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Auto Wreck In Area Kills Cumming Man A 56-year-old Cumming man was killed in an auto accident in Canton early Sunday, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Authorities identified the victim as Dalton Cline Lower, of Cumming. In vestigating troopers said Lower died from injuries when the car he was rid ing in struck a tree on a state highway . Lower was one of 11 persons killed in accidents accross the state during the holiday period. The state patrol had predicted 20 tra ffic fatalities during the 72-hour period, which began at 6 p.m. Friday and ended a Monday. Cumming authorities said the holi day period was relatively quiet, with no major accidents reported in the city. Sgt. M.M. Murray of the state patrol post in Lawrenceville, said no' acci dents were investigated in the county during the holiday period. Patrolmen did however make 13 tra ffi cases and issued 12 warning tickets in the county during the holiday week end. Throughout the area they patrol, the officers made 112 traffic cases, with 12 driving under the influence (DUI) cases, and issued 209 warnings. City of Cumming Police Chief Gabe Dukas said Tuesday morning that his department investigated only one small accident over the holiday period. The chief said the accident was mi nor and there were no injuries. The wreck occurred Friday. '•; ;>',; *' 4f|r j||pKp^| Digger Collects MD Funds From His Grave In Griffin By LANE GARDNER Staff Writer He’s six feet under in a box, with an estimated two tons of dirt on top. But he’s not dead. Digger O’Dell, or Hubert Smith of Forsyth County, has buried himself al ive at Mid-South Auditorium in hopes of drawing attention to what he calles a “real good cause” the Muscular Dystrophy (MD) Association. Digger stepped into his “grave,” equipped with a telephone, on Satur day, Aug. 30, at about 11 a.m. He will not come out again till Saturday, Sept. 6, at 6:30 p.m. Throughout the week, he will accept donations and pledges from people all across the country. Teenage Pregnancies Statistics Show Forsyth County Ranks Low, But Has Its Share By LANE GARDNER and SCOTT VAUGHAN Is pregnancy among teenagers in Forsyth County a problem? Is it a con cern? Or is it just accepted as some thing that occurs everywhere? These are questions that have been examined in recent weeks by The News. In talking to a number of differ ent persons and organizations, it has become apparent that there are differ ing views and statistics on the issue of teenage pregnancy in Forsyth County. True, It is not unusual for girls aged 17-19 to marry and have children. Such an arrangement is in no way frowned upon by society or the medical estab lishment. IgftVn FORSYTH Mllflfg Ansi county JllivvS VOLUME LXXI—NUMBER 35 m mm DIRT IS SPREAD OVER DIGGER’S GRAVE ... as the feet of onlookers line the pit It is estimated that by entombing himself, Digger will raise more than $200,000 by the end of the week. When the News spoke to him on Sunday eve ning, Aug. 31, he said that several thou sand dollars had already been donated. In order to keep money coming in, Radio Station WGRI in Griffin is broad casting the event live each day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. For those who would rather “see” Digger than just talk to him, they can look through a specially designed win dow at the site that reveals just his head in the coffin below. There is also a tube leading to his underground quar ters that money can be deposited in. The Griffin Jaycees are watching It’s when the younger girls, usually unmarried 13 to 16-year-olds, become pregnant that concern is expressed. These girls, afterall, may still be con sidered children themselves. Most are still under the care of their own paren t(s)/guardian(s). For them to be fac ing the responsibility of caring for a new life may leave some questions in some minds. Plus, there is concern from the medi cal establishment for a pregnant girl under 17 years of age. Such young preg nancies have a higher rate of prema ture births, stillbirths, and illness to the mother. The question to be answered is whether or not this situation is occur DIGGER O’DELL WAVES GOOD-BYE ... as the lid is lowered on his tomb WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1980- CUMMINS, GA. 30130 over Digger while he is on public exhi bition 24 hours a day. Digger, who has been burying him self alive for charitable causes since the age of 17, says he’s not trying to set any records this time. (His record is 78 days, 20 minutes and 10 seconds.) “I just hope there will be a record number of people to contribute.” Digger’s coffin for this 193rd burial is the smallest one he’s ever been in: 32 inches wide, 32 inches high and four feet, 11 inches long. “It’s impossible for me to sit up or straighten out,” he says. Though his quarters are small, Dig ger has all the modem conveniences of home: a radio, a television, a fan, a Continued on Page 2A ring at any alarming level in Forsyth County. What facts are available can be digested by anyone. What conclu sions are drawn will depend on the per son doing the concluding. One