Greene Publishing, Inc.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

Elvis was there. So were Roy Orbison, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline and Diana Ross, playing to a sold-out crowd at the Yogi Bear Jellystone Park Opry Hall.

The Madison Garden Club’s annual fundraiser proved one thing beyond a doubt: Madison’s Got Talent.

In between several drawings for door prizes (many donated by the Busy Bee), local Madison residents took to the Opry Hall stage to strut their stuff for the talent show emceed by Jim Jenkinss.

One of the first up was County Commissioner Renetta Parrish as Diana Ross, in a stunning red minidress and long black wig. Before she began, she related a brief anecdote from her childhood: her father once owned a club known as El Chico’s, a neighborhood spot where friends could gather and enjoy good music. However, the club didn’t have a piano, so Greenville resident (at that time) Ray Charles would roll his piano from his house to her father’s club every evening. Parrish dedicated her performance in honor of Charles and his friendship with her father, and then wowed the crowd with her rendition of “Hit the Road, Jack.” Leaving the stage, she danced down the center aisle of the audience and back again, where Peter Walley joined her for an impromptu dance.

Lura Fine, Thelma DeHart and Jean Fiori, in black sequined dresses, followed with the 1960 Carole King classic, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”

Sultry songstress Laura Coleman serenaded Bob Bezick with “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine” and Mary Miller channeled Brenda Lee with the 1961 hit, “Break It to Me Gently.”

Tootie Walley as Patsy Cline sang “Crazy” and Roy Orbison (Dennis DeHart) performed “Only the Lonely” with back-up singers Bob Bezick and Bob Wieland; Hank Williams (Ashley Beggs) performed the classic “Hey, Good-Lookin,” and danced with his wife Martha when she joined him onstage near the end of the song; the Rat Pack’s Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (Bob Bezick and Bob Wieland) treated the crowd to a medley of some half-dozen or more of their greatest hits, including “That’s Amore” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Motorcycle mavens Jessica Webb, Cheryl Abercrombie and Judie Baldwin fell for “The Leader of the Pack” and real-life high school sweethearts Dennis and Thelma DeHart followed with the 1963 hit, “Hey Paula.”

Tootie Walley took to the stage again as a no-nonsense country gal you wouldn’t want to cross, belting out “I Got Friends in Low Places.”

Then it was time for the man of the hour – Elvis entered the building, resplendent in his white sequined jumpsuit, opening with “C.C. Rider” and “Johnny B. Goode,” thrilling the ladies as he serenaded them with the classic love songs “Now or Never” and “Falling in Love With You,” and draping colorful scarves around their necks.

Then the sock hop was on, as Elvis rocked the house with one rock ‘n’ roll hit after another and the dance floor rapidly filled up.

Proceeds from the event go toward the youth garden clubs in the elementary schools, 4H camp scholarships, and many civic beautification projects of the Madison Garden Club.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

After 21 years with the military (U.S. Air Force), 12 years as an educator and many more years as a Sunday School teacher and church leader, Jerome Wyche is currently the Director of the Madison County Recycling Program and a leader/organizer for the Madison County Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Coalition. At the Feb. 1 meeting of the Rotary Club, he told those present a little about the coalition, how it came about, and what it hoped to achieve.

The Coalition is an organization that grew from a series of very small midday meetings in the late 90’s. They moved to Madison County Central School in the afternoons, then to various churches, always with relatively few people attending. But those who did attend saw merit in the group’s mission, and after some experimentation with different locations, they discovered that a neutral location – not a church, and not a school – would bring out the most people and get them involved.

The group also refocused its mission to deal more directly with the challenges of young adults (ages 12-21) in a small, rural community like Madison. There is no movie theater and very few other forms of entertainment.

If there are no forms of entertainment available to young adults, they’ll eventually create their own entertainment.

Statistically, if there is little or no form of entertainment for young adults in a community, that community will see an increase in risky behaviors. There will be higher incidences of binge drinking among high school students. There will be higher incidences of alcohol-related accidents. There will be more prescription drug abuse. There will be more incidences of teenage violence and higher numbers of teen pregnancies. Right now, Madison leads the state in the percentage of pregnancies among unwed teenaged mothers.

