Thomson High School was recently notified that sophomore Ellen Wallace, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Wallace, has been selected to attend the 2012 Governor’s Honors Program.

Ellen will attend the program, to be held June 24-July 21, in Valdosta, in the area of executive management.

A family-owned Ford dealership in Thomson its doors after more than 60 years in business.

“The economy is just so bad,” owner Bobby Culpepper said, citing financial reasons for closing the dealership that has been run by his family since his father opened the first location in Thomson in 1949.

Culpepper, who served as mayor of Harlem since 2008, said he’s been semi-retired for three or four years while his son, Brian, ran the day-to-day operations.

“That’s one reason I had more time to spend as mayor,” Culpepper said.

“Once I had a bird come in from a race and zoom by me and circle around to come into the loft, and then he flew back by in a big arc with a hawk after him. Pretty amazing birds, that even after flying for 200 miles, they can still outrun a hawk.”

At first glance, it might seem that Hugh Usry is talking about a falcon or an eagle or some other bird that, in our minds, symbolizes stealth and speed. What he is really talking about, however, are pigeons.

Just a few months after a kaolin slurry spill rocked the ecosystem of Reedy Creek, the creek took another heavy blow when more than 100,000 gallons of kaolin whitewash was leaked from a faulty pipe.

The leak was first detected around 7 a.m. March 23. At 9 a.m. it was reported that the leak had been stopped.

Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus said the liquid that spilled into the river is known as whitewash, which is material that is separated from the white kaolin clay.