Soccer leagues filled

The Soccer Centre in Fayetteville

announces that all age groups for the winter indoor youth leagues are

filled and no more registrations can be accepted. There are, however,

still positions open in the Iron-Man Tournament in January and the Atlanta

4-A-Side Championships in Jan. and Feb. For more information, visit www.soccercentre.info

or call The Centre at 770-460-8785.

County announces winter program

The Fayette County Parks and

Recreation Departement will be offering the following athletic programs:

gymnastics, senior exercise, karate, Little Rookies basketball, cheerleading,

Little Rookies baseball and soccer, water aerobics, introduction to shotgun

use, yoga, Pilates, girls volleyball, and youth strength and conditioning.

All athletic programs will begin after the new year. For further information

on any of the programs contact Kevin Wingo at 770-461-9714.

Little Rookies basketball coming

to PTC

The Peachtree City Recreation

Department is offering Little Rookies Basketball beginning in January

at the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center for 3- and 4-year olds. Little

Rookies Basketball teaches the fundamental basketball skills in a fun

and non-competitive environment. Games and weekly drills teach children

about basketball while allowing them to have fun. Sport Points (characteristics

of sportsmanship) are taught each week. All instructors from TNLT (The

Next Level Training) are qualified in basketball and undergo training

in child development as well as first- aid. Sessions are six weeks and

all participants receive a T-shirt and certificate. Little Rookies Basketball

will be on Tuesday mornings from 9-9:45 a.m. or 10-10:45 a.m. The January

session will begin Jan. 27 and run through March 9. The fee for the class

is $60 per child and registration will begin Dec. 15. For more information,

please contact Cajen Rhodes at 770-631-2525.

Golf Card now on sale

The Georgia State Park 5-Day

Golf Card is available for purchase through the holidays. This popular

multi-play card is valid for five days of unlimited green fees at any

State Park Golf Course, and it can be used for twelve months from date

of first play. It makes a great gift for that special golfer in your life.

And it's a perfect way to say "thank you" to clients, employees,

and even vendors.

For golfers who want a challenge,

it's a great way to sample the Georgia State Park Golf Courses. With

the Georgia State Park Golf Card, you're able to play as many holes

as you like in a day at any of the 7 courses throughout the state, for

a total of five days.

Cart rental fees are additional

and some restrictions apply. The Georgia State Park Golf Card is valid

for play at all Georgia State Park Golf Courses, however unlimited daily

green fees are valid only on the same course each day.

The Georgia State Park Golf

Card can be purchased online at www.GolfGeorgia.org or by calling toll

free 1-800-982-3691.

The Golf Operations Section

develops and operates the golf facilities in the Georgia State Parks and

Historic Sites Division. The seven courses were developed over the past

forty years and placed in various state parks to improve the quality of

life for local citizens and provide visitors to Georgia an opportunity

to play golf in a beautiful, natural setting.

Soccer Centre to host tournaments

The Soccer Centre in Fayetteville

will host several youth tournaments in January and February 2004. The

first will be The Iron-Man Soccer Indoor Tournament for Under 11 through

Under 18 boys teams. The tournaments will be held Jan. 2-4.

For the 15th consecutive year,

the Centre will host The Atlanta 4-a-Side Tournaments on Jan. 19 ( Martin

Luther King Day) and Feb. 16 (Presidents' Day) for Under 8 through

Under 19 boys and girls teams.

The Ice Breaker Indoor Challenge

will be played Jan. 24-25 and Feb. 7-8 for Under 10 and 11 Academy boys

and girls teams as well as Under 12 and 13 boys teams.

For more information, visit

www.soccercentre.info, or call The Centre at 770-460-8785.

Karate class starts Jan. 7

Fayette County Parks and Recreation

Department will be offering All-Star Karate with Tony Young. Class begins

Jan. 7 and will end Jan. 28. There will be another session immediately

following. For more information contact Kevin Wingo at 770-461-9714.

Umpires wanted in District

Little League in Fayette and

Coweta counties is looking for people interested in joining the District

4 Umpire Association. Interested persons must be 16 years of age or older

and must pass a background check. Training clinics are coming up over

the next several months and now is the time to get onboard.

There are umpiring opportunities

at the entry level for 7/8 year old games as well as for the Big League

games for 16-18 year olds. Those interested must be reliable and must

be willing to attend the local and state training clinics.

Whether you have never umpired

and are interested in getting the proper training to become an umpire,

or if you are a seasoned umpire looking for an association with which

to affiliate, contact Mike Wilson at 770-599-6095 or Justin Hogan at 404-379-5884.

Visit the District 4 Web site at www.eteamz.com/ga4LLB.

WRD announces holiday trout

stocking

This fall, the Georgia Department

of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division will stock eight

popular North Georgia streams with nine-inch trout to provide Georgia

anglers with some extra holiday fishing opportunities. Many North Georgia

trout streams are not open after Oct. 31, the end of the state trout season.

However, these eight streams are part of a long list that remain open

for year-round trout fishing. Fishing is an outstanding opportunity to

spend quality time with family and friends so, make sure that fishing

pole is on your Christmas list now!

