Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 5A
v
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Walkin’ round in what?
Hospital Lawsuit continued from 1A
The holidays are upon us — the
time of year when the programmers
at the movie channels embark on
a pilgrimage to the belly of their
vaults in search of the dustiest cans
they can find.
Why the dusty ones? If you have
to ask, you're not a student of clas
sic films, and that’s just not accept
able. Every red-blooded American
should have learned some of the
best lessons of history through John
Huston's western epics, or Cecil B.
DeMille’s Biblical extravaganzas.
Who could miss the lessons of
the great social commentator Orson Welles
in “Citizen Kane?" He and another Wells,
H.G., that is, introduced the world to science
fiction in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and
“Journey to the Center of the Earth.” The list
is endless (and so would be this column), so
I’ll leave you to look these up in your favorite
television guide.
Of course, along with the holiday movies
— “A Christmas Story” and “It's a Wonderful
Life” being among the top vote getters from
the Schmaltz Patrol — there are the songs
that evoke the most gut wrenching of emo
tions. Hearing folks sing about being home
for Christmas, or having a Christmas of a par
ticular color, or hearing about some guy’s girl
friend running off with his truck and shotgun
on Christmas Eve (we don’t want to forget
our country fans, do we?) just make you want
to cry in your eggnog. Once the holiday emo
tions get cranked up, a rousing arrangement of
“Frosty the Snowman” starts the waterworks.
Whenever I think about Christmas songs,
the memory of the Christmas of '93 comes
to mind. (You ever notice how old folks talk
about “back in ’86” or “I b'lieve it was the
Christmas of aught four?” It’s a little disen
chanting to realize I'm talking like that now.
Sorry, I digress.) We were living in Suwanee
at the time and had scheduled new carpeting to
be laid December 1st. One wrong carpet that
had to be reordered and didn’t get installed till
December 22. We finally started getting our
decorations up for Christmas.
Oh, did I mention we had 34 people coming
over for dinner Christmas Eve?
By 2:30 a.m. the morning of December
23rd, I had speed-decorated the house - tree
and all - and was running off pure adrenalin
baking, wrapping gifts, baking, hiding stuff
Stephanie simply could not see for a couple
more days, baking, and trying to keep the
cats out of the wrapping paper and the cookie
dough. Did I mention I was baking?
Anyway, at o’dark-thirty that morning, I
was wrapping gifts while everyone else was
fast asleep. One of the Atlanta radio sta
tions always played a great variety of classic
Christmas music, so I was trying to get out
of overdrive and into the Christmas spirit.
A beautiful orchestration of “Winter
Wonderland” wafted from the speak
er and I settled into the familiarity of
a favorite Christmas song. Not really
paying a lot of attention to the lyrics,
I realized something was amiss when
I heard them singing about “walking
‘round in women's underwear”...
Do what? I thought I was just in a
stupor and misunderstood til I heard
them singing about lacy things and
dressing up like Madonna (the singer)
and so forth and so on. This was not
a song I’d heard before, but morbid
curiosity being, well, morbid, I just
had to hear it again.
All the next day, I listened, called all
the stores in my area that carried music.
Everybody knew about Twisted Radio's new
CD, but it was not to be found. The music
stores had assumed us traditional Southerners
wouldn't want somebody messin' with our
holiday music and had grossly under-ordered.
So the radio station decided they'd play the
song again so we could illegally record it in
the privacy of our own homes.
My oldest brother Haase and I shared the
same twisted sense of humor (we are our
father's children, after all), so I called to let
him know to turn the radio to Peach so he
could hear this great Christmas song he'd
never forget. Twenty minutes after the song
was over, I hadn't heard from him. I mean,
he’d married a Baptist, but I couldn't imagine
he’d be insulted. So I dialed him up.
“Is Haase upset?” I asked his wife when
she answered the phone.
“Hear for yourself,” she said and held the
phone so I could hear him “wha-wha-wha-
ing” in the background.
“Walking Round in Women’s Underwear”
became one of our favorite Christmas songs
right then and there. We'd call each other, sing
part of the lyrics, and collapse laughing.
For the past 13 Christmases, I’ve not had
him to share the fun of “Underwear.” Now
I know why holiday movies and songs evoke
such deep emotion.
