WGL November-December 2012 by Times-Georgian

West Georgia

Li V ing November/December 2012

Life . Art . Music . People

Holiday Spirit Shines On Stage page 36

Learn how you can partner with Tannerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new program to Get Healthy page 32

The Tallapoosa Theatre Festival is growing, and getting a new name page 54

Get the inside scoop from a local producer for one of rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest bands page 48

Choose your method, and cook that turkey! page 40

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From the Editor

West Georgia

Li V ing Volume 3 . Issue 1 . Nov./Dec, 2012

www.westgaliving.com Publisher Leonard Woolsey leonard@westgaliving.com

Editor Amy K. Lavender-Buice amy@westgaliving.com

Advertising David Bragg david@times-georgian.com Melissa Wilson melissa@times-georgian.com

Photographer Ricky Stilley ricky@westgaliving.com

Contributors Kitty Barr Kersha Cartwright HIllary Jolly Marilyn Van Pelt Gail Woody

Ken Denney T.L. Gray Tony Montcalm Katie Allen Ross

Dear Readers: Can you believe it’s already fall? Soon to be technically winter. Of course, here in the South, we don’t really have winter in the usual sense of the word. If we manage to get a dusting of snow or even some ice this year, I’ll be impressed. But winter isn’t really about the weather, anyway, is it? Nope, it’s about the holidays. It’s about spending time with friends and family and enjoying our fun and sometimes wacky traditions. Focusing on traditions is what led us to our cover story on holiday performances. I always look forward to a big meal with the family around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I also love all the seasonal shows and, yes, even Christmas music. (Unfortunately for my co-workers, I walk around the office humming Christmas tunes year-round.) So I couldn’t resist featuring a piece about all the exciting entertainment that will be going on in our area as the holidays draw near. Though the story is by no means allinclusive, we tried to share with you a different variety of performances that you can add to your ‘must-see’ list this season – you

know, right along with all those school plays, church cantatas, and recitals that are already on your list. In the midst of all the running around I expect we’ll all be doing in a month, I hope you all have time to check out some of the other great places, business and events we’ve featured in this issue, such as Tanner’s Get Healthy program, Lamon Luther furniture in Douglasville, and Just West Theatre in Tallapoosa. And just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean it’s time to forget about the garden. Our local Master Gardeners have provided us with all we need to know about Knock Out Roses and how to grow – and cook – winter squash. We also have a great feature on hummingbirds for you. A special thanks goes out to Anderson’s Florist, Ole McDermitt’s Farm, St. Margaret’s Episcopal church and Ingles for letting us invade your space to get great photos! Sincerely,

Amy K. Lavender-Buice To advertise in West Georgia Living, call 770-834-6631. Submissions, photography and ideas may be submitted to Amy K. Lavender-Buice c/o The Times-Georgian, 901 Hays Mill Rd., Carrollton, GA 30117.

Leonard Woolsey

Melissa Wilson

Ricky Stilley

David Bragg

West Georgia Living is a publication of the Times-Georgian. West Georgia Living is published bi-monthly. Direct mail subscriptions to West Georgia Living are available for $24 a year. Copyright 2012 by the Times-Georgian

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

Submissions will not be returned unless requested and accompanied with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. West Georgia Living reserves the right to edit any submission.

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About 12 million Americans live with this serious medical condition that puts them at risk for a heart attack, stroke, leg amputation and even death. Early treatment for PAD can help reduce the chances of developing serious health problems in the future.

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Take a step toward better health. If you are at risk, call 770.214.CARE (2273) to answer a few brief health questions and schedule a free screening, if you qualify. Screening is painless, takes only a few minutes and allows a physician to detect if you are at risk. Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 5 to 7 p.m. Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 5 to 7 p.m. Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica

Contents

Features

Photos and Cover Art by Ricky Stilley. On the Cover: MacKenzie Stanford of Carrolton Academy of Dance.

Light up the Stage: This holiday season,

The Music Business: Learn the story behind 10

treat your family to some special memories at the theater close to home.

the music of one of rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest bands from local Stuart Yahm.

A Healthier West Georgia: Join Tanner

Medical Center as they strive to get area residents going with a Get Healthy challenge.

Re-shaping Lives: A local businessman goes

the extra mile to help his fellow man, or rather men, get off the streets and back on their feet.

Departments LIFE

Series: On the Railroad Just West Theater

26 54

GARDEN

Feature Flower: Roses Wonderful Winter Squash Hummingbirds

14 16 18

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

PEOPLE

Take 5: Rosco Sayyar

ART

Review by T.L. Gray Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corner

58 62

FOOD

10 Ways to Cook a Turkey

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gowestgeorgia.com

Pub Notes From Publisher Leonard Woolsey

Pass the Turkey, Please! Turkeys scare me. Let me clarify – live turkeys scare me. A lot. While I’m rather comfortable around the dining room table with a large bird in front of me, there is something rather unsettling about making eye contact with a live turkey. They make strange noises and, I believe, can snarl at you when you are not looking. Throw in the fact they can move quickly and unpredictably, and there is nothing attractive to me about being in an open field, one-on-one, with one of these fierce creatures. So that being said, let’s talk turkey. In this issue of West Georgia Living magazine, we are taking the fight to the turkey as we feature “10 Ways to Cook a Turkey.” To be honest, when we first sat down in our magazine ideas session (as a loose arrangement of a bunch of crazy ideas hitting the table at once while our talented editor, Amy Lavender, tries to sort and separate the good from the silly), I’d honestly never given the subject too much thought. Historically, most of my brainpower, instead, seems to be 8

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

focusing on what sides I can put on my plate to compliment this magnificent bird. To me, I view my holiday plate as a blank canvas and me the artist. A little white meat here, a dash of red cranberry here, a dollop of potatoes there … well, you get the idea. I’m painting my masterpiece, one side at a time. But what about all the amazing effort before the turkey hits the table before me? This is what we will explore with this issue of West Georgia Living. Surprisingly, there are more ways to cook a turkey than there are side dishes available at grandma’s house during Thanksgiving. Norman Rockwell would be impressed. Word of advice: there are some of us who are better equipped than others to be in the kitchen doing battle with the turkey. Whether you deep-fry, roast or grill your bird, there is a certain amount of skill needed to emerge from the encounter successfully. We hope you find this feature entertaining and helpful – maybe enough to tempt you to venture out in a new culinary direction. Me? I’ll be safely positioned in the living room, far away from any danger of coming in any sort of contact with the turkey until we are both safely seated at the table.

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People Story by Ken Denney Photos by Ricky Stilley

Jeffrey Hanson spray paints furniture at the Lamon Luther workshop.

Getting a New Lease on Life A local man creates a new business model, raising the bar for “help thy fellow man”

hen some people look at a 2x4 piece of wood, they see the possibilities of what it can be made into. When some folks look at people, however, they tend to see only the outside – not what that person can be.

Brian Preston sees the potential in both lumber and people, and with his new business, he’s giving those who have ended up on the fringes of society a new lease on life. Earlier this year, Preston founded “Lamon Luther,” a company that produces furniture from recycled material. He says his company is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the craftsman ethic – but it does so by salvaging lives, rescuing dreams and restoring dignity.

A Village in the Woods Back in 2008, before the economy went bad, Preston was a carpenter. Like many others in that trade, the collapse of the real estate market and the decline in building wiped out his business. He and 10

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

his wife would have been lost had it not been for his family’s help. Others were not so lucky. While attending Crossroads Church in Douglasville, Preston discovered the full human impact of the recession. He learned that a group of men, many of them displaced builders, were living in an improvised “village” located in, of all places, a nearby woods. “I always thought of homelessness as urban homelessness - like you see in downtown Atlanta,” he said. Intrigued by the idea of such a “village,” Preston felt compelled to investigate for himself. “It’s very tribal,” he said. “When I first went out there, there was a guy in charge, and he kind of handled all the resources.” Those resources included gifts of food or firewood that Preston and others brought to the men – but providing these supplies seemed only to perpetuate the men’s condition, not move it forward. “It wasn’t long before I became really frustrated … I felt like I was enabling the guys out there,” said Preston. Out of his frustration,

he one day confronted one of the men. “I just asked him – ‘Mitch, what do you really need?’ And he said, ‘Brian, what we really need is a job, or there’s no way we will ever get out of this situation.’ “So my entrepreneurial wheels started turning, and I was like – what would it look like if we were to hire some homeless people?”

The Art of the Craftsman In a society that places value on work and prosperity, it can be easy to see the homeless and down-and-out as takers, not contributors. But a longer view may show that some of these people – builders and craftsmen in particular – are those whose sense of worth is found in their work. If that work is taken away, someone like that might find themselves both without a home and without a sense of purpose. As a young man, Preston learned how soul-fulfilling the art of the craftsman can be. His grandfather and company namesake, Lamon Luther Wilson, was a farmer, mechanic, and carpenter. “If you wanted a barn, he would build a barn; if you wanted a table, he would build a table. He taught me what tools were at a young age, and he taught me how to use them.” “There was a kind of this beauty in the simplicity of what he would build, in shooting from the hip – if you will – of him building something and it ended up turning out to be great.” Working alongside his grandfather, young Preston learned the simple joy of using tools to precisely fashion things from the raw materials at hand. While other kids were playing video games, Preston found himself drawn to both the creative and practical aspects of carpentry. That passion is what drew him to taking carpentry as a profession, and what he missed most when he was put out of work. In the tent village in the woods, Preston found a community that included brother craftsmen. “I believe they were created to build and to craft, and so when they don’t get to do those

things for a period of time, they get depressed; and they, unfortunately, make some bad decisions, and the next thing you know they’re living in the woods.” While working as a carpenter, Preston had made furniture that had been very well received within his circle of friends. The wheels of his entrepreneurial mind began to focus on creating a furnituremaking business – but one staffed by a crew of carpenters and builders who were homeless and needed the opportunity. “And so, in January of this year, I just said ‘I’m going all in,’” He gave his two weeks’ notice at the church, where he was working part-time, and went directly to the tent village, where he picked up one of the friends he had made there, Roger “T.C.” Curtiss. “Somebody actually hired us to do some work in their basement. So we did not make any furniture that first job, [but] we actually made enough money from that job where we could kind of start focusing on furniture. And one month down the road, we were able to hire another guy out of the woods.”

A Legitimate Job Lamon Luther is no charity. It receives no government handouts and is a for-profit enterprise. And it has been successful from the get-go. The company has recently completed a commission from Chik-fil-A for handcrafted wooden crates to be used within Chik-filA’s headquarters. It sells a line of furniture that includes tables and seating through its website, and from a display room at their facility on Rose Avenue in Douglasville. “We just signed a partnership with a compa-

Scotty Miller uses a nail gun to assemble high-quality furniture at Lamon Luther.

ny in Seattle called Pure Home, and they’re carrying our complete line. So we’re really excited about getting our stuff out on the west coast. And then we are working with a few retailers in Atlanta.” At the Rose Avenue facility, the employees use wooden pallets and other material to create their uniquely styled furnishings. Most of the tables and other products have patterns in them, boards set diagonally or chevron style. The material itself is very rough and cheap, but it has been transformed into something totally new by the time the men finish with it. The grains are brought out by rich stains and the furniture has been sanded down to a sleek finish, coated with polyurethane. “Scaling is a big issue for us,” says Preston. With only a few employees they have had to shy away from larger contracts and are focusing on smaller orders. “We can’t keep up with the demand that some of these retailers are wanting, so it’s these boutiques that are carrying our stuff right now.” Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

Deciding to be a for-profit enterprise is part of Preston’s larger mission of helping these craftsmen get back on their feet. “We really wrestled with that at the beginning. I just felt like for us to be a ‘legitimate’ organization for the guys that we really wanted to go for-profit.” The men are paid an hourly wage, which is entirely Brian Preston dependent on their output. In addition, however, they also earn bonuses for completing contracts on time or even ahead of schedule. “It really allows them to buy into what we’re doing here. So, hopefully, this is more than a job.” The fact that such a small business could go so fast in such little time has not gone unnoticed within the business community. And the shop’s unique story – using only labor from the homeless community – has drawn media attention far and wide. Only recently the business was the focus of a report by CNN. Preston has even been invited to speak at an upcoming TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference; an event its creator, the Sapling Foundation, says is designed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.”

He says he had been living in the woods off and on for 15 years. Until, that is, Preston came up to him at the first of the year and asked him: “Do you think anybody out here wants to work?” “I said, ‘Yeah, I know one for sure.’ Since I got my own place a month after I started with Brian, and got into that rooming house, I loved it,” the Florida native said. “Man, I ain’t got to worry about the weather; I got a shower every night; and I’m able to cook when I want to.” Like many other of Preston’s employees, Curtiss has been able to open a checking account for the first time in years. Preston says TC is now saving up money for his son, whom he hasn’t seen in a decade. “I thought we were just gonna put a few guys to work, but we’re putting families back together, we’re seeing families connect with their kids,” Preston says. “These guys work so hard, and they come in excited because they know what it feels like not to work. You give these guys a chance, and look what they can do.” Curtiss and the other men now spend their days taking what people have discarded and creating something new and better from them. It is a metaphor that is very difficult to miss. “I can hold my head high now,” says Curtiss. “I can walk with dignity because I know what I can do.” wgl

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“We hope we can inspire other people to think about how they really can help their communities, even inspire business owners to think about some of the employees that they might think about hiring,” Preston said.

Building more than Furniture Roger Curtiss – he prefers the nickname “TC” – was the first person Preston enlisted for the company. He had been a builder and skilled craftsman, but he fell on hard times long before the 2008 recession. Born in south Miami, Curtiss worked for a couple of different builders in North Georgia on jobs that took him into the west Georgia area. But his last real paying job had been in North Carolina, working in a warehouse for seven days out of every two weeks. When personal problems caused him to leave that job, he headed back to Florida. But there was no work to be had. That is when he came back to Georgia – walking the whole way.

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Knock Out Roses

Garden Story by Marilyn Van Pelt Photos by Ricky Stilley

The Junk-Yard Dogs of the Garden

any years ago, I moved into an old house that had a rose garden in the back corner of the yard. I was very excited waiting for the blooms to appear to see my treasure. It took only a short time for them to perish because I was not aware of the care required for roses in the humid South.

He began by assessing traits that a perfect rose should have. He wanted his rose to be cold hardy, allowing it to grow in a broader range of climates. He wanted disease resistance to reduce the need for pesticides and, above all, he wanted it to be beautiful, blooming consistently and often.

Roses require a great deal of attention. For some people, that is a deal-breaker. Until Knock Out roses appeared on the scene, I didn’t do roses because of mold, fungus, aphids, Japanese beetles, black spot and powdery mildew; but then, voilà, the Knock Out rose won the All-American Rose Award in 2000. In the cultivar’s first year on the market, more than 250,000 were sold. It went on to become the fastest-selling rose in history.

Creating a new rose required a new form of rose hybrid. Roses with some of the traits Radler was looking for were cross-pollinated. The resulting seeds were then planted and grown. Each year, Radler would evaluate these new plants for the multitude of desirable traits he was seeking. The process was then repeated, year after year until, after 15 years of painstaking effort, his selective breeding techniques produced a super hardy rose.

