V3 May 2016

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Who doesn’t love ice cream?

J. Bryant Steele does, but waitresses and waiters be warned: crossing him while he’s knee deep in vanilla soft serve may get you a tip that can’t be autocorrected.

Holly Lynch gives us some background on graduations, and why it is one of the most hopeful times of year.

FEATURES 20 Rev. Carey Ingram

One of Rome’s most respected sons, , says his ministry has been about reaching out to everyone and holding nothing back.

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

I’m going to let you all in on a little secret … I love to eat. I always have; I always will. Other than a devout hatred of mayonnaise and pickles, I don’t discriminate either.

Whether sweet, salty, healthy, unhealthy, it matters not. If the flavors are good and the ingredients are fresh, each bite brings me great pleasure.

If I had to pick a weakest link in my dietary arsenal, my Ian Griffin sweet tooth would win by a landslide. I’m sure at some point OWNER+CEO in your lives, you’ve heard someone bite into a confection of some sort and say something along the lines of, “How could anyone eat something so sweet?” Those are the sweets I would have no problem annihilating in great quantities. As a kid and a young adult, I stayed active enough to counter act my bad habits, but I always struggled with my weight.

I had long periods where I was motivated to exercise and diet, but then an excuse would come up like a Super Bowl party or everyone’s favorite, the holidays, and I would allow myself to completely fall off the wagon. This trend continued into my early 30s. I would allow myself to reach what I always considered my max weight, drop 20 to 30 pounds and repeat the process.

But a few years ago, it seemed to be catching up to me. I would hit these walls of exhaustion early in the afternoon where I could hardly hold my head up sitting at my desk. I ached, I would get winded walking up stairs and I just generally felt like crap.

So I decided to find myself a primary care physician and see what exactly was going on beneath the surface, and I can’t lie – I was terrified to find out. I went for my labs and returned for the report a week later. I would publish the lab sheet, but those things read like Greek to me. So without the exact numbers, here is the rap sheet.

My cholesterol was off the charts, over 300 on the bad side. I had a fatty liver, vitamin D deficiency, high uric acid, low testosterone and, worst of all, was on the verge of type 2 diabetes, a disease I’ve watched my father struggle with for years. If there was an equivalent of getting knocked out without getting punched, this was it. I was going to have to change everything about the way I functioned and, for a selfish moment, I didn’t want to.

Then the silver lining … if I changed, I could still turn it all around. After sulking for a bit, I tried to embrace the challenge – not the usual “I need to lose 30 pounds and then I can eat whatever I want” challenge, but a real lifestyle change. At that point, I had two kids and our third, who is now with us, was being planned, so I had the motivation for longevity; I just needed to start the process.

Before, I would diet by not allowing myself to have anything on my personal list of banned substances, but this time I promised myself I would learn to have some of the sinful things I enjoyed every now and then in order to condition myself to enjoy them in small doses. By doing this, I realized I didn’t have to give anything up permanently, which may seem simple, but for me it was a game-changer.

The other half of the battle was to be waged in the gym or playing sports. I’ve always enjoyed being active, but when walking up stairs makes you tired, it’s a lot harder to enjoy physical activity. I started by getting back into tennis and walking/running on an elliptical. Then came basketball, resistance/weight training and, finally, a little personal training with my good friends at Wright Athletic when I felt I could handle it. Eating right was essential, but if you don’t mix diet and exercise, you won’t get anywhere.

The dark check up, as I like to call it, was in March of 2014, and I have now returned twice to results of a completely different degree. All the negatives are now well below elevated levels, any medications outside of vitamins have been discontinued, and other than a sore lower back from toting my 7-month-old giant around every day, I feel like a million bucks.

Do I still love to eat? Absolutely. And because I have it under control, I can still go out and enjoy my favorite foods from time to time. I’m glad I figured that out before it was too late and while I’m proud of what I have accomplished, I shared this story at the behest of my doctor so that others struggling with the same vices know they can overcome them. You just have to make a decision that you are willing to work for it, and I Ian Griffin, Owner promise you will be glad you did.

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Owner& CEO Ian Griffin Mag Art & Design Ellie Borromeo Editorial Manager Oliver Robbins Contributing Editor Tannika Wester Writers J. Bryant Steele, Oliver Robbins, Erin deMesquita, Holly Lynch Corinna Underwood, Stephen Smith Executive Photographer Derek Bell, MFA 706.936.0407 Contributing Photographers Christian David Turner Cameron Flaisch Ad Sales & Client Relations Chris Forino Ad Design & Marketing Concepts Ellie Borromeo, Christian David Turner Laura Allshouse Publisher V3 Publications, LLC Contact One West Fourth Avenue Rome, Ga. 30161 Office Phone 706.235.0748 v3publications@gmail.com Creator Neal Howard

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cents & sensibility with j. bryant steele verybody likes a zealous worker, right?

Except maybe, sometimes, his or her customers. This train of thought comes not from research but from a brief trip I took to Atlanta with my sweetheart recently.

As our trip’s purpose was winding down, we decided to stop in a neighborhood deli before hitting the road back home. It was a chain I was familiar with, and I wish there was one in Rome.

What I wanted was a grilled zucchini sandwich and a cup of fruit. The order-taker asked what soup I wanted. I said I didn’t want a cup of soup. I wanted a cup of fruit.

She said, “The fruit comes with your order.”

I pointed to the menu board and read aloud, “A cup of soup OR a cup of fruit.”

She said, “Yes, you get a cup of fruit. Now, what kind of soup do you want?”

I had eaten a big breakfast and still felt rather full. I didn’t want soup. So I repeated to the order-taker, “I want the sandwich and a cup of fruit.”

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She said, “Then you’ll have two cups of fruit.”

“So be it,” I replied. Because at that point I realized reason was not in the immediate orbit.

So, I gave the extra cup of fruit to my sweetheart. She also shared some of her chips. Isn’t it funny how things can work out if we just put our minds to it?

Wait, there’s more: Among my favorite words in the English language are “free” and “ice cream.”

String those words together and you can lead me anywhere.

After we finished our sandwiches and fruit, we left our table to walk back behind the salad bar to get our free ice cream. When we returned to our table, it had already been cleared. Even the paper cup I was going to refill with ice and water for the long, hot drive home was gone.

I started to reach into my pocket to leave a tip; then I realized the futility. Some other customers would seat themselves at the table before the busboy came back and might scoop

up the tip for themselves. So we walked out, not leaving a tip, and ate our ice cream in the parking lot before heading back to Rome – me without a cup of ice water for the journey.