It isn’t enough to tell children to say no; the Coalition works to get parents involved and partnered with other community members to present the young adults with alternatives to the risky behaviors.

“We have to offer them alternatives to peer pressure,” said Wyche. “We have to offer them a better lifestyle.”

Our community has also become tolerant of several factors that favor alcohol and drug abuse: minors having access to alcohol at home, minors hosting parties without adult supervision, and people purchasing alcohol for minors.

Through several focus groups that included young people and their parents, the Coalition came up with some strategies that would both get people to come willingly to the meetings and present the young adults with at least one fun alternative to alcohol and drugs – after the two hour Saturday morning meeting, where everyone was given information about the risks and consequences of drugs and alcohol – everybody was going to go fishing.

Forty-five young adults, their parents and other community members attended that meeting. The Coalition purchased 45 rods and reels that the teenagers could keep afterward. When the meeting was over, everyone boarded buses and spent the afternoon fishing.

After another meeting, with 18 young adults and their parents, 18 young adults learned how to golf with donated clubs. Afterward, the group went to a nice sit-down dinner at the county extension office with four or five big door prizes, and every young adult there received his or her choice of donated golf club. In the days and weeks after that meeting, Wyche told of seeing some those same young people out on the Madison Golf Course, practicing their swings.

Those were just two of the alternatives to the peer pressure, drugs, and risky behavior. The Coalition is working to come up with more in the future.

Why? “Because the young adults are the community’s future,” said Wyche. “Some day they will take over the reins after we are all gone.”

If the community doesn’t offer them more alternatives, or show them more opportunities for a better, healthier, more appealing lifestyle, they may not be there in the future to take up those reins.

At a question-and-answer session after the presentation, Rotary members asked about a couple of other alternatives, one of them being to contact the YMCA in Valdosta or Tallahassee to see if either would be willing to open a satellite location in Madison. Madison had previously approached the organization with such a request, and the result was close, but no cigar. It was suggested that perhaps this might be a good time to revisit that prospect with the YMCA.

The Coalition is looking to expand, and would like to invite interested parents and community members to bring their ideas and suggestions and join with them in providing Madison County’s young adults with healthy, fun alternatives to drugs and alcohol, a better lifestyle and a better future.

The group meets on the second Monday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 at 316 SW Pinckney Street. For more information, contact Jerome Wyche, (850) 464-0196 or Bruce Smith at (850) 510-7512.

For tips and information for parents and how they can protect their children, visit www.bethewall.org

Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

After 21 years as a nutrition assistant at the Madison Senior Center, Lonnie Roberson is retiring for good. Before she came to the Madison Senior Center, she had previously retired after nearly 20 years with the hospital, where she worked in housekeeping.

After more than four decades of fulltime work, she decided, “It was time to rest. I’ve been working so long.”

However, even at 81 years of age, it was not a decision made lightly. After 21 years of cooking meals at the Center, she came to regard the seniors and staff as family.

“Yes, I’m going to miss the Center real bad,” she said.

She was the first one who started cooking for the Center when it opened in 1990. Since then, she has made countless meals for as many as 70 or 80 people a day. In addition to lunch for the seniors who came to the Madison Center, she also made meals that were transported to senior facilities in Greenville and Lee.

Born and raised in neighboring Jefferson County, she learned her love of cooking from her mother, and brought that love to the Center, where the seniors who gather there for lunch have enjoyed many a hot and savory meal prepared by her. Some of her favorite dishes to make were collard greens, peas, and sweet potatoes.

The Center staff members organized an ice-cream cake lunch where everyone gathered to say goodbye and wish her well in her retirement. Several people brought gifts, and Madison Senior Center Director Rosa Richardson presented her with a plaque in honor of her many years of service. But when asked if she would like to say a few words, Roberson shook her head. “I don’t want to cry,” she said.

Roberson moved to Madison when she married, and raised six children. She has numerous grandchildren, ranging in age from three months to 38 years, but isn’t quite sure how many there are. “My goodness, I couldn’t count them all,” she said. She has 12 great-grandchildren.