The man who is the father of the Knock Out rose is William Radler.

To start out right, the gardener should be aware of a few basic facts.

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

After Knock Out rose bushes are well established, they are very drought tolerant.

espite their reputation for being resistant to blackspot, it is still a good idea to water the plants from below. It is better to plant Knock Out roses between November and April, during their dormant period in a location where they will get at least four or more hours of sunlight per day. Lack of sun may lead to reduced flowering. They should be planted at least 3 feet apart, to allow for some air circulation between established plants. Adding 2 to 3 inches of mulch around the base of Knock Out roses will help keep soil moist.

eed Knock Out roses once a month during the growing season with a 12-6-6 or 10-20-10 fertilizer for best results. Discontinue fertilizing Knock Out roses in late summer, to allow the plants to go into dormancy. Resume fertilization in the spring. Keep a Knock Out rose tidy by shearing it to one-half to one-third of its height after the last hard frost in the spring. Remove dead wood in late winter or early spring. Rejuvenate your Knock Out rose periodically when it becomes leggy or blooms become thin. Cut the canes back to a foot to 18 inches high in early spring. I have found that Knock Out roses in our area can get very large, so pruning is important. Then again, you could probably do nearly nothing and they would live and bloom anyway.

am aware that critics have called the Knock Outs the “Roses for Dummies” or the “McDonald’s of the rose world.” As a matter of fact, I describe them to my nongardener friends who are looking for low maintenance plants as the junk-yard dog of roses.

The Original Knock Out Rose - It offers stunning flowers in clusters of cherry red single and semi-double blooms. Clusters may include as many as 25 blooms per flowering branch, with bloom cycles of about 5 to 6 weeks. The Double Knock Out Rose - It features clusters of cherry double blooms. The Pink Knock Out Rose - It sports a stable bright bubble gum pink color that is unfazed by the heat. The Pink Double Knock Out Rose - The foliage always looks healthy and turns to lovely burgundy in autumn, with bright orangey red hips.

The Rainbow Knock Out Rose - It grows a bit more compactly than the others. It is very floriferous, producing blooms of everchanging coral, pink, yellow and cream. The Blushing Knock Out Rose - It has light pink blooms that, with age, fade to a delicate subtle pink. The Sunny Knock Out Rose - It is the only fragrant rose of the family. It also grows a bit more upright and dense than the others. The bright yellow blooms quickly fade to cream, holding the yellow longer during cool periods in the season. (Van Pelt is a Carroll County UGA Master Gardener Extension Volunteer.)

Knock Out Roses

Since those of us who would like to have a few roses in “fungus-among-us” Zone 7 are not trying to win any awards, we should ignore the snobs and plant them anyway. The seven we currently have to choose from include:

Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

Garden Story by Kitty Barr Photo by Ricky Stilley

An assortment of winter squash

Squash: Explore Your Options

ow that fall is here, we will begin to see colorful yellow, green and even orange striped squash in the food markets. Many Southerners do not buy many of these since they are not a Southern crop and some are not familiar with how to prepare them. Our mamas didn’t serve them as we were growing up. We are used to the common yellow crook necked squash. About 40 years ago, we were introduced to the zucchini squash, which added variety to our summer diets of green beans, okra, corn, butter beans, field and crowder peas and the much-loved tomato. Winter squashes have been a food for more than 10,000 years. They did not have the thick rich flesh they do now and were grown for their seeds, which were stored and eaten through the cold months. American natives ate squash, corn and beans, known as the three sisters. Beans grew up the corn stalks and corn shaded the squash whose large leaves discouraged weeds. These three vegetables supplied a completely nutritious diet if game was scarce. Europeans carried the squash back across the Atlantic. Many varieties were developed in southern Europe. The cold climates of northern 16

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Nov./Dec. 2012

lands have too short a growing season for winter squash. France and Spain show great enthusiasm for this vegetable, and Australia has wonderful varieties.

he winter squash is a delicious addition to our tables. They have a mild sweet flavor and are “yum-o,” as Rachel Ray says, with butter and even a little nutmeg or cinnamon sprinkled on top. Although they are called winter squash, they grow in summer just like pumpkins, which are members of the same squash family. They can be stored in a cool, dry, dark place for four to five months in the winter. They are characterized by their thick, tough shell. In the store, pick one by how much it weighs compared to others of comparable size – heavier ones are more moist inside. Look for ones with absolutely no skin damage as they will store a longer time. The seeds have to be removed before cooking, so save and dry some and try planting this delicious vegetable next spring. There are about 15 varieties of winter squash. Acorn, Butternut, Delicata, Spaghetti, and Sugar Pie are just a few of their tantalizing names. They are chock full of nutrients and can taste great with only a bit of salt and pepper. They have an important heart-health impact

also. They help reduce inflammation in the cardiovascular system. In addition, they can help fight cancer because of their antioxidant properties. They are loaded with Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Being very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium they are also a good source of Vitamin E, Thiamin, Niacin, and dietary fiber. One cup of cooked squash, without butter, is only 76 calories.

o plant winter squash, allow for three full months of frost-free weather. All squash is very sensitive to frost. Grow it as you would any vegetable that has vines. Plants should be two feet apart planted in hills and with room for their vines to spread. Winter squash like their feet to be well drained. Water regularly during hot summer months and dust for squash vine borers and squash bugs. Harvest when the stem near the squash begins to wither. Leave about 2 inches of stem on each squash to prevent moisture from escaping. The primary difference between summer and winter squash is hardiness. Otherwise, they are both delicious. Summer squash, commonly our yellow crook necked and the green zucchini, have thin skin and are harvested early when they are young and tender. This vegetable is very perishable and they are eaten soon after picking. The seeds are edible as well as the skin. They can be served raw,

steamed, baked and fried. Zucchini can be made into a lovely sweet bread.

n contrast, winter squash is one of the last vegetables to leave the garden, staying on the vine 80 to 100 days from flower to harvest. They come in several colors, from green to orange to yellow, and can be striped or yellow on top and green underneath. They have a hard, tough inedible outer shell. The seeds and fibrous material around them in the center, like a pumpkin, must be removed before cooking. Its flesh is very dense and rich and lends itself to baking, boiling, steaming, and roasting. Obviously, they require a longer cooking time than summer squash. Winter squash can be stored and used throughout the winter months. To prepare winter squash for cooking, start with a sharp knife. These are tough customers and require a strong steady hand. Cut it in half, or quarters … if you still have the strength and scrape out the seeds and fibers. Smaller squash are just right for a single serving if cut in halves. Place upside down on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 45 minutes depending on the type of squash. Fork tender is what you’re aiming for. They can also be microwaved. Pierce all over with a sharp fork and use full power for 5 to 10 minutes, continuing at 1 minute intervals until tender. Slice open and remove seeds and adhering fibers. The Butternut is our most popular variety as

it is easy to slice. You can remove the rind with a knife and cut it into bite sized pieces. Add a small amount vegetable oil seasoned with garlic, onions or both. Cook covered with about ½ cup or less of water until tender. Serve with a touch of butter, salt and pepper, a dash of nutmeg or your favorite herb. Other types can be baked in the shell/rind and served just so, topped with a little butter and seasonings. A favorite of many and a delight for children is the spaghetti squash. Its lovely yellow color and large egg shape promises scrumptious dining.

ook as stated above and cut open through the middle as you would a melon. Scrape out the seeds and fibers – carefully because the adjacent fibers are spaghetti noodle-like. Continue scraping out the entire melon and you will have a large quantity of “spaghetti.” No kidding. Its great with your favorite Italian sauce and parmesan cheese on top. Spaghetti squash is also very good just with butter (or garlic butter), salt and pepper. For those watching their diets or watching carbs, this is a good meal, and you will be completely satisfied. On your next visit to your market, look for these lovelies. We use them for table, hearth and doorstep decorations. They are even more appealing on the plate. Who knew? (Kitty Barr is a Carroll County Master Gardener and Extension Volunteer.)

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Garden Story by Gail Woody Photos by Ricky Stilley

The best way to attract hummingbirds to your yard is with a variety of ďŹ&#x201A;owers.

RUBY-THROATED BEAUTIES Invite hummingbirds to take a pit stop in your yard during their migration

so as not to run into them. They pass in twos over our chairs and under the table. Why do we have so many hummingbirds in our yard? We have an abundance of native plant life, and Georgia is in the path of the migratory route for the Ruby-throated hummingbird.

Hummingbirds are my honored guests each year, and the banding of these birds is my reward for helping nature by providing a habitat suited for them to thrive and be enjoyed by friends and family, hopefully for many years to come. We make two gallons of food a day for these wonders of nature. Two gallons of food in 14 feeders can feed 760 hummingbirds each day. I do not know how they determined this number, but researchers at Fort Morgan, Ala., have made this summation. Every year, our home is blessed with countless hummingbirds. In fact, there are so many, we rise slowly from the chairs on the patio

It is no secret that the Ruby-throated hummingbirds travel through Carroll County on their way South for the winter. Neighbors think we have a secret formula to attract the hundreds of hummers in our backyard. There is really no secret to having more hummingbirds than you ever dreamed of feeding. A wildlife-friendly lawn with native plants and trees is the key to luring these birds to your yard. Flower beds teaming with blossoms that attract these birds are essential. Sugar water in a feeder is not the key to having hundreds of hummingbirds. Be sure you really want that many hummers to care for each year, however. A wildlife habitat is a commitment to be taken seriously.

n Sept. 11, guests had an opportunity to visit our property and be a part of a hummingbird banding event. This was performed by licensed experts who lured these birds into cages, caught the bird easily by hand and recorded data to be used by researchers for years to come. After the tiny plastic numbered band was placed on the tiniest leg ever seen, the hummer was released.

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is by far the most common species that breeds in the eastern half of North America. Ruby-throats are intensely inquisitive and thus easily attracted to feeders, where males in particular display aggressive territorial behavior toward rival hummers, other birds, even insects such as bees, butterflies, and sphinx moths. They quickly become accustomed to human presence, and will swoop down to investigate red articles of clothing. Feeders hung at windows attract as many visitors as ones farther from structures, and the bird that claims a feeder as its territory may spend much of the day perched nearby, guarding the food source against intruders. Many hummingbird watchers find â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hummer Warsâ&#x20AC;? endlessly entertaining, although the chases are obviously serious business to the hungry birds. For a short period immediately after fledging, a female will tolerate the presence of her own young at the feeder, but they are soon treated the same as other adult birds, who are rivals in pursuit of the food necessary to prepare for the fall migration.

he males arrive first in the spring and follow the development of spring flowers northward, reaching Carroll County around mid to late March. Males migrate earlier than females, with some males heading south as early as July. Early March is a good time to place a feeder outside. The breeding begins as soon as the females arrive shortly behind the males. In the breeding season, the ruby-throated hummingbird is often found between the forest and meadow. This habitat allows the birds to remain close to the trees they nest in, while also having a supply of flowering plants and insects nearby for food. For this reason, early spring yields few birds in our backyards. If the trees preferred by these birds are not available in suburban yards, the likelihood of having more early birds decreases. Hummingbirds nest mainly in beech, maple and sourwood trees. This is not to say for certain that hummers do not nest in any other species, but these are the only trees in which we have observed nests. The Ruby-throated

Julia Elliot, a Licensed Hummingbird Bander, uses a magnifying loupe to look at a ruby-throated hummingbird.

hummingbird is known to return each year to their previous nesting location, which helps increase the numbers year after year in a particular area. Female breeding birds leave by October with the new hatchlings following; the last juveniles depart abruptly at first frost. By mid-November, the fall migration is essentially complete throughout North America. Courtship is brief, and once mated the female

raises the young alone. The walnut-sized nest, built by the female, is constructed on a foundation of bud scales attached to a tree limb with spider silk; lichens camouflage the outside, and the inside is lined with dandelion, cattail, or thistle down. The nest will stretch to contain the growing nestlings, and may sometimes be reused the following year. With this possibility, it is important to leave a vacated hummingbird nest alone. Two white, pea-sized eggs are laid two or three days Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

When questioned as to the reason there are so many hummers in my backyard year after year, I remind people that in addition to hummers returning to their previous nesting site, native plants and flowers are an important source of food for all pollinators. Trellises laden with coral honeysuckle and Jasmine are irresistible to hummers. Cardinal flowers, Passion vines, Poplar tree blossoms, foxgloves, Columbines, Morning Glory and native trumpet vine are favorites of hummers as well. Typically, we see as many hummers feeding on these flowers as there are on the feeders.

Elliot uses a micrometer to measure the length of a hummingbird’s beak.

apart, which the female will incubate for most of the day for approximately two weeks. The average lifespan of a Ruby-throat is around five years. The average length of a ruby-throat is 3.5 inches. Their body temperature ranges from 105 to 108 degrees with a wing beat of 40 to 80 beats per second. Their tiny hearts beat around 250 beats per minute.

espite their small size, hummingbirds are hardy. They can survive sub-freezing temperatures, and even blizzards, by going into “torpor.” This is a sleep-like state that helps them save energy. When not in torpor, hummingbirds use energy quickly. At rest, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird uses three times more energy per unit of weight as a House Sparrow. The adult male Ruby-throated hummer has an emerald green back, iridescent ruby red gorget (throat) that may appear black under some lighting conditions, gray flanks, forked tail with no white. They are often smaller than the female. The adult female has a green back, white breast and throat, rounded tail with white tips and a longer bill. The juveniles of both sexes look like the adult female. Gender identification is simple if the light is right: the brilliant red gorget of the male is unmistakable. More commonly, though, the shape and presence of white on the tail is a more reliable field mark that you have a female.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds do have predators, such as hawks, praying mantis, bullfrogs and even large orb-weaving spiders. Our observation has shown that hummingbirds in our backyard harass songbirds many times their size, but once a large European hornet circles the feeders, the hummers will vanish immediately. Be mindful of pesticides near flowers and plants in your yard as hummers will taste test anything colorful. Hanging feeders too close to structures and near the proximity of cats is also a deadly combination for these birds.

any questions are asked of us every year about the Rubythroated hummingbird after visiting our backyard. One question asked the most often is, “When should I take my hummingbird feeders down?” Never worry that providing sugar water in autumn will cause hummingbirds to linger at their feeders rather than migrate when they should. In fact, hummingbirds have a strong instinct to migrate. Even if your feeders are full, the hummingbirds will leave when it’s time in response to decreasing daylight and other environmental cues.

To make food available for late migrants and vagrants, keep one feeder out with a solution of four parts water and one part sugar for

Bird populations fluctuate naturally with the seasons, and from one year to the next. It may seem that birds just disappear from your property. Each year, the timing varies depending on the weather and the availability of food. Human activities may also influence the number of hummingbirds in your yard and the length of time they hang around. While hummingbirds often drink plant nectar, even sugar-water from feeders, they also eat pollen and tiny insects such as bees, ants, flies and beetles. Some studies have even shown that while the hummingbirds are overwintering in the tropics, they eat more insect matter than plant matter. Before migrating, ruby-throated hummingbirds often double in weight, allowing a typical hummingbird to fly nearly 600 miles without having to stop for food! 20

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

A butterﬂy alights on a zinnia in Woody’s yard.

the entire winter. Should you have a hummingbird at your feeder in December it is probably not a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. When the temperature is below 28 degrees, you should bring the feeder in to prevent the solution from freezing and possibly breaking the feeder.

