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ACC Library to Host Third Installment of Centennial Art Series

7/30/2019

To celebrate its centennial year, the Athens Art Association will have a series of exhibitions all around Athens with the newest opening on August 10 at the Athens-Clarke County Library. The exhibition is titled “Bridge to the Second Century: The Athens Art Association, 1919-2019,” and corresponds with two exhibits being displayed at the Lyndon House Arts Center and the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia.

As reported in The Red & Black and according to a press release by the ACC Library, the exhibition can be viewed on the library’s second floor in the Quiet Gallery.

According to Van Burns, the library’s Adult Programming Coordinator, all the pieces in the library’s gallery are current works by members of the Athens Art Association, which differs from the historical focus of the other two exhibitions.

There will be 45 pieces featured from local artists including Alice Pruitt, Connee Flynn, and Bob Clements.

On August 11, the library will host a reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibition in the Appleton Auditorium. Many artists with work featured in the exhibition will be speaking about their artwork and the history of the Art Association.

The ACC Library has a permanent art collection throughout the library, several pieces of which were borrowed by the Lyndon House for its exhibition, according to Burns. The gallery on the second floor holds rotating exhibitions, which are changed every two months.

“We are friends with a number of people at Lyndon House and at the Art Association and they approached us about having an exhibition here,” Burns said. “ … [The exhibition is] a showing of the impact that [The Art Association has] had on the Athens community.”

The galleries at the Lyndon House and the Georgia Museum of Art will end on Aug. 15 and Aug. 11, respectively. Another exhibition in the series, titled “Growing Through Art,” will open at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia on Nov. 3.

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UGA to Launch New Diabetes Prevention Program in the Fall

7/23/2019

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University of Georgia Well-being, in partnership with UGA Extension, recently announced that they would be offering a free on-campus diabetes prevention program —Prevent T2— beginning this fall.

Prevent T2 is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved program that has “proven to prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes,” according to a UGA news release.

As reported in The Red & Black, the program’s participants will work with a lifestyle coach to assist with losing weight and making lifestyle changes to include healthy eating, exercising regularly, managing stress and staying motivated.

Prevent T2 is a year-long program with weekly group meetings for the first half of the year. For the remaining six months, the hour-long meetings will be held once or twice a month.

Kizmet Adams, UGA Wellbeing coordinator, said it was important for the UGA College of Public Health to try to get these programs going to help improve the lives of people with prediabetes.

“People know what they have to do to be healthy, but it can be hard,” Adams said. “A really small, hands-on group program can really work for somebody.”

Anyone with even just one of the risk factors for prediabetes is eligible for the program. Risk factors include being 45 and older, being overweight, having a family history of type 2 diabetes, lack of physical activity in daily life and having had diabetes while pregnant.

According to the CDC, more than one in three adults in the United States have prediabetes — defined as having a blood glucose level higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. The CDC also says of those with prediabetes, 90% are unaware that they have it.

Type 2 diabetes results from insulin resistance — a condition where the body fails to use insulin properly — and can lead to health issues such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation.

An informational meeting for the Prevent T2 program is to be held on August 20, Adams said.

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Athens Police Department Announce New Deputy Chiefs

7/16/2019

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The Athens-Clarke County Police Department recently announced that Jeff Clark, Mike Hunsinger and Jerry Saultersto have been promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief as of July 15.

As reported recently in The Red & Black, the office of the Deputy Chief is responsible for all ACCPD bureaus including the Central Communications Bureau, Community Support Services Bureau, Investigations Bureau, Standards and Training Bureau and Patrol Bureau. The deputy chief reports to the chief of police who then reports to the county manager.

Upon Spruill’s arrival in February, Clark and Hunsinger served as interim deputy chiefs, while Saulters was the captain of the Criminal Investigations Bureau.

“The Deputy Chief position requires an individual to possess an extensive law enforcement background, excellent communication skills, and a deep knowledge of the agency,” Spruill said in a news release. “Their combined 73 years of experience will be a great asset.”

Clark began his law enforcement career at ACCPD in 1997. During his time with ACCPD, he served as a sergeant and lieutenant in both the Uniform Patrol and Criminal Investigations Bureaus.
In 1987, Hunsinger started his career of law enforcement at the University of Georgia Police Department and in 1988, he joined the ACCPD. During his time at ACCPD, Hunsinger served in “all bureaus within the agency.” Hunsinger has a Master’s degree in public administration from Clayton State University.

Saulters began his law enforcement career with ACCPD in 1998 as a uniform patrol officer. In 2005, he was assigned to the robbery/homicide unit of the CIB, and in 2007, Saulters was promoted to Sergeant in the CIB. Saulters has served as Lieutenant, Shift Commander, Captain and bureau commander for CIB.

