At the 50th Annual Butts County Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet held on March 15th, 2008, four members of Partners for Smarth Growth were honored for their work in the community. The Honorees who are members of Partners and the awards they received are as follows:
Shining Light Award
Mr. Byrd Garland, for his local civic work and particularly for his role in the formation of Partners for Smart Growth
Mr. Ernest Battle, for his service to the community in education, civic participation and church initiatives
Butts County Business of the Year
Mr. Ben Dover & Dover Realty Company, for 35 Years of serving the community with integrity, community service and having a positive impact on the community through its support of community initiatives
Butts County Citizen of the Year
Mr. Michael Brewer, for significant contributions to the community in citizenship, community service and acts that bring distinction and honor to the community.
Dr. Ed Hoard, a member of the Partners for Smart Growth Board of Directors has been nominated and elected to become Vice Chairman of PSG. Dr. Hoard, a noted speaker and community leader is the Senior Pastor at Eagles Brooke Community Church. He is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Jackson-Butts County and has a lengthy record of community service involvement. He is married to the former Gigi Leverette who is the Chief Magistrate of Butts County. Dr. Hoard has been an invaluable part of the PSG Board and his move into a leadership position should only strengthen the excellent bond and synergy that exists within the organization and the board.
Welcome New Members
Welcome to the following new members who joined since December 5th, 2007:
Browning & Associates, Mike Browning (Regular)
First City Bank (Sustaining)
Fresh Air Barbecue, Georgia Barber (Regular)
Haisten & Johnston Accounting Firm (Regular)
Danny Hoard, Big D's Discount Drugs (Supporting)
Mike Patterson (Regular)
R & B Metal Structures (Regular)
Sacred Journey Hospice (Regular)
Dr. Alan White (Regular)
The Board of Directors voted unanimously on March 14, 2008 to hire Linda Mallory of Jackson as the new Executive Director of Partners for Smart Growth. Ms. Mallory brings a wide degree of business knowledge coupled with her personal knowledge of Butts County and its citizens to the table. She is retired from MCI Telecommunications where she worked for ten years in various upwardly mobile positions including Global Account Executive and Senior Marketing Manager. Prior to that, she was employed as Director of Communications for University Community Hospital in Tampa Florida. She is a member of the Jackson-Butts County Rotary Club and the Jackson United Methodist Church. She has a daughter and two granddaughters. Linda has already begun her new duties with Partners and is looking forward to continuing the work accomplished by our previous Director, Dr. Phil DeMore.
Published in the Jackson Progress-Argus, December 5th, 2007
Dear Editor,
Partner's for Smart Growth exists for the sole purpose of trying to help our community as it faces unprecedented growth. Many people have asked us to endorse political candidates and even field candidates in upcoming political races. We have no intentions of endorsing any political candidate and have no intention of entering or fielding candidates in political races. We hope to work with the people the voters choose as our elected leaders and help them make responsibile and intelligent decisions as we all march forward together.
In trying to achieve this result, we have hosted several forums. The speakers we have heard so far have been very good and have shared invaluable information with us about how other communities have faced growth. From these forums, those attending have gained new knowledge about what has worked elsewhere and those ideas and plans that did not work so well. This sort of information is essential in planning for our upcoming growth.
We hope to continue to provide these types of programs in our effort to help our community. This is the type of information we hope to share with our elected officials and the various authorities. To endorse political candidates or to field candidates would hinder our ability to maintain credibility with our elected officials and could cause further division in a community that is far too divided already.
Yours very truly,
Byrd Garland
Chairman, Partners for Smart Growth
