the news, rockdale dec 27th, 2014 v6 i39

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A group of about 30 gathered at the Rock-dale Career Academy to hear a panel discus-sion about all things related to mental illness.

The panel of eight specialists spoke to a group of caretakers and family members who tend to people dealing with some kind of men-tal illness.

This “Community Mental Health Sum-mit,” was sponsored by Rockdale County Probate Court Judge Charles Mays, who said he wanted to hold this event because the court

and families had issues getting the help they needed from the hospital, law enforcement or housing authority. “The idea came to me when we kept getting repeat persons were going through stress and families were going through stress from the problems that they faced when a person in their family had mental illness,” he said to the group. “We wanted to find answers and we wanted to come together with professionals like these to see what you as a family member and what we as the court that’s responsible can do to aid the citizens of Rockdale.”

Dana Reynolds, business development rep-resentative for Laurel Heights Hospital in At-lanta, has over 30 years of experience working

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Veteran’s story

Joe Neely took up the family tradition. serving in the Navy

Help for mental health helpers

See HeLp, page 15

the

Page 6

Page 4

Phoenix Pass needs your help

Mental Health Summit addresses community questions

Young Professionals group grows

Home for the Homeless

Page 3

2014 YEAR in REVIEW

Pages 10-14

By Martin Rand, [email protected]

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Conyers Family Support Group: Meets first and third Mondays of the month, 7 - 8:30 p.m. at Epiphany Lutheran, 2375 Ga. Hwy 20 South, Conyers; Diane Marinelli, 678-314-1017, [email protected]. Crisis Access Line (24-hours): 1-800-715-4225Rockdale-Newton Suicide Prevention Task Force: Jennifer Wilds (ViewPoint), 770-856-8034, 770-209-2632NAMI, GA: www.namiga.org, 770-234-0855ViewPoint Health (services for behavioral health and developmental disabilities): www.myviewpointhealth.org

Resources

Page 8

WHere To ring in THe neW Year

The News2 • Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014

1Suspected serial killer had Rockdale history

2Heritage student arrested after assaulting teacher

3Rockdale schools hit with flu wave

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Santa Hunt winner

Susan Grajko/The News

Jessica Terrell was the first to find our Santa figurine in the final (Dec. 20) hunt hding in the Love Light Tree at the East Tower entrance of Rockdale Medical Center. For being the first to find the Santa and return him safely, she is the winner of the $50 prize. Thank you to all the participants of this year’s hunts. No Santas were hurt in the carrying out of this year’s Santa Hunts.

Rockdale County and City of Conyers gov. offices closed, Thursday, Jan. 1

Rockdale News offices closed, Thursday, Jan. 1

Meeting Place

Sworn InThree of Rockdale’s officials elected

in November - Chief Rockdale Superior Court Judge David Irwin, District Attorney Richard Read, and Post 2 Commissioner Doreen Williams - were sworn in Dec. 18 at the Rockdale County courthouse. All three were elected to serve a four year term. Irwin and Read faced no opposition; Williams defeated two-term incumbent JaNice Van Ness in the general election. Superior Court Judge Robert Mumford administered the oath of office.

(Top) Doreen Williams, joined by her husband John, was sworn in for her first term as the Rockdale County Post 2 Commissioner. Judge David Irwin (right), joined by his wife Lisa, was sworn in for his fifth term, as was District Attorney Richard Read (left), who was joined by his wife Theresa.

Darrell Everidge/The News

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News Briefs | full story at rockdaleNews.com

City OK’s $3.5M police radio system

A $3.5 million, state-of-the-art police radio system was approved by Conyers City Council at its Dec. 17 meeting.

The deal with Motorola will erect two new radio towers-each 250 feet tall-at the Horse Park and behind City Hall on Scott Street. It will also mean totally new radio equipment for the entire force, as well for use by other city depart-ments. A year-long construction and installation process is expect-ed to begin next month.

Nearly two years in the mak-ing, the deal will update the city's 1980s-era gear. City Chief Oper-ating Officer David Spann likened it to "going from the old box that you carried as a cell phone in the early '80s to an iPhone."

By John [email protected]

This holiday season make sure you leave a little wiggle room in your budget to support a worthy cause. Phoenix Pass offers transi-tional housing options for single moms and children with nowhere else to go. And now the non-prof-it needs the community’s help to give even more families a safe and stable environment to get back on their feet.

This year, they received a large grant from an anonymous Atlanta foundation that will allow them to double in size, adding eight addi-tional apartment buildings. But, the project requires $50,000 more before they can begin construc-tion, and Phoenix Pass is hoping to raise the remaining money from the community.

“We have been overwhelmed with the support for the Capital Campaign to expand our facilities and services,” said Phoenix Pass

Director Marcie Howington. “We are over half way there, but we still need a lot of help.”

“The women who come to us have experienced trauma and they just need help and time get-ting back on their feet. Because of the support from this community, we’ve been able to successfully provide safe housing, program-ming, and one-on-one coaching to help them re-establish self-suf-ficiency."

Phoenix Pass, located on the Light House Village campus at 541 Sigman Road, is a partnership between First Baptist Church of Conyers and Rockdale Emergen-cy Relief, a non-profit organiza-tion supported by United Way in Rockdale.

You can donate online www.phoenixpass.org/donate or you can contact the director for more ways to get involved at [email protected] or call 770-760-1020.

Phoenix Pass homeless transitional housing program needs community help to finish campaign, double in size

By Tiffany [email protected]

A Phoenix Pass resident proudly displays her Christmastime creation. The Phoenix Pass program provides families a stable place to live for up to two years while they find employement and requires they save 30 percent of their income towards finding a home after they graduate Phoenix Pass.

