Sunday Edition December 29, 2019 BARTOW COUNTY’S ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER $1.50 Adairsville facility New Year’s marks arrival of Chinese Resolution manufacturing in Bartow BY JAMES SWIFT tomers include a litany of major [email protected] domestic corporations such as Walmart and Costco. The facility that formerly “MGM was looking at a num- housed Beaulieu of America at ber of communities that met 201 Princeton Blvd. in Adairs- their profi le, and Bartow hap- ville has a new tenant — Green- pened to fall into that,” said Car- JAMES SWIFT/DTN View Floors International, Inc. tersville-Bartow Department of Bartow County Administrator the fi rst major Chinese manufac- Economic Development Execu- Peter Olson said the local gov- turer to bring operations to Bar- tive Director Melinda Lemmon. ernment heads into 2020 far tow County. “We had an existing building, more optimistic than heading The vinyl and laminate fl oor- which was particularly benefi - into 2019. ing company is owned by Jiang- cial for this project … with their su-based Nanjing MGM New timeline, the building, with a few Material Co. Ltd. (MGM). While modifi cations, was ready to move On economics, RANDY PARKER/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS the annual sales and revenue fi g- into.” GreenView Floors International, Inc. looks to bring more than 230 jobs to the local com- ures for the private company re- Bartow County munity. main unpublicized, MGM’s cus- SEE MGM, PAGE 7A offi cials optimistic heading into 2020 Los Arcos BY JAMES SWIFT [email protected] legal battle RAY RAY’S NIGHT Like many government offi - cials, this time last year Bartow continues County Administrator Peter Ol- son was nervous. After the Dow after appeals Jones Industrial Average dropped 650 points on Christmas Eve — with December 2018, as a court ruling whole, representing Wall Street’s worst month since 1931 — a BY JAMES SWIFT long-dreaded recession in 2019 [email protected] seemed like a foregone conclu- sion. A legal dispute between a The prophesies of economic local restaurant and a condo- doom and gloom, however, nev- minium association that’s been er came to fruition. Instead, the ongoing for almost four years market had another rollicking took another turn in October, year, with the Nasdaq Composite when Judge Ken Hodges of the closing above 9,000 points for the Georgia Court of Appeals par- fi rst time in history on Thursday. tially overturned an earlier rul- “There was so much concern ing made by Cherokee Judicial and fear and it seems to have Circuit Judge D. Scott Smith a evaporated in the last part of the year prior. year and the market’s back to hit- Yet the courtroom battle be- ting new records,” Olson said. “It tween Cat Daddy Corner Con- does seem like the fundamentals dominium Association, Inc. and companies are making money — La Mara II, Inc. — doing busi- their biggest problem seems to ness as Los Arcos — appears to be fi nding enough people to fi nd be far from over. jobs. That’s not a bad problem “We issued a notice of foreclo- to have, if you’re doing so much sure, it was run in the paper for business that you can’t fi nd work- December, but we’ve put it off ers.” in an attempt to meet with them But macroeconomics, Olson and work a settlement out,” said RANDY PARKER/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS observed, seems to abide by Daniel Clay Bennett, president Raquan “Ray Ray” Bailey talks with an Adairsville High basketball player on the bench during the team’s home game that old boxing axiom — it’s the of the Cat Daddy Corner Condo- against Coahulla Creek Dec. 13. punch you never see coming that minium Association. “We want poses the greatest risk of a knock- to work it out with them, our out. goal is not to foreclose. It’s just “You face the uncertainty of the the foreclosure is our last op- AHS student honored as he ages out of BCSS one of these unknowns — is tion … this was mainly a move something going to cause an oil to get them to come to the table, BY DONNA HARRIS to leave AHS at the end of fall semester, school store, “the best student I have spike, some crisis in the Middle to try to work something out.” [email protected] which was Dec. 20. ever had.” East?” he said. “The psychology And if those talks stall, Ben- “AHS will never be the same without “He and his friend, Owen, have made turned from bad to good and it nett said the dispute is headed Adairsville High students, faculty and him,” said exceptional ed teacher Mi- my job at AHS a joy every day,” he said. could turn back around again if back to the local courts. staff said goodbye