Thursday, April 26, 2012

Travel Piece

Photo by Kevin A. Jackson

Yellow River Game Ranch
04/19/2012
444
Jackson

On a cool February morning, spectators from as far as Florida anxiously wait. Just after 7 on Groundhog's Day, General Beauregard Lee, Ph.D. peers outside his white-columned Southern mansion with an architectural water fountain and sundial. As the mammal slowly crawls into sight, shutters clap and children and adults alike cheer for the animal to make his annual weather prediction.

Beau, as he is so affectionately called, is one of the many animals parents and kids can watch, enjoy, and even pet at the Yellow River Game Ranch. According to Frommers.com, the game ranch allows access to over 600 animals.

“When I was little, I used to go on field trips to the Yellow River Game Ranch. Now, I take my students there,” comments Jeffery Dumler, a Gwinnett County student teacher and resident.

Other animals featured at the ranch are deer, ducks, a fox, peacocks, sheep, and rabbits.

Yellow River Game Ranch has different events planned for each month, as well as special discounts and events for entire families to enjoy.

March – April
The game ranch will have a special exhibition of baby animals. Visit the chicks, ducklings, bunnies, kid goats and more!

May
Professional sheep shearer will be in attendance to shear the wooly sheep on May 19, 2012. The shearing will happen just in time for the soaring summer temperatures expected for this summer.

June – July
During the mid-summer months, the Yellow River Game Ranch encourages parents to take their kids for picnics in the park with all of the friendly and furry critters running around.

August
Georgia-native White-tail deer will be fed at “The Salad Bar” located in the from 4 – 4:30 p.m. every day.

September
Give Mom and Dad a weekend to themselves in September. For the entire month, grandparents receive free admission with the purchase of one child's admission on weekends.

October
A hunter's paradise! During November, antlered bucks, which are male deer, with my on display in the Overlook section of the game ranch.

November
The Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving, one child's admission will be free with the purchase of adult admission. This is a great chance to the kids out of the house while the chefs work their magic in the kitchen!

December

Memorial Day-Labor Day (summer hours)

7 days week
Open 10:00 AM
last ticket sold at 5:00 PM Close at 6:00 PM

Labor Day-Memorial Day (winter hours)

Monday-Friday
Open 10:00 AM
last ticket sold at 4:00 PM Close at 5:00 PM **
Saturday & Sunday
Open 10:00 AM
last ticket sold at 5:00 PM Close at 6:00 PM **


Every December, the Yellow River Game Ranch has a Dollar Day. The date is to be announced.

On March 13, Beau tweeted “The Game Ranch was voted "Best Place to Go on a Field Trip" by Best of Gwinnett. Come check out Atlanta's best kept secret!”

For more information on the Yellow River Game Ranch or Gen. Lee, visit http://www.yellowrivergameranch.com

GPC Press Release


A Fresh Start for The Screenwriter’s Workshop
February 16, 2012
Contact: Tyre Johnson-King

Author: Kevin A. Jackson


For Immediate Release

Already in One of Clarkston’s newest clubs, the Screenwriter’s Workshop, has a great vision for 2012.

“Our goals consist of recruiting new members, increasing campus awareness, reaching students across campuses through our club events.” says Tyre Johnson-King, president of the SW.
         
With a goal to help students college-wide with writing screenplays and short films, the SW is planning a writing contest and plans on inviting a guest speaker to talk to an audience about film-making.

“Screenwriter's Workshop meets every Monday at 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. in CN-2210.” says the club’s advisor, Alicia Guarrancino. "

Contact Alicia at Tyre Johnson-King at berkiepa88@gmail.com or Alicia Guarracino at Alicia.Guarracino@gpc.edu for more information on the club and their plans.



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Georgia Perimeter College, the third largest institution of the University System of Georgia, serves approximately 27,000 students through four campuses and several sites in metro Atlanta. For additional information, visit www.gpc.edu.

DeKalb Community Service Board Public Relations





Team Captains to Run for a Cause
04/12/12
Contact: Michelle Potter 
Email: MPotter@dekcsb.org
Authors: Kevin A. Jackson, James Turner, and Parrish Bush



For Immediate Release

The DeKalb Community Service Board and the Brighter Tomorrows Foundation are recruiting team captains for their Walk of Heroes 5K event on Saturday, September 22.

The deadline for team captain and volunteer sign up is August 1. The first captains meeting will take place early in the month of August. The exact date is to be announced.

 “Captains get a group together of friends, family, coworkers, civic or religious organization, etc. and encourage members to sign up for their team,” said Michelle Potter, Community Service Manager for the DeKalb CSB. “Captains create a team name and set it up by registering on Active.com. Then share the registration site and team name with their group.”

Felicia Anderson, Director of the DeKalb Community Service Board said she ”sends out emails encouraging coworkers at the DeKalb Community Service Board to participate in the walk.” 

DeKalb CSB volunteers will assist in putting together T-shirts and bags. Captains can either pick-up these packages on race day or up two days before the race at 445 Winn Way, Decatur, GA 30030.

The purpose of the Walk of Heroes 5K is to raise money to assist DeKalb residents with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and substance addictions served by DeKalb CSB.

Contact Michelle at mpotter@dekcsb.org or 404-508-7875 to see how else you can get involved.



