earnest six years ago. Her father died in 1995, and Melville regretted not getting “his story through his eyes.” When her first daughter was born in 1998, she was determined to record her own

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The Croppers Den at Matte Magic in Newnan is Janel Starnes’ favorite place to work on her scrapbooks.

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Vicki Walker of Michaels, above, loves all the scrapbooking papers. Darlene Melville, a Design Team member at Matte Magic in Newnan, left, keeps her supplies at the ready with lots of organizers.

life story for her child. Walking in a store, she purchased a scrapbooking magazine and jumped right in.

Today’s scrapbooking groups are like old-fashioned quilting bees, Melville said, adding that she is “forever grateful to Rose (Carter) for hosting many crops, allowing us to run over in time and not send us home in the middle of having a good time.”

The former mud room of Melville’s home is now scrapbook heaven, a tidy, colorful space filled to the brim with organized boxes and bins of stamps and stickers, ribbons, paints, glitter, die-cuts, colorcoordinated papers and more. There’s even a sewing machine, which is a little odd since Melville doesn’t sew.

Except when she’s scrapbooking.

She learned to stitch papers in her scrapbooks and handmade cards.

Melville said scrapbooking is here to stay. “The history of scrapbooks goes back generations, however I think the future will make it a standard in every home, just like the computer is today,” she said.

“Who would have thought 30 years ago we would be so linked and dependent on technology?

Scrapbooking is the one thread that takes the future and the present and ties it with our past.” NCM NEWNAN-COWETA

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LET’S GO

Serenity

B Y J A N E T F L A N I G A N P H O T O S B Y B O B F R A L E Y

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C

Cars seem to operate in a slower gear on the soft curves of Hutcheson Ferry Road leading to Serenbe Bed and Breakfast Farm in Palmetto. The feeling of quietude continues as tires crunch over the drive. Ginger the Great Pyrenees dog keeps her watch

by the colorful perennial bed, her giant tail whomping the ground in greeting, but she doesn’t bother to get up. And why should she? She, too, is caught up in the serenity of Serenbe.

Steve and Marie Nygren originally bought this farm in 1991 as a rustic weekend getaway. One of NEWNAN-COWETA

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Serenbe seems unique among bed and breakfasts, with its farm atmosphere, and guests truly enjoy ambling all over the acreage as well as enjoying the amenities such as a pool, hot tub, campfires, trampolines, croquet, canoeing and other activities.

just a country drive away our bed and breakfast guests to become the first homeowners in our Serenbe community,” he said.

Guests can choose from several different sleeping accommodations including a 1930s converted horse barn with screened porches and private living areas; three different size private cottages with kitchenettes, fireplaces, whirlpool tubs and each sporting different amenities; and the larger Lake House

Atlanta’s busiest couples, he founded the Peasant Restaurant Chain, and she had run the Women’s Commerce Club. For their weekend sojourns, Marie felt the farm needed a proper name and combined the words “Serenity” and “Be” for Serenbe.

It is no surprise this enterprising duo would simply create their own word to name their unique place and lifestyle. They sold their Atlanta interests and felt compelled to share what they had in Palmetto, turning Serenbe into a bed and breakfast farm.

“People are just so happy to be here,” said Steve Nygren in his soothing tone, a genuine welcoming smile on his face. “Our guests experience what my family felt when we began coming here on our weekends.” The Nygrens’ belief in this lifestyle connected them to nature and gradually led them — and several influential partners — to develop the Serenbe community (see sidebar).

“The peace we’ve found in this way of life has encouraged many of NEWNAN-COWETA

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with private entrances for housing larger groups.

The Nygrens’ tasteful, comfortable and soulful decorating style is prevalent throughout the property, both inside and outside.

Rooms and grounds have been decorated with antiques and heirlooms from the owners’ personal Southern folk art collection, so each space is an entirely unique experience. When you are finally ready to tuck in, downy soft linens and handmade quilts make sure you will have a restful night’s sleep before waking to enjoy a full country JULY/AUGUST

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breakfast served in the farmhouse.

Serenbe seems unique among bed and breakfasts, with its farm atmosphere, and guests truly enjoy ambling all over the acreage as well as enjoying the amenities such as a pool, hot tub, campfires, trampolines, croquet, canoeing and other activities.

Guests have free rein to wander the grounds and visit the many friendly livestock that live on the farm. Goats clamber to the fence for a scratch, hopeful for a handout and a tickle. Meanwhile, burros begin braying to make sure they aren’t forgotten. And over behind the lawn area, pigs and bunnies are ready for a pet from those who are willing and able.

