story and photos by MICHAEL PROCHASKA

A lingering funnel cake fragrance jumbled with homemade jams and hot pork skins permeated the streets of Bostwick Saturday.
Hundreds of families from all over the state came to celebrate the city’s annual Cotton Gin Festival. The festival kicked off Saturday with the Gin Run 5K on Church Street and then at 11 a.m. an immeasurable line of tractors took off in a parade down Bostwick Road. Among dozens of vendors, war re-enactors and arts and crafts, the day was filled with lively bluegrass and songs of the South.
“It’s an appreciation for days gone by - our history,” said Kim Davis Jackson, a resident of Athens. “Both my parents picked cotton. They have told me the stories of how difficult that was and I think people like to reminisce.”
While some people came for the tractors, others traveled just for the cotton. James Wright, a Georgia Studies teacher at Fulton Science Academy in Alpharetta, carried around clumps of Bostwick cotton stored in his hat. Wright wanted to gather enough cotton to show to his students on Monday. “It’s always better to have something demonstrated than watch a video,” he said.
Proceeds from the festival went to the continuing restoration of the Susie Agnes hotel, which now serves as City hall for the town.

Printed in the November 10, 2011 edition

Saving the Wallace Grove School

The Wallace Grove School, like so many abandoned buildings, was once home to junk.

story by michael prochaska     photos by angelina bellebuono

African-American doll exhibit in Madison

Sometimes history comes wrapped up in cloth and granted a birth certificate.

And sometimes, the caretakers of these newly born blessings are but children themselves. From pine-straw to porcelain to modern plastics, dolls have comforted children for hundreds of years. They remain one of the few toys that adults still cherish and admire because of their role in history.
The Morgan County African American Museum will run a new exhibit from Sept. 17 through Nov. 8 that showcases 100 years of black dolls.

The items range from folk dolls made out of pecans, rags, gourds and wood to contemporary dolls such as Gerber Baby, Cabbage Patch and Barbie.

There are categories of dolls that reflect black history, said Katrina Breeding, a donator of some of the dolls.

Topsy Turvy dolls, for example, date back to the plantation era. These dolls were known for having biracial heads, one attached to the neck and one that was hidden beneath lengthy antebellum clothing. Since white children were not allowed to play with black dolls, they would show their parents the white version of a doll that had two ethnic identities.

County planning office sees uptick in
family plot permit applications

By Andrea Gable
Staff Writer

Dr. Lou Pack wants to start a revolution – to ignite pervasive change in the treatment and prevention of osteoarthritis, the leading cause of pain and disability in America.
According to Pack, current perception identifies arthritis as a byproduct of age and weight, resigning patients to accept arthritis as part of the aging process with no hope of prevention or treatment other than pain medication or surgery.
Not so, says Pack.
He spent his early career in surgery, placing new joints in patients who he knew would be back for new joints every 10 years, often, he said, within three years.
Pack began searching for the root of the problem. It was easy enough to him: “You can’t put new tires on a bent frame.”
Pack began paying attention to the obvious; that no one individual is optimally symmetrical – a leg may be slightly longer, a foot more inwardly turned – and any degree off from that symmetry will decrease an individual’s performance, increase risk of injury and later causes arthritic changes. But once aligned, stress on the weight-bearing joints can decrease at any age or activity level.
Shifting his career path away from surgery, he began working with professional athletes, Olympic trainees, and most recently, U.S. Navy SEALS, to increase their performance, all the while maintaining the same methodology to prevent and treat osteoarthritis without medication and surgery.
Pack recently authored "The Arthritis Revolution" to educate arthritis sufferers on how to prevent the disease, stop its progression, decrease painful symptoms and improve levels of activity.
“I want to stop the perpetuation of this improper way of thinking – that arthritis is a simple result of age and weight – and the propagation of treatment that historically has not worked,” says Pack.

Photos  by Hollie Bellew and Patrick Yost

If Running was your thing then Saturday in Madison was full of opportunity. Morgan County Young Life held its annual Madison In May 5K fundraiser Saturday morning and offered a 10K, a 5K and a one mile fun run for runners of all ages. In the afternoon the Chik–fil–A race series was held near the parking lot of the Madison Chic–fil–A.

Madison in May 5K/10K Fun Run Results