Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News-Sunday, January 31,1999
Forsyth Life
Groundhogs
- and kittens,
demystified
Laura fl
Lavezzo fl
On Tuesday, Punxutawney Phil
will poke his little head out of the
ground and look for his shadow.
With the crazy, unseasonal weather
we’ve been experiencing, who
knows how the little critter will
interpret what he sees. We might as
well have ice storms-in April, if
you base your predictions on
January’s spfing-like weather.
Maybe a far more interesting ques
tion would be this: Wnat possesses
the groundhog tp come out of his
comfy burrow in the first place?
OK, that may be taking the whole
premise of Groundhog’s Day a bit
too seriously. But you’ve got to
admit, animal behavior is a curious
thing. ;
Humans are so odd, sometimes 1
think members of the other species
make perfect sense in their habits.
Nevertheless, I was never so con
fused about why animals do the
things they do until I adopted cats.
Ferdinand and Isabelle, sibling
kittens, entered our humble abode
last June. Freddy is a gorgeous,
intelligent cat with a tail like a
broom - he resembles his Maine
Coon father. His hair is so long and
fluffy, I can always tell when it’s
time to do the dusting - when he
crawls out from under the sofa cov
ered in dust bunnies, 1 feel guilty
enough to whip out the vacuum.
Izzie, on the other hand, is a tiny
little thing who takes after her mom
in looks. 1 don’t know who she
takes after in behavior. I’m still not
convinced that her brain consists of
more than a styrofoam peanut. I
have tried to explain to Freddy that
he is my cat and Izzie is his cat. I
expect him to teach her to be
good, but so far, she’s a terror.
Don’t let the sweet, innocent face
fool you.
I fill her water dish with clean
water, and she instantly knocks it
over. When we give the cats treats,
shie inhales hers and in the same
millisecond, dives under Freddy’s
nose and devours his. She attacks
my ankles when I’m napping. She
hides my favorite pens and other
important trinkets in her “secret
corner” beneath the dining room
furniture. She up onto the
kitchen counter and gets into the
people food. If she hears
approaching footsteps,- she scurries
away with fear and guilt. Overall,
she’s just plain weird.
And brilliant as he is, Freddy has
his moments of weirdness, too.
Very often, he’ll appear to be star
ing at me, but when 1 make eye
contact with him, 1 have this eerie
sensation that he’s really looking
through me. Do you ever get the
sense that animals can see things
you can’t? It’s truly disconcerting.
One night, 1 was sure my home
was being struck by some kind of
natural disaster. Thunderous thuds
followed by extremely loud crack
les woke me from a deep, peaceful
slumber. I got out of bed, groggy
and squinty-eyed, and wandered
into the other room to put an end
to the disturbance before the
neighbors called for law enforce
ment. I discovered Izzie with a 2-
inch by 4-inch piece of plastic -a
cellophane wrapper dangled from
the mouth on her clueless face.
She must have stolen it from a
Christmas gift and hidden in her
secret corner. She continued to
chew the plastic in defiance, which
sent Freddy into a wild frenzy. Os
course he had to attack her. The
chase continued up onto the
kitchen counter, over the fridge,
thumpety-thump across the washer
and dryer. Hence the earthquake
noises. Not having enough energy
to join the chase, I threw my arms
up and went back to bed.
I always forgive Izzie for her
strange antics, but her behavior
does make me realize how difficult
motherhood must be. What ever
shall I do when one child learns to
play well with others, while the
other runs with scissors?
Forsyth Central remembers D.B. Carroll
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Above, a crowd of family, friends and high school athletes gathered for a yearbook photographer following the 1959 girls’ MMHEIUI I
basketball state championship win. Do any of these faces look familiar? See page 2B for some IDs which may surprise
you. Right. D.B. Carroll in the FCHS gym in 1966. At the time, that gym was brand new. |flHHfl|| ?
Tuesday’s gym dedication to memorialize coach
By Laura Lavezzo
Lifestyle Editor
This Tuesday, Forsyth Central
High School will pay homage to
one of Georgia’s finest high school
coaches.
