Jasmyne Ray
The members of the Chelsea Middle School cheerleading squad pose with their coach, Rachel Trice (far left) and Mayor Tony Picklesimer (far right).
With all council members present, the Chelsea City Council acknowledged, voted on and carried two annexation ordinances at the Dec. 18 meeting.
Before considering the first annexation request, councilman Casey Morris spoke briefly about Chelsea’s newest business, a biopharmaceutical research lab called Therachem, after having attended the ribbon cutting earlier that day. Morris expressed that the company choosing Chelsea as their location will create many opportunities to help the city, including possibly creating jobs and pharmaceutical internships for the high school students.
“Hearing the [owner] today, who’s been in the business for 18 years with his headquarters in India, say, ‘I want to do this in Chelsea’ shows that the possibilities are wide open for businesses,” Morris said. “It opens the door for data centers to look at Chelsea as a possibility. It’s a stable business for our community to bring in quality jobs.”
As they began reviewing the two annexation requests, councilman Scott Weygand recused himself from being able to deliberate the first. The partial annexation ordinance of 14.39 acres of land along Old Highway 280, belonging to Weygand’s parents, was voted on and carried — making them official residents of the city of Chelsea.
The last piece of business on the agenda for the evening was to recognize the Chelsea Middle School cheerleaders, who recently competed at the Southern Cheerleading Championship at the BJCC. Facing off against nine other schools in attendance, Chelsea Middle placed third and will be heading to the national competition in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 8. This is the first time Chelsea Middle will be represented at Nationals.
“These girls have worked so hard this year but as leaders of their school. Some of the girls will meet every morning to greet students as they walk into school," Rachel Trice, cheerleading coach and physical education teacher at CHMS said. "I teach them that being a cheerleader is so much more than holding some pom poms and wearing a bow. Being a cheerleader means being a leader within our school.”