The kitchen garden behind the horse barn is a work of art in itself, including trellises made from tree branches and borders cut from small logs.

Herb gardens spill over the sides of their raised beds, and some lettuces gone to seed raise their tops like natural skyscrapers toward the sky.

There are flowers, flowers everywhere, from the artfully tended beds at the entrance to the

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LOCAL HISTORY

Roscoe Revisited: Through the Eyes of Dorothy King, 1935 –1936

L

BY JULIE TURNER

ike colorful pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, Dorothy King’s love letters to Will Ferguson written from Roscoe in 1935 and 1936 paint a mosaic image of Roscoe and Dunaway Gardens.

Hiding within lines bursting of first love and dreams, these bits and pieces of ordinary life vividly convey the relationships between people and place which created a sense of community.

In June 1935, King moved from her parents’ home in Columbus to her grandfather Andrew Sewell’s home in Roscoe for an extended stay.

She tells Will she is settling in and beginning to line up piano students, although she had cut her rate to $4.

King’s perspective on Roscoe and daily life there is particularly poignant as that of an inside-outsider. She is no stranger to the community, but she sees herself as slightly apart as indicated in her description of homecoming at the family church: “Sunday is perhaps the biggest day of all the year for these people around here.

It is sort of a reunion at their little church - and such planning and preparations they do make - they’ve got me busy too.”

In the spring and summer of

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1936, King experienced Roscoe through fresh yet comprehending eyes. On March 3, 1936, she tells Will: “… I am farming! And on such a grand scale. This sounds so big - it’s a shame to let you down so - to three acres. But I guess if I should have to Dorothy King and Will Ferguson

plow that it would seem enormous. It does seem a pitiably small amount when no doubt there will be fivehundred acres right by it lying idle….

I’m planting cotton…. Yancey is going to work it for me.”

In May she reports: “This weather is atrocious for us farmers - the wind I had more cotton planted yesterday in spots - where the other failed to come up

- or else went to China. Now for rain and it should do well.”

Although Ferguson suffered from tuberculosis and received treatment at the State Sanatorium in Alto, Ga. for much of this time, both the frequency and intensity of King’s letters increased. By the summer of 1936, they began talking about plans and houses, and a lot about chickens.

“John is encouraging us - he says the idea of chickens and hogs is a good one - that there is money in both.”

By late July, King had a good idea of the house she and Ferguson wanted to build, and took charge of the matter. She writes: “Well – I went into Cole’s yesterday myself and the man estimated the cost of lumber for me.

Such a thrill I got out of that. He was so accommodating and seemed to know immediately just what we wanted.”

Striving to convince Ferguson what a quality wife she will make, King even provides glimpses of her daily domestic routine – cooking, cleaning, knitting, and nursing her ailing grandparents. She also shares the lighter side of recreation in Roscoe with Ferguson. She writes: “Last night…Mr. John Causey took Miriam, Ophelia Colley and some boys from NEWNAN-COWETA

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Dorothy King and Andrew J. Sewell ride the ferry across the Chattahoochee River, probably at Hutcheson Ferry.

Newnan and me - ‘possum hunting. It seems decididly dumb to me. I loathe ‘possum - so why chase miles over woods and fields looking for one of the things but it was fun - for a change. We caught two of the beastly animals.”

Ophelia Colley is mentioned often in King’s letters in 1935 and ’36. The young actress from Tennessee worked as a drama coach for the Wayne P. Sewell Producing Company’s training school in Roscoe that was associated with Dunaway Gardens. About 1940, Ophelia would find her place on the stage of the Grand Ol’ Opry as Minnie Pearl.

King’s uncle, Wayne P. Sewell, along with his domineering actresswife, Hettie Jane Dunaway Sewell, held significant power and influence within the community during the early 20th century. Their theatrical presence also sets Roscoe apart from other rural Georgia communities.

Dunaway Gardens survives as the material expression of this unique relationship within the cultural landscape.

Begun in the 1920s, this series of “garden rooms” created on a 64-acre tract of terraced farmland was the personal vision of Hettie Jane NEWNAN-COWETA

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Dunaway Sewell. King’s letters convey a great deal regarding the relationship of the community to the production company, Dunaway Gardens and the theatrical Sewells.

Dunaway Gardens has been perceived as the core of theatrical activities in Roscoe with related activities throughout the community such as costume making. However, King’s letters give a less centralized image, and one that places the Andrew Sewell House at the center of Wayne Sewell’s training school for actresses, at least in 1935 and ’36. In September 1935, King writes Ferguson about her new responsibilities with a little tonguein-cheek exaggeration: “Very little of importance is going on in this village.

