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2007 | FREE | A PUBLICATION OF THE TIMES - HERALD |
M A G A Z I N E
THE PET ISSUE
FOX HUNTING A COWETA SPORT
LIGHTING SOLUTIONS BROADWAY ACTOR COMES HOME
COWETA
ARTIST
LEARNS A NEW STYLE
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MAGAZINE
Established 1995 A publication of The Times-Herald Vice President President Marianne C. Thomasson William W. Thomasson Publisher Sam Jones Editor Angela McRae Art Director Deberah Williams Contributing Writers Megan Almon, LaTina Emerson, Janet Flanigan, Nichole Golden, Meredith L. Green, Holly Jones, Alex McRae, Elizabeth Richardson, Martha A. Woodham Photography John Beck, Bob Fraley, Cameron Johnson, Tara Shellabarger, W. Winston Skinner Circulation Director Naomi Jackson Sales and Marketing Director Colleen D. Mitchell Advertising Manager Lamar Truitt Advertising Consultants Doug Cantrell, Stefanie Dowda, Candy Johnson, Jeanette Kirby, RoseMary Reid, Christine Swentor
Love
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Advertising Design Debby Dye, Art Manager Della Walker-Bradley, Sandy Hiser, Leah Leidner, Jonathan Melville, 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, NewnanCoweta Magazine at P.O. Box 1052, Newnan, Georgia 30264. On the Web: www.newnancowetamagazine.com
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January/February 2007 | M A G A Z I N E
FEATURES 12 RETIRED RACERS At SummerWind Farm in Newnan, John and Laura Parker have found that retired racing greyhounds make excellent family pets.
20 HOUSE CALLS Need your pet groomed but don’t have time to visit a local groomer yourself? Meet some Coweta entrepreneurs who bring their services straight to your door.
24 WHERE ANIMALS ARE TREASURED Jeanne West of Sharpsburg dreams of the day when there is a nokill animal shelter in Coweta County. And she’s looking for volunteers to help make the dream a reality.
30 A POT-BELLIED PLAYMATE This porky pig won’t ever come anywhere near a frying pan, say owners Christopher Almon and Elizabeth Brass-Almon, even though their pot-bellied pig is named Porkchop.
36 AN ARTIST AND HER BIRD When Roberta Landrum’s daughter died, she left behind a cockatiel named Sam who has provided comfort and companionship to the Sharpsburg artist.
40 PET TALES From a pet buzzard to a missing Japanese Chin, Dr. James Kornder and his assistant, Marilyn Curtis, have seen many unusual things in their years at a local veterinary practice.
44 OWNERS TO THE RESCUE Some local residents have found a new family pet by going through one of the local “rescue” organizations.
50 THE SKINNER MENAGERIE W. Winston Skinner reminisces about some of the animals who’ve been a part of the Skinner household over the years.
66 FOLLOWING HER BLISS Artist Sherry Cook of Newnan has a passion for her craft that was reignited after a year of great changes in her life.
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70 HERE TO STAY Actor Glenn Rainey will commute to New York where he’s been performing on Broadway, but the Newnan native has moved back home and says he’s here to stay. MAGAZINE
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74 IT’S ILLUMINATING If the gray of winter is getting you down, why not think about brightening up your living quarters with some of the hot new lighting styles?
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84 A CONVENIENT REVOLUTION Fresh fruit, chef salads, yogurt blends and cappuccinos … if you haven’t sampled some of the delicacies at local convenience stores lately, you don’t know what you’re missing.
DEPARTMENTS 52 LOCAL
HERITAGE
The Times-Herald’s editorial page once included a column written by a Chihuahua.
54 SADDLE UP The sport of fox hunting is alive and well in Merrie Olde … Coweta? Yes, indeed! Leading the effort is Hal Barry of Moreland, master of the Bear Creek Hounds.
64 NEWCOMERS Meet the Weatherly family, recently moved to Coweta County from Columbia, S.C.
80 COWETA COOKS Scears Lee shares some tasty new recipes that will liven up your Super Bowl menu.
88 DAY TRIP It’s been almost 95 years since the infamous sinking of the RSS Titanic, but the memory of the ship and its occupants lives on in a new exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center.
IN EVERY ISSUE
8 EDITOR’S LETTER 92 THE BOOKSHELF 94 OUT AND ABOUT
74
96 CALENDAR
80
97 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 98 MY COWETA JANUARY/FEBRUARY
2007
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FROM THE EDITOR’S PEN
Want to enter our writing contest?
E
very writer I know kicks off the new year with a game plan for writing. Maybe they want to write a memoir, or sell an article to a new magazine, or finish that novel. Frankly, I’m weary of “resolving” that I’m going to write a novel each year — I’ve never finished one, and never been very happy with those I’ve started — so this year I’m going a different route. I’m aiming to write 10 minutes a day. That’s 10 simple minutes a day on my own creative writing, not writing I am being paid to do or that I’ve promised someone else. Anybody should be able to spare 10 minutes a day, right? I know from a lifetime of sharpening my
procrastination skills this won’t be as easy as it sounds. The year promises to be full of news from across the pond about the Royal Family, and I am glued to the Today Show if I so much as hear a Windsor will be whispered about. Some days, this may mean choosing between my 10 minutes of writing or 10 minutes of Royal-watching. This year also sees the kickoff of the next presidential election cycle. Now, presidential politics is my sport of choice, and I am already so excited about the Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton possibilities I can hardly sleep at night. Will I stay up late watching the cable talking heads or will I choose to spend that time writing? Hobbies are a temptation, always. Right now I have about 137 different quilts I’d like to sew, and Kris at the quilt shop has promised to let me know when the next appliqué class is scheduled. (I am dying, simply dying, to learn appliqué.) What will happen the
night it’s 11:50 p.m., I’m 10 minutes away from finishing a quilt block, but I suddenly realize I haven’t completed my 10 minutes of writing? We’ll see. But to help the writers and aspiring writers among our readers, Newnan-Coweta Magazine is kicking off the year with a writing contest. The rules are simple: • Be a Coweta County resident. • Include a Coweta County person, place or thing in your writing. • Your entry may be fiction or non-fiction, but it can’t exceed 1,500 words. (No poetry.) On the first page, please list your name, address, phone number, e-mail address and title of entry. On the following manuscript pages, please include only the name of the entry. Mail entries to Newnan-Coweta Magazine Writing Contest, P.O. Box 1052, Newnan, GA, 30264. • There is no age requirement, but all writing entries will be judged together. Employees and freelancers of The Times-Herald and Newnan-Coweta Magazine are not eligible. • Mail us a printed copy of your entry postmarked no later than March 2, 2007. Please keep a copy for yourself, as entries won’t be returned. A panel of judges will decide the winners. First place wins $100 and publication in the May/June issue of the magazine. Second place wins $50 and publication on the magazine’s Web site. Third place wins $25 and publication on the Web site. Meanwhile, I think I’ll get a head start on my own writing for 2007. I’ve long had a theory that my writing would benefit from finding the perfect pen to write with. I tend to prefer cheap and cheesy ones over the more expensive models I’ve had. My current favorite? This Titanic pen purchased from the gift shop at “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit” at the Civic Center (see Day Trip story on page 94). Happy writing, y’all!
Warmly,
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PetTales
MAGAZINE
From dogs and cats to cockatiels and pot-bellied pigs, Cowetans love their pets. In this special issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine, you’ll meet animal lovers including some folks who rescue retired racing greyhounds, a woman who’s working to build a no-kill animal shelter, several entrepreneurs who’ve taken their pet-grooming skills on the road, and some newlyweds who’ve fallen in love with a pig named Porkchop. You’ll also meet an artist whose fine feathered friend inspires her, and a local vet with decades of pet stories behind him. Longtime readers of the Times-Herald will take a trip down memory lane to the days when a chihuahua appeared on the newspaper’s editorial page.
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Retirement
Living
By Elizabeth Richardson, Photos by Bob Fraley
John and Laura Parker show some of their pets at SummerWind Farm in Newnan.
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Former greyhound racers find new homes thanks to Newnan couple JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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J “
I am highly enamored by their athletic side — how fast they can run, their heart, their single-minded pursuit. Yet, they have this dual nature — they’re real
companionable, intelligent and eager to please.
”
— John Parker 14
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John and Laura Parker have quite an interesting family. Their “children” answer to the names Wizz, Icy Ice Cream, Merlin, Mack, Walker, Aimee, Stella, Colonel, Cole, Winnie, Tuck, Basso, Ditto and Cosmo. Twelve of these “children” are greyhound dogs — the majority of them retired racers — and two are whippets, which are crosses between greyhounds and terriers or spaniels. Additionally, these proud parents have five horses and two cats. Their home has become a sanctuary for fox, deer, Blue Herons and even a coyote. Greyhounds stand tall and sleek with a toned muscular physique. When in optimum racing condition, they can run faster than a Thoroughbred racehorse, making them the most athletic of all breeds of canine. John and Laura met through their love for these unique pets. When they met, she had five greyhounds and he had four. When they wed more than two years ago at John’s home in Newnan, SummerWind Farm, three of their greyhounds were included in the big day. John adopted his first greyhound in 1994 after a client at his law practice introduced him to the breed. “I am highly enamored by their athletic side — how fast they can run, their heart, their single-minded pursuit,” said John. “Yet, they have this dual nature — they’re real companionable, intelligent and eager to please.” “I like their temperament — they’re docile and they have their spirited side,” said Laura. She adopted her first dog, Aimee, 11 years ago after she fell in love with a friend’s greyhound. Most of the dogs are kept in a kennel on the property, but in the evenings, the Parkers bring them
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inside four at a time for quality bonding. Each of the Parker dogs has its own personality. Cole has earned the nickname “Pogo Dog” because he hops like a bunny to get attention, and Wizz smiles when she gets excited. “They all have something different that they do,” said John. Females weigh an average of 5565 pounds when full-grown, and males weigh approximately 70-80 pounds. Their life expectancy is generally 12-14 years. Greyhounds are capable of
When John and Laura Parker of Newnan say their greyhounds are like family, they mean it. Three of their dogs were included in their wedding.
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running approximately 40 miles per hour, so the Parkers share a good laugh when they see someone chasing after one. “You can’t catch a greyhound,” said Laura, adding that greyhounds are typically the chasers anyway. John helped start the metro Atlanta program of the Southeastern Greyhound Club in 1995. The club currently has approximately 270 household members. John is the president, and Laura serves as treasurer. Greyhound racers begin their career at 16-18 months and continue
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until they are no longer winning. They are generally 3-4 years old when they “retire.” Sadly, retirement can mean being euthanized for even the once-successful racers. “Even one dog (being put to
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sleep) is too many,” John said. The Southeastern Greyhound Club helps to place retired racers into loving homes. The Parkers located and adopted three dogs that are retired racers from England. Basso was awarded Outstanding Puppy in 2005 in the Waterloo Cup, a now-banned sport in which dogs chase and kill hares. Greyhounds who come to call SummerWind Farm home are fortunate enough to be able to participate in lure coursing, a competitive racing event for former racers. The Parker family, like others who wish to adopt a retired racer, must submit to an application process in which they are screened based on personality criteria, their living
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situation, current and previous pet records, and vet references. “The ideal owner is someone who’s willing to understand it’s a lifetime commitment and be willing to spend time with the dog and take care of its needs,” said John. “Also, we discourage pity adoptions.” One common misconception is that raising a greyhound will be more difficult than raising other breeds of dog. Greyhounds adapt well to new living situations and prefer company since they spend their career surrounded by other greyhounds. The only thing they require that’s special is premium dog foods and diets devoid of corn and soy. Retired racers have been in the same environment their entire lives and require a patient person to show them the world for the first time. When the Parkers brought one of their greyhounds inside their home for the first time, it was apprehensive about climbing stairs, never having encountered them before. “If anyone is considering greyhounds as pets, get on our Web site and read to honestly decide whether they’re willing and can provide a home suited for them,” said John. “The more you can read and learn about them, the easier adjustment they have into pet life from track life,” Laura added. The Parkers’ family portraits include an original painting that hangs above their fireplace depicting three of John’s late “children,” and original greyhound art accents every corner of the house in a manner that may suggest bigger really is better. To start the application process and view pictures of retired greyhound racers, visit www.greyhoundadoption.org. NCM
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Pet groomer Lynne Cobb and her dog Ricky-Bobby.