Rockdale Young Professional Leaders, a Chamber of Commerce social and network-ing group for ages 21 to 40, is proud of the strides it’s made in its inaugural year.

With many events held throughout the year, the group feels like it accomplished what it needed to accomplish in 2014, and that was to get out in the public eye and make their organization known to the com-munity, says RYPL Executive Director Marcie Howington.

“We focused a lot on figuring out which events worked best,” she said.

Howington says the group had some good events, including a pub crawl, a prom

for senior citizens, an investing 101 class and a patriotic bowling event, that usually saw about 10 to 25 people attend.

“People have joined us for all the events,”

she said. “I’m really proud of how people have gotten involved.

The group already has a full list of sched-uled events for 2015, but will be focusing a

lot more on recruiting new young members to the organization, which doesn’t collect membership dues.

It’s important to reach out to the younger generation of people because they are the ones who will shape the future of Rock-dale County, said Howington, who hopes Rockdale will become a networking hub for youngsters.

“We need more community engagement with people our age,” said the 29-year-old Howington. “We’re trying to have ripple ef-fect in the community.”

The next scheduled event for RYPL (pro-nounced similar to “ripple”), will be Ice Skating in Olde Town on January 15, 2015. For more information, call 770-483-7049 or email [email protected].

Rockdale public schools scored higher than the state as a system on the newly released Georgia College and Career Ready Perfor-mance Index scores, which mea-sures schools and school districts on a 100 point scale. Rockdale’s middle schools averaged slight-ly lower than the state and high schools averaged lower than the state average.

The CCRPI is the new account-ability system that replaces the No Child Left Behind Adequate Year-ly Progress (AYP) measurement in Georgia. The U.S. Department of Education granted Georgia’s waiver from NCLB on Feb. 9, 2012.

The state’s average score for each level is:

State Average - 72Elementary School - 73.2Middle School - 73.5

High School - 68.7

Rockdale County Public Schools’ results are:

District - 72.9Elementary School - 77.2Middle School - 73.3High School - 66.2

“We are pleased that our ele-mentary scores remain well above the state and our middle schools have held steady with the state average, although our overall re-sults followed the state trend of a slight decrease,” said Superinten-dent Richard Autry. “Our scores continue to indicate the need to focus on improvements at the high school level. While we are starting to better understand the state mea-sures for this new accountability system, we realize that we must focus more on where a student starts and ends, looking at progress and growth. We must also change how we monitor that progress for each student throughout the school

year. We appreciate that this com-plex accountability system uses multiple measures of school suc-cess and will take the necessary time to analyze the data so that we can celebrate our successes and pinpoint our challenges.”

Last year, for the scores released in 2013, the RCPS district score was 76 while the state score was 75.8

Rockdale elementary schools scored 78.9 and state 78.5 in 2013.

Rockdale middle schools scored 77.7 versus 75 state-wide in 2013

Rockdale high schools scored 70.6 versus 72 state-wide in 2013.

The scores released in 2012 were for the pilot year, 2011-2012, that had assessments that were a slightly different formula.

The CCRPI was designed to help parents and the public better understand how schools are per-forming in a more comprehensive manner than the pass/fail system previously in place under AYP.

“While decreasing CCRPI

scores are disappointing, they are not unexpected,” Ga. Superinten-dent Dr. John Barge said. “This index is still relatively new and demands different areas of focus for our schools. Improvements

will not happen overnight, but the CCRPI is giving them a roadmap to tailor an education that is stu-dent-centered and one that will ensure they are college and career ready.”


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RCPS ‘report card’ higher than GA, drops from last year

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Rockdale Young Professional Leaders group growsSubmitted photo/The News

Rockdale Young Professional Leaders’ first ever Tacky Sweater Pub Crawl social networking event.

As we celebrated Christ-mas 2014 we may have felt somewhat

apprehensive concerning the ills that befall our nation currently, and with good reason. Not only are Americans being terrorized and attacked by Islamic extrem-ists without as well as within; we are be-sieged by aliens ille-gally cross-ing through our bor-ders. We are expe-r i e n c i n g unrest and o u t r i g h t distrust of our legal system, in-cluding law enforcement author-ities and our courts. If that isn’t enough, consider that there is a seemingly ever-widening gulf dividing our political parties, and liberals from conservatives. Add to that the painful results of the financial miasma which has stifled our economy, and the re-alization of the poor economic legacy we will be leaving for our descendants for generations to come. These very irksome sys-temic ills are in our mental fore-ground while our young men and women are engaged in an unending need to fight war after war. The picture is pitiful indeed, and most discomforting.

There is a truism that is good to remember at times like these. There are no coins with only one side. In every confrontation; in

every conflict or disagreement it is wise to examine both sides of the “coin” before rushing to judgment. When considering the dismal state of affairs that

besiege our peace of mind today, be careful to consider the oppo-site side of that coin. In spite of the recent very real economic downturn we have experienced, it doesn’t compare to the down-turn of the Great Depression of the late ‘20s and early ‘30s. We survived that one and recovered from it because Americans be-lieved in America. We passion-ately considered this wonderful nation worth saving and saved it.

Christmas of 1941 found us re-covering from the Great Depres-sion, but with enough economic problems to touch everybody in one way or another. The mis-chievous boll weevil had “gut-punched” the southern farmers into a struggling existence, and African-Americans had migrat-ed en masse to northern cities for better gainful employment.

But December 1941 was an especially discomforting month.

