Newspaper Page Text
Oct. 6 Is
Last Day
To Register
Oct. 6 is the last day voters may reg
ister for the November general elec
tion.
A president, a U.S. senator, 10 U.S.
representatives, state representatives
and senators, and many local officials
will be chosen.
According to Georgia Secretary of
State David B. Poythress, these per
sons should register or check with the
Forsyth County voter registrar in the
basement of the courthouse in Cum
ming:
State citizens who are 18 or older
and who are legal residents, but who
have never registered.
Citizens who have registered be
fore, but who have not voted within
three years. They may have been
dropped from the list of registered vot
ers.
Voters who have moved to another
county or voting district since they reg
istered. A new feature of the ballot
this year will be the separation of the
presidential race from the straight
party tickets.
To choose President Carter', the
Democrat, and all the other Demo
cratic candidates, for example, a voter
must make separate marks on his bal
lot.
Also, state officials say, voters may
vote a straight-party ticket and vote in
dividually for candidates in another
party or an independent.
Absentee voting is allowed, but only
for these people:
Those who are disabled.
Those who plan to be away from
their voting districts on election day.
Those who are observing a reli
gious holiday.
Election workers.
If a person whb planned to vote ab
sentee is actually home on election day,
he must go to the polls to vote. His ab
sentee ballot will be void.
For more information, call the
county voter registrar’s office at 887-
7759 or visit it in the courthouse base
ment.
Hospital And
Clinic Have
Understanding
The Forsyth County Hospital Author
ity has decided to draw up only a “let
ter of statement of understanding”
instead of a formal agreement concern
ing the association of the hospital and
the George Wilson Memorial Clinic in
Cumming.
When the Authority met Thursday,
Sept. 25, Hospital Administrator Joe
Brandon presented an agreement in
draft form, which, in essence, insured
that adequate medical care would be
provided to Wilson Clinic patients who
used the hospital during emergencies.
There had been an eariler meeting to
discuss the formal association of the
hospital and clinic on Sept. 9. Those
present were Administrator Brandon,
Dr. Marcus Mashbum and Dr. Shannon
Mize from the hospital, and Sister
JoAnn Geary, nurse practitioner at the
clinic, and Linda Muir, president of the
board of directors of the clinic. They
concluded that an agreement be drawn
up.
Objection to the agreement was
raised at the meeting of the authority
by Dr. Jim Mashbum, a physician at
the hospital. “It is not necessary for the
Forsyth County Hospital to go into an
agreement with the Clinic.
“We’re already providing for all the
people of this area,” he said.
Dr. Mashbum asked the authority,
“Why should the Forsyth County Hos
pital sign an agreement to look after
Forsyth County people?”
Administrator Brandon explained
that one of the main reasons for the
consideration of a formal agreement
was the concern on the part of the hos
pital’s medical staff for the clinic pa
tients who were arriving at the hospital
unexpectedly. Brandon said the hospi
tal doctors didn’t like having to treat
patients when they knew nothing about
their medical history.
The need for an association between
the hospital and clinic originally
stemmed from pregnant women show
ing up at the Forsyth County Hospital
for delivery of their babies when they
had been seen by the Clinic’s medical
staff all during their pregnancies.
Mashbum acquiesced, but stated
that the signing of an agreement was
“opening the door to problems on down
the road. It could set a precedent,”
he said.
At this point in the discussion, Bran
don suggested that the authority “go
with an understanding and not have an
Continued on Page 2A
““! FORSYTH MfIUiVC
111 El COUNTY RLvvv
VOLUME LXXI—NUMBER 39
‘. ri , t . . .
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R Pis
Not This Time
Forsyth County Football player Mike Wagoner, a linebacker, stops a Hen
derson High School running back in his tracks during action of Friday
night’s sub-region contest here. The Bulldogs made an impressive showing
to win the game, their first in sub-region play. Details of the game can be
found inside on Page 1-B. (News staff photo by Scott Vaughan.)
If %, •• * Jh : . ’’ ’' .'
Hospital Open House Set Nov. 2
By LANE GARDNER CAMP
Staff Writer
At last week’s meeting of the Forsyth
County Hospital Authority, open house
ceremonies were arranged for the hos
pital’s renovation and expansion pro
ject, which was officially completed
last week when final inspections were
made.
The $2.4-million construction project
will be presented to the public on Sun
day, Nov. 2. There will be a V.I.P. tour
of the completed facility on Tuesday,
Oct. 28.
The completed construction project
updates the local hospital to a 36-bed
facility.
A 13,000-square-foot addition to the
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EXCHANGE STUDENT IN FORSYTH COUNTY
... Hang Lauthold&jpna Zurich, Swltscrland
EXPANDED WAITING ROOM AT FORSYTH COUNTY HOSPITAL
... was part of the renovation project
hospital was begun in early September
of 1979. Completed in June, this in
cluded nine semi-private rooms, 14 pri
vate rooms, a four-bed intensive care
unit and a coronary care unit.
Also added was a complete radiology
department with an expanded two
room diagnostic area. Two new operat
ing rooms were built along with a re
covery room, obstetrics department,
delivery room, two labor rooms and a
complete medical lab.
The recently completed renovation
project in the already-existing building
was begun immediately after the com
pletion of the building addition. The 7,-
000 square foot project included adding
much needed administrative space,
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1,19 M —CUMMING, GA. Hl3O
property Revaluation
) Under Way Here
1 BYJAYJORDAN
tm News Editor
W on the revaluation of all land
and • perty in Forsyth County is well
undvinay.
