Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth CountvNews
/—NUMBER 69
mni given approval to buy hospital
By Johnny Solesbee
Managing Editor
Omni Health Services, Inc., a
hospital acquisition and management
firm in Atlanta, has been given ap
proval to purchase the Forsyth
County Hospital.
The State Health Planning Agency
(SHPA) last week issued a Certifi
cate of Need to Omni authorizing the
purchase of the local facility.
Omni President Larry Pearson
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Rubin Smith is heading Georgia Baptists’ largest extension class
Religious courses get
strong local support
By Chuck Thompson
N««i Editor
The past few years have been less
than optimistic for America’s
churches.
Attendance has been down, apa
thy appears on the increase and
while churches sleep, moral condi
tions around them appear to be
crumbling.
But, events like those at Concord
Baptist Church in the last few
weeks leave a ray of hope at the end
of a long dark tunnel.
John Lummus, Concord’s pastor,
says the church decided to partici
Letter campaign planned
to oppose rock quarry
Residents opposing a possible rock
quarry near the Forsyth-Cherokee
County line held their second organi
zational meeting Saturday night.
Their goal is to stop Vulcan Materi
als from developing a rock quarry on
88 acres in Cherokee County on Lower
Creighton Road.
The possible quarry has drawn the
opposition of residents from both
Cherokee and Forsyth counties.
And, there has been fear that haul
ing trucks would use Franklin Gold
Mine Road, in Forsyth County, as
access to the quarry.
Larry Roberts, who has been
largely responsible for organizing
residents opposing the quarry, says
some 25 people showed up for Satur
day night’s meeting, held at the
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said Monday he expects the closing to
be held sometime in November, fol
lowing a 30-day wait for appeals.
Pearson said immediately follow
ing die closing, Omni plans to file for
a Certificate of Need to replace the
current facility or for expansion of
the current facility. In either case,
Pearson expects Omni will ask for 60
beds, which, if approved, would al
most double the size of the current 36-
bed facility.
“We’re pleased with the state’s
pate in an education extension
course sponsored by the Georgia
Baptist Convention.
The course subject was the book
of Romans, and Lummus was sure
enough people would sign up to
meet the minimum requirement of
15 students.
Chi the first night, however, 80
people showed up, and as of Thurs
day, 102 students had been enrolled.
That's the largest number of peo
ple ever to sign up for a Georgia
Baptist extension course, and
what’s interesting is that the con
vention has been offering the
courses for 35 years.
Sportsman’s Grill in Lathemtown.
Roberts says signs opposing the
quarry were presented at the meet
ing, and that a phone and letter
campaign was discussed.
The letters and phone calls will
attempt to get more residents in
volved in efforts to stop the possible
quarry.
The 14-by-24 inch signs will be dis
tributed throughout the community
and, according to Roberts, will serve
as “visible evidence” of the resi
dents’ opposition.
In order to operate a quarry on the
88-acre tract, Vulcan Materials will
need a variance from the Cherokee
County Appeals Board, and Roberts
is hoping that county’s laws can be
used to prevent approval of the vari
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1984—CUMMING, GA. 30130—32 PAGES
decision (to allow Omni to purchase
the facility) and feel it is the right
decision,” Pearson said. “We’re re
ady to get it closed.”
“We’ve been waiting a long time,”
Hospital Administrator Craig Heth
cox said’ "We thought we knew what
the results would be and they (SHPA)
have affirmed what we had thought
all along and what we’ve been telling
the people of Forsyth County.”
“It’s time to start moving forward,
Lummus sums up his-feelings in
three words: “Thank the Lord.”
“I’ve never seen anything like
this in the Hightower Association,”
he says.
The course enrollment, he be
lieves, is evidence of the great spiri
tual hunger among God’s people
today.
And, based on what he's seeing,
Lummus believes the pendulum is
swinging back toward increased
enthusiasm among Christians.
He says membership in his
church is increasing and that he’s
Continued on Page 6A
ance.
He says Cherokee County laws pre
vent authorizing a variance if it
would (1) impair and unreasonably
increase the congestion in public
streets; (2) imperil public safety; (3)
unreasonably diminish or impair esti
mated property values; or (4) in any
other respect impair the health
safety, comfort, morals or general
welfare of Cherokee County resi
dents.
“I feel if it (the law) is enforced,”
Roberts says’ “it would prohibit put
ting a rock quarry next to property
zoned residential.”
Right now, he adds, residents are
simply waiting for the day when
Vulcan Materials files an application
for a variance.
to get on with our plans,” Hethcox
said.
The wait by Omni officials to gain
approval for purchase of the facility
hasn’t been nearly as long as it has
for members of the hospital author
ity, a group of community represen
tatives which governs the operation
of the facility.
The hospital authority initiated pro
cedures to sell the facility approxi
mately three years ago.