When “That will never happen to me” happens.

Keep the winter feeder clean and make a fresh mixture of sugar water every week and hang the feeder back up so that your bird can eat artificial nectar that isn’t old and moldy. Even if you do not spot a hummingbird during the winter, keep the feeder clean and fresh just in case you are missing his visit. Hummingbirds regularly visit feeders year-round in many Southern states.

ikewise, if your winter hummingbird made it to Georgia on its own, you should not hold it for the winter in some warm, indoor aviary and then release it the next spring. That could just encourage it to return the following winter and – if wayward migration is genetically determined this might result the offspring making the same trip and tempting you to bring them indoors also. If this happened, in a few generations Georgia could be overrun with Rufous Hummingbirds standing in line for winter housing, and that’s not in anybody’s – or any birds – best interest. (Gail Woody is an ISA Certified Arborist, Master Gardener volunteer, Native Plant Society member, and maintains a Registered National Wildlife Habitat and Monarch Pollinator Property.)

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Eclectic Live! This year, the University of West Georgia College of Arts and Humanities kicked off fall with a brand new event aimed at bringing the college and the community closer together, while raising funds for the arts at the same time. Eclectic Live! showcased the colleges wealth of talent and encouraged donors to support the arts.

Above, the UWG Chamber Choir performs at Eclectic Live! on Sept. 15 at The Amp in downtown Carrollton. During the festive-like activities before the show, Maggie Walsh, at left, gets her face painted by Anna Curtis.

Harrison Steele, right, wearing his No. 1 Wolves jersey, gets a hug from UWG mascot WolďŹ e before the show at Eclectic Live!

Dr. John Bluel, below, conducts the Saxophone Ensemble for the audience gathered to sample the talent of UWG students.

My hero is my father. My parents taught me to treat others the way you want to be treated, to value the importance of education, and to be a responsible citizen of the world. My idea of a great day is a day spent with family and friends. I’m very proud of our son and daughter for their many achievements so early in their lives. I am who I am because of the contributions of many people in my life, especially my parents. My best friend is my wife of 26 years, Teresa. My favorite childhood memory is hiking in the mountains of Kurdistan, my birthplace.

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People probably don’t know that I have a master’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering!

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My favorite quotes are “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” – Gandhi; and “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” – Ben Franklin.

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Roozbeh ‘Rosco’ Sayyar Co-Owner of Sam and Rosco’s Italian Restaurant in Douglasville Photo by Ricky Stilley 24

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

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Life Story by Ken Denney Photos by Ricky Stilley

A train rolls through a busy intersection in downtown Bremen.

The Once and Future Rail Town Bremen was built by rail and hopes to continue its legacy as a transportation hub

dental” city. Atlanta grew and developed because it was the coincidental convergence of first two, then three, then four railroad lines. When Bremen began to develop in the mid 1880s, it was because the town was the accidental meeting point of two railroads, one running east to west; the other north to south.

Like Atlanta, Bremen is a sort of “acci-

Over the past 130 years, the industries built by railroads have moved on and found new ways of distributing their products. But if some people think that railroads are only part of Bremen’s 19th

(Editor’s note: This article continues our history series on the railroad in west Georgia.) ost people think of Bremen as the heart of the textile industry in west Georgia – and that’s correct. But for all its history, Bremen has been more about transportation. The textile mills that made Bremen prosperous would never have flourished without Bremen’s railroads.

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

century history, they may have another thing coming. To some, Bremen is the once and future railroad town.

A Meeting at Wolf Pen Even before the railroads – before, even, Haralson County existed – travelers who went west along the frontier highway called the Middle Alabama Road passed through the village of Tallapoosa. After the forced emigration of the Cherokee by Georgia and Federal authorities, settlers used that road to move into the area in

search of farms and other sources of wealth. When Haralson was carved out of Polk and Carroll counties in 1856, it already had several communities, including one with the colorful name of Wolf Pen, located not far south of the then new county seat of Buchanan. By this time, railroads were already making an impact in Georgia. Both the state and private interests had invested in rail systems to bring produce and goods from the interior of the state to coastal ports, or to link to other railroads and markets across the country. But Haralson was too isolated and had no political or economic voice to influence the choice of rail routes. The closest rail line was the Atlanta & West Point Railroad, which ran up from the south, through Newnan, and on to Atlanta, where it connected to the Western & Atlantic Railroad and thence to Chattanooga. Every village those railroads touched became major towns; all Haralson’s leaders could do was stand on the sidelines. But they had hope. Before the Civil War, there had been talk that Atlanta entrepreneurs wanted to build a railroad due west toward Alabama. The economic hard times which followed the war put an end to such talk; yet the hope survived. It took some 20 years for railroad builders to resume work in the state, but by the 1880s it was clear Haralson was going to benefit greatly. Not only was the original east-west railroad – the Georgia Pacific – completed through Haralson County in 1882, but five years later, the new Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad was built south through Buchanan, and on down to Carrollton. The two railroads intersected south of Buchanan at the previously insignificant village of Wolf Pen.

The Rise and Fall of Railroads In 1882, the Georgia Pacific built a depot near Wolf Pen and named it Kramer, after E.G. Kramer, a farmer and businessman who had a nearby vineyard. At the time, the Carroll County Times noted “there is no one living three miles of the place.” But by October, folks had swarmed into the area and began laying out a grid of commercial and residential lots on either side of the railroad. Mr. Kramer, a native of Germany, asked that instead of being named after him, the new town be named after the German port city of Bremen. That’s the name by which the town was incorporated on Sept. 5, 1883. And it was a very rough town indeed, with only a few businesses – most of which were saloons. That did not sit well with the town’s citizens, who petitioned the town council to stop issuing drinking licenses and who soon elected a government that suppressed rowdyism.

The tracks of the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Railroad intersected the Georgia-Pacific track in Bremen in 1887, and thereafter the town began to boom. The first hotel was begun by a livery stable owner who sold it to businessman J.J. Mangham, who named it after himself. It was located near the depot, as was a second inn, the Bremen Hotel (sometimes called the Boswell), which was on the site of Hubbard’s. Not only travelers stayed at these hotels, but so did salesmen and entrepreneurs. Bremen was eager to leverage the railroads for growth. An ad in a 1915 edition of the Bremen Gateway, told prospects that: “A better resident town than Bremen could not be found, and with its Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

ideal location and excellent railroad facilities, it is destined to become the commercial and industrial center of western Georgia.” Among the town’s many advantages – aside from “no malaria” – the ad reported that Bremen had 16 passenger trains each day, north and south and east to west. In the decades to come, textile mills arrived to spin cotton from surrounding farms into finished cloth to be shipped by rail across the country. Later, clothing mills were established by the Sewell brothers and other members of the family. The town prospered, but along the way new forms of transportation arose, especially a highway system that offered direct routes to far more markets than railroads could reach. Changing economic times affected the railroads in many ways. The Georgia Pacific line was eventually operated by the Southern Railway. The Chattahoochee Rome and Columbus line was taken over by the Central of Georgia. Today, both railroads have been absorbed into the Norfolk Southern system. And the only passenger service is offered by Amtrak, which whizzes through Bremen without stopping.

Whistlestop to the Future Today, business leaders in Bremen and Haralson County are adjusting themselves to these changes. But even though Interstate 20 and the nearby air hub of Atlanta have done much to make the railroad’s presence less vital to the area, railroads have not been 28

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

completely replaced. In fact, they may take on even more importance. Tara Chapman, executive director of the Haralson County Development Authority, says that the railroad still plays a big part in luring new industry to the county. “You are going to see more of a need for rail as the deepening of the Savannah port (project) moves forward,” she said. “All we can do as a community is to make sure that we use that as a selling point.” Chapman said spur lines can be built with the railroad’s assistance to an industrial site so that raw materials or finished goods can be directly accessed from rail lines. “There are still industries out there that are looking for rail,” she says. As for Bremen, the railroads – although sometimes a traffic nuisance – still have their fans. Perry Hicks, city manager for Bremen, says that passing trains attract so many people wanting to photograph them, that the city has made plans to demolish the old police station and create a covered platform from which visitors may do so. Such a project would also have the advantage of creating new green space and parking. But for years, the city has had even greater plans involving the railroad: a commuter rail line. “A commuter rail terminal has long been on the books for Bremen,” said Hicks. “We’re not talking about MARTA; we’re talk-

ing about a true-to-life commuter rail, much like you see in the northeastern cities and up into Chicago.” Hicks said the rail line would serve the “significant number” of commuters that go into Atlanta on a daily basis, without requiring the heavy expense of adding lanes and roadways into the metro area.

embark. If there are no reservations, the train speeds through at normal – but if there are, the train will, of course, stop. Flag stations are very rare on Amtrak lines, but that hasn’t stopped Bremen from hoping.

Plans to acquire property for a prospective terminal died in July with the defeat of the TSPLOST referendum, which would have addressed long-term transportation issues. But Hicks said the city would “by all means” continue to work toward making commuter rail a reality.

“We’ve been giving these things some thought,” said Hicks. “I guess that’s the message.”

But if such dreams may seem remote for now, there has been a plan in the works for some time of making Bremen a “whistlestop” along Amtrak’s Southern Crescent route. Before the era of modern highways, passenger trains were the key mode of travel in this country. As previously noted, Bremen once had 16 passenger trains; one of these was a route to and from Atlanta known as “The Accommodation.” Passengers could flag down the train at various points along the route, and the engineer would “accommodate” them by stopping and letting them aboard. An Amtrak “whistlestop” – or “flag stop station” – would achieve the same purpose. On some of Amtrak’s current lines, passengers can buy a ticket for a particular station and create a reservation to embark or dis-

Life

The Town that Rail Built There would have been no frontier village of Wolf Pen had there been no early 19th century road through Haralson; Wolf Pen would never have transformed into Bremen if there had been no east-west railroad – and Bremen would not have grown as it had were it not for the north-south line that intersected there. The railroads literally built Bremen, and the industries those railroads brought have allowed the city to survive the same economic changes that caused the railroads to decline. But there is something about railroad trains that keep them alive in the public’s imagination. Whatever that “something” is, it causes those visitors to keep coming out to photograph them – whatever it is, it keeps trains alive in the plans for Bremen’s future. Maybe, Bremen really is the once and future railroad town. wgl

Native American Pow Wow

Frank Hall, above, of the Lakota Sioux nation, participates in the grand entrance ceremony of the Native American Pow Wow at McIntosh Park Saturday, Sept. 29.

Ariana Smith of Carrollton, at left, wears a traditional Native American head band. Smith is of mostly Cherokee descent.

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Rob Roye, above, of Senoia, of the Cherokee tribe, participates in a traditional Native American dance during the Native American Pow Wow at McIntosh. Native Americans from the surrounding area, as well as out of state, came to the annual event to celebrate their culture and share it with visitors.

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Life Story by Tony Montcalm Photos Contributed

Leading the way in Carrollton’s Fourth of July People’s Parade was the banner signed by a number of local residents who were among the ﬁrst to join the Get Healthy West Georgia initiative.

A Force for Wellness ................

Tanner challenges area residents to live healthier lives

all and summer are the seasons of festivals. Bowdon celebrates its origins, Villa Rica celebrates its rich history and Carrollton celebrates its unique art and culture, as well as its downtown flare. Festivals often mean fried foods, funnel cakes, red meat and sweets. But lately, in the slight shade of a pop-up tent, a new group has been cautioning to enjoy these treats, but in moderation, and to make the effort to burn those extra calories, too. Since its launch in April, Get Healthy West Georgia has 32

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

been on the festival circuit, the Council on Aging circuit, the church and civic group circuit and every other informal community circuit to reach as many west Georgia residents as possible with its message of better nutrition, more exercise, and healthier lifestyles. So far, the message is meeting a warm reception: more than 1,200 residents have joined during the first six months of the three-year initiative, and hundreds of people are participating in fitness challenges through the initiative’s Web site at www. GetHealthyWestGeorgia.org, logging more than 22,000 miles

of walking or jogging fitness. The program also has participated in more than 50 community events and about 20 speaking programs, reaching more than 7,000 additional residents. “It has been just incredible to watch how people have taken to this program,” said Gina Brandenburg, a certified health education specialist and community outreach coordinator for Tanner Health System and a coordinator for Get Healthy West Georgia. “I think people realize that our region has a definite problem with obesity and poor nutrition. A lot of the people I talk to know someone who has diabetes, heart disease or some other condition that might have been prevented through a healthier lifestyle, and they’re eager to help make our community healthier. It’s inspiring.”

A Big Problem

A report earlier this year from the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute provided statistics on more than 3,000 counties throughout the country. Its findings were not kind to west Georgia. According to the report, 31 percent of adults in Carroll and Haralson counties are obese –higher than the national average of 25 percent and the state average of 28 percent. In Heard County, the obesity rate was 28 percent – still above the national benchmark, even if it’s on target with the state average. In all three counties, the percentages of adults who report getting insufficient leisure physical activity – such as walking, playing sports or other recreation – are also higher than the state and national benchmarks. These statistics translate into real-life problems. Being overweight or obese

Alma Cuellar, 6, of Villa Rica takes a turn with a hula hoop at the Get Healthy West Georgia booth at Carrollton’s Mayfest. Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

increases a person’s risk for a number of health issues, including diabetes (which can lead to blindness, heart attacks, amputations and more), heart disease and even some types of cancer.

Life

And in the three counties served by the Get Healthy West Georgia initiative – Carroll, Haralson and Heard – the rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyles are translating into real-life consequences for residents. “Something needs to be done, as a community, to impact this trend,” Gelon Wasdin, chairman of the board for the Community Foundation of West Georgia, said earlier this year. “With Get Healthy West Georgia, residents have access to the tools, resources and support they need to make healthy choices. We want good health to be something that people will get excited about. This will be available to everyone in Carroll, Haralson and Heard counties at no cost, so everyone will have the opportunity to take steps to improve their health.”

Turning It Around Together

Get Healthy West Georgia isn’t about any one group or agenda. With initial support from the Community Foundation of West Georgia and Tanner Health System, the initiative has gone on to partner with local farmers, restaurant owners, downtown development organizations, community recreation programs, and more. “Serving a community with severe health challenges probably sounds like a good proposition for a healthcare provider,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “But getting people into the hospital or the doctor’s office isn’t our mission; our mission is to improve the health of the communities we serve. That’s why we support this initiative. We want our neighbors to live long, active and healthy lives.” Through Get Healthy West Georgia, residents can sign up for free to access information on nutrition and healthy eating, log meals and exercise online, participate in monthly fitness and nutrition challenges, or even create challenges for friends and family. “Getting people excited about becoming healthy is pretty easy once you’re able to reach them,” said Brandenburg. “The health benefits become so obvious. It’s not just a matter of ‘start running, and eat this, not that’ – it’s a whole lifestyle shift that gets 34

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

people to enjoy physical activity, feeling themselves become able to do more and more. Plus, it’s fun to try healthy new recipes and eat more fruits and vegetables. With Get Healthy West Georgia, we’re showing the way.”