D.B. Carroll, “the winningest
coach in Georgia history,” will be
remembered when his family,
friends and former students gather
during half-time at the boys’ bas
ketball game against Pickens
County. At that time, the new high
school gym will be named for
Carroll.
Carroll, who won five state cham
pionships during his coaching
career, was at Forsyth County High
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Photo/submitted
Jane Carroll Houston, the coach’s daughter, looks to score during the 1958 state finals in girls’
basketball.
School when the 1959 girls’ bas
ketball team won the state title in
Macon.
“Everybody went to Macon,” said
Paula Gault, assistant to the super
intendent and mid-60s FCHS grad
uate. “My parents would take us. It
was the thing to do.”
During his career, said Carroll’s
daughter, Jane Carroll Houston,
the popular coach had 1,254 victo
ries. Ptior to his return to Forsyth
County in 1956 (he had also
coached in Cumming in 1935-36),
Carroll coached for several years
in Pickens County, where he
served as the high school principal.
Houston said Carroll might have
won other championships, if not
for the interruption of WWII earli
er in his career.
“War-time gas rations meant they
couldn’t travel as much,” Houston
said. So the team was not able to
attend as many away games. But
Carroll’s work ethic and sense of
purpose would not have let him
get discouraged, said his son, Sam.
“At age 12, his father became ill,
so he and his brother had to man
age the farm in Grayson,” Sam
said. “He had a great personality.
He knew how to plan ahead.”
A math teacher retired from
Cobb County Schools, Sam now
teaches part-time at both Reinhardt
and Floyd County
Junior College.
“We are a family of
teachers,” Sam said. His
mother, Mae, was a
teacher for 37 years in
Forsyth County. His
father attended North
Georgia College -
where he met Mae
while coaching the
women’s basketball
team. He also complet
ed hiS master’s degree
in history, and taught
social studies at FCHS
when he wasn’t coaching
“He had a natural aptitude for
coaching,” said Houston, also a
former teacher and currently assis
tant principal at W.R. Code Middle
School in Athens-Clarke County.
“He was a strong leader, and he
really cared for young people. He
took kids home and picked them
up if needed. He was very dedicat
ed and he worked year-round
recruiting and building his team.”
The list of recognizable names of
those who played witl) Carroll on
either the boys’ or
girls’ basketball
teams and the pony
league baseball he
began in the county,
is quite long. Lots of
folks who still live
and work in
Cumming were all
part of the electricity
stirred up by the celebrated Carroll
during their high school years.
Pam Tallant, now employed by
Forsyth County Schools, was one
ofthem.
“He was like your father or your
grandfather,” Tallant said. “You
knew he loved you. He was one of
those stem people, but he loved
you at the same time. He taught us
that you can’t give up and you
have to believe in yourself. I would
fall a lot, and he would say ‘Can’t
you stay on your feet?’. The mad
der 1 got at him, the better 1 played,
I think.”
"Dancin'with the
One I Love"
PAGE2B
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Edith Tate Holbrook, who played
on the FCHS girls’ basketball team
in the mid-50s, didn’t have the
chance to play with Carroll, but
her team played against him.
“Every time we played D.B.
Carroll’s team, we lost,” she said.
Norma Vaughan, owner of Kids’
Depot, also played for Carroll.
“He was a fundamental coach.
Every day we had to get 10 free
throws in a row before we could
leave practice,” the former point
guard said. “When you went into
He was a strong
leader, and he
really cared for
young people.
99
the year Carroll died, in 1966. The
team attributes its subsequent loss
of the state championship to his
absence.
“He was really something,”
Vaughan said. “I was scared to
death of him, but I loved him.”
The dedication ceremony to
honor D.B. Carroll will be held on
Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 6 p.m. in the
new gym at Forsyth Central High
School. Former faculty and alumni
from Forsyth County High School
are especially invited to attend the
event. For more information, call
(770)887-8151.
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the game,
you knew
what was
expected
of you.”
Tailant and
Vaughan
were both
on the
girls’ team