Wait, there’s still more: After arriving home without further incident, Jane asked what to do about supper. Recounting all that I’d eaten during the trip, I replied that all I wanted was some ice cream and a glass of wine.

She said that I had already eaten ice cream in Atlanta. That was when I pointed out the obvious:

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I f you eat ice cream in two different cities on the same day, it doesn’t count twice.

The first ice cream was free. “Free” also means it doesn’t count.

I was deprived of ice cream as a child.

It’s a sad commentary on our society that I had to go all the way to the third point (which isn’t even true) to get more ice cream.

But the pursuit of ice cream is not why we went to Atlanta in the first place. There was a larger purpose.

And a lot of preparation. See, Jane likes to have everything nailed down in advance. “Be prepared” could be her motto, even though I was the Boy Scout. She went on the internet days before to compare hotels and packed a few combinations of outfits to choose from. I just made sure to pack my razor and clean socks.

(As I was writing this, literally, I heard a short report on NPR that women begin preparing for trips two days sooner than men. So, it’s not just Jane and me; it’s a DNA thing.)

Going down I-75, I got out my smart phone and found a hotel I thought we should check into.

It was convenient to our ultimate destination, we got a good price break and the amenities were excellent (I stuffed myself at the free breakfast buffet).

Which brings me to my present motto: “It’s better to be lucky than to be prepared.”

I was the first, not the latter, when I strolled into an Atlanta church one Sunday 20 years ago.

My personal life was a mess. I was suddenly a single dad. I had legal bills. And I didn’t know things were going to get worse before they got better.

But my life was quietly transformed that Sunday.

I learned weeks ago that the rector at my old church was retiring and delivering his last sermon. There was no way I was going to miss that. And I wanted Jane by my side because my friends down there know the relationships I’ve been through, and they would be happy that I am now with a smart, interesting woman who’s also

pretty. (It wouldn’t matter to my friends whether Jane is pretty, but it’s a bonus for me.)

So, that’s why and how we spent a weekend in Atlanta. On Saturday night, we went to a favorite old restaurant of mine. We had brownie a la mode for dessert (that also doesn’t count as ice cream because it doesn’t explicitly say “ice cream”). I left a nice tip, which I usually do – unless an overzealous busboy clears the table before we’re finished.

So, that’s a short lesson in how to have a great weekend without much preparation: Have a purpose; be in the company of a beautiful woman; and … did I mention ice cream already?

BIZ BITS

Last month, I discussed “religious liberty” laws and how they are bad for business, and why it was smart for Gov. Nathan Deal to veto such a proposed law in Georgia. Now, North Carolina has an even more restrictive law. Its legislature even went into special session in order to override a Charlotte ordinance viewed as too friendly toward people with a sexual orientation different from the majority. It’s jokingly called the “bathroom bill.”

So, what happened next? Bruce Springsteen

and Ringo Starr canceled concerts in the Tar Heel state. PayPal and Deutsche Bank have put on hold expansion that would bring hundreds of jobs. The NCAA may move next year’s men’s basketball Final Four elsewhere. Movie shoots have been canceled. A less economically significant but more poignant cry came from an independent bookseller in Asheville, who published a column in The New York Times lamenting how her business would suffer because of a law she doesn’t even agree with.

This is what happens when religious bigots impose their “beliefs” on the rest of us.

James Madison and his fellow Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves.

I wish the autocorrect “feature” would go to its grave. I texted to someone “I’d like to talk to you.” It came out as “I don’t like to talk to you.”

All is OK. It took some ‘splainin.’ but we’re still speaking.

J. Bryant Steele has won awards for business reporting, feature writing and opinion columns, and is based in Rome. *The views expressed in this column are those of the writer, and do not represent the opinions of V3 Magazine

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Oh, graduation. The pomp. The circumstance. All the traditions that go along with a graduation ceremony are so steeped in history, so unchanged with time. Commencement is one of the few ceremonies where not much has changed since my graduation day 20-plus years ago, or from the time my parents graduated 55-plus years ago. The gowns are the same. The square hats are the same. The song hasn’t changed.

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While I’m pretty old fashioned in general, I do enjoy the changes that have come along to weddings and other ceremonies, adding modern music and updated fashions. I welcome the addition of new practices that become traditions.

But graduation seems to be immune from the updates. And I, for one, am glad for a passage of life that our parents and grandparents can recognize and relate to.

After attending every graduation ceremony in my high school years as a member of the band, I could probably play “Pomp and Circumstance” from memory. The song was written in the early 1900s as a series of marches. The first of these marches is the one we know of as “the graduation song.” It was first used by Yale University at their graduation ceremony in 1905. As a march, there’s a natural nod toward military traditions, hence the parading in and out of auditoriums and stadiums throughout the country, in formation, in uniform. Even the title comes from a line in Shakespeare’s “Othello,” which references a call to war. War and military references don’t exactly conjure up images of young people setting out on a new adventure after completing years of education. But a march to move forward, toward challenges and victory, is certainly suited to a modern graduation.

The gifts that come to modern graduates are all still fairly traditional and often practical. For those leaving high school for college, a practical gift of towels, laundry supplies, new bedding, and basic appliances like a coffee pot or TV still make sense. For those leaving college for a first career, cash often seems like the best gift – something to apply toward a professional wardrobe or a first apartment.

The sentimentalist in me also loves those

gifts that come from the heart. The Dr. Suess book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” is a perennial favorite, if not predictable. I remember receiving a leather-bound copy of “The Velveteen Rabbit” as a graduation present from a colleague at my first “real” job, an internship at an advertising firm during my senior year of high school. The giver had written a very special note inside, encouraging me to always be “real,” like the much loved toy bunny the book is written about. Honestly, the heartfelt note is more beloved to me than the book itself. While I’ve reread both over the years, the note is particularly meaningful.

In this season of graduations – joyful endings and new beginnings – I would encourage all our readers to write a note. Write one to a student getting ready for a new adventure. Maybe write a note to a favorite teacher. Or write a note to another parent, encouraging him or her during this transition time. Even if no one in your immediate circle is participating in a graduation, you did once, and this time of year allows you a moment to reflect on that rite of passage.

Students are not the only ones moving into a new adventure. Families and parents and teachers are all adjusting, too; letting go of loved ones and allowing them to move (sometimes far away) can be very difficult, or at least emotional. Seeing a favorite student leave after several years of teaching him or her could make a teacher feel a little less enthusiastic about starting over in a few months with a whole new crop of fresh faces. I guess it makes sense for most graduations to take place in the spring during a season of rebirth and renewal. So go ahead, send a note to a teacher to thank them. I know many teachers who were just as much a part of my successful completion of school as my family was.