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House
By Alex McRae, Photos by Bob Fraley
Calls Mobile pet grooming services bring help straight to your door
H
Human haircuts are merely a hassle. Keeping pets well-groomed can involve the kind of planning and dedication usually reserved for events like the Normandy Invasion. Even the most mild-mannered pet can take exception to being tossed in the SUV and driven across town for a trim or nail job. Anxious owners pile the car with favorite blankets and toys, then use
everything from sedatives to “Animal Planet” DVDs to keep critters calm, but even then, a trip to the groomer can leave pets so frazzled they are forced to express their anxiety the only way they know how … right on the car seat. “We’ve heard some real horror stories,” says Lynne Cobb, owner of Lynne’s Mobile Pet Salon. “Not forcing the pet to take a trip is one
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Nora Maloyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Honda Helix motor scooter, above left, gets her to and from appointments with her business PET*icures, which specializes in toenail trims for dogs and cats. Her equipment all fits in a small bag, above right.
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thing that makes our service so appealing.” Lynne and her husband, Sam, started Lynne’s Mobile Pet Salon just over two years ago and say it didn’t take long for the service to catch on with customers. “The pets don’t have to travel and since they aren’t surrounded by other animals, they don’t get stressed out,” says Sam Cobb. “It’s especially nice for older pets who are sick or can’t get around very well.” The Cobbs’ custom van is equipped with everything a groomer needs to keep pets looking like rock stars. In addition to an adjustable grooming table which accommodates everything from a chihuahua to a St. Bernard, the vehicle has heat, airconditioning, and a self-contained water and sewer system. It also features such luxury touches as the “bathing beauty” water wand, which has adjustable water jets to suit and soothe any critter.
Lynne Cobb works inside her van.
The animals are treated like royalty, but Lynne Cobb says a big
payoff for her is getting to spend the day in sweats and t-shirts instead of
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212 Commerce Ave. • LaGrange, GA • 706-882-0004 24
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the Chanel suits she wore in her past life as an insurance executive. “This isn’t for everybody,” she says. “It’s nasty, sweaty, smelly work. But I was raised around animals and don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I love the animals and look forward to going to work every day.” Another mobile pet care specialist says the ride to work is half the fun. Twenty years ago Nora Maloy left Northwest Airlines to start “Paws For Grooming,” a full service pet salon. Last year, a customer who was unable to keep an appointment begged her to come out and trim a dog’s toenails. “The trip turned out to be fun,” Maloy says. The trip also spawned a whole new business, PET*icures, which specializes in toenail trims for dogs and cats. Maloy’s equipment fits in a single, small bag, so to save money and fuel, she bought a Honda Helix motor scooter to travel to and from appointments. She had ridden a motorcycle years ago and says getting back on two wheels was good for her and the business. “I love riding the bike,” she says. “It lets me relax and enjoy the trip, and when I arrive I’m happy and excited and ready to work.” In addition to nail trimming, Maloy offers nail painting and glued-on nail gemstones for special
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occasions. Most of her customers are dogs. She says after a visit or two most animals are so relaxed they don’t fidget or fuss at all. The owners, though, are another matter. Maloy often holds the dogs in her lap to establish control. When owners try to help by talking to nervous pooches, Maloy can have a problem. “A time or two I’ve almost been pulled off the couch when the dog lunged for its owner,” she laughs. Even in the best cases, things don’t go as planned. The Cobbs recall grooming a dog and cat from the same family. The Golden Retriever and orange tabby cat weren’t just housemates, they were best friends, so inseparable they even slept together. The decision to put them in the grooming van at the same time turned out to be a disaster. As Sam bathed the dog, Lynne began clipping the kitty. After a snip or two, the feline started howling like an “American Idol” reject. The dog thought his buddy was in danger and got so upset he started wailing right along with the cat. “It was the saddest thing you ever saw,” Lynne Cobb says. “The poor dog was crying because he thought his little buddy was being hurt.” The Cobbs rearranged the routine to make sure each animal knew the other was OK, and things proceeded with no more operatic interruptions. House calls for humans may still be just a memory, but the Cobbs and Maloy say their service is just what the doctor ordered. “It’s a good experience for pets and owners both,” says Lynne Cobb. “In this business that’s as good as it gets.” NCM
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Studio $1,400 per month 1 Bedroom $1,650 per month Cottage 1 Bedroom, $1,200 per month 2 Bedroom, $1,500 per month
Do the math and sum up the benefits! We invite you to count the benefits of living at Palmetto Park in the Georgia Baptist Retirement Community of Georgia. Expenses PROPERTY TAXES INSURANCE GARBAGE WASTE WATER MORTGAGE OR
Your Home
Baptist Manor
Cottages
Assisted Living
? ? ? ? ? ?
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
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NONE
NONE
NONE
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$1,400-STUDIO $1,650-1 BR 24 HOUR
$1,200-1 BR $1,500-2 BR
$1,700
EMERGENCY
N/A
RESPONSE
SYSTEM @ N/C 3 FREE MEALS PER
1 FREE MEAL
@ N/C 3 FREE MEALS
RENT
?
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24 HOUR
FOOD
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YARD CARE
? ? ? ?
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$2,500+
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HOUSE REPAIR ELECTRICITY APPLIANCE (repair or replacement)
Total
We offer independent or assisted living and encourage an active lifestyle
770-463-2460 5 1 9 Pe r k i n s R o a d Palmetto, GA
Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia, Inc. w w w. b r c g a . o r g
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WhereAnimals Are Treasured By Meredith L. Green, Photos by Bob Fraley
C
Can you imagine caring for 15 cats and 29 dogs — transporting them to the vet, feeding them, watering them, cleaning up after them, organizing adoptions for them and, of course, playing with and loving them — seven days a week without a vacation for 20 years? Now imagine doing that in addition to working the midnight shift at FedEx, often getting as little as four to five hours of sleep per night. This is the life of Coweta resident Jeanne West, founder and president of the Good Shepherd Humane Society, whose slogan is “Where Jesus is Lord, and animals are his treasures.” West moved to Coweta from the foothills of the Catskills in New York. “I always say I brought the blizzard of ’79 with me,” jokes West.
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Her first love was music, and Georgia was supposed to be a brief stopping point before she became a Rock ’n Roll star. West soon found herself disillusioned with the music industry, however, and became a teacher. “I always throw myself wholeheartedly into things,” says West. “After a while, some time around 1989, I plugged into animals.” In 1992, West decided to start her own humane society. “Honestly, I was a little bit dissatisfied with another humane society that I was with — all the politics and internal differences. I just wanted to help animals!” says West. In regard to the many different agencies helping animals locally, West
says, “We all think we can do it better than what we are in. It just goes to show Coweta is full of strong animal lovers with strong points of view.” West explains that different agencies have different goals that distinguish them. “Some focus on spay and neuter, other injured animals, other wildlife,” says West. “The Good Shepherd’s goal is to build a no-kill animal shelter in Coweta County.” “In order for us to see a no-kill shelter,” says West, “we need to have a coalition of all the agencies and a lot of intervention on God’s part. Each group is sure their way is the best way, but coalitions are the wave of the future. Grants are usually given to programs that include coalitions.
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Jeanne West of Sharpsburg says she started the Good Shepherd Humane Society 15 years ago because “I just wanted to help animals.” She sees a need for a coalition of all the local animal help agencies — and also for some divine help. JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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Jeanne West and the Good Shepherd Humane Society run a successful cat adoption program at area pet stores.
We need to work together and put aside our differences.” Because of West’s reputation as a staunch defender of animals, she receives many calls about cases of animal cruelty from Coweta and neighboring counties such as Fulton and Clayton. When this happens, she drives by to assess the situation and
then contacts animal control when necessary. “Many end up not being a cruelty case. In some areas, even if the dog is chained, if it has food, water and shelter, it’s not cruelty,” says West, who would like to form an Education and Legislation Committee to work on standardizing
animal codes for all of Coweta County. “Right now each municipality has a different code; for example, what’s legal in Senoia may not be legal 10 miles down the road in the City of Newnan.” Last year, West founded a doggie DFACs program (which included cats as well) in response to the number of
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Baby Registry Wooden Toys Gifts for Mom Accessories Shower Gifts Free Gift Wrap
3 E. LaFayette Square • LaGrange, GA 706-884-3129 • 706-884-0329 (fax) Mandi Haynes, Owner
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hotline calls. West would deliver doghouses, food, and other services to animal owners. That program is now on hiatus. “Our motives are right, but our methodology needs to be tweaked,” says West. “What we discovered was that people were happy to take (the items) for free, but once we would try to transfer the responsibility of pet ownership back to them, they wouldn’t do it. (For example), we would give them runners in place of a chain only to come back and find the runner was stuck in the ground with a stake being used as a chain. People would promise to spay but not do it or promise to get rid of glass and brush around the area but never do it. I don’t want to abandon this program, but you can only take frustration for so long before your heart breaks.”
Today, Good Shepherd runs the successful Cat’s Meow program at Newnan and Fayetteville PetsMart locations and Petco in Peachtree City, offering a home seven-days-aweek to cats and kittens hoping to be adopted. West has a few volunteers to help with the program but desperately needs more. “Just 40 minutes once a week or even once a month would make a huge difference,” says West. Volunteer duties include watering, feeding the cats and letting them out of their cages to play. In addition, the Good Shepherd shows homeless cats and dogs on select weekends at Petco in Peachtree City. “I have the life I have chosen,” says West. “Sometimes I think it would be nice to take a vacation, but I have 20-30 ‘kids’ I would have to leave behind.” NCM
For more information or to volunteer, call the Good Shepherd Humane Society at 770-463-5513 or visit their Web site at www.thegoodshepherd humanesociety.org. The shelter gladly accepts monetary donations to be used toward offsetting their four-figure vet bills. And please remember: February is Spay and Neuter Month.
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678.423.3647
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A Pot-bellied Playmate By Megan Almon, Photos by Bob Fraley
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M
Most Valentine’s Day gifts consist of one or more of the big three: flowers, chocolate or jewelry. Elizabeth Brass-Almon was thrilled with what her then-boyfriend, Christopher Almon, had for her on Valentine’s Day of 2002 — a sweet little bundle of black-and-white, squirming, squealing, pot-bellied pig. Elizabeth had always wanted a pot-bellied pig for a pet. Though she’d originally hoped for a female, which she planned to name Petunia after cartoon Porky the Pig’s girlfriend, she fell in love with the picture she’d seen on the Internet of the little black-and-white male. She vetoed Christopher’s suggestion of calling him Hammy Davis Jr. and settled for Porkchop, jokingly agreeing with Christopher that if they ever decided they didn’t want him as a pet anymore, they could have him for dinner. Though the Almons knew their new pet wouldn’t come anywhere near a frying pan, their first weeks with Porkchop were trying. Christopher encouraged anyone interested in owning a pot-bellied pig to follow the cliché and read a manual. “Pigs aren’t for everyone,” he said. In his research, Christopher learned pot-bellied pigs have a higher I.Q. than most animals, much like that of a dolphin or chimpanzee. Porkchop would grow bored easily and “get into things” around Christopher’s apartment. The couple solved that problem by placing a small television on the apartment’s floor and, finding that Porkchop favored Animal Planet, left the channel playing through the day. Christopher, a Fulton County Firefighter, once came home to find Porkchop had, literally, “made himself comfortable” by building a pile, or
Elizabeth BrassAlmon and Christopher Almon spend some time with Porkchop, their pot-bellied pig.
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Connie’s Antiques &Etc. 111 Ridley Avenue, LaGrange, GA Off The Square - Across from new Govt. Building Open 11:00 - 5:00 Daily, Closed Sunday and Holidays
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rather a mountain, of every soft thing he could find. He had pulled pillows, comforter, blankets and sheets from Christopher’s bed; the dog’s bed; the couch cushions and pillows; and the dirty clothes from the clothes basket into the living room and was laying on top of it all like a king watching his favorite animal shows. Still, Porkchop had to be taught to overcome certain instinctual traits. Pigs are herd animals, Christopher said, and must come to accept their owners as part of their herd. When that bridge is crossed, pig-owners have to establish dominance. Porkchop was frightened easily, he said, mostly because pigs are
usually preyed upon. Their eyesight is poor, and they’re not used to being picked up and carried like a puppy or kitten. When anyone attempted to pick up the baby pig — at that time around a foot long and weighing less than 10 pounds — Porkchop’s defense mechanism, an earsplitting and incessant squealing, would kick in. Christopher and Elizabeth would have to wait until the squealing stopped before they put Porkchop down so he would learn they meant him no harm and, just as children must be taught, squealing didn’t get him his way. After they married, the couple found a home in a Newnan
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Porkchop has learned tricks such as “sit,” “kiss,” and will come when his name is called, especially at meal times.
770-253-6990 • Fax: 770-253-6843 Eastside Office: 20 Baker Road, Suite 2 • Newnan, GA 30265
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subdivision. Porkchop and his “sister,” the couple’s yellow labrador retriever, Roxy, share the spacious, fenced-in back yard and a little house complete with its own heat system. Porkchop has learned tricks such as “sit,” “kiss,” and will come when his name is called, especially at meal times. And they don’t have to remember exactly Christopher Almon got Porkchop as a Valentine’s Day gift for his then-girlfriend Elizabeth in 2002.
