Amy Treadwell from the Wilkes County Unit of the Georgia Forestry Commission is expected home Thursday (May 3) after two weeks in Waycross with the Forestry Commission's Emergency Management Team. Beth Richards has been there for a week. Three Wilkes County men have also been fighting the tremendous forest fires in the Waycross and Okefenokee Swamp area of the state. Mark Munns, John Sunday, and Lorenzo Lee may also be coming home Thursday. But not for long. All will probably be going back to Waycross the first of next week. Amy is a member of the finance team which is keeping records for all the activity with the fires. It's bad enough when the dad in the family has to be gone for an extended period of time, but when a mom is gone, it causes lots of problems. Amy's husband Jeff, and their two daughters, Emily and Ella, have been managing to "make-do" while mom is gone, and will be glad to have her home. Jeff says friends have been good to help and especially named Vonice and Michael Wells, and Del and Bonnie Branch. Beth's husband Mark and son Conrad have been coping as best they can and will be glad when mom gets home.

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This Friday is the day for the long-awaited and long-planned-for

Relay for Life to raise funds for cancer research. The 25 teams hope to raise $35,000. The all night Relay activities will get underway at 7 p.m. Friday at the track at the Washington Wilkes Parks and Recreation Department (old Wilkes Academy) and will last all night. Everybody is invited and encouraged to attend and participate in the many fundraising activities. Remember: you can get your supper at the track field and all the proceeds will go for cancer research. All kinds of food will be available. . . . Chris Townsend, Minister to Students at First Baptist, is coordinating the all-night event, but as of Tuesday Chris was confined to his home with walking pneumonia.

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The annual Spring Cruise-In sponsored by the Memory Lane Cruisers car club will be Saturday, May 12, on The Square in Downtown Washington. It's always fun to see all the old vehicles and support the car club whose fund-raisers benefit many groups and individuals in Wilkes County.

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Some folks are wondering what's going on in our shaky world. Peggy West on Lexington Road says she was awakened in the early hours of Friday morning by a loud boom that shook her bed. . . . Margie Burke in Greens Grove felt a trembling of her house Monday afternoon. I don't know if it is weather-related or not, but I do know that we have had some beautiful days and nights during the past week. The nights and early mornings are real cool for sleeping; the days warm up to the 70s (sometimes 80s); and have you seen that beautiful moon at night?

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An article on the front page of Saturday's Augusta Chronicle told about the posthumous Medical College of Georgia dentistry degree presented to Dolly Hearn and received by her parents, Barbara and Carlton Hearn, on April 27. Dolly was in her senior year at MCG when she was slain, and the case was not solved and her murderer convicted until 16 years later. The Hearns have established a scholarship in her name that is awarded annually to a student in the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry. . . . We hope to get permission from the Chronicle to print the entire article in The News-Reporter.

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Elizabeth Duggan, one of four majorettes with the Tiger Marching Band, will be twirling with the Georgia Southern University Band beginning with the fall semester. She participated in try-outs in April and will be reporting for band camp in mid-July. Elizabeth is the daughter of Tom and Gail Duggan.

Every year I try to list the plans of graduating seniors at our Washington Wilkes Comprehensive High School and other area schools. I list a few each week and depend on family members to supply the information. You can call The News-Reporter at 706-678-2636 and tell us about your graduate. The ones that I know about already include:

Krystle Kvalheim, Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, major in nursing.

Lindley Hall, Georgia College and State University, major in physical therapy. Molly Newsome, Taylor Echols, Trey Berry, Trey Mc- Cants, and Jessica Watson, University of Georgia. Charlton Ware, Georgia College and State University. Maggie Cravens, Samford University, Alabama. Elizabeth Duggan, Kirby Wilson, Khiry Tutt, Les Robb, Bonnie Roth, Donna Dove, and Chiquita Turner, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro. Kelmetrus Wylie and Gary Wilburn, University of Connecticut. Jonathan Nicholson, South Polytech. Dwayne Hampton, Georgia Military College, Milledgeville. Patrell Turman, Fort Valley State University. Ashton Hardin, Emily Martin, Ashley Higgins, and Brooke Dobbs, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC). Wright Gunter, South Georgia Tech. Leah Stevens, Meghan Arnold, and Brooke Hardigree, Gainesville State University. James Cade, Morehouse.

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Friday is the day for the

Wilsbary's May Fest at the Mary Willis Library. The lawn opens at 10 a.m. and things go very fast, so get there early. Items will be available until 1 p.m.