Her family now lives mostly around Madison and Jefferson Counties. A few live in Albany Ga., and some live in South Florida.

She isn’t quite sure what she’d like to do now that she has retired, but she does love to sew, another skill learned from her mother. She has made several quilts over the years, and might do some more of that. Maybe plant a little garden. Definitely spend more time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

But one thing there is no doubt about: “I’m going to come back up here (to the Center) and visit every chance I get,” she said.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

You can’t hire educators for the 21st century using 50-year-old hiring policies, Renee Gordon told the Rotary Club in her presentation on education reform that left everyone with a lot to think about.

Gordon, whose background is that of a research scientist in chemistry and polysynthetics, worked as a recruiter and corporate “head-hunter” for over 20 years. She is now the chief talent scout for E Squared, a corporation focused on recruiting effective educators and building winning teaching teams at the building level.

As a K-12 Human Capital Management expert, Gordon says that one of the most important things when recruiting/hiring educators is “looking beyond the resume and the college transcript.”

Additionally, about 99 percent of schools use what she described as a passive recruiting method; teaching positions are advertised, and the school’s choices are limited to whoever responds to the ad and submits a resume. If schools want good teachers, they will first have to go find them, says Gordon, and then, they cannot limit the interview to what is on a piece of paper.

“One of the first questions I ask is, ‘when did you realize you had to teach?’” she said. Teaching, she believes, is not a job, not a profession, but a calling. Educators are called to teach, just as ministers are called to preach. This is how schools get the right people, she says, the ones with the necessary passion for their work.

Gordon also feels that she has a calling for her own work with E Squared. “God has called me to do this.”

A second question she looks at is the teacher candidate’s level of involvement with children. A third is how did the candidate pay for college. A person who has accrued several hundred thousand dollars in debt from high-interest student loans is not a good bet; the person will very likely leave for more money elsewhere, starting the recruiting/hiring process all over again.

The second part of recruiting good people is retaining good people, so paying teachers what they are worth is important.

As a mother of four sons, one of whom is a high-functioning autistic, Gordon has also had plenty of experience as a parent with the school system, not all of it positive. “If we say that education begins at home, then we have to change the way parents are treated,” she said, “and currently, parents are mostly discouraged from being involved in their children’s schooling.”

If schools are to succeed, parents cannot be pushed aside and regarded as annoyances. One of the signs of a successful school system is a successful and robust Parent-Teacher Organization, where educators are accessible partners to parents, and parents are highly involved in their children’s education. Another sign is school board meetings held at convenient times that allow parents and citizens to attend, “not at ten o’clock in the morning.”

In building her case for a newer approach to educator recruitment and the need for education reform, she added that 7000 students a day – 1.5 million a year – drop out of school. In terms of costs to the economy, it means that America is losing the race. Currently, about 75 percent of America’s 18 to 23-year-olds are ineligible for military service because they cannot pass the entrance exams, they have no high school diploma, they cannot pass the physicals, or they have had run-ins with the law.

Every dropout costs the community roughly $260,000 during his lifetime, either through public assistance costs or incarceration costs.

Failing schools also cost communities because the quality of the school system is the first thing corporations will look at before deciding whether or not to locate offices there.

“Education affects all of us whether you have a child or not,” she said.

Another very real concern on the horizon is what she referred to as the “retirement tsunami.” 47 percent, or nearly half of all teachers and principals currently working in American classrooms are very close to retirement. By 2014, the state of Tennessee alone will face a shortage of 31,000 teachers.

She then took several questions from the Rotary members about how to best improve the local school system through more involvement, through competition and through more effective hiring processes that get the most effective people into the classroom; the local economy could end up depending on it in the future.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

Don’t forget Feb. 8, the second Wednesday of the month. That’s when the 55 Plus Club will be meeting again. The meeting begins at noon, as always, and this time, the First United Methodist Church will be serving the lunch.

The guest speaker will be Pam Wilson, Executive Director of the Big Bend Hospice Foundation, talking about the services the hospice offers and some recent changes that have been made.

