2007 Year in Review

Georgia loses 'great patriot'- 2/22/07 Congressman Charlie Norwood (left) stopped by to visit former Union County Commissioner Harold Cook last fall. Norwood took the opportunity to get some of the Cook's blackberry jelly, which he described as "the best in the United States." Total burn ban in effect- 5/31/07 Smoke from south Georgia fires traveled north, leaving Union County covered in a thick haze. Commissioners of both Union and Towns County, in conjunction with the Union and Towns County Fire Department, Georgia Forestry, United States Forest Service and the Mayors of Blairsville, Hiawassee, and Young Harris, have issued a total ban on outdoor fires of any kind other than a self contained propane grill. First Baptist Church's Passion Play draws close to 2,000. Story told through Simon of Cyrene and his two sons.- 4/5/07 For the third time in school history, Union County High has a State Champion. Junior Chris Jones won the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) AA State Championship in the Boys 1,600 Meter (1 Mile) Run.- 5/17/07 Together one last time- Memories, achievements, laugher, and in the end, a lot of hugs and tears. Union County High School's Graduation Ceremony- 5/31/07 Nicholas Atkinson receives the representative mark of the Wolf as he advances from a Wolf to a Bear in Cub Scouting.- 5/10/07 American Anthony Colby gets a big thumbs up from a fan as he pumps his own fist while crossing the Stage 5 finish line atop Brasstown Bald Mountain in the 2007 Tour de Georgia. Colby took third place in the stage.- 4/19/07 A sheet of U. S. Postage stamps featuring one of the drawings of Micajah Clark Dyer's aircraft, taken from the patent he obtained from the U. S. Patent & Trademark Office on September 1, 1874, is now hanging in the Union County Courthouse. Dyer lived and farmed in the Choestoe District of Union County, where he flew his plane two decades before the Wright brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. in 1903. Photo by Billy Turnage- 2/22/07 The Young Harris College board of trustees chairman, Paul D. Beckham, announced that former Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox (right) was been named the 21st president of Young Harris College- 4/5/07 Chuck Honaker has been elected Chairman of the Union County Republican Party, following a 10 month period in which he served as Secretary, and more recently, as First Vice Chairman- 3/29/07 Towns Co. residents were anxious about smoke and fire, literally in their back yards, from Wednesday to Sunday, November 7- 11, 2007. The fire was officially contained as of Sunday morning. Alex Thomlinson of Suches, Ga., was named Georgia State Champion Beginning Fiddler, Friday, October 19, 2007- 11/1/07 4th annual Blairsville Scottish Festival and Highland Games- 6/14/07 Parker found guilty- Leonard O. Parker was found guilty, convicted of all 10 counts in the robberies of two North Carolina banks in January 2006, including the First Citizens Bank branch in the Peachtree section of Cherokee County, NC. Parker was sentenced on Sept. 13, 2007 to 552 months in prison to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release.