Laura Motes – Tips For Preventing Underage Alcohol Sales

During her time serving with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Laura Motes spent three years as part of the Alcohol Compliance Unit/Vehicles For Hire Unit, during which time she worked with the Georgia Department of Revenue to deal with alcohol license violations, while also placing much of her focus on the issue of underage drinking. There are a number of things that premises that sell alcohol can do in order to remain compliant and ensure they don’t end up selling alcohol to minors, including all of the following.

Always Check ID

It may seem like a simple tip, but many new store owners or employees often end up becoming incompliant because they have assumed that the people they are serving are of legal drinking age. If you have any doubt at all about a person’s age, ask to see some ID. Be wary of any customers who make a big fuss about showing ID and don’t give into any pressure that may be placed on you by people who haven’t brought a form of identification along. You should also improve your knowledge of the various forms of ID that people can use to purchase alcohol, so that you are abler to spot fakes.

Train Employees

Your store’s employees are essentially representatives of your premises, so if they make mistakes or purposefully sell alcohol to minors the responsibility will usually fall on you. As such, you need to make sure that you are careful when hiring new employees and that you have a rigorous training program in place. Put special emphasis on the consequences of selling alcohol to minors and try to train employees in the best ways to spot when an underage person might be trying to acquire alcohol.

Keep Alcohol Separate From Soft Drinks

In many cases, minors may pick up alcoholic beverages, particularly those commonly referred to as “alcopops,” by mistake if they are on display next to soft drinks or other beverages. As such, it is good practice to create a display specifically designed for alcohol. It may also be a good idea to have that display somewhere that is in the line of sight of employees, so that they can keep an eye on any suspicious behavior.

Assess Groups

If a group of people attempts to purchase alcohol from your establishment, Laura Motes notes that it is important to examine everybody in the collective. In some cases, somebody of age may try to purchase alcohol for minors who are with them, so if you have any suspicions that this is happening you should ask to see the IDs of every individual. Try to keep an eye out for awkward body language, such as a member of the group who is fidgeting or purposefully avoiding eye contact.

Laura Motes – Tips For New Police Officers

Before she made the decision to transition into studying for a career in nursing, with the aim of starting her Master’s degree at Georgia Regents University in the fall of 2016, Laura Motes was a well-tenured police officer who served with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department for 21 years. Even so, she still remembers just how intimidating it can be to start your policing career, so try to keep all of the following in mind if you are a rookie who is looking to make a good impression.

Laura Motes

Be Confident, But Not Arrogant

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and you must make a point of not crossing it during your policing career. You need to maintain an air of confidence so that you will have authority when working with members of the public and so that your fellow officers will respect you and your opinions. However, if you become arrogant you will cause friction within the team and may end up stunting your professional growth due to an inability to identify weaknesses that you need to work on.

Listen and Learn

Your fellow officers will be an amazing resource for you when you first start your job, helping you to build on the foundation of knowledge that you developed during your initial training. Make sure that you listen to and comply with the orders of your direct superiors, while also treating colleagues who are at the same level as you with the respect that they deserve. In doing so, you will be able to benefit from their experience while also learning more about the procedures you need to follow in order to do your job effectively.

Stay Logical

As a police officer, you must be capable of keeping your cool in difficult situations. Do not let emotion dictate your actions, especially when working with members of the public. Doing so can cloud your judgment and could lead to you making mistakes or acting in an unprofessional manner.

Learn From Mistakes

Most rookies will make a mistake or two while they are still learning the ropes, so it is important that you take ownership of any blunders and learn from them. Trying to cover up mistakes is always a bad move and may land you in trouble with your superiors, while also leading to you failing to work on your weaknesses.

Take Advantage of Training

There will be a multitude of training opportunities presented to you during your career, as Laura Motes can attest to having completed more than 2,000 hours of training during her time as a police officer. You should try to take advantage of any opportunities to learn more so that you can improve as a professional in order to better serve the public.

Laura Motes – Starting her Nursing Career

Laura Motes spent 20 years serving and protecting her community as a police officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. She worked her way up to Sergeant in charge of personnel and communications operations for the West Precinct by the time her career with the police force was over. Motes moved on but wanted to help her community in a different way. After she left the force in 2014, she started working for Managed Medical Transport and the Athens Regional Medical Center and began her career in the healthcare sector. She wants to become a nurse and plans on attending Georgia Regents University to earn her Master’s degree in Nursing.

Laura Motes took a different career path than most to become a nurse. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in Business Management and Information Systems before she started her training for the police academy. Normally nurses major in a healthcare or health sciences field before they earn their nursing licenses. Once a nursing candidate has a license, usually by passing an exam and completing a certain number of classroom instruction hours or work experience, they can start working in a medical facility. Laura Motes wants to earn a Master’s degree in Nursing because she has her Bachelor’s degree already and she wants to have as many avenues open to her when she graduates.

