*Every year, Gainesville Water Resources holds a contest for kids to design a fire hydrant, then they are judged by Celestial Studios. Here are this year’s 1st-, 2nd-, and3rd-place finishers, the name of each entry, and where they are located:
1st – Poultry Capitol by Miles R. (near the intersection of Jesse Jewell & E.E. Butler)
2nd – Spider Man by Randy F. (along the Midland Greenway at the crossing of High Street)
3rd – Dragon’s Eye by RJ B.-H. (at the intersection of Main Street and MLK Jr Blvd)
*Cumming City Clerk Jeff Honea, who is retiring at the end of the month after 45 years with the city, recently received the Georgia Municipal Association’s Lifetime Service Award. Honea began his career with the city in April 1980. He spent the first seven years with the Cumming Utilities Department before being named City Clerk in 1987.
*Thanks to a $300,000 donation from Norfolk Southern, pediatric patients at Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville will soon have a new outdoor therapeutic playground. The hospital originally built a pediatric playground in 2007 with funds from the Jim, Greg & Steve Syfan Family Foundation, but the playground was closed in 2019 due to its age. Now, Syfan Logistics has committed $100,000, in addition to the Norfolk Southern gift, toward building the new playground.