Newspaper Page Text
Region Champs 2004
Wed. Oct. 20, 2004
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u Georgia
Flu vaccine shortages for Peach County
any this year, said Nancy
Peed, PRMC administra¬
tor.
Peed said she is wor¬
ried about the impact of
the vaccine shortage on
her staff if they can’t get
vaccinated. If hospital
staff get exposed to the
virus and get sick, PRMC
could face “a bad staffing
problem,” Peed said.
A survey of area phar¬
macies and doctor’s
offices turned up no avail¬
able shots as of Tuesday.
Dr. Crystal Brown, a
Fort Valley doctor, said
her office has not been
BY VICTOR KULKOSKY
The Leader-Tribune
The national shortage
of flu vaccine has so far
left Peach County with
virtually no shots as flu
season approaches.
Local and regional
health department offices
reported no flu vaccine
available and no indica¬
tions of when any might
become available.
Peach Regional Medi¬
cal Center has no vaccine
available and after
searching far and wide,
doesn’t anticipate getting
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Colors of fall are starting to appear. Black-Eyed Susans with brilliant
yellow colors. Picture was taken at 409 Westview Dr. in Fort Valley.
Halloweeh activities for your calendar
FORT VALLEY
Come on out for a night of fun festivities. The
annual Fall Festival will be October 30, 5 - 9 p.m. Trick \
or treat at downtown stores starting at 5 p.m., then head
over to the courthouse at 6 p.m. for new activities and
old favorites. Jack's “Pete and Gus" style hotdogs will ;
make a debut at the festival. Also take a chance on a
beautiful, over 1/2-carat diamond ring, which the Lions
Club is selling tickets for only $1, contact any member
for your tickets. Support the Lions Club and have fun.
Games and wonderful food will all be available. Don't
forget to enter the costume contest. If anyone is interest¬
ed in participating in the Fall Festival, please call Gary
at 825-7633 or Helen at 825-5613 for more information.
BYRON
Nightmare on Main Street, Byron’s TVick or Treat
Halloween event, will take place Saturday, October 30 as
well from 6 - 7:30 p.m. The Byron Rotary Club is again
sponsoring the costume contest to be held at the gazebo
in Jailhouse Park beginning at 7:30 p.m., Business own¬
ers and civic groups wanting to participate should call
Joan Hayes, Byron Better Hometown at 956-5555.
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Pencil County's source of local news, advertising, and sports for over 100 years.,.
'ie leabet -frill
able to get any vaccine
and probably won’t get
any.
Brown stressed that
alternatives are available
for some patients and
that treatments are avail¬
able for those who do get
sick.
A nasal vaccine that
contains a live but inac¬
tive virus can be adminis¬
tered at doctor’s officers.
Brown said, but it should
only be given to healthy
patients ages 5 to 49.
People with problems
such as heart disease,
lung problems and asth¬
ma should not take the
nasal-spray vaccine, she
said.
Anti-viral drugs are
available for people who
do get sick, but they work
only if taken within two
days of getting sick, Dr.
Brown said. Anyone who
notices symptoms should
see their doctor as soon as
possible, she said.
The medicines include
Tamiflu tablets and
Relenza, which is taken
through an inhaler.
Amantidine, an older
medicine in tablet form, is
also available. None of
FSVU department head fired
BY VICTOR KULKOSKY
The Leader-Tribune
The head of the Mass
Communications Depart¬
ment at Fort Valley State
University has been fired
after the school found out
he had never left his pre¬
vious job.
Shafiqur Rahman
began working at FVSU’s
Mass Communications
Department in August
after supposedly leaving
his previous job as
department head at
Alcorn State University
in Mississippi.
According to Julius Sci¬
pio, Dean of FVSU’s Col-
p -
. News-Page
Sports
these medicines are
approved for children
under one year of age, Dr.
Brown said.
Dr. Brown and Peed of
PRMC said they have not
seen any cases of' flu. Flu
season typically starts in
November but can start
earlier, as happened last
year.
Peed said PRMC is
working to educate the
public about the flu and
to encourage people to see
their family doctors if
they get sick, rather than
go through a long wait at
the hospital’s emergency
The Gano project
nearing completion
BY JERRY MURTAGH -The Leader-Tribune
Peach County Consulting Engineer David Flanders
told members of the Water and Sewer Authority of
Peach County the Gano project is close to completion.
Workers are still installing some vents and there is
some unfinished paving but the project is nearly com¬
plete, he said.
Peach County Commissioner James Khoury noted
the weather presented a problem in getting the roads
paved. October 1st was the original deadline for
paving, he said. He added the paving would be com¬
plete this week.
Board Member Geoffrey Ibim expressed satisfaction
the county installed a sign in the Gano area giving
credit for the project to the county and to the Special
Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
Commissioner Khoury noted the authority “has not
gotten credit for the role it played in the Gano project.
I think everyone who had a role should be recog¬
nized.”
Authority member Glenwood Hill said, “I have the
impression that this body is not well recognized. It
shows when other bodies come and address this body.”
Flanders reported on the progress of the watershed
assessment. He noted that once EPD comments on
the assessment and the county responds, the assess¬
ment will cover any of the proposed projects the board
decides to recommend.
Chairperson Melvin Walker noted the SPLOST
fund for the wastewater treatment project now has
$11,561,000 in the bank and can expect another
$548,000 before collections for the fund are complete.
Board members spent the balance of their session
discussing the advantages and disadvantages of pro¬
posed Alternative #3.
Alternative #3 has an estimated total cost of $19.5
Please turn to
GANO, Page 2
lege of Arts & Sciences,
which includes the mass
communications depart¬
ment, Rahman’s undoing
began with a simple call
about a requisition form.
Scipio said he called
Rahman’s office with a
question about the form,
and was told by the
department secretary
that Rahman was out of
the office and would
return in about a week.
Rahman had not filed the
required paperwork to be
away from campus, Scipio
said.
Scipio said he reached
Rahman in Mississippi
about a week after find-
ing out he was away and
Rahman said he was ill.
The dean said he con¬
tacted the academic
affairs office at Alcorn
State and found out that
Rahman was still work¬
ing there.
A termination letter
was sent to Rahman on
October 13.
University officials
were working to deter¬
mine who would head the
department for the short
term, Scipio said. FVSU
will also reconvene the
nationwide search process
immediately.
Scipio said FVSU
hoped to have a perma¬
What the people don't know WILL hurt them •••
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room.
The hospital’s ER is
already crowded under
normal circumstances,
Peed said. She stressed
that PRMC will treat any¬
one who comes in.
PRMC has a contingen¬
cy plan to expand the
number of beds available
in the ER and to isolate
flu patients from the rest
of the hospital, Peed said.
She said most people
with the flu are treated as
out-patients. Typically,
only severely ill elderly
patients require hospital¬
ization for flu, Peed said.
nent replacement by Fall
2005.
The mass communica¬
tions department’s two
remaining faculty mem¬
bers will cover Rahman’s
three classes for the short
term while the school
examines their qualifica¬
tions, Scipio said. He
said he plans to meet
with faculty soon to
decide if FVSU needs to
go outside the depart¬
ment to cover classes for
the longer-term.
Rahman did not imme¬
diately respond to an
email requesting com¬
ment.
Religion/Obits- 9-10
Legals-Classifieds 14-15