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The DeKalb Community Service Board is a nonprofit public safety net provider of community-based behavioral healthcare, offering a full range of mental health services, substance abuse treatment and developmental disabilities programs. 





Tuesday, April 24, 2012

GPC Biographical Piece


Photo by Kevin A. Jackson

Quiet Protestor
4/26/2012
750
Jackson



Behind the desk, Sherry Lynn Durren fits the cliché of a typical librarian. She is quiet, reserved, polite and highly knowledgeable. When she steps away from her role of Media Librarian at the Clarkston campus Jim Cherry Learning and Resource Center, Sherry is a devoted humanitarian, animal lover and future grandmother.

Originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sherry Lynn is the oldest of three kids with one brother and one sister. As a child and still today, Sherry was an outdoors-type of girl. She spent time as a child reading and writing and even volunteered at her school library in junior high school. Much of her socializing was with extended family for holidays.

During the Vietnam War, Sherry became involved in the civil rights and equality movement. Even though she was just a teenager, Sherry took a stand for what she believed in. Growing up, Sherry was not raised to follow a traditional faith like most American families did at that time. In her adolescent years, Sherry says she was atheist but often studied other religions. Now she studies the Buddhist faith and applies what she has learned to her everyday life.

A constant part of Sherry’s life as a teen her expression of the right to assemble. She expressed her freedoms to assemble, to speak, and to write. In Kalamazoo, she wrote for an underground news publication called The Patriot. With the Patriot, Sherry wrote about the corruption of America, events in and around Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, and liberal ideals.

At this age, Sherry was also part of a semi-popular Michigan jazz band called the Shultz Food Band. The group started their temporary ascent to stardom over, commonly enough, food. One night, a gentleman by the name of Sherman Shultz had graced Sherry and her band mates with his presence.

Sherman started clinking his glass with his fork and pretty soon the entire gang was “moving and grooving” to the impromptu beat. Within just a matter of months, the Shultz Food Band had grown significantly popular in the Lake Michigan area, playing for large crowds several nights a week. Sherry says “those were some of the best days I remember. I met some many people I otherwise would have never met.”

On May 4, 1970 at Kent State University, four student demonstrators were shot and nine were injured by National Guard. In honor of these fallen freedom fighters, Sherry and other students across the nation protested the travesty. She had her friends assembled outside a Michigan post office and occupied the area for several days.

           In 1984, Sherry started college at Agnes Scott at the age of 34 and graduated four years later with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. At the time, she was a single mother to her 4 year old daughter. “It was hard getting by financially,” Sherry said thinking back on those college years. A feminist herself, Sherry has taught her daughter about self-reliance and perseverance.

She made ends meet by working several jobs, one of which was at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the nuclear reactor building. The reactor was shut down on Feb. 15, 1988 due to contamination.

Ten years after achieving her first degree, Sherry acquired her Master’s degree in Library Sciences from the University of South Carolina.

For the past ten years, Sherry has participated in anti-war and pro-peace movements.  At the beginning of the second war with Iraq, she ventured to the nation’s capital to protest the war.

“We rode a bus from Atlanta that traveled overnight, spent one long day in DC, and rode back that night!” Sherry smiles as she thinks back to the day. This protest was one of the largest gatherings Sherry has had the opportunity to participate in.

Late in the evening, Sherry boarded a bus northbound for D.C. On the bus were people of different ages, genders, religions and orientations. The bus would return the very next night.

 Thinking back, Sherry remembers the energy from the crowd. Israelis, Muslims, Buddhists, union workers from all over the East coast and Detroit were in attendance. The experience gave Sherry a strong feeling of camaraderie.

“On the way to DC we had to stop twice for Muslims on our bus to wash and pray. I had never experienced that before, “says Sherry.

Monica Brown, a former library assistant in the Clarkston campus Jim Cherry Learning and Resource Center has spent several years working with Sherry.

“Sherry is definitely the type to maintain peace,” Monica says. “Sherry's really easy to work with. She has a patient and calm demeanor. She's always upbeat and positive.”




Research sources:
Monica Brown
Sherry Durren

Places to Publish:
Collegian
RezLibris - Magazine for librarians
Bitch magazine - Feminist magazine

          

        

Monday, April 16, 2012

Broadcast Piece :10

Pepsi vs Coke
3/20/2012
:10
Jackson



AS REPORTED BY THE ATLANTA-JOURNAL CONSTITUTION, PEPSI RELEASED

 IT’S PEPSI NEXT COLA ON MARCH 26. THE NEW PROJECT CONTAINS 60

  PERCENT LESS SUGAR AND ENHANCED FLAVORING.



Broadcast Piece :20

Pepsi vs coke
3/20/2012
:20
Jackson


 
AS REPORTED IN THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, COCA-COLA AND

 PEPSI STILL WAGE WAR FOR BEST COLA . PEPSI’S LATEST PRODUCT NAMED

 PEPSI NEXT WAS RELEASED ON MARCH 26. LEADERS FROM COCA-COLA SAY

 THEY WILL NOT RELEASE A COMPETITOR FOR PEPSI NEXT. THE

ATLANTA-BASED COMPANY STILL MAINTAINS A STRONG HOLD ON TITLE OF 


BEST COLA.