Jamestown News - October 4, 2017

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YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1978 w w w. j a m e s t o w n n e w s . c o m

WEEKLY EDITION

OCT 4 - 10, 2017

Vol 39 No 42 | 1 Section | 12 Pages

Students create Kindness Tree to fulfill challenge BY NORMA B. DENNIS FREELANCE WRITER Norma@normabdennis.com

Most people may think that kindness, like money, does not grow on trees. But students at Jamestown Middle School are out to prove them wrong. Several students from Jennifer Creef’s eighth grade art class have been working on a tree mural that will be a permanent display in the media center, on a wall to the left as one enters the room. The tree is the school’s answer to the national and GCS Kindness Challenge for middle schools that began Sept. 13 and runs through Oct. 13. “Students in every AA (homeroom) class have signed a kindness pledge,” Creef explained. “Classes also are

incorporating four kindness lessons into their curriculum.” Each grade level has a different kindness pathway. For sixth graders, it is peer relationships. Seventh graders are focusing on positive mindsets and eighth graders on fostering empathy. Students in each AA class will collaborate to make a leaf that contains a quote or statement about how kindness has impacted them or what they have learned through the lessons. Art students will place the leaves on the tree mural to serve as a “growing” symbol of kindness. “Kindness costs nothing, but makes a big impact,” Creef said. “People remember how someone makes them feel.” Sixth grade social studies teacher Melissa Poston says working the

kindness lessons into the curriculum has been easy. “I do a lot with current events,” she said. “Recently, we talked about taking a stand and taking time to listen to someone else’s views. Since we have started these lessons, I have noticed that students seem more patient with each other and are a little kinder.” Alisha Fuller, eighth grade counselor and kindness co-captain with Creef, has visited several classrooms to observe students’ reactions to the kindness lessons. “They are so engaged with this project,” Fuller said. “They are excited because it is hands-on.” Following the Kindness Challenge, the leaves will be taken off the tree SEE KINDNESS, PAGE 3

Photos by Norma B. Dennis

Eighth grade art students working on the tree mural that will be used as a Kindness Tree for the Kindness Challenge are, left to right, Kendall Jackson, Audrey Blaya, McKenzie Akbari, Anna Rymill, Caroline Mott and Jocelyn Vosler. In the future the tree, which is located in the media center, will be used for other projects.

Photos by Norma B. Dennis

(Left) The double decker carousel in Kannapolis, N.C., is the only one in the state. Stairs allow riders to access the top level. (Below) Wanda Bodenheimer, Kannapolis resident, formerly from High Point, could not help laughing as she rode in a large shell on the carousel. Her grandson Will, who was celebrating his birthday at Village Park, added to the enjoyment of the ride.

Carousel in Kannapolis Town owns only double-decker carousel in NC

BY NORMA B. DENNIS FREELANCE WRITER Norma@normabdennis.com For decades, one ride that has continued to be popular for children and adults of all ages is the carousel, sometime referred to as a merry-go-round. The Bertazzer Carousel at Village Park in Kannapolis is no exception. Since its debut at the beginning of the summer, riders have climbed on board to enjoy horses that bounce or go up and down, sea shells that slide back and forth or swings that gently sway as the carousel takes them on an imaginary adventure around and around again. The carousel at Village Park is unique to the area, however. It features two levels to delight its riders and is the only one of its kind in North Carolina. “It has been well received since it opened,” said Allan Scott, a member of

the park’s staff. “Most want to sit on the top level.” Crafted in Italy in 1989, the two-tiered carousel has 1,800 lights, oak decking and hand-painted Venetian murals. It was originally used in a mall in Illinois. The City of Kannapolis purchased it two years ago and kept it in storage while a building was erected in which the ride could be housed to protect it from the weather. “I loved riding the carousel with my grandson Will,” said Ragsdale graduate Wanda Bodenheimer, who now lives in Kannapolis. “It is beautiful and really adds to the park.” Also new to the park this summer was the addition of a waterfall surrounded by grasses and other natural elements. The waterfall provides a relaxing place to visit and can be seen from the carousel. During the summer, the carousel was in operation seven days a week. Since school began it is only open on Saturdays

and Sundays through Oct. 22. After a brief intermission, it will once again be open during the holidays starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The carousel and the train, called the Winterland Express during the holidays, are part of the park’s Celebration of Light. “The event also includes lighted trees, Santa and singing bears,” Scott explained. “The local model railroad club has a free demonstration in the main Parks and Rec administration building.” The sights and sounds are free. Food vendors are available at which visitors may purchase a meal and the carousel and train will provide rides at a nominal price. The short ride from Jamestown to Kannapolis could certainly be worth enjoying the beauty of Village Park and the fun of riding the unique carousel any time of year, but especially during the holidays. Village Park is located at 700 West C Street.

TOWN RECOGNIZES BY CAROL BROOKS NEWS FREELANCER cab1hp@gmail.com

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. To recognize that, the Jamestown Town Hall staff has prepared several donation opportunities. The staff hope the lobby of Town Hall will soon be covered in pink. For each $1 donated, a pink ribbon will be placed in the lobby in honor or memory of someone with breast cancer. The donor’s name will also be placed in a drawing for a gift card from either The Blue House Bakery, The Soap Lady or French Twist Hair and Skin Beauty Bar. All money raised will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Jamestown Park Golf Course will be festooned in pink for October as well. There will be nine pink flags on the putting green this month as well as on hole No. 8, a par 3. For every hole-in-one on that hole during October, the Town will donate $50 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Planning Board to hear rental complaint BY CAROL BROOKS NEWS FREELANCER cab1hp@gmail.com

The Jamestown Planning Board will meet Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. The only agenda item is a discussion of a short-term rental complaint issue. The public is invited to attend.

Hidden Figures book chronicles blacks at NASA Sometimes circumstances align so perfectly that the impossible happens. That’s what occurred when Margot Lee Shetterly began researching the black female mathematicians who worked at NASA beginning in the 1940s. What she learned might not have

changed the history of blacks, but certainly changed the history of aviation and the space program. Shetterly, the author of the New York Times best seller Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, spoke to a near-capacity gathering of elementary students, college students, teachers, book lovers and

many others at the Koury Auditorium on the GTCC Jamestown campus on Sept. 28. While listening in on a conversation her father was having with her husband in 2010, Shetterly first learned of the black women hired as “computers” at the NASA base at Langley in Hampton, Va., where Shetterly was born. She wondered why she had never heard the story of the

women who were her Girl Scout leaders, fellow church members and people she saw every day growing up. “They were perfectly normal people,” she said of the women who have since become role models to many. “It just happened that they worked at NASA.” Originally math teachers in SEE NASA, PAGE 2

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BY CAROL BROOKS NEWS FREELANCER cab1hp@gmail.com


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