Crescent Bank takeover hits dubious milestone. More excessive heat in Bartow. Outlets outsmart fumbled sales tax holiday plan.

Please click www.bartowheadlines.com:

The Buzz of Northwest Georgia: (Click)

-Outlets take fumbled sales tax holiday and make it better this weekend.

-Georgia Highlands celebrates 40 years, focuses on growing services.

-Downtown Cedartown's Streetscape progressing a brick at a time.

-Crescent Bank failure helps push 2010 total above 100-bank mark.

-Peaks & Valleys: Teresa Lumsden, library's summer reading program.

Your weather -- or is that the misery index?:

-Heat advisory in effect until 8 tonight for Floyd, Polk, metro ATL. Details

-Another tie Sunday. The high hit 100; record first set on July 25, 1934.

-Monday: High of 93, low of 73. Rain chance: 60%. Heat index: 102.

-Tuesday: High of 92, low of 71. Rain chance: 60%. Heat index: 99.

-Forecast: Click  / Regional animated radar

-Photo to the right shows the on-field tempature at State Mutual Stadium for Sunday afternoon's game. Photo by Mills Fitzner. More photos.

This week:

-July 30: Bartow Business Connection Fifth Friday Luncheon, Cartersville Country Club, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (networking at 11 a.m.; lunch at 11:30). $12.50 per person. Facebook

Saturday report from the Bartow County Jail. Click

-Latest fire hydrant test updates. Click list

Bartow County Schools open house set for Aug. 5-6

-Thursday, Aug. 5: Elementary schools, 4 until 6 p.m.. Middle schools: 5-7 p.m. High schools, grades 10-12, 6-8 p.m.

-Friday, Aug. 6: High school freshman open house, 4:30-6 p.m.

-Additional details: County schools' website

Last day to vote on Rome's bid for 'Best Tennis Town' honors:

The United States Tennis Association's search for America's top tennis towns winds up on Monday and local supporters are determined to get Rome -- a top 10 finalist -- into the winner's circle. In addition to the designation, Atlanta,  Charleston and other cities are competing with Rome for the $100,000 grand prize. Second place is worth $50,000; third place, $25,000. The vote started July 16. You can go to www.besttennistown.com to hear Rome's pitch (and others) and then vote. The winner will be announced in September.

Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable. Arey 

-Kiffin is up for Man of the Year in Tennessee; ACC kicks off its season.

  

Rome Braves. Click Sports

-Greenville pounds Rome Braves 8-2.

-Monday at 7 p.m. Greenville at Rome.

-Mills Fitzner's latest home game photos. (Click)  

Outlets take state's fumbled tax holiday idea and makes it better

-You've got to like the entrepreneural spirit with this one. Prime Outlets in Calhoun puts its own spin on the canceled sales tax holiday in Georgia by offering "Better Than Tax Free Sale" this Thursday through Sunday. Participating retailers are offering 10 percent --or more-- off on select products (for the list, click here).

-Why we like this idea:

1) It gives shoppers perhaps an even better take on back-to-school shopping. They'd save seven cents on the dollar with the tax holiday -- canceled this year because of the state's revenue problems -- and makes it larger by offering 10 percent off.

2) It helps keep Georgia shoppers -- and Georgia revenue-- in the state, especially those of us near the Alabama and Tennessee borders. Both of those states are offering tax-free shopping events.

3) The private sector steps up to fix a government blunder. Why state leaders never considered the loss of revenue to bordering states is beyond us. Or is it?

Georgia Highlands: After 40 years and thousands of students, the college has campuses in five cities with dreams to grow larger

By Natalie Simms

nsimmshh@att.net

After four decades of educating thousands of local college students, Georgia Highlands College has made an imprint that continues to grow and expand in Northwest Georgia.

Since opening its doors in the fall of 1970 as Floyd Junior College, more than 8,000 students have graduated with thousands more gracing its halls before transferring to four-year institutions.

