About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2023)
2A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, March 29,2023 Death Notices Nicoles wisdom Rosetta Marie Harben McGhee March 23, 2023 Rosetta Marie Harben McGhee, age 84, of Woodstock, Georgia, for merly of Dahlonega, Georgia, passed away on Thursday, March 23rd. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, March 27th in the chapel of Anderson- Underwood Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 11:00 AM until the service hour. Scott J. Linn March 23, 2023 Scott J. Linn, 63, of Dawsonville died Thursday, March 23rd. Memorial visi tation, Bearden Funeral Home, Saturday, March 25th at 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Bearden Funeral Home, Dawsonville, GA. “In so much as it is within your control in a situation, be kind.” My niece, Nicole, was telling me about a family meeting she and her husband, Jay, recently conducted with their five chil dren. That command ment was the meeting’s foundation. Jay and Nicole stressed never to add to a stressful situation by tone, words and manner. Nicole and I come from a tart- tongued family. Mountain people don’t mince words. Everyone will tell you Nicole is “the sweetest per son I’ve ever met.” She and my friends, Stevie and Karen are blessed with naturally humble dis positions. I straggle. There are many times I have to overcome myself. There are RONDARICH Columnist times that I utter the right words but the tone isn’t what it should be. Sarcastic, some might say. For over a week after Nicole’s telling of the family meeting about kindness, her words resounded in my ears. It was a hard week. A week when I had a few doses of “righteous” anger and I had to still myself, be quiet, pray and replay Nicole saying, “In so much as it is within your control, be kind.” Someone we had hired on the Rondarosa to help with bush hog ging and such, stomped on my heart so hard that I will remember it until the Lord calls me away or my mem ory fades. He had been told repeat edly “don’t touch a tree. If, in doubt, ask.” Tink and I had gone into town together and when we returned, the trees - one so perfect that it was not to be believed - had been butchered. Seventeen years ago, I planted those trees. I prayed over them. I watered them. I babied them. And they grew gorgeously. When Hurricane Ira produced a historic storm through the center of Atlanta and its outlying areas, Tink was tucked away safely in Canada on business. I trembled with upset. Within 20 minutes of raging winds hitting the Rondarosa, a stately one- hundred-old oak thundered down ward, taking boarded fences with it. It started at 2 p.m. and did not let up until 3 a.m. I opened the door around 11 p.m. to let the dogs out and the wind blew us back. There, at the center of the front porch, a maple, that had nearly died 10 years earlier, twisted like a corkscrew. Horrified, I watched as it twisted in one direc tion tight, released itself then knot ted up again. I did not think it could possibly survive 85 mph winds. It did. But I don’t know that it will survive the butchering it took during the late summer heat before the tree was dormant. Daddy always said, “Worry not over what money and hard work will replace.” I wish money and hard work could fix this. The perfect tree, the one that looked like the tree I drew when I was in the third grade and situated Cindrella next to it in a pink dress, was so horribly mangled that I laid down on the ground beside it and cried. Mournfully. Sorrowfully. Tears splash my hands now as I recount this story. “Be Kind,” saith Nicole. After a day of pure grief, I called him. I was extremely even in tone. I surprised myself. Levelly, I asked, “Did you misunderstand Tink? Did you think you were suppose to cut the trees.” “No,” he replied. “I just did it.” I obeyed Nicole. There was noth ing to do but grieve. If God takes a tree, I understand that it was His in the beginning, just loaned to me for a moment’s time. But when man takes one by his own hand, it is dev astating. City of Dawsonville honors employees, celebrates employee recognition month By staff reports During the March 20 meet ing of the Dawsonville City Council, the mayor and council members recognized two of its employees for recent accom plishments and took the time to celebrate employee recognition month. The mayor and council members recognized Roads Equipment Operator Tony Seabolt as the city’s February Employee of the Month, and also presented him with a ser vice award for two years of ser vice to the city. They also rec ognized Planning and Zoning Admin Assistant Stacy Harris for receiving her certification from the Georgia Association of Coding Enforcement and becoming a Level 1 Certified Code Enforcer. Mayor Mike Eason also read a proclamation celebrating employee recognition month, thanking each of the city’s employees for their hard work every day. “The City of Dawsonville has some great employees and we certainly are proud of them,” Eason said. “The way they represent the city; every body that comes through City Hall talks about the way they were greeted by our staff, how helpful they were and what land of benefit they are to our city.” Photo courtesy of the City of Dawsonville During the March 20 meeting of the Dawsonville City Council, the mayor and council members recognized Roads Equipment Operator Tony Seabolt as the city's February Employee of the Month and for his two years of service to the city. During the March 20 meeting of the Dawsonville City Council, the mayor and council members recognized Planning and Zoning Admin Assistant Stacy Harris for receiving her GACE Level 1 Code Enforcer certification. NGHS, UHC continue talks as deadline nears By Jeff Gill DCN Regional Staff Contract extension talks are coming down to the wire between Northeast Georgia Health System and UnitedHealthcare. The contract, expiring April 30, covers care at all NGHS facilities, including all Northeast Georgia Medical Center hospitals, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group practices, Urgent Care loca tions, Georgia Heart Institute locations, Laurelwood, long term care facilities and outpa tient centers. And the war of words is heating up. “UnitedHealthcare has let you down,” NGHS says on a website devoted to the talks. “Despite our continued best efforts, we remain very far apart on key contract details. United wants to limit access to imaging, surgery and other services and is unwilling to pay equitably for the care you need. We simply cannot accept a contract that threat ens our ability to care for you the same way we have for nearly 70 years.” And UHC said in a state ment that NGHS “is demand ing a near 25% price hike over the next three years, which would make its hospi tals the most expensive in Georgia. “These demands are not sustainable and would signifi cantly drive up health care costs for the people and employers we serve in Northeast Georgia. One of our self-funded customers would see their health care costs increase by more than $3.5 million. We ask that NGHS join us at the negotiat ing table with a realistic pro posal that’s affordable for consumers.” NGHS said in response to the price hike it “is actually only asking for a single-digit increase to bring UnitedHealthcare in line with other commercial insurance companies.” As for those affected by the contract talks, NGHS says on its website, “Only UnitedHealthcare commercial (employer-sponsored) health plans are impacted by the negotiations.” And UHC says in a state ment, “If we are unable to reach an agreement, NGHS will no longer participate in our network for employer- sponsored and individual plans and our Veteran Affairs Community Care Network, effective May 1, 2023.” UHC projects “total mem bership impact is just more than 12,000.” Does all the fighting seem like deja vu? NGHS and Anthem were engaged in a similar battle in 2019. Negotiations dragged past a Sept. 30 deadline that year, with the two parties finally reaching an agreement in January 2020. In that case, NGHS had agreed to honor in-network rates for Anthem patients past the deadline until Dec. 31, saying it was taking a loss of about $10 million per month. When an agreement had not been reached by Jan. 1, Anthem patients became out- of-network with most NGHS facilities. NGHS notes on its UHC website that people admitted to the hospital before April 30 will be covered at in-network rates through the end of their inpatient stay. Also, “certain patients, including those who are hospi talized, pregnant or undergo ing an active course of treat ment prior to the contract end date may qualify” for contin ued care at in-network rates for a “defined period of time.” Those patients must apply before April 1. And NGHS also says that “new legislation in Georgia provides extended coverage to some patients as if they were in-network until Oct. 27.” This article was originally published in the Gainesville Times, a sister publication of DCN. 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