Each year, we employ at least one college student. As a staff, we grow attached to these young people. Over the last nine years in business, we’ve had some really amazing young adults pass through our doors. We hope they’ve had a good experience working with us and learned a few skills, but more importantly we hope the memories they have of their time in our presence are fond and meaningful.

This year, more than previous years, I’m having a hard time letting go of our two students. One has been with us for almost three years, the other for just one. Both are talented, competent young ladies, heading off on new adventures. I remember those days from my own college graduation and can almost feel the same apprehension and excitement they both feel. I long to write them both a powerful note, perhaps put it inside a copy of a good book, or buy them both something practical. While I may do those things, I will also make sure to encourage them long after graduation day with calls, texts and Facebook posts. Their new adventure should be filled with support as they face challenges and, I hope, victory. A good march should set them on the right path toward Pomp and Circumstance.

Holly Lynch is the owner of The Season Events, a full service catering, event planning and design company located at 300 Glenn Milner Blvd. in Rome. *The views expressed in this column are those of the writer, and do not represent the opinions of V3 Magazine.

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Inter view By Oliver Robbins Photography Cameron Flaisch A gentle knock on the door leading to the pastor’s office at Lovejoy Baptist Church lets Rev. Carey Ingram know that he is needed. A lady, whose clothes hang from her thin frame and wears a face tired by time, makes a request and the preacher man calls out to one of his deacons for assistance. “Will you help me brother,” Ingram says, “in getting this young lady what she needs?” Before they get to the business at hand, both men remove their hats and bow in prayer with the woman. You see, for Ingram the work is never done. He is determined to hear every knock on his door, strives to reach out to the community he serves, and is motivated by the divine inner voice he refuses to shut out. By removing the stuffiness that is often associated with religious leaders nowadays, he continues to move his ministry into the 21st century by any means necessary. V3 would like to introduce the forward-thinking methods of one of Rome’s most loved inhabitants of the pulpit.

V3: Where were you in time and space when you decided to be a man who dedicated his life to teaching the word of God? Rev. CI: Well, when I was growing up at Springfield Baptist Church, I was very much a part of the youth department.

We did all kinds of things from putting on plays, sing in the choir, and I think we had the best choir in town (laughs).

My grandmother was strict about attending church, so I was exposed early on to people like Deacon Evans Oliver and Rev. O.M. Collins, who would say to me, “You are going to be a preacher one day.”That’s where the seed was planted.

But it wasn’t until I was grown and stationed out in Denver, Colo., in the Air Force and we had our first baby when I recognized that I had a tremendous

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responsibility of being a good husband, and I wanted to be a good father for my children. That was when those early influences came back to me about a calling in my life. People who I trusted and loved spoke my destiny into my life and God had a plan for me.

I like to tell people rather than hearing the call of God audibly, I was inspired by people all of my life. I was blessed to be affiliated with a church where I could go to the pastor and fulfill my calling.

It was Zion Baptist Church in Denver, Colo. Rev. W.T. Lee was the pastor, and I told him about my internal feelings and emotions, and that I was to be a preacher.

He made a deal with me. He said he would license me for three months, and if in that time I felt like this wasn’t what I was supposed to do, I could give the license back. That’s been 38 years ago.

RENAISSANCE MAN

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“ I am a common kind of guy. I could go to Walmart and be a greeter and still minister. There are so many ways you minister to people without being a pastor, and I do want to one day experience that.”

Your approach has been much different than a lot of conventional Southern Baptist preachers in that you try to use things that are current, things that we can understand, and things that are relevant in our lives to deliver the message in a way that applies to our lives today. So, can you explain your approach to using the words of the Bible, words that are centuries old, to translate a lesson we can all grow and learn from?

Rev. CI: I think it is important that we pastors do stay up to date. It’s strange that you ask that because I was watching documentaries last night on BET about this very subject. One was the life of Kirk Franklin and the other one was Deitrick Haddon, and they are both gospel recording artists. They are at the top of their game and the one thing that they talked about was how often they were criticized or felt out of place around church people because they were not traditional in their approach. So much of what I was hearing was right in line with my train of thought. When I witnessed their early struggles, I thought, “Wow, sometimes I feel that way.”

I refuse to just be a Baptist preacher. I think that it is more important to be Christ-like or Christian than it is to be plugged in to just one denomination. Now, having said that, I pastor Lovejoy Baptist Church, and we do have two very important ordinances. One is that you must be baptized, and the other one is Holy Communion.

Past that, I’m open to reaching out to people however I can. So, what I try to do is make the 22

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word of God contemporary in doing the same thing that Jesus did. I try to tell a lot of contemporary stories. If I’m talking about something in the Bible where Jesus fed the multitudes, I will try to bring up a situation that I’ve seen in the streets – like a time I saw a homeless man and I had $3 in my pocket and gave him $2. That’s really my approach.

The other part of it is, I love contemporary gospel, so if they play something bumpin’, I’m going to dance. I am going to enjoy ministry and I am going to enjoy the presence of God. I am going to enjoy church service. I am grateful and honored to pastor a congregation of people who understand my way of doing things, and most of them join in. So, we just have a good time around here because I feel like that’s what the Lord would want us to do. I like to say that we come here to get our batteries charged and get encouraged and fired up so that we can go out and make a difference in the world.

Your ministry is, of course, based here at Lovejoy Baptist Church. But, what are some of the other things that you have done as outreach efforts in your community? I know that you are an author and you have written three books, right?

Rev. CI: I have written three books. I have been blessed to do some writing and I hope to have another book published before the end of this year. I said that last year, too, but I’ve been pretty busy (laughs). I’m also blessed to teach in the

National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, which is a branch of the National Baptist Convention. I have taught in that capacity for a decade and that is certainly something that is very important to me. I feel honored because I get to teach people all across the nation.

I very much try to be a neighborhood pastor; I love South Rome. I was born and raised in North Rome, but my church is over here and the people in this community are so good to me. I walk the streets of South Rome and just try to encourage them and love on them.

Also, over the years I have been affiliated with a lot of local organizations. I was one of the co-founding members of 100 Black Men of Rome, which is an organization that tutors young kids. I have been on the Rome Boys & Girls Club Board and I am currently on the YMCA Board.