I’ve a new job. I’m now connected with the famous and incomparable Wayne P. Sewell Producing Co. - what a break They’ve very generously turned the book-keeping over to me - that is looking after all trunks going out and coming in - and all keys - it is quite complicated.” The trunks associated with Sewell’s productions came and went through the Sewell Barn constructed circa 1925. This barn is one of the best representations of the

relationship between the community and Sewell’s theatrical operations. It is basically a mule barn, and King’s cotton would have been weighed here, but it also housed Sewell’s trunk making operations for costume storage and transport.

King also provides a great deal of insight into the personality of Hettie Jane Dunaway Sewell and her relationship to Roscoe. Aunt Hetty comes across as a very strong-willed, Dorothy King plays with a dog outside the Patchwork Barn at Dunaway Gardens.

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self-centered, manipulative, backbiting kind of gal – an image hard to reconcile with the beauty and vision of Dunaway Gardens. Shortly after arriving in Roscoe during the summer of 1935, King informs Ferguson that: “Aunt Hetty is throwing it up to me now - that I refused to take the meals in charge - and she can’t say enough despicable things…”

Early the next spring she writes: “Really Will, you would get such a kick out of the way the things are working over at the gardens. Everybody is getting so completely out done with Aunt Hetty.

All of her workmen. I’m afraid one of these days she’ll be left with no one.

Sewell barn today Wayne P. Sewell, Andrew J. Sewell and Dorothy King check on their livestock in Roscoe.

People are leaving her more everyday. She gets worse. She drives everybody away. She still throws it up to me that I wouldn’t go over there last year. That’s why she tries to take so much out on me. But never do I expect to do anything for her. They tell me the gardens are getting simply beautiful - her being there ruins them - as far as I’m concerned. I get along all right with her as long as that creek divides us!”

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King and Ferguson never did build their dream house, nor did they manage to get married. Her letters don’t say what prevented a wedding, but Ferguson’s illness and poor prospects as a family provider seem to have brought out objections. The two were, however, devoted to one another until his death in 1940. NCM

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COMMUNITY PROFILE

Grantville B Y

G A R Y

P H O T O S

T

The sounds of an impromptu choir fill the air as the sun sinks below a bank of clouds. An orange glow paints the sky as those singing blend their voices in sweet, southern gospel harmony.

Not far away, a gathering of thirtysomething friends prepares a Saturday barbecue in the back yard of a neat, suburban home. Activity swirls around each of the first few

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L E F T W I C H

B Y

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F R A L E Y

&

G A R Y

L E F T W I C H

Downtown Grantville today has several retail shops and businesses. At the turn of the century, Grantville was a mecca for cotton warehouses and mills.

homes in Brasch Park, a new neighborhood that boasts a swimming pool, a baseball diamond and a basketball court among its amenities.

While they may seem worlds apart, both groups make up an equal part of Grantville, a town that proudly celebrates its past, while capitalizing on recent growth to build its future.

“It’s a wonderful, intact, turn-ofthe-century town,” said Darwin Palmer, who operates a business that sells doors, windows and other items reclaimed from old houses.

“It still looks the same as it did then, except for the cars and telephone lines,” adds Palmer, who moved to Grantville 13 years ago.

“But it’s close enough to Atlanta that you can jump on the interstate and NEWNAN-COWETA

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“It’s close enough to Atlanta that you can jump on the interstate and be there in a half hour. That is what makes the area attractive to those who have moved here in the last several years.”

Darwin Palmer, Grantville businessman

be there in a half hour. That is what makes the area attractive to those who have moved here in the last several years.”

Originally named Calico Corner by those who settled it in the 1820s, Grantville adopted its name some 30 years later from L.P. Grant, an officer with the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. The railroad became a lifeline for the small, rural hamlet, bringing in needed supplies and giving local farmers access to markets across Georgia.

A booming commercial center at the turn of the century, Grantville became a small mecca for cotton warehouses and mills. Fueled by the labors of local businessmen, the town thrived for decades.

As times changed and nearby cities grew, Grantville felt the effects.

The mills and other businesses closed, along with the town’s only school. The once bustling, block-long downtown became home to a steady line of restaurants and shops that closed almost as quickly as they opened.

Down but not out, Grantville began a renaissance of sorts several years ago with the construction of

NEWNAN-COWETA

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two new subdivisions. Today more than a dozen new neighborhoods are in the building or planning phases, according to Palmer.

