Sunday Edition April 15, 2018 BARTOW COUNTY’S ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER $1.50 Local grapples with pro wrestling through feminist perspective BY JAMES SWIFT “Including ‘Monday Night Raw.’” [email protected] Leckwold, who grew up in White and spent about two decades residing in Bartow, wasn’t re- The past and the present collided for 27-year- ally a fan of professional wrestling back in the day. old Ashley Leckwold two weeks ago. Now an She remembers her father telling her the “sport” Amazon customer services associate who lives in was fake when she was five, but outside of some Atlanta, the Woodland High graduate ran into one of her wrestling-fanatic classmates harassing her, of her old English teachers at a rather unexpected that was about the extent of its influence on her place: a live World Wrestling Entertainment formative years. (WWE) broadcast at Philips Arena. “I can definitely tell you a lot of the boys that ASHLEY LECKWOLD/SPECIAL Woodland High alum Ashley Leckwold met her pro wrestling hero “I hadn’t seen her in a while and apparently I bullied me were super into Stone Cold Steve Finn Balor at the big WrestleMania shindig in New Orleans last mortified her kid, because she can’t go anywhere SEE , PAGE 5A weekend. without running into a student,” Leckwold said. WRESTLING SPECIAL The Century Bank Entertainment Series at The Grand Theatre will conclude CHS’s work- with country music star Pam Tillis Saturday at 7 p.m. based learning U.S. 41 project targets 2020 students Pam Tillis to honor mentors perform at at reception The Grand BY DONNA HARRIS [email protected] Theatre Students in the work-based learn- Saturday ing program at Cartersville High School seized an opportunity to BY MARIE NESMITH thank their mentors for their guid- [email protected] ance and support all year long. WBL Coordinator Shannon Looking to repeat her 2011 sell- Boyer hosted the Work-Based out performance, country music Learning Mentor Appreciation Re- artist Pam Tillis will present the ception Thursday night in the final concert in the 2017-2018 Cen- school cafeteria to give her 38 jun- tury Bank Entertainment Series at iors and seniors in the program the The Grand Theatre. Starting at 7 chance to honor the mentors and p.m., the acoustic performance will employers who have guided them take place Saturday at the toward their college and career Cartersville venue, 7 N. Wall St. goals during the 2017-18 school According to a news release year. from The Grand Theatre, “Pam “The mentors are invaluable,” Tillis has been a formidable force Boyer said. “The mentor/student re- in country music since her first sin- lationship is crucial to the growth of gle hit the charts in 1990. She has the student. These employers un- racked up 14 Top 5 hits, including derstand that a mentor is there to six that hit No. 1, and has sold over guide good decision-making and 6 million records. help the student understand and im- “An accomplished songwriter, prove, rather than govern hiring de- Pam has had her compositions cisions. These good people invest in recorded by artists as varied as the student’s academic, professional JAMES SWIFT/DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS Chaka Khan, Martina McBride, and social growth and have a vested Construction continues on a $57 million project to reconstruct the U.S. 41/U.S. 411 interchange in Cartersville. Started in 2014, the project is expected to wrap up in February 2020. Highway 101, Juice Newton and interest in their overall success. Conway Twitty. She was one of the They take the time to correct and first women in Nashville to pro- explain.” duce her own album, and she was Boyer said she’s planned appre- Completion date for interchange construction 2 years away awarded the coveted Female Vocal- ciation breakfasts for mentors twice ist of the Year by the [Country BY JAMES SWIFT selves in one of those caverns on Ten- Creek and you’ll be continuing with the before, but this year, she wanted to Music Association] in 1994, and [email protected] nessee Street,” said Bartow County Trans- traffic shifts that take place over 61,” he have an event that wouldn’t be lim- she was inducted into the Grand portation Planner Tom Sills. “It’s a $57 said. “They weren’t telling me today that ited by time or event space. Ole Opry in 2000.” Originally slated to be a three-year proj- million project, overall, from design to they expect the temporary bridges and “My vision was for the event to During her performance, Tillis is ect, efforts to reconstruct several bridges be more inclusive and to be inten- construction. It’s all federal transportation such to be ready over the railroad by that planning to