The Portal to Better Health

The easiest, fastest way to become a part of Get Healthy West Georgia is through the initiative’s Web site, www.GetHealthyWestGeorgia.org. Web visitors who make the commitment to “get healthy” and join the initiative can click the “Get Started” link. This link will take them to the Get Healthy West Georgia Wellness Portal, where they can complete a four-minute health assessment, calculate their body mass index and choose to join the current exercise or nutritional challenge. This portal enables Get Healthy West Georgia members to log their exercise, keep a food diary, track their weight loss, participate in challenges, take online nutrition and stress management classes, connect with “buddies,” keep a journal of their “get healthy” journey, share healthy recipes and more – all for free. “Our hope is that people will at least use us as a starting point,” said Brandenburg. “We’re just the beginning. For the health of our region, we’ve got to do something.” wgl

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2093 Highway 29 North Newnan, Georgia 30263 770.253.9898 www.heritagehawks.org

Life Story by Kersha Cartwright Photos by Ricky Stilley

Clara receives the gift of the Nutcracker from Uncle Drosselmeyer. Clara is played by Caroline Newton; Uncle is played by Terri Ducker of the Carrollton Academy of Dance.

Holiday Traditions Light Up the Stage Families have multiple opportunities this season to make memories at local performances

fondly recall a dark green velvet dress with white gloves and black patent Mary Jane shoes purchased at The Lollipop Shop in Cedartown, Ga. My great-grandmother always bought me a new dress to wear to the theatre on our annual trek to see The Nutcracker at the Cedartown Performing Arts Center. The stage sprang to life each year with dancing mice, sugar plum fairies, and dancers in costumes from across the world. My eyes never left the action, no matter how many times I saw it. Those moments with my great-grandmother were priceless, and many here in west Georgia will share a similar memory with their loved ones this holiday season. 36

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Nov./Dec. 2012

The Nutcracker, a Christmas classic based on the story of a child’s toy, an army of mice, and a dream of mystical proportion, continues to fill stages across the world. This year, the show will return to the Cedartown Performing Arts Center on Dec. 8, as the Carrollton Academy of Dance presents the Christmas masterpiece. “We are extremely excited to perform at the theatre in Cedartown this year,” says owner Heather Parker. “One of the directors from the facility that saw our show last year contacted me this summer to see if we would do The Nutcracker as part of their winter line-up.” This is the third year the Carrollton Academy of Dance has present-

ed the show, but the first year in the new location. The group will perform two shows in Cedartown on Dec. 8 and two shows at Carrollton High School on Dec. 15.

uditions were held at the beginning of September for dancers interested in performing in The Nutcracker. Rehearsals are in full swing preparing for the show’s debut in December requiring 10hour days on Saturdays. However, dancers seem to love the hard work required for a successful show. “I am not the best in school, but when I perform on a stage in front of everyone, I feel like a genius,” says Bailee Parker, a 12-year veteran of The Nutcracker and this year’s Arabian Coffee. “It is a feeling of success, and I wish everyone could feel this way.” Thanks to fantastic parent volunteer carpenters, giant props create a bigger-than-life holiday scene on the stage. Bailee’s character will dance atop a 16-foot coffee pot, complete with steam. The 14-foot grandfather clock (that really keeps time) also plays an entrance for the nutcracker and lots of toy soldiers. Carrollton High School Senior and 15year dancer Kelcy Newton will play one of the principal roles in the performance this year: the Sugar Plum Fairy. She credits a production of Peter Pan that she saw at the Fox Theater in Atlanta as her inspiration for mastering dancing on point shoes – a

Lauren Rooks, from left, Katie Phagan, Gabrielle Price, Logan Swann, Montanna Moore, John Phagan, Gwyneth Morris, and Kaitlyn Jones of The Fever.

requirement for a principal role. “I am honored to be selected for this role,” says Newton. “I love that the music for the Sugar Plum Fairy is so recognizable. I am super excited.” Many of the major characters will be at a Meet and Greet for special ticket holders an hour before the performances in Cedartown. “I grew up seeing the Atlanta Ballet perform this production every year,” says Heather Parker. “I told myself, we can do that!”

he Nutcracker is not the only holiday show in town this year for those looking for festive performances. Many of the local dance studios are preparing their own shows.

“We write an original holiday script every year that our production is based on,” says Megan Spivey, owner of the Fever Studio of Performing Arts in Carrollton. “As a Christian-based studio, we have an opportunity to do a show that portrays the true meaning of Christmas, one that teaches morals and values.” This year’s show, entitled Toy School Musical, shows how different toys yearn to fit into certain school cliques. In the course of the production, the characters learn about one’s true purpose in life. The Fever offers additional elements to the typical dance class, further developing a performer’s talents in voice and drama. The

Bria Smith, from left, Alexis Simmons, Brittany Burns, Carrie Burns, Avery Dobbs, Kylie Leopard, Sarah Garner, Bailey Redding, Mackenzie Desprez, and Fair O’Neal of Stacy’s Dance Center practice their kick line.

also take the opportunity to teach them about giving back to the community.” To accomplish this goal, dancers bring an unwrapped toy to the recital that is donated to the local Toys for Tots campaign. Spectators are also encouraged to bring a toy. Proceeds from the recital are also given to local Christmas charities to help with providing Christmas for those in need. “I think it is great that we get to dance at Christmas, but I really love that we collect toys for kids who wouldn’t have them,” says Avery Dobbs, senior company member. “Isn’t that what Christmas is really about?” Elizabeth Morgan of the Carrollton Academy of Dance plays a doll. In this scene from The Nutcracker, she is being ‘removed from the box.’

cast will open and close the show with a vocal number this year. “It has always been our intention, ever since I joined the Fever, to make it a triple-threat studio. We’re not here to win trophies – we’re here to make our kids working professionals. And in order to succeed in today’s performing arts world, you need to be able to do more than one art,” says Erin Poulson, vocal instructor at Fever. “That’s why we make even our recitals into full blown shows, with acting, dancing and – for the first time this year – singing. It’s like a musical, and it gives our kids the opportunity to try something new, and stretch their boundaries.”

This year, Stacy’s Dance Center will present A Christmas Tradition on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. at the UWG Townsend Center. The recital will be filled with Christmas classics performed by 55 of the studio’s company dancers. The performance will culminate in a Rockette-style dance number truly triggering holiday bliss of New York-quality right here in West Georgia.

ichelle’s Academy of Dance (MAD) in Villa Rica has established several annual traditions in their Christmas recital as well. The ever-popular “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” showcases 3- and 4-year-old ballet dancers making it a favorite with spectators. The younger tap classes also annually rock out to “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”

“My passion is acting,” says Fever performer and freshman at Carrollton High School Logan Swann. “I want a performing arts scholarship, and Fever has prepared me so well to pursue this interest.” Fever will present their Christmas production twice at the University of West Georgia’s Townsend Center on Dec. 15 at 3 and 7 p.m.

MAD will present their Christmas recital at the Hamilton-McPherson Building on Dec. 15 at 5 p.m. MAD dancers can also be seen at the Villa Rica Tree Lighting on Dec. 1 at The Mill in downtown Villa Rica. They will perform right before Santa Claus arrives.

“There is something about presenting a show at Christmas,” says Stacy Desprez who started Stacy’s Dance Centre 22 years ago and now operates a studio in Bremen. “The students love the opportunity to perform during such a magical time of year, but we

There is a plethora of quality holiday performances right here in our community this season for us to enjoy. So, this holiday season, polish your shoes, grab your children, and go make some beautiful Christmas memories at a local dance performance. wgl

Christmas Performances

Dec. 1 – Michelle’s Academy of Dance at Villa Rica Tree Lighting (www.facebook.com/madbylindsey) Dec. 8 – Carrollton Academy of Dance at Cedartown Performing Arts Center (www.carrolltonacademyofdance.com) Dec. 9 – Stacy’s Dance Centre at UWG Townsend Center (www.stacysdancecentre.com) Dec. 15 – Fever Performing Arts at UWG Townsend Center (www.feverperformingarts.com) Dec. 15 – Michelle’s Academy of Dance at the Hamilton-McPherson Building in Bremen (www.facebook.com/madbylindsey) Dec. 15 – Carrollton Academy of Dance at Carrollton High School (www.carrolltonacademyofdance.com) 38

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

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10 a

ways to cook

Turkey

very family has their own traditions and standbys when it comes to cooking – especially around the holidays. So when it comes to cooking the turkey, the single center-stage item of the table, there is, understandably, always some debate about the best way to cook it. Most people follow tradition in their family and cook the way their mothers and grandmothers did. However, if you’re looking to start your own tradition, or just looking to shake things up at the family gathering this year, here are 10 ways you can cook your turkey. – Amy K. Lavender-Buice, Editor

1 Brined Turkey W

hile this may seem like a fairly newfangled idea, and you may be reading this with at least one raised eyebrow – please, give this a try. So far, the best turkey I’ve ever tasted has been brined. In fact, any brined meat I’ve ever tasted has been phenomenal! Brining helps meat retain all it’s moisture, and it has great ﬂavor because you can add spices and sugar to your mix. Brining is just what it sounds like: you’re mixing salt and water together and soaking the turkey in it for several hours. Simple. I know, “several hours” doesn’t sound like much fun, but it’s worth the extra effort. Your basic ratio is 1 cup of salt per gallon of water.

Think Ahead: No matter how you’re cooking your turkey, allow your bird to thaw sufficiently before you cook it. Allow for at least 24 hours of thaw time in the refrigerator for every 5 pounds of turkey.

Make sure your turkey is thawed completely and is not a self-basting or Kosher turkey. Using these turkeys will make the finished product way too salty as they already have salt in them. Place the turkey in a large stock pot (big enough to submerse the turkey in liquid) and pour your brine mix over it until he’s covered completely. It helps everything dissolve completely if you heat your brine on the stove then pour it over the turkey. (Place the turkey in first to make sure your pot is not overfilled, otherwise, your liquid may spill over when you put the turkey in.) Let salt completely dissolve before adding other spices. For a sweet brine, add 1/2 cup brown sugar or honey and 1 Tbls. of clove. For a savory brine, reduce your salt to 1/2 cup and add a quart of vegetable stock, 1 Tbls. rosemary, 1 Tbls. sage, 1 Tbls. thyme, and 1/2 tsp. of peppercorns. Soak your turkey for 1 hour per pound or overnight, then bake in the oven according to your usual recipe. I highly recommend this method of cooking a turkey. It will wow the whole family and render gravy unnecessary!

Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

2 3

2 Deep-Fried Turkey D

eep frying turkeys took the nation by storm a few years ago. I remember because, all of a sudden, the men in my family wanted to get in on the cooking during the holidays. Several even went out and bought deep fryers. So, we currently have about three in the family. Only one of which actually gets used, and then most of the time not as a deep fryer but as a way of heating and cooking vast amounts of tomatoes for canning each year. Yep, you guessed it! It’s mine. Of course, I didn’t buy it, my husband did. We hauled that behemoth across the state and have yet to deep fry a turkey in it. But I still get a lot of use out of it. All this being said, and for all the trouble these massive deep-fryers can be, they do cook a juicy turkey. However, a word of caution: unless you have reason to cook large amounts of fried food or soup, stew, chili, etc., don’t bother purchasing one, because once you stick it in your closet it’ll never see the light of day again.

Of course, the biggest word of caution: please, please, please make sure your turkey is completely thawed before you try to deep fry it. It’s not an urban legend: the rapid conversion of ice to steam when it comes in contact with hot grease will cause an explosion! Searing hot grease ﬂying through the air is not a holiday memory anyone wants to have, so please don’t forget to thaw.

Another tip: read the directions on your deep fryer and make sure you are using the appropriate oil and tools. Also, you are cooking with propane, so do so outside ... and have a ﬁre extinguisher ready, just in case.

3 Traditional I

Roast Turkey

f you’re a purist and want to stick to a traditional method, by all means do so. The only downside to roasting in the oven is that the turkey dries out, even if you cook it in one of those turkey bags. So, of course, the solution is basting, basting and more basting. However, you can increase your bird’s moisture from 42

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

Six More Options:

4. Rotisserie – If you have a rotisserie machine big enough for a turkey, why not put it to use?

5. Grilling – If you’re looking for a healthy alternative, this is it. The added bonus: you won’t have to wait for hours for it to cook because you’ll have it in pieces on the grill. 6. Crock-Pot – Set it and done, need I say more? 7. Smoked – If the men in your family

have been looking to get creative with that in-ground smoker they made for barbecue, turn them loose on the turkey! It’s one less thing in the kitchen.

8. Marinated – Just choose your

spices, add some oil, and seal them all around your turkey in a bag. Refrigerate overnight before cooking.

9. Steamed – Just wrap your turkey in

a loose pocket of tin foil, and voilà !

10. Purchased – Of course, buying your turkey already prepared is always an option. It makes clean up a breeze!

the inside out. In addition to basting, stuff the turkey’s cavity with orange halves. This will punch up the flavor and help the bird stay a little more moist. In addition to the orange halves, add an herb bundle with sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage. Soak the sprigs first in water, then tie them together with twine (which has also been soaked), and add them with the orange halves when you are stuffing the cavity.

O  ,  Pumpkin Cake Roll Submitted by Glenda Hicks

Ingredients: 3 eggs 1 cup sugar 2/3 cup pumpkin 3/4 cup flour 1 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ginger 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup finely chopped nuts Ingredients for filling: 1 cup powdered sugar 6 oz. of cream cheese 4 Tbls. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Beat eggs on high speed for 5 minutes while gradually adding sugar. Stir in the pumpkin, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt (omit salt if using self-rising flour). Spread mix on a greased and floured cookie sheet 15X10X1. Top

Pumpkin Cake Roll

with nuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. (Make sure your oven is pre-heated and you cook the cake for the full 15 min., possibly adding another minute to ensure it is done. Otherwise, your cake will not turn out and it will fall apart when you try to roll it.) When done, turn out cake onto a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Gently roll the cake and towel together and allow the roll to cool. Meanwhile, prepare ﬁlling by combining all ingredients and beating until smooth. Double the ﬁlling recipe if you desire to decorate the top Sweet Potato Pie

of the roll. Also, you can use extra nuts for garnishing. Once cooled, unroll the log, spread it with the ﬁlling, then re-roll it and garnish.