And, as college officials look to the future, strategic plans expect to have 10,000 students enrolled by 2015.

"And if we get funding to build additional buildings, it could be more. We're not planning any new locations but will work on building at current locations and getting students there," says Dr. Randy Pierce, Georgia Highlands president

Highlands has five locations including Rome, Cartersville, Marietta, Douglasville and Paulding County. The Cartersville and Marietta campuses are at full-capacity while growth is being targeted in Floyd, Paulding and Douglasville.

"We took a lot of hits at Paulding and Douglasville when we said we would have to close those campuses if the state forced more budget cuts last year," says Pierce, right. "But that didn't happen. We're doing OK and holding our own. We're continuing to move forward from an enrollment standpoint and increased revenue, so we are strategically positioning ourselves to grow."

Grow is exactly what Highlands has done over the last four decades. The college opened in 1970 with 545 students and, in 2009, served more than 5,200 students.

"In the mid '70s, the Baby Boomers were moving through the system. They were building junior colleges to accommodate the number of students coming through the schools…they wanted to have a two-year college within a 50-mile radius of everyone," says Pierce. "Depending on the population shift, some colleges have continued to grow and become four-year colleges while others continue to grow as commuter institutions where students go to get grades up before transferring to a larger university."

In 40 years, there have been a number of accomplishments including the start of the nursing program in 1976 that has graduated 2,419 students to date, along with the dental hygiene program that started in 1996.

"From my perspective, the decision by the original president (Dr. David McCorkle) to establish satellite campuses in Cartersville and Acworth is one accomplishment," Pierce says. "As well as the quality of our faculty and staff, I hear students all the time say we have the best teachers here. I think that is because we have smaller class sizes here compared to a lot of larger institutions.

"We also have quality programs. In fact, we've had a number of judges, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers and even a local bank president get their start at Georgia Highlands. We can all be proud of what that means to our community because a lot of students stay here to work and raise their families."

Highlands opened the Cartersville campus in 1989 and Acworth in 1990 (at North Metro Technical College, now Chattahoochee Tech). A state-of-the-art campus was built off Ga. 20 in Cartersville in 2005 (pictured above).

"Toward the end of Dr. Lynn Cundiff's (former president) tenure, they were serious about building a Cartersville campus that would take the place of the original Cartersville and Acworth sites," Pierce says. "When I got here, a third of our students were from Cobb County so it didn't make sense to pull out of Cobb. We still have a site there but we moved it to the Southern Polytechnic campus in Marietta."

Highlands has continued to grow and in 2009, opened campuses in Paulding County and Douglasville. A ribbon-cutting is scheduled for Aug. 5 at the newly renovated Douglasville campus at 5901 Steward Parkway, inside a former Cub Foods store.

"The University System of Georgia did a study to look at capacity of how many students there would be by 2018 and where they would be located. The study was complete in 2007 and it showed Paulding and Douglas were underserved," says Pierce. "Georgia Highlands was tapped to try and meet the need in these areas, so that is what we're doing."

As Highlands looks to the future, plans already are under way to build a new student center on the Cartersville campus next summer that would open in 2012. Highlands also is looking into adding intercollegiate athletics.

"We have been looking at ways to create more synergy as an institution, so we hope to add intercollegiate athletics. Our hope is that by 2012, assuming the Board of Regents approves it, we can join the National Junior College Athletic Association as part of the Georgia Conference," he says.

Highlands most likely would start with men's and women's basketball and tennis, and add more sports each year until it has six to eight teams. Other sports would include soccer, baseball and softball.

"The other thing we hope to do at the Floyd Campus and in Bartow is to bring in some four-year programs to Northwest Georgia. We have a lot of non-traditional students who can't travel to Kennesaw and Carrollton, so we are looking to start a limited number of four-year programs. We don't know when; that all depends on the budget," he says.

-Many of the images for this story come from the GHC website.

