Lifestyles

If you want to see the quietest, yet obviously jubilant, celebrations ever, look no further than the second-floor hallway at the Sheffield-Thompson Building at Shorter University during quiz bowl competition.
Students, their families and teachers paused to check out the sheets of paper posted on the wall that kept track of team scores for the day.
Seventh-graders from Coosa Middle School immediately tried to shout, but when shushed by parents because of competition still going on, began to whisper “yesssssss” and perform the world’s most silent high fives. Parents joined in with the hushed happiness, taking photos of the scores and smiling.
Coosa’s seventh grade placed first for their grade level with a score of 585 at the 12th annual Academic Quiz Bowl for Floyd County Schools. Students in the Kaleidoscope gifted program from the four county middle schools gathered at Shorter University to face each other through nine rounds of tough questions.
Model Middle School’s sixth grade won their grade level with 605, and Armuchee Middle School’s eighth grade won theirs with 830.
Overall, Model Middle School took home the first-place trophy with a total score of 1,700, Armuchee Middle’s team came in second with 1,645, Pepperell Middle School placed third with 1,470 and Coosa Middle School was fourth with 1,455.
“I think the best thing about the quiz bowl is that it is very challenging and fun,” said Brinley Smith, from Coosa Middle’s sixth grade team.
“And you get to meet new people,” chimed in her teammate Kara Middleton.
“This is so important, because it gives the kids an opportunity to be exposed to a college environment,” said Allison Espy, who works with the gifted program at Floyd County School’s central office and also teaches at Garden Lakes Elementary. “They also get to really experience teamwork and competition.”
Other teachers helping with the event agree that the whole day is a great experience for their students.
“One of the kids on the team came up to me saying, ‘Yes! I got a sports question right!’,” laughed Crissy Arrington, gifted teacher at Pepperell Elementary. “He was just so happy. Another student told me he was so excited he couldn’t even sleep last night.”
“It is really good to see them so excited about academics,” agreed Apryl Hawkins, who oversees all the high school gifted programs at Floyd County Schools and also is in charge of the intern program.
Many of Hawkins’ interns, high school students in Floyd County, were helping out at the quiz bowl, keeping score and turning in score sheets to the command center so the teachers could post the scores. Several of them made comments about the stiff competition between the middle school teams.
Parents also enjoyed the event.
“It is an honor to see them,” said Jonathan Bartleson, whose son, Aaron, was on the Model sixth grade team. “My wife was here this morning watching and I came for the afternoon. We had so much fun preparing for this. You just cannot believe the amount of anticipation it builds.”
One heartfelt statement from a retired gifted teacher who came to the quiz bowl to read questions for the day, may sum it up best.
“Every time I worry about the future of the nation, I think about quiz bowl,” said Kay New. “When I am here, I thoroughly enjoy the day. To look out at these faces and see the sportsmanship and how they work together, it is a wonderful thing.”

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Filmmakers have shelved production on a movie about the life of Gregg Allman a week after a freight train killed one crew member and injured seven others, a Savannah city official said Thursday.

Filming of the movie "Midnight Rider," starring William Hurt as the Allman Brothers Band singer in his later years, was just getting started when the train crashed into the crew and its equipment Feb. 20 on a trestle crossing the Altamaha River in rural Wayne County. Sheriff's investigators said the film crew had permission to be on private property adjacent to the train tracks, but not on the tracks themselves.

Following the collision, producers requested a permit through the Savannah Film Office to film at a private home in the city next week, said William Hammargren, the film office director working closely with the project. But he said they told him Wednesday night that work on the project was being halted, at least temporarily.

"They did confirm to me that they're shutting down production," Hammargren said. "I don't know for how long."

Hammargren said stopping production typically means that a film's crew is let go and any prior arrangements for shooting on location are scrapped. But he added that "Midnight Rider" producers didn't tell him that specifically.

Nadine Jolson, a publicist for the production company behind "Midnight Rider," did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment Thursday.

Investigators with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office have released few details surrounding the deadly collision about 60 miles southwest of Savannah. Joe Gardner, the lead detective on the case, has said the crew had permission to film next to the train tracks on property owned by Rayonier, the forest products company that has a large paper mill nearby. The tracks belong to CSX Railroad.

"CSX has told me they were aware they were out there, but they did not have permission to be on the train tracks," Gardner told reporters last week.

Sheriff's officials said the crash killed 27-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Jones, a camera assistant from Atlanta. The sheriff's initial incident report said Jones was on the railroad bridge spanning the river when she was struck by a passing freight train. Others were "injured either by the train or by debris from production equipment or by a bed that had been placed on the trestle by the crew," the report said.

The report said the film's director, Randall Miller, and production manager, Jay Sedrish, told deputies "they were here to film a movie scene." But it does not include statements from witnesses about the collision.

Miller's production company had been working with Savannah-based Meddin Studios on the film, which is based on Allman's 2012 memoir, "My Cross to Bear."

No criminal charges have been filed. Gardner said the sheriff's investigation would likely take several weeks.