Manager Phil Sarnowski oversees last minute Monday afternoon preparations at the long-awaited Publix on Maxwell Lane.

Senator Steve Gooch reads aloud the text of Senate Resolution 609, which codifies the legend of a Cherokee woman named Trahlyta and authorizes the DOT to erect and maintain its own signage at Stone Pile Gap.

LEFT: “Donut Dollie” Liz Mangum served the troops in Vietnam for a year as part of the American Red Cross. RIGHT: Mangum said the Red Cross always held a ribbon-cutting when a new recreation center opened, like this one for the First Air Cavalry Division in An Khê, Vietnam.

Robb Nichols, the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Lumpkin County Development Authority Director, addresses the crowd at last week’s event. He said a book by retired General Stanley McChrystal called Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World has influenced his philosophy on economic development.

Georgia Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch explains a proposed statewide constitutional amendment that would cap future property tax assessment increases.

Early voting is underway at the Lumpkin County Elections Office at 56 Short Street. The last day of early voting will be Friday, November 1 before election day on Tuesday, November 5 at Parks & Rec.

LEFT: Retired U.S. Army Colonel Hal Williams is pictured outside of the historic Holly Theater, where he served as an original board member. RIGHT: A page from Williams’ journal, titled “Memory of South Vietnam,” depicts the charismatic officer interacting with the local population.

Sheriff Stacy Jarrard and volunteer relief organizer Donald Hupp are pictured in front of their second hurricane supply trailer last Thursday. By Monday, the same trailer was completely filled and headed for a church in Asheville, North Carolina.

Local author Tim Drake is a member of the National World War II Museum, the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the Military Writers Society of America and the Atlanta WWII History Roundtable. He has self-published four books.

Georgia Safe Routes to School program coordinator Nick Anderson, second from right, discusses the details of the upcoming LCMS Walking School Bus event with, from left, Transportation Director Lynn White, LCMS Principal Libbie Armstrong, Chief Operations Officer Greg Trammell and Cottrell Elementary School Principal Stacie Gerrells. More Safe Route events, like an elementary school bike rodeo, are in the works for later in the school year.