Deal appoints 20 to boards
Wayne E. Shannon, Agricultural Education Advisory Commission
Shannon has been a full-time farmer for more than 33 years. He has been president of the Georgia Young Farmer Association and the Georgia Peanut Producers Association. He was also the Georgia representative and chairman of the National Peanut Board, as well as a 1994 graduate of the Georgia Agri-Leaders Forum. He served on the Agricultural Advisory Committee for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss when he was a congressman. He currently serves on the advisory board for the Georgia Peanut Commission, the board of directors for the South Central Georgia Gin, as the director of the Tift County Farm Bureau, as the chairman of the Georgia Farm Bureau Peanut Commodity Committee, and as the chairman of Protein Plus, LLC. Shannon is a deacon at Eastside Baptist Church. He and his wife, Rhonda, have two children, Marc and Maggie, and reside on their farm in Tifton.
J. Kenneth Morrow, Agricultural Education Advisory Commission
Morrow is currently president and general manager of Sod Atlanta in Cartersville in addition to being president of Athletic Fields, a specialized construction company building sports fields. He also helped found the Turfgrass Group in Fort Valley, which focuses on bringing advanced generation turfgrasses to market in both domestic and international markets. He graduated from Auburn in 1975 and returned two years later to earn master’s degree in agricultural economics. Morrow has served as vice chairman of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, vice president of the Georgia Urban Ag Council, president of the Georgia Turfgrass Association, treasurer of the Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association and president of the Georgia Crop Improvement Association. In 2006, Morrow received the Medallion of Honor from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the highest award given by the college, for his many years of service. He and his wife, Pam, have two sons and three grandsons. The family resides in Duluth.
Jerry C. Colwell, State Water Well Standards Advisory Council (Reappointment)
Since 1971, Colwell has owned and operated Middle Georgia Water Systems, Inc. He is also a partner of The Cedars, The Pines, and Raintree golf courses. Colwell is a graduate of Pike County High School in Zebulon and has served in the National Guard. He serves on the State Water Wells Advisory Council and the board of directors of the United Bank of Zebulon. In the past, he has served on the board of directors of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and was a past member of the Pike County Kiwanis Club. Colwell is member of Christ Chapel Church in Zebulon. He was married to the late Kaye Colwell for 36 years. They have three children and six grandchildren. Colwell resides in Zebulon.
Michael P. Roberts, State Water Well Standards Advisory Council
Roberts is employed by Jacobs Engineering Group, working as an engineer for the Cobb County Water System. He is active within his industry through involvement in the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia, graduating in 2011 from their Future Leaders Program. Roberts earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Auburn University. He is active in his community, at his church, Christ the King, and through volunteering at the Shepherd Center. He resides in Atlanta.
Karen Mitchell Canupp, Georgia State Board of Optometry
Canupp received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis in 1997. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega. Canupp joined the practice at Vision Source! Winder (Winder Eye Care Center) in 1998. She is an member of the American Optometric Association and the Georgia Optometric Association. Canupp and her husband, John, reside in her hometown of Jefferson with their two children, Lilly Grace and Mitchell. They are members at Zion Baptist Church and support Young Life of Greater Jackson County.
Elizabeth H. Dabbs, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board (Reappointment)
Dabbs is the director of the Floyd County Victim Witness Assistance Program for the Rome Judicial Circuit. She has been with the district attorney’s office since March 2003. She graduated cum laude from Shorter College and received a paralegal certificate with honors from the National Center for Paralegal Training. Dabbs is the chair of the Child Abuse Protocol Committee, co-chair of the Child Fatality Review Committee, chair of the Sexual Assault Response Team and a member of other child abuse prevention agencies. She and her husband, Chad, reside in Rome.
Natasha Dedijer-Turner, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board (Reappointment)
Having served in various clinical capacities including child advocacy, court systems, forensics, research, residential treatment and teaching, Dedijer-Turner is currently a program manager at a managed care organization. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Emory University and both a Master of Education degree and a Specialist in Education degree in mental health counseling from the University of Florida. Dedijer-Turner has published numerous articles in various research journals, magazines and online publications. She is currently a licensed professional counselor in the state of Georgia and is a frequent guest lecturer on child safety and child abuse prevention to local agencies. She resides in Milton.
Susan M. Strickland, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board (Reappointment)
Strickland has worked in the field of mental health for more than 25 years. Currently, she is a supervisor of social services for the Acute Mental Health at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Her clinical specialties include child abuse and neglect, sexual abuse and offending, and offender rehabilitation. She has extensive clinical experience with children, adolescents and adults conducting individual, group and family therapy. Strickland graduated from Indiana University with her bachelor’s degree and from the University of Georgia with her master’s and Ph.D. in social work. Strickland spent five years as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia’s School of Social Work. She has worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice and the Georgia Department of Human Resources. She was appointed to the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board in 2006 and has served as the board chair from 2007-09. She has been married to her husband, Dee, for 25 years and has two children, Jacob and Annie Mac. They reside in Decatur.
Angie M. Holt, Sexual Offender Registry Review Board (Reappointment)
Holt retired from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2004 and is currently the director of the Special Investigations Division of the Georgia Department of Public Safety. She earned a master’s in public administration from Georgia Southern University. Holt serves on the Reidsville Airport Authority and the board of trustees of the International Association of Women Police. A native of Reidsville, Holt and her husband, Charles, have one child and reside in Warner Robins.
