Mayor Andy Berke speaking at Washington Alternative Learning Center
Mayor Andy Berke, along with Chip Henderson, chairman of City Council, Councilman Yusef Hakeem, Councilman Russell Gilbert, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammonds, Chief Deputy Allen Branum (Hamilton County Sheriff Department), Sgt. Jeff Lass (72) 39th Medical Unit (U.S. Army Reserve), Dale Rutemeyer-represented all veterans, Col. Brooks- Central High School director of ROTC, and Sgt. Paul Maupin (Hamilton County Sheriff Deparment) and other various veterans, visited Washington Alternative to address and answer questions from the students.
Mrs. Dotson organized this event, which has become somewhat of a yearly tradition. “For the past eight years we have been celebrating the importance of saying thank you to the men and women in our armed services," Mrs. Dotson said. "Here at Washington Alternative School I saw the need to assist young people in the process of re-inventing themselves by showing to them the many men and women through time and the present that have served in the United States Armed forces and took on the responsibility of protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States.
"It is through recognizing Veterans Day that our efforts here at Washington is to get the students to see the real importance of duty, responsibility, and respect for their home, their community, their state and their country and not tear it down with violence. The unselfish duty to protect The United States at home and abroad is a sincere, purposeful character of a men and women striving to be a good citizen, and a good person in this lifetime for the betterment of future families in this country.”
The Veterans Day program at Washington Alternative Learning Center