Situated along the railroad that helped build the town, an elegant Grantville Elementary School welcomes students with the motto “On the Track to Success.” There’s even talk of a grocery store, a bank and other businesses in the town’s

near future, and inquiries have come about turning one of the old mill buildings into a cotton museum.

Ever mindful of Grantville’s history, local leaders are committed to managing the new development.

They have hired a city manager and charged the planning and historic preservation commissions with ensuring the typical consequences of growth do not slow its progress.

More than a dozen new neighborhoods are either being built or are in the planning stages in Grantville.

Businessman Darwin Palmer, at right, says its proximity to Atlanta is one reason people are moving to Grantville.

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“We need to balance the residential growth with industrial, and we need to get busy with sewer and other services,” Palmer said. “If everything’s managed well, it’s a bestcase scenario.”

For many, that means Saturdays filled with gospel singings in Grantville’s historic train depot and outdoor barbecues for years to come.

“We see the growth coming and we’re excited,” said businessman and Mayor Billy Tucker, adding that the city must encourage development and protect the history and small-town feel of the city. “It’s always been a friendly place. We want to keep that as the growth comes.” NCM

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ANN'S TRAILER/ E Q U I P M E N T S A L E S, I N C. “Our success is attributed to the way we

Ann and daughter Janet

conduct our lives,” Ann says. “God before family, family before business and doing business with integrity.”

Newest Employee of the family business – Railford Crews

The Crews girls - Janet, Morgan and Mandy - are a major part of the family business. Each year they are responsible for entertaining the Legislators' wives during the Georgia Motor Trucking Association convention. Ann has been a member of this organization for 30 years. Ann and her family have been able to build the company into a respected name in the industry. “Our success is attributed to the way we conduct our lives,” Ann says.

“God before family, family before business and doing business with integrity.”

Morgan stands by the city limits post.

The Grantville city limits keep expanding to meet special needs. These maps show the growth during the past 35 years. Ann recently found out her home was located in the city limits as far as the map was concerned - “however this was not correct of course,” Ann said. Any city limit lines reflected on these maps are based entirely on information provided by those jurisdictions.

Unfortunately these are not always correct,” says the Coweta County Board of Assessors.

According to the Coweta County Board of Assessors, “The problem in relying on our maps is that they are for ‘tax purposes

only’ and really can't be relied on as a completely accurate representation of the actual jurisdictional boundaries.”

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E

LOCAL HERITAGE

The old passenger depot in Grantville today serves as headquarters of the Coweta County Genealogical Society.

A ticket to the past B Y

W.

W I N S T O N

P H O T O S

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S K I N N E R

Helen Bowles, a skilled local genealogist and researcher, peruses materials at the CCGS research center in Grantville.

Coweta County Genealogical Society President Janet Bierig, right, and Margaret Putnam take care of some society business at the research center.

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E

Every now and then, I drive down to Grantville.

The architecture there is lovely, and I particularly like the antebellum freight depot and the turrets and flourishes at Bonnie Castle. My wife, Lynn, and I both have relatives who call Grantville home.

I’ll have to admit, though, that my usual destination in Grantville is the old passenger depot, a weatherbeaten Victorian jewel. While passenger trains no longer stop in Grantville, the depot does offer a guaranteed trip to the past as headquarters of the Coweta County Genealogical Society.

Inside this tiny building are books and materials people can use to trace their roots. The first newspaper story I wrote for The Times-Herald was about longtime Coweta genealogist Norma Gunby, who helped organize the society. She and her comrades have created a wonderful legacy.

The research center is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., staffed by knowledgeable volunteers. The center is also open the first and second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The society’s success has been so great the center is out of space. While the society never turns down a donated family history, the shelves holding them are packed.

“We can’t put another book on that family shelf,” current president Janet Bierig told me on my most recent visit.

The CCGS bylaws call for the purchase of a certain quantity of books each year. Because of a lack of space, the society has reverted to buying books “only as needed” or when a gift is specified for the purchase of a particular tome.

Society volunteers dream of a bigger and better facility, but I have to admit that — although I will not begrudge them the space they need and deserve — I will miss researching in the quaint little building beside the railroad tracks when their ship — or

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maybe, train — comes in.

I have to keep an eye on my watch while at the depot or I can while away too many hours. Among my favorite things at the genealogical society’s research center are: • The bound copies of The Times-Herald and its predecessors dating back to the mid-1800s.

Microfilm copies available at the newspaper office are easily accessible, but there’s something about those old books. Reading my grandparents’ wedding announcement and realizing this very paper rolled off the presses with the one they read and clipped and treasured is, somehow, magic.