This year, school pushed me to just a few
days before Christmas getting ready, but the
frantic pace of decorating reminds me of that
Christmas of '93. With the trees up and the
boxes all over the house. I’m reminded of
Peach radio - also gone.
But I have my own copy of Twisted Radio's
“I Am Santa Claus.”
Here's to you, Haase! I’ll put on the music
— you join me under the tree.
Helen Person is a product of Winder hav
ing been born and raised here. She did a
21-year exile in Gwinnett County from which
she and her family returned in 2006. She
loves being back home and can be reached at
HelenPerson @ wind stream, net
Robinson to be honored at celebration
The Barrow County Sheriff's
Office will host a retirement
celebration for sheriff Joel
Robinson Thursday.
The event will culminate
24 years of law enforcement
for Robinson, who is retir
ing as sheriff at the end of
the year. The retirement event
will be held at the Winder
Community Center.
The cost is $15 per person,
which includes meal and gift,
or $25 per couple.
Call 770-307-3080, ext.
3098 or 3133 for more infor
mation.
STATE REVIEW
OF APPLICATION
Northeast Georgia Health
System submitted a CON
application with the Georgia
Department of Community
Health in 2006 for a 100-bed
hospital on Thompson Mill
Road in Braselton. At the
time, the health system said
the $209 million Braselton
hospital would be a replace
ment facility for the 96-bed
Lanier Park hospital in
Gainesville.
Barrow Regional and
Emory Johns Creek Hospital
filed objections to the pro
posed Braselton facility in
February 2007.
The state department later
recommended that Northeast
Georgia submit a change to
its CON application stating
the Braselton hospital was
a “new” facility and not a
“replacement.” Northeast
Georgia made that change in
April 2007 and said it wasn’t
closing its Lanier Park hos
pital.
Northeast Georgia’s CON
application for the Braselton
hospital was approved by the
state department, but Barrow
Regional appealed the deci
sion.
In December 2007, a hear
ing officer favored the state
department’s decision and
the State Health Planning
Review Board also sided in
February 2008 with the deci
sion to approve Northeast
Georgia’s CON application.
Barrow Regional took its
last legal avenue in March
2008, when it filed a request
for judicial review.
Barrow Regional has con
tended that a new hospital
in Braselton would have a
“significant, potentially
devastating impact” on the
56-bed Winder hospital. It
also says Northeast Georgia
should have submitted a new
CON application when it no
longer viewed the Braselton
hospital as a “replacement”
facility.
Adamson’s ruling means
Northeast Georgia will have
to ask the Georgia Court of
Appeals to hear its case. The
health system has 30 days
to file an appeal and Barrow
Regional then has 10 days to
file a response.
Northeast Georgia plans
to file a request with the
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Georgia Court of Appeals,
Gardner said.
“We’re disappointed in the
decision and disagree with
the court’s ruling,” he said.
“We obviously believe that
the three decisions — not
one, not two, but three previ
ous decisions made by the
Department of Community
Health, the hearing officer
and the review board were
correct in their approval of
our CON application.”
Gardner said the health sys
tem is confident the court of
appeals will hear its request
and confirm the original state
department’s ruling.
“This application was
always about bringing much-
needed access to healthcare,
including life-saving emer
gency services to South Hall,”
he said. "And the fact that the
Department of Community
Health very carefully and
very thoughtfully looked at
the data, and again approved
our application at three dif
ferent levels — to have a
court in essence reverse that,
it’s definitely a disappoint
ment.
Bowers said if the CON
application process starts
again, changes in the econ
omy may require a differ
ent analysis of how a new
hospital in Braselton would
impact Barrow Regional. The
state didn’t do a true adverse
impact analysis during the
initial CON application pro
cess, he added.
“We’re thankful at the
order,” Bowers said. “It’s a
major development for the
Winder area. Adamson’s
decision came three weeks
after attorneys for both hos
pitals argued their cases in a
Barrow County courtroom.
The judge is retiring at the
end of December.
Northeast Georgia has
already opened the first build
ing on its 119-acre South
Hall medical campus, called
“River Place Braselton.”
Medical Plaza I opened in
September 2008 and is a
100,000 square-foot facility
that includes an urgent care
center, medical practices and
a lab.
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