I am proud to be a member of the 25th class of Leadership Newton County — a Covington/Newton County Chamber of Commerce Program.

For nine months class members take a Thursday to learn more about our county, so I’ve decided that after each leadership day that I would write a column about what I learned. I learned a lot about my fellow classmates and committee members at our retreat, but what happens at retreat stays at retreat — so, all I can say is that the Energizer Bunny, the church lady and M&Ms were highlights.

Our first class day was local government and history day. We spent most of the day at the Newton Judicial Center talking with Clerk of Courts Linda Hays, District Attorney Ken Wynne, Judge Henry Baker, Tax Commissioner Barbara Dingler, Chief Tax Assessor Tommy Knight and Scott Sirotkin with the planning and zoning department.

These people are dedicated servants to our county, exhibiting both knowledge and grace in their positions.

They supplied us with some very alarming statistics about crime and foreclosures in our county. For instance, out of 159 counties, Newton ranks sixth for instances of family violence and that so far this year 75 percent of home sales were bank owned a.k.a. in foreclosure.

While these statistics may cast a dark shadow on the county, I have to say that far more good exists here. For example, Newton County was the first county this year to turn its tax digest into the state.

After a morning at the judicial center we walked over to the historic courthouse to speak with Special Projects Director Cheryl Delk about exciting things on the county’s horizon. The county is set to have two new parks and a trail system connecting Oxford, Covington and Porterdale within the next few years. We also learned about the history of the courthouse and that it is actually the fourth one built in the county. We were able to visit the clock tower to see the original 1885 mechanism that has told Covington residents the time for decades and those of us brave enough to climb another flight of stairs, peeked at the dusty bell that chimes every hour.

For lunch we visited The Center for Community Preservation and Planning. Hosanna Fletcher of The Center explained to us how elected officials, city and county managers and other key players work together better than in any other community she has seen. Porterdale Mayor Bobby Hamby and Oxford Mayor Jerry Roseberry also gave us a brief overview of their cities’ histories and futures.

After lunch, we hopped on a big yellow school bus and enjoyed a tour of downtown Covington as narrated by Lee Aldridge. Her knowledge of the founding families in Covington was astonishing and her wacky sense of humor kept the class engaged. If Covington could bottle Ms. Lee and sell it like Dr. Pepper, then the city wouldn’t need to pass another SPLOST.

We then dropped Ms. Lee off and headed to Porterdale where Councilwoman Arline Chapman told us about the council’s plan for the future and Zoning Administrator Monty Hill told us about the town’s history. I was surprised to find out that for a majority of the 20th century, The Porterdale Mill was the driving industrial force for Newton County. The Bibb Company, which owned the mill during that time, provided everything for the town. Houses were painted every two years, they employed most of the town and even operated schools and a hospital. With the threat of $5 per gallon gas ever-present, this "live, work, play" community is ideal. Children could walk to school, and mothers and fathers could walk to work. Everything you needed was within a stroll and neighbors looked out for one another. How nice.

The last part of our day was spent in Judge Samuel Ozburn’s courtroom. If you haven’t met Judge Ozburn, he is the quintessential Southern gentleman. He showed us a video about the juvenile prison system in Georgia. I watched with my mouth open as teenagers were admitted to a boot camp with officers screaming in their face for every move they made. Ozburn has given this video created by the governor’s office to every school in the county and the Superior Court of Newton County facilitates a number of programs to prevent juvenile crime as well as reduce the number of repeat offenders.

Not only does the Superior Court participate in Newton Mentoring and provide judicial education for children and teenagers, it has programs for divorcing parents, supervises high risk drug offenders, operates a work release program and mandates GED/literacy training as a condition of probation.

The day was long, but absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait for our education day in November.

Jennifer T. Long is the editor of The Covington News. She is a member of the 25th class of Leadership Newton County.