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what time to feed their animals. Porkchop, with his own built-in radar, knows when it’s time for him to eat and will “locate” Christopher or Elizabeth in the house, standing beneath the window of the right room and grunting for his food. When the grunting is ignored, he resorts to a few squeals as if announcing, “Hey! I’m hungry!” Porkchop’s diet consists of two cups per day of a specialized “pig chow” that can be bought at the store; the grass, clover and other vegetation he grazes on throughout the day; and the treats he’s allowed to have. He particularly enjoys fresh fruits and veggies, acorns or pecans, and Cheerios. His grazing habits prove somewhat helpful. He keeps the grass, clover and weeds to a
manageable level in the back yard, and a couple of the neighbors welcome him to munch in their own yards where passersby often catch sight of him and stop to dote. Last summer, Porkchop rid the neighborhood poolside of pesky weeds and overturned the soil in his efforts to root around for more. His rooting, however, is not always a welcome favor. When Christopher and Elizabeth went out of town for a few days at Christmas 2005, Porkchop got out of his fence and into one of the neighbor’s tulip beds. Frightened for her springtime flowers, the neighbor called Animal Control to come and contain him. Thankfully, Elizabeth said, “the charges were dropped,” so Porkchop — whom Christopher and Elizabeth
considered renaming Houdini because of his ability to escape — has no criminal record. The tulip episode was the finale to the couple’s sole dependence on the back yard’s plank fence. Porkchop had calculated exactly how much of his 70 pounds could be used as leverage against the bottom of the boards until the fence gave way. Like Steve McQueen in “The Great Escape,” Porkchop grasped every opportunity to cleanly make his escape. Afraid that Porkchop might be hit by a car or attacked by another animal in the neighborhood, Christopher and Elizabeth have since installed an electric fence. Fast learner that he is, Porkchop figured out the back yard might not be such a bad place after all. NCM
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An Artist& Her Bird By LaTina Emerson, Photos by Bob Fraley
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W
When Roberta Landrum of Sharpsburg sits down at her easel to paint a portrait, she always has a loyal friend seated close by. While most might have a treasured furry pet, Landrum has a lively, high-spirited bird to keep her company. “Thank you very much,” Sam says each night as Landrum covers his cage. He prefers to go to bed each day at 4 p.m., Landrum said. Sam is a cockatiel, a small parrot which originates from the outback regions of inland Australia. Today, the cockatiel is a prized household pet.
The cockatiel has long tail feathers making up about half of its total length and a pointed yellow crest which is held erect when startled or excited. A cockatiel’s plumage is usually mid-grey with an almost perfectly round orange patch of feathers known as a cheek patch covering the ear opening. Landrum and Sam are an amazing pair. Now in her eighties, Landrum is a woman of grace and immense talent who continues to create magnificent works of art. And Sam — confident, smart and a
constant companion — is a cherished link to Landrum’s daughter, Jane Logan, who was Sam’s original owner. Sam was Logan’s prized pet for six years before she became extremely ill and came to live with her mother. “He was quite a comfort to her. He would get up on her shoulder and talk to her,” said Landrum. Jane passed away and left Sam, now 10, to live with Landrum. “Forever and ever,” says Sam on any given day, almost as if sending Landrum a message of her daughter’s love.
Roberta Landrum of Sharpsburg, a longtime creator of Civil War and religious artwork, has a prized household pet in Sam, the cockatiel which belonged to her late daughter, Jane Logan.
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Ever since she can remember, Landrum has been creating works of art. She specializes in portraits and drawings and has shared her talent with the local community for years. Her primary interests are religious and Confederate themes. Landrum’s work has been featured at the Newnan-Coweta Public Library, and she has drawn the interest of many local schools, clubs and churches. This past Christmas, Landrum unveiled a life-size nativity scene at Grace Baptist Church in Sharpsburg. The portrait depicts baby Jesus lying in a manger while Mary, Joseph and guests look on to celebrate his birth. Landrum has traveled throughout the county with her work. “I do presentations on religious and historical themes,” said Landrum. She often speaks about how her grandfather met his wife during the Civil War. She still has copies of letters he wrote to her grandmother and a lock of her hair. At the conclusion of her presentations, music plays and Landrum creates a work of art for her audience. Recently, Landrum completed a 10-minute chalk drawing of a sparrow being lifted on the hand of God while the hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow” played. Many pieces of Landrum’s artwork can be found at Grace Baptist Church. “I do all of their display work and art work,” she said. Last Easter, Landrum completed a life-size portrait of Jesus exiting the tomb on Easter morning. The portrait is displayed in the baptistry at the church. “It’s the best thing she’s ever done,” said daughter Linda Ogles. Among Landrum’s collection are portraits of Biblical figures such as Moses and Jesus, and well-known personalities including Lewis Grizzard, Nat King Cole, Willie Nelson and Tom Jones. She also has a stunning portrait of herself as a young woman. Landrum’s talent was discovered by a teacher who encouraged her to apply for a program at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. “I studied on scholarship at the High Museum while I was in high school,” said Landrum. Like most teenagers, Landrum didn’t realize the magnitude of the opportunity, but she did attend the Saturday courses at the High. The classes equipped her to pursue a lifetime career as an artist. “I had a studio at The Cloister at Sea Island one summer. That’s where the presidents go to stay,” said Landrum. She also taught art classes that summer. Landrum went on to marry and have four children, Dorothy, Jane, Robert, and Linda, but art was always an
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important part of her life. “I love it. I couldn’t get by if I didn’t paint,” she said. Landrum says Sam actually talks constantly, but she is able to make out only the two phrases. Sam has a special way to acknowledge Landrum’s presence. “He’ll whistle at me,” she said. Landrum spoke about the power of animals. “He’s been a comfort. Of course it’s kind of sad, but he was her baby and she loved him and of course I do,” said Landrum. “He’s been a lot of company, really. He’s sweet as he can be.” “Any kind of pet is wonderful,” said Landrum. Owning a pet helped one of her daughters cope with the loss of her husband. Her daughter has four dogs that have helped her get through hard times, she said. Landrum lets Sam walk and fly around periodically to give him exercise. “Some people clip their wings so they can’t fly, but I think that’s kind of bad. I like for him to be able to get out once in a while,” she said. Landrum is available for programs to showcase her artwork. She can be reached at 770-251-0856.
E NJOY T RADITIONAL C HARM A ND A N ACTIVE R ETIREMENT L IFEST YLE .
NCM
H
ere, you’ll enjoy charming surroundings and the vitality and energy of wonderful neighbors. And you’ll welcome the many convenient services and the sense of confidence that comes with continuing care. Hold on to your individuality and your energetic outlook. Get in touch soon to arrange a visit. Wesley Woods of Newnan-Peachtree City is a part of Wesley Woods Senior Living, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation serving Georgia seniors since 1954.
2280 North Highway 29 • Newnan, GA 30265 770-683-6833 • www.WesleyWoods-Newnan.org
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With decades of experience behind him, this vet has plenty of
Pet Tales By Meredith L. Green, Photos by Bob Fraley
Dr. James Kornder and assistant Marilyn Curtis visit with friends outside their Powersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Crossroads veterinary practice.
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A
fter 50 years of practicing veterinary medicine, Dr. James Kornder has seen many unusual things. In fact, the location of Dr. Kornder’s clinic lends itself to unusual tales. Not many veterinarians practice in an old cotton sales warehouse that is rumored to haunted by the ghost of Aunt Hattie and her black cat. Aunt Hattie has been known to overturn dog dishes, let animals out, and bang pots and pans during surgeries. Kornder’s practice is located in the old Moss Oak Plantation at Powers’ Crossroads, where he’s been since retiring from the Food and Drug Administration in 1976. He divides his time between his Coweta clinic, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and his other clinics in Atlanta and Franklin. In addition to veterinary medicine, Kornder is also an accomplished writer, having published several scientific studies, and musician, playing both the flute and saxophone. He recently joined the Georgia State Defense Force band and plays in a gospel group as well. “He’s a real Renaissance man,” says Marilyn Curtis, his business partner and medical assistant for 12 years. “The weirdest, strangest, most unusual animal I’ve seen was a buzzard,” says Kornder. “A guy wanted it for a pet; he had caught it in a graveyard and wanted me to examine it to see if it was healthy. Well, I had to do something to get paid, so I faked it. I don’t examine too many buzzards, you see. I took the otoscope and looked in its ears and down its throat.” “I’ve also had several talking dogs,” says Kornder. “One was a Samoyed, a white, good-size dog who would cry, ‘Awaoowwwhh’ which
sounded just like ‘I want out.’” “Another lady had a Chihuahua that sang Happy Birthday,” he said. “He
would sing (bark) along with his owner. He was a little tone deaf but kept pretty good time.” JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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Dale A lady I knew
who worked at a nearby convenience store pulled up at the clinic and said someone had given her a Pekingese and asked if we wanted it. I said, “Well, no.” She said it was black and white. I thought, hmmm, that’s unusual for a Pekingese. I told her, “If you decide to keep it, bring it over to get it checked and vaccinated,” and she did. Once I saw the dog, I said, “Jewel, this is no Pekingese. This is an exotic breed called Japanese Chin. I am so surprised to see one in this area.” She decided to keep him and named him Buddy.
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Dr. Kornder’s medical assistant, Marilyn Curtis, says her favorite pet tale is the story of Dale, the Japanese Chin, a very rare toy breed. Here’s the account as told by Curtis: One year passed, and I was at Hardee’s in Franklin and struck up a conversation with a lady there. She said she had lost her little black and white dog about a year ago. I asked what kind of dog it was, and she said it was a Japanese Chin. At this point, I felt chills on my arms. The lady explained that it was a housedog, but during a bad thunderstorm, it ran out never to be seen again. “Tell me, how did you ever come to get a Japanese Chin?” I asked. She was a country girl, not some chichi lady. “Growing up, I always dreamed of the perfect dog for me. It would be
black and white, smushed face, big tail, furry,” she said. “I told my husband. We went to the library to look up dogs, and there it was — a Japanese Chin — the dog I had been dreaming of. We knew we had tax money coming in, so we bought him. We had him about four years before we lost him. His name was Dale.” I went to see Jewel and told her I found the owner. “Would you be willing to give the dog back?” I asked. “Yes!” she said. “My house just sold, and I am leaving town in about three days. I’m getting older, and the
dog is too much for me to take care of now.” So I took him to the clinic. I looked at him and called “Buddy,” and he looked at me only half interested. Then I called “Dale,” and his ears perked up like saucers. I called the owner that night, and when I pulled up to the office at 9 a.m. the next day, the owner was in the driveway waiting for me. They were reunited. She said she thought she would never see him again, and here he was right under our nose, seven miles away the entire time. Now when I see her, she always has him with her in the car — and that’s the story of Dale. NCM
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YO U R S U C C E S S I S O U R S T O RY JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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Owners TO THE
Rescue By LaTina Emerson, Photos by Bob Fraley
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They’re cute and cuddly and man’s best friend. The faithful canine has been a trusted companion throughout the generations, and it looks like they’re here to stay as a top choice for household pets.
I
It’s a full house at the Novaski residence in Newnan. Pam and Jim Novaski, parents of Stephanie, 14, and Victor, 12, are also parents to nine canines. There’s the regular crew — Ginny, Kubi, and Clare — and the latest addition to the Novaski bunch, Cash, a full-blooded Mastiff. There are also five visitors to the family — Freddy, Jason, Jekyll, Hyde and Waffle. Only eight weeks old, the foster quintuplets are a mix between the Dachshund and the Chihuahua. Cash, though only nine months old, might soon become a public figure. “He’s possibly going to be the mascot for the Georgia Humane Society based in the county,” said Pam Novaski. Cash joined the Novaski family through adoption, but ordinarily he could cost a minimum of $800. He is named after a lead singer in Stephanie’s favorite band. “It’s very rare to find that type of dog,” said Stephanie. “We’re very lucky to come across him.” Cash and
Rescued animals often show up at the Novaski home in Newnan. Pam Novaski, opposite, shows some of the dogs currently in foster care at their home. Son Victor, below, plays with one of their dogs, and below right is the full-blooded mastiff Cash.
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Enjoying their pets are, from top, Victor, Pam and Stephanie Novaski.
