McCorkle, Collins  families travel to Dalton for weekend event
On the Oct. 10-11 weekend, 13 family members of the McCorkle and Collins families went to Dalton to surprise Martha Ann McCorkle on her 65th birthday. The weekend party was held at the Holiday Inn Express in Dalton.
Arrangements were made by Martha’s aunt Mary Nell (Cookie) Schueler and her husband Bill. After supper at the Longhorn Steakhouse  everyone went to Martha’s for coffee. This was a big surprise to Martha. She knew only that her aunt and uncle were coming.
Those in attendance were Billy and Elene  McCorkle, Dwight and Mary Ellen McCorkle and William McCorkle, all or Ellaville; Steve and Beth Warner of Danielsville; Bryant and Dianh Collins of Cairo; Nancy McCorkle of Gaston, Ala., and Bobbie Snider of Thomaston.
Billy and Elene McCorkle went to Aston, Ala., a few days earlier and visited with their daughter Dr. Nancy McCorkle in Gaston. They even enjoyed sight seeing  which included Berry College.

Have you seen our renovated City Park and Confederate statue?
Have you seen our newly renovated City Park and our Confederate statue that the City has fixed up so pretty? If not, you need to ride by and see it.
The sod has been planted and it’s turning green. The fountain is so pretty. The Confederate statue has been cleaned and a cannon ball will be replaced on the statue. The cannon ball has been missing for  years and is being replaced by the Ellaville-Schley County Historical Society. The City added a flag pole  in the park as well.
The  Confederate statue has been cleaned and they are returning  this week to put the finishing coat of sealer on it to protect and preserve the whole statue. This statue helps our park stand out so much.
The City has put a new chain fence around the park. The fence was here when I moved to Ellaville 61 years ago. They have added a walkway from the statue to the fountain and made the old walkway. This way  people won’t get onto the grass.
A special thank you  to the City of Ellaville and Eddie Watson for fixing up the park and the statue. Eddie knows about fixing monuments.
Just ride by and see  how pretty it is and the new lights do so much for it as well. Thank the City Council and Eddie on a job well  done. The Street Scape is coming along as well.

Ellaville Methodist Church to host bake, barbecue sales
On Saturday Nov. 7, Ellaville United Methodist Church has its annual Bake and Barbecue Sales from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. in the church’s  Social Hall.
Pints of barbecue are $7 each.  You may get your tickets from most all members. You may contact Marianne Phillips for more information.
So come on and buy yourself some good barbecue and a cake. You can freeze your cake for Thanksgiving as well as the barbecue.
Hope to see you there and mark this on your calendar.

Ellaville-Schley County hold economic comprehensive planning session
On Oct. 19, Ellaville and Schley County held the second Economic Comprehensive Planning session at the Schley County Commissioners Conference Room. A special planning session is required by law and to have public meetings with input of residents discussing how we can improve  our community.
The meeting was lead by Gerald Mixon of the River Valley Regional Planning Commission. He asked for suggestions and ideas on helping to improve our community in many ways.
There  were some community issues that were discussed: 1) We need a multi-purpose community center for private dinners and events; the seating capacity for around 250 with a kitchen for meals to be prepared as well as large dining room; 2) We need a recreation complex to accommodate local ball tournaments that could be played here, softball and baseball, soccer field and a playground and fixing up the street around the recreation fields; 3) Need a larger Post Office; 4) Housing is a big issue here; 5) Empty store fronts. 6) Building things on the new Highway 19, like a Gas-n- Go, restaurant, motels and 6) Discussed how much we need an assisted living facility here; 8) Our biggest strength is our great school system; 9) How residents give their strong sense of support for our community in every way; 10) Low crime rate.
We were told that Schley County population was outgrowing Sumter, Macon and Marion counties. A lot of this is through our school system being so highly rated as a number 1 in the state and number 39 in the nation. We are so proud of this great system.
A lot of new residents were present and gave some ideas and suggestions. We are proud to have new ideas; this is also good for a small community like ours.
The next meeting will be announced.

Ellaville Lions Club hosts 16th golf tournament
The Ellaville Lions Club hosted its annual Chief Mitchell Ellis Memorial Golf Tournament at the Griffin Bell Golf Course in Americus. A lunch was served to all teams.
The teams that participated  were 1st place winners Underwood Roofing Team, (they had the longest drive; 2nd place winners were Maxwell Grading, Stewart Webster Journal, Patriot Citizens, Ellaville Auto, Flir, AAA Banking, DA’s Office, Sawyer’s  Team, Watson Giddens Team, Georgia Farm Bureau (they were closet to the pin),  Ameris Bank, Peoples Bank, Tri-Manna Bail Bonds and Earthscopes.

Ellaville-Schley  Historical Society hosts annual dinner party
The Ellaville-Schley County Historical Society held its annual dinner party at 7 p.m. Oct.  24 at the American Legion here in Ellaville.
The special event was called to order by President Nancy McMath Young who welcomed everyone  and introduced the out of state and out of country guests: Jennifer Rainey Esfahani of Houston, Texas, and her brother Henry Frederick Rainey Jr. of Australia. These special guests are the children of the late Henry Frederick Rainey Sr.  who was buried here in the late spring  of 2015, in the Ellaville City Cemetery. The local historical society put a sign in the City of Ellaville Cemetery in memory of the late Mr. Rainey.
The Rev. Mark Kinservik asked the blessing. The guest table were decorated in fall colors with brown linen table cloths and cream linen napkins. A lovely fall arrangement graced the center of each table.   At each plate setting  a Index card was placed  for two reasons  1)  for guests to make suggestion of a special project that the society can take on, and 2) on the back of the card was a door prize number. One person at each table won the door prize and it was the center piece that graced the tables.
A delicious dinner was served after which a short report was given by our treasurer who gave the final report on the auction in September.
The highlight of the night was the history of Ellaville and Schley County shared by our out of town speaker from Missouri could not make the dinner but he sent information on special history to the president and she read it to the guests. Many things were discussed. The speaker was to be Ernie Jones, former resident.
Bobby Young asked Margaret Gooding where the old A.C. Murray and Sons Store sit in 1912. They sold dry goods, groceries and hardware. She told us it was where the old W.T. Tondee and Son  was and now it’s the Power Alley next to Gill Drugs.
Reading from some history was sent from Ernie, the old principal house was moved from where the old gym sits today to the other side of the old jail where they use to park school buses it’s a parking lot now. Jacqlyn Dillard remembers it well. She said that they were living in the old jail at the time. Her father was Sheriff Carl Rigsby. She said it took two days to move the house. This was in 1937, and when they moved the house they built the gym the same year where the house had sat.
Wayne Morrow told us some things and read us some things which were very interesting.
The historical society members as well as everyone else are being asked to go through your old records and look for photos, documents, letters and anything else and share your artifacts with us.
We only want your copy, not the original ones. We just need copies. You may have some old post cards with pictures and verses on them. We are really in need of a picture of the first courthouse that was built in 1850s. Surely someone has a picture of this two-story, wood framed courthouse and it sat where the ice house is now across the street from the courthouse now. Surely someone has a copy of this old building. Margaret Gooding said as well as Ernie it had a barber shop with five chairs, tea room, Masons meeting room and the judge’s office. Please help us find  a picture of the courthouse.
All the women were told about our annual Thanksgiving Bake Sale that will be held on Nov. 21, time and place to be announced.