Augusts Past, 25 Years Ago, 1992

From The LaGrange Daily News

Front Page News:

The new Troup County Senior Citizens Center is scheduled to be completed early next year on a three-acre Ragland Street site donated by the Callaway Foundation.

The 12,000-square-foot​ building will include arts and crafts rooms, a large multi-purpose room for dining and recreation, a game room, a library and TV room, a beauty shop, a commercial kitchen, office spaces and 55 parking spaces.

The $1 million Center is being paid for with a $500,000 grant from the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation, a $400,000 community Development Block Grand and $100,000 from the county government.

Teen curfew “good tool” but rarely enforced

Only 27 children and one parent have been arrested since the LaGrange City Council adopted a curfew ordinance last September.

It’s not that teens 16 and under are staying off the streets after midnight (although Public Safety Chief Gary Shepherd feels more teens abide by the law). It’s that police officers lack the time to enforce it.

According to Councilman Don Gregory, who serves on the Public Safety Committee, most of the problems dealing with juveniles occur in the summer months.

“We just don’t have many problems during the winter,” he said.

Gregory said the council may take another look at the ordinance in the future.

The curfew ordinance was passed last September 24, after city officials and county leaders discussed this controversial issue throughout the summer. The ordinance prohibits people 16 and younger from being out between midnight and 6 a.m.

Teacher of the year

A media specialist with a “love of learning and love of language” is the 1993 Teacher of the Year for the LaGrange school system.

Jacqueline B. Hornsby, media specialist at Unity Kindergarten, will represent LaGrange schools in the 1993 Georgia Teacher of the Year competition, the winner to be announced in November.

A well known storyteller and author of publications concerning children’s literature, Mrs. Hornsby has been the media specialist at Unity since its opening in 1986.

Prior to that, she was media specialist at Tatum Elementary School in Troup County.

Night high school registration

A total of 100 students signed up to begin classes at Troup County Open Campus Night High School when its doors open Friday, August 21.

Superintendent Dr. Terry Jenkins said he’s “very pleased” with the numbers, explaining that the state department quoted 25 students as a “good number” for first-time night high school enrollment. He said that more who didn’t pre-register are “expected to show up for classes.”

The majority of students reporting for the night school are between 16 and 25 years old.

Troup’s Lynd named top vocational teacher

Robert Lynd, marketing education teacher at Troup High School since 1986, has been named Georgia’s Outstanding Vocational Teacher of the Year.

Lynd was recognized at the recent Georgia Vocational Association meeting in Atlanta. He was selected from among teachers of all vocational disciplines fro the award. He will now represent Georgia in Region 2 for the American Vocational Teacher of the Year to be awarded in December, 1993.

He has also been selected by the Georgia Marketing Education Association as Georgia Marketing Educator of the Year.

He will represent Georgia for the National Marketing Educator of the Year award to be presented at the Marketing Education Conclave in Milwaukee next summer.

Troup debaters recognized

There can be no doubt about it. Troup High School debaters will be well prepared for the 1992-93 season after intensive summer training and competitions.

Debate team members Patrick Doyle, Amy Reeves and Becky Spitzer participated in the two-week West Georgia Debate program.

Reeves and Doyle were recognized as Most Valuable Debaters and Spitzer received second place as Best Speaker and won first place in the tournament.

In July Reeves and Greg Scott attended the Mock Trial competition in Atlanta where Reeves won dual recognition as Best Witness for her team. The students were selected from 400 state entries based on their grade point averages and leadership qualities.

Local teen cyclist has high expectations

Fourteen-year-old Phillip Briggs hopes to ride his way to the 2000 Olympics as a cyclist — en route to competition in the Tour de France.

The young, local athlete, whose extensive training includes 150-miles of riding a week, has already won five gold medals, three silver and three bronze in triathlons.

This week he is competing in the 1992 Jr. National Bicycle Race in Bloomington, Indiana.

Who said it?

“Democracy is a system that gives people a chance to elect rascals of their own choosing.”

Doug Larson

Julia Dyar, a retired journalist, is active in the Troup County Historical Society.