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the five young canines came home with the Novaskis on the same day. “We went there to adopt Cash, and a litter of puppies was there,” said Stephanie, who had previously fostered a puppy and wanted to do so again. “We decided to foster them, and Cash we would keep,” said Pam Novaski. The Novaskis got Cash and their litter of puppies from Death Row Dog Rescue in Sharpsburg. For the past six years, the Novaskis have served as foster parents to a host of animals from dogs to cats. “I like to foster puppies because I like puppies running around the house,” said Stephanie. “The puppies are more susceptible to diseases at the shelters,” said Pam Novaski. Remaining at the shelter exposes a puppy to parvo and kennel cough. “They’ve never had shots, and they don’t have any type of immune system so they can’t fight off diseases,” she said. The Novaskis have fostered about eight dogs and six kittens in addition to other pets such as iguanas, parakeets, domesticated rats and fish. Through adoption, the puppy litter living in the Novaski home will soon find a permanent place to lay their heads. Having so many dogs in one home is a lot of work, and mornings start bright and early. “We take the dogs out and feed them,” Novaski said. “They all have their own bowls.” Next, the puppies are placed in a playpen, and the other dogs remain in the house until everyone is home from work and school. “When we find homes for the puppies, we don’t always know where they go or their future, but it’s rewarding to know that we rescued them out of the shelter when they probably would have died. And possibly they made a family very
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happy,” said Pam Novaski. The Novaskis encourage animal owners to have their pets spayed and neutered to reduce the population of homeless animals. *** When Duke the Boxer is not hanging out at home, he’s hard at work at the office with his owner Bob Newton. Since June, Newton and Duke have been inseparable. Duke also spends a significant amount of time visiting his grandparents, Lt. Col. Robert D. Newton and Mildred Newton of Sharpsburg. Newton lived in Sharpsburg before relocating to Luthersville. Newton found his furry friend through the Internet via an organization called Boxer Town, a Boxer Rescue Organization which covers Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, north Florida and Tennessee. “They had the pictures and histories there. I was looking for a male his size and age,” he said. After a few months, Newton found Duke with a foster family in Alpharetta, where he was nursed back to health after being mistreated. Duke
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squeaky toy. “He thinks that’s the funniest thing that’s ever been invented. He’ll play with it by himself. He’ll literally throw it around in the air, bounce it off walls,” said Newton. And Duke has invented a new twist on the classic game of fetch. He likes to play what Newton calls “come and go fetch me.” Duke will retrieve the ball, but he’ll make Newton play around with him to get it back. “He’s been really good for me. He’s a constant friend. He’s always glad to see me,” said Newton. To those interested in finding a new pet, “I would say to get them from rescue,” Newton said. “Rescue dogs are always glad to see somebody because they’ve always had a tough time and whoever comes and gets them is their friend for life. Before someone goes out and puts thousands of dollars down, look at rescue first. You can get the type of dog you want and most importantly, he absolutely wants to be wherever you are.” NCM Bob Newton found Duke the Boxer through Boxer Town, a Boxer rescue organization.
is two years old and weighs about 75 pounds. “He’s one of a long line of Boxers that I’ve had. To me they’re the best kinds of dogs,” Newton said. Boxers were originally bred in Assyria about 3,000 years ago, according to Newton. “They were bred as war dogs,” he said. “At that time, they were about 200 pounds. The Romans brought them to Europe from the Middle East. The Germanic tribes used to steal them and the Germans eventually bred the dog into a fighting dog, and they kept breeding it smaller and smaller.” Eventually the Boxer was converted into a family dog, police dog, or guard dog, he said. 48
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“Boxers have a lot of personality. They’re very people oriented and they’re a little territorial. They defend the house and grounds. You may own the house, but the dog runs it,” he joked. Fawn with a white chest and black face — the standard markings for a Boxer — Duke is playful by nature. “He’s a natural clown,” said Newton. “He likes to kid around and he likes to play. For him, it’s always play time.” Newton always keeps plenty of chew toys to keep Duke occupied. His favorite toy is a fleece
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The Skinner Menagerie L By W. Winston Skinner, Photos by Jane Skinner
ynn and I have occasionally reflected that we would be fortunate to live the lives of our cats. While Lynn and I rise early and head out to spend the day working, Pablo and Claire are at ease. They meow until their bowls are filled – and the crushed residue at the bottom of the Purina bag will not suffice. They then spend the day in our comfortable home – cooled in the warm months and heated in the winter. They eat, nap and generally live the proverbial life of Riley. Pets have been a part of our lives since before we married. Lynn and her brother, Darryl, had two dogs, Rags and Sarge, when Lynn and I started dating. I later was regaled with tales about Kitty Don, Bam Bam the goat and a pugnacious Chihuahua named Rat who were part of the Strickland menagerie. I, in turn, shared stories of
our German shepherd, Farnsworth; a cat named for the biblical queen, Vashti; and our cow, named by yours truly for first lady Bess Truman. When Lynn and I married, we immediately got a kitten. We were living in Colbert, a small town outside of Athens, and we named our cat Colberta. One day, Lynn and I noticed that Colberta seemed to have injured both of her back legs. She was walking very gingerly and crying out — seemingly in pain — with every step. We finally called the vet school at UGA to get some clue about what we should do. My Granny Carney, who had some Victorian ideas, laughed the loudest when she heard the conclusion of the story, since she had already figured out that the family’s newlyweds had a cat in heat on their hands. Pets seemed to proliferate at our house after we moved into the old
Hardaway place in Luthersville. It was there that Sallie helped us welcome baby sister Jane — and a parade of animals. I remember a kitten we got at Aunt Mildred Strickland’s house. “They’re kind of wild, but they’re real pretty. If you can catch one, you can have it,” Aunt Mildred told me. Sallie and I went out and quickly spotted the white kittens with tabby markings. I decided it didn’t make much difference which one we wanted, we were going to have to take the one we could catch. Soon Sallie was seated in the front seat beside me, holding a small mewling creature in her arms. When we got home, I went around and opened the door. The wild kitten leaped from Sallie’s arms and was never seen again. For all I know, it’s still running. We had more — if still limited
Pablo & Claire | Rags | Sarge | Kitty Don | Bam Bam | Rat |
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— luck with rabbits. We named one Alvateen. The name was inspired both by “The Velveteen Rabbit” and by Alvaton, where we had purchased the bunny. There’s nothing quite as soft as a white bunny – and probably nothing as mean. Sallie had one rabbit who was truly gentle, but most of them lived to bite human beings. We went through phases with fish and with both guinea pigs and hamsters. Lynn and I wondered for several weeks about the fate of the hamster Santa Claus brought which disappeared between the time it was deposited — fresh from the sleigh into our living room — and the following morning when Jane discovered a cage, food and toys but no hamster. Mostly, though, we have had dogs and cats. Oreo, a Bassett hound raised by Lynn’s brother, Darryl, was actually the first member of our family to move to Temple Avenue.
We were moving from Luthersville when Oreo was ready to leave her mother. We did not have a fence in
presence, and she does seem to particularly dislike me. She usually acts as if I am a spawn of Satan when I lurk in the back yard and move sinisterly toward her bowl with a dog biscuit and a Sprayberry’s stew cup full of dog food. We have had other cats and dogs along the way. Oliver was a part Siamese with a bad eye and a tough-guy attitude until he got killed in a cat fight under our neighbor’s porch. It is no wonder that Jane is finishing up a degree in psychology and pondering a career in social work. Claire was born missing a foot, and Pablo is obviously disturbed. He sometimes thinks the back part of his body is some other creature and goes to great lengths to escape his tormentor. Oreo continues in her mercurial but happy life in our back yard. And sometime in the future Lynn and I dream of retiring and living, well, sort of like Pablo and Claire do every day. NCM
“They’re kind of wild, but they’re real pretty. If you can catch one, you can have it,” Aunt Mildred told me. Luthersville, but there was one at the back of our lot in Newnan. Lynn and Jane still believe Oreo’s quirky behavior — 14 years later — is somehow the result of feeling abandoned during the two days she spent there without our hovering
t | Farnsworth | Vashti | Bess | Colberta | Alvateen | Oreo | Oliver
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editorial pages of The Times-Herald for several years in the 1990s. To be completely fair, Don Juan did have a collaborator. Elizabeth Bowers was in the photograph with her coauthor holding him firmly but lovingly. Her face bore a smile. She had a halo of soft white hair, and a delicate strand of pearls was at her neck. “Miss” Elizabeth, a retired registered nurse, returned to Newnan in the mid-1980s to care for her mother, who was then in her nineties. “Miss” Elizabeth was born in Selma, Ala., but had grown up in Newnan. She was obviously glad to be back home as evidenced by the columns she began writing for the paper. Her first column apparently ran on Aug. 20, 1985. “Miss” Elizabeth Longtime readers of soon became a fixture on The Times-Herald will remember the editorial page. “Miss” “Miss” Elizabeth and Don Juan. Elizabeth often wrote about her mother and about their many friends who dropped by to visit or bring food. “Miss” Elizabeth was not much of a cook and wrote a delightful piece about being asked to By W. Winston Skinner, photo courtesy of The Times-Herald attend a dinner to which she was to bring a covered dish. She ver the years, Newnan’s turned to see what Ida Thomasson brought just that — a dish with a lid newspapers have had a wide and Johnny Brown had to say. range of local columnists. In on it and nothing inside. Needless to There is one columnist, however, the 1800s, there was a sometimes say, her hostess was taken aback. who stands apart from the others. His humorous fellow who wrote under the photograph looked out at the reader — My all-time favorite Elizabeth name “Ripples.” Roberta Lyndon his dark eyes welling with empathy, his Bowers column was published in delighted Herald readers in the 1930s November 1985. She related a muscles taut, his nose moist and his with her pithy observations in girlhood memory of looking at a tiny mouth seemingly ready to speak. “Scissorings and Such.” When I first photo album with her grandmother. Mmmm, make that bark. came to work at The Times-Herald a Elizabeth imagined stories for the He was Don Juan, a Chihuahua quarter century ago, readers eagerly people in the pictures — all of which whose missives brightened the
HERITAGE
Don Juan:
CANINE CORRESPONDENT
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turned out to be hilariously wrong. The angelic blonde beauty Elizabeth imagined to be Melanie Wilkes’s real-life pattern was a bad woman who associated with Yankees. The sinister looking man with the beady eyes turned out to be a Confederate hero lauded by Jefferson Davis himself, and the young woman with intelligence radiating from her eyes was — in Grandma’s unstinting assessment — “as close to being an idiot as anybody in our family.” “Miss” Elizabeth wrote about her soap operas — once confessing that she considered praying about the depraved behavior of one character. She also loved First Baptist Church and wrote constantly about the pastors, members, services and social events there. She was particularly enthralled with the changing hairdo of one member, and once she referred to Don Helms, one of the pastors, as “Don Knotts.” From her earliest columns, “Miss” Elizabeth wrote about Toro, her Chihuahua. One of her very first pieces referred to Toro’s “brisk, rapid, staccato jogging.” When Toro died, “Miss” Elizabeth prevailed upon every ordained person at First Baptist to take part in the state funeral — an activity that made the Times-Herald, but which I am sure the respective pastors hoped never made it back to the alumni news sections of their seminary magazines. There were some sad columns after Toro’s passing, but Don Juan made his debut in “Miss” Elizabeth’s Sept. 26, 1986 column. Gene and Margaret Tyre had brought the little fellow, whose coloring was identical to Toro’s, to the newspaper columnist in a basket. She wrote of “the beautiful, tiny Chihuahua puppy staring at me with asking eyes.” Don Juan soon became a co-author. He offered readers “a loud bow wow” in a 1986 Thanksgiving column and gazed out a window at the snow in a January 1987 entry. “Miss” Elizabeth could poke fun at herself — and even her beloved Don Juan. More than once she shared the joke that her jovial mailman, Scott Horne, claimed not to be able to tell which author was which in their newspaper picture. Acknowledging that her column — which increasingly focused on visits to Beaulieu Nursing Home, now Newnan Hospital Health and Rehabilitation, after her mother moved there — was not the most scintillating reading, she closed a February 1987 column with these words: “Don Juan is yawning as, no doubt, every reader is.” The pert pooch and his owner continued to get a byline occasionally until the last column ran sometime in 1993. “Miss” Elizabeth later went to Beaulieu herself. She died there at 90 on July 17, 2000. Her columns with Don Juan were written simply and usually celebrated the day-to-day joys of life in Newnan. “Miss” Elizabeth knew that readers knew she did the writing, but that Don Juan was her inspiration. In a column about Halloween in her hometown, Elizabeth Bowers wrote, “Life is mostly a treat and not a trick.” I’m sure Don Juan would add a hearty “bow wow” to that. NCM
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SADDLE UP
The Thrill of the Chase By Martha A. Woodham, Photos by Bob Fraley
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F
ox hunting, a sport once synonymous with Merrie Olde England, is well and thriving in Coweta County, where Hal Barry is master of the Bear Creek Hounds. But in Coweta, the quarry usually is coyote, not fox. And it must be rather startling to a deer hunter up a tree to see a pack of fox hounds come roaring in full cry through the woods cheered on by a group of eager horses and hard-riding people dressed in scarlet and black.
