Greene Publishing, Inc.

By Kristin Finney

Greene Publishing, Inc.

The United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development answered the prayers of Madison County Senior Citizens. The USDA Rural Development presented the senior citizens of Madison with a grant worth $81,100.

Also added to that total is $27,100 from the Senior Citizens Council of Madison County.

That money will be used to make some much needed improvements to the Senior Citizens Center, including buying new kitchen equipment. This kitchen equipment will enhance the services offered at the Senior Center, as well as bring the Nutrition Department in compliance with regulations of safety, prevention of health hazards, implementation of other program and continuation of preparing meals on site that will assist with meeting the needs of seniors.

This money will also be used to purchase rehabilitation and work out equipment. This equipment will be used to aid senior through physical therapy and rehabilitation as well as offer them a place to build healthier habits and ways of life.

The Presider over the check presentation ceremony was Vice President of the Board of Directors, Howard Phillips. Jim Catron, the Mayor of Madison, welcomed everyone to the ceremony. James Stanley, Board Members and City Commissioner, gave the invocation. Rosa Richardson, Executive Director of the Board of Directors, gave a project overview. Peggy Johns, Area Director for the USDA in Lake City and Rural Development office then introduced Richard Macheck, State Director of the USDA and Rural Development of Gainesville.

Jim Catron then spoke on behalf of the city commissioners. Roy Ellis spoke on behalf of the County Commissioners. Rosa Richardson and James Ray, President of the Board of Directors, then accepted the check from Richard Machek. James Ray gave the closing remarks.

Kevin Jackson recently published his novel entitled Storytale.  Even though Jackson remains busy working full time and raising his young family with his wife, he couldn’t let go of a dream driving him since his high school days: He has to write.

He wrote his first sonnet when he was 16.  Two years later, he completed his first novel. By 22, he had a second novel under his belt.  He’s recently passed the number of sonnets Shakespeare penned.  Now, only a few years removed from college, he has completed and published his third novel, Storytale.

Storytale is not your typical novel.  In fact, after searching widely, Jackson has not found any novel written the way he crafted Storytale.

The two main characters of Storytale speak in iambic pentameter—the meter used in lines of sonnets with alternating unstressed, stressed syllables—for the majority of the book.  When the words of Jackson’s female character, Queen Bidellia, are pulled from the text, you’ll find a consistent rhyme scheme.  Jackson uses the rhyme scheme popularized by Shakespeare for most of Storytale.  However, you will find a different pattern at various points of this novel to reveal a different mood in his characters.  This other rhyme scheme is one Jackson developed ten years ago and uses in his vast collection of sonnets.

Although Storytale is a fantasy novel originally intended for middle graders to young adults, Jackson feels this book should appeal to anybody if not for the sole purpose of curiosity.  How did he incorporate poetry like that without skewing the flow of his story?

You can find out how Kevin Jackson accomplished this.  Storytale is available as an ebook through Smashwords.com after October 11, 2011.

By Lynette Norris

Greene Publishing, Inc.

Sweet and Dill Pickles were the musical guests for the very first 39ers Club meeting in October, after the summer break.

“I think you’ve already figured out who’s Dill and who’s Sweet,” said Troy Pickles, the lead bass singer who hits notes so low it rattles the floorboards in the basement.  The other half of the singing duo is his daughter, Jessica Ratliff, who harmonizes with a strong, ringing alto.

Ratliff, who also performs with the Southern gospel trio Lifesong (with Bryant Thigpen and Ethan Brooks) said learning to sing alto against such a strong bass voice was “a challenge….but I have always loved harmonizing.”

Together, the father-daughter team made sweet Southern gospel music at the Oct. 18 meeting.  Their performance brought in sounds of bluegrass, country and folk, including “Pray for the Fish,” a fun number about being baptized in a creek, an up-tempo version of Johnny Cash’s “Aint No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down)” and the praise anthem “Glory to God in the Highest.”

The 39ers were tapping their feet and clapping their hands to the music before it was over.

Rev. John Hopwood, Pastor of Grace Presbyterian, traded a couple of jokes with Pickles, asking at one point, “who was the creative genius who came up with the name Sweet and Dill Pickles?”

It turned out it was Hopwood himself who had suggested the name, but “I was trying to be humble about it and get you to say it,” he laughed.

