Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News-Sunday, April 29,2001
Forsyth Life
If l
E®
One person
sets worthy
example
She’s making us all proud.
To tell you the truth, when it
was announced she would become
my editor, I wasn’t sure what to
think. Though we had worked in
the same fray for a couple of
months, my erratic schedule had
kept us from spending much qual
ity time together. *
All I knew was that Mary
Pitman had been a nurse for oh so
many years and was wrenching
herself away from real money to
pursue a long-treasured dream of
becoming a journalist.
Reminded me of my own exo
dus from a lucrative career in mar
keting and sales a few years back.
Despite what I knew would be a
severe plunge in income, 1 just
had to do what I had to do.
Still, she couldn’t possibly
know what she was getting herself
into, I reasoned. I mistook her
matter-of-fact personality for
aloofness and so was prepared to
be subjected to all sorts of tyranny
as she assumed her new position ,
of power.
Boy, was I waaay off course.
Mary is quite likely the
world’s greatest sweetheart and
one terrific editor.
I’ve gotta tell ya, newspaper
writers aren’t accustomed to com
pliments or pats on the back.
There are too many deadlines and
fires to put out for those who
could to slow down and notice a
sentence well crafted or job well
done.
If they do notice, as a rater *
thejjgßre don’t bother to say so.
®neone forgot to give Mary
thatpjemo.
Since she assumed the reins of
my particular department, I have
grown three inches just from her
compliments, alone. Ever quick
with encouragement and applause,
she has added yet another reason
why writing is satisfying.
Tis a rare gift.
Turns out she has another. In
addition to being a workhorse
with a terrific work ethic, she con
tinues to work the recovery room
shift at Northside Hospital in
Atlanta on weekends and has
caught the eye of a prestigious
school for journalists, the Poynter
Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.
dedicated to training and
inspiring those educators and
media leaders who would practice
and teach journalism, the Poynter
Institute has boasted a track
record of academic excellence and
editorial independence for more
than a quarter of a century.
A recent cum laude graduate
of the Georgia State School of
Journalism, Mary is a wife and the
mother of a grown son and unde
terred by her delayed pursuit of
her dream.
Indeed, she recently beat hun
dreds of other, more youthful
applicants in their quest to get one
of the much-coveted summer slots
in the esteemed school.
When she got the news, her
face shone with delight and she
nearly danced with enthusiasm.
She has achieved a great honor
and we are all thrilled.
And, so, in a few more weeks,
Mary will take her place alongside
some of the nation’s most accom
plished collegiate journalism
graduates to learn and grow as a
writer and achieve further excel
lence in this, our passion and cho
sen trade.
When she returns at summer’s
end, we will greet a seasoned vet
eran of condensed and intensive
training and benefit, I know, from
her newfound experience. While
she is gone, her absence will be
sorely felt.
Color me oh so green.
And doubly proud.
Cheryl Rhodes’ column is pub
lished every Thursday and
Sunday.
Free anxiety screening offered
Don’t let anxiety and panic attacks ruin your life. Take advan
tage of the free anxiety screenings offered Wednesday, May
2, in observance of National Anxiety Screening Day.
Welcome! Come inside
Families will
open homes
for charity
By Mary Pitman
Lifestyles Editor
Most of us will never have
million-dollar homes with mil
lion-dollar views. But for sls you
can tour lakeside homes, fantasize
what it’s like to be rich if not
famous and benefit your com
munity.
The annual Tour of Homes
will be May 11 and will benefit
-The Place. Homes on the tour
‘. include the Craig Richards and
Kimberly Torres home in Breeze
Bay, the Mel and Gail Smith
home and the amazing “Castle de
Bagwell,” home of Tommy and
Chantal Bagwell.
As a bonus, you can purchase
brunch buffet tickets for Mother’s
Day that includes Saturday’s Tour
of Homes. Dinner tickets are still
available for Friday night and a
few luncheon tickets for Saturday
remain. They include a sit-down
meal, the tour and a cruise on the
Bagwells’ boat, the Amistad.
