Q&A with Debra Jones
QUESTION: Warner Robins is taking part in Georgia’s Rivers Alive clean-up program for the second year now. What’s going on?
ANSWER: We don’t have a real river in Warner Robins, but we do have Bay Gall Creek where our rainwater and runoff is primarily collected. You don’t think of it as a waterway -- it’s a ditch, but it is the city’s main way of moving water out. When it passes trash along, it makes it to other communities or even the ocean.
QUESTION: So when and where is the cleanup?
ANSWER: It’s Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. We’ll get started at the Wellston Trail sign at Corder Road, where volunteers will sign in and out and get supplies.
QUESTION: How many people were involved last year?
ANSWER: About 80. A lot of them were Macon State College students, Georgia Military College students, our own fifth- through 12h-grade advisory board members and, of course, adults and individuals who saw about it and came out. The more hands, the more we can get done.
Biz Buzz • Dianne Lively Yost
Attention Georgia lawmakers! Rotten tomatoes are flat headed your way! That’s right y’all! The Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association, farmers and other ag groups requested that the University of Georgia’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development conduct a study on the impact of Georgia’s immigration law (parts of which went into effect this year) and the results are in: Hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses and thousands of jobs lost in Georgia! Some estimates predict a $391 million economic loss and a loss of as many as 3,260 jobs! Just what in the Sam Hill are y’all drinkin’ over at the state Capitol? I mean really! In one of the biggest economic downturns of our lifetime, y’all are shrinkin’ our number one, $68.8 billion industry! Now that’s ‘bout as smart as a back pocket on a shirt! Fix this thing!
Whew! Now Momma’s fit to be tied! She needs to refocus. Calm her mind. Build her body back into its youthful self! I’m talkin’ all ‘bout Yoga honey and you can try it out at Uptown Athletic Club located right smack above the Madison ChopHouse Grille in downtown Madison! Yay! OK so here’s the deal! Victoria Faust teaches each Tuesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m.! Plus another class will be added on Fridays beginning Oct. 14 with Ginny Parker at 8:30 a.m. Ginny has taught yoga for years and formerly taught at the YMCA and the Omni Fitness Center in Beaufort, S.C., prior to movin’ to fabulous Madison! Y’all check out both of these classes! Vicki Starr over at Uptown Athletic Club would flat love to see you! Y’all call Vicki for more info at (706) 752-1680! Hey and visit www.uptownathleticmadison.com for the entire class schedule! Namaste y’all! Check out Uptown’s ad in this week’s "Citizen!" Love it!
ANSWER: Rivers Alive is a program of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division. They don't supply money, but they provide supplies, trash bags, T-shirts and the like. QUESTION: Can you tell us a little more about the