“We fox hunters are building a wonderful equestrian community in Coweta County along with other disciplines ... it’s an interesting collection of horse enthusiasts.” — Hal Barry JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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Huntsman Guy Cooper leads the hounds on the opening day of fox hunting season at Bear Creek Farm in Moreland.
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Although parts of Coweta are beginning to look as urbanized as Gwinnett County, much of this county is still woods and fields, fertile ground for all kinds of wildlife appetizing to the coyote. The four-legged interloper from out West has made his home here, much to the chagrin of those who have lost livestock or learned the hard way to keep their pets indoors at night. As the coyote has taken over the territory once held by the red fox, the wily animals also have taken the red fox’s role. While hunters are sorry to see the red fox pushed out, chasing a coyote means a challenge from one of nature’s tricksters that is an ability test for the hound and long, fast gallops that are endurance tests for the horse and rider. For Hal Barry — like many outdoorsmen, whether they ride a horse, perch in a deer stand or sit in a duck blind — hunting is a means of getting away from the pressures of his profession. Barry, owner of the Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Companies, spends his days adding to the high-rise profiles of Atlanta and other cities. His company currently is developing the $1 billion landmark Allen Plaza overlooking the Downtown Connector just northeast of Centennial Olympic Park. Barry compares his innovative approach to his business to his hunting for coyotes. “It’s the thrill of the chase in both cases,” he once told Covertside, a fox-hunting magazine. “You lose some, you are able to account for some. I’ve fallen from horses and I’ve fallen in business, and I have been able to pick myself back up
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from both. It’s creative and thrilling, and it’s what keeps me young.” Barry grew up in Iowa, one of three boys in a family of six children. He says he probably would have been a farmer like his father if he had been able to afford it. He was introduced to his wife, Linda, in her home town, Oelwein, Iowa, by a high school friend when Barry was a college
senior. They have three children and seven grandchildren. The Barrys, married 43 years, came to Coweta in the late 1970s to enjoy dove shoots with another Atlanta developer, John Bell, on his Coweta farm. Owning a farm and reestablishing his roots to the land became a siren song to Barry, who began shopping for 50 acres. In
Hal and Linda Barry, at top right, first came to Coweta in the late 1970s to go dove shooting with a friend on his Coweta farm. They soon began shopping for 50 acres, and in 1981 they bought the 578-acre Bear Creek Farm in Moreland. Here they are shown with friends on opening day of fox hunting season at the farm.
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September 1981, the couple bought Bear Creek Farm in Moreland, a 578acre horse and cattle farm. The family celebrated that Christmas in the three-bedroom house that is now the guest house. The Barrys’ first horse arrived at Bear Creek Farm the next year, when Linda Barry took up riding. At the time, Barry suffered from arthritic hips and was unable to ride, so he drove a cart pulled along Bear Creek’s many trails by a Morgan horse named Kendall. After hip replacement surgery in 1989, Barry took up a sport he had thrilled over from afar — fox hunting. Since the mid-1980s, Linda had hunted with both the Shakerag Hounds in north Atlanta and the Midland
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Fox Hounds in southwest Georgia. After the surgery and six months of riding lessons, Barry was hunting with Midland, whose master was the legendary Ben Hardaway of Columbus. “I’ll never forget that day,” he said of his first time in the field behind the famous Midland Hounds. “The morning, the crispness in the air, the beauty of the land, the hounds, the scarlet coats. I can’t remember hearing a hound speak, but the beauty of the thing got to me. I couldn’t leave it alone.” Hardaway has been breeding hounds in Georgia for more than 60 years, since he was a boy. He became a mentor in hunting to Barry, who soon shared his passion for breeding and training fox hounds. These dogs, called crossbred hounds because they are the result of breeding English and
American fox hounds, were developed to chase fox and coyote and ignore Georgia’s burgeoning deer population. “I didn’t know anything about hounds and hound work,” Barry told Covertside. “But riding in Ben’s back pocket I now realize that I had experienced a lifetime opportunity that left me hopelessly addicted to the cry of the hounds.” That addiction led Barry in the late 1990s to establish a pack of his own, Bear Creek Hounds, with foundation hounds from the Midland pack given to him by Hardaway. Eventually Barry rebuilt Bear Creek’s kennels and added to the barn at Bear Creek to house more hunt horses. Barry tried to hunt his pack himself, but a fall from a horse while hunting and business demands on his
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time made it impossible for him to do it all alone. He then hired a professional huntsman, Guy Cooper, a Welshman. Today the Bear Creek Hounds hunt staff includes three professional whippers-in, who help him hunt the pack: Heather Cooper, Guy’s wife; Kelly Barrett, who also trains the hunt horses; and Shannon Roach. In 2005, Bear Creek Hounds was recognized by the Masters of the Fox Hounds Association of America (MFHA), the governing body of fox and coyote hunting in the United States. The Barrys have become quite active in the organization. The MFHA celebrates its
100th anniversary in 2007, and the Barrys will host one of MFHA’s centennial field hunter trials on Jan. 20, organized by Linda Barry and the hunt staff. The trials, held around the United States and Canada, are designed to find the best hunt horses in North America. (The MFHA is also holding centennial hound trials to find the best hounds.) “I’m even more driven today to build and create an absolute worldclass pack of hounds,” Hal Barry said. “And that commitment extends to the right staff and to the
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Martha A. Woodham, a member of Bear Creek Hounds, is an Atlanta refugee who moved to her Coweta County farm in 1998 in order to ride and hunt.
membership.” About 80 members support Bear Creek Hounds, which hunts twice a week over territory established at Bear Creek Farm, Cedargate Farm (also in Coweta) and in Dooley County in south Georgia. While most of the members follow the hounds on horseback, some non-riders tag along in trucks on hunting days. Others joined for the social activities such as the traditional hunt breakfasts following each day’s hunt. “I’ve never really focused on the membership in the past — I always focused on the hounds,” Barry said. “But it’s been very gratifying to see the members enjoy and appreciate the sport, especially the new members and the young riders.” Barry and his fox hounds are helping to draw horse lovers to
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Coweta County. The members’ enthusiasm for this family sport has prompted several to move to Coweta and establish horse farms of their own, such as Rene and Joan Latiolais. Some hunting families, such as Shane and Cortney Lyle and Harry and Jodie Kuniansky, are purchasing land in Coweta’s newest equestrian subdivision, Blalock Lakes, so they can ride with the hounds more often. “We fox hunters are building a wonderful equestrian community in Coweta County along with other disciplines — the dressage and event riders, the show jumpers and polo players and everybody else — it’s an interesting collection of horse enthusiasts,” Barry said. Barry may be creating a landmark development in
downtown Atlanta, a collection of buildings that will leave his name on the city, but the horse community he is helping build in Coweta is the one he can call home. “At a dinner party we gave one time, Linda remarked that I had never liked any of our houses in Atlanta,” Barry said, naming several Buckhead streets where the couple had lived before establishing permanent residence in Coweta. “There is a peacefulness and solitude about Coweta County. When you are here all the time, it’s easy to forget. But I am away enough to appreciate it. “I love it here,” he added. “It hit me that I never felt quite at home until we bought Bear Creek. We found home.” NCM
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NEWCOMERS
Weatherly family move with love and laughs Photo by Bob Fraley
T
The Weatherly family has moved back to Coweta County after a brief time here 10 years ago. Now kindergartener Thomas, fourth grader Anna, and parents Kurt and Melissa share their thoughts on moving to Newnan from Columbia, S.C.
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Thomas: I was excited to move here and get my new bedroom and be closer to my grandparents (in Columbus)! Anna: At first, I wasn’t that excited about the move. I was sad about leaving my friends and my school. But I like it now.
Newnan-Coweta Magazine: It can be hard to leave old friends behind. Have you met some nice children at your new school? Anna: Yes, I go to Welch Elementary. It’s really big – around 1,000 students! Brittany and Mariana are my best friends. I
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actually think it’s easier than my old golf team at Clemson, but I was a school, and I can sometimes help if Mechanical Engineering major. I kids don’t understand something. I went into a couple of other also don’t have as much homework businesses, but I always wanted to so that’s good. own my own golf shop. So I did my NCM: How about you, Thomas? apprenticeship and got my PGA card Has making friends been and eventually had my own easy for you? shop. I enjoy helping other people play Thomas: Yes! better golf. Joseph and THE WEATHERLY FAMILY: NCM: Christian Melissa, you and • Kurt and Melissa met on a blind date. were an Owen • Kurt’s sister is Shawn Weatherly Harris, elementary and who also went to Clemson and was school Patrick crowned both Miss USA and Miss teacher are all Universe. for two my weeks and friends • The Weatherlys have an 18-year-old then were plus I Persian cat named Abby. accepted as have lots • For now, Kurt is the only golfer a flight more. We in the family. He’s working on attendant and play changing that! have been flying computers – ever since. Between my mom and dad your flying and Kurt’s taught me how. My sister commute and kids’ activities, that and I play soccer, too. makes for a busy schedule. Do you NCM: Melissa and Kurt, you lived keep a gigantic calendar on the in Sharpsburg for about one year a refrigerator or how do you make it decade ago. Obviously the county has changed a lot. Your observations? work? Melissa: We definitely work off a Melissa: I’m impressed with the calendar and try to coordinate our growth in our area of the county – getting-home times around each the way they’ve attempted to build other’s schedule. We also have a the retail shops that are attractive to couple of very kind the eye, like the shops at Newnan friends/neighbors that help out in an Crossing. The construction of the emergency, like if I am delayed due houses is good, and overall it is a to weather! comfortable place to be. Kurt: My only personal drawback in NCM: When you are all together at home, what do you enjoy doing? living in Coweta County is I have to Melissa: The SummerGrove drive up to Atlanta every day. I am community has so much to do that the Golf Professional at the PGA Superstore in Buckhead on Piedmont we enjoy doing activities here. We love LaParilla restaurant. We also at Lindbergh, so that’s quite a really enjoy visits to Country commute from here. Other than Gardens nursery. I can look at all the that, it’s ideal. gorgeous plants and flowers and the NCM: Did you always want to be a kids love to play with the animals golf professional? Kurt: My father always wanted to be they have there. It’s wonderful. a professional golfer. I was on the NCM
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ARTIST SHERRY COOK IS
FOLLOWING H E R B L I S S By Janet Flanigan, Photos by Bob Fraley
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “The rich are not like you and me.” Some might say artists are not like you and me either. They just see the world differently. Thank goodness. They pour their zeal, pain and happiness into the fabulous works that bring pleasure to others. Cowetan Sherry Cook embodies a true passionate artist. She has supported herself financially as an artist her entire adult life, which is no mean feat. Her passion for her craft survives after many years; indeed, it has been reignited, following a difficult past 12 months of changes. “I have had an incredible year,” says Cook. “(Ex-husband) Bill and I tried to save our marriage but we couldn’t, and ultimately I think of our split as a gift. We just weren’t meant to be together. But we really are still the greatest of friends.” She says this with enthusiasm, because she says the divorce actually allowed her “to reclaim myself with a vengeance.”
Her current works are dramatically different than earlier efforts and reflective of this time in her life. She’s doing encaustic painting now, which involves melting beeswax, resin and pigments and then painting them onto a wood surface. A variety of tools, blow torches and brushes can be used to manipulate, scrape and smooth the cooled wax to the artist’s specifications. “I have drastically changed my artistic style several times in my career,” says Cook. “I did handmade paper, clay and stick painted collages for a long time – they were really pretty; I sold lots of them. Then I painted in what I call the ‘naive’ style which is bright colored figures and things on metal. I also did a few minor phases in between. Then our daughter Elizabeth, who is an absolutely amazing artist, learned about encaustics at the Governor’s Honors program, and I asked her to teach me how to do it and I’ve been doing them ever since.” Remember that “artists are not like you and me”? Most people who
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Artist Sherry Cook’s newest creative passion is encaustic painting, a technique she learned from daughter Elizabeth.
journal their thoughts do so in an actual paper journal, but Cook uses her wood canvases as her journals of record. “I record my prayers, intentions,
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global concerns, thoughts, and I never know what will come out of my mind. It’s stream of consciousness. Some artists know exactly what their painting will look
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like before they begin painting. I never know how mine will end up. It’s very exciting.” But those journal thoughts are just the impetus to jump-start her creative juices. They will eventually be covered with hot wax, but the essence of their feelings remains behind in the images, textures and shapes Cook paints and scratches into the encaustic wax surface. It seems fateful somehow that Cook has selected encaustics as her medium of choice for expressing such personal art. The ancient Greeks and Egyptians wrote and painted on them, and encaustics are even found with writings and prayers in Egyptian tombs, so she’s just following an artistic technique dating back thousands of years.
