Entries by Staff Writer

The Appling County Head Start Program is currently taking applications for the 2013-2014 program year.  The Appling County Head Start Program is operated by Concerted Services, Inc., your local community action agency.  Children must be three or four years old by September 1, 2013 to be age eligible and families must be income eligible.  [Full Story »] 

The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of August 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented. [Full Story »] 

Hooray! It’s time for Pre-K Registration for the 2013 – 2014 school year. The registration will be held at the Appling County High School Lunchroom on March 16. If parents or guardians live in the Altamaha Elementary or Fourth District Elementary zones, they will register from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. [Full Story »] 

Appling County Branch of the NAACP Scholarship applications are available at Appling County High School. [Full Story »] 

Kindergarten registration for the 2013-2014 school year is going on now at Altamaha Elementary School. [Full Story »] 

Timothy Ryan and Marie Davis are proud to announce the birth of their son, Emmett Hudson. [Full Story »] 

Jeff and Kandie Mathis of Jacksonville, Florida and Robert and Pam Wiggins of Baxley are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming wedding of their children, Miss Alexandra Mathis, to Lt. Robert Wiggins III (Trey). [Full Story »] 

Scott Carter and Selena Sapp are proud to announce the forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Jessie Marie Carter, to Joseph Maverick Carter, son of Joe Carter and Angie Hampton. [Full Story »] 

Every once in a blue moon, members of Congress actually roll up their shirtsleeves and do something positive. Last week U.S. Senators Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) introduced legislation to repeal a portion of Obamacare. The legislation, dubbed the American Job Protection Act, attempts to repeal the job-killing employer mandate that was included in the President’s $2.6 trillion health law, which requires businesses with 50 employees or more to provide health insurance of minimum value or pay a penalty between $2,000 and $3,000 for each employee working 30 hours or more per week. [Full Story »] 

When I walk into a Weight Watchers meeting, the room is already set up. Chairs line the walls, products sit on the back table waiting for my perusal and/or purchase, and the flip chart of the week’s session awaits the appointed hour. In the back the leader and her assistant are already weighing members in, celebrating with those who lose and commiserating with those who gain. They smile and encourage as they efficiently do their jobs. We all know that they are doing jobs, of course. They are paid, as well they should be, but how fair is their pay? I’ve never heard Baxley’s local leaders complain, but a big outcry is sounding across the country among leaders who complain that they make less than minimum wage. [Full Story »] 

I keep getting notices through my email that someone wants to be my friend on Facebook. Out of courtesy I almost always approve them even though I do not know them from a bucket of turpentine. Just this morning another request arrived and I went to the site and there, on the right side of the screen, was as ad stating that if I wanted to meet some nice ladies that wanted a faithful man to take care of them, that all I had to do was click on the picture. I thought about this for a minute and was about to click just to find out who might be available in the event my wife up and run off. [Full Story »] 

I served on separate occasions as Chaplain of the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate, which involved preaching to the House of Representatives and to the State Senate in their separate chambers in the Georgia State Capitol. I was serving as pastor of the North Baxley United Methodist Charge during those years. [Full Story »] 

(Editor’s note: The following is a letter written by Thomas Anderson to President Obama. Anderson submitted the letter for publication.)

Dear Mr. President,

Since you are always comparing yourself to former President Abraham Lincoln, I thought I would enclose, for your reading, a copy of 10 guidelines as basic economic and sound financial policy. If we are to survive as a nation, we need to follow these 10 guidelines he left for us. [Full Story »]