“Nice try, John,” said someone in the audience, to a round of laughter.

The 39ers Club gets together the third Tuesday of every other month at noon in the fellowship hall of Grace Presbyterian Church to enjoy good food and great music.  There are no dues or fees of any kind, and anyone who is “39 years of age until proven otherwise” as the late Jack Benny put it, is welcome to join in the fun.  The lunch is covered dish potluck, and at Tuesday’s meeting, pieces of pink and white frosted cake from Rachel Reichmann’s 100th birthday party showed up on the dessert table.

The 39ers next meeting is Dec. 20, “Same time, same station!” said Hopwood.  “Bring a pal, or bring an enemy!”

“Bring an inlaw, bring an outlaw!” said another.

In keeping with the culinary theme, the musical guest scheduled for the December meeting is a group known as Oil and Vinegar.

By Kristin Finney

Greene Publishing, Inc.

There are few organizations that can compare with the United Way. There are even fewer who can make such a large difference in the lives of so many people. Madison’s United Way team has been working hard this year to make the 2011 campaign a success.

At their meeting on Oct. 25, the group discussed their plans for the end of the season and their hopes for the future. Planning has begun for their Appreciation Event, which will be held on November 29. Invitations will be given out in mid November to those who donated $500 or more to the Madison United Way Campaign.

The group also reviewed the outcome of their Celebrity Waiter Event. Their final total was $1,563, a whopping 150% increase from last year’s event. The team would like to thank Madison County for their kindness and contributions to the United Way.

The campaign goal this year is $120,000. So far the team has earned just over $40,000. If you would like to donate to the United Way, you can contact any United Way member to get a donation form. All donations go to help charities and those in need.

By Lynette Norris

Greene Publishing, Inc.

After the joint meeting of the Madison Garden Club and Madison Woman’s Club, several members regrouped in front of the Dial House on Livingston Street and then moved on to the Greater Community Baptist Church, to remember four of their number who had passed away the previous year.

The four women, Karla Rooks, Margaret Sullivan, Glen Baker and Eloise “Weezie” Wade, who had been members of both clubs for many years, had trees dedicated in their honor at the two locations, a long tradition with the Madison Garden Club.  Garden Club President Martha Beggs led a prayer at the brief ceremony beneath each tree.

By Lynette Norris

Greene Publishing, Inc.

Robert “Red” Henderson, originally from Hamilton County, first started with the Madison County Road Department Sept. 14, 1981, as a truck driver.  In the interim, he has also worked as a mowing crew supervisor, a field specialist and assistant road department coordinator, the position currently held by Lonnie Thigpen.

Since New Year’s Day of 2008, Henderson has been Madison County’s Road and Bridge Coordinator, overseeing a department of several crews responsible for the road system throughout Madison County.  The last day of November is his last official day with the Road Department, but his last day in the office is coming up a little sooner, because he has to use up some accumulated leave time.

After that, assistant road department coordinator Lonnie Thigpen, 21 years with the department as of Jan. 1 of next year, will officially take up the reins as the new Madison County Road and Bridge Department Coordinator.

Before Henderson began with the Madison County Road Department, he had worked at different times in both counties, selling insurance in Madison, or working for the Forestry Service in Hamilton.  He also had family ties to Madison, and worked with one of his uncles in Greenville, running a sawdust-spreading business.  Another uncle, I.T. Carter, was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lee for many years.

Henderson has three sons: Jeff, a retired Marine who lives in Colorado Springs; Greg, who lives in Arizona; and David, manager of the Smokin’ Pig in Valdosta, who will soon be opening a second Smokin’ Pig in Macon.

For his retirement, he says he has no real plans for a couple of months, then maybe something like going up to the mountains.

Of his 30 years and two months with the Madison County Road Department, Henderson says he has thoroughly enjoyed it.  “We’ve got some good employees out here,” he said.  “We’ve got some good help in the office, and some good people in Madison; I hope I made the road department a little better, and I hope Mr. Thigpen makes it a little better after I leave.”

Before Henderson leaves for good, however, the County Coordinator Allen Cherry has organized a luncheon/retirement party for him on Nov. 2, which he described as a bit of a roast. Because, he told Henderson, “After 30 years, somebody’s bound to know something about you!”