Cook was raised in Smyrna and always knew she was destined for a life in art. She initially went to Berry College in Rome and finished up at the University of Georgia with her degree in Fine Art. In the early part of her marriage, she says she was the main provider for the family while Bill was building his style and career. Then as children Elizabeth, Katie and Nate came along, she decided to slow down a bit and Bill’s career flourished concurrently, which allowed him to take over the financial helm. She always had, as she calls them, “little projects” going on. “I’ve done things for friends, commissions, things like that. But now I am so energized. I feel — how can I say it? — full of grace. I
just feel so great and my energy is pouring out in my work. I am really focusing now on getting commissioned works and having my work represented by more galleries.” Currently her work can be found at galleries in downtown Newnan and in Roswell, Birmingham, Ala. and Rosemary Beach, Fla. “I feel more grounded than ever,” says Cook. “I like the writer Joseph Campbell. He said, ‘Follow your bliss.’” Campbell was a writer in the 1920s who studied humanities and became extremely interested in the cohesive threads among disparate human cultures. Looking at Cook’s paintings, one senses the artist’s own interest in human nature. And she’s definitely following her bliss. NCM
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to Stay
HE’LL STILL PERFORM ON BROADWAY, BUT ACTOR GLENN RAINEY’S CALLING NEWNAN HOME AGAIN By Nichole Golden, Photos by Bob Fraley and Greg Mooney
e’s played a Sultan, a bookseller and performed Shakespeare. He’s had the chance to work with director Clint Eastwood and on the television series “In the Heat of the Night.” And he’s no stranger to the lights of Broadway. Meet the versatile singer and actor Glenn Rainey. A graduate of Newnan High School and the University of Georgia, the public relations/advertising professional 70
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turned entertainer is now making Newnan his home once again. Rainey moved to New York in 1999 and was cast in the first national tour of “Beauty and the Beast,” a Walt Disney Theatrical Production. He then made his Broadway debut in the spring of 2000 at the Palace Theatre in “Beauty and the Beast.” He played the roles of both the bookseller and Monsieur D’Arque and understudied the roles of Cogsworth and Maurice. But after much success on Broadway, he decided to return to
Newnan and make it his home base. “My family is here,” he said. “I am here to stay.” His first exposure to acting was right here in Newnan. In the late 1970s and early ’80s, he was performing with Newnan Community Theatre Company. If you lived here then, you may have seen Rainey acting in a variety of productions at Newnan’s municipal auditorium, now known as Wadsworth Auditorium. One of Rainey’s first roles was in “Hotel Paradiso” with his mentor
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Glenn Rainey appears as The Sultan during a recent performance of Disney’s “Aladdin” at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.
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For more information on Glenn
Otto Woodnick in Horizon Theatre’s production of the black comedy “The Food Chain” was a challenging part. “Food Chain” was “such a stretch for me,” he said. Rainey received rave reviews from audiences and critics for his take on Otto. He also enjoyed his first foray into Shakespeare, in “Much Ado About Nothing,” because the “text was so rich.” Acting, Rainey finds, is not all that different from his previous career in advertising and public relations. Then, he was writing the speech and now he’s “speaking the speech.” Rainey’s impressive resumé also includes work in film. In “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” he had a role as Lady Chablis’ stage manager. “I was so starstruck,” he said of meeting director Clint Eastwood. With Eastwood, there’s no dramatic “Lights, Camera, Action.” According to Rainey, Eastwood simply says “OK, let them go” before shooting a scene. “He very much let the actors have their time,” he said. Working with director Ron Shelton on the film “Cobb” was also an enjoyable experience. Rainey was a gospel soloist for a scene that was ruined and had to
Rainey, visit his site complete with links to Broadway at www.glennrainey.com.
Dale Lyles directing. “I didn’t know a French farce from a hole in the ground,” he said, smiling. Recently, Rainey wrapped up a production of Disney’s “Aladdin” at the Alliance Children’s Theatre in Atlanta, calling it “the most fun.” Rainey was delighted that his sevenyear-old niece was among the many children who came to see him portray the Sultan. “It’s great they’re being exposed to it,” he said. Rainey’s incredible voice has landed him work in film and television, but he has a favorite medium within the world of entertaining. “I love theatre, musical theatre especially,” he said. He also has his favorite roles. After graduating from UGA and while working in corporate Atlanta, he acted at night. His portrayal of 72
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be re-done. “We filmed it all again,” he said. The scene had to be cut from the film, but Shelton sent Rainey copies of the “dailies” and a note about how much he loved his voice. Rainey will continue his work on Broadway, commuting to “sub” for “Beauty and the Beast” and to work in vocal casting for Alan Menken’s upcoming “Leap of Faith” with Hugh Jackman. Menken became familiar with Rainey’s talents as a member of Broadway Inspirational Voices, an interfaith gospel choir under the direction of Tony-nominated Michael McElroy. His first appearance on the Broadway stage will always be special. “It was almost one of those surreal things,” said Rainey. What’s next for this Newnan son? He is now working on several new musical theatre projects, including a one-man show for 2007. In 2004, Rainey made his cabaret debut at the Triad Club in New York with the one-man show “Blue-Eyed Soul.” Rainey recently recorded vocals for the soundtrack of the Disney film “The Shaggy Dog” and the live
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action/animation film “Enchanted.” And Rainey has not forgotten the community that gave him his theatrical beginnings and encouragement. Last year, he helped Newnan High School drama students and their teacher Kathy Bizarth to stage “Beauty and the Beast.” “When some of our students who were in the Senior Musical 2006, which was ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ went to New York City in the spring, Glenn arranged for us to meet with himself, the actor who portrayed Gaston and the actress who portrayed Belle. Through his help, the students gained much insight into the professional world of the Broadway Theater. He was willing to give up his time to organize and meet with the kids just for the satisfaction of giving them something valuable for our production. Glenn also traveled to Newnan in the late fall to have a two-day workshop with the student choreographers of the show and then came to one of the productions of the show itself,” said Bizarth. She added, “Much of the success of the show was due to his participation and willingness to share his talents with the students. He is a true gem for us to have back in our community. I look forward to his continued relationship with the music and drama department of Newnan High School.” He will soon be helping Roswell High School students to do the same. He also plans to offer vocal coaching to individuals. Rainey has words of advice for the many talented youth in the area, those who may want to pursue a similar career path. He encourages them to learn to read music, study acting and take advantage of any acting classes or enrichment programs offered. “Find a good voice teacher,” he said. NCM
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By Janet Flanigan Photos by Bob Fraley
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Illuminating
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I
t’s been more than 125 years since the invention of the light bulb, and during the intervening years trends in decorating have come and gone and come again. But there are some constant rules that always apply when illuminating your home – planning the lighting should be an integral part of the design process. Just as great lighting can fully enhance a living space, a poorly lit space will greatly diminish the enjoyment of that room. Sherry Davis of Newnan Lighting has her certification with the American Lighting Association and spent more than 20 years with Georgia Lighting before joining Hans Mixdorf ’s company here in Newnan. She says lighting is often the last home decorating feature people focus on, especially when building, because they have usually overspent by the time they get to their lighting decisions. “The shame is people don’t realize that lighting sets the mood for everything else in the house,” Davis says. “It’s like the jewelry for the home.” Davis suggests selecting most of your light fixtures within your budget, and then you may be able to find “wiggle room” for some dream fixtures. For example, sometimes consumers may experience a bit of “sticker shock” on certain upscale fixtures, but yet the room won’t feel right without that particular chandelier or lamp. Davis says this is when the homeowner can often still get their favorite fixture by downgrading a little in other areas of the home where lighting isn’t as important, such as guest bedrooms and secondary baths. When deciding how to select lighting for a room, there are three general types of fixtures for properly illuminating a space: general, task and accent. General fixtures handle the overall lighting in a room and include chandeliers and ceiling fixtures. Task lighting is oriented toward a specific task such as light reading, cooking or sewing. Accent lighting features spotlights and is strictly to call attention to a specific area, more for aesthetic reasons than for illumination. According to the American Lighting Association (ALA), the lights in a darkly-colored room can be absorbed and actually wasted; conversely, in white or light-colored rooms, the glow of the bulbs can actually reflect and be used as additional illumination. Lighting trends follow building trends, and right now the Craftsman movement is hot. The Craftsman or Mission Style in furniture is often identified with Gustaf
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Stickley, and Charles and Henry Greene created the California Craftsman ideal in architecture. Their whole artistic ideal was to reduce their art to its simplest form and blend the home into the landscape. The same artistic principle can be applied to Craftsman lighting. The return to organic architecture has influenced fine lighting that is found in fixtures emphasizing a simpler lifestyle and a return to basics. Leslie and Jeff Jeter of Newnan took a unique approach to their 78
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Leslie Jeter sought a metal craftsman to create the light fixtures at her home in Newnan, opposite.
lighting choices. The Jeters designed their home themselves and were intimately involved in every finishing detail. “My house was kind of different than your regular house, but I was still making all kinds of decisions like you do when you are building a house,” Leslie said. “Then suddenly two weeks before the house was to be finished, I had to go pick out all the light fixtures. Yes, in like two weeks! I went everywhere to try to find something that would work! Georgia Lighting, Home Depot, Home Depot Expo, Lakewood. I finally found a metal craftsman at Scott’s, and he did just about every fixture in our house.” Don’t be afraid to be individual in your lighting and decorating choices. “More and more people are mixing and matching contemporary and traditional lighting styles,” said Davis. “They are realizing they can mix things.” In the end, your house is your home and you are the one who has to pay the bills, so choose wisely but select lighting you love. Remember – lighting sets the mood for the house, and it is your home’s “jewelry” and should fit your personality and personal style. NCM
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COWETA COOKS
SUPER
NEW RECIPES FOR YOUR
SUPERBOWL
PARTY By Janet Flanigan, Photos by Bob Fraley
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M Many people get so worked up about entertaining for company they can’t enjoy the time spent with their guests. Scears Lee of Newnan enjoys entertaining so much, he looks for opportunities to invite people over so he can try out a new recipe or resurrect an old family favorite. “I studied cooking by watching my Mama in the kitchen in Mobile,” says Scears as he prepares green tomatoes for frying for a Creole Shrimp dish. “Mama had a catering company and I was always interested in how she did things. That’s how I learned.” Scears doesn’t like to prepare traditional menus for traditional events. “Everybody does pork on the grill for Superbowl,” claims Scears. “(My wife) Daly and I like to do something a little different, a menu that’s still easy but tastes like where we grew up in Mobile.” The food for their Superbowl get-together will feature Creole Shrimp over Fried Green Tomatoes and Spicy Catfish with Vegetables and Basil. “I love to watch cooking shows,
and one time Emeril (Lagasse) did a variation of this shrimp one and I just loved it,” says Scears. He says the best part about watching the shows on television is you can relax, enjoy the action and download the recipes later. “This Creole recipe is just fantastic. The fried tomatoes provide the ‘hot’ in the recipe, and the shrimp and remoulade sauce bring the ‘cold.’ Then there are about 10 different tastes in the dish. It’s great!” he smiles. Scears and Daly have worked out a cooking system for entertaining that has served them beautifully for their entire married life. He cooks the main course, and she does the sides and dessert. Their friends and family are the beneficiaries of their creative bills of fare, and invitations are eagerly accepted to the Lee parties. “Can you taste the basil in the sauce? Isn’t it great?” Scears intones appreciatively. For him, it’s all about pleasing others with his cooking. No wonder he’s so good in the kitchen – there’s love cooked into every bite.
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Remoulade Sauce: 1 (5.25-ounce) jar Zatarainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creole mustard 1 tablespoon capers 1 bunch green onions, chopped 3/4 cup mayonnaise 2 dashes Tabasco sauce 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce Salt and pepper to taste Combine ingredients in a bowl, refining ingredients to taste. Add shrimp and refrigerate.
Fried Green Tomatoes
CREOLE SHRIMP OVER FRIED GREEN TOMATOES Creole Shrimp 2 pounds medium shrimp Crab boil mix Boil shrimp in crab boil according to package directions.
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2-3 green tomatoes 1 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup bread crumbs Salt and pepper Cooking oil Slice tomatoes 1/2-inch thick and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Combine cornmeal, flour and breadcrumbs in a large ziplock bag and shake well to combine. Add tomatoes to the bag and
shake well to coat both sides with cornmeal/flour/bread crumb mixture. Pour 1/2 inch of cooking oil into a heavy bottom skillet (preferably seasoned cast iron) and heat to medium high. Fry tomatoes until golden brown and drain on paper towels. Keep warm. To Serve: Place 2 to 3 green tomatoes on a plate and top with shrimp. Makes 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8 servings.
