2009 News Archive 

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'Hooch players tackle Newtown project

Approximately 70 Chattahoochee High School football players and 10 coaches spent a recent morning at Newtown Park rehabbing the landscaping around the park's pond, clearing old growth, trimming trees, stabilizing the shoreline with rock and planting some 2,000 plants.

The team has performed an annual community service project for the past three years, said Cougars Head Coach Terry Crowder.

"It's a way to give back to the community and also helps us bond as a team," Crowder said.

Past projects have included work on the CHS campus and mowing lawns in several neighborhoods around the school. This year, Brenda Yates of the Newtown Park Community Foundation proposed the park project, where the area surrounding the pond was sorely in need of improvements.

The foundation spent about $4,500 to buy the plants from Howley Landscaping, which provided them at cost. Landscape architect and foundation board member Troy Landry, owner of Landry Design Associates, donated his services to map out a plan and select the plants.

"We recently completed renovating the community clubhouse and this project was scheduled for the next phase, probably in the spring," Landry said. "When Brenda put this together, we were able to move it up."

All totaled, the project would have cost close to $10,000 for materials and labor, Landry estimates.

Mayor Mike Bodker dropped in during the morning to personally thank the team.

"It's great to see our young people giving back to the community and their gift will continue to give to our citizens for years to come," he said.