Newspaper Page Text
I i rhrsvth Count vNews
VOL oujll NUMBER 67
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f sffjs ),000 allocated for health care facility
Aft 3d j< ig last year to
acqui Development
Bloch ra new health
department building, the Forsyth
County Commissioners gave it an
other shot in 1964 and learned this
week their application has been ap
proved.
“Today is the day many of us have
been waiting for a long time,” said
Commission Chairman Donald
Glover in a press conference Monday
Big Creek students
get ‘fingerprinted’
More than 275 Big Creek Elemen
tary School students participated last
Wednesday in the “Ident-A-Kid” fin
gerprinting program sponsored by
Brownie Troop 140.
Volunteers from the Forsyth
County Sheriff’s Department helped
with the project, recording finger
prints for more than 80 percent of the
school’s enrollement.
The “Ident-A-Kid" program is
aimed at providing parents with reli
able information to identify their
child should they be reported miss
ing.
Along with a fingerprint card, par
ents who elected for their children to
participate received a list of sugges
tions that would be helpful if their
child were missing.
“The list of things a person needs to
identify a missing child is surpris
ingly short. Most families, however,
have no more than a fraction of what
they need to identify their child. Of
ten, the need to have it doesn’t come
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Honored by Optimists
Burton Longwell is shown here giving his acceptance speech after
being named the Cumming-Forsyth County Optimist Club Member
of the Year during the annual installation banquet Saturday
evening. Details and a story on the new officers can be found
inside on Page 5-A.
Little Miss and Master
and Tiny Miss crowned
By Doug Ailinger
SUfl Wrttf
Proud parents, grandparents and friends filled South
Forsyth Junior High’s auditorium Saturday night to
see 40 of the county’s cutest children have their
moment in the limelight.
Although only three of the entries in the Forsyth
little Miss and Master Pageant woe crowned winner,
“all of the children went home as winners,” said Candy
Westbrook, coordinator of the pageant.
Of the nine entrants for Little Miss Forsyth, Stepha
nie Leigh Pruitt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Pruitt, was crowned little Miss for the five- to eight
year-old class.
Bradley Burgess, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Burgess
was named little Master out of a field of seven
entrants in the three- to five-year-old class.
Jennifer Floyd, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lanier
Floyd, was named Tiny Miss out of 14 entrants in the
threeto five-year-old category.
The contestants each paid a ISO entry fee to be in the
pageant, and were judged by a three-member panel on
poise and self-confidence, according to Mrs. West
brock, who was assisted in the pageant by her husband.
Perry Westbrook.
■ •
afternoon. “The letters of approval
went into the mail this morning and it
is confirmed that we have one (a
grant) on toe way.”
State Rep. Bill Barnett, of Cum
ming, was notified around 3 p.m.
Monday by Jim Higdon, director of
the Georgia Department of Commu
nity Affairs (DCA), that the grant
had been approved.
Although Community Development
Block Grants consist of federal funds.
to mind until it is too late,” said
Sheriff Wesley Walraven.
Among the things parents should do
to have accurate descriptions of their
child are: photograph the child at
least every six months; measure his
weight and height on the same sched
ule; know his shoe and clothing sizes;
and notice what your child is wearing
each day. The sheriff also em
phasized that parents remind their
children to never go with strangers
and be sure they know their telephone
numbers and address.
“This is the kind of information
every parent hopes and prays they
will never need. Still, we feel it is
better to be prepared,” said Sandra
Cunningham, leader of Brownie
Troop 140.
“We are very pleased with the
response at oar school,” she said. “I
hope other groups around the county
will initiate the program at their
schools. We owe it to our children,”
she added.
“We try to keep the pageant cm the children’s level. I
think it helps them to face the audience by bringing out
shyness and good sportsmanship,” she added.
Runners-up in the Little Miss contest, from first to
fourth were: Trade Tennille Pittman, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Bill Pittman; Amanda Hames, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Hames; Jessi Shirley, daughter of
Mr. ami Mrs. Waymon Shirley; and Laurie Langley,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Langley.
little Master runners-up, from first to fourth were,
Branden Westbrook, son erf Mr. and Mrs. Perry West
brook; Charles Thomas Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Jimmy H. Smith; Michael Chad Evans, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Michael Evans; and Jason Paul Ivie, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Steven Ivie.
Tiny Miss runners up, from first to fourth, were:
Brandy Gunter, daughter of Ms. Margie A. Gunter;
Cassie Brianne Pittman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill
Pittman; Julie Ann Poss, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
William Poss; and Angela DeLong, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Doyle DeLong.
All contestants received trophies, and all proceeds
after expenses will benefit the Forsyth County little
Theater, Mrs. Westbrook said.
Master of ceremonies for the pageant was Steven
Cowart. Entertainment was provided by baton twirler
Michelle Powell, who was also crown bearer.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1984—CUMMING, GA. 30130
it is DCA which decides which local
governments in Georgia receive
those funds.
The CDBG awarded Forsyth
County totals $400,000, and will go
toward construction of a 7,805-square
foot building for health services to
low- and moderate-income residents
of Forsyth County.