Sweet Potato Pie Submitted by Julie Weaver

Ingredients: 2 large sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed 1/4 cup softened butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup evaporated milk Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Grease and flour your pie pan. Place uncooked dough in dish and press it firmly to the sides of the pan. Mix all ingredients and pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in oven at 375 degrees F for 1 hour. Crust should be golden brown. When you remove it from the oven, you will notice the sides of the filling are firm and the middle is slightly “wobbly.” This is normal. Allow the pie to cool for 30 min. before slicing. Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

Pick Your Pumpkin and Carve It!

all is by far my favorite time of year. Anyone who knows me knows I love everything about fall: football, crisp mornings, hot soup on a cold day, burning leaves and, of course, the holiday. But I also really love pumpkins. I mean love. I especially love going to a local farm or church every year with my husband and picking out our “perfect pumpkin.” We at West Georgia Living want you to take part in this fun tradition, but in a safe manner. So here are a few tips for pumpkin selection and carving we hope helps out your family at the pumpkin patch this year.

Selecting your pumpkin: • Make sure your pumpkin is free of bruises, cracks and broken stems. • No matter what size or shape, make sure your pumpkin can sit on a flat surface and won’t roll away. • Get creative: If you’re thinking of carving a witch or goblin face, get a pumpkin with warts or knots!

Carving your pumpkin: • Wait to carve a day or two before Halloween so your pumpkin looks fresh for Trick-or-Treaters. • Draw your design on your pumpkin in water-based ink beforehand so you can erase the marks later with a damp rag. • Serrated metal saws are a safer alternative to knives. If you do use a knife, do not hold or move the knife in a stabbing 44

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

Haley Hawk, 5, of Mt. Zion, picks out a pumpkin at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Carrollton.

motion. • Always carve away from yourself, and leave the heavy-duty stuff to the adults. • Do not use dull blades when trying to carve, it’s actually more dangerous. • Use a box-cutter knife and potato peeler for detailed work.

• If you accidently cut off a piece you didn’t intend to, use a toothpick to reattach it. • Make a chimney hole in the lid of your pumpkin. • Once carved, rub the entire surface of your pumpkin with vegetable oil. It will keep it from drying out. – Amy K. Lavender-Buice, Editor

Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum Photos by Ricky Stilley Above: Tamara Himmelberger, left, and Margo Perkins, both of Carrolton, share a laugh at the grand opening of the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum on Sept. 15.

Margo Perkins, above, Chris Pineau and Kathy Howell look at a quilt by Pineau dedicated to her brother Roman Sage, for whom she was making the quilt when he passed away. At left, Board members with the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Muesum are joined by local dignitaries at the ribbon cutting for the Museum in the old Bradley Street Cotton Warehouse.

A Taste of Villa Rica Photos by Ricky Stilley Toby Richardson of Iron Horse Station, top, takes a rack of ribs off the grill after cooking them to perfection at A Taste of Villa Rica Oct. 6. Mary Monte of La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant of Villa Rica, left, cooks fajitas, quesadillas and chimichangas during the event. Quinn Grzymala, below, 6, gets one of her favorite foods, a cajun eggroll, from Christal Toso, of Gabeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Downtown of Villa Rica.

People Story by Ken Denney Photos by Ricky Stilley

Notes from the Music Business ONCE

UPON A TIME, LONG AGO, IN THE LAND OF POLYESTER AND BELLBOTTOMS, there was a band of four

men who met in a recording studio on Abbey Road in London and produced what no one denies to be one of the greatest albums in the history of Rock. Shortly afterward, that band and that album entered the life of Stuart Yahm, then a promotional whiz-kid for Capitol Records. This is the story of how Yahm took that album recorded by Pink Floyd and helped make it a success – and, in the process, learned a hard lesson about The Music Business.

THE 1970S, CAPITOL RECORDS was a giant in the music industry. Founded by Savannah native Johnny Mercer, it had a stable of artists who were reliable producers of standard hits. But after partnering with British label EMI, Capitol had begun to contend with exotic artists who were revolutionizing Rock n’ Roll. That meant a spectrum of acts ranging from Glam Rock (David Bowie) to Hard Rock (Grand Funk Railroad.) 48

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

Stuart Yahm

Yahm arrived at Capitol after working at Mercury and MGM, where his job had been getting radio stations interested in those labels’ records. This was important back when radio stations made hits by shaping and responding to audience demand. Because he understood the artists behind the records, Capitol assigned Yahm to what was then called the “artists relations department.” Yahm quickly realized Capitol did not understand the groups behind the post-Woodstock musical revolution, and one of those groups was Pink Floyd. “Grand Funk Railroad was the closest they ever came to long hair. They had Nat King Cole and Glen Campbell; they had Peggy Lee; they had Frank Sinatra. And everyone took a back seat to The Beatles.” he said. “They did not know what Pink Floyd was about.” In fact, Pink Floyd had been separated from other Capitol-EMI acts and distributed on a subsidiary label, Harvest Records. “Anything they couldn’t understand, they stuck on Harvest,” Yahm says. “So it

became a label with an image.” In spite of such treatment, the band had gained quite a following at the dawn of the progressive rock era. By 1972, the group – then made up of lyricist/vocalist Roger Waters, guitarist David Gilmour, percussionist Nick Mason, and keyboardist Richard Wright – had produced seven albums. The underground success of those records had earned the group entry into the fabled Abbey Road Studios and access to talented sound engineer Alan Parsons. During the winter of 1973, Parsons took experimental recordings by Rogers and wove them into engineered loops that would become iconic sounds on Pink Floyd’s next project: “Dark Side of the Moon.”

THE MEANTIME, Yahm had been able to make some changes at Capitol. He renamed his department Artist Development and began to focus on nurturing the kind of rising talent then at the periphery of Capitol’s attention.

“I began to talk about supporting deserving artists that were chosen by us, or me … those who legitimately had a future.” Such artists had to not only be proven hit-makers, but also good road performers – bringing in audiences to fill large arenas and creating demand by radio station audiences to drive record sales. With their seven previous albums, Pink Floyd was the very definition of “deserving artists.” “When I came to the label, I knew what Pink Floyd was about. I had heard a lot of their music and really thought it was wonderful.” By March 1973, “Dark Side of the Moon” had been completed and the group was coming to tour in the United States.

Yahm with Pink Floyd. Photo contributed by Yahm

group’s contract with Capitol was coming to an end, and the group had become very upset with the way Capitol was treating them. But Yahm did not know this when he sat down to meet with Steve O’Rourke, their manager. “I told him that I was going to come to the first couple of (tour) dates and see how it goes; get a feel for how you guys (perform.) He said ‘you’re not going to believe it.’” When O’Rourke brought up the issue of being shorted by Capitol, Yahm had a response: “I said, ‘Well, it’s a new day now. I’m a Pink Floyd fan. I want a chance to show you guys what we can do.” They agreed to meet at the end of the tour in New York to evaluate Yahm’s work.

ON MARCH 4, 1973, YAHM

“I decided I would go to Tampa and meet their plane. I met them at the airport. Well, they had had never seen a Capitol person before in their lives. No one had ever met their plane before, and they were just aghast.”

just how revolutionary Pink Floyd and this album were going to be. He was sitting at the soundboard of the Dane County Coliseum in Madison. Pink Floyd had just finished a standard set of their previous songs. The stage lights were up, and some men in raincoats were setting out instruments for the second half of the show.

This was actually a key moment. The

Suddenly, a strange sound began to be heard

LEARNED

in the arena, getting louder and moving from one loudspeaker to the next, circling the audience. “I heard this crazy sound going on,” Yahm said. It was the ticking of clocks, the click of a mechanical cash register, the tearing of paper and human voices all mixed together. “What the heck is that?” he asked himself. Then the lights went down and spotlights hit the stage. The men took off their raincoats, stepped into the light and revealed themselves to be Pink Floyd. “And all of a sudden these gods appear – I mean they were like gods, they were raised up in the lighting … they strode out of some Greek mythology thing. It was amazing. And I was (saying), “Oh my goodness, what am I seeing?” What he was seeing was an act that Pink Floyd had perfected on the road, long before they had entered Abbey Road. What he was hearing was a sound that “felt like it was being fed straight into my ear. There was no distortion … it was bright and beautiful.” Pink Floyd played the entire album that night, and the arena was electric with the audience’s reaction. Yahm sat through it Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

and later saw the same reaction repeated at the group’s next performances in Detroit and St. Louis.

People

YAHM RETURNED TO LOS ANGELES and went straight to Capitol’s art department, where he ordered a brochure to be distributed at all future concerts. The brochure had the name of the venue and date on the cover; had the lyrics of every song from “Dark Side”inside; and photos of all previous Pink Floyd album covers on the back. Yahm expected that everyone who got the brochure would want those albums. And he was right. “The seven (previous) albums went back on the charts in city after city after city as (the group) played through,” Yahm said. “The most important thing was I had placed in the hands of Pink Floyd fans their entire catalog, so in city after city it just exploded. The only question was, “Now what do we do?” Normally, a record label would cater to such a demand by releasing a single – but the band had not recorded one. What’s more, the one song judged to be an instant hit, “Money,” was over six minutes long, far too long for standard radio play. So, behind the backs of Pink Floyd (“they would freak out”) the record company got a sound engineer to create a single version of the song. The single, issued through Harvest, began to climb the charts. Suddenly, Capitol had to shift their attention from Helen Reddy and other popular artists to focus on what was happening at the grassroots with Pink Floyd. “I lit a match under all those people, then (the label) had to get behind it. They had to begin to talk about it; company meetings were held on how are we were going to sell these records … all the branches around the country, the local promotion guys had to get involved now. They had to expect this band coming (to their city) and treat them like gods, and so on. Capitol wasn’t just ‘The Beatles’ anymore.” Yahm had pulled the switch, and soon the label’s collective efforts put the album in 50

West Georgia Living

Nov./Dec. 2012

Yahm shares a hug with Marilyn Monroe. Photo contributed by Yahm.

Billboard’s number one slot for a week. Yahm had done everything he had promised when he had met with manager O’Rourke at the beginning of the tour. Now, it was time to meet with him again in New York. Long before, Yahm had learned the true nature of the music business – and it had nothing to do with artists making art. “Radio stations are not in the music business, they are in the advertising business. If you can help them sell pimple cream, that’s what they are going to go by. Nightclubs are in the liquor business. Arenas are in the asses-in-theseat business. It’s not the ‘music music,’ it’s the ‘music business.’ “So I met with Steve O’Rourke in New York – as promised. And we had a nice conversation, and he thought we did a great job. But (then he said) it doesn’t matter. ‘We’ve

already signed with Columbia.’” Yahm was stunned. While he and the rest of Capitol had been working to get Pink Floyd to re-sign, O’Rourke had been secretly meeting with their rival, Columbia Records. O’Rourke explained to Yahm that the band had never been happy with Capitol, but that the Columbia “suits” had been excited by “Dark Side” and had already given the band a huge advance. In addition to charting for a full week, “Dark Side” would remain on Billboard’s album chart for a record-setting 741 weeks, over 14 years. Yahm and the rest of the label had made Pink Floyd one of the most valuable acts in Rock, but the group’s future – including “Animals” (1977) and “The Wall” (1979) – would be charted by someone else.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY, or even the best part. The drama surround-

ing Pink Floyd was only one episode of a long and eventful career for Yahm; a career spent among many other legends, watching and working from the sidelines.

with whatever came along, Camille had a formal education and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ole Miss.”

“I was, frankly, one of those idiots who was never in it for the money. I could have made money in different ways. But I was always an artistoriented guy. I always wanted the artist to succeed. I wanted to be part of that. I wanted to be standing in the wings when that happened.”

Camille and her first husband had been Methodist missionaries for 10 years on Borneo. She had learned Mandarin in preparation for a move to China, until the couple had to adjust to having a special needs child.

As a young soldier in Korea, Yahm met (and got a hug from) Marilyn Monroe. As the Artists and Repertoire man for Capitol, he set Steve Miller on the path to musical greatness. He met an assortment of the unlikeliest people: Roy Clark, Vincent Price, Dick Clark, and Paul McCartney. He even gave gravel-voiced Lee Marvin a hit single from the soundtrack of “Paint Your Wagon.” And then, he got really lucky – which is how a he came to live in the quiet solitude of Carrollton. In 2005, Yahm began an email correspondence with a woman named Camille Anders, a native of Mississippi who was then living in Carrollton. He was divorced and she was widowed, and Yahm soon recognized she was more than special. “Here was somebody who I thought had as interesting a history as I had. And that was very important to me. She was somebody who could match me, paragraph to paragraph, as far as her life’s adventure. Where I was self taught, and had led my life opportunistically, dealing

People

They divorced, and she later married a judge with whom she lived in Washington, where they were frequent White House guests. They moved to Atlanta, but then her second husband became ill. She got a job in Bowdon, and the couple lived at Cottage Landing in Carrollton until he passed away. Shortly afterward, the email exchange began. In March, 2006, they had their first date at the Atlanta airport during an hour’s layover. Soon, he had visited her in the new home she had bought. When he proposed over the phone, she flew out to California to drive back with him. In April, 2007, they were married. But, of course, that’s the short version of a much more complex story. The couple now spends their time together in their home off Newnan Highway, a place about as far away as possible from Los Angeles and Borneo and all the other places they have lived. Yahm is currently busy writing a book about his musical experiences. “Well, what a life,” he says. “Isn’t it great? And it’s not over yet.”

wgl

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Arts & Events Gallery OpeninGs and exhibits The Carrollton Artist Guild presents Small Packages, Nov. 9-Dec. 14 in the Roush Gallery and in the Galleria. Opening reception Friday, Nov. 9, From 5 to 7 p.m. Barbara Jaenicke presents Watercolors Jan. 11-Feb. 25 in the Roush Gallery. Opening reception Friday, Jan. 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. Susan Gore Gardner presents Music in Pastels, Jan. 11Feb. 8 in the Galleria. Opening reception Friday, Jan. 11, From 5 to 7 p.m. High School Juried Art Show from Feb. 16 to March 1, in the Galleria. Open to the Public. This exhibit opens with the Kiwanis Art and Music Competition on Feb. 16.