thing very much in Forsyth County’s favor is its ranking among Georgia school systems in terms of Uve births to teenaged (10-19) mothers by percent of total births in the county. In 1978, 18.7 per cent of the total births in the county were to 10 to 19-year-olds. That per cent figure ranks Forsyth County 164 out of 187 school systems. Being so far down the line, it is clear that Forsyth County’s teenage birth rate is not in any way high or abnor mal. Bill Whitworth, social worker at Locals Spend Holiday Giving Funds To MDA BY SCOTT VAUGHAN Staff Writer The 15th annual Jerry Urns Labor Day Telethon against Muscular Dystro phy was broadcast in the North Central Georgia area by WAGA-TV, Atlanta on Labor Day and Forsyth Countians re sponded with a contribution of more than $4,500. The local participation in the telethon was organized by the Cumming Kiwa nis club and the Cumming branch of Spier Insurance Agency. The Kiwanis club raised $3,940 in a call-in telethon station headquartered at Pendley Realty on Sunday and Mon day. The phone lines were opened at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31 and closed at 6:30 p.m. on Labor Day, 1980. Last year’s total figure came to over $4,400. The Forsyth County News and local area governments also raised funds for Muscular Dystrophy by hosting the an nual softball game for charity on Sun day, Aug. 31 at the Cumming Park. Gilbert And Glover Winners Over Incumbents In Runoff Challengers swept incumbents out of county commission seats in the Demo cratic primary runoff Aug. 26. In the Forsyth County Commission Post Five race, challenger David Gil bert defeated incumbent Garland Bar ron 3,107 to 1,613. Gilbert must still face Republican James Weatherby in No vember. In the post two race, incumbent James C. Harrington was defeated by Donald Glover 2,698 to 2,109. The runoff between U.S. Sen. Her man Talmadge and Lt. Gov.'Zell Miller for the U.S. Senate also drew the atten tion of Forsyth County voters. Tal madge took Miller nearly two to one, Hospital Work Expected To Be Finished October By LANE GARDNER - Staff Writer At last week’s meeting of the Forsyth County Hospital Authority, it was an nounced that Palaflox, Inc., a general contractor for a major renovation and expansion project under way in the older section of the hospital, is ex pected to “finish its work and close out” by Oct. 1. The renovation and expansion pro ject includes 7,000 square feet of space and will bring the hospital up to a total of 41,000 square feet. In other construction related busi ness, the board accepted a low bid of $57,200 for the remodeling of seven pri vate and nine semi-private rooms not included in the current renovation and expansion project. The rooms are ex pected to be brought up to the same standards as the new area of the hospi tal. The authority agreed to purchase a new food service system for use in the hospital. Hospital administrator Joe Brandon explained that “dietary” was one area that needed to be included in the hospital’s current improvements. The new food service system, specially designed to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, will cost $2,380.04, plus S2OO per month for tray inserts. Brandon announced to the authoirty that a meeting has been scheduled for Sept'. 9 between the hospital and Dr. Forsyth County High School, says, “It’s no worse here (in Forsyth County schools) than in any other school sys tem.” Yet, even though Forsyth County’s teenage pregnancy rate is not high by comparison, it does still exist. There are cases every year of young girls be coming pregnant. One set of figures for 1978, provided by the State Board of Education’s Home Economics Division, says that there were 62 live births to teenagers (aged 10-19) in Forsyth County in 1978. Of that total, 35 were to 18 to 19-year olds, 26 were to 15 to 17-year-olds, and one was to a mother under the age of 15. 22 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS—2S CENTS Spier Insurance Agency provided re freshments and a donation fish bowl in front of their office on Labor Day. The Junior Optimist club from Otwell Mid dle School collected donations in can nisters for the drive. The Cumming Shrine Club clown unit provided enter tainment on the square from noon till 5 p.m. on Labor Day. Originating from Las Vegas, the TV spectacular is held to benefit the medi cal services and research programs of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The entertainment marathon was car ried by a “love network” of more than 200 stations in the continental U. S., Ha waii, Alaska and Puerto Rico. Ed Mc- Mahon served as Jerry Lewis’s anchorman. Last year the 21 and one-half hour su pershow produced a record pledge of over S3O million for the national health agency’s work, and was seen by an es timated 93 million persons. The show’s unduplicated total audience included 50 with 3,222 votes to 1,682. Complete returns are in a chart on Page 2-A. Gilbert’s victory over Barron was complete. Barron took only one of 13 precincts, Barkers, as Gilbert polled nearly twice as many votes. Harrington ran a much closer race to Glover, losing