To celebrate this years recent Garden Week in Georgia, the ladies of the Cherokee Garden Council sponsored a garden tea party for local garden clubs. The event was held at the beautiful Ball Ground Botanical Garden, next to City Hall, in downtown Ball Ground.

The Ball Ground Botanical Garden was started by the Anetsa-Ge-Da Garden Club in 2015 and is supported by City Hall and the Ball Ground community. The Garden consists of many separate sections: a butterfly garden in the shape of a butterfly, a bog garden, a Japanese garden, and many more. The Garden is free and open to the public.

A tour of the Ball Ground Botanical Garden will be held June 9, from 10:00am-3:00pm, to support the Garden. Admission is $15, which includes four special home gardens. Beautiful daylilies and raffle items will also be available. For more information about the tour, contact Diane Smith at 770-630-2486.

The enAble of Georgias 30th Annual Gala - Founders Ball was recently held at The Hotel at Avalon. The event was attended by more than 400 supporters and raised over $280,000 for adults with developmental disabilities who are served by enAble of Georgia and Georgia Community Support and Solutions (GCSS). The event honored the founders who had a dream for independence and inclusion for their childrens future, and they pursued that dream. The enAble of Georgia Founders Ginny Riley, Marian David, Jane Lewis, Kay Briggs, Eleanor Workman, and Becky Willingham, along with GCSS Founder Whitney Fuchs, were all recognized and applauded for their dedication and perseverance.

Gala Chairs Bill and Shirley Abernathy and Mark and Kay Lewington did a wonderful job hosting the event. The nights MC Comedian Derrick Tennant and his sister, Julie, and the Yacht Rock Schooner band were a huge hit.

In 2014, a multi-year operational merger was begun by enAble of Georgia and GCSS, joining these two extraordinary groups that have the same mission of providing quality support to people with developmental disabilities. At this years Gala, GCSS CEO Fuchs took the stage and asked everyone to hold up their glass for a toast to InCommunity the new name for the merged organizations.

The new name, InCommunity, describes our mission as partners, dedicated to enriching and sustaining the lives of individuals who have disabilities, their families, and their communities, stated Fuchs, InCommunity CEO.

Currently, InCommunity has more 650 employees who provide all levels of support in the community to people with a variety of needs including residential support, employment services, respite care, family support, in-home care, and day programs. To date, InCommunity has provided support and service to more than 10,000 Georgian community members.

The Cherokee County Sports Hall of Fame recently honored a dozen top Cherokee County School District student athletes as part of its annual banquet.

The event recognized this years Hall of Fame inductees as well as the Most Outstanding Senior Athlete male and female honorees from each CCSD high school.

Celebrated the first full week of May since 1985, Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) is organized annually to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county, and local government employees. Cherokee County uses this week to honor its employees efforts and express gratitude for their exceptionalism and commitment to serving the county.

In lieu of organizing an employee appreciation day or picnic that not all employees are able to attend due to the broad spectrum of services Cherokee County employees provide to citizens, which demands a variety of schedules, the county uses this week to bring appreciation to every department by supplying a meal of their choosing. Its a great time to allow each team to take a break together and enjoy some camaraderie.

This is the countys second year celebrating PSRW, and it is anticipated to grow each year. The county hopes to spread this tradition to neighboring cities and counties, as county employees have been extremely receptive to the recognition; just one more reason Cherokee County is a great place to live, work, and play!

Three Cherokee High School (CHS) team members and five Sequoyah High School (SHS) team members are headed to the 2018 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Ft. Lauderdale, FL from June 17-22.

CHS Junior John Peterson won third place in Congressional Debate at the regional Georgia North Mountain District meet and will compete in this category at Nationals. He also won third place overall at the State competition for Lincoln Douglas Debate. CHS Juniors Anne Greer and Sean Howell were selected at the regional event to compete in the World Schools Debate at Nationals, and both won top speaker awards at the State event. Anne also was recognized as one of the top eight Lincoln Douglas Debaters in Georgia. The CHS team is coached by teacher Jamie Wills who was named the 2018 Georgia North Mountain District Coach of the Year after leading the team to be recognized as a Leslie Watkins School of Excellence for its success in qualifying students for State competition.