On December 7th, Japan at-tacked Pearl Harbor and de-clared war on the United States a few hours later. Both Germa-ny and Italy declared war on

the United States on December 11. The United States gave its RSVP in the form of reciprocal declarations of war. The Amer-ican congress opted to suspend all legislative activity and devote its energies to winning the war in which we were engaged for the duration. You may imagine the unsettling and chilling ef-fect of this as a background for Christmas 1941 and to a large effect for the remaining years of WWII.

On the 24th of December, Christmas Eve, Prime Minister of England Winston Churchill was in Washington, D.C. confer-ring with President Roosevelt, and gave a Christmas message to America. He spoke of the whole world being locked in deadly struggle, with war creep-ing nearer to our hearts and homes, and suggests that amid all the tumult, for this one night

we make for the children an eve-ning of happiness in a world of storm. Let them enjoy a night of fun and laughter, “before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their in-heritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.”

Do we not find ourselves in circumstances similar to those of 1941 with the sternest of tasks lying before us, which will re-quire sacrifice and daring that our children not be robbed of their right to live in a free and de-cent world? May the “Peace that passeth understanding” abide with you and our nation during this Christmas season.

Charles Walker served as the mayor of Conyers for two de-cades and was the first president of the Rockdale Historical Soci-ety.

We welcome letters to the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. They should be limited to issues of public interest and may be edited for content, grammar, spelling and length. • Mail: Editor, The News, 1009 Milstead Ave., Suite 200, Conyers, GA 30012 • Email: [email protected]

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the NEWS

Positive New Year

“Twenty years from now you will be more disap-pointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Dis-cover.” – Mark Twain

We think it’s safe to say

for most 2014 was not the best of years. For those of you that it has been, we are pleased for you and hope 2015 is even better.

For those of us who have struggled to run a business or have lost faith in our leaders and don’t quite know what direction we should go in 2015, please pay heed to the words of Mark Twain, who gives us a positive blueprint to follow.

If we want to have a pos-itive 2015, we have to think positively and act positively and believe positively.

We believe that 2015 can be a progressive year for all of us if we just step up and remove the chains of ill will and non-positive thinking.

We live in a great area we have neighbors that are good people. Put some ef-fort into making 2015 your best year yet and it will be; we are sure of that.

All of here at the paper wish for you and your family the happiest, most positive, most hope-filled New Year and we look forward to working side by side with you to help make it that way.

“ He spoke of the whole world being locked in deadly struggle, with war creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, and suggests that amid all the tumult, for this one night we make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm.

“Christmas 1941

Charles Walker

Columnist

To read more books. I’d like to read 100

this year.

Man onthe StreetWhat is your New Year’s resolution?

I would say that my resolution is to get more sleep, but I know that’ll never

happen! Instead, my resolution is to worry less and laugh more.

Cherie Ullo, RCPS Teacher of the Year

Sheriff Eric Levett

We’ve done a tremendous job to reduce crime in the county, so my goal is to reduce it even

further in 2015.

Zach Ames, YoungLife Coordinator

Sen. Ronald Ramsey

I vow to eat health-ier and do better with my excercise

regimen.

Pearl Harbor babies are hard to locate. Joe Neely is one of the few.

“My dad’s ship, the USS San Francisco, was moored in Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked. I was three months old. The family was getting ready for church when the bombs and torpedoes fell. I certainly don’t recall the attack, but my 4-year-old brother and 7–year-old sister wit-nessed the Day of Infamy.”

The USS San Francisco was moored between four other ships, two on each side; damage was superficial. Joe said, “The oth-er four vessels didn’t fair too well. Dad hitched a ride with our neighbor and reported to his duty station amid the fighting. I really don’t know exactly what Dad did that day, but I’m sure he was very busy.”

The USS San Francisco was being overhauled, especially her weaponry, so the crew only had small arms and two 7.6 mm ma-chine guns to fight back. Many crossed to the USS New Orleans to help man anti-aircraft guns. Work on the San Francisco resumed af-ter the attack. One week later she put to sea. In November, ’42, the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal sent two Neely brothers into harm’s way and another American family would lose all five of theirs.

Joe said, “The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was a horrific sea battle. My dad, of course, was on the USS San Francisco and my un-cle was on the USS Atlanta. Both were very lucky sailors; they sur-vived.” The USS San Francisco took 45 major hits, 77 men killed, 105 wounded. She stayed afloat and finally returned stateside for repairs. During the battle, the USS Juneau transferred medical person-nel to the San Francisco to assist in treating the many wounded. An hour later USS Juneau was struck by an enemy torpedo. The ship lit-erally disintegrated, killing almost all her crew, including the five Sul-livan brothers. Only 10 crewmen survived. The Atlanta was in the thick of things, fought valiantly, yet received so much damage she was eventually scuttled.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, military families were evacuated

due to a perceived invasion threat from Japan. Joe continued, “Mom and the kids ended up in Long Beach, CA, but after the USS San Francisco returned stateside for re-pairs my father was reassigned to Puget Sound and actually served on the USS Puget Sound. I was still just a young kid, but I do remember being in Washington state and see-ing all the vessels come in and out, living in one half of a Quonset hut, and seeing military parades.”

A typical “military brat,” as Joe put it, the family moved constant-ly. Joe said, “Kindergarten and first grade in the state of Wash-ington, second and third grade in Long Beach, then my parents di-vorced. My brother and I ended up at the Southern California Military Academy, SCMA, or as we called it, Southern California Miniature Alcatraz. In 1955 I had the oppor-tunity to live with Dad, which I

did. As harbor commander in New Orleans, he obtained the rank of Lieutenant Commander until he was transferred to Mobile. I attend-ed grades eighth through tenth in Mobile, Dad retired in 1957, and we moved back to our family roots in Newton County. I graduated from Newton County High School in May of 1960. One month later I joined the Navy with two buddies.”

