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inform. educate. connect.
Arlington & Lakeland’s Community Newspaper
38002.com
June/July 2015
theview
theview
“Wildcat Games” Bring Smiles to Bolton HS
Students Rally to Plan Field Day for Special Needs Students
By Lily Donaldson, Special to THE VIEW 38002
When Bolton junior Gavin Bishop
learned that Bolton High School
special education students could not
participate in a local Special
Olympics event, Bishop took to
social media. “Something needs to be
done about this situation,” Bishop
posted.
Bishop knew how important the
field day was for the students in the
Special Needs classroom where he
had been volunteering since the fall
semester.
His experience with
special needs individuals at Bolton
and Camp Barnabas in Missouri also
lead him to start a chapter of the
national peer group Best Buddies at
the high school.
Sophomore Miranda Swift
answered Bishop’s call for action the
next day, and together they started
creating their own special education
field day for Bolton. With help from
Bolton teachers Dodie Mize, Jessica
Continued on page 15
Upcoming June/July Events
(visit www.theview38002.com for full community calendar)
6
20
Photo by Cathy Roberts
Athletes and volunteers enjoyed the first annual event. For more
photos from the Wildcat Games, see back page.
Lakeland School Board
Approves Middle School Plan
By Terry Louderback
A year to the day after
the Lakeland School
Board voted on June 3,
2014 to proceed with a
Capital Improvement Plan
for a new middle school,
they did it again.
Forced to re-group after
the April 16 defeat of a
resolution to issue municipal bonds, Lakeland Superintendent presented a
revised CIP request at the
June 1 work session.
The proposed Lakeland
Middle sits on the same 94
-acre property considered
for the 6-12 grade Lakeland Prep, but comes with
a price tag just under $20
Municipal Ballots Thin as
Qualifying Deadline Looms
By Terry Louderback
million—a $30 million
reduction from the joint
middle/high school plan.
Lakeland Superintendent Dr. Ted Horrell confirmed that the purchase of
the property from landowner Rudolph Jones will
proceed.
The school system has
sent a letter to Jones indicating that they are ready
for to move forward with a
sale/purchase agreement,
Horrell said.
Horrell also clarified
that the land purchase will
not be made with CIP
funds from the Shelby
County Commission. A
Continued on page 9
With the qualifying
deadline for returning
petitions to the Shelby
County Elections Commission fast approaching,
several races in the September 17 municipal
elections for Arlington
and Lakeland will be
decided at noon on June
18 unless last-minute
candidates appear.
At press time. Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman, Arlington School
Board Chair Kay Williams, and Arlington
School Board Member
Barbara Fletcher are all
unopposed.
For the three Arling-
ton Aldermen seats up for
grabs, perennial candidates Larry Harmon, Jr.
and Brian Elder (Groves)
have both pulled petitions
for Position 1, currently
held by Glen Bascom..
Bascom has not declared
whether he will run for re
-election. In a statement,
he said that he plans to
make a decision next
week.
Brian Elder has also
pulled a petition for Position 2, currently held by
Gerald McGee, who is
running to keep his seat.
Lee Mills has also submitted a petition for that
Continued on page 9
27
Lakeland Fishing
Rodeo — 8:00 a.m.,
IH Managerial Park
Music on the Square
—7:00 p.m.—10:00
p.m.; The Masters of
Harrumpf performs at
Arlington Depot
Square
Star
Spangled
Spectacular,6:00p.m.
Arlington Sports
4
18
Complex.
Independence Day
Celebration, 9:30am
- noon at the HughesCollege Hill Park on
Chester Street,
Arllington
Music on the Square
—7:00 p.m.—10:00
p.m.; Twin Soul
performs at Arlington
Depot Square
Looking for a summer camp or VBS?
Don’t miss our listing of Summer Activities on page 15 and online at
www.theview38002.com. It’s not too late to add your camp or VBS to
our digital listing; go to www.theview38002.com/summer to submit your
information.
Inside this edition...
Sprouts Farmer’s Market Grant Opening, p. 5
New Investments in Depot
Square, p. 7
School News, starts on p.
A Boston Marathon Diary, p. 19