last week to someone chael Kimsey, who had taught Ray Ray “When I interviewed for my job, [Prin- the wrong series of world events “They’ve petitioned that if we who left an indelible mark on the school. for the past 3½ years. “We are truly los- cipal] Mr. [Bruce] Mulkey told me I was happen, so let’s just keep our fi n- can’t settle it or whatever, that Raquan Bailey, known to everyone on ing one of the most special humans to applying for the best job he could think gers crossed.” it’ll go to a local jury trial,” he campus as Ray Ray, is an exceptional ed- walk the face of the planet. Words can- of because of Ray Ray and Owen. With- While work on the County’s said. ucation student who captured the hearts not express how much he will be missed out question, he was right.” fi scal year 2020 budget is still The legal dispute dates back of everyone who knew him, according to not only by me but the entire school.” Ray Ray’s unchanging disposition was underway, Olson said it’s a given to 2016. After Bennett pur- his present and former teachers. what made him so special to the school, that expenditures are going to be chased the condo space between When he turned 22 on Sept. 26, he Kimsey called the Adairsville resi- according to Kimsey. on the uptick. Los Arcos and Okinawa, he reached the age limit for being able to dent, who was voted AHS’s homecom- formed an association, which he attend a Bartow County school so he had ing king in 2017 and worked in the SEE RAY RAY, PAGE 6A SEE 2020, PAGE 5A said was required by bank-es- tablished declarations. Bennett said the owners of Los Arcos, at 1010 North Ten- nessee St. in Cartersville, didn’t CCSS shows off new Canes abide by those declarations and refused to pay monthly dues for upkeep of the property. The Navigation Center at open house association started fi ning the restaurant, yet Bennett said the BY DONNA HARRIS vide wraparound services that could meet the business simply refused to pay [email protected] academic and basic needs of its students and them. families. “According to the condo In the end, helping as many students and “We went to Marietta last year and looked law, we placed a lien on the families as possible won out over a 30-space at what they were offering,” Feuerbach said. property,” he said. “And when parking lot. “Marietta City was kind of the fi rst to start we did, they filed a lawsuit When summer vacation began this year, the this several years back. Polk County had done against the condominium as- Cartersville City School System intended to the same. So we looked, but we didn’t have the sociation.” tear down the building it owns next-door to the space to offer anything of that nature.” Bennett said the association central offi ce on Nelson Street to create more After the day care center that had rented the reached out to the restaurant to parking for the high school, “but we were only building from the school system for several iron out a mutual agreement to going to get like 30 parking spots” out of it, years moved out in the spring, offi cials realized RANDY PARKER/THE DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS stop the fi nes, but claims Los causing administrators to reconsider that plan, the space could help more people if it were used Cartersville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Marc Feuerbach Arcos’ owners never came to the Superintendent Dr. Marc Feuerbach said. to provide school supplies, clothing, toiletries shows Stephanie Stapleton, executive assistant to the pres- negotiating table. So after some brainstorming, they came up and food for those in need instead of parking. ident of Georgia Highlands College, the clothing room at the with a better use for the property — fi lling one district’s new Canes Navigation Center next-door to the central SEE APPEAL, PAGE 6A of the district’s needs by creating a place to pro- SEE CCSS, PAGE 8A offi ce. INSIDE TODAY Cloudy, VOLUME 73, NO. 202 Obituaries ............................. 2A Sports ................................... 1B showers U.S. & World .........................4A Classifieds............................ 4B High 70 www.daily-tribune.com Blotter ................................... 7A Around Town ....................... 1C Weather ................................ 8A Entertainment ...................... 7C Low 50 2A Sunday, December 29, 2019 • www.daily-tribune.com Local The Daily Tribune News ContactUs OBITUARIES The Daily Tribune News Pennsylvania; brother John N. Fehl always had an open door to any- Raleigh is survived by his par- Address: of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; one in need.