VOice cOaches Voice Coaches presents Paid to Talk, Making Money with Your Voice, an Introduction to professional voice acting workshop. Voice Coaches, a New York based production and development company will offer a workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center in The Theatre Rehearsal Room from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for ages 16 to Adult. (A similar class will be offered for just children and young teens soon). The Fee is $15. For more information on Voice Coaches and this workshop go to:http://www.voicecoaches.com/gptt. Contact the Art Center at 770-838-1083 or email plewis@carrollton-ga. gov.

berlin’s White christmas Carroll County Community Theatre presents Irving Berlin’s White Christmas Dec. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10. Based on the beloved, timeless film, this heartwarming musical adaptation features 17 Irving Berlin songs and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil’s former army commander. The dazzling score features well known standards includ52

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Nov./Dec. 2012

ing “Blue Skies,” and the perennial favorite, “White Christmas.”

best Friends FestiVal Oak Grove Montessori School, 180 Oak Grove Rd., Carrollton, will host a Best Friends Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 3. There will be a pet show, barbecue, and a rabies clinic provided by Second Chance The Greater Carrollton Area... Whatever you’re looking for, look here first. Animal Shelter and Rescue. For more inforfrom the Bible. Gregory Peck stars as King Sometimes we forget how many great things there are to see, do and experience in our own hometown. Before you spend your mation, call 770-214-0112 or log on to www. time and money somewhere else, why not look here first? You might be surprisedKing by some of the treasures in yourlife own backyard! David, and the film follows David’s oakgrovemontessori.com. Explore the shops,as restaurants and galleries of Carroll County historic downtown districts. Turn a few pages at Horton’s he adjusts to ruling as a King, and about Books in Carrollton, the oldest bookstore in the state (and the county’s oldest business). Dine at one of our many restaurants, serving up an eclectic mix of mouth-watering cuisines. Attend or host a tournament at our award-winning recreation facilities. See a show or exhibit at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center, Townsend Center or Copeland Hall. Shoot a hole-in-one at your choice of several championship quality golf courses. Swim off the largest sand beach in the GA State Park System at John Tanner State Park. Camp, picnic, hike or explore on horseback at McIntosh Reserve Park. Hold your business meeting, wedding or family reunion here. Cheer our home teams or learn a thing or two at the University of West Georgia or West Georgia Technical College.

his relationship with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba (Susan Hayward). Carrollton Cultural Arts Carroll County Community Chorus presCenter Saturday, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. Tickets are ents a holiday concert series “Christmas in $5 and include bottled water and popcorn. The Carrollton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is your complete local resource for planning and hosting groups and Carroll County.” Charles Allen Conductor. individual visitors in the Greater Carrollton Area. Contact us at 770-214-9746 or visit us online at www.visitcarrollton.com and by the Log Cabin Visitor Center at 102 North Lakeshore Drive in Carrollton. Concerts are Friday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m.on Facebook. and Comek iss me kate Saturday, Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Carroll County Community Theatre presents the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center Theatre. the musical “Kiss Me, Kate,” music and lyrics Tickets are $10. by Cole Porter, book by Bella and Samuel

cOmmunity chOrus

mOsaic WOrkshOp Clay Mosaic three-Day Workshop “From Start To Finish” for ages 12 to adult, with Instructor Helen Helwig at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center in Classroom No. 2. Wednesdays, Jan. 9, 16 and 23 from 6-9 p.m. Students are encouraged to bring an image or design of your own to use for this project. Please contact the instructor if you have questions about what to bring. Fee: $65 plus $30 material fee payable to instructor at class. For more information, contact Helen Helwig at 678-796-9722 or helenhelwig@bellsouth. net Or call the Art Center at 770-838-1083. Register at the art center or online at www. cprcad.org

daVid and bathsheba CPRCAD presents David and Bathsheba starring Susan Hayward and Gregory Peck. David and Bathsheba is a 1951 historical Technicolor epic film about King David made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Henry King, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Philip Dunne. King David was the second king of Israel and this film is based on the second Old Testament book of Samuel

Spewack. Showtimes: March 14-16 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 17, at 2 p.m.; March 2123 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 24, at 2 p.m. TICKETS: $10. About the show: Combine Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” with Porter’s music and lyrics to get “Kiss Me, Kate” an instant success with every cast and audience. “Kiss Me, Kate” is fun, melodious and sophisticated.

cOmmunity chOrus Carroll County Community Chorus Presents “A Musical Tribute to The Greatest Generation.” Rehearsals Begin: Mondays, beginning Jan. 7 from 7-9 p.m. $15 CPRCAD registration fee due at first rehearsal. Concert Series: Friday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 20, at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Orchestral Rehearsal Wednesday, April 17, if needed (6-9 p.m.).

sprinG cOncert Children’s Hour Spring Concert on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 6 p.m. in the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center Theatre. The concert will feature performances by participants in CPRCAD Cultural Arts programs. Free. Call 770-838-1083 for more information.

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Nick Limbaugh, Dylan Pilgrim and Jennifer Williams of the Sparkling Snakeskin Unicorns perform improve during one of the Tallapoosa Theater Festival’s recent shows.

Life Story by Katie Ross Photos by Ricky Stilley

Bringing the Theater Home F

or Michelle Darby, Artistic Director of Just West Theater, roots run deep, and they stretch far – all the way across the United States, to be exact. Darby’s roots, particularly those from her father’s side of the family, can be found right here in Tallapoosa, Ga., but her dreams have carried her to the Pacific Ocean and back again. Darby spent some of her childhood in the Haralson County area, a time that she looks back on fondly. She went to college at Emory University in Atlanta, majoring in 54

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English Literature, as Emory didn’t yet offer as a major in what she truly loved: theatre. While at Emory, she began a life-long love affair with theater, a love affair that led her to San Francisco, where she moved after college to study acting at the American Conservatory Theater. It was in San Francisco that she met her husband, Dan Klein. They met while participating in a play together, Klein as actor and Darby as director. After this initial introduction 15 years ago, Darby jokes that the two “have been trying to direct each other ever

since!” Klein, Education Director of Just West, currently teaches Improvisation at Stanford University in San Francisco. In 2009, he was named Stanford Teacher of the Year by the Student’s Association. Additionally, he has led many performance workshops at Stanford and other locations around the globe. Darby’s own experiences are also valuable and varied; over the years, she has “acted, directed, improvised, sang in various bands (bluegrass, blues, jazz, funk, rock, and Celtic), studied midwifery, done grass-

roots work, and been a mom.” Combined, Darby and Klein have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and a few years ago, the two decided to bring that knowledge and experience to Tallapoosa.

arby had always wanted to start a theater company but couldn’t decide where. Due to the high property costs in San Francisco, she and Klein decided to look elsewhere. Her roots in Haralson County coupled with the fact that her parents had retired in Tallapoosa made the city a logical choice. “The more time we spent in Tallapoosa, the more we realized that this area was particularly ripe for the arts,” Darby said. “Besides this area having such a rich history and such gorgeous homes, downtowns and landscapes, the stages that already exist […] would prove to be the perfect place to begin this project.” The Tallapoosa Theater Festival, newly christened Just West Theater to better reflect the region the theater company serves, was formed in April 2011. With the primary goals of creating great theater and providing exceptional theatrical training in mind, Darby and Klein brought the first performances to stage in August 2011. This exciting first season included an extremely successful performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” part of the New Play Series, featuring a collection of three new plays by Georgia playwrights presented as staged readings and improvisational theater. For “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” professional actors and interns worked alongside local, beginning actors. This particular structure of pairing professionals with students is partially influenced by Darby’s time working with Theater Emory and shines through in many of the other programs of Just West Theater. Education and collaboration are key components of the vision of

Just West. Darby explains, “Due to my positive experience as a student actor working alongside professional actors, our theater is designed to replicate this model. We want young, beginning actors to get a chance to learn, by experience, what working as an actor is like – by working with professionals.”

ust West sets out to offer as many of these opportunities as possible, through camps, workshops, and classes. During the summer, Just West Theater hosts a series of summer camps for kids of all ages, kindergartners through teens. Each camp is designed with a specific age group in mind. The young campers will play improvisational theater games, write and tell stories, and learn about Shakespeare. At the end of the week-long camp session, the campers have the opportunity to perform their own stories, as well as Shakespeare pieces. The teen campers also play improvisational theater games and are given the additional opportunity to work on scripted material, including monologues and scenes, and to explore Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” The last day of the camp sees the teens performing a brief improvisational show, as well as the monologues and scenes they worked on during their week of camp. Standout teens may also participate in Just West’s Apprenticeship Program. Participating teens, who are specially selected for showing potential in camps and classes, are provided additional training in scene study, audition preparation, Shakespearean acting, and improvisation. They also get to work as camp counselors for the summer theater camps. There are no fees required for the Apprentice Training Program.

Here, and above, area residents perform in Shakespearean plays during last year’s Tallapoosa Theater festival. Photos courtesy of Just West Theater.

Just West Theater also makes their way into local schools, offering educational outreach in the form of Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

Logan Brown of The Dominators improv team.

numerous opportunities for individuals wishing to participate in Just West Theater in a more behind-the-scenes way. “We welcome any kind of talent to participate in the theater.” Darby says. “We will need costumers, set builders, painters, people to run lights, and hair and makeup support.” As part of the upcoming season, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” will be performed, utilizing a mix of professional and local actors. Also making its way to the stage will be Amy Cuomo’s “Dora Fuller, Canton Bend.” The play, penned by Cuomo, associate professor at the University of West Georgia, “explores how ideas about family and the past can impact people in the here and now [and…] looks at ways in which our family stories define us.” “Dora Fuller, Canton Bend” was part of Just West’s New Play Series in 2011. The New Play Series consists of three plays selected from submissions by Georgia playwrights to the theater; the selected plays are then presented as staged readings by the company. Darby asserts that “supporting new works is an important aspect of this [theater] festival – who knows where the next Tennessee Williams or William Shakespeare might come from?” A submissions call for the New Play Series will begin in early January of 2013 and will be announced on the Just West website.

workshops on improvisational theater, beginning acting technique, Shakespeare, writing, and devised theater. They have already worked with Haralson County High School and Middle School, as well as East Paulding High School. Darby points out numerous advantages to kids and teens studying and participating in theater: “Students learn to tap into their inquisitiveness, become engaged with and take ownership of the creative act. Besides learning more about theater and stagecraft, improvisational theater teaches resilience and agile thinking, gives creative confidences, novel problem-solving skills, and collaborative teambuilding skills.”

dults can also benefit from the theatrical expertise and education provided by Just West Theater. The next series of adult classes will begin in June of 2013. The class offerings range from improvisation and acting to Shakespeare and are for beginning or intermediate actors. The classes are typically six to eight class sessions long and are either day-long or half-day workshops. At the end of the class sessions, much like in the summer camps, students get a chance to perform for friends and family, giving aspiring actors a chance to get on stage as soon as possible. During December and March, Just West plans to offer free workshops to give locals a “taste” of what Just West is all about. In the past, these workshops have centered on the topics of improvisational theater and acting and are a great way for those interested in theater to dip their toes in and get a feel for things. There are also 56

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Nov./Dec. 2012

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the teens of Haralson County will perform Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” Auditions for “Our Town” will be held on March 23 and 24 in Tallapoosa. After the 2013 Summer Season ends, Just West will be staging its first holiday production with “A Christmas Carol,” slated to begin just after Thanksgiving. In addition to the 2013 production season, Just West will be hosting several events. Events slated to pop up in the next few months and in the New Year consist of a holiday fundraiser called Just West Wreaths, the Just West Talent Show, and Dusk and Dogwoods: A Progressive Dinner to Introduce Just West Theater’s Summer Season.

oving forward, Just West Theater and its founders, Darby and Klein, have even bigger plans. They want to bring revenue and people to Haralson County by way of their theater, “increasing the market for more lodging, eating establishments, and other local businesses.” They envision a multi-stage theater that will

have productions February through December. With excitement bubbling for change and growth, Darby elaborated on her plans for the future.

No doubt, there are exciting things coming to Just West Theater and the city of Tallapoosa. Be sure to join Just West for great performances and exceptional opportunities to learn the craft of acting and the many facets of the world of theater.

“We will perform new plays, old plays, improvisational theater, devised plays. We For more information on the classes, will have a rich and healthy education arm, camps, workshops, and upcoming season where students can learn acting and improof Just West, visit their website at www. visation skills. We will have a New Play JustWestTheater.org or visit them on FaceFestival, where we hold classes by playbook at https://www.facebook.com/tallapoowrights to budding new playwrights. satheater. wgl During that festival, we will see new plays produced in full and by staged readings. We will have an Improvisational Training Festival […]. I would also like to bring in a Storytelling Festival, as well as a Dance Festival. In short, our theater “Helping Families and Friends Honor Their Loved One” will be thriving – from plays perPhone: 770-258-7239 formed, stories told, Fax: (770) 258-7230 rainwaterfuneralhome.com dances danced, and training acquired.”

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Artist’s

Review Book Review by T.L. Gray Novel by R.T. Kaelin

Progeny (The Children of the White Lions, part 1) Book Description: Nikalys and his sister, Kenders, have grown up living a peaceful life in the small village of Yellow Mud. On a blistering hot day, brother and sister head to the lake for a swim. There, they witness a mysterious stranger send forth a massive, living wave that swallows their village. Believing they are the sole survivors, the two strike out on their own, hoping to discover why their home and family have been destroyed. They must make their way through a countryside where magic is outlawed while struggling with the revelation that one of them can “weave the Strands.” Through their travels, these siblings discover that their simple life was an illusion. An epic, divine struggle has been underway for ages, and Nikalys and Kenders are at the center of it. Ancient, powerful forces have sought them since before their birth and hunt them to this day. Some wish to eliminate the threat they pose, while others want to help the pair fulfill a destiny of which they are unaware. Myths and legends come to life, whisking the pair along a grand journey neither could have imagined possible. Review: There are many reasons authors write stories. Sometimes, it’s to share a little bit of magic in a practical world. Sometimes, it’s cathartic, a release of pent up emotions and hurts that others can identify and share. Sometimes, it’s to take a break from the harsh realities and escape in a bit of fantasy. Sometimes, it’s a vehicle used to spread a message, a moral code, a bit of wisdom or advice to pass down to the next generation. There are many reasons. In history, story-telling was very crucial to the development and understanding of humanity’s way of life, passing down traditions, values and knowledge to educate and survive. Today, with the easy access to self-publishing and lowering of standards of excel58

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lence by traditional publishing, bookshelves and eBook readers are being filled most often with sensationalized stories, demoralizing values and re-telling of superficial history. I’m guilty of a bit of this myself. But, it has me wondering what future generations will look like because of this practice. It also caused me to pause and re-evaluate the stories I read. R.T. Kaelin has reminded me in his Children of the White Lions series of what it was that first made me fall in love with reading as a child. It’s not full of sensationalism, pushing the boundaries of the moral code, or even re-writing history to fit modern-day ideals. It’s about coming-of-age magic, destiny and first loves. It’s about discovering who you are, regardless of what you’re told. It’s about facing fears and adversity, but finding the strength to overcome them within yourself – not waiting on a superhero to swoop down out of the sky to rescue you – most often from your own messes. It’s about failing and finding the courage to get back up. All these wonderful elements are brilliantly placed within a beautiful story centered on two brave teenaged boys and their rambunctious sister. Surrounding the central heroes are powerful minor characters, full of flaws, beauty, scars and well-developed personalities, along

I would recommend this book from young adult (10 yrs and up) to adult. It’s a wonderful story of loss, love, and leadership. It’s a great example of reluctant heroes rising to the greatness that’s been thrust upon them. It’s clean, it’s magical and it leaves the reader with hope instead of despair. I can’t wait to read more.

