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Region Champs 2004 Wed. Oct. 20, 2004 Pec h l ^8 l,,nll "H ..... I.llj II I 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 * k 4 4 * * * * ^ * w t #®r* W At m *• * K . « # * « f i # VI. Tli 4 % ♦ v a * * * * • I jc* ■ -ilfuB ♦ 4<V * r»t>i i • u * # % * « z 1 , RJ ■ A?* 1 " • Jt 1 ■ 0 B » fM # km 0% m >•# : r r SB, ' Pi ♦ > % A * w* * I I * * * V li* ? * Cm ^®E * l J « * * yl J!f> • f 4 * m * W T- ♦ 4 mC ♦ * y • I - * i ? A M ♦ ■ 4 m k * f*: I > 1'i * * » * mk « . ¥ % <* 0 * ♦ * Z>* *■ tjSf ■# * * * % * 0 > # m « * 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. * A - "F‘ ” ?‘ r 3f “"5“: '7; ”firm-w; « 3 1:53;; 2‘71! 5 - [32:17 ' , ‘ .‘ raid 5*; s ' z ‘ ~ v, - - , . , :m. «our» : , “if “in; ., ¢ -.-.;,,_~_ 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 ••• * . 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