Laura Motes wants to continue to serve her community by providing the best medical care and expertise she can to each of her patients when she becomes a nurse.

 

Laura Motes – Fervent Supporter of the ASPCA

Laura Motes grew up with animals all around her in her parents’ home in rural Georgia. She knows how to properly care for and treat them and she wants everyone to have the same knowledge and caring nature that she does. Unfortunately, the United States is still a long way from being completely educated of the proper way to take care of domesticated animals. Pets still go neglected and get abandoned all the time. Motes, a former police officer and current nursing student, wanted to join the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The ASPCA has two main causes that it as an organization works hard to fight for: the end of animal homelessness and the end of animal cruelty. Laura Motes works closely with her local animal shelters near her home in Watkinsville, Georgia, but across the country animal shelters are routinely stretched thin because their budgets just don’t do enough to place animals in good homes. With 2.7 million animals being euthanized in the United States every year, the ASPCA works to provide alternatives to euthanasia for shelters throughout the country. The ASPCA also works to help abused animals find new homes and to educated people about the causes and effects of animal cruelty in our society, as well as the signs to watch for. Laura Motes is a vocal advocate of all of these issues.

Laura Motes plans on beginning her Master’s degree in Nursing in the fall of 2016 at Georgia Regents University.

 

Laura Motes – Former Police Officer Training to be a Nurse

Laura Motes spent twenty years working as a law enforcement officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department before she left the force in 2014 to become a nurse. Motes has always been most interested in doing the most good for her community in everything she does. Working as a police officer allowed her to protect and serve her community directly for 20 years with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, but now she wants to contribute to the wellbeing of her community in a different way.

Laura Motes left the force in 2014 as a Sergeant in charge of many administrative and personnel duties with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department’s West Precinct. She earned this position after years of dutiful service supporting her fellow patrol officers and contributing to the protection of citizens and the prevention of crime in many areas in her precinct. Motes has a military background as well. She was an Honor Graduate of the United States Army Police Corps Officer Basic Course. She completed her military police training in 1993 at Fort McClellan, Alabama and was honorably discharged from the Army in 2000.

After the police force, Laura Motes worked for a medical transport company called Managed Medical Transport and the Athens Regional Medical Center for six months. This short stint gave Motes all the experience she would need to know that she wanted to work as a nurse for the next phase of her career. After her stint with Managed Medical Transport was over, she started taking nursing classes. She completed all of her nursing program prerequisites and plans on attending Georgia Regents University in the fall of 2016. Motes wants to continue to make a difference in her community and health is a very important part of her life. She has always worked hard to take care of her body with proper diet and exercise and she believes that hard work is the best way to maintain your health.

Laura Motes already earned a Bachelor’s degree before she joined the Athens-Clarke County Police Department in 1993. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with degrees in Business Administration and Management Information Systems in 1992. With these degrees in hand, Motes decided that the best course of action for her career as a nurse would be to enroll in the Master’s program at Georgia Regents University. She plans on using her education and experience there to bolster her career in the medical field and help as many people as she can with her expertise. She plans on going to work for a local hospital so that she can assist in the treatment and care of as many people in her community as possible. She is looking forward to this next stage in her career.

Laura Motes – Military and Paramilitary Experience

Laura Motes graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and in Management Information Systems. She graduated with honors as well from the United States Army Military Police Corp Officer Basic Course at Fort McClellan, Alabama in 1993. Her training with the military helped her graduate from the Northeast Georgia Police Academy in Athens, Georgia, recording over 2,000 hours of training. Motes then joined the Athens-Clarke County Police Department later in 1993 and started out as an officer in the Uniform Patrol Division.

Laura Motes

Laura Motes performed many police services in this position, from responding to calls for service, law enforcement, criminal activity investigation, traffic collision investigation, and public safety. She provided judicious and fair police presence in neighborhoods throughout her precinct to discourage criminal activity and to apprehend offenders. After a few years on the job, Motes was made responsible for training and evaluating new officers to the force. She was promoted to Senior Police Officer in 1998.

Laura Motes moved into the Alcohol Compliance Unit and the Taxi and Wrecker Permit Unit as a Senior Police Officer in 2001. She helped ensure that all businesses in her jurisdiction were in compliance with state and local liquor laws and made sure that all vehicles-for-hire (such as taxis and wreckers) in the area were in compliance and had their fully registered permits at all times. Part of her duties in this position also included conducting background checks and criminal history investigations for all applicants for vehicle-for-hire and alcohol permits. She investigated and documented all vehicle-for-hire complaints and reports of infringement of alcohol permit laws. Motes even spearheaded an effort revise taxi and wrecker ordinances in her jurisdiction as well.

