Holiday 2020 Preview: Christmas parade, toy programs, New Year’s

       Wayside Animal Hospital / Photo

Poor Chester - The 11-year-old dog that got his head stuck in a dryer vent is pictured with Animal Care Assistant Elizabeth Collins. Collins works with Wayside Animal Clinic through the Work Based Learning Program at Pickens High School. 

       Chester, an 11-year-old terrier mix owned by a local family, had a really bad day last week when he got his head stuck in a dryer vent.

“It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen in my entire career,” said Dr. Lyn Lewis, owner of Wayside Animal Clinic. Dr. Lewis has been practicing for 18 years. 

      See full story in this week's print or online editions. 

By Beau Evans

Staff Writer

Capitol Beat News Service

Georgia is gearing up to distribute the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to health-care workers and the state’s elderly residents in the coming weeks once federal officials approve the vaccines for emergency use.

  Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday he expects health-care workers and nursing home residents in the state to start receiving vaccines in the second or third week of December, noting several state agencies have been preparing to move quickly on distribution as soon as the initial vaccine shipments arrive.

By Beau Evans
Staff Writer
Capitol Beat News Service

   A group of Republican state lawmakers are calling for the General Assembly to hold a special session ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections for U.S. Senate to consider changes to Georgia’s voter ID laws amid testiness over the recent presidential contest.
    State election officials have said a second recount of the Nov. 3 presidential election that began Tuesday likely will not include inspecting signatures on absentee ballot envelopes, which allies of President Donald Trump have demanded since his loss to President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia.
    In Georgia, county election officials verify mail-in voters by matching the signatures they are required to make on ballot envelopes with their signatures on file from when they registered. The envelopes are then separated from the actual ballots to protect voter privacy, making it tough to re-match those signatures later.
   Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office has repeatedly said state and local officials have found no evidence so far of any widespread fraud in this month’s general election. Raffensperger has, however, advocated for tightening the state’s voter ID laws.

     Peyton Franco and Jake Anderson (l-r) completed an impressive area for the Catholic Church on Refuge Road as their Eagle Scout projects.

From Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church

Becoming an Eagle Scout is a major accomplishment that requires the candidate to “plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or their community.” 

For their Eagle Scout project, local Scouts Peyton Franco, son of Jose and Alana Franco, and Jake Anderson, son of Marc and Dana Anderson, chose to build a beautiful stone firepit with amphitheater