Joe was, as Hank William’s, Jr. crooned, “Carryin’ on a Family Tradition.”

Within a week of signing on the dotted line, Joe and his bud-dies were en route to Chicago for training at the Great Lakes Training Camp.

“Well, that’s another story,” he said. “When we left Atlanta it was 92 degrees and I’m in a short sleeve shirt and a thin pair of trou-sers. Upon arrival at Chicago it was 49 degrees and raining, and getting colder. We were supposed to be is-sued uniforms at Camp Berry but none were available. We waited two weeks for basic clothing. Un-til then, we had the clothes on our backs. We washed our clothes ev-ery night, hung them to dry in the steam room, yet every morning we still donned damp clothing. It was not very pleasant.”

Basic training took place virtual-ly across the street from Camp Ber-ry at the Great Lakes Naval Train-ing Center. Joe recalls, “Training was basic stuff, and our rifles were single shot .22’s with an indoor range. Ya see, you don’t carry ri-fles in the Navy… but our guns are bigger!”

In August Joe reported to Nor-

folk, VA to board his home for the next four years, the aircraft carrier, CVS-45, USS Valley Forge. “I was a fireman apprentice and should have been assigned to engineering but somehow ended up in the 1st Division for regular seamen. There you learn how to paint and clean a ship, which I did. After a week an officer stopped me in a corridor and asked why I wasn’t in engineering. I ‘enlightened’ him that I was just doing what I was ordered to do. He was livid and swore a blue streak. That afternoon I reported to engi-neering.”

Now Joe acquired his real trade. “I learned and maintained hy-draulic systems, air compressors, steam, refrigeration, catapults, the airplane elevators; shoot, we pretty much had the run of the ship. The Valley Forge was huge, at least to this country boy, like a cruise ship. I never complained about the food either, and I enjoyed my duty.”

In the Atlantic, the Valley Forge took part in “Operation Mercury.” She recovered nose cones from space shots at Cape Canaveral and in Sept of 1960 rescued 28 sea-men off the merchant tanker Pine Ridge. Joe recalled, “By the time we reached the Pine Ridge she had broken into two pieces. I saw the aft section with the bridge standing straight up in the water. The 28 sea-men were clinging to the still-afloat stern section but we were able to rescue the entire crew.”

In July of 1961, the Valley Forge was modified to suit her new role as an Amphibious Assault Ship LPH-8 (Landing Platform Helo). Joe stated, “In September we trained with troop-carrying helicopters which was good because a crisis soon developed in the Dominican Republic. The Trujillo regime was overthrown so we were ordered to

operate in the waters off Hispanio-la to evacuate American personnel if needed.”

By the 23rd of January, 1962, the Valley Forge had scraped along the sides of the Panama Canal and anchored at her new homeport in Long Beach, CA. She set sail for duty with the Seventh Fleet three months later.

“In May we were ordered to land the Marine Team via helicopters in Thailand,” said Joe. “The Commu-nist Pathet Lao forces in Laos had renewed the assaults against the Royal Laotian Government and the government of Thailand was concerned about an invasion of their own country. Our task force closed the coastline and sent the Marines in. Luckily, by July the crisis abated.”

“The training and retraining nev-er let up, for good reason. By 1964, the Valley Forge was positioned off the Vietnamese coast after destroy-ers Turner Joy and Maddox were reportedly attacked by North Viet-namese torpedo boats. Joe recalls, “We were on station 57 days, pre-pared for whatever came our way. But as an assault ship, we were soon shuttling Marines to and from Okinawa, Japan, and Vietnam.”

Four years aboard the Valley Forge came to an end in 1964. “I received orders for shore duty,” Joe recalled. “Of all things, I was assigned to the base commissary. The war in Vietnam was heating up and there I was stocking shelves in the equivalent of a grocery store. That didn’t last long, though. I was put in charge of ordering all beef products to the commissary, the largest in Long Beach.”

In 1966, Joe had to make a de-cision: reenlist or return to civilian life. “I was offered a promotion if I stayed, ‘after’ I signed up, but I

wanted the promotion ‘before’ I

reenlisted. We couldn’t agree on when and where so it was time to leave.”

“When and where” for Joe turned out to be the new Mobile Chemical Plastics in Covington. “I worked there until being trans-ferred across the street to the Foam Plant in 1970. The Foam Plant burned down in 1972 but I stayed on for the ‘clean up’ and rebuild-ing.”

At the county fair in 1975 Joe talked to recruiters for the Army National Guard. “I signed up,” he said. “For the next four years I was a weekend warrior. Then I ap-plied and received a position with AGR (Active Guard Reserve). I stayed with the AGR for the next 21 years.”

Joe Neely’s lifelong service to his country included military ex-ercises in Germany, assignment to the state headquarters in Atlan-ta, attending the Sergeant Major Academy at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX, instructing at Fort Bliss, work-ing for the Inspector General’s Of-fice, until completing his military career with the human resources outfit. Joe retired in June of 2001.

“I tried to get back in after 9/11,” he said “But nothing was avail-able at the time. Besides, my wife became ill and I lost her in 2003. I avoided invitations to dances, singles clubs, things like that. But in 2004 I was talked into a singles dance at the American Legion Post 77 in Conyers. Well, I met Pat. She was also there for the first time. We were married 77 days later. Five years later we realized we met at Post 77 and were married exactly 77 days later, so as they say, it was meant to be. She is the love of my life.”