• The section on Virginia. Though my wife, Lynn, and I both have roots in Coweta County and neighboring Meriwether all the way to the 1830s, we both have family trees that wander back to colonial Virginia. When I peruse volumes with names like “Marriages of Some Virginia Residents 1607-1800” and “Cavaliers and Pioneers,” I invariably find some new tidbit to add to my trove of family lore.

• “Methodist Preachers in Georgia 1783-1900.” In the 19th century, Baptist preachers were often homegrown, except in the case of large, prominent churches. The Methodists, however, moved preachers around, meaning their clergy often were born in one place, married someone from another and had children who married into other families along the path of ministry.

Genealogical puzzles are solved — and others created — whenever I consult this book.

• Those blue notebooks. Over the years, CCGS volunteers have filled dozens of blue notebooks with information on families from Coweta and surrounding counties. Some include copies of 19th century letters.

Others have family trees stretching back to the 1300s. Much of this information has never been published in any book.

When I can find a spare moment, I’m heading to Grantville. This time, I think I’ll start by looking through some of those blue notebooks. NCM

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THE BOOKSHELF “The Same Sweet Girls”

By Cassandra King Hyperion Books, $23.95 Reviewed by Holly Jones Move over Ya-ya’s, see you later First Wives Club, and Red Hat Ladies, take notice. There are some new girls in town, and they’re the “same sweet girls” you’ve known all your lives.

“Same Sweet Girls” is Cassandra King’s latest novel, introducing readers to Corrine, Julia, Lanier, Astor, Byrd and Rosanelle, also known as the Same Sweet Girls.

The story of the SSGs — although they admit they are not “girls” anymore — is told from the viewpoint of club members Corrine, Julia and Lanier. All are in their late 40s, rapidly closing in on 50, but they met while attending college.

“The question is,” Corrine says at the beginning of the book, “are the Same Sweet Girls sweet? Hardly. But one thing’s for sure: we’re the same. We are the same complicated, screwy, mixed-up, love-eachother-one-minute and hate-each-otherthe-next group of women we were when we met thirty years ago.”

That quote completely sums up this book and these girls. They share love as well as animosity, and the soul of this story is how these friends work through these emotions in their lives.

The book begins with the gang getting ready for one of their semi-annual meetings, this one to be held at Lanier’s cabin. But things are never that simple, at least for the three main characters.

Corrine is battling a strange illness while trying to keep her abusive exhusband out of her life, Lanier has cheated on her husband but wants her family back, and Julia is First Lady of Alabama — and absolutely miserable.

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But throughout the book, the readers are taken back in time to see what made each of these girls the way she is, and how each got in the mess she is in today.

And how, as Corrine says, they really haven’t changed from the “Same Sweet Girls” they were in college.

This wonderful book has similarities to “The Ya-Ya’s” and even “Steel Magnolias,” because these women certainly are that. But there is more to it than the similarities. It has its own heart, its own strength and its own secrets. And it welcomes its readers into a great group of friends.

“Hunting Eric Rudolph”

By Henry Schuster with Charles Stone Berkley Books, $19.95 Reviewed by Angela Webster In April Eric Robert Rudolph pleaded guilty to murder and received four life sentences with no possibility of parole.

For law enforcement, the confession capped nearly nine years of investigative work since the one-time fugitive’s bombing campaign began at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. The pipe bomb he planted there on July 27, 1996 exploded and killed Alice Hawthorne, injured dozens of other spectators, and tarnished the whole country, really, by preventing what might have become known as “the best Olympics ever ” in Atlanta. Rudolph would go on to bomb a gay nightclub and two abortion clinics, injuring more people and killing an off-duty police officer.

And then he would run deep into the mountains of North Carolina.

The story of Rudolph’s run from law enforcement is a familiar one to Newnan resident Charles Stone. As head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation AntiTerrorist Unit, Stone was on the case from the night of the Olympic Park bombing until his retirement from the GBI in 1998. During those years Stone developed a friendship with CNN producer Henry Schuster, and the two recount the killer’s story in “Hunting Eric Rudolph.”

For those who love a good cop story, the book gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the manhunt that ended in May 2003 when a rookie police officer in Murphy, N.C. spotted what he thought was a homeless man dumpster-diving near a grocery store. To everyone’s astonishment the prowler was the elusive Eric Rudolph.

The authors delve deeply into Rudolph’s history, carefully piecing together the story of how one man developed such a warped worldview, how a supposedly Bible-believing southerner became a marijuanasmoking (and marijuana-growing), cold-blooded killer.