Tim Sanders, Clerk of the circuit Court, will be on hand to introduce Wilson. Sanders is one of the Directors of the Big Bend Hospice Board, and is also a member of the local Advisory Board for Big Bend Hospice.

All Madison residents 55 and older are welcome to come on out and enjoy everything 55 Plus has to offer. There are no fees or registration costs of any kind. You don’t even have to make a reservation – just come on out and bring a friend, neighbor or relative to the United Methodist Cooperative Ministries Center located at the corner of Colin Kelley Highway and Dill Street about five miles north of town.

For more information about 55 Plus Club or any outreach ministry of the United Methodist Co-Op, contact Deborah Brown at (850) 929-4938.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

Mark your calendars and get your tickets. The Chili Supper Fundraiser for the Madison Rotary Club is Tuesday, Feb. 7, at the Villa Maria Hall from 5:00 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Take out bowls will be available for those who need to eat on the go.

Come and sample the concoctions of the Rotary Club’s most talented chili chefs and enjoy a dessert of banana puddings created by some of the finest cooks from some of the best recipes (some secret, some not) in Madison.

The chili creations will be rated according to how hot or how mild they are, so there will be forewarning for the four-alarm fire starters.

Tickets are $5 each; to buy yours before they’re all gone, see any Rotary member. There was a printing error on the first batch of tickets, stating that the supper was “January 7” rather than “February 7.” The Rotary ordered new tickets, but if you already bought a ticket with the January date crossed out and the February date handwritten in, don’t worry; it will be accepted at the door.

Proceeds from the Chili Supper fundraiser will go toward several local charities the Rotary Club helps support, including Take Stock in Children, Project Graduation, Relay for Life, the Madison County Pregnancy Center and the North Florida Lifestock Show.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

Within two days after the events of Nov. 1, Tommy Hardee received 32 phone calls telling him he should apply for the position of Supervisor of Elections.

“I told 32 people they were crazy,” Hardee told those gathered at the Jan. 19 Kiwanis Club meeting. Why would he want a job like that, he wondered, when he could make more money in the insurance business, without the headaches and the politics?

Then a group of people he looked up to and respected sat him down and spelled out for him exactly why he needed to apply for the appointment.
After much prayer, he says, he put his name in the running and left it up to God.

On Dec. 8, he received the appointment from Gov. Rick Scott.
As part of his brief address, he presented a short video of a severely handicapped young man, Rick Hoyt, who participates in marathons with his father pushing him in a wheelchair. In 1993, Hoyt, who uses a computer to communicate, graduated from Boston University with a degree in special education. In 2011, Hoyt and his 70-year-old father ran the Boston Marathon.

It is a video Hardee says he has watched hundreds of times, and still finds inspirational when he considers the long road ahead for him and for the voters of Madison County.

“In our office, we’re not going to look at the word ‘can’t,’” he said.
He spoke very highly of the hard work Kaomi Ghent and Freda Martin have done in the last few weeks, getting the office ready for the Jan. 31 primary, and outlined the new rules and procedures he has put in place as part of the new system of checks and balances.

He also talked about how the new office space in the old sheriff’s building would work and how it would be set up. There would be a camera system, there would be windows where people could observe the inner workings of the office, and there would be his own open door policy, where any citizen who had a question or a concern could come see him.

He also talked about his plans to take the touch-screen machine when he visits schools and clubs and nursing centers. He plans to talk about the importance of voting, and then hold mock elections, allowing his audience to actually use the touch screens to elect “Mr. and Miss (Fifth Grade Class, or 4-H, or Senior Center, etc.)” from a list of candidates selected from among themselves. It wouldn’t cost anything to use one of the touch screen machines, because it does not need any paper and can be reset to zero afterwards. Hardee hopes that the education and enjoyment of mock elections will get people excited about voting in real elections.

As to whether or not he will run for the office after his appointment is up, he has heard rumors all over the board; people have “heard” that he will and that he won’t.

However, Hardee declares that, “I don’t know if I’ll run or not; let’s just get through this election first.”