entertain fans with new tional in recognizing the impact that along U.S. 41 are now expected to con- dollars.” point in time, but you’ll definitely see a and old medleys. the teachers, community, employ- tinue until February 2020. There is no timetable in place for when jog in the traffic getting across Pettit “It’s kind of like a soup. It’s a lit- ers, mentors and parents have on The project to rebuild the interchange at each bridge will be completed, but Sills Creek.” tle of this, a little of that,” Tillis said the success of my work-based U.S. 41 and U.S. 411, which also includes said the cloverleaf reconstruction will be The temporary bridges over Tennessee about her upcoming concert’s learning students,” she said. “I felt the reconstruction of the bridges along Joe finished first. Street will remain in place this summer, setlist. “I take requests. I try to do that an evening reception was the Frank Harris Parkway over the CSX line “Environmentally, they’ve got to deal but Sills said he does expect some signif- as many of the songs as we still re- best opportunity to allow for all of and the reconstruction of the bridges over with Pettit Creek stuff, and the railroad, icant work to be completed before 2019 member that people want to hear, these groups to attend.” Pettit Creek, began in 2014. According to they’ve got it ready to go because the rail- on the new permanent bridges that will and I want to make sure that most The event began with a 30- the Georgia Department of Transporta- road was charging them for delaying the eventually replace them. everybody goes home happy with minute mixer where parents, guests, tion, the project is almost 50 percent com- trains through that route,” he said. “They’re now working pretty exten- that. Then we do some choice CHS administrators, mentors and plete. At this point, Sills said he does not ex- sively on getting the temporary bridge put album cuts. career, technical and agricultural “They were hoping it would be a much pect any project cost overruns. He laid out in at Pettit Creek, and they hope to have “I’m previewing some new ma- education advisory committee shorter process than that, but we have a lot a tentative schedule of the construction that in place by mid-summer. There will terial on my upcoming album that’s members could browse through the of limestone underneath the road that progress anticipated by year’s end. WBL students’ individual displays forms caverns, and they’ve found them- “You’ll have a traffic shift here at Pettit SEE CONSTRUCTION, PAGE 7A SEE TILLIS, PAGE 2A of their portfolio and digital presen- tation of their career and college plans as well as display tables set up by CTAE teachers and club mem- bers, Boyer said. Amateur radio groups thrive in Bartow County During the reception, CTAE Di- rector Marc Collier, Assistant Prin- BY MARIE NESMITH “Using our own portable radio transceivers cipal Shelley Tierce and CHS [email protected] linked to the Cartersville VHF repeater station on graduate and Georgia Association top of Pine Mountain, we were able to stay in con- of Career and Technical Education As a member of the Etowah Valley Amateur stant contact with race officials, both on land and Executive Director Matthew Gam- Radio Club and the Bartow County Amateur water. In addition, one of our radio operators bill addressed the crowd of about 100 people. Radio Emergency Service, Cartersville resident linked in from their home so they could monitor Boyer recognized Ansley Roper Alan Scheibe embraced the opportunity to provide the weather and provide real-time updates via the as the Outstanding WBL Senior and “communications capability” at SwimRun Geor- National Weather Service website.” Jasmine Koch as Outstanding WBL gia. The endurance event was presented at Red During the event, Scheibe and two others were Junior, honors that were voted on Top Mountain State Park in Acworth April 8. positioned at Aid Station No. 4 next to Red Top by the students in each class. “We were asked to participate because of our Mountain Beach. Roper has been mentored by Dr. previous experience providing communications “The racers swam to us from Wedding Point, Lisa Walker from Westside Animal for the 74-mile ultra-marathon Georgia Death then ran through the parking lot to Group Shelter Hospital, while Koch has worked in Race and the 100-mile Georgia Jewel Trail Race,” No. 1, and then jumped back into the water to both nursing and administrative po- Scheibe said. “For the SwimRun Georgia event, swim to the Cottage Road peninsula,” he said. sitions at Cartersville Medical Cen- we were stationed at multiple aid stations along the “During the race, three teams dropped out due to ter this year.