In a public hearing on the authori
Shady Shores residents
push for road maintenance
Members of the Shady Shores Prop
erty Owners Association were back
before the county commissioners
Monday evening, asking the county
take some action on maintaining
roads in their subdivision or cut takes
for the residents who live there
Tom Knox, an attorney and resi
dent in the subdivision, read a pre
pared statement from the association
that in effect said there wasn’t a
question as to whether the roads were
designated county maintained roads
or not, but what action would be taken
to make proper repairs. ,
Commissioners voiced concern and
said a plan had been “discussed” that
would address situations like this, not
just in Shady Shores Subdivision, but
in -similiar situations around the
county.
Commission chairman Donald
Glover told the group, however, that
the county was under a court order
that said they couldn’t go on private
property and that the county couldn’t
Former coal miner finds
new life singing gospel
By CHUCK THOMPSON
N«w* Editor
You’ve probably heard the story
about a coal miner’s daughter who
became a famous country singer, but
what about the coal miner who now
sings gospel music?
Mike Adkins was working as a coal
miner in Illinois when he accepted
Christ and found a new meaning in
life.
He became a gospel singer and now
appears each Tuesday on television’s
FTL Club. The acronym stands for
“Praise the Lord.”
Adkins, who grew up in a family of
nine children, was interviewed Fri
day at WWEV Radio in Cumming.
An “evangelist at heart,” Adkins
says music is just a tool for getting
his message across to the public.
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FFA Fowl Fryers
Hoad chef John Joiner (Iwft), • vocational agriculture teacher at Forsyth County High, supervises Forsyth senior Tim Johnson
(center) and industrial arts teacher Al Money as they turn a grate of chicken halves at the high school Saturday. In a Joint effort
of the Industrial Arts and Future Farmers of America clubs, the group char-broiled more than 550 chicken halves over a half-ton
of charcoal to raise money for the two clubs' activities. The chicken meals were served at the school cafeteria Saturday
evening. (Photo by Doug Allinger)
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ty’s plans to sell the facility last
February, Authority Chairman
Johnny Stone said, “The aim of the
hospital authority is to ensure that
the citizens of Forsyth County have a
good hospital within the county where
our citizens can receive medical care
with confidence. The authority is not
primarily concerned with who owns
the hospital the authority or a
private company. Nearly as impor
tant as this concern is that the future
security of the hospital employees be
accept substandard roads for mainte
nance. “We are caught between you
as deserving taxpayers and a devel
oper,” he said.
Glover said some four years ago he
found that it would take more than $5-
million to bring such roads into the
county and that today the figure
would be closer to $lO-million.
Ben Abernathy, chairman of the
group present, said residents were
only asking that the county do some
thing to see roads are maintained
through possible budgeting of funds
for next year and the year after.
In the prepared statement, Knox
read, “Now, we have no desire to sue
the county in which we live, and
would prefer money be spent on roads
rather than legal expenses on both
sides.” He said if the commissioners,
“decide not to recognize our roads,
we ask “That they prove they never
received any money from the State of
Georgia and or Federal Government
for the mileage covered by the roads
His popularity has grown not only
in America, but throughout the world.
And, he’s received letters from 40
foreign countries.
One of Adkins’ most meaningful
songs is “Norman,” about an outcast
who was considered the “joke” of his
home town.
Adkins purchased a home across
the street from Norman Corbin, a
very nervous individual who seemed
to shy away from other people.
Corbin had lost his father in a coal
mine accident when he was a small
boy and his mother had withdrawn
him from society.
But, while others made fun of him,
Adkins tried to befriend him and
eventually led him to Christ.
Afterwards, the PTL Club asked
Adkins to bring Corbin from his home
town of West Frankfurt, 111. to appear
35 CENTS
safeguarded.”
During the hearing, Stone said the
operation of a hospital in the past
several years has become a compli
cated business with specialization
needed that cannot be provided by the
authority.
He said the opening of the North
Fulton Medical Center, an American
Medical International facility in Ros
well, in 1983 poses a threat to “the
Continued on Page 6A
in our subdivision, and that they send
a recommendation to the Tax Asses
sors of Forsyth County for an across
the board tax cut for all lots in Shady
Shores Subdivision since we pay the
same millage rate as if we were on
county roads.”
Glover asked that representatives
of the group prepare or submit a map
as to what the community’s priorities
are and that it would be taken up
again. Glover said he wanted to get
an idea on what costs were involved.
In other action during the lengthy
meeting, Julia Moseley, of Wilson
Clinic, told the board of an obstrectri
cal care proposal of North Fulton
Medical Center. She said she didn’t
have a written report for the board,
but that she had seen a figure of a
proposal of $150,000 to $200,000 from
the hospi.al to handle the county’s
indigent obstetric patients.
She mentioned several require-
Continued on Page 6A
on one of the shows.
Corbin, who was in his 70’s, had
never been out of his home town but
once, and was fascinated by the stage
lights and people in the audience.
As of Friday, he was in the hospital
suffering from an old leg injury which
continues to plague him.
Adkins says doctors have consid
ered amputating the leg, and asks
Christians to write letters of encour
agement to Corbin. The address is:
West Frankfurt, Illinois 62896.
Another interesting song written by
Adkins and played at WWEV Friday
is “Take Out the Trash,” which urges
people to remove the spiritual impu
rities in their life.
Adkins says he was inspired to
write the song after being awakened
Continued on Page 6A