After the election is over and things have settled down, he plans to sit down with his family and his pastor and have a long talk with them about the possibility of running.

It will hinge, he said, on the answers to two questions: “Can I do the job?” and “Can I make a difference?”

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

The very first winner of the Madison Chamber of Commerce’s “Business of the Month Spotlight” for the year 2012 is Jimmie’s Firestone Service Center, located at the junction of I-10 Exit 258 and State Road 53, south of Madison.

Cindy Vees, Director of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, presented the owners of Jimmie’s Firestone with a congratulatory green plant and balloon arrangement, compliments of Madison Florist, a certificate from the Chamber and a sign they can display outside the business for the month of January.

The crew at Jimmie’s Firestone wishes everyone “Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2012,” as they start their own new year on a celebratory note with their “Business of the Month Spotlight” award.

In the words of Greg Vickers, employee of Jimmie’s Firestone:

“Jimmie’s Firestone Service Center is celebrating the Business of the Month Spotlight for the outstanding efforts from our service technicians and emergency service providers, for helping our customers smile when they have needed it the most. The compassionate strength we all share is to brighten our customers’ day or night.

“Emergency service is offered 24/7 to those in need for Madison, Jefferson, Taylor, Suwannee, Hamilton and Hamilton Counties. Jimmie’s firestone Service is also offered for out of state or out of region service.

“Many occasions, we meet people traveling through Madison County in need of service to get to their destination. After our services are rendered, sometimes weeks later, we will receive thank you cards and letters where the customer will congratulate us and show appreciation for the respect and support they are given. One customer in particular, an astronaut, mailed a signed picture of himself dressed in his space gear, writing on the photogragh, ‘Thanks for the excellent service!’

“In every situation at hand, the service providers will look to be aware, and observe the situation at hand to best extend the courtesy needed while assisting the customer in the best way possible.

“On September 11, 1984, Jimmie’s Firestone Service center opened their doors for service to Madison County with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Jimmy and Latrelle Ragans, the owners of the emergency roadside and shop service had already been operating the business for six years before the ribbon cutting, out of their Independent Gas and Diesel fueling station, known as Jimmie’s Truck Stop, at Interstate 10 – which was exit 37 at the time – but is presently known today as Exit 258 and State Road 53 South of Madison.

“Jimmie’s Firestone has been associated with AAA for 34 years ; Madison County and the surrounding counties are served through this auto club. However, we can also handle most other auto club emergency service members as well.

“Services we provided 34 years ago are still provided today in 2012. We offer heavy, medium and light duty mechanical, emergency towing and recovery service. The equipment and license requirement have become more advanced, and Jimmie’s Firestone continues to grow, offering great service by trained and certified personnel. We thank everyone for allowing us to provide services that are appreciated and recognized today as the “Business of the Month in Madison, and invite everyone to celebrate with us for a successful 34 years of excellence in emergency service and repair. If you are in need of towing, lock-out service, tire change mechanical repair and service…remember Jimmie’s Firestone ‘We Can Handle it!’

“Also, find us on Facebook and become a friend.

“Happy New Year! 24 Hour Service! (850) 973-8546!” – Greg Vickers

Jimmie’s Firestone has grown over the years to a three truck operation that employs 16 other people besides Jimmie and Latrelle, including Donnie Ragans, Lisa Ragans, Robin Bell, Cindy Abbott, Sandy Nichols, Steve Schultz, Greg Vickers, Von Thompkins, Chad Neihanke, Donals Voss (AKA “Gramps” – parts man), Donald Gibson (paint and body), Frank Premorel, Jason Law, Arthur Brown, Derrick Pullens and Jimmy Monson.

They also employ one dog, a weimaraner named Julie. As Greg Vickers explains, “fire departments have a fire dog, and we have a wrecker dog!”

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

Tax season is right around the corner and Tax Pro, the new small business that just opened its doors at 119 E Base Street, Suite A, has cut the ribbon just in time to be of help.

Donnell Davis, president of Tax Pro, originally from Madison, attended Texas Southern University and soon started working at Tax Break in Texas.

