Ellaville Methodist Church hosts Vacation Bible School
Ellaville United Methodist Church hosts its annual Vacation Bible School through June 16.
All children will meet at the church from 6:30-9 p.m. and will be served supper each night.
Ages for the children are from 3 years to the fifth grade. Theme  is “Expedition Norway.”
Closing ceremonies with a special program starts at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Children come to Vacation Bible School to learn about God and Jesus, and take part in crafts and activities. Each child will receive a certificate for attending this special event.
To pre-register your child, visit www.groupVBSPro.com/VBS cc.EllavilleUMC or call Kelley Morrow at 229-948-7986 for more information.
All children are welcome.

Schley County School system has new teachers for 2016-2017
The Schley County School System has hired 11 new teachers and an assistant principal.
Schley County Elementary School has a new assistant principal,   Ann-Marie DeVane. She will begin her new position on July 1.
Other new teachers at Schley County Elementary School are Ansley Phillips, first grade; and Amy Usry, fifth grade.
Schley County Middle and High School also has some new teachers:  Darren Alford, strength and conditioning  teacher and head football coach; Addie Bell, ESE teacher; Halley Henderson, audio-video production teacher; Kathryn Lavender, English teacher; Jim David McFather, ESE teacher; Rebecca Moore, English teacher; Cliff Royal, eighth-grade social studies teacher; and Greg Smith, computer lab teacher.
Mallorie Law is the speech-language pathologist for the Schley County School System.
School will begin on July 29. Let us all in Ellaville welcome all of our new teachers to our schools.

Notice Confederate statue as you drive through town
As you drive through downtown Ellaville, look in the park at the Confederate statue. You will see the cannon balls that have been replaced. The cannon balls were missing and the Ellaville-Schley County Historical Society had them replaced through Eddie Watson.
The statue was placed in downtown Ellaville after the Civil War, by the local United Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 1900s.

Schley County 4-H’ers help at  Andersonville National Cemetery
On May 31, Schley County had three 4-H’ers  volunteer to help remove the flags from all the graves in the Andersonville National Cemetery the day after Memorial Day.
More than 21,00o graves of service men and women and their spouses are buried in the Andersonville National Cemetery. Each grave was marked with a small American flag prior to the Memorial Day weekend. Volunteers place the flags on the graves Friday and Saturday before Memorial Day. The Andersonville  National Cemetery site welcomed guests over the Memorial Day Weekend.
On the morning of May 31 the flags were removed from each grave. Many volunteers took part in removing the flags.
Brenda Welch, Schley County 4-H leader, said it is humbling to have the experience to see that each flag represents a person that served their country and their families as well. She said it was an  honor for the community to have a project and for the 4-H’ers to volunteer to help.
Those volunteers were Anna Trussell, Caleb Smith and Emily Gregory. There were also others from Taylor, Marion, Macon and Peach counties.
After removing the flags the 4-H’ers went to Americus to have lunch. Then they were taken to the Habitat for Humanity Global Village for a tour and then to Giggles for frozen yogurt.
If your children are interested in becoming a 4-H’er call Brenda Welch at the Schley County Extension Office at 229-937-1180 or stop the new location, in the courthouse downtown.

Thomas James DeVane celebrates seventh birthday
On June 2, Thomas James, “T.J.” DeVane celebrated his seventh birthday with his family at the Pizza Place.
Those in attendance were Kevin and Ann Marie DeVane, Maggie and Mary Kate Streetman, Margaret Gooding, Jimmy and Marianne Phillips, Tommy and Susan DeVane and Clay Nelson.
Everyone enjoyed pizza, and caramel cake for dessert. After singing Happy Birthday to T.J., he was presented with gifts. He received some Walmart gift cards and some summer clothes.
T.J. celebrated his birthday again with a party from 2-3:30 p.m. on June 4 at Ellaville United Methodist Church. Theme was “Paw Patrol” and the church playground was decorated with colorful balloons. Pizza was served followed with a “Paw Patrol” birthday cake and ice cream.
T.J.’s friends attending were Clay Nelson, Lori, Kinley and Maley Taylor, Jacey Connor, Kevin and Ann Marie DeVane, Margaret Gooding, Mary Kate and Maggie Streetman, and Jimmy and Marianne Phillips.
The children enjoyed playing on the playground, blowing bubbles and using chalk to paint the sidewalks.

Family, friends attend wedding in North Dakota
On May 23, Andrew and Callie Way Smith left for Mandan, North  Dakota, to attend the wedding of Kurtis Newcomb and Lindsay Feigitsch.
As Andrew and Callie traveled to North Dakota they stopped and visited some special sites. In Nashville, Tenn.,, they visited the Grand Ole Opry and ate lunch at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. On May 24, they traveled to Chicago, Ill., where they visited Millennial Park, Lake Michigan, and the Navy Pier. On May 25, they stopped in Minneapolis, Minn., where they visited the Mall of America. On May 26, they arrived in Mandan, North Dakota, where they attended the  wedding rehearsal and dinner party that evening.
The wedding was at 5 p.m. May 27 at The Post. The ceremony was held outside and the lovely reception and dance were held inside. The ceremony was performed by Josh Gurley of Americus, who is a friend of the groom.
Attendants in the wedding from Ellaville  included  Michael Bobbitt, Best Man; and groomsmen Andrew Smith, Jesse Hunter, Kyle Newcomb, and April Zimmerman, bride’s maid.
Others in attendance from Ellaville were Nikki Hunter (Jesse Hunter’s wife), Jaime  Mills (girl friend of Michael Bobbitt), Callie Way Smith (wife of Andrew Smith), Todd and Virginia Newcomb (parents of the groom), Stephen Hillard (fiancé of April Zimmerman) and their daughter Hadley, Christa Newcomb (wife of Kyle Newcomb) and son Christopher, and Bill Newcomb (grandfather of the groom).
Andrew and Callie started home on May 28, and stopped in South Dakota where they visited Wall Drug, the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. From Rapid City, South Dakota, they drove home after stopping in St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch. They arrived back home at 9 p.m. May 29.
All the family and friends enjoyed this special wedding trip  up north. There were 15 in the group from Ellaville and Americus that attended.
Congratulations to Kurtis and Lindsay.