Martin’s open for business in Rockmart
Local officials and Polk County Chamber of Commerce members gathered with the owners of Martin’s in Rockmart as they celebrated the opening of their new restaurant on Chattahoochee Drive.
Owner’s Milan Savic and Jon Molander were on hand last Thursday, Sept. 28, for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new Martin’s, the first new store the Metro Atlantaarea chain has opened since 2002.
“We are so happy to be here finally,” said Savic. “We’ve been eyeing Rockmart for two years, and we finally pulled the trigger on it. Venture Construction company did a great job. This is the fastest construction project we’ve ever done.”
He added his t hanks f or cooperation from Rockmart and Polk County officials for making the process go smoothly.
“It’s not a one man show, it’s all of you and we appreciate it,” Savic said. “We just hope to be a good long term employer of local folks, because that’s what we like.”
The new store, located at 1422 Chattahoochee Drive off of Nathan Dean Parkway i n Rockmart, is open from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.
Even as officials gathered in front of the new store last week on opening day, Martin’s was already busy. A line of cars to get access to the drive thru went out of the new store’s parking lot and around El Nopal.
Martin’s began as a single store in 1962 and has since expanded to 15 locations across the Atlanta area. Rockmart’s new restaurant makes it the 16th Martin’s.
During the past month’s school board meeting, a number of field trips being planned during the school year were approved unanimously.
One of those trips is took place last week as 39 students from the Polk County College and Career Academy are taking a special trip to the Universal Technical Institute’s special campus in Mooresville, N.C., where they plan to take a tour of the NASCAR Technical Institute along with three different pro racing shops in the city.
Corey Smith, who teaches engineering and construction at the College and Career Academy, said the organization is provided students with the opportunity on the two- day trip that happened on Monday and Tuesday after press time to see what the campus is like in hopes that they might decide to try and get into the program.
“We’ve had two different students from Polk County who have been accepted into the program, and one of those students is now working for Penske (Automotive) for the past 7 or 8 years,” Smith said.
UTI’s program only accepts 25 students a year, and l ast year one of those who was accepted was Melanie Argo. Smith said that based on his last update of her progress at the NASCAR Technical Institute, she was in the Top 3 of the 24 student class this year.
“This young lady, who no automotive experience in the shop or at the school but had taken my engineering classes is doing fantastic in this school,” Smith said. “So it’s a tremendous opportunity for students.”
But one that comes at a steep price. Those 25 accepted into the program from across the nation into the 36-week program can expect to pay $30,000 in tuition costs to UTI, according to Smith. They also go through an interview process up front so the school gets what they want out of students as well.
Smith said the cost is worth it in the long term. He pointed out that students who go through the program are likely to end up with high paying jobs since once they are through have the practical knowledge to work on high performance engines, and on just about