He became interested in doing tax work after wondering how so many rich people ended up paying so little in taxes. Now he is back in Madison, working to help moderate and low-income families and individuals – people who can least afford to overpay their taxes – helping them make the most of whatever credits or deductions they are eligible for.

“I like to try to help someone out,” he said. “Not just at tax time, but by helping you and your family decide what’s best for you during the whole tax year.”

He provides help for folks who really don’t understand the tax business that well, and admits that at one time, that included himself. He also points out that the tax law is constantly changing and evolving; each year, Congress makes more changes to the tax code. This year, they still haven’t quite finished updating the codes with all the changes they passed in the last session.

At the ribbon-cutting Thursday, Jan, 12, Cindy Vees of the Madison Chamber of Commerce was on hand with the ceremonial ribbon and giant scissors to mark the occasion and welcome Tax Pro into the business community. Davis, along with family and friends, including his pastor, Rev. Joseph Andrews of Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church, celebrated with refreshments and a sheet cake decorated with the Tax Pro logo.

Tax Pro is located in the Madison Glass Doctor Building on Base Street, almost directly across from the Mansion; the office occupies one of the suites facing Base Street.

Davis invites anyone who needs sound tax advice to drop by the office, or contact him at (850) 253-2191 or (850) 673-6333. The doors are open and ready for business.

As he puts it: “You’ve tried the rest, now trust the best – Tax Pro.”

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
Goliath was an abused eight-year-old Great Dane who was in pretty bad shape by the time he made it to Nedra Wooley’s care, where he lived only another 18 months before passing away; BeBe was a sweet kitten who never grew very big. Described as “a sort of Down’s Syndrome animal,” a rare occurrence in the animal world, BeBe weighed only two pounds when she died.

When retired veterinary technician Nedra Wooley founded her animal sanctuary, she named it after the two animals who had made their “forever home” in her heart. Goliath and BeBe’s World, a no-kill animal rescue and sanctuary, came into being in St. Augustine in 2001.

In 2004, a woman named Lydia Claddock purchased 45 acres of land in Madison County and allowed the sanctuary to move here.

At the Rotary Club’s first meeting of 2012, Fran Charlson, who has been with Goliath and BeBe’s World for about a year, told the story of Goliath and BeBe’s World to date.

About 320 animals call the Sanctuary home. Most are not adoptable, either because of physical problems, like the three-legged dog, or behavioral problems, like the dog who digs his way out of every enclosure imaginable. But at Goliath and BeBe’s World, they can live out happy and healthy lives, sharing their 45 acre living space with horses, donkeys, goats, cats, other dogs, birds, even a couple of very large tortoises.

In the seven years the Sanctuary has been located in Madison County, they have spent nearly a million dollars in local businesses, tens of thousands at Dr. Lewis’s veterinary office alone. They have also purchased a tractor from a local dealer, bought thousands of dollars worth of feed from Upholds, and fencing and roofing material from Studstill’s. They also buy supplies from Creatures Featured and several other local merchants.

The Sanctuary helps in other ways, with animal control, accepting animals from Jamie Willoughby at times. Nedra Wooley pointed out that Goliath and Bebe’s World even benefits people who don’t like animals, by taking in those animals that would otherwise become nuisances if they remained at large and bred even more unwanted animals.

At the moment, the shelter does not have a formal adoption program in Madison County, but they would like to have one here in the near future; currently, animals that are adoptable are mostly adopted out through a program in St. Augustine. The shelter does do home checks, and there is an application process for adopting an animal from Goliath and BeBe’s World, so that the animals find the right “forever home,” where they will be a good fit with their new families rather than end up coming back to the shelter. Currently, the shelter has “about a 98 percent hit rate” with adoptions, said Fran Charlson, meaning that fewer than two percent are brought back.

Along with an official adoption program here, Charlson and Wooley would also like to start an education program in the schools, aimed at teaching responsible animal care and prevention of animal abuse.

Another hopeful plan for the future is a low-cost spay and neuter program.

At the present time, the plan is for the shelter to stay here in Madison, but, as Charleson stated, “it’s complicated.”