Steven C. Land, Sexual Offender Registry Review Board (Reappointment)
Land has served on the Georgia Sex Offender Registry Review Board since 2006. He has been employed with the city of Hazlehurst for 34 years and continues to serve as chief of police after more than 28 years. Land is a graduate of the F.B I. National Academy and the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange Program. He is a member of the Georgia Peace Officers Association, Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Georgia Chapter of the F.B.I. National Academy Associates. He is also an Eagle Scout for the National Eagle Scout Association. Land was selected for the “Outstanding Chief Award” by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police in 1999. As chief of police, he serves on the Georgia Public Safety Training Center Advisory Board of Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College Police Academy and as a board member of the Altamaha Technical College Criminal Justice Advisory Board. He and his wife, Rachel, reside in Hazlehurst and have four children and six grandchildren.
Gary D. Holstad, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board
Holstad worked as a prison counselor in the Iowa Correctional System for 22 years. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, coordinated the community Little League baseball and softball programs and was a local Jaycee member, where he was selected as one of the top 40 local presidents in the nation. Holstad has counseled offenders for 38 years, currently as a therapist and licensed professional counselor with Family Recovery, Inc. in Gainesville. He is a member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers and the Licensed Professional Counselor Association of Georgia. He and his wife, Marcia, have five children and three grandchildren and reside in Duluth.
Katherine E. Strayhorn, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board
Strayhorn is currently employed by District Attorney Lee Darragh of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, where she serves as the director of the Dawson County Victim Assistance Program. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work from Jacksonville State University and went on to graduate from the National Victim Assistance Academy at the Medical University of South Carolina. Strayhorn is a volunteer with the United States and Georgia Crisis Response Teams. She and her son, Wyatt, reside in Dawsonville.
Karen Ambrose-Clendenin, Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board (Reappointment)
For the past 16 years, Ambrose-Clendenin has helped people throughout the court system, specifically advocating for victims of crime. She works closely with the Colquitt County Children’s Advocacy Center, “Hero House,” and is a volunteer on the VIP panel in the Colquitt County’s Mothers against Drunk Driving program. Ambrose-Clendenin also provides an internship program for Moultrie Technical College criminal justice students. She and her husband, Patrick, have three children and one granddaughter and reside in Thomasville.
Timothy A. Lake Sr., State Board of Landscape Architects
Lake is the president of T. Lake Environmental Design, a landscape architecture and landscape design/build/maintain company with offices in Dublin and Macon. He received a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia and is a graduate of the Institute for Georgia’s Environmental Leadership. Lake is a Rotarian and serves the Boy Scouts of America as a den leader, district chairman, and member of the Council Executive Board. He is also a director for Capital City Bank. Tim and his wife, Laurie, have two sons and are members of First United Methodist Church of Dublin. The family resides in Dublin.
Melanie B. Blackwood, State Board of Examiners for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology
Blackwood has practiced as a speech language pathologist (SLP) since 1980 and is currently employed as an SLP and rehab director for RehabCare Group. She has worked in a variety of settings including the hospital, home health care, schools, skilled nursing facilities and outpatient therapy. Blackwood has also served as an operational manager for rehabilitation services in the skilled nursing setting. Blackwood earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Georgia. She has two sons and three grandchildren and resides in Acworth.
Greg J. O’Bradovich, Board of Governors of the George L. Smith II World Congress Center Authority
O’Bradovich is a patent attorney employed at the intellectual property law firm of Cantor Colburn in Atlanta. He earned a bachelor’s in Physics from Fordham University, a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a law degree from the University of Texas. He and his wife, Mary Emily, reside in Atlanta and have two children, Rosemily and Cordelia.
Joseph Y. Stock, State Board of Hearing Aid Dealers and Dispensers
Stock has been a Georgia state licensed hearing aid dispenser since 1974 and is board certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences. Stock is a member of the Stone Mountain Rotary Club of which he is a past president and Rotarian of the Year. He serves on the advisory board of DeKalb Technical College. Stock was a pre-med student at Kent State University. He and his wife, Barbara, reside in Stone Mountain and have three children and 11 grandchildren.
Gerard W. Armorer, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board
Armorer is a field training officer and senior parole officer assigned to the State Board of Pardons and Parole’s South Metro Parole Center. He was previously the chief deputy marshal of the DeKalb County State Court Marshal’s Department and served as jail school administrator, deputy sherriff III and post-certified instructor for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. Armorer graduated magna cum laude from New York Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in communications. Before his career in Georgia law enforcement, he served in the U.S. Army as a flight operations specialist and worked for Newsweek magazine. Armorer and his wife, Fatimah, have one child and reside in Stone Mountain.
Robert E. Harless, Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame (Reappointment)
Harless has over 55 years of aviation experience with over 28,000 hours flight time. He is the owner and general manager of Harless Aviation in Douglas. His certificates and ratings include Airline Transport Pilot, Airplane multiengine land, Commercial Pilot Airplane single-engine land and sea and Rotorcraft Helicopter. He’s also a flight instructor in those areas. Harless was selected as the Flight Instructor of the Year in 2007 by the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. He resides in Douglas.
Jeff Payne, State Properties Commission
Payne is an ophthalmologist at North Georgia Eye Clinic & Laser Center in Gainesville. He received his bachelor’s degree from North Georgia College and his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. Payne is on the medical staff of Northeast Georgia Medical Center and serves as medical director of North Georgia Eye Clinic and North Georgia Eye Surgery Center. He serves as chairman of Health Partners, serves on the finance committee at the Chattahoochee Country Club and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia. Payne is a member of the Georgia Society of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is a past president of the North Georgia College and State University Alumni Council and a former board member of the Foundation of North Georgia College and State University. He and his wife, Hart, have two children and are members of Gainesville First United Methodist Church.