Kirby speaks to the Veterans

The Veterans at the Library held their weekly meeting at the Franklin Memorial Library Monday morning, April 21, at 9 a.m. With acting Chair Scotty Nasworthy presiding, they had 39 in attendance. The Beta Sigma Phi provided a great breakfast consisting of sausage biscuits, donuts, jelly and fruit and Shari Watt furnished the orange juice, cranberry juice, grape juice, apple juice and coffee.

The speaker was Melisa Kirby, Director of Downtown Development in Swainsboro. She talked about all the events happening in Swainsboro including the Annual Pine Tree Festival, Kiwanis Knotty Pine 5K Run and the Karrh Center Theatre. The Karrh Center Theatre will be opening in middle to late summer. They are waiting on the notification of the 220 seats and the marquee delivery dates.

The new veteran is Don L Brooks. He served in the U.S. Army from March 1976 to February 1994. Brooks served in the 3ID, 11th Armored, 5/501. His highest rank was CW3.

Another item Scotty discussed was the condition of the “First Responders and Veterans Park”.

About half of the park has been cleaned up, but the other half is still a mess. A large number of veterans will be attending the May City Council meeting with a spokesperson to find out the status of the clean-up of all the damage. With Memorial Day fast approaching on May 26, it would be a shame to the veterans of Emanuel County for the park to be in such a mess.

Scotty also discussed with the veterans about the notice that they just received from Wreaths Across America organization that they were ranked 5th in the state out of nearly 300 WAA organizations concerning the number of wreaths placed on veteran’s graves for 2024.

If you would like to sponsor a cemetery for 2025, please contact Scotty Nasworthy at 478-455-3264 or Shari Watt at the Library at 478-237-7791.

Also, Scotty gave an update on the “Veterans Cup Golf Tournament” that is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, at the Swainsboro Country Club. Daniels Chevrolet is sponsoring the “hole in one” prize of $10,000 for anyone having a hole in one during the tournament.