Laura Motes earned a promotion to Sergeant in 2003 and the following year, was assigned to West Precinct to help manage it. She actively supervised and monitored shift activities and directed the shift’s patrol activities to reduce criminal activity in the precinct. Already an experienced officer, Motes provided mentorship, assistances, and guidance to all shift personnel on a regular basis to help achieve all departmental and shift goals. On a daily basis, Motes reviewed incident reports for accuracy, timeliness, and thoroughness, reviewed and ensured the comparative and relativity of activity reports, and compiled information for administrative reports.

Laura Motes handled many day-to-day mentorship and operations tasks for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department during her 21-year career there. She left the force in 2014 to pursue other areas of employment. She settled on nursing because it will give her a chance to work directly with patients to create solutions to their medical problems. She’ll be able to help her community even more as a nurse, something she cares deeply about.

Blog | Laura Motes

Source: Blog | Laura Motes

Laura Motes – Making Your Own Bird Suet Cakes

Laura Motes is an avid bird watcher and enjoys feeding bird as well. She often feeds them suet cakes. Instead of spending a lot of money on suet cakes, she often makes her own. If you want to make your own suet cakes, try the tips below.

Gather Your Ingredients

Having all of your ingredients on hand will make the task go faster and easier. To make your own bird suet cakes you will need the following:

Fat

Bird Seed

Dried Fruit

Corn Meal

Mix The Ingredients

Once you have collected all your ingredients, you will need to mix them. You should melt the fat over low heat to turn it into a liquid and then slowly mix in the other ingredients. Pay close attention to the consistency of the mixture. Only add enough cornmeal to thicken the mix into a paste but not make it to dry or clumpy.

Pour The Mold

Before the suet mixture hardens pour it into a suet mold. You can either save the plastic container from a purchase suet package or make your own. If you prefer small suet cakes, use an ice cube tray. You can also build your own trays with simple supplies you likely have in your home already.

Making your own suet cakes like Laura Motes can help you save money and attract birds to your yard or home. Making your own suet cakes also gives you more control over what you feed the birds in your yard.

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Laura Motes – Easy DIY Bird Feeder Ideas

Laura Motes has always enjoyed watching and feeding birds. She likes to get creative when she feeds them and even makes her own bird feeders sometimes. You can make your own bird feeders as well and attract more birds to your yard.

Suet Cakes

You can easily make your own suet cakes from seeds, fruit and other ingredients you have in your own home. If you have an empty tray from a suet cake you recently purchased, you can use it as a mold for your DIY suet cakes.

Pine Cone Treats

Pine cones can be found on the ground in many parks or even in your yard. Use a knife to smear peanut butter on the pine cones and then cover them in birdseed. The birds will enjoy the seed, find the pine cone familiar and the peanut butter will give them a little extra protein.

Hang Fruit

Many birds enjoy fruit but have a hard time finding it. You can easily make your own bird feeders by simply hanging pieces of fruit from trees, fence posts or other areas in your yard. You can also dip the fruit in peanut butter and cover it with seeds for an even tastier treat.

If you want to attract a lot of birds to your yard like Laura Motes, you need to give them a reason to visit you. Making a bird feeder can attract many different kinds of birds to your home and allow you to enjoy them. Get creative and have fun making them.

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Laura Motes – Preparing Your Soil For Planting

Laura Motes has a lot of hobbies and one of them is gardening. She has been gardening for a few years now and loves to grow plants from bulbs and seeds. The key to a beautiful garden is healthy soil. These tips can help you prepare your soil for planting.

Remove Weeds

Weeds can steal nutrients from the soil and any plants that are planted in the soil. This can prevent your garden plants from growing at all or cause them to have shorter lifespans or grow improperly. You can remove the weeds by tilling the area or pulling them up by hand.

Add Compost

Compost puts nutrients into the soil. Plants need these nutrients in order to grow and be healthy. You can find compost that is designed for specific kinds of plans or compost that is made to be used on a variety of plants. Make sure you follow the directions on the packaging to avoid adding too much compost and killing the plants or ruining the soil.

Add Mulch

Mulch helps protect plants from the sun and harsh weather. It can also prevent weeds from growing in your garden and stealing nutrients from your plants. You can add mulch to your garden before or after you plant.

Laura Motes spends a lot of free time in the garden and enjoys planting a variety of different kinds of plants. If you are planning to start a garden, make sure you take the time to prepare your soil before planting.

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