Prophecy (The Children of the White Lions, part 2) Book Description: The God of Chaos is marching. The Borderlands are nearly over-run, shredded by his army. In a dusty village, 94 residents led by two soldiers make a last stand. During the assault, one of the enemies isolates Rhohn Larus, a Dust Man. Yet, rather than kill, the monster gives him a cryptic message and begs he carries it east, claiming it could halt the war. At Storm Island, Nikalys, Kenders and Jak are adjusting to their new lives as leader, mage and soldier. In the nation’s capital, nobles spar, some conspire with the enemy, while others ally together to halt Chaos’ advance. New friends will be made, old rivals rediscovered and secrets revealed. The stage is set. War is here. And the Progeny must rise to stop it. Review: I feel very privileged that I was one of the lucky ones to receive an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of the second book of The Children of the White Lions series, “The Prophecy,” from author R.T. Kaelin. I was so excited that I put aside another project I was reading to dive right in, and I was NOT disappointed. with a refreshing and straight forward magical system, and a battle for dominance from an imperfect and fallible antagonist. This story isn’t just about the battles, the quest, freedom from oppression or victory of the war, but it’s about the lives that are involved. This is a character-driven story, my favorite kind. Kaelin stays true to the youth and inexperience of the main characters, allowing plenty of room for growth and development through the series. I absolutely love them all – including many of the minor characters.

This story picks right up where the first book left off, with our heroes having survived their first huge battle. They suffered loss and experienced a bit of tragedy, but instead of being defeated and depressed, they rose to the challenge and put on a shield of determination. One of the first things I loved about this second installment was the way R.T. Kaelin brought us back to the basics and these powerful, wonderful heroes back to earth by showing their weaknesses

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and frailties. Though they may be the “Progeny,” something prophesied by the great heroes that came before them, and had won their first victory, they were still far from where they needed to be in order to fulfill their destiny. They still had a lot to learn, a lot more to overcome, and they realized they were inept and didn’t know everything. This is called character building, and is true in both life and fiction. THIS is what I love about story-telling – using fiction as a tool for teaching an inspirational message through example; giving readers something to think about and a hope to overcome their own challenges in life. Showing that our titles, inheritance and privilege (or lack thereof) isn’t what makes us who we are – but the choices we make during moments of adversity. Kaelin does an excellent job with not only the progression of our characters’ development of magical skill, talents or latent abilities, but in personality, courage and strength of character. He doesn’t just instantly fill our characters with greatness and then send them off into battle to prove it. Kaelin takes the time to build their true character through bits and pieces of moments that build that greatness within them – and expose their weaknesses. I’m not even sure he knows he’s doing this – but it’s done really well. This section of the story is a little bit more mature than the one before (as it should be), so my recommendation would be for an older audience (but not too much older). It’s still clean, positive and an absolutely beautiful story. There are battles, magic, love and loss, but on a more mature level

– on the same level of our characters. R.T. Kaelin is also hereby inducted into the Evil Author’s Guild, which is a club for authors with a propensity to kill off beloved characters. Be prepared to laugh out loud, but also to shed a few tears.

visit her website at www.tlgray.net for more information. q

Thank goodness R.T. Kaelin is busy writing the third book of this series, because I’m sitting on edge waiting to get my hands on it – and you will, too. About the author: R.T. Kaelin grew up in Cincinnati and now resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his beautiful wife and the two best kids ever. For years, he worked in information technology, but felt there was something more waiting for him. He always had an active imagination, so one day he decided to do something with it. R.T. Kaelin’s son and daughter are too young to grasp it fully, but they are the reason he writes. His favorite place in the world is any barely-occupied, tucked-away corner of Tuscany. Website: http://www.progenythebook.com.

R.T. Kaelin

About the reviewer: T.L. Gray lives in Temple, Ga. She just released her fourth published work in September from Vabella Publishing. Her published titles are “The Blood of Cain,” “The Arcainians,” “Milledgeville Misfit” and “Keezy’s 10 Awesome Rules for Teenaged Dating.” Other than writing novels, Gray also works as an editor, writing tutor, public speaker, website developer, social media specialist, blogger, and contributing writer. She is a Goodreads author, NaNoWriMo Participant and current member of The Carrollton Creative Writer’s Club. You can

T.L. Gray

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Artist’s Corner Interview by Hillary Jolly Photos by Ricky Stilley

Gordon Chandler Metal Sculptor When did you decide that you wanted to sculpt metal? Well, I’ve always been interested in putting things together, ever since I was a child. When I was a sophomore in college, I transferred into the art program and began working with steel and metal welding. I just loved it, kept doing it, and I’m still doing it 40 years later. How long have you lived in Carrollton? I’ve been here since 1975. I came here after I graduated from Syracuse University. I had an acquaintance that I met at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine that lived here, so I came for a visit and I’m still here. I got drawn into the vortex. I just got sucked in. It’s a good place for me to work. I find that it’s easier than working in a city or even in the northeast. Where do you get your inspiration? It’s everywhere. I have a bigger problem of trying to figure out which inspirations to act on. Most of the time, I have many different projects that I’m working on – some stop, some pick up again, some get edited out. I’m constantly trying to figure out what my new projects are and which ones are worth the time, energy, and expense to act on. 62

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Were you ever inspired by other artists? Oh yeah! Maybe the most obvious is Picasso just because he was so prolific and went through so many different periods of creating. There are also some sculptors, like David Smith, who was one of the early abstract sculptors. Anthony Caro is another inspiration to me, and Ai Weiwei is a Chinese sculptor who is very powerful and does some remarkable work. There are also lots of contemporary artists that I look at now. Where do you get your materials for sculpting? A lot of the materials I use are recycled, so they come from all over. I like found materials. I go to scrap yards and people sometimes bring me materials, so it’s readily available. It’s kind of the byproduct of who we are and what we throw away. Most of the time it is steel and sheet metal, but sometimes I use plastic, rubber, and wood. Where do you present your art? I work through numerous galleries. A month or so ago, I shipped a bunch of work to China. I’ve been exhibiting in China, and I just closed a show in Taipei, Taiwan. I also show around the country. I had a show in Santa Monica, Calif., during January and February. It did really well after several years of not having much business with the sluggish economy.

People turn off the purchasing for our work because it’s optional, even though I can’t live without it. This is about the third or fourth economic turndown that I’ve made it through. I always say that my business is the first to go away but it’s also the first to come back. I’m hoping that having work now is an indication of our economy picking back up again. Do you have a work schedule or do you just wait for inspiration to strike? I try to work every day. I can work any time, day and night. Do you have a favorite sculpture? Not really. I try not to make any art work that I don’t love. If I don’t love it, it doesn’t go out, or it gets scrapped or modified. How long does it normally take you to make one sculpture? Sometimes, it can take a few minutes, and sometimes it takes years. There’s no formula for it. Sometimes, it can be just a couple pieces that I put together and sometimes it’s a found piece that I clean up and modify. I always say that I try to make my work look like it’s really easy, but that’s not always the case. Can you give me some examples of some of your functional pieces? For a lot of years, I was doing furniture – chairs, benches, and things like that. I’ve kind of gotten away from that lately and have been doing more sculpture. It’s still “functional,” but it has a visual function – a function of art – rather than terms of literal use. What are some of the challenges you face while sculpting? The three elements that I’m always dealing with are time, energy, and money. Those are the three things that make everything work no matter who you are or what you are doing.

you’re destroying the order to find out more about it and create chaos as it unravels.

I also try to move chaos into order or vice versa. If things are orderly, I tend to move them into chaos. Those are the two natural directions that we all work in. You’ve either got chaos that you are trying to order, or

What do you want your audience to gain from your art? I would like them to experience joy and sometimes humor. Hopefully, it allows people to get into a deeper space about

what their surroundings are, reflecting on the visual language that’s all around us, and understanding how materials and design influence us. So much of it we take for granted. Everything we do, whether it’s the way we dress or what we drive around in, food even – all of those things are part of our cultural design. q Nov./Dec. 2012

West Georgia Living

CARROLLTON ORTHOPAEDIC CLINIC, P.C

GENERAL ORTHOPAEDICS • SPINE SURGERY • MRI • SPORTS MEDICINE • JOINT REPLACEMENT Bremen Orthopaedics

Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic 150 Clinic Ave, Ste 101 Carrollton, GA 30117 770-834-0873

An Affiliate of Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic

204 Allen Memorial Drive, Ste. 102 Bremen, Ga 30110 770-834-0873 Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic Spine & MRI Center

Villa Rica Orthopaedics

An Affiliate with Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic

705 Dallas Highway, Ste. 301 770-834-0873

An Affiliate with Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic

812 South Park St., Ste. 3 Carrollton, Ga 30117 770-834-0873

www.carrolltonortho.com

Ralph E. Fleck M.D. General Orthopaedics

Anthony W. Colpini M.D. General Orthopaedics Arthroscopic Surgery Joint Replacement

Jubal R. Watts M.D. General Orthopaedics

General Orthopaedics Joint Replacement

E. Franklin Pence M.D. Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

DAVID A. SCRUGGS P.A. - C

Charles N. Hubbard M.D.

Kevin M. Charron M.D.

Sports Medicine Shoulder Arthroplasty

Gregory S. Slappey M.D. Sports Medicine Joint Replacement

Jeffry A. Dressander M.D. General Orthopaedics

MICHAEL C. GRAVETT P.A. - C

Brad G. Prybis M.D.

Spine Disk Replacement

Taylor B. Cates M.D.

Sports Medicine General Orthopaedics

ANDREA MAXWELL FNP

Home of DISTINCTION PRESENTING ANOTHER

Come enjoy the Fall color change,

or take a leisurely walk around the lake or the labyrinth.

Join us for the Holidays

and meet the young-at-heart, actively-involved, friendly neighbors at Wesley Woods. (Look who you might run into!)

Call 770-683-6833 to schedule a complimentary lunch and tour!

leaders in senior living >LZSL` >VVKZ ¶ /PNO^H` 5L^UHU .(

www.wesleywoods.org

Wesley Woods of Newnan is owned and operated by Wesley Woods Senior Living, Inc. in Atlanta, GA and is “affiliated with the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church” and Emory Healthcare.

information information leader leader caring for community caring for community

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positive local opinions politically independent watchdog watchdog providing contextcontext providing objective objective useful useful in values rooted rooted in values fair fair involved in carroll involved in carroll countycounty

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Start your subscription today. Call 770.214.2285

74 Kilgore Rd., Carrollton, GA 30116 (Across from Pugmire Ford, behind Waffle House)

40076092

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ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Michael J. Miller

Amy Newton Paralegal

PERSONAL INJURY/WRONGFUL DEATH CAR & TRUCK ACCIDENTS NURSING HOME NEGLECT SLIPS & FALLS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE NEGLIGENT SECURITY WORKER’S COMPENSATION

Dustin W. Hightower

Heidi V. Fields Legal Assistant

Heather R. Smith Office Manager & Client Services Coordinator

REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF WEST GEORGIA FAMILY LAW DIVORCE CUSTODY & VISITATION CHILD SUPPORT ADOPTION SPOUSAL SUPPORT

CRIMINAL DEFENSE DUI VIOLENT CRIMES MISDEMEANORS FELONIES

Douglas County Office: 8424 Adair Street • Douglasville, Ga 30134

Carroll County Office: 301 Bradley Street Ste. B-10 • Carrollton, Ga 30117

770.942.2720

770.836.9966

www.millerhightowerlaw.com

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Ask the Ex ert What every West Georgian should know about...

Selling Gold

Automotive Maintenance

Gold Kings ................................................. 71

Walker Cadillac, Buick, GMC, Inc.............. 76

Investment Management Services Zip Line Canopy Tours Milestone Investment Management ........ 72

Historic Banning Mills................................. 77

Common Legal Terms

Dental Implants

MacMillan Law Firm .................................. 73

Southern Dental ........................................ 78

Air Conditioning Maintenance

Community Bank vs. Large Bank

Addison Smith ........................................... 74

Metro Bank................................................. 79

Peripheral Artery Disease Tanner Vascular Surgery ........................... 75

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What every West Georgian should know about... Selling Gold

How do I know I’m getting top dollar for my gold?

What should I expect when I visit a gold buyer?

Every gold buyer claims to pay more than their competition. That is why it is important to get at least three quotes before you sell to anyone. It may take an extra hour or two to shop around, but it could mean hundreds of extra dollars in your pocket. If you’re really in a hurry, call around and ask for their rates in pennyweight and in grams and make the comparison.

How do I know if my gold or silver is real?

First, make sure it will not stick to a magnet except for the clasp. Second, look for markings. Silver should be marked 925 or sterling. Gold should be marked 10K, 14K, 18K or 22K. It could also carry European markings of 417, 585, 750, or 916. These tests are not definitive, but they will give you a very good idea whether or not your item is real.

If you have 1-2 items it should take 10 minutes or less. Even transactions with large amounts usually take less than 30 minutes to complete. Many gold buyers will offer you free refreshments while you wait. The buyer will test your gold and seperate it by karat. He/she will then weigh each group and calculate your total. You will need to present a copy of your drivers license or photo ID. Once the total is given and the offer is accepted, the gold buyer will pay you for your gold and silver items.

Daniel Sims Gold Kings LLC

Qualifications

After 10 years in web design and internet marketing, Daniel Sims entered the precious metals market out of necessity. Tough economic times had taken their toll on his family so he began to look for side jobs to make ends meet. He was hired as a store manager but was soon promoted to Operation Manager. Over the next 2 years, he assisted in the opening of over 20 gold buying store across the Southeast. Because of his recent financial struggles, he could sympathize with those in his community who were selling their scrap gold as a last resort to make ends meet. With the knowledge he had acquired, Daniel realized that he could make money and at the same time be a help to others in his recent situation. Out of passion for integrity and his desire to pay it forward, Gold Kings LLC was created. There are now eight Gold Kings locations with more opening soon. It’s more than just a catchy slogan. We really are changing how gold is sold!

LEARN MORE goldkingsonline.com • 770-819-KING

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What every West Georgian should know about... Investment Management Services

What is a 401k Rollover?

When someone changes employers or retires, and has been participating in a Qualified Retirement Plan such as a 401k through their former employer, they have an opportunity to gain control of their retirement funds by moving the money into a Self-Directed Individual Retirement Plan.

Michael L. Stone

CEO & Founder Milestone Investment Management

Qualifications

Before founding Milestone Investment Management, LLC, Michael worked in commercial banking in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia for 24 years. He received a Bachelor of Science from LSU and later went on to graduate from LSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Graduate School of Banking. He has his Accredited Asset Management Specialist (AAMS) designation from the College of Financial Planning. He holds Series 7, 63 and 66 Securities registrations with LPL Financial for the following states: AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, IN, LA, NC, TX and VA; additionally he holds Licenses for Life and Health Insurance, and Variable Life and Variable Annuities.

Why should someone do a Rollover?

A Rollover allows an individual to gain control of their retirement funds without incurring penalties or paying taxes. By using a Self-Directed IRA, an individual gets to make investment decisions on how the money is to be invested and how the distributions will be taken for retirement income.

Q A

Why should someone use an Independent Financial Advisor?

With the increasing uncertainty of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial markets, these are the times when individuals most need unbiased advice. Being Independent means we are free to recommend only those financial products and services that address our clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs, whether it be income now or income in the future. Long term financial success may depend on the quality of investment guidance you get today.

LEARN MORE www.milestoneinvestmentsllc.com 770-830-0063

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Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Independent Financial Partners (IFP), a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial.