“I don’t know of anything that will
help low- to moderate-income people
more,” said Barnett in Monday’s
a
Oeputy Alex Dukas fingerprints Jacob Foster, 5, at Big Creek School
New employee insurance
plan studied for county
By Doug Allinger
S<«H Wrilw
A five-member county govern
ment employees’ advisory board has
been studying for the past several
months a possible change in group
insurance from a conventional insur
ance plan to a health maintenance
organization.
The advisory board is trying to
determine whether the radically dif
ferent approach to health care pro
vided by health maintenance
organizations would be beneficial to
the county’s 126 fulltime employees.
Health maintenance organizations,
simply put, contract with doctors and
hospitals to provide health care under
cost guidelines. Among the benefits of
an HMO compared with conventional
insurance are that there are no de
ductibles, preventive care is encour
aged by low per-visit costs for doctor
visits and checkups, and coverage of
a wide range of special services in
cluding home health care and outpa
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press conference. “This has been a
goal of mine since I served on toe
original CDBG Advisory Committee
in 1981.”
The commissioners have options to
purchase two possible sites for the
new health department building (see
separate story).
“These options give the county the
right to buy either site, but do not
obligate any funds if possibilities of a
better site become available,” Glover
tient testing.
Among toe possible disadvantages
that the employees’ advisory board is
looking closely at is the requirement
that persons covered by an HMO
must use physicians who have been
authorized by the HMO.
Health First, the HMO toe county
employees are considering, has three
local physicians authorized cur
rently.
The Employees’ Advisory Board
has sent a survey to each employee to
get a list of all the physicians used.
“We are not in any hurry. We want
to be sure that toe HMO plan is the
best thing for the employees before
we make any kind of a recommenda
tion,” said Joyce Pendley, chairwo
man of the advisory board.
Ms. Pendley added that the board
doesn’t want toe county employees to
have to change doctors if a new
health care plan is adopted.
If the advisory board decides to
recommend that the board of com
missioners move the county’s health
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Pageant winners (from left) Jennifer Floyd, Bradley Burgess and Stephanie Pruitt
construction
said.
The new health department build
ing will allow for a projected popula
tion growth of 34 percent per decade
in Forsyth County over toe next 20
years.
And, it’s expected that many serv
ices unavailable to residents through
public health will be available when
the building is constructed, since the
only constraint has been a lack of
space.
care coverage to Health First, all
doctors on toe survey will be con
tacted and asked to apply for authori
zation, according to Jim Weatoerby,
insurance agent for the county.
“Health First is by no means a
private club. We have no objection to
having any and all physicians, provd
ing they have good credentials and
are willing to provide quality care,”
Weatoerby said.
The accreditation process takes
about a month, according to Karen
Beard, Health First provider rela
tions manager.
The cost to the county for employ
ees’ coverage and additional costs for
families on the plan offered by Health
First is about the same as Forsyth
County is paying currently for con
ventional health insurance.
Under the Health First plan, For
syth government employees would
pay $5 per visit for checkups, pediat
ric care, minor surgery in their doc
tor’s office, family planning,
Continued on Page 14A
26PAGES 35 CENTS
“We have been in dire need of a
new health department in Forsyth
County many years,” Barnett said.
“The existing department is more
than 30 years old and was designed to
accommodate a population of only
eight- to 10-thousand persons.”
As of Dec. 31,1983, the population of
Forsyth County was 32,300, according
to Sales and Marketing Management
magazine.
Continued on Page 14A
Deadline is
nearing on
past due tax
Less than a week remains for prop
erty owners who owe taxes for 1983 to
settle their tax bills and avoid having
their names published in the Oct. 10
edition of toe Forsyth County News.
Friday, Oct. 5, at 5 p.m. the tax
office will close its doors and update
the final list of 1983 delinquent tax
payers and amounts to be published
in toe following Wednesday’s News.
Tax Commissioner Bobby Gene
Gilbert said his office last week col
lected $39,689.75 in taxes owed for
1983. Gilbert said he also collected
$22,194.36 in delinquent taxes for
years prior 1983. A total of $15,993.88
was collected in interest, penalties,
and collection costs.
“We still have a lot of bills we are
working on and I hope we get a good
many more this week," Gilbert said,
adding that he was afraid the major
ity of bills collected this week will
come in Friday.
“I think a lot of these people are
going to wait until the last minute,”
he said.
“All told, we are bringing in more
than SIO,OOO a day, and 1 hope this
week we get a lot more than that,”
Gilbert said.
The Oct. 10 issue of the News will
list toe names of persons with over
due bills from 1983; Oct 17 will pub
lish those who owe for 1982; Oct 24
will list names for 1981; Oct. 31 will
list 1980 and 1979; and Nov. 7 will list
those who owe back taxes for 1978,
1977, and 1976.
The deadlines for each year are the
Friday before publication.
The Forsyth County Board of Com
missioners voted unanimously to pub
lish the names of delinquent
taxpayers, in an effort to bring in well
over $1 million in back taxes.
Weather
A slow wanning trend is beginning
in Forsyth County and will continue
through the week, but no rain is in
sight.
Wednesday will be sunny and cool
with a high in toe low 70s. Winds will
be from toe west at 5 to 10 mph.
The extended outlook through Sat
urday calls for partly cloudy skies.
The lows Thursday and Friday will be
in the upper 40s warming into the low
50s Saturday. Highs will be in the mid
70s.