The back story in this book is as good as what’s on center stage. The authors tell of the power struggles that ensued when various law enforcement agencies got in each other’s way, showing how these struggles may have actually slowed or harmed the investigation. Stone is frequently cast as the good ole boy who serves as both peacemaker and problem-solver.

A few questions will linger after a reader finishes the book, such as, “Did Rudolph have help in hiding from police all those years?”

If the answer to that question is locked up in a federal prison with the killer who showed no respect for human life, at least they’re locked up together.

“Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral”

By Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hayes Miramax Books, $19.95 Reviewed by Holly Jones Did you know that carnations and gladiolus are no-no’s for funeral arrangements? Or that Campbell’s soup — especially “Cream of ” Anything — is a restorative balm? That if you die in the Delta, you simply cannot die without tomato aspic? Or that if you live in Greenville, Miss., you simply must be buried in the old cemetery on South Main Street?

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These are just a few of the things that you would know if you were a “nice lady” in the Delta, or more specifically, Greenville, Miss. Or, if you had read “Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral” by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays.

“Being Dead” is, in some ways, a cookbook. It is filled with recipes for foods that are necessities at Delta funerals. There are six recipes alone for pimiento cheese, which the authors call “the paste that holds the South together.”

But the book isn’t just recipes. It is full of Southern anecdotes, Southern funeral anecdotes, that will have you laughing your head off while nodding at the same time, especially if you are Methodist or Episcopalian. The difference between the two is also discussed, though not in the way you might expect. When it comes to funerals, the authors say, “Episcopalians are snooty because they spurn cake mixes and canned goods, without which there would be no such thing as Methodist cuisine. Methodist ladies do great things with the contents of cans and boxes.”

Nothing is off limits in this book.

The talents of Bubba Boone, the undertaker, are discussed. Headstone dates, which “we’d better warn you not to put too much credence in,” are a hot topic. And obituaries are given their own chapter. “When it comes to the obituary, it is important not to lie outright,” the authors say, because “you do not want to make deceased relatives unrecognizable in their own obituaries.”

In the South, especially the Delta, there are rules. There is etiquette. And then, there is The Way Things Are Done.

And when it comes to proper funerals, you can rely on the help and humor of Metcalfe and Hays. If their book teaches nothing else, “being dead is no excuse” for having a tacky funeral. NCM NEWNAN-COWETA

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July/August Calendar THEATRE

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clusion of camp. Camp is designed for ages 7-14. Fee is $250 per camper. There will be no camp on Sunday, July 31.

Preregistration is required, and there is a mandatory camper/parent meeting the first 15 minutes of camp on July 29. Camp location will be announced soon.

Information: 770-599-0051 or visit www.fcft.net/shops.

AUGUST 19-28, 2005

JULY 14-17, 2005 “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” — Fayette-

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” — Newnan Theatre Company’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” a Popcorn Series production, will be presented Aug. 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28.

Shows begin at 7:30 p.m.on Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $8 to $12. Special rates are available for groups of 10 or more. For reservations, season tickets and more information, call 770-683-6282, e-mail nctc@numail.org or visit www.newnantheatre.com.

Coweta Family Theatre, Inc. will present the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the Villages Amphitheater in Fayetteville July 14-17 at 8 p.m.

General admission at door is $12, children under 16 and seniors at door $11, and all pre-sale tickets are $10. A limited number of front row tables is available for $100 each by phone reservation only.

Information: 770-251-7611.

AUDITIONS

JULY 15-17, 2005

JULY 18 AND 19, 2005

“Romeo and Juliet” — The Superintendent’s Theatre Arts Resource (STAR) program will present “Romeo and Juliet” July 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. and July 17 at 2 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts of Coweta County. Tickets are $10 adults, $8 students and seniors.

Information: 770-254-2787.

JULY 22 – AUGUST 7, 2005 “Sordid Lives” — An Artist Series show, Newnan Theatre Company’s “Sordid Lives” will be performed in the Black Box July 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 and Aug. 5, 6 and 7. Friday and Saturday shows start at 8 p.m., Sunday matinee performances at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 to $12. Special rates are available for groups of 10 or more. For reservations, season tickets and more information, call 770-683-6282, e-mail nctc@numail.org or visit www.newnantheatre.com.

NOW THROUGH JULY 30, 2005 KidsCamp — KidsCamp at Newnan Theatre Company, for children aged 6-12 years, runs for one-week sessions now through July 30, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.12:30 p.m. with a performance each Saturday at 10 a.m. Fee is $80 for one child for the first week. If the child comes additional weeks, or if a sibling comes too, the price for the second week or the second child is $60. Information: www.newnantheatre.com or e-mail turtlehouse1@yahoo.com.