Joe and Pat Neely stay busy sup-porting and participating in Legion and other veteran events. “We love to travel,” Joe said. “So far we’ve been on 16 cruises.”

Keep cruising, Joe… you’ve earned it.

Pete Mecca is a Vietnam veter-an, columnist and freelance writ-er. Reach him at [email protected]

T. Pat Cavanaugh


pete meccacolumnist

A Life of Service(Clockwise) USS Valley Forge / Joe and Pat Neely / Joe Neely in basic training, far right (Submitted photos)


August 7, 2013: Forward O p e r a t i n g Base (FOB) Shank, Logar Province in Afghanistan. She remem-bers a ‘thump’ followed by the sensation of a big hand picking up her body then squeez-ing the breath from her lungs. Hurled through the air, her body smashes against a blast wall, called an Alaska Wall by the U.S. Military. A water truck packed with 3,000 lbs. of explosives had just detonated ‘inside the wire.’ Major Patty “Mama Bear” Justice lies wounded and motionless, an-other casualty of another suicidal terrorist attack. She is 49 years old.

During WWII her father worked on the secretive Manhattan Project to help develop the atomic bomb that ended the war. By the time Patty was born, her father was vice-president of a steel company in Mexico City. She recalled, “When we moved back to the states I was 8 years old, bilingual and with du-al-citizenship. I didn’t lose dual-cit-izenship until I took the oath as an officer in the U.S. military.”

After high school Patty attended the New Mexico Military Institute with high hopes of an Army mil-itary career upon graduation. An incident in advanced boot camp spoiled the dream. “I ruined my knee,” she said. “That terminated my ROTC scholarship so I trans-ferred to Mount Saint Mary’s, an all-girl Catholic school in Cal-ifornia. After graduation I later worked in defensive contracting

until moving to Peachtree City, GA in 1989. I met a great guy, we got hitched, and I decided on a career in nursing. First I attended Gordon College before receiving my nursing degree from Brenau University. I worked at Piedmont Hospital for 11 years, until the Twin Towers fell.”

Patty received a card in the mail explaining a need for qualified nurses in the military. She said, “I thought, ‘shoot, I’ll try again,’ and I took a chance on being accepted.” At 40 years of age, Patty Justice received a direct commission into the US Army. “I didn’t even have to wear the butter bars of a 2nd Lt.,” she said, grinning. “I was commis-sioned as a 1st Lieutenant.”

Patty was assigned to the 3297th out of Fort Gordon, GA after at-tending an officer basic course at Fort Sam Houston, TX. The battalion moved to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio as the campaign in Iraq heated up. Patty said, “I was there for 18 months. We were the last in a chain of care spectrums. Casualties were flown in from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany into Brooke for the completion of their treatment before going to a VA hospital nearest their hometown.” During this time the 3297th was disbanded to become the 3274th then reorganized a second time as the 75th Combat Support Hospital out of Tuscaloosa.

Patty returned to Piedmont Hospital after completing her as-signment at Brooke. She recalled, “Boy, talk about going back to slow motion. It was like being de-moted from the big league back to the little league. Piedmont is a great hospital, but a military hos-

pital moves at a more industrious tempo. They expect more.” To ex-pand her knowledge as an officer, Patty joined a civil affairs outfit in Dallas, TX for 2 years. “Those 2 years gave me a better rounded background and bestowed real-ly great training,” she said. Patty would need all the training for her future deployment.

Up for a promotion to Ma-jor without slots available, she received a call from the 228th Combat Support Hospital in San Antonio. Their offer was unem-bellished: promotion to Major if she’d accept deployment to the 628th Forward Surgical Team hunkered down at an isolated lo-cation in Afghanistan called FOB Shank, better known as Rocket City. Patty accepted the promo-tion, and the challenge. Soon nick-named “Mama Bear” by her col-leagues, Major Patty Justice was going to war. From September of 2012 to September of 2013, she would reside in ‘Rocket City.’

FOB Shank, Afghanistan: “Well, it reminded me of the movie MASH; we lived in tents, no real roads, just about every-thing brought in by air, and that included the wounded and dying. We stayed busy and learned a lot about different cultures, the Af-ghans and Nepalese. Afghan men in the villages could not under-stand a woman in uniform, pack-ing a .45 automatic, and so bold as to look them in the eye. They just couldn’t comprehend that.”

“Mama Bear” kept count of the action. She recalled, “We got hit 278 times during my tour, main-ly in the mornings, into the after-noon, but not very often at night. Even though we were ‘blacked-

out’ at night, I had the impression many of the enemy fighters were basically lazy, like, ‘It’s time for bed, see you in the morning.’ Our south side base did get hit at night so I guess it depended on which area had less lazy fighters. Any-way, we received mortars, RPGs, and sniper fire on a regular basis.”

Her comments on the base med-ical field facility: “They did a great job considering we only had 14 people. We were on call 24/7, no shift work because the shifts de-pended on casualties. A 72 hour shift was nothing for us, yet the next time we’d only work 4 hours. We saw and treated a minimum of 1,100 patients. These were not mi-nor injuries. We dealt with the re-sults of IEDs and combat, severed limbs; people absolutely blown away. During the fall and winter we mainly took care of Afghan soldiers, except for the American

soldiers hit by sniper fire or suffer-ing from frost bite or hypothermia. It was horribly cold during the winter. But then the ‘killing sea-son’ began, May through Decem-ber, and the American casualties really picked up.”

When discussing American sol-diers, she stated, “Those guys are good, resilient, and do what they are told. The average age of a sol-dier was about 20, our field surgi-cal team about 25, and there I am a 49 year old “Mama Bear” fussin’ over our boys.”

