MyConnection FEBRUARY 10, 2016
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Published every Wednesday by The Newnan Times-Herald
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Newnan Endorses High Speed Rail Grant Resolution By W. WINSTON SKINNER winston@newnan.com
Newnan’s city council has endorsed the efforts of the Columbus Consolidated Government to seek a grant that will be a step toward a high speed rail line between Atlanta and Columbus. Columbus Mayor Teresa Pike Tomlinson has been a strong advocate for the rail line for several years. She spoke several months ago at a Newnan Rotary Club luncheon at Newnan Country Club about the project. Tomlinson contacted Newnan Mayor Keith Brady asking him for “a letter or resolution of support” and expressing appreciation for Brady’s “interest and partnership in this exciting endeavor.” The proposal calls for placement of a rail line along existing
The rail line – with trains running up to 220 miles per hour – would make a 15-minute trip to Atlanta possible. interstate right-of-way, running 90 miles from Columbus to Atlanta with a single stop in Newnan. The rail line – with trains running up to 220 miles per hour – would make a 15-minute trip to Atlanta possible. A trip to Columbus would take 41 minutes. Traveling the full route would take about 61 minutes. Columbus is applying for a $6 million Go Transit! Grant from the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority. If approved, the grant would fund an environmental impact assessment
along the proposed route. “This is a very futuristic project that we’ve got going,” Brady remarked at a recent city council meeting. Brady urged council members to approve the resolution because of the deadline for Columbus to file the grant application. “Is it imperative that we pass this today?” Councilman George Alexander asked. Both Alexander and Dustin Koritko said they would like additional time to read the material on the project which accompanied Tomlinson’s request.
Brady stressed that Newnan was not being asked for any money but only “to support their grant application.” The vote was unanimous to support the resolution. A commission named by Tomlinson has been meeting since January 2012 to study passenger rail options. Tomlinson has cited a study that shows revenues of $28.5 million would exceed annual maintenance/ operations costs of $23.5 million the first year. Total cost of the project is estimated at $3.9 billion. The project is estimated to create 42,900-109,200 jobs. The Columbus City Council reviewed the results of a feasibility study in March of last year. In 2014, Tomlinson traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials about the proposal.
STILL IN THE GAME M
urray State head football coach, Mitch Stewart, has got his hands full this time of year. The 2015 college football season over, he and his staff have their minds on a second Racer recruiting class. Not content to solely recruit basketball-mad Kentucky, the Racer roster has got players from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and even a player from Los Angeles for good measure. Late one night from his offices in Murray, Kentucky, the former Northgate High School quarterback reveals one of his tried-andtrue recruiting philosophies, “An old coach once told me a long time ago that it ain’t about the X’s and O’s, it’s about the
Jimmys and the Joes.” To put it in layman’s terms: The better players you have, the better your chances are at winning a football game. Stewart, 34, has his work cut out for him at Murray State, a basketball school in a basketball state. If you know anything about Mitch Stewart, you know he’s up for that challenge. “The OVC is a tough conference,” said Stewart. The Racers lost to Eastern Kentucky in double overtime, by a touchdown at the University of TennesseeMartin and by two points, 31-29, at home to Tennessee Tech. “It has been a very good building and foundation year for us,” says Stewart. A year we were able to set an M.O. for this program.” The third youngest head coach in all of college football on any
Shooter Seminar
Registration Required By CLAY NEELY clay@newnan.com
Former Northgate quarterback now head coach at Murray State in Kentucky
By DONNELL SUGGS donnell@newnan.com
Additional Date Added for Active
PHOTO BY TAB BROCKMAN
Former Northgate quarterback Mitch Stewart is now the head football coach at Murray State University in Kentucky. Stewart, 34, is the third youngest college head coach.
level -only Division III Becker College’s Mike Lichten (24) and Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck (34) are younger- Stewart will start his second season as a head coach this fall. The first ever
quarterback at what was then a new high school in Newnan, Stewart’s rise to head football coach at a major university has
STEWART, page 4
Due to an overwhelming response, a second date has been added to the active shooting seminar to be held at The Newnan Centre. The Newnan Police Department will now conduct their three-hour seminar on Monday, Feb. 22. The event will begin at 6 p.m. The course is designed to provide citizens with information on how to increase the likelihood of survival during an Active Shooter Incident. In the wake of recent mass shootings across the country, training for these scenarios has become commonplace for business and civilians as well as law enforcement, according to Newnan Police Chief Buster Meadows. “People want to know ‘how do we survive this?’ and we’re going to try to answer all their questions to help increase their chances for survival,” Meadows said. “We’ll address the do's and don’ts and run down the actions that you may or may not want to take.” Leading the training will be Lt. Mark Cooper and Inv. Denver Atwood of the Newnan Police Department. The seminars are open to all businesses and citizens who are interesting in learning how to best protect themselves should an incident occur. Registration is required. To register for the evening seminar, contact Alisha Self at 770-254-2355 ext. 113 or aself@cityofnewnan.org.
Hundreds of Kids Participate in Yearly Technology Fair By CELIA SHORTT celia@newnan.com
The Arbor Springs Elementary School students who participated in the recent West Georgia Technology Fair. First row, from left, Leyton Dunn, Emma Caylor, Thomas Becker, Hudson Huynh, Kasey Pennington, Dillon Bloecher. Second row, from left, Andie Scruggs, Lauren Coursey, Joshua Taylor, James Poindexter, Corey Pennington.
More than two hundred students recently participated in the regional West Georgia Technology Fair at Coweta’s Centre for Performing and Visual Arts. “It’s a joint effort by Coweta STEM Institute and Heard County Elementary School,” said Debbie Stuckey, director of the institute. The purpose of it is for the students to show off what they’ve created, she added. The yearly technology competition is predominately for public, private, and homeschool students in the West Georgia region of the state. It’s been around for more than 10 years. This year, there were 15 different categories in the competition and approximately 260 students came from the following school systems: Coweta County, Heard County, Harris County, Carrollton City, and Carroll County. Each category was split into different grade levels in which first, second, and third places were chosen. “This is the biggest in a long time,” said Richard Free of the fair and Heard County Elementary School. “There are just under 100 projects.”