"Normally, the trout stocking

program is completed by Labor Day so that hatchery space is available

to grow fish for next year," explained WRD Chief of Fisheries Management

Chuck Coomer. "But, after four years of drought, the cool, wet summer

of 2003 provided great growing conditions at the Lake Burton Hatchery

and as a result, the hatchery is now a bit crowded and we need to free

up some space for the smaller trout to grow to catchable size for next

spring�s stocking season."

Streams to be stocked prior

to Thanksgiving and Christmas include the Chattahoochee River in Gwinnett

County and in Helen, the Tallulah River (Rabun and Towns County), Panther

Creek (Habersham/Stephens), the Broad River (Stephens), the Lake Hartwell

Tailwater (Hart), the Lake Blue Ridge Tailwater (Fannin), Holly Creek

(Murray), and West Armuchee Creek (Walker).

Anglers must possess both a

current Georgia fishing license and a trout license to fish in designated

trout waters and to fish for or to possess trout. There is a daily limit

of eight trout. Anglers are reminded to respect private property rights

on streams flowing through private lands. The landowner controls access

to, and fishing rights in, such streams so permission must be obtained

before fishing on private property. WRD Conservation Rangers will enforce

all trout stream rules and regulations.

For more information on holiday

trout stocking, contact the WRD Fisheries Management Office in Gainesville

at 770- 535-5498. For more information on year-round trout fishing opportunities

in Georgia, consult the fishing regulations booklet or visit www.gofishgeorgia.com.

Wildlife license plates available

The Georgia Department of Natural

Resources' Wildlife Resources Division would like to remind Georgians

to consider purchasing a new wildlife license plate for the vehicle when

renewing their vehicle registration in 2004. The new tags go on sale beginning

Dec. 1 at county tag offices throughout the state and can be purchased

for a one-time specialty tag fee of $20 per tag. Annual registration fees

and ad valorem tax still apply.

Redesigned for 2004, the new

wildlife tags will feature the American Bald Eagle silhouetted in front

of the U.S. flag on one tag, and a Bobwhite Quail, Georgia's state

game bird, in natural habitat on the other. Both tags help support important

conservation work currently underway throughout the state of Georgia.

The eagle tag replaces the

original wildlife license plate that featured a bobwhite quail in a longleaf

pine and wiregrass habitat. First produced in 1997, this license plate

was created to support the Nongame Wildlife & Natural Heritage Section,

which uses the proceeds to fund various programs focused on conserving

and protecting Georgia's nongame and endangered wildlife. There are

currently no state funds provided for nongame wildlife conservation, education

and recreation programs and these important projects are funded solely

through federal grants, direct donations and fundraising initiatives like

the nongame wildlife license plate. To date, Georgians have purchased

more than 900,000 nongame wildlife tags raising more than $13 million

for nongame and endangered wildlife.

The quail tag replaces the

second wildlife license plate that featured a covey of quail taking flight

over a field. First released in 2001, this tag supports conservation practices

in the Bobwhite Quail Initiative, Georgia�s first and only state funded

private lands wildlife habitat incentive program. Georgia continues to

lose natural habitat for quail, songbirds and other wildlife in part because

of the state's fast-growing human population rate and changing land

management practices. Georgians have purchased more than 125,000 Bobwhite

Quail Initiative tags raising more than $1.5 million for this important

program.

For more information on Georgia's

wildlife license plates and the important projects they support, contact

the Georgia Department of Natural Resource, Wildlife Resources Division

at 2070 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, GA 30025 or by calling 770-918-6400.

Trout stocked from helicopter

in remote sections of Chattooga

River

Anglers will have much better

luck fishing for trout in the Chattooga River in Northeast Georgia thanks

to a recent joint stocking effort. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources'

Wildlife Resources Division, the U.S. Forest Service and the Georgia Council

of Trout Unlimited stocked more than 20,000 rainbow trout utilizing a

helicopter in remote parts of the Chattooga River.

"This project is a great

example of how a public/private partnership should work," said Lee

Keefer, WRD Fisheries Biologist. "Anglers are fortunate that Trout

Unlimited and the Forest Service make this possible by providing the funding

for the stocking effort."

The WRD Fisheries Management

Section reared the rainbow trout at the Burton Trout Hatchery. The fish

were stocked using a USFS helicopter with a bucket attached underneath

it in a section of the river where natural reproduction is limited. They

grow through the winter and will provide catchable size trout for anglers

next spring.

Trout fishing information is

readily available. Anglers can get a copy of the current Georgia Sportfishing

Regulations on the WRD Web site, at all WRD offices or through fishing

license agents. This guidebook contains information on special trout stream

regulations, general trout fishing information and more. Trout stream

maps also are available at www.gofishgeorgia.com.

Anglers must possess both a

current Georgia fishing license and a trout license to fish in designated

trout waters and to fish for or to possess trout. Anglers are reminded

to respect private property rights on streams flowing through private

lands. The landowner controls access to, and fishing rights in, such streams

so permission must be obtained before fishing on private property.

For more information on trout

fishing in North Georgia, visit www.gofishgeorgia.com or call 770-535-5498.

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