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UGA School of Social Work to Help Assess Support for Addiction and Mental Illness

7/9/2019

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For the next 16 months, researchers at the University of Georgia School of Social Work will be developing an assessment tool that the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities can use to tackle issues surrounding those in addiction or mental health recovery.

As reported in The Red & Black, the project helps state policymakers identify issues that cause people in recovery to end up back in hospitals, jails or homelessness.

“This will be the first statewide assessment to look at all the different ways peer support is provided throughout the state,” said Orion Morbway, associate professor of social work and principal investigator for the project, in a news release. “We’re collecting data on the current system and will provide advice on how to better evaluate the peer support program.”

The DBHDD supports mental health and substance abuse prevention and intervention programs. Currently, over a thousand certified peer specialists help about 160,000 individuals.

Peer specialists are also in recovery but are “trained and certified by the state to assist others who face similar problems.”

Research shows that people in recovery do better in society when they get help from someone who was in a similar situation.

Mowbray and his team will examine the impact of peer support, individual improvement and the efficiency of the programs.

In 1999, Georgia was the first state to put into effect statewide peer support. Since then, 42 other states have followed its lead in implementing the service.

“In terms of the delivery of peer support service, Georgia tends to be at the forefront nationally,” Mowbray said. “There are not a lot of other states that I can think of that have peer support service integrated into multiple forms of public mental health services. That’s very forward thinking.”

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Washington Farms to no Longer Offer Strawberry-Picking

7/2/2019

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Washington Farms, located about 20 minutes from the University of Georgia, has been a fun place to go for students, local families and north Georgia residents for more than 25 years. Despite strawberry picking having been a well-known springtime activity, this year’s strawberry season was the last one as the farm’s owners are working to decrease their workload and focus on growing other crops.

As reported in The Red & Black, Donna and John Washington opened Washington Farms in 1993, when they originally only grew strawberries. With his background in forestry and finance and her background in teaching, strawberry farming was not a predictable career choice.

“We started farming with no land, no tractor, we didn’t even own a shovel. We had three kids and we were going to start a business, so it was kind of crazy,” Donna Washington said.

Following thorough research and buying land in Oconee County, John Washington started growing strawberries. Little by little, with the work of the family — including the Washingtons’ five children and other employees — the farm grew to two locations and more crops and attractions.

The business, which attracted student employees from UGA, envisioned growing strawberries for people to come pick, but for those who cannot pick themselves, one job of employees was to pre-pick strawberries. Mary Gilbert, a former employee for 10 years and a 2010 UGA graduate, began working at the farm while she was a freshman and remembers the amount of strawberries there was during peak season.

“Inside the little shed where we sell out of, we would have all those pre-picks, all over the floor, on shelves, I mean strawberries were everywhere,” Gilbert said.

With Donna’s education background, she began teaching children about the process of growing strawberries during their elementary school field trips. Using pictures and a bee puppet to describe pollination, Washington taught the students and then John Washington took them on picks for some hands-on experience.

Washington said a late frost in their third year growing strawberries took out 60% of the crop, which is what made the farm deide to grow other crops.

“John figured the more we could diversify and offer more things, the less all your eggs are in one basket,” Washington said.

Starting with pumpkins and then blueberries and blackberries, the farm offered new products for customers to pick. After introducing pumpkins, a corn maze and other fall fun activities soon followed to attract older kids and UGA students, according to Washington.

Anna Kate Cartwright, a fourth year advertising major from Douglasville, has worked for the farm for three years and through her work there, Cartwright has built relationships with regular customers.
“It’s really cool to see these people become more than customers and become friends,” Cartwright said.

Though strawberry picking is a fun weekend activity, the process of growing the strawberries requires a lot of effort. According to Washington, strawberry season is six weeks, usually beginning in mid-April and concluding at the end of May.

Due to their short season and reliance upon good weather, strawberries are hard to grow and maintain.
“Strawberries are very labor intensive, they’re very high maintenance, they’re very high risk,” Washington said.

Washington Farms is no longer growing strawberries but it will continue with its other crops and farm activities. The blackberries, which the farm has been growing for 10 years, continues to grow from the first cane they planted, unlike strawberries that have to be replanted every year. Also, blackberries bloom in May and are not at risk for frost, unlike strawberries that can be harshly affected by late frost.

“We’re hoping that we can continue to do the agritainment part...and we intend to keep the blueberries and the blackberries going,” Washington said. “We still have our foot in farming, just not the labor-intensive strawberries anymore.”

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Welcome To Our Blog!

ACC Library to Host Third Installment of Centennial Art Series

UGA to Launch New Diabetes Prevention Program in the Fall

Athens Police Department Announce New Deputy Chiefs

UGA School of Social Work to Help Assess Support for Addiction and Mental Illness

Washington Farms to no Longer Offer Strawberry-Picking

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