COMMUNITY CALENDAR
UPCOMING
The February Zoom meeting of the FloydRome Retired Educators Association will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15. Email Juanita King to have your name on the Zoom invitation list.
Floyd County Public Works will close Strawberry Lane at No. 413 to through traffic from 8 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, to Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 4:30 p.m. to replace a failed cross drain. Motorists should use Spring Village Road to Dewberry Lane as a bypass to avoid the work zone.
The Animal Rescue Foundation of Rome/Floyd will hold its annual SPAYghetti dinner fundraiser from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18 at the Rome Senior Center on Riverside Parkway. Cost: $15 per person, $25 per couple, $5 ages 3-10. Tickets available at Peggy’s Backyard, Wet Petz, Sue’s Barber Shop and at the door. Social distancing will be observed.
Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful will celebrate Arbor Day with a public event set for 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, at Tolbert Park, 300 Charlton St. For more information visit KeepRomeFloydBeautiful.org.
TRED is celebrating the GE Trails 4th birthday with a casual trail walk at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at Garrard Park, 1935 Redmond Circle. Java Joy coffee, cupcakes and snacks will be served. The event is free but donations will be accepted. For more information, contact Julie at 706-844-8509.
The NWGA Center for Independent Living will present a free Zoom class, on how they assist people with disabilities, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb 25. Attendees will be entered to win a Visa gift card. Email Christina Holtzclaw at choltzclaw@nwgacil.org for the meeting link or call 706-314-0008 for more information.
The Friends of the Library Silent Auction is accepting bids through March 1 at 4 p.m. There are five showcases at the library, 205 Riverside Parkway, with a special focus on history books and memorabilia. For a complete list, check www.shrls. org/romefriends-of-the-library.
ONGOING
The AlAnon support group meets at Westminster Church, 1941 Shorter Ave., at noon each Wednesday. Everyone is invited to come.
The Our Lady of the Three Rivers Chapter of the Society of Mary meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, 42 Ash St. For more information call 706-506-1241.
VFW Post 4911 Bingo
at 2632 Cedartown Highway hosts every Friday night. You do not have to be a member to play. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., the kitchen opens at 6 p.m., and the games begin at 7:30 p.m. Cash prizes.
The NWGA Center for Independent Living holds a COVID-19 Peer Support call every Monday at 2 p.m. via the Zoom website and by phone. For the link and password, or if you need assistance, contact Christina Holtzclaw at 628-2461825 or choltzclaw@nwgacil.org.
American Legion Post 136 from Lindale meets the fourth Monday of the month at 6 p.m. in the VFW post at 2642 Cedartown Highway. Masks are required.
DAV Chapter 95 meets the Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at VFW Post 4911 on Cedartown Highway. Face masks are required. For more information or assistance in filing VA claims, contact Chapter Commander Art Cook at 334-208-2736.
Pisgah Baptist Church, 5603 Alabama Highway, has Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and Sunday worship at 10:50 a.m. On Wednesdays they offer 8:30 a.m. prayers and 7 p.m. Bible study and a youth meeting.
Bush Arbor Baptist Church, 3290 Black’s Bluff Road, holds Sunday School at 10 a.m., worship service at 11 a.m. and evening services at 6 p.m. on Sunday. Bible study is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays. For more information, visit their Facebook page or call 770-885-0779.
St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, 42 Ash St., meets for Holy Communion Sundays at 9:30 a.m. All are welcome. A nursery is provided. For more information call 706-506-1241.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church offers Sunday worship at 10 a.m. broadcast on WLAQ radio station as well as YouTube live streaming. Celtic Service is available on St. Peter’s Facebook at 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday. For more information, contact the church office at 706-291-9111 or visit stpetersrome.org.
Covenant Presbyterian Church (EPC), 1645 Cartersville Highway in Rome, holds Sunday School at 10 a.m. followed by an 11 a.m. traditional communion worship service. Social distancing practiced, masks recommended but not required. For further information, visit CovenantRome.org or call 706-767-8373.
Brandon and Misty Pledger have traded in law enforcement badges for business cards touting their new Combat Market by Blue Pig LLC, 202 Glenn Milner Boulevard.
The shop is holding a soft opening this weekend and plans to celebrate their grand opening with a ribbon cutting February 22.
The shop offers a variety of items that come from vendors who have a background with the U.S. military.
Shelves are loaded with the different varieties of Black Rifle Coffee founded by Evan Hafer. The coffee is imported from Brazil or Colombia and roasted at facilities in Salt Lake City or Manchester, Tennessee. In addition to their coffee, Black Rifle has a complete line of apparel from T-shirts to hoodies and ballcaps which are also available at Combat Market.
Combat Market also offers Recon Rings and Doc Spartan merchandise.
Recon Rings are a high quality brand of silicone wedding bands. The idea for the rings came from an Iraq Ware veteran who nearly lost a finger when his wedding band got caught in a door during an incident.
Doc Spartan produces 100% natural grooming and first aid supplies.
Every company which has product in the store comes from a company that is either owned by a veteran or shares a portion of their proceeds
with veterans groups.
Pledger said his plan to donate a portion of the profits from the store to local veterans
organizations along with the Fraternal Order of police Shop With a Cop program.
ST. PETERSBURG — To Dallis Wolfe’s family, it was always clear that he, the youngest of three boys, would carve his own path.
He was the one who would run ahead of his brothers and mom on the walk to school because he wanted to be first to class. He was the one who, at an even younger age, would sneak off on his own at family outings, only to be found with a look on his face that said, “What do you guys want? I’m okay.”
He grew into an intellectual young man, his family said. He was quiet but observant and a great listener, a voracious reader who asked for Barnes & Noble gift cards for his birthday and tore through Frederick Douglass, Japanese comics and Confucius. His dad watched in awe as his demure son turned into a vocal leader on the football field, playing three years as an undersized but determined defensive lineman for St. Petersburg High School’s varsity squad.
Wolfe’s family has deep roots in St. Petersburg — they’ve run the Starling School daycare and preschool on 28th Street S for nearly 50 years — but he chose to ride his smarts and athleticism away from home. He went to school and played football for two years at Maryville College in Tennessee, then transferred to Alabama A&M, a historically Black university in Huntsville attended by his high-school friends.
“I’m not even sure about the independence — it’s just (how) he was,” said his mother, Karen
Howard. “Dallis was really the one to (show) curiosity … I do believe now it did come from the books, his reading and wanting to know more.”
Wolfe, 22, was less than a semester away from graduating with a degree in psychology, his family said, when the senior honor student was fatally shot outside his Huntsville apartment on Jan. 18. AL.com reported that the accused shooter, Lemond Burns, 21, faces a capital murder charge.
Burns was one of several men squatting in the common area of Wolfe’s apartment, the Alabama news site reported. Wolfe had complained about the situation days before police said Burns shot him at the complex’s front gate.
Now Wolfe’s family is racked with grief for the path he carved being cut short — the loss of a caring young man, the loss of a future in which they believe he would’ve made the world a better place.
His family also noted the sad irony of his death. As gun violence has disproportionately afflicted Black communities in St. Petersburg and elsewhere, politicians and pundits have offered a number of remedies: education, community involvement, tight-knit and present families. Dallis Wolfe embodied all of them, and yet.
“He was going to make a difference,” Howard said. “He was loving and compassionate. That’s the hard part for me. He was doing what was right.
“I didn’t think that’s how he would leave here,” she added. “It just — it’s hurtful.”