SHSs Noah Campbell won first place in Big Questions Debate and will be competing in this category at Nationals. SHSs Rebekah Carnes and Maddie Doerr won first place for Duo Interpretation and will be competing in this event at Nationals. Rebekah Carnes also won first place for Humorous Interpretation. In addition, SHSs Jack Forbes and Andrew Doerr were chosen as delegates for the World Schools Debate team and will compete in this event at Nationals. Coaches Matt Bartula and Katie Maher lead the Sequoyah Speech and Debate Team.

The team won out over the 31 6A high schools that participated in the 2018 competition, which featured events in Dramatic Interpretation, Extemporaneous Speaking, Boys Quartet, Solo, and Girls Trio.

Members from the Sequoyah HS team, which is coached by teacher and choral director Josh Markham, placed in all categories in which they competed.

Jace Nichols, Patrick Fagan, Daniel Tye, and Aaron Whittle won first place for Boys Quartet; and Max Frye won first place for International Extemporaneous Speaking. Corinne Wallick, Maddie Bends, and Kelsey Bryant won second place for Girls Trio; and Corinne Wallick won second place for Girls Solo. Patrick Fagan won third place for Boys Solo; Tori Turk won third place for Dramatic Interpretation; and Ashley Adams won fourth place for Argumentative Essay.

The team recently took home the big trophy from the statewide Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl competition held at the University of Georgia. This follows a second-place win at State last school year.

Team members are Caitlyn Bergey, Gillian Brown, Caitlin Canfield, Jack Eno, Abigail Gallagher, Grace Godwin, Megan Halverson, Kelsey Henson, Alex Kaye, Emily McGhee, and Victoria Padgett. Anne Thiers and Liana Howard coach the team.

The mayor and council of the City of Canton recently signed an agreement to purchase the historic Canton High School/Building C property from the Cherokee County Board of Education. This purchase includes the building, restored over a decade ago by the Cherokee School District, as well as the parking surrounding the building and an additional parking lot at the corner of Archer Street and West Marietta/Church Street with 62 parking spaces that would be preserved for public parking.

The newly acquired building will be repurposed as the new Canton City Hall. The facility has been well maintained by the Cherokee School District and includes room for future departmental growth. The building contains one of the best public meeting rooms in the County in the former Canton High School Auditorium, most recently used as the Districts Board Auditorium.

The City of Canton listed several downtown projects as part of the SPLOST VII funding cycle. Of these, three specific projects are addressed through the purchase of the former Canton High School/Building C property:

• Create a police department facility that will allow the agency to grow, provide additional security features for City personnel and resources, and keep the police department in the heart of the city
• Look for property to preserve and expand parking options for the historic downtown commercial district.
• Preserve historic resources in the downtown area to maintain the integrity of Cantons heritage.

The current City Hall, located at 151 Elizabeth Street, was beautifully preserved by the City when it was purchased from First Baptist Church of Canton over a decade ago. This facility will receive slight remodels and serve as a new City of Canton Public Safety and Municipal Court Building. Canton Police operations will move from approximately 10,000 square feet located in the old post office on East Marietta Street to a building with nearly 30,000 feet. These projects will be paid for by utilizing funds from the SPLOST VII approved by voters last November, which included nearly $7 million for general government buildings.

The former police department building on East Marietta Street will be repurposed in the coming months, though no announcement is currently ready. The parking around this facility, nearly forty spaces, will be opened to the public for additional parking that is more accessible to downtown restaurants and shops.

Along with the development agreement for the project at the former Grammar School and Mill Office on Academy Street, these moves will grow and preserve an additional 250 publicly available parking spaces on the southern side of downtown.

Additionally, the Canton Textile Mills have been purchased for redevelopment. Alpharetta-based Penn Hodge Properties plans to redevelop the thirty-plus acre area into a mixed-use development to include retail, restaurants, offices, and a residential component. More details are soon to come about the site plans.

Congratulations to the 17th Annual Teen Leadership Cherokee (TLC) Class. Of the eighty Cherokee County high school sophomores who applied, nineteen students were recognized for completing the program.

The mission of Teen Leadership Cherokee is to develop the knowledge and leadership skills of young people in Cherokee County, so they may confidently become our leaders of tomorrow. For more information on the Teen Leadership Cherokee Class of 2019, please visit CherokeeChamber.com.