In addition to the ones mentioned in this column last week, several other people from Wilkes County attended the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C. Members of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church who attended were Sarah Willis; her daughter, Jennifer Terry; and Catherine Thrasher The three ladies witnessed the swearing in of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States from the National Mall. They arrived at the mall around 6:30 a.m. and stood for six-and-a-half hours in 19-degree weather (with a wind chill of nine) to witness the historical moment. When asked if she would do it again, Jennifer said, "Only if it's Jesus Christ himself would I ever do it again!"

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Rev. Ed Anderson reports on others who attended. "When President Obama's Amtrack 'Obama Express' departed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, January 17, en route to Delaware, Baltimore, and ultimately Washington, D.C., two Wilkes County natives were on board. One was Mamie Rucker Mills. The other was her niece, Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker, who is a close friend of Michelle Obama. They were two of only 50 friends selected by the President to travel with him and his family." Cheryl was reared in the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Rucker, and her mother, Annie Kate Cullars, all of Wilkes County.

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One of Washington's most colorful figures died last week. Lloyd Scott "Pig" Gladmon was just 61 years old, but was known by many of Washington's people. He lived "up my way" on Lexington Avenue and I saw him several times a day as he made numerous trips to town, always walking. He didn't mind expressing his opinion of persons, places, or things and was very loud as he did so. I'll miss seeing Pig every day.

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Barbara Wheatley and four of her students in Athens Tech's first cosmetology class were featured on the front page of the Greensboro Herald-Journal last week. Barbara has been teaching the class for more than a year now on the Athens Tech campus in Greensboro and they have done well. In fact, the article described them as "a cut above the rest". . . . Barbara, whose husband is Donald Wheatley, has her own salon on Water Street in Washington, along with her mother, Sue Bufford, and is also involved in classes at the University of Georgia.

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Cotton States Insurance has moved to its new location at 12 West Robert Toombs Avenue. This is the former location of Henry Harris' Main Street Paint. The Cotton States financial representative in the new location is Laura Shedd West.

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Blake Ware of Tignall is the lead singer in his band called "Dayfall." The band members write their own songs and will be playing on the radio station 96.1 every night at 10 p.m. The group of four was interviewed for the Atlanta station 96.1 and the program will be aired on January 26 once each night through January 30. They have played their music all over the state of Georgia and over into Alabama. Blake is the son of Dean and Cristi Ware of Tignall.

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At the Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet Thursday night, Director Ashley Barnett reported, among other things, that more than 3800 people signed the guest register at the Welcome Center on The Square last year. She also said that many people who came in did not sign so the total is actually much higher. By the way, the keynote speaker was the talk of the town Friday morning. . . . The full details are reported elsewhere in The News- Reporter but to give you a concise report of the awards made, they were Volunteers of the Year, Jo and Buzzy Randall; Citizen of the Year, Cathy Lannae; Big Business, a tie between Wills Memorial Hospital and McDonald's; Small Business, God's Marketplace; and Pioneer Award, Deanne Maxwell Crook of Griggs-Ficklen Insurance Agency.

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Elaine Filipiak makes beautiful scarves (and other things, too). About a year ago, a lady from California was on one of Miss Fanny's tours and bought three of the scarves. She gave each of her two daughters one and kept the other for herself. During the recent Rose Bowl football festivities in California, the lady was helping decorate one of the floats and left her scarf somewhere. She called Elaine and asked her to send her another one, saying she just couldn't do without it.

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Despite the drizzle, fog, and gloom we've had for several days, both rainkeepers report only about one-tenth of an inch of rain since last week.

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I scanned the guest registry at the Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center last week to see where visitors to Washington-Wilkes are coming from. Foreign countries included Oslo, Norway; London, United Kingdom; Calgary, AB, Canada; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Severn Falls, Ontario, Canada. Towns and states in the United States included Marion, Kentucky; Stanwood, Washington; Warsaw, Indiana; Cedar, Michigan; Camp Hill, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; Gainesville, Florida; Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, Morrisville, New York; Sacramento, California; Sevierville, Tennessee, Victoria, Maine; Apple Creek, Ohio; Racine, Wisconsin; Boston, Massachusetts; San Diego, California; Brownwood, Texas; Oxnard, California; Woodbridge, Virginia; Prattville, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Waynesville, North Carolina; and Conway, Arizona. Georgia and sur- rounding states of South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama were well represented, and there were several group tours from the Atlanta area and other locations in Georgia. In the column that listed how they had heard of Washington, some listed the Internet, friends, television, magazine articles, genealogy research, and books. A good many of the visitors said they just happened to be passing through on the way to somewhere else and stopped to visit.