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Schools release more eclipse details
How to view the eclipse safely
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For those who still may feel “in the dark” about how Bryan County Schools will handle Monday’s solar eclipse, here are the latest details.

Rather than cancel classes for Aug. 21, which some nearby districts have done, Bryan County Schools will hold regular instruction that day. Dismissal will be delayed by 30 minutes as the peak time to view the eclipse falls during regularly scheduled afternoon transportation times. Start times for each school remain unchanged that day.

“This delayed dismissal will ensure that neither students nor employees are on the roadways during the time of the maximum eclipse,” the district said in a press release.

Full details are available at http://www.bryancountyschools.org/2017-solar-eclipse.

Superintendent Paul Brooksher said districts that have cancelled classes that day will have to make up the instructional hours at some other point.

“We feel that extending one day by 30 minutes is a better option than having to cut Christmas break short by a day, for example,” he noted.

Brooksher added that each school will be planning its own activities based on grade level.

“The way you approach this event for high schoolers is obviously different than the way you would for grade schoolers,” he said.

All students participating in outdoor activities during the eclipse will be provided with approved glasses for viewing. The district encourages parents to remind students not to remove the glasses and look directly at the sun during the eclipse or to try and use regular sunglasses. Pembroke Advanced Communications is providing approved glasses for use at all North Bryan schools.

For students who will be attending school that day but whose parents do not want them participating in outdoor activities, this form can be filled out and submitted: https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/77727/Solar_Eclipse_Viewing_Opt-Out.pdf.

Students whose parents return the form will remain indoors during the eclipse and watch NASA’s live stream of the event, according to the district.

Brooksher added that since some families will be traveling that day to more fully experience the eclipse, and because some parents simply still do not want their children attending school for the day due to the delayed dismissal, all absences on Monday will be considered excused.

Safety First

The last two total solar eclipses visible in Georgia were March 1970 and May 1900. The next two will occur in August 2045 and March 2052.

A total eclipse Monday will occur on a path from Lincoln Beach, Ore., to Charleston, S.C. Bryan County will experience a 96 percent eclipse, with the height of the eclipse at 2:46 p.m.

Bryan County Emergency Services Chief Freddy Howell reminds residents that they should never look directly at the sun, but especially not during a solar eclipse. Eclipse glasses recommended by NASA are sold by the following companies: Rainbow Symphony, American Paper Optics, Thousand Oaks Optical and TSE 17.

Pembroke Advanced Communications also has a limited supply of approved glasses available for customers. They can be reached at (912) 653-4389.

Experts warn that even a brief glance at the sun without proper eye wear during any part of the eclipse can cause eye damage or even blindness. To ensure that you have a proper pair of eclipse glasses, examine them for scratches and try them out first. If you put them on inside your home, you should not be able to see any household lights. Binoculars, cameras and telescopes are not safe alternatives unless used with an approved solar filter.

Scientists say pets may act strangely during the eclipse, but they will instinctively know not to look at the sun if they are outside.

For more information, visit https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety.

 

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Later yall, its been fun
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This is among the last pieces I’ll ever write for the Bryan County News.

Friday is my last day with the paper, and come June 1 I’m headed back to my native Michigan.

I moved here in 2015 from the Great Lake State due to my wife’s job. It’s amicable, but she has since moved on to a different life in a different state, and it’s time for me to do the same.

My son Thomas, an RHHS grad as of Saturday, also is headed back to Michigan to play basketball for a small school near Ann Arbor called Concordia University. My daughter, Erin, is in law school at University of Toledo. She had already begun her college volleyball career at Lourdes University in Ohio when we moved down here and had no desire to leave the Midwest.

With both of them and the rest of my family up north, there’s no reason for me to stay here. I haven’t missed winter one bit, but I’m sure I won’t miss the sand gnats, either.

Shortly after we arrived here in 2015, I got a job in communications with a certain art school in Savannah for a few short months. It was both personally and professionally toxic and I’ll leave it at that.

In March 2016 I signed on with the Bryan County News as assistant editor and I’ve loved every minute of it. My “first” newspaper career, in the late 80s and early 90s, was great. But when I left it to work in politics and later with a free-market think tank, I never pictured myself as an ink-stained wretch again.

Like they say, never say never.

During my time here at the News, I’ve covered everything that came along. That’s one big difference between working for a weekly as opposed to a daily paper. Reporters at a daily paper have a “beat” to cover. At a weekly paper like this, you cover … life. Sports, features, government meetings, crime, fundraisers, parades, festivals, successes, failures and everything in between. Oh, and hurricanes. Two of them. I’ll take a winter blizzard over that any day.

Along the way I’ve met a lot of great people. Volunteers, business owners, pastors, students, athletes, teachers, coaches, co-workers, first responders, veterans, soldiers and yes, even some politicians.

And I learned that the same adrenalin rush from covering “breaking news” that I experienced right out of college is still just as exciting nearly 30 years later.

With as much as I’ve written about the population increase and traffic problems, at least for a few short minutes my departure means there will be one less vehicle clogging up local roads. At least until I pass three or four moving vans headed this way as I get on northbound I-95.

The hub-bub over growth here can be humorous, unintentional and ironic all at once. We often get comments on our Facebook page that go something like this: “I’ve lived here for (usually less than five years) and the growth is out of control! We need a moratorium on new construction.”

It’s like people who move into phase I of “Walden Woods” subdivision after all the trees are cleared out and then complain about trees being cut down for phase II.

Bryan County will always hold a special place in my heart and I definitely plan on visiting again someday. My hope is that my boss, Jeff Whitten (one of the best I’ve ever had), will let me continue to be part of the Pembroke Mafia Football League from afar. If the Corleone family could expand to Vegas, there’s no reason the PMFL can’t expand to Michigan.

But the main reason I want to return someday is about that traffic issue. After all, I’ll need to see it with my own eyes before I’ll believe that Highway 144 actually got widened.

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