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Newsletters |
New President is Bill O'Leksy |
The LCLC Board of Directors named Bill O’Leksy as president through 2008. Bill has been an active volunteer in his community after 35 years of service in the Army. He began as an enlisted reservist in his hometown of GreenBay, Wisconsin and retired in 1988 as a general officer. Since retiring to Dahlonega he accepted leadership roles in local, state and regional levels of the American RedCross, Dahlonega Rotary Club, Lumpkin County and Chestatee Regional Library System Boards, Holly Community Theatre Board, St. Luke Catholic Church lay ministries, Lumpkin County Board of Assessors, Lumpkin County Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the Georgia State Military Affiliate Radio Service. Other involvements include the Dahlonega Historical Society, American Heart Association, “No One Alone Shelter” for abused spouses and children, Dahlonega Right to Life Care Center, and the Lumpkin County Literacy Coalition. Lumpkin County puts During the last budget session of the Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners, a new line item for the support of literacy in the county was created for the 2008 budget. Following a presentation made to the Commissioners, several members realized the true cost of having people unable to read and unable to be proficient in simple computations. The presentation included statistics outlining a revenue loss in tax dollars to the county of about $160,000 per person over a 20 year period. The cost of supporting illiterate citizens in our detention center, in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, in family violence programs, in teenage pregnancies is difficult to estimate. Almost 7,300 people in Lumpkin County do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent, the GED. WalMart and LCLC Share Debbie Lowe, Director of Community Relations for WalMart and a member of LCLC’s Board of Directors presented a $1,500 Christmas gift to the Coalition. WalMart’s continuing non-designated support of our efforts to decrease illiteracy helps in teaching adults to read and preschoolers to love holding books and turning the pages themselves. Thanks to all WalMart employees for supporting your community.
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