By Richard Harris
For a quarter of a century, Tri County High School in Marion County's rural Draneville Community served as the public high school for three counties. Almost another 25 years have gone by since Marion, Schley, and Webster Counties all opened their own schools and TCHS was sold. It's gone through several phases since, including a start-up sports academy and a private school. At one point demolition for scraps was even considered.
Now, however, new owners are using the campus to establish McDougle Technical Institute (MTI), for which they have grand plans. They mainly want to offer a variety of vocational training programs.
It's part of the Stockar and Octavia McDougle Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, led by the husband and wife team. Octavia, with over 15 ye...