Farm Safety Camp Held
Jasper County Farm Bureau hosted the fifth annual Farm Safety Camp in Shady Dale last Thursday, June 15.
Fifty students attended the all day event which makes this the largest camp ever. The camp started with Sheriff Charles Roper and Dep. Randy Dean along with his canine partner, “King,” making a presentation to the children about safety in general then a demonstration with King.
The children broke off into five groups where they heard from Rob Alexander from Georgia Energy doing a presentation on propane tank safety; Howell Crutchfield for Georgia Forestry presenting chainsaw/small equipment safety; Tri-County EMC presented Power Town; Ranger Billy Bryant and Ranger Keith Page, from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) presented firearm safety then presented boat and water safety in the afternoon.
Londa Champion, women’s committee chair provided pizza to the students while Kelly Thomason, Young Farmer Chair shuffled the children through the I-Dent-A-Kid Services where each camper was photographed and fingerprinted.
Russell Wise flew in Rescue Air 1 and showed the helicopter’s features to everyone. It was a big hit with each and everyone, including the adults.
The afternoon classes included tractor safety presented by Green-field Equipment; Ed Westbrook, EMS director along with his assistant, Melissa McElheney, presented storm safety, Jarrett Slocumb, Charles Cook and Blake Robison presented Fire Safety then sprayed the children down with the fire hose, the ambulance service demonstrated first aid and then the children toured the ambulance.
Donations and volunteers from Georgia Pacific, Bank of Monti-cello, McIntosh State Bank, Mid-Georgia Livestock, Spencer Barnes Glass, and Pennington Seed made this day possible.
The “green” group led by Mike Shields from G-P included: Clint Strawn, Colt Kelly, Aaron Whitby, Tyler Daughtry, Chas Cook, Daniel Guerrero, Casey Chaplin, Chris Anglin, Jacob Bishop, and Chase Caron.
The “blue” group led by Tara Pope included: Hannah Wood, LeeAnn Phillips, Morgan Caldwell, Mary Mac Evans, Rileigh Evans, Makenzie Davis, Anna Walden, Haley Tyler, and Andee Westbrook.
The “red” group led by Daniel Pennington from Pennington Seed included: Jake Walden, Joshua Phillips, Hunt Kelly, Walt Rabon, Joseph Caldwell, Austin Daughtry, Samuel McGinnis, and Mitchell Davis.
The “yellow” group led by Cliff Bowden from Georgia Farm Bureau included: Douglas Taylor, Levi Ford, Eli Smallwood, Danny Ramsdell, Wyatt Galloway, Will Loveless, Chasen Edge, Garrett Scroggs, Westin Rabon, and Justin Clark.
The “pink” group led by Lindsey and April Thomason included: Summer Arena, Samantha Ramsdell, Heather Tyler, Laree Taylor, Caitlin Tillman, Danielle Heidinger and Allison Scroggs.
Organizers expressed thanks to Merrill Clark and the Masonic Lodge for the use of the rodeo grounds and Jasper County Farm Bureau President, Paul Kelly for the set up, clean up and countless hours of volunteer time for this event.
