North Georgia Technical College’s Currahee to Host GROW

Small businesses looking to gain a leg-up on marketing their goods to other countries such as China, Switzerland and Australia will have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with overseas buyers in Stephens County on Friday, March 16. The event will be held at North Georgia Technical College’s Currahee Campus and is part of a state initiative from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Taube Ponce, of the department’s international trade team and senior international trade manager, said that Georgia has been awarded a $973,000 grant for its Georgia Reaching Out Worldwide (GROW) program and that the grant is from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) program. Ponce said Stephens County is one of three north Georgia locations for the Georgia Reaching Out Worldwide (GROW) initiative, the other two being Dalton and Dahlonega. Ponce said it is important for any business wishing to attend the events sign-up at their Web site: http://trade,georgia.org.

More information on the GROW program is available at http://trade.georgia.org.

For the whole article is available at http://www.thetoccoarecord.com/articles/2012/03/09/news/business/doc4f59efb195a69354906730.txt

Good News on Broadband

The Joint Development Authority of Franklin, Hart, and Stephens counties will get a loan/grant award for just over a million dollars to help continue work on bringing broadband to the region.

On Tuesday, Gov. Nathan Deal and members of the OneGeorgia Authority Board announced the approval of $9 million in grants and loans to communities across the state from the OneGeorgia Authority's portfolio of financing programs.

The Joint Develop Authority received a $150,000 loan equity award and a $798,000 grant for a total of $1.3 million.

"We need a network in our region. We can't afford to do the whole project at one time. So, this money will allow us to build a backbone from Hartwell to Lavonia to Toccoa to Hollywood, Ga.," said Lyn Brumby, director of the Franklin County Industrial Building Authority.

Stephens County Development Authority Executive Director Tim Martin said this is great news for the region. “The next step is to get an RFP (request for proposals) out on the street, inviting incumbent providers to be a partner with us,” said Martin. “This network that we are proposing is actually a backbone. It is the middleman. We will need someone to help us operate it and bring it directly to the specific customers.” Martin went on to say, “We hopefully will know, by May 1, who that partner will be and we will have a timeline at that point as to how quickly they can move forward. But it is conceivable that this Fall or early Winter, in the calendar year 2012, we could have additional new capacity for broadband connectivity in our six counties.”

For more on the store follow these links:

http://www.wnegradio.com/news.php and http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/mar/07/northeast-georgia-counties-to-receive-help-in-to/

Class is in Session!!!

A new era begins at Stephens County High School today. Today marks the first day that all classes will take place in the new Stephens County High School. Stephens County School Superintendent Sherrie Whiten said everyone is excited to be in the new building. The new building is not only beautiful architecturally, but boasts the latest in technology driven educational features and state of the art facilities for the athletic, fine arts, and Career, Technical and Agricultural Education departments. Come see for yourself during the community wide open house which will be on March 18th from 3:00-5:00. See you there!

Commissioner Ron Jackson Selects Dr. Gail Thaxton of Waycross

Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Ron Jackson has announced his choice of Dr. Gail Thaxton to be the next president of North Georgia Technical College. The State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia voted to approve Jackson’s selection during their monthly meeting on March first. Thaxton is currently the President of Okefenokee Technical College in Waycross. She will replace NGTC President Steve Dougherty on April first. Dougherty is retiring at the end of March. For the complete story follow this link: https://tcsg.edu/press_detail.php?press_id=235

A Hometown Hero Honored

The Toccoa City Commission honors a hometown hero. During Monday’s meeting, the City Commission approved and read a proclamation honoring the late Lieutenant Colonel LeRoy Roberts, Jr. A Toccoa native, Lieutenant Colonel Roberts was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, which was a squadron of all African-American pilots who served with distinction during World War II.

Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Facility to be Completed

Crews continue to work on an expansion to the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation facility at Stephens County Hospital. Stephens county Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell said that construction is going very well at this point. Gambrell said the hospital hopes to have the expansion completed and in use by early June. Gambrell said that the expansion will allow the hospital to have more space to provide those services.