JULY 29 – AUGUST 5, 2005 Summer Production Camp — Fayette-Coweta Family Theatre will host its fifth annual Summer Production Camp July 29-Aug. 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Participants will experience all things theatrical as they prepare to present the 30-minute musical production of “Aladdin” to a public audience at the con-

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“Steel Magnolias” Auditions — Newnan Theatre Company will hold auditions for “Steel Magnolias” July 18 and 19. Performances run Sept. 9-25.

Auditions will be at Newnan Theatre Company, 24 First Avenue in Newnan.

Information: Visit www.newnantheatre.com or call 770-683NCTC (6282).

AUGUST 15 AND 16, 2005 “Wit” Auditions — Newnan Theatre Company will hold auditions for the fall show “Wit” Aug. 15 and 16. Performances run Oct. 21-Nov. 6. Auditions will be at Newnan Theatre Company, 24 First Avenue in Newnan. Information: Visit www.newnantheatre.com or call 770-683NCTC (6282).

MUSIC JULY 9 AND 10, 2005 Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra — Keeping alive the traditional music of Scotland, the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra is composed of about 130 violinists, cellists, bass players and percussionists. Concerts are July 9 at 7 p.m. (Gala following performance) and July 10 at 2 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts, Newnan.

Tickets to the performances are $10, tickets to the gala $15, and can be purchased at The Centre or at Scott’s Bookstore in downtown Newnan. Proceeds benefit the Strings program of the Coweta County School System. Information: 770-254-2787 or www.fiddleorchestra.com

JULY 22-24, 2005 “West Side Story” — The Superintendent’s Theatre Arts Resource (STAR) program will present “West Side Story” July 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. and July 24 at 2 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts of Coweta County. Tickets are $10 adults, $8 students and seniors.

Amelia Bedelia comes to the Newnan-Coweta Public Library July 12.

Information: 770-254-2787.

JULY 28, 2005 Benefit Concert — On July 28, 2005 at 7 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts of Coweta County, BMI Nashville Recording Artist Robert E. Walden will perform a benefit concert for the Community Welcome House. Cost is $25 for adults, $20 for students and senior citizens, and group rates are available for 10 or more.

Tickets may be purchased at the Performing Arts Centre or by contacting Linda Kirkpatrick at 404-944-8024 or by email at lindakirk@charter.net.

COMMUNITY FUN AND FUNDRAISERS NOW THROUGH JULY 22, 2005 Vacation Reading Program — Activities run through July 22 in the Newnan-Coweta Public Library’s Vacation Reading Program. Remaining events include: July 12, 10:30 a.m., Amy Beaucham presents “Amelia Bedelia”; July 14, Arts and Crafts for ages 7 and up, 2–3 p.m., Paint a snake; July 14, 7 p.m., Connie Haynes’ snakes; July 19, 10:30 a.m., Carol Cain, storyteller; July 21, 7 p.m., Drum Circle; July 22, last day of Vacation Reading Program. Information: 770-253-3625.

JULY 16, 2005 Old Town Sharpsburg Watermelon Festival — Sharpsburg’s Sixth Annual Watermelon Festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 16. More than 50 food, craft and antique dealers will line the streets, and free watermelon slices are enjoyed by the public along with old-fashioned games like watermelon seed spittin’ contests, three legged races, marbles and more.

Information: Sharon Hazel at 770-252-9400.

JULY 21, 2005 Hunters for Habitat — Newnan-Coweta Habitat for Humanity, fundraising dinner and raffle, July 21, Coweta County Fairgrounds and Conference Center on Pine Road. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $40 each, $65 per couple, $15 for children 12 and under. Table sponsorships are $280.

Tickets are available at

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Farmers and Merchants Bank locations, the Habitat for Humanity office on Highway 16 East, and by calling 678-4236913. Information and donations: www.nchfh.org.

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Balmoral Village

JULY 23, 2005 Barbecue Cook-Off — Coweta Up in Smoke Barbecue Cook-Off, July 23, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Coweta County Fairgrounds, Pine Road. Businesses, civic groups, churches and others will vie for the title of Best Barbecue in Coweta County.

Activities will include a children’s zone, antique car cruise, rock wall provided by the Army recruiting command, a military display, live band music and food vendors. Admission $5. Proceeds benefit the Coweta County Community Chest and Civic Council, which helps local residents in need. The four categories of judging — pork ribs, pork, beef brisket and Brunswick Stew — will award first place, $75, second place, $50, and third place, $25. Entry fee for competitors: $25 per category, $75 for all four. Information: www.cowetabbq.com.