I was the moderator of the NWGA Association for the last eight years. I gave that up this past November and passed that mantle on to one of my associate ministers who is now a pastor,

Pastor Steve Caldwell at Mt. Olive Baptist Church.

Mt. Olive is really our mother church. Lovejoy stemmed from Mt. Olive, and Mt. Olive formed from members of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.

Some people don’t know that story, so it was an honor to pass something on to him.

I had a radio broadcast, believe it or not, for over 23 years. I was on the radio for two hours every Sunday night on WRGA from 10 p.m. until midnight. Mr. Mike McDougald gave me that time absolutely free of charge. Unfortunately or fortunately, depends on how you look at it, he sold the company to another radio station. The new company that owns the station now allowed me another year to broadcast. Then, Steve Harvey & Keith Sweat bought out the morning time and that evening slot. That was awesome because

another production in which I played King David and danced my clothes off, which wasn’t in the script! (laughs).

It’s things that like that I’ll never forget. They change you and make you appreciative. People have been so good to me and respected me. I have had some old friends come up to me and say, “Rev, you remember when we used to…” and I was like, “Hey! Don’t tell that story!” Then I would quietly say to them, “Yeah we did!”(laughs) But that’s life. I had to learn. I had to fall and I had to make mistakes. But for 38 years, God has kept me in a good place and I am glad about that.

Sermons usually involve a lot of talk about faith. And by that, I mean how to practice faith. In times like these, when so many

people are struggling or having some difficulties, the application of faith can be helpful. What would be your advice to someone who needs to know how to practice faith and how that can translate into helping ease their mind and solve some of the issues they are going through?

Rev. CI: That is an excellent question. The Bible teaches that faith without works are dead. Faith, then, is my belief in God and acting upon the things God inspires me to do. In other words, my faith in God requires, demands, and draws me to wake up and get on my knees, acknowledging that He is God. I ask Him to lead me this day and thank Him for another day.

So, prayer is certainly a key to applying faith, and not only prayer, but reading the word of God. God is His word. The more you read, the more you understand. Sometimes when you read a passage from the Bible, you don’t understand it.

I think God gives you credit for the effort. Once you have prayed and read a devotional or reading throughout the day, you begin with that journey with the right frame of mind. So, when you leave your home for your job or duties, you are constantly allowing what you are thinking and believing to be a part of your active daily work.

My faith says I can step out and do certain things and then my faith will tell me no, I wouldn’t go down that road. It is all based on the things I believe about Christianity and what I believe about God. I really believe that in every one of us there is a spark of God, and we simply have to grow it and mature it so that we may earnestly hear an inward voice leading and guiding us. I think that’s how you grow in faith. I think that is applying faith.

I have a son that is overseas right now in

it gave me a community connection. In fact, I would get calls as far away as Jasper, Fla. Callers would tell me they how much they appreciated the conversations generated from the program.

And, of course, Ms. Willie Mae Samuel’s organization, the African American Performing Arts.

Do you have any involvement with the production of those plays?

Rev. CI: I don’t now, but I did for quite a few years until I became involved in so much that it was hard to keep up. That’s the thing. At 61, I just can’t do all the things that I like to do or that I once did. But Ms. Samuel has certainly been one to encourage me about theater and about being myself in the pulpit. I was in several productions with her that were just awesome for me. We performed a play where I recited the MLK “I Have a Dream Speech.” We put on v3 magazine

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see that day where I can still be an itinerate preacher. I am a common kind of guy. I could go to Walmart and be a greeter and still minister.

There are so many ways you minister to people without being a pastor, and I do want to one day experience that.

the Navy and I feel good that he is going to be all right because of my faith in God. I also get up every morning and say, “Lord, watch over my son. If it be your will, bless him and keep him.”

Then, I thank Him and I believe He is going to do it. Faith is the key. The Bible says, without faith it is impossible to please God and that He is rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Being a local Roman and traveling and living in so many other places throughout your life and career, what is it that makes you proud that you planted roots here in the place where you grew up? Also, what would you say about this community that has made it such a wonderful place for you to live and raise your family?

From yesterday’s sermon, you asked the congregation to live in the moment. What would you say to them to keep them encouraged about things to come? What would you say to them to keep them hopeful that one day things are going to be better regardless of what is going on right now?

Rev. CI: That is easier said than done because, let’s face it, this world is really all we know and understand. When anyone is in a relationship with God, your thoughts are also on heavenly things.

When I can do something to help someone, I know that is in my favor, I can forgive someone without them asking. I know that’s in my favor.

What I am trying to say is when I can emulate, when I can practice being Christ-like, I then can resolve and feel good that whenever I leave this world, God has a reward and all the best is yet to come for me. When I have thoughts, when I act on things in this world because of my belief of another world, then I can rest assured that God will give me time to do what I have to do.

At 61, I have lost many friends. I lost a member of this church and a dear friend I grew up with in the past week or so, and I want to believe that my life is just beginning. But if I live to be 90, life on this earth is still short; trees outlive us and there are creatures in the sea that out live us. It’s not how long we live; it’s what we do

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with the time that we have, and as long as we can make sure that we do what we do based on our Christian belief, then great; the Bible says will be our reward in heaven. That’s how I deal with that; I am living this life for the life to come.

In talking about the future, what are some of the plans for you as a minister and also for the congregation that you lead?

Rev. CI: Every year, I ask God to give me a vision for the church and I share it with them. This year, I have asked them to join me in saying let us be a church of excellence. That is to say, let us be the best we can be for the times we live in.

We have tremendous ministries here. We have a soup kitchen, a food and clothing pantry, and a youth department that we take to the National Baptist Congress of Christian education every year. We have a summer program from the first day that school is out to the first day school begins for children. I have asked our members to make sure we do the best we can. Let’s step it up a notch and do more to serve.

The members tell me not to talk about it a lot, but at 61 I do know that the time is approaching to pass the torch on to someone else. This has been a tremendous opportunity for me. I have been blessed to be the pastor of Lovejoy Baptist Church and I like to think that our pastoral ministry here has made a difference. However, you have to let someone younger, more energetic, with other ideas carry the church on. I want to pass the torch on in such a way that I am still welcome here.

I want to keep writing. I enjoy writing and that is my legacy. I want my grandchildren to be able look back and learn lessons from things I wrote still true in their future. When I am no longer a pastor, if it is in God’s will, I hope to

Rev. CI: Good question. I think more than anything else, Rome is unique in that the people truly try to make it work. Some places, I don’t know if they care. I’m not saying they are selfish or self-centered but I learned so much from speaking with Commissioner Fielder. He used this term I shall never forget and I keep it in the forefront of my thinking. “Working together works,” he would say and I think that is Rome, Ga. I have seen a lot of changes, a lot of diversity, and these changes were made without any real violence. Rome is laid back; it’s not super busy booming. It is an easy city. It’s not a tension-filled city and I like that. My wife and I celebrated 43 years of marriage by going to New York City last week, and it was a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there! (laughs).