Three-Dot Buzz . . . :

Rumor control -- original Bella Roma site for sale; restaurant open:

-Eddie Hasko has the original Bella Roma restaurant listed for sale but says it remains in full service. Based in front of Armuchee Village, the restaurant is as popular as ever even after Bella Roma Grill's December opening in front of State Mutual Stadium. Hasko has five months left on the Armuchee store's lease. It will remain open, he says, unless it sells first.

-Sunday hours: Honeybaked Ham at 900 Martha Berry Blvd. is now open Sundays from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Tip: try the potato salad... Opening Sundays for the after-church crowd in Cartersville in mid-August is Slope's BBQ.

Dubious distinction for Crescent Bank: U.S. failed bank total tops 100.

-Bloomberg and other national media outlets picked up on Friday's seizure of Crescent Bank & Trust of Jasper, which has three offices and more than $150 million in deposits in Bartow County. Bloomberg notes that "U.S. bank failures this year have surpassed a bleak milestone of 100 as regulators shut down banks in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Kansas and Minnesota. The five bank seizures announced Friday bring to 101 the failures so far in 2010." Last year's total: 140.

-The Crescent Bank offices were open for business first thing Saturday only now with a new name: Renasant Bank, based in Tupelo, Miss

-This is the second time this year a bank with major assets in Bartow County has failed. Unity National Bank is now part of Bank of the Ozarks.

Brick by brick, Cedartown's streetscape getting closer

Work on the streetscape effect in downtown Cedartown is continuing longer than first thought. The project was to be done last month but workers are still removing old sidewalks and adding the brick effect. The top photo, in front of Bussey's Florist at 302 Main St., shows some of what's being done as does the image to the right from Sterling Holloway Place looking toward Holmes for Him. Below is a sample of how Main Street will look when completed. For more, click City of Cedartown

 

 

Commission on Children, Youth sets late summer fund-raisers: Two key fund-raisers for the Rome-Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth are set:

-Aug. 24/The Third Annual Too Hot to Cook celebration is Tuesday, Aug. 24. Look for a list of participating restaurants soon. The restaurants pledge to give part of their proceeds to the commission.

-Sept. 10/The 16th Annual Swing for Kids Golf Classic, presented by ServiceMaster by Twins, is Friday, Sept. 10, at Stonebridge Golf Club in Rome. Prizes include hole in one, closest to the pin and longest drive. To register or for sponsorship information, click Swing.

PEAKS & VALLEYS: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia

Peak to Floyd School Board member Teresa Lumsden:

-For more than a decade, Lumsden has helped enhance the largest public school system in our community, serving more than 10,000 students. Working with--and not micro-managing--able professionals such as Kelly Henson and now Lynn Plunkett and their staffs, Lumsden has helped craft a school system that is training all levels of students. As the vote count favored her opponent in Tuesday's primary, Lumsden quickly thanked the staff, faculty, parents and students of the Floyd County school system and congratulated Terry Williamson on his victory. That's another class act by someone who's focus has always been on the classroom. Her term expires in December.

Peak to the children's department of the Sara Hightower Regional Library System: Once again, our regional library system has dazzled thousands of area children with a solid summer of reading and entertainment. The "Make a Splash--Read!" touched kids in Floyd and Polk counties. It kept their minds active in a fun, even rewarding way while they enjoyed the summer as well. The summer reading program is an investment not only in our children's futures but our own as well. Congratulations on another job well done by our library system.  Library.

Valley to the possible public access issues at Barron Stadium:

-A story earlier this month in the Rome News examined possible limited use of the Barron Stadium track once it reopens to the community in December. At issue is protecting the new turf and other additional amenities there. We agree that vandalism is a problem you solve on a proactive basis. But we also urge the parks and rec department to develop a plan that lets the predawn walkers and joggers in. You would be surprise by the number of people pounding the pavement around sunrise. A 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. schedule might serve all interests best: the community and the agency. Believe us, had the public known limited hours were brewing, the SPLOST paying for it all likely would have passed by a much narrower margin--if at all.