State public safety board pitches 'safety' to GHS students

GAINESVILLE - For the first time ever, the Georgia Board of Public Safety met in Gainesville Thursday, convening at Gainesville High School, pitching "safety" to the students there.

GHS students filled the seats in the Pam Ware Performing Arts Center to watch the board, which oversees the State Patrol, the GBI, the state Department of Corrections and Fire Investigations.

The Board believes in outreach and youth orientation, and this year they chose Gainesville High, according to Vice Chairman Ellis Wood from Statesboro.

"We try to once a year change the meeting agenda so we can focus on our youth and on a particular high school," Wood said. "This year (Gainesville Fire) Chief Jon Canada agreed to host us in Gainesville and the entire context of this meeting will be on public safety issues relating to our youth."

Canada said he volunteered Gainesville High as the location for the Board's October meeting.

"We try to do one school a year in different areas of the state each year and we try to integrate a high school into the program to tell students what the Board of Public Safety is, what they represent, and what it does for the state," Canada said.