It is non-stop.

I also think that by Rome being my home, it influenced our decision when we left Denver.

We came back to Rome with the intent that we wanted to make a difference. So many people in Rome, like my grandmother Marie Maddox, Deacon Evans Oliver, Rev. Owen Collins, Deacon Sam Burrell and Rev. Curtis Moreland – who was also my sixth-grade teacher and taught me so much – helped me make a choice about where we were going to live and minister.

We decided, “Let’s go back home,” and in the back of my mind, it was so I could give back. I was blessed to go to college to earn a master’s-level degree and it never cost me a dime. I have had so many people in Rome reach out to me and help me to be who I am, so it is important that I give back. And I hope that I am making a difference; I really do. VVV For more information about how to get your copy of his books “Rearing Children in a Post Modern World”, “Steps Towards Abundant Living”, and “Marriage is Supposed to be Forever” contact Rev. Carey Ingram at reving123@AOL.com.

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V3 Atlanta Steeplechase Party April 2016

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One of the South’s Finest Equestrian Estates

EQUESTRIAN ESTATE AUCTION The 7 Hills Equestrian Center is unsurpassed in the South as a place to breed, raise, train and show fine horses.

These are just a few of the features: Luxurious log home with advanced security, hidden safe room and backup generator • Two barns with total 20 stalls • Indoor arena • Fenced and cross fenced pastures • Private stocked lake, ponds and creek • Guest house • Caretaker’s house • Foaling barn with security cameras Located at 201 Kellett Road NE, Rome, Floyd County, Georgia

Auction Saturday, June 18, 11 a.m.

Visit American-Auctioneers.com or call 256-927-5263 BROKER PARTICIPATION: AMERICAN AUCTIONEERS WILL PAY ANY LICENSED BROKER/AGENT A 3% COMMISSION FOR A REGISTERED, SUCCESSFUL PURCHASER. CONTACT OUR OFFICE FOR PRECISE DETAILS. Keith Baldwin, CAI GAL AUNR 2860, GARE 247207 Lou Dempsey, GAL AU2431, GARE 160996

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THE HILLS HAVE RIDES Text Oliver Robbins Photography Cameron Flaisch With killer views and income possibilities that are downright scarygood, the only thing the new owners will be afraid of is waking up from their dream home.

T

oday’s family often balances the back and forth, the ripping and running, and the hustle with time for rest and relaxation. As business picks up, the time to enjoy the beauty Mother Nature has sprinkled around us becomes short, and vacations require an itinerary to stuff activities in a week set aside each year.

For the prepared professional, the rare opportunity arises to change one’s quality of life, an opportunity that will allow families to turn a vacation into a “staycation.” On June 18, American Auctioneers (1033 W. Main Street, Centre, Ala.) will lower the gavel, and after the last bid is taken, some lucky soul will turn the key to one of the most beautiful properties in Northwest Georgia. Let’s take a look inside 7 Hills Equestrian Center’s (201 Kellett Road, Rome) one-of-a-kind charm.

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Al and Debbie Martiniello, the soon-to-be former owners of this stunning 75-acre property, were always on the go. As transplants to northwest Georgia by way of Washington State and Michigan, the couple fell in love with the Armuchee area.

“Debbie loves horses, and I had always wanted to build a log home,” Al explains. “Because of the nature of my work, we were never able to get away for a vacation. So, I found four parcels of land that I was able to purchase and we started building a horse farm. We made the property our vacation home.”

Originally, the property was a tree farm. Eastern white pines, magnolias and cherry trees still stand among the babbling creek that runs year round throughout the property, the three-plus acre lake, and three watering ponds. And with gaggles of turkey; an abundance of deer; and the waters of the lake teeming with catfish, bass, and brim, there is no shortage of wildlife for the new owners to enjoy at their leisure.

Seven structures, including the custom-built log cabin crafted from eastern white pine logs, offer plenty of places for storage, guests\farmhand quarters or rental possibilities. The stacked-stone entrance is key coded, and as the wrought-iron

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gates swing open, visitors are welcomed by rolling pastures, dotted with patches of white, pink, and yellow wildflowers. The main barn, or show barn, features 17 stalls with concrete floors and space for feeding, grooming, and caring for the horses that call it home. A covered riding arena is attached to the 150 by 120-foot barn to allow for training and riding, rain or shine.

An apartment-style duplex and spacious living area above a secondary barn – with five stalls – provides extra living space and fills the farm with personal touches. And as one can imagine, getting from one place to another on the grounds can be a trek. Fortunately, the Martinielloes paid

" M y wife is from Michigan, and we like to visit family and friends there. So, we feel that it is time to let [7 Hills Equestrian Center] go and allow another couple to have a vacation every day.”

attention to the details when constructing their homestead paradise.

“We poured over 1,000 yards of highway-grade concrete throughout the property,” Al says. “We also poured over 300 yards of concrete beneath the covered riding arena, so that it would meet the wind shear factor. We have a motor home that is 50,000 pounds, and tractor trailers would bring in supplies during construction. So, we wanted the drives to be able to withstand the weight.”

An additional foaling barn stands roughly 50 yards from the property’s main living structure, the log home. As the drive ends, guests are

welcomed by a parking garage, built from the same eastern white pine from which the cabin is constructed. Two oversized, open-air parking coverings with RV hook-ups provide plenty of space for cars and campers. The center of the garage is enclosed and secured by a bay door, making it ideal for storage.

The impressive, custom-built porte-cochère towers above the entrance of the cabin. Natural light floods the main living space as the 28-foot vaulted ceiling makes way for the river rock fireplace, framed by a back wall almost completely made of glass windows. From one of the four bar-top seats around kitchen island, one can gaze across the inground saltwater pool onto the shimmering surface of the lake.

Above the kitchen area, a cozy loft hovers in front of the massive antler chandelier, offering an ideal place for an office or a quiet area to read a book. The separate dining, directly off the kitchen, provides lovely views of the surrounding gardens in bloom and opens to the screened porch, which beckons for a gentleman to enjoy a cigar. From the master bedroom on the main floor and from

the screened porch, access is available to the sunken, four-person hot tub. Covered, so that one can relish in the relaxing jets melting away the stress of the day, a glance just off the railing provides a view of the large koi pond surrounded by pastel gardens.

