The Georgia Department of Transportation announces the winners of the annual District-wide equipment driving skills competition called the "DOT Roadeo." The Roadeo is an annual competition between Georgia Department of Transportation employees to determine the "Best" driver in six categories: Single Axle Dump Truck, Double Axle Dump Truck, Tractor Mower, Backhoe, Motor Grader and Lowboy.

Single Axle Dump Truck

First place:

Charlie Painter of Hall County is an Equipment Operator 2 serving Forsyth County

Second place:

Lynn Shook of White County is an Assistant Highway Operator 2 serving Southern Hall County

Third place:

Roy Meeks of Lumpkin County is an Equipment Operator 2 serving Lumpkin County

Double Axle Dump Truck

First place:

Terry McDonald of Habersham County is an Assistant Foreman serving Forsyth, Hall & Dawson Counties

Second place:

Slade Gabriel of White County is an Equipment Operator 2 serving Southern Hall County

Third place:

Lamar Burrell of Towns County served as a temporary maintenance employee

Tractor Mower

First place:

Reggie Edwards of Gwinnett County is an Equipment Operator 2 serving Forsyth County

Second place:

Greg Johnson of Dawson County is an Equipment Operator 3 serving Forsyth County

Third place:

Michael Morris of Rockdale County is an Equipment Operator 3 serving Gwinnett County

Backhoe

First place:

Jesse Thurmond of Franklin County is an Assistant Foreman serving Franklin County

Second place:

Phil Satterfield of White County is a temporary employee on the Area Wide Crew serving Lumpkin, Towns, Union and White Counties

Third place:

Brian Teasley of Stephens County is a Maintenance Equipment Operator on the District Wide Special Outfits Crew

Motor Grader

First place:

Chad Corn of Franklin County is an Assistant Foreman on the Area Wide Crew serving Elbert, Franklin, Hart and Madison Counties

Second place:

Greg Free of Habersham County is an Equipment Operator 3 serving Northern Hall County

Third place:

Tobey McIntyre of Stephens County is an Assistant Foreman serving on the District Wide Special Outfits Crew

Lowboy

First place:

Mitch Garmon of Towns County is a Maintenance Equipment Operator serving on the District Wide Special Outfits Crew

Second place:

Chad Dale of Hall County is a General Trades Craftsman working in the District Welding Shop

Third place:

Tim Henry of Habersham County is an Equipment Operator 3 serving Banks, Habersham, Stephens and Rabun counties.

The Georgia Art League presented the winner of their recent logo contest with prizes at the May meeting. The winner, Megan Stephens, 10, was presented a year’s membership to the Quinlan Visual Arts Center by the tallest member of the GAL, Michael Melson, to their new shortest member.

The prize of one year’s membership to the Georgia Art League was presented by Doree Kemler, 94, the oldest member of the GAL, to Megan, now the youngest member of the Quinlan and GAL.

Megan is the granddaughter of the president of the artist’s organization, Nona Stephens. When hearing of the contest, Megan became intrigued and submitted 10 designs, four of which were chosen in the final six and one was overwhelmingly chosen by the membership as the winning design.

She won first place in the Spelling Bee two years in a row, first place in the Analogies Contest three years in a row, and first place for the fifth grade in the recent Department of Natural Resources "Give Wildlife a Chance" Poster Contest out of 1,700 entries. Her winning wildlife drawing will be published in a calendar by the DNR. She is also a published author of a poem about special needs children in a national magazine.