SPICY CATFISH WITH VEGETABLES AND BASIL 3 tablespoons butter, divided 1 (16-ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed 1 medium onion, chopped 1 medium green pepper, chopped 1 medium red pepper, chopped 3/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning 4 (6-8 ounce) catfish fillets 1/3 cup buttermilk 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 cup whipping cream
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2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil Fresh basil sprigs for garnish
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Melt two tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Add corn, onions and pepper. Sauté 6-8 minutes or until tender. Stir in salt and pepper; spoon onto serving dish and keep warm. Combine flour, cornmeal and creole seasoning in shallow dish. Dip fillets in buttermilk and dredge in flour mixture. Melt remaining one tablespoon butter with oil in skillet over medium high heat. Cook fillets, in batches, 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove and arrange over vegetables. Add cream to skillet, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Add chopped basil and cook, stirring often, 1-2 minutes until thickened. Serve sauce with fillets and vegetables. Garnish with basil sprigs. Makes 4-7 servings. NCM
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Allen Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neal selects some fried chicken at Coweta Country Junction in Newnan. Below, one of the fresh Chef Salads in the new upscale food island at RaceTrac on Bullsboro.
A Convenient Revolution By Janet Flanigan, Photos by John Beck
IT SEEMS AMERICA IS EXPERIENCING A REVOLUTION IN FAST FOOD FARE. 84
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Remember when convenience store food was more “spectator sport” than true culinary adventure? As kids, we’d actually become mesmerized watching blistered hot dogs turn on their skewered mini-Ferris wheels, cooking under white-hot heat lamps. Slowly, things started changing and offerings at the gas stations got more varied. Eventually, breakfast biscuits, sandwiches and boiled peanuts made their way to the counters, all vying for the consumer’s brief time spent inside the store. One Iowa State University study found consumers make their purchasing decisions within three to four minutes of entering the store. Many owners and managers say the decision-making time is much less, because customers know what they want before they enter. How can stores get customers to spend more time inside? For many operators, the answer is as simple as a line from the famous Broadway musical Oliver: “Food, glorious food!” It seems America is experiencing a revolution in fast food fare. Visit any number of convenience stores around Coweta County and you will notice a radical departure from the dilapidatedburrito-in-the-microwave syndrome. Some larger convenience stores, usually corporate or franchised units, will combine a renovated interior with fancier or healthier food to create an enhanced shopping experience for customers and, for the owners, higher volume sales. RaceTrac on Bullsboro has taken this route. This high volume, corporate-owned and operated convenience store has combined an exciting interior space with a wide variety of food choices to meet nearly every food whim. A large island is literally brimming with submarine sandwiches, hamburgers, yogurt blends, chef salads, freshly sliced
pineapple and watermelon and whole fruits. RaceTrac’s coffee and cappuccino machines, with their heady aromas, offer Dark Roast, Guatemala Antigua, Light Roast or Plain Cappuccino, or maybe the morning caffeine jolt is preferred via English Breakfast Tea or another choice from the fancy tea station. The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) claims that of all the consumers who purchase coffee, more than half report they most often purchase coffee from a convenience store, so a large bank of coffee and drink machines gets heavy traffic. Eighty percent of all convenience stores offer food that is prepared on location, and one in 10 people purchase food at a convenience store during a twoweek period. Coweta Country Junction more closely follows this homemade approach to food service. Manager Mansoor Wadsariya says their homemade biscuits, Mexican chicken-stuffed jalapeno peppers, taquitos, potato wedges and other hand-prepared items account for at least 25% of their entire deli sales. They also have a full-service deli including barbecue sandwiches and apple turnovers, among other offerings. Wadsariya says the hot wings are probably the biggest seller, and there are customers who come in every day. The menu does not vary much, as customers expect the same thing day in and day out. He does have plans to put a few tables Chicken finger sandwiches, above, are offered at RaceTrac on Bullsboro Drive. At Marathon on the western side of the county, Manager Laroy Lindsey prepares a pizza for a customer. JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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outside so customers may sit and enjoy their food for a few moments rather than eat in their cars. He says many of his customers are in the construction business and may like to take a moment to relax. He may be
Coweta County customers have more options for convenience store dining than ever before. Above left, customers make selections at Marathon. Above right, a line forms at Coweta Country Junction. At far right, Manager Laroy Lindsey serves a customer.
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on top of the next revolution: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Convenience dining al fresco.â&#x20AC;? Who knows? On the western side of the county is a newer convenience store under the brand name of Marathon.
Owned by Mike Bhamani, Marathon has also joined the convenience culinary revolution. The specialty of the house at Marathon is fried chicken wings and a pizza station with pies made
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to order. They also have a minirestaurant with such customer favorites as catfish, fried shrimp baskets, onion rings, fried chicken, egg rolls, corn dogs, jalapeno poppers and more. A full deli and large choice of breakfast biscuits rounds out a menu that has customers coming in every single day, according to the store manager.
Many convenience stores are developing licensing agreements with branded fast food restaurants and then attaching them to one end of a convenience store. According to NACS, the most popular types of food purchased at these stores were sandwiches, pizza, chicken, burgers and Mexican food. Not all convenience stores are choosing to fully upgrade their food
choices, but they may be choosing to offer customers a better grade of coffee and test a few food items such as taquitos, egg rolls and a hot dog station. The wonderful thing about this particular revolution is that the edict “Let them eat cake!” is a positive one and can also lead to, “And let them eat chicken, stuffed jalapenos, homemade biscuits, fruit …” NCM
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DAY TRIP
ust for a moment, pretend your name is Mrs. Edgar Joseph Meyer. You are the former Leila Saks, the 25-year-old daughter of merchant Andrew Saks of New York department store fame. It’s the spring of 1912, and you and your husband are returning from a trip abroad, headed home to New York for your father’s funeral. Suddenly, without warning, your ship is struck by an iceberg, dooming the vessel and most of the passengers aboard. Your husband perishes in the disaster, leaving you to return home alone to your young daughter. And almost 95 years after the disaster, your name appears on a mock “Boarding Pass” given to visitors to an exhibit about your ill-fated ship. “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” opened at the Atlanta Civic Center in November and will be on view through June 3, 2007. More than 300 artifacts recovered from the wreckage are on display, including Titanic’s compass, personal items such as clothing, shoes and jewelry, fixtures from the ship, dining
Artifact exhibit in Atlanta until June By Angela McRae, Photos courtesy of RMS Titanic, Inc. 88
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utensils and china. The history of the “practically unsinkable” Titanic has fascinated many over the years, and that interest hit a fever-pitch in 1997 with the arrival of James Cameron’s Oscar-
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winning movie about the disaster. The Titanic was the largest ship built prior to 1912, nearly four city blocks in length and the width of a four-lane highway. On April 10, 1912, it began its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland. On April 11 it left Queenstown for New York. On April 14, at 11:40 p.m., a crew member first spotted an iceberg, which soon punctured the hull of the ship. Five, possibly six, of the ship’s watertight compartments flooded, and at midnight Captain Edward John Smith gave the evacuation order. Titanic carried about 2,200 passengers (an exact list went down with the ship), and of these only 705 survived. Many of the passengers are legendary, such as “the unsinkable Molly Brown,” Mr. and Mrs. John
Jacob Astor IV, and silent screen star Dorothy Gibson, a passenger who would go on to star in “Saved from the Titanic,” a movie made a month after the ship’s sinking. Her costume was the dress she had been wearing that night. Creatively staged, the exhibit often has the look and feel of a murky sea at nighttime. Creaky sounds and ghostly lighting add to the experience, which has so far been enjoyed by more than 17 million visitors worldwide still enamored with the tale of Titanic. Open seven days a week, the exhibit runs Monday through Thursday 9-7 and Friday through Sunday 9-9. Admission is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors 65+, $16 for children 12 and under, and $10 each for school groups. Adult group rates are also available. For more information, visit www.titanictix.com or call 1-866640-0303.
From top: A bench now on display in the Titanic exhibit is shown as it was found; a piece of the ship is recovered from the wreckage site; and a photo of Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Astor IV, who were among the ship’s wealthy passengers.
Artifacts in the “Titanic” exhibit in Atlanta include, clockwise from left above, a man’s top hat, a woman’s engraved jewelry box, a clarinet, dishes used by third class diners, a calling card and a brown teapot.
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It cost $7.5 million to build Titanic, which carried a $5 million insurance policy. The ship would cost about $400 million today. If the ship’s bow had crashed straight into the iceberg, most of its passengers would have survived. Even if all 20 lifeboats had been filled to capacity, there would have been room for only 1,178 people.
The wreckage of the ship was discovered in September of 1985. The Atlanta-based RMS Titanic, Inc. recovered objects from the site in 1993 and in 1994 legally became “salvor-in-possession,” which means it is the only company permitted by law to recover objects from the wreckage. Here are some facts about Titanic, courtesy of RMS Titanic, Inc.
At first most passengers didn’t believe Titanic was really sinking, so there were only 19 in the first lifeboat although it could carry 65. Titanic was one of the first ships in distress to send out an “SOS” signal. At the time of Titanic’s destruction, the water temperature was only 28°F (-2°C). Most of those in the water in their life jackets would have developed
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hypothermia, while others may have had heart attacks. Tennis player R. Norris Williams and his father, Charles D., felt it was too cold to remain out on deck as the ship went down, so they went into the gym to ride exercise bikes. Initial headlines claimed all passengers survived and the ship was being towed to land.
Visitors to “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit” will see a recreated first class bedroom and below, some of the baking dishes, which were found in neat piles on the ocean floor.
The White Star Line wasn’t blamed for the sinking because the Board of Trade feared that lawsuits would hurt the line’s profits, damage the reputation of British shipping, and cause thousands to switch to German or French liners. No skeletons remain at the wreck site. Any bodies carried to the seabed with the wreck were eaten by fish and crustaceans. NCM
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The Bookshelf Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly Putnam, $21.95 By Robert Dalby Reviewed by Holly Jones Welcome to Piggly Wiggly. Would you prefer a tango, a waltz or a fox-trot? That’s right, in Second Creek, Miss., there’s more than just shopping in the aisles of the local grocery store. There’s also dancing. At least that’s Laurie Lepanto’s plan. When Hale “Mr. Choppy” Dunbar, owner of the Piggly Wiggly, approaches Laurie about closing his store, both of them are devastated. After all, the local market has been in Mr. Choppy’s family for eight decades, and Laurie was almost born in the produce section. But now, their mutual history is being threatened by progress and the “MegaMart” out on the Bypass. And that history is something that Laurie refuses to give up without a fight. So along with her fellow Nitwitts — other widows in the town of Second Creek — and her soon-to-be boyfriend, Powell Hampton, Laurie proposes Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly. This is also the name of Robert Dalby’s charming novel about a small, uniquely southern town that realizes there are some things more important than money. The rules are that dancing will be “Monday through Saturday from noon to two p.m. at the Piggly Wiggly just off The Square right here in Second Creek. Bring in your shopping list — and please print legibly — to the friendly bag boys, and they will fill your order while you dance” with Powell. And Powell, a handsome widower, also happens to be a former professional ballroom dancer and dance teacher. 92
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Whatever the rules, plans or intentions, Laurie and her friends find themselves in a more complicated situation than they had anticipated. The women of Second Creek love dancing with Powell, but they aren’t buying much from the store. Powell doesn’t mind providing the fancy footwork, but the costumes and roleplaying are getting a bit complicated, not to mention exhausting. Laurie’s other Nitwitts can’t agree on where to eat lunch, much less anything more important like saving the store or the integrity of their town. And Laurie personally finds herself falling for Powell. Then there is Mr. Choppy, and the mystery of how he got his nickname and certain secrets of his past he hopes remain secret. Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly is, at its heart, a story about heart: romance, friendship, childhood dreams, community and even heartbreak. But mostly, it gives you a reason to dance. So, waltz anyone?
On Agate Hill Algonquin Books, $24.95 By Lee Smith Reviewed by Holly Jones Tuscany Miller is never going to be an honor graduate at Carolina State University, especially since she “dropped out and all.” And she has decided not to continue her thesis “Beauty Shop Culture in the South: Big Hair and Community,” after all, despite her background in pageants. But Tuscany does want back in the Documentary Studies Program at the Institute for the Study of the South because she has been inspired by a “box of old stuff ” her father found in the old plantation house he and his boyfriend are turning into a “fancy bed and breakfast.” The “old stuff ” includes “letters … poems, songs, and sheet music, a Bible, a catechism … old newspaper accounts, court records involving a possible murder, a hand-tooled leather case with a silver clasp, a little heart-shaped stirrup, marbles, rocks, and dolls, and a large collection of bones, some human and
some not.” But the letters, the poems and even the bones are really pieces of a life long-forgotten by the time Tuscany reads about it, the life of Molly Petree. Molly is the central character in Lee Smith’s novel On Agate Hill. When the book begins in 1872, she is a 13year-old orphan living at her uncle’s plantation, Agate Hill. She doesn’t want to be there. In her diary she writes, “I know I am a spitfire and a burden. I do not care. My family is a dead family, and this is not my home, for I am a refugee girl.” In a way, Molly is the same “refugee girl” most of her life. She does not remain at Agate Hill long. After a few years, a friend of her father sends her to boarding school, where she graduates and teaches until she is run off by the headmistress. She then teaches in a backwoods school before marrying a con artist and moving to the top of a desolate mountain. It is there Molly is accused of murdering her philandering husband. There is not a lot of joy in Molly Petree’s life, yet this does not come through in her story. She truly is a “spitfire,” determined to make the most of wherever life takes her. And life eventually takes her to the one place she can call home. Molly’s story is hard to put down, not only for Tuscany, but for anyone who reads On Agate Hill.