by about 600. Harrington received 43 percent of the vote; Glover 57 percent. Harrington took only Rolands and Coal Mountain precincts. Lines at the polls during the runoff were apparently slight to non-existant, In contrast, some voters waited well over an hour during the Aug. 5 pri- Paul Behrmann, medical preceptor at the George Wilson Clinic in Cumming, to discuss the formal association of the hospital and clinic. When giving the financial report for the month of July, Terry Grizzard, hos pital controller, stated that the hospital is over its budget in net income year to-date. Net income for the month of July was $5,762, with year-to-date net income at $88,297.00. Brandon reported to the authority that long-range plans for the hospital were begun at the hospital’s last ad ministrative meeting. The hospital is sending out questionaires to its doctors Authorities Arrest 15 The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Depart ment arrested 15 persons in connection with a drag racing and “clowning” in cident at 2 a.m. Sunday morning on McGinnis Ferry Road, according to sheriff Wesley Walraven. Sheriff Walraven said the incident occurred in the church yard of Cross Plains Baptist Church located in the Big Creek Community. The department also investigated six accidents during the holiday weekend period, and made eight arrests on driv ing under the influence (DUI) charges. Another set of statistics, made avail able by Elizabeth Riggs, nursing pro gram specialist with the State Department of Human Resources, re veals that in 1978, Forsyth County had 16 live births to 15 to 19-year-olds and one live birth to a mother under the age of 15. These, however, are not the final to tals for Forsyth County female teen agers who become pregnant. The totals grow by adding the number of reported abortions received by mothers who re side in the county. The Induced Abortion Report for Georgia, reveals that in 1978, 27 girls aged 15 to 19 had abortions and three girls under age 15 had abortions. percent of the households with TV sets in the U. S. Robert Considine, the show’s pro ducer, promised that'this year’s show would be better than ever. The local segments were orginating from the Marriott Hotel at Interstate North in Cobb County, with WAGA-TV “cutting away” from the network show approxi mately 15 minutes every hour to pre sent firsthand reports of MDA activities in the North Central Georgia area supported by proceeds from the telethon and other of the health agen cy’s fund-raising events. MDA maintains clinics at the Emory University center for rehabilitative medicine in Atlanta and at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, operates a summer camp for children with muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular diseases at Camp Will- A-Way in Winder, and supports re search projects at the University of Georgia, Emory University and More house College. mary. Some 5,002 voters turned out during the runoff. Some 6,266 cast ballots dur ing the primary. There are 11,376 regis tered voters in the county, Forsyth County Probate Judge Joyce Hawkins said. “It was an exceptionally large turn out, for which we are very grateful,” the judge said. By a reporter’s calcula tion, some 43 percent of the voters turned out. State officials had forecast 42 percent, the judge said. The vote counting in the courthouse after the polls closed at 7 p.m. ap peared to be orderly and was done rap idly. Totals were in by about 10 p.m. and physicians. Brookwood Health Services, Inc., an Alabama firm which operates the hospital, is sending out consumer questionaires. Also, the hos pital is planning more community rela tions programs. The authority also: Agreed to make an offer of $15,000 for two acres of land which adjoins the hospital property. Heard a summary of the new Med icaid/Medicare program which is be ing proposed by the state. Heard a report of the purchase of a fetal monitor and new centrifuge, at a cost of $7,490 and S6OO, respectively. Sheriff Walraven said the weekend was busy, but that complaints were normal for a weekend period. The Forsyth County Volunteer Fire Department responded to one house fire during the week of Aug. 26 through Sept. 1. Stations one and five answered a call to a fire at the Joe Wheeler resident on Driftwood Court at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29. The house suffered heavy smoke damage. Five grass fires also were responded to during the week, firemen said. It should be remembered that these are only reported births and abortions. Jerrie Gober, caseworker principal for the Forsyth County Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS), says that her office learns, through the AFDC (Aide to Families with Depen dent Children) rolls, of about 10 minor girls per year who have had babies. These girls don’t have to go through the health department because they’re covered by Medicaid. (A family on AFDC rolls must have one parent to tally disabled, missing or dead.) Ms. Gober also hears of “four, five or six” pregnancies a year that are never documented. And she hears estimates Continued oo Page 2A