His and hers closets, a claw-foot soaking tub and doubled-headed shower provide rustic elegance to the master suite. Granite countertops cover working surfaces in the three spacious baths and kitchen. Two bedrooms in the basement area, perfect for children, have doors that open directly to the pool. Off the main living room is a deck spanning the entire length of the home and a river rock fireplace waiting for marshmallow roasting on chilly fall nights.

The basement is reserved for the media room, flanked by a smaller area that the Martinielloes used as a home gym. And around the corner, before arriving at the two bedrooms downstairs, v3 magazine

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is a room hidden behind two bookshelves. This hidden nook is nice to have in case of storms and could be perfect for a gun enthusiast’s safe.

A large laundry area rounds out the space.

The home and foaling barn are protected by a state-of-the-art security system. Cameras keep a watchful eye on the property, and the owner receives cell phone notification when something is disturbed without permission. A propane-fueled generator kicks in when the power is out, and internet service is already available through AT&T. And for the do-it-yourself types, the property also features a large workshop that is handy for constructing the next phase of this wonderful homestead vacay spot.

Coming home and feeling like you are miles away from the day-to-day rigors of work was the goal for Al and Debbie Martiniello, and the property they chose delivers. However, it is ironic that they are only 15 minutes from town and a little over five minutes from Russell Regional Airport.

“After I sold my company and retired, we started spending more and more time away from the horse farm,” says Al. “We own two farms in Ocala, Fla. And that’s where we spend the winter months.

“In the summer months, we travel to Michigan in our motorhome,” he continues. “My wife is from Michigan, and we like to visit family and friends there. So, we feel that it is time to let [7 Hills Equestrian Center] go tand allow another couple to have a vacation every day.”

On June 18, potential buyers who wish to live the vacation of their dreams will bid on the time of their everyday lives. V VV For more information about 7 Hills Equestrian Center or to schedule a private showing, contact American Auctioneers at 256-927-5263 or check out the drone video for a flyover of the property at Americanauctioneers.com

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Text Erin DeMesquita Photography Derek Bell While we are most certainly aware of the horror stories associated with drilling for natural gas, maybe it’s best to see just how deep the well of information goes.

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urn the tiny black dial, ‘tick, tick, tick,’ and wait for the soft, blue glow. When the consumer calls, natural gas delivers; not at all unlike the commercialized quick snap of the fingers, emitting the immediate energy that heats your home, cooks your food and powers your vehicle. The consumer, however, may not always be aware of the supply or space from which their resources are recovered. Deriving its form deep below the earth’s surface, natural gas is an energy efficient fossil fuel, spawned as layers upon layers of decomposing plant and animal material are exposed to intense heat and high pressure over time.

The capture, production, and consumption of natural gas is far from a new concept; for more than 150 years, this resource has been retrieved from its earthly depths by manner of well digging and drilling. However, the idea that it could be captured and produced via northwest Georgia soil is an approach untraveled, until now.

In case you didn’t know, we’re standing on it right now. Under our shoes, beneath our sidewalks, below our roads, yards and waterways, lies more than 500 million years of geological history. Reaching from lower Alabama up through Northwest Georgia and into the southern tip of Tennessee stretches a Cambrian Age, sedimentary formation known as the Conasauga Shale. What does that mean? For petroleum geologists like Jerry Spalvieri, it means opportunity.

Buckeye Exploration, Spalvieri’s Oklahoma-based oil and gas exploration and production company, is introducing itself, one by one, to Floyd County residents via proposal letters for land lease. Buckeye is on the market for mineral rights in the Rome area in efforts to explore and test for oil and natural gas – resources that have yet to be produced in this state.

As north Georgians are faced with the possibility of the very land on which they stand being the pierced portal through which this resource flows, education and awareness will become much more significant than ever before.

In an ever-evolving world where the unconventional plays a pivotal role in advancement and innovation, the acquisition of natural gas is no different. As knowledge and technology fuel progression, more efficient methods of exploration and seizure arise – like the highly controversial method of capture, called hydraulic fracturing (or fracking).

During the fracking process, it’s known that millions of gallons (per well) of highly pressurized water, sand and unspecified chemical agents are forcefully injected into a wellbore, creating cracks

in the thick rock formations through which the gas can then, more freely, flow. To increase the efficiency of the process, the chemical composition of the fracking fluid serves to extend fractures, add lubrication and carry proppant (sand grain) into the cracked rock formations in order to maintain the fissures. Fracking is most often times coupled with horizontal well drilling, where the path of the vertical well changes direction – covering, as they say, a larger perpendicular “pay zone.”

While some may argue that natural gas production via horizontal drilling and fracking has

" What is implicit here is that, if Buckeye finds oil or natural gas, they will assign the leases to larger companies who will have the right to set up more invasive drilling operations (including fracking) and will also allow for the installation of additional infrastructure to capture, store, and transport the oil and/or gas.” or will reenergize economies, providing an easier, cheaper way to recover a natural resource, the controversy comes in the form of pleas – pleas for the consideration of human health and environmental safety. Horror stories come in clusters, from contaminated drinking water in southwestern Pennsylvania, to seismic activity (earthquakes) in Oklahoma, to toxic fracking fluid spills in Texas. Pennsylvanians in towns like Dimock have said they can trace rashes, dizziness, and headaches, among other ailments, to the toxins that have found their way into their residential wells.

Dr. Brian Campbell, associate professor of anthropology and director of the environmental studies program at Berry College, says one of his biggest concerns with the fracking process is the vast usage of water and the disposal of fluids once they’ve been injected into the well and resurfaced.

“When that water comes out, it has got mercury and lead and volatile organic compounds in it that it has interacted with in the ground,” he explains.

“Then, they have to dispose of all that as toxic waste. A huge expense on that industry is how they dispose of that water.”

One method of disposal is deep well injection, which is exactly what it sounds like.

“That was the thing that really triggered my

irritation and my nightmare experience with hydraulic fracturing,” Campbell recalls. “We lived right by an injection well. When I say right by it, I mean several miles, and we started having earthquakes.”

At the time, Campbell, his wife and his two young children lived in the Fayetteville Shale area of Arkansas, where he previously taught at the University of Central Arkansas.

“Where we lived, they didn’t even have the foresight to do any research on whether or not there had been earthquakes, and there was a swarm of earthquakes in the 1980s in the exact location where they put injection wells,” he says.