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Tim MacMillan Attorney MacMillan Law Firm

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Tim MacMillan received his Juris Doctor in 1998. Tim practices in the legal areas of Family Law, Personal Injury, Workerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Compensation, and Wills. He is also a certified mediator. He has been practicing law in Carrollton since July 2001.

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What every West Georgian should know about... Contracting a Lawyer for a Personal Injury Case

improvement and that no additional treatment is necessary. Once you settle your claim or have a jury determine damages you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go back and add additional expenses. Therefore, make sure your medical issues have been resolved before finalizing a settlement.

Is it important to meet the lawyer I will be speaking with about my case?

Absolutely. Clients have to have a level of trust in dealing with their attorneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. I believe that this trust can only be established by having a direct, one on one relationship with the individual you choose to represent you in any legal action. You wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily buy a car without test driving it. For that matter, most people probably wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t by a pair of shoes without first trying them on. You must hold your attorney to that same stadard and the only way you can do so is by meeting with them directly.

How long does a personal injury case usually last?

Every personal injury case is different. There should be no rush to settle a personal injury case or present it to a jury. You need to make sure that all of your injuries are at their maximum medical

Why do I need a lawyer in a Personal Injury Case?

The truth of the matter is you may not. Some individuals are able to work with the at fault parties insurance company to a satisfying result. However, more likely then not, especially if liability has not been established, the insurance company will not cooperate with you. In those cases you will want to ensure that you have an attorney protect your rights and interests and get you the best possible results either through settlement mediation or litigation. LEARN MORE www.milestoneinvestmentsllc.com 770-830-0063

Â&#x2021;Â&#x201D;Â&#x2022;Â&#x2018;Â?Â&#x192;Â&#x17D; Â?Â&#x152;Â&#x2014;Â&#x201D;Â&#x203A; Č&#x2C6; Â&#x192;Â?Â&#x2039;Â&#x17D;Â&#x203A; Â&#x192;Â&#x2122; Â&#x201D;Â&#x2039;Â?Â&#x2039;Â?Â&#x192;Â&#x17D; Â&#x192;Â&#x2122; Č&#x2C6; Â&#x2018;Â&#x201D;Â?Â&#x2021;Â&#x201D;ÇŻÂ&#x2022; Â&#x2018;Â?Â&#x2019;Â&#x2021;Â?Â&#x2022;Â&#x192;Â&#x2013;Â&#x2039;Â&#x2018;Â?

MacMillan L a w

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770-834-0871 418 Bradley St. - Carrollton

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What every West Georgian should know about... Air Conditioning Maintenance

Is it Better to Leave the Thermostat at a Constant Temperature or to Adjust it When Nobody is Home?

Whenever you set the thermostat back, higher in the summer, lower in the winter, reduces the load on your HVAC system so it does not have to work as hard to keep your home comfortable. This saves energy and cuts your utility costs, too. Most studies suggest that you can save as much as 15%. To make this even easier, consider investing in a programmable thermostat.

Danny Underwood Residential Service Manager Addison Smith

Qualifications

Danny Underwood has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He has two Associate Degrees in Air Conditioning Technology (ACT) and Information Systems, a North American Technician Excellence (NATE) certification and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) license.

Q A

What is a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;crackedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; furnace? How serious is this?

your heat exchanger does crack, it can be replaced; however, it is often financially advantageous to install a new higher efficiency furnace.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been told I have an 80% furnace. What does this mean? 80% refers to the efficiency of the unit. 80% of the fuel used actually heats the home and 20% is exhausted out of the home during the heating process. Today, more efficient furnaces are available, some up to 96.7% efficient. Some homes still have furnaces as low as 60% efficient.

The component that transfers heat from the gas flame to the air in the house is called a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;heat exchangerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. If the heat exchanger has a crack or rust hole in it, the fumes (including carbon monoxide), enters the air in your home or office. This is why a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;crackedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; furnace can be so dangerous. If

LEARN MORE addisonsmith.com â&#x20AC;˘ 770.832.9006

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What every West Georgian should know about... Peripheral Artery Disease

What is peripheral artery disease?

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a slow and progressive circulation disorder. Arteries are the muscular blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrient-rich blood from the heart to the tissues. Plaque may slowly build up in the arteries, causing peripheral artery disease. Organs supplied by these vessels, such as the brain, heart and legs, may not receive adequate blood flow for ordinary function; however, the legs and feet are most commonly affected.

Heather Park, MD Vascular Surgeon Tanner Vascular Surgery

Qualifications

Dr. Park earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., and completed her residency in general surgery and her fellowship in vascular surgery at UNC Health Care.

What are the risk factors for PAD?

Risk factors for PAD include factors which can be changed or treated and factors that cannot be changed. Risk factors that cannot be changed include age, family history of diseases and gender. Risk factors that may be changed or treated include coronary artery disease, impaired glucose tolerance, cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise and especially the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Q A

How is PAD diagnosed? PAD is most often diagnosed with an ankle-brachial index (ABI), which is a comparison of the blood pressure in the ankle with the blood pressure in the arm using a regular blood pressure cuff and a Doppler ultrasound device. An ABI takes only minutes and is completely painless. Free PAD screenings will be held on Nov. 1 at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Nov. 8 at Tanner Medical Center/ Villa Rica. If you think you might have PAD, call 770.214.CARE to answer a few brief health questions and schedule a free screening, if you qualify.

LEARN MORE www.TannerVascularSurgery.org • 770.812.5902

Tanner Medical Group welcomes

Heather Park, MD, to Tanner Vascular Surgery. Vascular expertise is coming to more people in west Georgia as Heather Park, MD, a board-certified surgeon, joins the patient care team at Tanner Vascular Surgery and the practice expands to add a second location in Villa Rica. Dr. Park earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., and completed her residency in general surgery and her fellowship in vascular surgery at UNC Health Care. With Tanner, Dr. Park will join Glenn Whitney, MD, to provide convenient and expert vascular care to residents in Carroll, Douglas, Haralson and Paulding counties, with access to state-of-the-art nonsurgical invasive and surgical vascular procedures at one of the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems, as rated by research firm Thomson Reuters for outstanding patient experiences and outcomes. For more information or to make an appointment, call 770.812.5902. 157 Clinic Avenue, Suite 302 Carrollton, GA 30117

690 Dallas Highway, Suite 207-A Villa Rica, GA 30180

Phone: 770.812.5902 www.TannerVascularSurgery.org

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What every West Georgian should know about... Automotive Maintenance

Bobbie Splawn

Walker Cadillac, Buick, GMC Inc.

Qualifications

I have 28 years in customer service with 11 of those at Walker Cadillac, Buick, GMC Inc. beginning in 2001. Over that period of time I have gotten to know and enjoy my relationships with all of our customers. Since I have been certified for Warranty Management, received high marks with the Service Consultant program and recently received Service Managers Certification I have renewed passion for helping others.

When should I get my oil changed?

This depends on several factors. Does your vehicle have an Oil Life Indicator? If not, your oil changes should be every 3,000 miles or 3 months. With an Oil Life Indicator the number of miles may vary depending on how often and the distance you drive. Oil changes should be done when the Oil Life Indicator reaches less than 20% but remember to check fluid levels between oil changes. Our service consultants, Stephen Fordham and John Smith will be glad to have one of our Certified Services Technician check the fluid levels at no charge.

Q A

Why should I take my vehicle back to the dealership? No one knows more about your vehicle than the Certified trained personnel at the dealership.

Can I get my car serviced quicker somewhere else? Dealerships sometimes can take 10 to 20 minutes longer due to the additional safety checks made each time your vehicle is serviced. LEARN MORE www.walkergmauto.comâ&#x20AC;˘ 770.832.9602

www.walkergmauto.com

770-832-9602

Highway 27 N Park St (HWY 27) â&#x20AC;˘ Carrollton

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What every West Georgian should know about... Zip line Canopy tour courses

Q A

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Michael Holder BS Degree in Business at Southwestern University, AZ

Qualifications

Retired LtCol. from the US Army after 23 years of service. Retired pilot from American Airlines. Ranger/Special Ops, Aviator. Qualified with extensive construction/demonstrations/training on Military based ziplines. Owner and construction/Design of the largest most experienced zip line canopy tour in the world at Historic Banning Mills, Whitesburg, Ga. Members of ACCT and PRCA.

With all the recent publicity on ziplines, are ziplines and canopy tour courses really safe? Professionally constructed, run and inspected courses are very safe. Statistics show that the vast majority of serious injuries are caused from home made and back yard zip lines, NOT professional courses in America. That is because the majority of homemade zip lines are not constructed with certified hardware, the lines are not inspected often and very little maintenance is done. Participants on homemade zip lines are not required to familiarize or use safety equipment nor are they required to be briefed or adhere to safety guidelines..

Is there a difference between zipline canopy tour courses and zipline rides?

Yes, A zip line ride is designed like an attraction with very little participant input. A zip line canopy tour course is adventure based. It is imperative that a participant have certain psycho-motor skills and can demonstrate an ability to understand and obey instructions and guidelines. Participants on a zipline canopy tour course are very interactive with their safety facilitators , the tree top eco systems and must be able to take personal responsibility for adhering to the safety standards set by the course they choose to go on. Example: Do you want to drive or do you want to ride is a great correlation between the two.

The Lodges at Historic Banning Mills Retreat and Conservation Center and Screaming Eagle Zip Line Canopy Tours and Adventure Park (Guinness World Record Holder 2011) (the largest zipline canopy tour in the world with over 9 miles of course in the trees and the tallest free standing climbing wall)

205 Horseshoe Dam Rd Whitesburg, GA 30185 770 834 9149 www.historicbanningmills.com info@historicbanningmills.com

What should a person, wanting to participate in a zipline canopy tour, consider before choosing a course?

*Is the facility a member of ACCT/PRCA? These are professional, federally recognized organizations that set rigorous safety, construction and inspection guidelines. *What kind of equipment do they use? Look for equipment from CE rated Petzl, Robinson Mountaineering and Deimos as some examples of worldwide equipment manufactures. *What kind of training does the facility require of their facilitator staff ? Look for CPR and Wilderness First Aid, High Rescue Training, Safety/guideline training and how often it is done. *What kind of training is given to the participants? Does the facility give an instruction time to all participants as well as equipment safety checks for the guests

LEARN MORE www.historicbanningmills.com * 770-834-9149

Ask the Ex ert

Dr. Tammy Armstrong Williams General Dentist, Southern Dental

Qualifications

Dr. Williams is a Carroll County native. She graduated from Emory University with a BS in Biology and Psychology and obtained her dental degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 2000.

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What every West Georgian should know about... Dental Implants

What is a dental implant?

How much will it cost?

A dental implant is a man-made replacement for natural teeth. Dental implants can be used to support a number of dental prostheses including crowns, bridges, and dentures. This service is now the standard of care in replacing missing teeth.

What are the benefits of dental implant treatment?

The fee for tooth replacement with dental implants will depend on several factors, including the number of teeth being replaced and the number of implants required to support your replacement teeth. It is important for you to know that you do not necessarily need an implant for each missing root. To obtain a specific fee estimate, contact our office to schedule a thorough exam and treatment plan.

A big, healthy, happy smile. And you will have plenty to smile about, too. Dental implants will allow you to speak, kiss, eat, sing,- in other words, do everything you want with total confidence.

If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to smile, speak and eat again with comfort and confidence, dental implants may be the solution for you. LEARN MORE southerndental.net * 770-832-2353

Monicha Hamil Drew, D.M.D. R. David Drew, D.M.D. Tammy A. Williams, D.M.D.

705 Rome Street â&#x20AC;˘ Carrollton, Georgia 30117 770.832.2353 â&#x20AC;˘ southerndental.net

What every West Georgian should know about... Community Bank vs. Large Bank

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nomics from the University of West Georgia and earned a diploma from the University of Georgia Banking School. Ken has over 35 years as a banker including 25 years as a bank CEO. Ken chartered MetroBank, a business friendly community bank with officesy in Carroll, Cobb and Douglas Counties , in 2008.

Your search is over.

Why Why should my business businessconsider consideraa community bank for its fi nancial community bank for its financial needs? needs?

Morethan than60% 60%of ofall allsmall smallbusiness business More loans in America are made by loans in America are made by communitybanks. banks.Decisions Decisionsare are community made locally and quickly. At Metro made locally and quickly. At Metro Bank we we focus focus primarily primarilyon onbusiness business Bank entities. More Morethan than98% 98%of ofour ourloans loans entities. have a business purpose. Local have a business purpose. Local ownership of the bank means the ownership of the bank means the board of directors and Management board of directors and management understand the market and the understand the market and the needs of the local businesses. needs of the local businesses. Small banks banks have havefew fewlocations locationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;how how can they provide services that fit my can they provide services that fit my needs?

needs? More and more businesses use

electronic remote capture touse deposit More and more businesses electronic remote capture to their checks. It allows you deposit enjoy their checks. It allows you todeposits enjoy the convenience of making the convenience of makingeffi deposits 24/7, as well as increased ciency 24/7, as well as increased effi ciency by reducing check deposit preparation by reparation andreducing time outcheck of thedeposit office. Also, there and time out of the offi ce. Also, there is no security liability for the business is no security liability for the business with employees traveling to and from with employees traveling to and from the bank. the bank. How do II know that a small bank bank has has the fi nancial strength needed for my the financial strength needed for my business?

business?

Most community communitybanks banksare arewell well capitalized and and have the ability ability to for to make make loans loans large large enough enough for businesses in every industry. businesses in every industry. Loans Loans from $50,000 to $10 million are from $50,000 to $10 million are Learn More common. common. www.metrobankga.com

Douglasville 770-489-4443 Carrollton 770-836-5444

Crunchy Caramel Apples INGREDIENTS:

*1 package (6 Oz.) pecan chips (1-1/3 cups) *2 containers (1.75 Oz. ea.) rainbow sprinkles (2/3 cup) *2 packages (2.25 ounces each) nut topping (1 cup) *Â˝ cup mini chocolate chips *Nonstick cooking spray *2 packages (14 Oz. ea.) square-shaped caramels with sticks included *8 large Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or McIntosh apples, stems removed *Âź cup water

DIRECTIONS:

STEP 1: In large skillet, toast pecans over low heat 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Transfer to pie plate or wide, shallow dish to cool completely. Stir in sprinkles, nut topping and chocolate chips. Freeze 15 minutes. STEP 2: Meanwhile, spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Insert 1 stick halfway into stemend of each apple. Unwrap caramels and place in medium saucepan; add water. Heat over mediumlow heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth. Reduce heat to low. STEP 3: Dip and swirl each apple into melted caramel until evenly coated, using a spoon to pour caramel onto apple near the stick and allowing excess to drip off into saucepan. Dip top and roll sides of apples in nut mixture to evenly coat. With gloved hand, lightly press mixture into caramel. Place apples, stick side up, onto prepared cookie sheet. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. To serve, let apples stand at room temperature 30 to 45 minutes or until caramel softens slightly.

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