COMING SOON SEPTEMBER 3-5, 2005 Powers’ Crossroads — The 35th Powers’ Crossroads Country Fair and Art Festival runs Saturday, Sept. 3 through Labor Day, Sept. 5, with more than 200 artists and craftsmen. Singers and musicians perform on the Summerhouse Stage and Southern cooks offer homemade treats. Twin Oaks Junction children’s park offers rides, games and concessions. This year, Powers’ welcomes the Seedsowers Clown Troup entertaining with face painting, magic, balloon sculpting, crazy hair for girls and air brush tattooing for boys.

There will be demonstrations by the West Georgia Quilters Guild and a juried exhibit of student work by talented young Cowetans. Gates open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.

Admission: $6 for adults, $5 for Seniors and military personnel, $3 for children 512, kids under 4 admitted free. Ample free parking is available with free shuttle service to and from the front gate throughout the weekend. Powers’ Crossroads is located off Georgia Highway 34, 10 miles west of Newnan. Information: 770-253-2011 or e-mail cowetafestivals@charter.net.

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Where in the World Have You Been?

Calling all Alumni - Classes 1975 - 2001 The Heritage School invites you to mark your calendars for a

Summer Reunion Party!

Saturday, August 6 Look for more information in the mail....

For details check our website or call the Office of Development

www.heritagehawks.org

770-253-9898 The Heritage School administers a non-discriminatory admissions policy.

Powers’ Crossroads

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MY COWETA

Small-school atmosphere changed ECHS student’s life B Y T R A Y B A G G A R L Y P H O T O B Y B R E T T C L A R K

Tray Baggarly, manager of the Coweta County Fairgrounds and Conference Center, is a 1982 graduate of East Coweta High School and a 1988 Graduate of West Georgia College with a degree in Mass Communication. He and his 12-year-old daughter Hayden live in their 135-year-old family home in Senoia, which was remodeled in 2002.

Having the opportunity to attend a small high school is something I cherish to this day. It is something I wish kids today could do, but growth makes that impossible.

When I went to East Coweta High School in the ’80s, I didn’t realize how good I had it. The small school setting allowed us more interaction with teachers and peers and a wonderful opportunity for hands-on learning.

As a freshman back in 1978, I responded to an announcement on the P.A. system to attend an organizational meeting of the Pub Lab class. Pub Lab was the technical name for the class that was the school’s newspaper staff. Taught by English teacher Jim Driskill, the class would go on to turn out numerous journalists, as well as a trophy case full of state awards. More importantly, it helped turn us into journalists.

In those days, living in the eastern part of the county meant we were small in number, but we liked it that way. There were about 800 students in grades 6-12, and we all gathered each day in one building (now East Coweta Middle School).

H

There were only about 20 students in Pub Lab, but all were energized and excited about the task of publishing “Smoke Signals,” the monthly school newspaper. The small number of students allowed me to jump right in and join the sportswriting staff. Since the time I could read, my day began with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports section. Lewis Grizzard, Furman Bisher and Jesse Outlar were on the AJC staff. Later, because of my career in the field, I was able to personally meet all three.

Under the guidance of Driskill, we all learned to write, report, gather the facts and have a hand in the production of a newspaper. Learning those skills put each of us ahead of the curve when we went off to college. We were lucky during the late ’80s to have many talented students come through East Coweta, and it was that small school atmosphere, with excellent and dedicated teachers, that presented us with the chance of a lifetime.

It was not just the newspaper staff. The yearbook, the school radio show, the literary magazine – all

excelled with the guidance of teachers like Randy Brown, Anne Powell, Carol Shankel, Alice McKnight and Dale Lyles. We also had the support of the administration including Principal Alan Wood and assistants John Boren and Garland Shoemake.

Each spring we as a journalism program journeyed from Senoia to the University of Georgia with hopes of competing with the larger state schools in scholastic press competition. We did just that year-in and year-out and in 1980 captured our first All-Georgia Championship, which was the equivalent of the state championship in journalism. We did it again the following year, and East Coweta won several more after that.

I still look back on those days as some of the fondest times of my life.

I developed lifelong friends, found a career and it all happened between the walls at “little ole East Coweta.”

I would have it no other way.

I reminisced about those days not too long ago with Mr. Wood.

He said, “You know, we had something pretty special down there back then, didn’t we?”

And he was right.

Do you have a story of life in Coweta County you’d like to share ? Send submissions of 300-400 words to “My Coweta,” c/o Newnan-Coweta Magazine, P.O. Box 1052, Newnan, GA 30264. You may also e-mail them to angela@newnan.com.

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