“So, that’s why we had such large earthquakes, because it was an existing fault line. So, they were just injecting all this lubricant and creating more movement.”

Campbell says the seismicity was constant; category twos and threes were occurring daily.

Although Floyd County residents have not gotten an exact answer on where Buckeye intends to lay the groundwork for drilling, a supposed “target” area is off of Highway 140 around Gaines Loop and Erwin Coker roads, between Woodward Creek and the Oostanaula River. Riverfront residents Kikki Tucker and her husband, Craig, have received one of Buckeye’s oil and gas leases, and Kikki stands firm in the fact that her concerns far outweigh any positives to come from drilling in this area.

“Though Buckeye tried to sell the potential for a positive economic impact, they spoke mostly of bringing in their friends and their crews from other states, so I don't expect that local employment would be impacted significantly,” she says.

“Furthermore, they are only offering $5 per acre for the lease plus a negligible percentage for any oil or gas extracted. Even for the participating landowners, I believe that most of the financial gains will go to individuals and companies that aren’t even from Georgia.”

Nostalgia, livelihood and legacy rest on the soils of this southern land; to some, it means everything. It isn’t difficult to find a voice in our community that raises its tone against the method of hydraulic fracturing; educational gatherings on this controversial process have been hosted

by Rome’s own Coosa River Basin Initiative, and the community has established a “Don’t Frack NWGA” Facebook page. The looming question – the elephant that has long since left the corner and is now traipsing through the living room – is “will fracking take place here?”

John Absalon, retired geoscientist and parttime educator at Tellus Science Museum, says that hydraulic fracturing is actually not necessary.

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“We find that in the Marcellus Shale [up north], most of the natural gas there is what we call adsorbed; there’s a lot of organic carbon in the unit, and that grabs the natural gas and holds the gas,” he explains. “So, not only does the formation have to be cracked in order to reach the gas, but chemicals need to be added in order to promote the release of the gas; none of that is necessary here. Eighty-four percent of the gas in the Conasauga group is what we call free gas. Only 16 percent is adsorbed, and the unit is naturally fractured.

“In fact, in many areas of the Conasauga, if someone tried to hydrofracture, they’d fail because their fracturing agent would be lost into the natural fractures,” he adds. “They couldn’t pressurize a borehole in order to fracture the rock because all the pressure would be lost into the natural fractures. I don’t know any driller who likes to just throw money on the ground; if they don’t have to do it, they’re not going to do it.”

While the intrinsic fear of hydraulic fracturing runs through the mind fields of our rural residents, Spalvieri says that Buckeye’s plans for the obtained leases here in northwest Georgia are far from fracking. “People are hearing the word fracking and they don’t know it or understand it,” he says. “In this case, we have no intentions of doing any fracking, so they’re afraid of something that’s not going to occur.”

He explains that Buckeye’s intentions are merely exploratory – involving a conventional method of vertically drilled test wells. “I’ve been on this quest to do a conventional prospect in the southern Appalachians to find and discover oil and gas somewhere where it’s never been found 38

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before, basically doing it like they did 100 years ago – using basic geological principles, studying the rocks, studying the structure, and understanding the tectonics of the region,” Spalvieri explains.

He adds that his company is too small an entity to ever take on a project that involves fracking and horizontal drilling; a wildcatter at heart, he says that he’s in it for the sake of discovery.

For his conventional wells, Spalvieri uses an air rig that, he says, is bigger than a water well rig, but similar, and that the entire project would use the space of about half an acre. An example of Buckeye’s work can be found just around the corner, so to speak, in Dalton, Ga. Nicknamed the Daphne-Mayfield, the vertical well in Whitfield Co. was drilled 5,000 feet deep in 2010 and, apparently, has found gas and oil without any grizzly headlines of which to speak.

If, in fact, Buckeye does not plan to practice hydraulic fracturing, but the question concerning Rome residents is “will anyone else?”

“The leases that give Buckeye the right to drill allow for Buckeye to assign the leases to third parties,” Kikki says. “The leases also extend indefinitely if Buckeye or their assignees find oil or natural gas. What is implicit here is that, if Buckeye finds oil or natural gas, they will assign the leases to larger companies who will have the right to set up more invasive drilling operations (including fracking) and will also allow for the installation of additional infrastructure to capture, store, and transport the oil and/or gas.”

Kikki’s concerns span water safety, effects on property values and threats to Rome’s tight sense of community; for the most part, her neighbors echo her cautious sentiment. “Some have been

on board with the proposed drilling and have signed mineral leases,” she says. “However, I think the majority of riverfront property owners fall somewhere on the continuum between hesitant and wholeheartedly opposed to drilling.”

With 35 years in the oil and gas industry, the voiced concerns of citizens are nothing new to Spalvieri. “Not everybody is against drilling,” he asserts. “It’s kind of a 50/50 deal.”

Whether 50/50 is a reality or not, it is evident that there is much to learn on the topic of drilling for oil and gas, and there is no shortage of opinion. Documentaries reign as sources of insight; however, unbiased they are usually not.

One film of journalistic intent may show a family in Pennsylvania with illnesses and discolored, possibly contaminated, water that at the strike of a match will catch on fire as it streams from the faucet (although it has been found that methane in water wells is an age-old issue, unrelated to drilling or fracking), while another will show a farmer working their land with a sticker that says “Gas saved our A$$” on the back of a mudclad tractor.

These are the items through which members of a community must sort – gaining a personal, logical working knowledge of what energy means to them and what obstacles seem reasonably worth the reward. Renewable versus nonrenewable energy sources, environmental effects, personal well-being and the future of alternative resources in America should all weigh in on that working knowledge.

It is important to note that there are 67,000 acres of mineral rights just within Floyd and Chattooga counties that are owned by a real estate and natural resource company out of Austin, Texas, called Forestar. While they didn’t respond to V3

for comment, Absalon has interviewed them on their intentions, in the past.

“They’re kind of sitting on the issue right now,” he explains, “because natural gas is less than $2 per unit, and in order to develop new wells, the pipelines to tie the wells together, compressor stations, treatment plants, storage facilities … all the infrastructure, gas would have to be up around $7 per unit (a unit is 1,000 cubic feet or 1 million BTU).”

For decades, natural gas has proven to be a clean, efficient biogenic resource (producing half as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy in comparison to coal); however, it is still a nonrenewable fossil fuel. It has been estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that as of Jan. 1, 2013, there were about 2,276 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable resources of dry natural gas in the United States.