August 7, 2013 - “Our small medical facility and living quarters were no more than a 30 second walk from ‘the wire’. We lived close to where we worked because we had to respond quickly for the medevac flights, coming in and going out. That night we were hit

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Darrell Everidge/The News


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The Rockdale Rockers will meet on the third Thursday of each month11:30-1:00 for lunch, guest speakers, bingo and much more!

Meetings are located in the East Tower ClassroomsAnnual ‘VIP’ membership $15 for one year; two year membership $25

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January 15 .............................................................. Darrell Huckaby, Local AuthorFebruary 19 .......................................................................................... Heart HealthyMarch 19 ...............................................................................Don’t be Scammed...April 16 ....................................................................On the Move; Staying ActiveMay 21 ..................................................................................Home ImprovementsJune 18 ..................................................................................... Medication SafetyJuly 16 ........................................... Estate Planning, Living Wills, & Funeral PlanningAugust 20 .........................................................................All About Hospice CareSeptember 17 ............................................................................All About UrologyOctober 15 .................................................... All About Supplemental InsuranceNovember 19 .............................................................................All About ‘Joints’December 17 ............................................................................... Christmas Party

2015 SCHEDULE

The News

Ringing In the NEw YearNot sure where to go to to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Here’s a range of events in Rockdale and metro-Atlanta for family fun and

a night on the town. Plus, get a jump start on your New Year’s health resolution with activities on New Year’s Day.

Wednesday, december 31, 2014

Whistle Post Tavern: Dinner specials, DJ laser lights show, midnight balloon drop and champaign toast; 935 Railroad Street NW; 770-785-5008; www.whistle-posttavern.com

Marshall’s Sports Bar and Grill: 8 p.m. - close; Live DJ, party favors, buffet and champagne toast; Tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door; 1180 Sigman Rd, 770-929-9277.

The Pointe: Cash prizes, midnight champagne toast and a balloon drop; open unitl 3 a.m.; 939 Railroad St. 770-483-1918.

American Legion: 9 p.m. - 1 a.m., karaoke, music, and breakfast after midnight for members and guests at the Conyers Post 77 Hall, 674 Legion Road, off Hwy 138. 770-483-8216.

Third Base Sports Bar: Karaoke, mid-night champagne toast, Texas Hold ‘Em poker; 2174 Salem Rd., 770-918-2133

Peach Drop 2015: Celebrate in The Underground in Atlanta with live entertainment from 6 p.m. - 11:15 p.m. and count down to the Peach Drop and fireworks at midnight; free.

New Year's Eve at Phillips Arena: Old School Music Fest fea-turing The Isley Brothers, Morris Day, Mint Condi-tion, Jeffrey Osborne and Dru Hill; tickets $29-129; 800-745-3000

LEGOLAND Noon Year’s Eve: 12 p.m. (noon)-9 p.m., Legoland Discovery Center invites families to kick off 2015 at noon with a balloon drop and a countdown displayed on screens around the center. Throughout the day, Lego fans can also take part in the large 2015 group build; Free; LEGOLAND Discovery Center, 3500 Peachtree Road; 404-848-9252

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Panola Mountain First Day Hike: Noon; $7 plus $5 parking; start the New Year off right with a brisk hike up beautiful Panola mountain. Join a journey that begins by writing, then burning, last year’s burdens. Hike to the top of the mountain to symbolize all the great things you will accomplish in 2015. Finish with s’mores and hot chocolate around a campfire. Register in advance. Ages 6 and up. 770-389-7801.

Resolution Run 4 Miler/1 Mile/Kilome-ter Kids Dash: 10 a.m., $25; Brookhaven MARTA Station. [email protected] or 404-604-2209; http://atlantatrackclub.org/events/view/2015-resolution-run

Resolution Run 5K/10K: 11 a.m. $25; Stockbridge. [email protected] or 678-554-6410; https://www.eventbrite.com/e/resolution-run-registration-13705965913

First Day 5K: 1 p.m.; $25; Red Brick Brew-ery, Atlanta. [email protected] or 404-474-7309 ; http://southerneventsynergy.com/portfolio/first-day-5k/

Development Graduates

Submitted photo/The News

Three leaders from Rockdale graduated Dec. 3 from the 2014 Ga. Academy for Economic Development’s Region 3 Multi-Day Training Program: Deanne Barnes, CEO of Evans Metal Stamping, Inc.; Miki Edwards (not pictured), CEO of Rockdale Career Acad-emy and Martin Jones, Exec. Dir. of Conyers-Rockdale Economic Development Council.

HCE Star Students

Submitted photo/The News

Honey Creek Elementary’s Star Students for Nov. 2014 are: Mary Clark, Deanna Crutchfield, I’rhiana Doomes, Layla Farooq, Sashi-ana Grant, Tashaun Harville, Erica Hope, Isabelle Jean-Louis, Tosin Johnson, Mallory Jordan, Samuel Longo, Armanei Lloyd, Takyra Mc-Clendon, Riley McDaniel, Marvin Mercier, Deangelo Middlebrooks, Bryan Mitchell, Trace Patterson, Aadith Putta, Taylor Rakestraw, Jamirah Smith, Madison Stewart, Alexander Williams, Tyler Wil-liams

Peachtree Homecoming

Submitted photo/The NewsJordan Ozburn was crowned Peachtree Academy’s Homecom-

ing Queen Oct. 24. Jordan is a member of the varsity cheer squad, National Honor Society, a student ambassador and student body president. She plans to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. Homecoming Court and Princesses include: (Front Row) Morgan Hayes, Skylar Waters, Darcy Tyndall, Mia Reagin; (Back Row) Rylee Smith, Lexie Branche, Callie Barnes, Jordan Ozburn, Haley Camp-bell, Carlie Argo, Karley Johnson, Riley Clingerman (not pictured).

