Newspaper Page Text
lIOSPIT ./%.M_JContinued from page 1
County gets paid for its indigent care,
but Forsyth County doesn’t give us
one dollar for indigent care here.”
Northeast Georgia has funds to care
for needy people who meet criteria for
indigency certification. Lakeside
must absorb those costs.
“It’s a social problem and it just
gets greater with more and more peo
ple moving into the county looking for
work,” said Hitt.
New policies at Lakeside may in
clude requiring a larger downpay
ment, or prepayment like at North
east Georgia, said Hitt.
The Gainesville hospital has had
problems collecting on insured pa
tients as well. Bowers said that a
large number of patients with 80 per
cent insurance coverage feel no re
sponsibility to pay the 20 percent bal
ance. Now, patients with bad credit
will be required to pay that percent
NORTONcontinued from page 1
back after a steady stream of prose
cution witnesses testified they had
lied in written statements given dur
ing the six-month investigation. The
statements had described having
heard Norton brag of hitting or killing
a black man in Cumming. The major
ity of witnesses who had earlier given
THE GIFT THAT
YEAR
■»
TO THE
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS
mmmm 887-3126
lALL 523-7303
age before being discharged.
“A number of hospitals have closed
because of bad debt,” said Bowers.
Hitt is also aware of the hospital’s
financial responsibility. “We have to
insure that the hospital is financially
viable,” he said. “It’s not fair to have
some pay their bills and others get
away with not paying.”
“We want to be as lenient as we can,
but keep our eye on the bottom line,”
he said.
Pre-admission payment policies
vary at other hospitals. R.T. Jones
Memorial Hospital in Canton requests
a S3OO downpayment for non-insured
patients wanting elective surgery.
However, patients are not turned
away if they cannot pay the S3OO.
At North Fulton Hospital, patients
are given pre-admissions financial
counseling to determine insurance
and estimated costs. Non-insured pa-
statements against Norton said dur
ing testimony that they had given
false statements out of anger at the
defendant.
One witness who stood by his state
ment, Dean Hollingsworth of Toccoa,
testified he had heard Norton say he
had hit a black man in the head with a
i
Steve Hitt
tients are asked to pay a downpay
ment, an amount which varies ac
cording to the type of procedure.
brick. Hollingsworth also said Norton
had threatened him by saying “he’d
do me like he did that black guy in
Cumming.”
The district attorney said after the
trial that at least one witness had indi
cated before taking the stand that fear
of reprisal was the motivation for re
Unlawful assembly trial this week
for Hosea Williams and 4 others
The Rev. Hosea Williams and four
others charged with unlawful assem
bly for protests during the racial dis
turbances last January are scheduled
to go to trial in State Court here
Tuesday.
Pretrial motions in the cases were
being heard at press time Friday, but
State Court Solicitor Terry Stringer
said he did not anticipate any develop
ments that would preclude the trial
from beginning on schedule.
Williams and six others, including
his daughter Elizabeth Williams Omi
lami, his son Torrey Kenydita Smith,
William Henry Hollis, Jr., Eric Dale
Terrell, Forrest Sawyer, Larry Platt,
and the Rev. C.T. Vivian were arrest
ed while picketing a local broadcast of
the Oprah Winfrey show on Feb. 9.
The group was among approxi-
tracting her statement, but Mills
would not allow her to testify about
her fear.
That witness, Billie Sue Cuerbow,
and her husband Hugh Cuerbow, had
to be picked up and brought to court
by sheriff’s deputies when they failed
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1987-
mately 20 protesters who came to
demonstrate against the show, claim
ing blacks were intentionally exclud
ed from being allowed to speak during
the broadcast. Winfrey said she want
ed to reserve the show for Forsyth
County residents only.
During court proceedings Friday,
two of the defendants, Forrest Sawyer
and Larry Platt, pleaded guilty to a
lesser charge of pedestrian in the
roadway in exchange for a suspended
sentence. The provisions of that sus
pended sentence forbid the two men
from participating in any demonos
trations in the county for one year.
Vivian last month plea-bargained
his orginal felony charge of obstruct
ing an officer down to a misdemeanor
obstruction charge, accepting a fine
and 200 hours of community service in
to show up voluntarily. Both were
charged with contempt of court and
had to pay a total fine of S3OO.
During his own testimony, Norton
denied having thrown the object that
hit Edwards and contended that his
remarks about the incident had been
exchange for his guilty plea to the
lesser charge.
The cases of Omilami, Smith, Hollis
and Terrell had been sent up to be
tried in federal court in August after
the defendants complained that they
could not get a fair trial in all white
Forsyth County. But U.S. District
Court Judge William C. O’Kelley, pre
siding over federal court in Gaines
ville, last month reversed his original
decision and sent the four cases back
to be tried in State Court.
O’Kelley changed his mind after
Stringer filed a request for reconsid
eration based on new case law. In the
new order, issued Nov. 13, O’Kelley
ruled that the charges against the de
fendants are not covered by a civil
rights statute that would bring the
cases into federal jurisdiction.
that “somebody had tried to kill a nig
ger” not that he had done so.
Banks expressed disappointment in
the jury’s non-decision in the case, but
said he remains confident he can win
the case with a new trial. “I wouldn’t
try it if I didn’t think I had a chance at
winning,” he said.
TATE HOUSE
RESTAURANT
& RESORT
NOW OPEN
TUESDAYS
FOR LUNCH
& DINNER
THRU THE
HOLIDAY SEASON.
Please come try our new
menus and weekly dinner
specials.
HOURS:
Lunch 11:00 A.M.-3:00 P.M.
T uesday-Sunday
Dinner 6:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M.
T uesday-Saturday
UPCOMING
EVENTS
12/31 New Year s Eve Party
We are now taking reservations
for Christmas parties. Bring your
office staff, school staff or church
groups to the Pink Marble Man
sion. exquisitely decorated for the
Christmas season.
Highway 53
Tate, Georgia
1 -800-342-7 515
□ SPORTS
0 SPORTS
0 SPORTS
0 SPORTS
0 SPORTS
JUST
A FEW
OF THE
REASONS
TO CHOOSE
THE
FORSYTH
COUNTY NEWS
11A