A House in the South By Frances Schultz and Paula S. Wallace Clarkson Potter, $40 Reviewed by Angela McRae In a pleasant departure from the slew of fluffy home style books cur-
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rently on the market, A House in the South is a smartly written book about the many wonderful homes that characterize today’s South. From a contemporary apartment in south Florida to a storybook Victorian in Savannah to a shotgun house in New Orleans, this book shows how southerners excel at gracious living in a variety of styles and places. The book’s authors are Frances Shultz, a native of Tarboro, N.C., and Paula S. Wallace, the president and cofounder of the Savannah College of Art and Design. The authors have assembled the stories of more than 20 southern homes in the book, and the well-written text sings the praises of both traditional and more modern ways of living and decorating. Happily, the very first home in the book is that of famed Atlanta garden designer Ryan Gainey, whose work many locals have seen at the Southeastern Flower Show. A peek inside his Decatur home reveals a study ceiling covered in magnolia leaves from his garden, a kitchen with a vintage design stove, and collections of Native American baskets and turquoise jewelry which pay tribute to a part-Cherokee ancestor. You have to love what Gainey says about Southerners: “We are a great people, and we are different from anybody else in the world. People in Europe love us and it ain’t just the accent. It’s the attitude.” (We are different indeed. Simply witness the names of some of the other homeowners in the book: Muffie, Mary Clara, Posie and Baba, for instance.) The authors have made the homes seem warm and inviting by showing how owners have personalized them through quirky touches, odd collections, the offbeat accent here and there. Wallace’s own condo on Amelia Island is featured, and unique touches there include a flea market table decoupaged with copies of old recipes. She also used children’s life preservers as curtain tiebacks for the beach house. And although the book is about homes, it’s not surprising that southern porches and gardens get prominent supporting roles as well. Those looking for a little design inspiration will find it aplenty in this thoughtful book, but all southerners who read it should feel just a bit more pride in being from the South. NCM
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SNAPSHOTS
out&about BOOMER’S BIRTHDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2006 COWETA COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER
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1. Danny “Boomer” Bishop and Sheriff Mike Yeager 2. Boomer and State Court Solicitor Mike Stokely 3. Boomer and Frank Barron
SETTING UP THE POINSETTIA TREE NOVEMBER 27, 2006 COWETA COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER 4.Rick Tiemersma and Danny Sewell 5. Susan Whatley and Barbara Osborne-Harris
MASTER GARDENER WREATH CRAFTING
4
NOVEMBER 25, 2006 ASA POWELL EXPO CENTER 6. Denise Best, Clark Carpenter and Joe Robinson
SENOIA CHRISTMAS PARADE DEC. 2, 2006 DOWNTOWN SENOIA 7. Line Creek Baptist Church 8. Oak Grove Baptist Church 9. Cub Scout Pack 53 Den 8 10. Santa Claus 11. Riverwood Studios’ float
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- Photos by John Beck, Bob Fraley, Cameron Johnson and Elizabeth Richardson
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January/February Calendar script. An Audition Workshop is set for Friday, Jan. 19 from 5-8 p.m. for ages 8-14. The fee is $45, and you can register at 770-599-0051 or fcftdirector1@aol.com. Performances of Jungle Book are scheduled for March 1, 2, 3 and 4, 2007 at the Fayette Family YMCA Lodge House in Fayetteville. Rehearsals will run Jan. 22 to Feb. 28, 2007. Music rehearsals will be on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-8:30 p.m. with acting rehearsals on Thursday evenings from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Info: 770-5990051
Charles Wadsworth
Feb. 1-17, 2007 Tambourines to Glory — Newnan Theatre Company’s production of Langston Hughes’ “Tambourines to Glory” will be Feb. 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 2007 at the theatre on First Avenue. This Artist Series production is for mature audiences. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and children. Info: 770-683-6282
Feb. 14, 2007 Feast of St. Valentine — A benefit for the Grantville History Project will be held Feb. 14, 2007. Info: www.grantville.net
Jan. 5-7, 2007
Jan. 20, 2007
Barefoot in the Park — The comedy Barefoot in the Park will be presented by the Coweta County School System’s STAR Encore program Jan. 5 and 6, 2007 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 7 at 2:30 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts. Cost is $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors. Info: 770-254-2787
Heritage Film Festival — The Heritage School Film Festival featuring student films will be held Jan. 20, 2007 at 6 p.m. at the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts. Info: 770254-2787
Jan. 13, 2007 MLK Parade — The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade will be Jan.13, 2007 beginning at noon in downtown Newnan. “Eastern Stars Striving for Excellence through Unity and Love” is the theme of this year’s parade. Info: Deloris Smith at 770-253-4278 or 770-253-1607 or Mary Paige at 770306-0312 or 404-483-8671. 96
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Jan. 20, 2007 Jungle Book Auditions — FayetteCoweta Family Theatre will hold auditions for Disney’s The Jungle Book on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007 at the FCFT Warehouse at 177 Fulton Court in Peachtree City. Ages 7, 8 and 9 years will audition at 10:30 a.m.; ages 10, 11 and 12 years at 1:30 p.m.; and ages 13 and 14 years at 3:15 p.m. Callbacks for all roles are at 5 p.m. Auditions will consist of a taught song and dance and cold readings from the
Feb. 22, 2007 Caring Hearts Banquet — The Community Welcome House’s “Caring Hearts Banquet” will be Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds. The event will feature art projects from the local high schools’ “Teen Dating Violence” project. For information call 770-304-0966.
Feb. 24, 2007 Wadsworth and Friends — The annual Wadsworth and Friends Concert is set for Feb. 24, 2007, at Wadsworth Auditorium in downtown Newnan. Soprano Courtenay Budd is among those scheduled to appear with the Newnan native and founder of Charleston’s Spoleto Festival. Also on the program will be cellist Alisa Silverstein. Info: Kristi Vining at 770254-2358
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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!
Advantage Realty of Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 All Stars Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Angie’s Cleaners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Animal Medical Clinic of Newnan . . . . . . . .18 Ansley’s Attic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Applause Salon & Spa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Atlanta Vascular Specialists . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Bank of Coweta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 Bank of Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia, Inc./Palmetto Community . . . .25 BB&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Dr. Jay Berger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Boone Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 The Bridal Center at Red Door Consignment Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Brown’s Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Buffalo Rock/Pepsi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Caldwell Concrete, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 Campanile’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Canongate Golf Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Center for Allergy and Asthma . . . . . . . . . . .17 Chin Chin Chinese Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . .69 The Commonwealth/Susie Walker . . . . . . . .49 Connie’s Antiques and Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 The Cotton Pickin’ Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Coweta Pool & Fireplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Crescent Veterinary Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Fayette Ceramic Tile, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Floorco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Glamour Pooch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Heritage Retirement Homes of Peachtree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 The Heritage School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Hollberg’s Fine Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Home Fixology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 J. Andrews Bridal & Formal . . . . . . . . . . . . .90 KB Kitchen Cabinet Warehouse . . . . . . . . . .83 Kids R Kids, Newnan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Kimbles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Lee-King Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Lil’ Snowdrop Farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Lindsey’s Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Main Street Newnan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Meiller Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 Milli Sanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Moonray Video Productions . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Morgan’s Jewelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Newnan Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Newnan Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Newnan Lakes Chevron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Newnan Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 NG Turf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Panoply Interior Design & Consulting . . . . .77 Parks & Mottola Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Partybles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Patricia Recklett, Veterinarian . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Peachtree Hematology-Oncology Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Plaid Rabbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Radiation Oncology Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Rocky’s Barber Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 R. S. Mann, Jr. Jewelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Scott’s Book Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Sew Exclusive, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Shell Investment Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 The Shops of Beard & Company . . . . . . . . .35 Skinny Jeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Southern Crescent Equine Services . . . . . . . .63 The Southern Federal Credit Union . . . . . . .15 St. George Catholic Preschool . . . . . . . . . . . .19 St. Paul Lutheran School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Synergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 The Times-Herald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 University of West Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Watts Furniture Galleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Wesley Woods of Newnan-Peachtree City . . .39 Woodland Parks at Summerlin/ Keller Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 1-800-Got Junk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
March/April Advertising Deadlines Contract Ads: January 17, 2007, New Ads: January 26, 2007 Call 770.683.6397 for details and advertising information. JANUARY/FEBRUARY
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Curious Connections By Kimberly Edwina Campbell Photo by Bob Fraley
W
hen my husband and I decided it was time to move, I was excited about exploring the Atlanta area. Since my husband’s job was mostly on the road, we didn’t have to worry about moving close to any particular area of town. The metro-area was our oyster, so to speak. One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted a place to raise our daughter. A place where she could ride her bike free from the fear of speeding cars. A place with a yard, and a few old trees in it. I wanted slow. I wanted country. Whether we moved north, south, east, or west, I wanted a place that reminded me of yesteryear. During our search for “home,” I scoured dozens of new home guides and Web sites. After looking in Jackson and Barrow Counties, I began to feel discouraged that the perfect place just didn’t exist (in our price range anyhow). As we continued poking around for leads, we discovered that the south side of the city had lovely homes and larger lots — for the same (or less) money. So I said to my husband, Jim, “Let’s head south and check this place out.” The further south we drove on Interstate 85, the more excited I became. Signs of the hustle and
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bustle began to diminish, as lush farms and horse pastures appeared. We soon found a beautiful neighborhood. As we drove into it, the first thing we noticed was the abundance of trees. We even spotted roaming deer! None of the homes looked cookie-cutter, which was a refreshing change, too. So we inked the deal and signed a contract. We would soon become new residents of Newnan. Later, it occurred to me that I had some curious connections to Coweta County — a place I had never visited (before our home search). First, I am a writer, specializing in children’s fiction, and I had been writing a middle-grade novel, set in the 1970s. It is about a 13-year-old girl who learns to cope with her parents’ divorce when she’s sent to live with her curmudgeonly uncle in rural Coweta, Ga. How odd that I was writing about a fictionalized Coweta, and then ended up living within its borders. Another prior and equally curious connection to Coweta stems from my stepfather’s kinfolk. He was closely related to one of the families written about by Margaret Anne Barnes in her novel Murder in Coweta County. Since I moved here, however, a lady at Scott’s Bookstore
Jim and Kimberly Campbell and their six-year-old daughter, Anna Marie, moved to Newnan in the summer of 2005. They live in Lake Redwine Plantation. Kimberly works part-time at Emory University. She is also a children’s author and a member of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Visit her web site: www.KimberlyCampbell.net. One of her essays appears in the special issue of Writer’s Digest, below, currently on news stands.
politely informed me that, “Everybody who lives here knows, or is related to, someone from that incident.” I’ll take her at her word, and leave it at that. These curious connections make me believe that there was a mysterious hand of fate involved when we chose Coweta as our home. I am happy fate intervened. We have been charmed at every turn. My daughter loves her new school, Northside Elementary. My husband and I are smitten with the downtown square and the gracious people. Most of all, we like the lifestyle here. It’s a perfect blend of old and new. You have it all when there’s a Starbucks Coffee and a Sprayberry’s Barbeque close by. At last, I am reunited with my southern roots. It feels good to be home. NCM
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The Bridal Center at
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Lakeside
Temple Avenue
Court Square Thomas Crossroads
Main Office Senoia
One bank, every financial service. 70 29
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Newnan
Founded in 1972, Bank of Coweta remains determined to offer the finest in financial services. Over the years we have made quality, service, and convenience a tradition. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve grown from one branch on Jefferson Street in Newnan to six branches in the areas of Newnan, Senoia, and Thomas Crossroads. Our affiliation with SynovusÂŽ gives us the flexibility of making local banking decisions while providing stronger financial services.
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(1) Main Office, 770-253-1340 (2) Court Square, 770-253-9400 (3) Temple Avenue, 770-253-9600 (4) Lakeside, 770-254-7979 (5) Thomas Crossroads, 770-254-7722 (6) Senoia, 770-599-8400
w w w. b a n k o f c o w e t a . c o m A provider of Synovus Financial Services
EQUAL HOUSING LENDER