Ellaville City Council members sworn into office
On Monday, Ellaville City Council members were sworn into office at the monthly meeting of the mayor and council. Schley County Probate Judge Mitzi Way swore all council members into office  at the meeting.
The new Council member sworn in is Jason Hock. The other members of the Council members, who were recently reelected, are Janet Ellis, Carlton Wilson and Leslie Minter.
Each year that we have new or re-elected Council members, the  City always has its monthly meeting on the first Monday of  January. The Council usually meets on the second Monday of each month.
After the Council members were sworn into office, the City went into its regular meeting.
Congratulations to all the City Council members.

A special Christmas visit with family
On the afternoon of Christmas Day, Janet Dobbs came home. She spent Christmas Day and stayed until Dec. 30 before going back to Duluth, Ga., where she lives.
Mildred Dobbs, her mother, said that she and her other daughter Gail Smith had Christmas breakfast with Gail’s son Nicolas and Shelby Smith here in Ellaville.
For Christmas dinner, Dan and Brenda Todd had family guests: her sister, brother and nephew and their children and grandchildren.
Those that attended were Mildred Dobbs, Bobby Lyn Usry and Bob Usry, Davis and Ashlie English, children Kaden and  Waylon English, and Shane and Gail Alligood and their son Brent, as well as the hosts Dan and Brenda Todd, all of Ellaville.
Mildred said that she didn’t have to cook at all for Christmas this year. She ate out at different places for about two or more days.

McCorkles return home from spending holidays in Florida
Dwight and Mary Ellen McCorkle left Ellaville on Dec. 22, going to Pelham to spend the night with Bryant and Dinah Collins on their way to Florida to see their children. Bryant is Dwight’s uncle.
They left on Dec. 23, going to Valrico, Fla., to visit with their son John and Rosa Sawicky and their sons, Mathew, Jerimiah and Jonathan Sawicky.
Mary Ellen said that they made cookies all day Christmas Eve day. Mary Ellen loves to cook.
That night they were invited to have supper with her daughter-in-law’s family on Christmas Eve.
Mary Ellen cooked Christmas dinner at John and Rosa’s home where they were staying. She served prime rib, baked potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserole, corn, tossed salad, and Rosa served a cheesecake for dessert.
Dwight and Mary Ellen left on Dec. 28, going to their son’s Ricky and Kelly Sawicky of Apollo Beach, Fla.
Mary Ellen said they went out to see the beautiful fireworks on New Year’s Eve with her son Ricky. A restaurant in Apollo Beach sponsored this beautiful show. Mary Ellen said that she had never seen such pretty fireworks before. Some extra people donated the restaurant some more money and they saw a $30,000-fire work show within 15 minutes, non-stop. They rode in Ricky’s boat and were on the water so they could see everything.
It took Mary Ellen and Dwight 11 hours to drive home from Florida because she said it was bumper to bumper traffic. They came home on Jan. 2. They were late getting home because the boys wouldn’t let them leave early because of real bad weather. She said more there were more people heading north on U.S. Highway 19 than going south on 19.
Just to be with your families for the holidays means so much,  especially when the grandchildren are around. Especially little Jonathan, who told his mother and brother that Grandma was his favorite relative. He was hoping that Jonathan would say that about him, but he told his Uncle he was number two. Words from the mouth of babes.
Glad they returned home safely in such bad weather.

Schley County school bells ring to start 2016
Schley County school bells rang on Monday for the teachers to have a work day, and students returned back on Tuesday.
The teachers, students and others are ready to start 2016 off with a blast. I must admit that our schools are always ready to get started and succeed in whatever they do.
Happy New Year to all of the schools and everyone involved and I hope many special, good things will happen this year.