8 • Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014


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2014 YEAR in REVIEW

EbolaAs the rest of the county learned more about this deadly disease, medical professionals who had gone overseas to fight the disease and contracted it were brought to facilities such as Emory. Local health facilities, such as Rockdale Medical Center, local doctor’s of-fices and clinics revised their screening pro-cedures and protocols. Local agencies met to discuss the issues and many unanswered questions.

Ferguson/ Eric Garner/ PoliceGrand jury decisions not to indict the officers involved in the fatal shooting of an unarmed young black man, Michael Brown, in Fergu-son, MO, and the choke-hold death of an un-armed black man, Eric Garner, in New York, brought nation-wide protests and a closer look at police practices. Two NYC police of-ficers were shot and killed by a gunman an-gry about Brown and Garner. In Rockdale, law enforcement, clergy, and school, city and county officials began dialogues before the grand jury decision.

NFL, domestic violence and other issuesIt was a year where the NFL made more head-lines off the field than on the field. The video of Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiance and now wife Janay Rice in an Atlantic City eleva-tor and the NFL’s mishandling of the review process and sanctions brought the issue of domestic and family violence to the national spotlight.

National/World stories of the year

In Photos

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1. Rockdale County High principal Mary Ann Suddeth Heritage High principal Greg Fowler doused each other at the Aug. 22 football opener as the schools competed in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge fundraiser. 2. World War II veteran and former Commissioner Bud Soesbee was honored with France’s highest hon-or, the Legion of Honor, at the Ga. Capitol in April.3.Patriot defenders tackle a Salem Seminole.4. Salem basketball standout Ayana Mitchell signed with LSU.5. The Kim Atkins Foundation Tennis Tournament fundraiser to fight breast cancer was held at the Snellville Summit Chase Country Club Aug. 22-24.

6. Football season opened Aug. 227. Karen and Vanessa Lopez’s parents drop off the sisters for the first day of school at CJ Hicks Elementary. 8. Conyers Police patrol vehcile coated in ice during the Feb. snow storm that brought Atlanta to a standstill.9. JROTC member looks at the names of cancer victims at the Relay for Life. 10. Hometown Holidays floats and paradegoers were soaked during a downpour Dec. 6.11. Kaison Joyner, 8, dressed as Tonto from The Lone Ranger, was the winner of The News Costume Contest at the Olde Town Fall Festi-val Oct. 25.

Sony hackedThe hacking and release of information from Sony Pictures and threats against theaters showing Sony’s “The Interview,” staring Seth Rogan and James Franco, caused the studio to pull the story of an assassination attempt of the North Korean leader from its original-ly scheduled Christmas Day opening. Public backlash on the decision brought the movie back to theaters.

CIA Torture ReportA 500-page report years in the making by the

Senate Intelligence Committee on CIA “en-hanced interrogation” practices after 9/11 was released.

ISISA brutal new terrorist organization – the Is-lamic State in Iraq and Syria – gained control of swaths of land in Syria and Iraq, using bru-tal acts and horrific videos of American and western hostage beheadings to spread ter-ror.

Russia/Ukraine

The clock went back to the Cold War era as Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine following political unrest.

Malaysian AirlinesThe mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in March captured world-wide attention; it remains missing.

Donald SterlingThe former owner of the LA Clippers lost ownership after racist remarks about the team’s players and audience went public.

National/World stories of the year (continued from previous page)

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Darrell Everidge/Marvin Maner/Submitted/The News


rockdalenews.com2014 YEAR in REVIEW

SNOWMAGEDDONDrivers were stuck for hours or even days, babies were born on highways, schools and businesses shut down, and neighbors opened their homes to strang-ers in random acts of kindness. What happened? Two inches of snow. That’s all it took to shut down most of metro Atlanta for a week. Luckily, most Rockdale students were able to get home just in time before the weather set in. Rockdale residents commuting back home found themselves stuck on the roads, at offices or the recipients of kindness and hospitality.

WhitEhEAD tWiNS Guilty plEAFour years after the death of their mother Jarmecca “Nikki” Whitehead and just before their trials were set to start, twin sisters Tasmiyah and Jasmiyah White-head entered a guilty plea in February to voluntary manslaughter. They were sentenced to 30 years in Rockdale County Superior Court.

Acuity BrANDS ExpANDSAcuity Brands Lighting, one of the largest manufacturers in Rockdale, recently announced plans to expand its operation, creating 700 jobs and investing more than $16 million into Rockdale and DeKalb counties over the next five years. Af-ter difficulty and miscommunication between the Development Authority and local leaders negotiating the incentive package, a tax abatement exempting the company on new and existing taxes for 10 years was worked out and approved.

ElEctiON 2014Rockdale completed the transition to Democratic elected officials on the Board of Commissioners when Doreen Williams defeated two-term incumbent JaNice Van Ness. Statewide, Georgia reelected incumbents and Republican candidates.

prOStitutiON crAckDOWNNot in this town: Conyers Police and local law enforcement launched a campaign to crack down on sex-trade activities with a series of stings targeting “johns,” or the customers, and prostitutes. According to investigators monitoring online ac-tivity, posts for Conyers have dropped significantly.