Tftt evaluation was ordered by For
syth l-junty Superior Court Judge Sam
P. Bu tz in a consent order issued on
Oct. 12,1979.
Thirty-eight people in the county had
lued jsbout a year previously, contend
ing property was not equally valued
across the county.
Judge Burtz’ consent order found
land assessments were not at 40 per
cent $ fair market value as required
by law and that some assessments
“were disuniform between similarly
situated classes of real property.” The
order also found the board of tax asses
sors unable to carry out a revaluation.
Judge Burtz ordered both parties to
agree within 10 days on an outside firm
to revalue the land and set a deadline of
January, 1982, to finish it.
Forsyth County is presently appeal
ing the case to the Georgia Supreme
Court.
Chief Tax Assessor Floyd Switzer
said his staff, all of whom have been to
several state schools, began work in
early January gathering data on all the
renovating existing patient rooms, up
dating respiratory therapy areas ex
panding the emergency room, a new
pharmacy-purchasing area, and a
waiting room.
It was the hospital authority’s deci
sion to go ahead with the major renova
tion and expansion project because of
the need for a more modern facility. At
the time of their judgement, according
to Hospital Administrator Joe Bran
don, the hospital was 22-years-old and
had never had any renovation done to
its physical plant only necessary re
pair work.
In other hospital business, the au
thority decided to draw up a “letter of
understanding” concerning a
Switzerland Youth Finding
Schooling Is Different Here
By LANE GARDNER CAMP
Staff Writer
Hans Leuthold says he hasn’t gotten
homesick yet. Afterall, he’s only been
here a little over a month. And what he
came for in the first place was an
“American living experience.”
But Zurich, Switzerland, where
Han’s home and family are, is a long
way away. Not till July of 1981 will he
return.
In the meantime, Hans is staying
with a family in Forsyth County.
Grover and Mary Ann Berryman and
their four children are serving as Hans’
American host family in conjunction
with the Youth For Understanding In
ternational Student Exchange Pro
gram (YFU).
YFU, a non-profit organization head
quartered in Washington, D.C., was
founded in 1951 and exchanges 7,000
teenagers in 24 countries annually.
30 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS—2S CENTS
real property, or buildings, in the
county. There are about 15,000 individ
ual houses.
For each house, his staff checked the
tax records and filled out a two page
form. If part of the necessary informa
tion were missing, then someone had to
go to the house and check, Switzer said.
“This is strictly an administrative
type of operation at this point,” Switzer
explained.
The form prepared for each house re-
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relationship between the hospital and
the George Wilson Memorial Clinic.
The letter was proposed after a formal
agreement was determined “not nec
essary” by the authority. (See sepa
rate story.)
Hospital Controller Terry Grizzard
announced to the authority that next
year’s budget has begun being devel
oped. After listing the assumptions that
the budget is based on, he told of the
need for an increase in the hospital’s
room and service charges.
After some deliberation, the author
ity decided to go up on prices for most
everything except the emergency
room. (These rate increases, which
will go into effect Jan. 1, 1981, will be
Hans first learned about the program
from his older brother. After submit
ting a lengthy application, he was ac
cepted.
The purpose of the YFU program is
for a family from one country to invite
a student from a foreign country to live
with them for one year, sharing ideas,
cultures, customs and language. The
family treats the exchange student as a
member of the family, not as a guest.
Students in the program range in age
from 14 to 18 and have had from two to
11 years of English.
Hans, who is 17, has studied English
for a little less than three years. But,
incredibly enough, he speaks the lan
guage with near perfection. He has had
no trouble communicating since his ar
rival in the U.S.
Hans attributes his mastery of En
glish to his extreme interest in the lan
guage. To become fluent, he says he
KAREN GLOVER, OPERATING ROOM SUPERVISOR
...stands in one of the hospital’s two new surgical suites
cords its condition and such structural
details as the type of foundation, the
material in the wails, the ceding
material, the type of heating and the
number and type of bathrooms.
This basic information will be fed
into Georgia Mountain Area Planning
and Development Commission’s com
puter in Gainesville to help determine a
value for each house, Switizer said.
The computer program also will take
Continued on Page 2A
detailed in next week’s edition of the
News.)
The authority also:
Agreed to purchase a canopy for
the front entrance of the hospital at a
cost of $9,810.
Learned that the investment com
mittee of Cotton States Insurance had
not accepted their offer of $15,000 for
two acres of land which adjoins the hos
pital property. The authority decided
not to increase their offer at this time.
Decided not to co-sign a bank note
at the Forsyth County Bank with Dr.
Olaf Alvig for his purchase of an ultra
sound machine which is currently be
ing used at the hospital.
read “quite a lot of books" in the lan
guage.
Hans’ first language is German. He
also speaks French which he has taken
since the ninth grade. Furthermore, he
speaks a little Italian and has had some
Latin.
Quite naturally, after graduation
from his secondary school in Switser
land, Hans says he would like to pursue
German, English or history at a univer
sity and then go into journalism.
Hans is attending Lakeview Aca
demy, a small, private school in Gai
nesville. His year there will not count
toward graduation from his school in
Zurich.
This, however, doesn’t bother Hans.
His main reason for coming tc the U.S.
was to experience something new. He
figures he’ll learn quite a lot even
though he’s not getting academic
Continued on Page 1A