At the rate of U.S. natural gas consumption in 2013 of about 27 Tcf per year, estimation says that our nation has enough natural gas to last about 84 years. The actual number of years, however, will depend on the amount of natural gas consumption each year, natural gas imports and exports, and additions to natural gas reserves.

At times, natural gas is referred to as a “bridge,” of sorts, to suffice while the U.S. transitions from coal-burning to renewable energy sources like solar power, wind power and/or biodigestion processes.

As a community, the most important thing to be done is to attempt to better understand the science behind these processes and the level of necessity and sustainability present. When that tiny black dial is turned, ‘tick, tick, tick,’ it’s up to us to know where, how and at what cost our resources have been recovered. V VV

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Towing Text Stephen Smith Photography Derek Bell Leave the speed boat in the garage, because this venue has laid it all on the line for water skiing enthusiasts.

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consider myself truly blessed to have grown up with watersports in my life from an early age. I was taught by my family how to ski and kneeboard at age 5, and by 8, I was barefooting behind the boat. But when I discovered wakeboarding at age 13, everything else took a backseat. Big air, flips, spins and the snowboard/skateboard/surfing aspect of the sport just made it seem cooler than all the others.

I was hooked. It wasn’t until much later in life that I understood not everyone has access to the exhilaration afforded by the sport. Well, I can honestly say that now there is an opportunity for all to share my passion for wakeboarding without having to buy a boat, expensive equipment or lake front property.

As I stand on the starting dock with my board firmly attached to my feet and my helmet and lifejacket cinched up tight, my grip on the rope handle frim, I take a deep breath and prepare myself for my first ride of the year. It is about 56 degrees on this fine spring day, and I know that the water will be slightly warmer, but all around a chillier ride than I am use to. None of the coldness concerns me at the moment. My eyes are fixed on the top of the cable tower at the start light that will soon turn green, letting me know that the cable carrier is about to launch me out on to the water for a ride I have been dreaming about all winter long. The only other thought I have is, “I am going to be sore tomorrow.” But there is something missing. There is no loud engine or smell of exhaust. The only sounds I hear are the wind whipping by my head, my board cutting through the water and the inspiring anthem of

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the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” blasting from the sound system at Terminus Wake Park.

Terminus Wake Park in Emerson, Ga., now open for its third year, is a riding experience that allows watersports fans of every skill level the chance to shred and “go big.” Located in the new LakePoint Sporting Community just outside of Carterville, Terminus is a cable riding park that allows wakeboarders, knee boarders and water skiers to be pulled without the use of a boat.

Large steel towers placed around three lakes hold two parallel running cables 32 feet above the surface of the water. Similar to a T-bar chair

“ We’ve put together an incredible team and a unique design to create this park, and our location at LakePoint Sporting Community and Town Center will give our riders, along with their families, entertainment options you can’t find at any other park in the world.”

lift for all you snow skiing bums out there, the system is driven by an electronically controlled, variable-speed motor that averages a constant speed of around 19 miles per hour. Three separate lake systems are available to guests. There is a Training lake for newcomers to hone their skills and two larger lakes full of “features” for intermediate to advanced and pro riders. These features include structures set in the water like

ramps or “kickers” for launching oneself into the air as well as rails or “sliders” for more technical, skate-style grind tricks.

“In creating this facility, we’ve set out to build and operate one of the finest cable wakeboard parks in the world,” says Chase Andrews, general manager of Terminus Wake Park. “We’ve put together an incredible team and a unique design to create this park, and our location at LakePoint

Sporting Community and Town Center will give our riders, along with their families, entertainment options you can’t find at any other park in the world.”

But how much would this world-class wakeboarding experience cost, one might ask? About as much as a round of golf at a mid-level course.

A two- hour riding session plus gear costs around $65. You can pay by the day, week, or month, and yearly passes are available at a discount. This is only a fraction of the cost of traditional boat riding when factoring in gas prices and gear.

For those seeking hands-on instruction, Terminus offers cable-riding lessons with professional staff members as well as summer camps for wakeboarders young and old, beginner to expert. They also host a number of world-class tournaments throughout the summer, which would be well worth checking out.

From its inception to now, Terminus Wake Park has easily become the most unique and advanced cable-riding experience in the in the country. It was named the 2016 Wake Park of the Year by the Water Sports Industry Association (WSIA) and with new facilities breaking ground later this year, including plans for a new pro shop, restaurant and viewing decks, Terminus is makv3 magazine

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ing its mark as a Mecca for all fans of the sport.

As I walk back after an epic crash off of one of the kickers, I look around at the wide array of fellow wakeboarders who have come to the park.

Art Wiggins, 68 years young, of Marietta was introduced to the park and the sport by his children and grandchildren. Last summer, he took his 5,000th lap around the cables. He says he is ready for more and is excited to ride with his great grandson this summer. “It looked like so much fun, so I decided that I would give it a shot,” he says. “I have been coming back ever since.”

Walker Weston, a 13-year-old water bug from Atlanta who has been coming to the park for two years, has no problem showing me how to master a rail slide. Marilyn Pruitt, a Terminus staffer, takes a break from operating the cable system to show off her skills and does not disappoint. Callaway Ford, a semi-pro rider, wraps up a session of tricks, making me reconsider what I was even doing out there.

There is a real sense of community at Terminus that you don’t normally find at facilities like this around the country. Staff and riders alike are welcoming, friendly and encouraging. Tips and advice are exchanged freely and without ego or arrogance. During each of my visits, everyone I have encountered at the park shares this same

vibe. Terminus is a true wakeboard Utopia if I have ever seen one.

“Our mission at Terminus Wake Park is to serve and encourage the local community and the world while sharing our passion for adventure and water sports,” says Andrews. “We want to

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be a place for anybody and everybody (young or old, big or small, athletic or not) to come relax, enjoy, have fun, and be encouraged while they hang out with our staff and each other.”

My early thoughts of aching muscles and soreness now upon me, I wrap up the day with one last ride to ensure the folks at Advil and Anheuser-Busch will maintain another loyal customer. I can only hope that the next trip to Terminus will be just as enjoyable. Something tells me it will, and I can’t wait to return with my nephew Mitchell, 15, who I have infected with this wonderful addiction to the wakeboard.

So, if you are down for an outdoor experience that is both fun and challenging, I would highly consider making this a must do this summer.

Cheers and happy riding! V VV For more information on Terminus Wake Park or to beat the lines and book a riding session in advance, visit www.terminuswakepark.com.

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706.629.2895 | 1035 Red Bud Rd | Calhoun, GA 30701