Biggest LOCAL stories of the year

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Statutory rape charge for girl, 16, in sex with boy, 14, at middle school (March 4, 2014)

Boil water advisory lifted (June 8, 2014)

2nd Whitehead twin pleads guilty to manslaughter (February 7, 2014)

Storm update: School in session next week (February 10-14, 2014)

update: rockdale schools closed Friday(January 27-30, 2014)

conyers man found dead on i-20 New year’s Day (January 3, 2014)

crash, overturned vehicle on hwy 138 (May 28, 2014)

One dead, two arrested after Sunday night shooting (May 27, 2014)

20-year-old killed in fiery car crash (February 24, 2014)

heritage student arrested after assaulting teacher (December 15, 2014)

MOST VIEWED stories

of the year

The Lady Patriots softball team was able to beat Loganville and tie for the region lead in a stun-ning victory. With the count 2-2 and Ta’lor Bynum up to bat with the winning run on second, By-num hit a blooper over short-stop to bring in the winning run.

Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014

rockdalenews.com SportS2014: A Semester in ReviewThe year is coming to a close as we prepare for a brand new year in 2015. This time of year brings

resolutions for the future, but we decided to remind you of some of the best memories of the past. There are number of great stories that didn’t make the cut, but each story in its own is

always special. Here you will find some of the top stories in sports for 2014, from June until now.

Continued Page 13

Ayanna signs to LSUAyanna Mitchell has been a basketball phenomenon ever since she stepped on the court at Salem as a freshman. Her hard work and talents have paid off, culminating in her signing a full schol-arship to play basketball at LSU in fall 2015. Ayanna, who aver-aged a 18 points and 11 rebounds as a junior, verbally committed in the summer and signed the paperwork in November officially making her a future Tiger.

Salem beats WinderWith the ball at Salem’s one-yard line and just a fews seconds left on the clock, Winder Barrow dialed up CeCe Green’s number and he was stuffed by Salem’s superb defensive line to give the Seminoles a 31-24 win at home.

Lady Patriots beat Loganville

Morgan Hubbard signed her letter of intent to attend the University of South Carolina on June 25, 2014. Hubbard was a 2013 and 2014 state champion at Heritage High School. Hubbard signed with the Gamecocks after graduating from Heritage with a 3.5 GPA.

Candace Hill was named the 2013-2014 Gatorade Georgia Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year on June 19 making her the first-ever chosen from Rockdale County High School. Hill is coming off her freshman year at Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology where she maintained a 4.54 GPA.

Candace Hill wins athlete of the yearHubbard goes Gamecock


Senior Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology Student Majesti Bass signed her letter of intent to play collegiate level volleyball with the University of Georgia this summer. Bass won numerous athletic awards during her time playing for the Rockdale County High School varsity volleyball team.

Majesti signs with UGA

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Rockdale County Probate Court hosted a Mental Health Summit Dec. 13 at Rockdale Career Academy to bring more information to caretakers. (Martin Rand, III/The News)

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with adolescents with mental health issues. She was asked how to deter-mine if someone has or might be de-veloping a mental health issue.

It’s best to let a mental health pro-fessional make that determination be-cause it can very difficult to read all the signs and differentiate the prob-lem a medical issue, she said.

Nyree Jackson, a panelist who has worked in the behavioral health ser-vices field for more than 16 years in the public and private sectors, tried to get the audience to understand why a family member with a mental illness might sometimes lash out towards them.

“Its human nature to take out your frustrations and your anger and what-ever else is going on within you on the people that are closet to you,” she said. “Not to mention, if they don’t understand what’s going on within them and you’re trying to tell them what you believe is going on, it’s a power struggle. So you’re trying to get them do something or convince them of something that they don’t want to accept.”

Reynolds elaborated a little more on the situation. “We know that a per-son that loves us is going to tolerate so much more,” said Reynold.

Rockdale County Sheriff Office

Deputy Jacob Baird, who was on the on panel and answered questions about how families can acquire a 1013 form, which allows somebody who is a danger to themselves or people around them, he said, to be transported to a mental health facility involuntarily.

“In order to get that down, you have to go and apply at the Probate Court and it has to be accompanied with a certificate by a physician or licensed social worker saying this person is in need of assistance,” Baird said. “At that point, it is up to law enforcement to get that person into custody and to a emergency facility that can do the evaluation and provide treatment as needed.”

He also answered a question from a concerned mother who worried about her son, who has a mental illness, be-ing shot by police. Baird spoke about the training officers receive in the training academy and other certifica-tions an officer can receive to handle such a situation.

“I know Sheriff (Eric) Levett likes his officers to be crisis intervention trained. I believe that many of the field operations officers do have that class under their belt. That allows them to perceive the situation and what is indicative of a behavioral problem (and) not necessarily an aggressor to-wards that officer. There are many sit-uations where an officer may protect themselves if they perceive a threat. However, if the situation is such, that

they know the person has a mental health or behavioral health problem they can back away from that situa-tion and try to resolve it peacefully.”

Baird is heading up a new pro-gram for the RCSO that works with adult offenders who have a mental illness. The objective of the program is to reduce the likelihood of the person returning to jail after they’re released.

“Unfortunately, jails and prisons have become the de facto mental health facility in the state because over the last one or two decades, mental health facilities have been closing down losing funding,” he said.

Laura Nicholas, assistant direc-tor of care coordination at Emory Wesley Woods Hospital in Atlanta, discussed state funding for mental health treatment and different orga-nizations people, who may not have health insurance, can join to help them with the healthcare cost.

A couple of the organizations she listed for people to go to for health-care relief cost and support groups included the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the National Alli-ance on Mental Illness, National Family Caregiver Association and the government health exchanges.

But still, Nicholas said “funding is stretched so thin when it comes to caregivers of mental health that, un-fortunately, we’re alone.”

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