Lydia Claddock, the woman who owns the 45 acres of land, was arrested and indicted in a fraud scheme. She is currently out on bail, but Goliath and BeBe’s World has “kind of been left hanging.”

It was mainly because of this that Charlson got involved with the shelter about a year ago. With their major source of funding gone, the shelter had to begin a public relations and fundraising campaign.

So far, there has been enough in donations to enable them to keep all the animals fed and vetted. They would like to be able to buy the 45 acres at a foreclosure sale because it would be affordable, but first, the litigation mess surrounding the current owner has to be sorted out. If they cannot buy that particular 45 acres, perhaps there might be another 45 or 50 acres elsewhere in the county they could afford, or perhaps, someone else might want to donate some land.

Although the future regarding their present location is a little unclear at the moment, Charlson says that her work with Goliath and BeBe’s World “has been a wonderful experience,” and they will carry on. They have a fundraising plan for new facilities if need be, they have a business plan, and they have a budget.

They will continue their work to get the word out about the Sanctuary, and bring the adoption programs and the lost-cost spay and neuter programs and the school programs to fruition somehow.

They will also continue to provide Sanctuary for the animals that need a place to live out their lives in peace, and find “forever homes” for the animals with lots of love to give, animals who just need to find the right families to love them back.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

The 55 Plus Club wishes everyone a Happy New Year with good health, good fortune and an invitation to their first 55 Plus Club meeting of 2012.

The Club will meet again at noon on Jan. 11, 2012, and program chairperson Lilla Howerton, who always works to have interesting programs for the club meetings has arranged for guest speaker Teenie Cave to give her presentation on “Treasured Memories and Folklore of Madison County.” Whether you are a long-timer or a newcomer to Madison County, you won’t want to miss this special nostalgic program of bygone days and local history.

The presentation includes lots of pictures and photos, meaning that the UMCM Center’s brand new large screen will be used for the very first time.

The meeting will be at the usual spot, the United Methodist Cooperative Ministries Center on the corner of Dill Street and Colin Kelly Highway, about five miles north of town. The meetings and the lunch are free and open to anyone 55 and older who would like to gather together to see friends, enjoy good food and hear an interesting program.

For directions or more information about 55 Plus or any other outreach ministry of the United Methodist Cooperative Ministries, contact Deborah Brown, Coordinator, at (850) 929-4938.

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.

The ladies of the Southern Bells Handbell Choir opened their program at the 55 Plus Club with, appropriately enough, “Silver Bells.”

The Southern Bells, ranging in age from 60 to 96, began about two years ago under the direction of Sharon French and Enid Kozlowski, from the Baptist and Methodist churches respectively. The two got together and came up with the idea of a handbell choir for senior ladies.

The rest, as they say, is history. Ever since then, the ladies have been ringing their way into the hearts of audiences throughout the community of Madison. French and Kozlowski believe that the choir is a part of God’s ministry, bringing music and joy to everyone who comes to hear the ladies play. At the Dec. 14 meeting of 55 Plus, there wasn’t an empty seat left anywhere as the Southern Bells began their concert.

After their opening number of “Silver Bells,” French, who took turns with Kozlowski directing the songs, told the audience that the rest of the program would be about the Nativity, “telling the story of the birth of Christ” through music, including “O Holy Night,” “Away in a Manger” and a sing-along of “Silent Night.”

The Southern Bells received a standing ovation from the delighted 55 Plus crowd at the conclusion of their performance.

The 55 Plus Club, an outreach of United Methodist Cooperative Ministries, meets the second Wednesday of every month for lunch, followed by a presentation of a speaker or musical performance. The Club is free and open to anyone 55 or older who would like to join them at the UMCM building about five miles north of town on the corner of Colin Kelly Highway and NW Dill Street.

The next 55 Plus meeting will be Wednesday, January 11, and will feature a presentation on the Treasures Museum of Madison County. For More information on the 55 Plus Club, or any other outreach ministry of UMCM, contact Deborah Brown, UMCM Coordinator, at (850) 929-4938.