All meals will be served lake
side under a tent on the Bagwell
property with their magnificent
mansion as the backdrop. Music
will fill the air as Atlanta Catering
Concepts prepares meals that will
tantalize the taste buds.
But the stars of the event are
the homes.
The Torres-Richards home is
surrounded by beveled-glass win-
See HOMES, Page 2B
‘The Trail’ has its beginnings in Georgia
By Bill Vanderford
For the Forsyth County News
Long before I was old enough
to appreciate the Appalachian
National Scenic Trail, my dad and
I had crossed this national treasure
many times while searching for
troyt in the North Georgia
Mountains.
Though quite rugged in many
places, “The Trail” is always a
thing of beauty during the spring
of each year here in the Peach
State.
For those hardy souls who
attempt the more than 2,100-mile
journey along the crest of the
Appalachian Mountains, they nor
mally begin at Springer Mountain
near Jasper, Georgia.
From that point, their sojourn
will take them through 14 eastern
states before ending at Katahdin
in Maine.
Georgia’s part of the Appal
achian Trail winds some eighty
miles along ridge tops and
through rather primitive areas of
the Chattahoochee National For-
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The annual Tour of Homes
will be May 11 and will benefit
The Place. Homes on the
tour include the Craig
Richards and Kimberly Torres
home in Breeze Bay, the Mel
and Gail Smith home and the
amazing “Castle de Bagwell,”
home of Tommy and Chantal
Bagwell. Shown here are the
living and dining areas of the
Smith’s home on Lake Lanier.
Photos/ Mary Pitman
est. The average altitude is around
3,000 feet, but the trail reaches
above 4,400 feet in places. The
climb and descent can often be
steep, and each section of this trail
offers a variety of challenges to
hikers. Nevertheless, one is con
stantly rewarded by breathtaking
vistas from high rocky outcrops or
open summits.
The Appalachian Trail was
built and is maintained by volun
teers from each of those 14 states
for the enjoyment of everyone. It
is well-marked throughout its
length with rectangular white
blazes.
Side trails or trails to water
have blue blazes, and turns in the
trail are marked with double
blazes as a caution to hikers.
( Signs are placed at road crossings,
shelters or other important inter
sections.
Georgia’s part of the trail has
eleven shelters, and all but one are
three-sided with open-fronts. Each
has a floor, and spring water is
readily available. The one excep
tion is a stone, two-room structure
By Mary Pitman
Lifestyles Editor
It’s irrational but it can’t be
helped. The rapid heart rate, the
sweating, the dry mouth, the feel
ing of faintness all the compo
nents of anxiety can hold people
hostage to their fears. Over a peri
od of time, depression enters the
picture. Long-term, anxiety and
depression lead to physical illness.
On Wednesday, May 2, from 9
a.m. to 5 p.m., there will be a free
screening of anxiety and depres
sive disorders at Atlanta Behavior
Therapy Clinic, Roswell Profes
sional Park, 11205 Alpharetta
Hwy., Suite 1-4, in Roswell.
“The Mini International Neur
opsychiatric Interview will ex
plore six different disorders,” said
Robb Kurth, executive director of
1 A fc.t i
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at the top of Blood Mountain. It
has four sides, a fireplace, win
dows, a sleeping platform, but no
water close by.
The Appalachian Trail in
Georgia can be reached from six
major highways, which the trail
crosses at their highest point. An
8.5-mile approach trail is located
on Hwy. 52 at Amicalola Falls
State Park, which is 15 miles
northwest of Dawsonville. The
trail crosses Woody Gap on Hwy.
60 ,15 miles north of Dahlonega,
but just 22 miles north of
Dahlonega on Hwy. 129/19, is the
most interesting spot to join the
trail. Neels Gap is below the sum
mit of Blood Mountain, and has
one of the most complete hiking
and backpacking stores in the
eastern United States. It also fea
tures books on every aspect of the
Appalachian Mountains, or “The
Trail,” and offers a wide array of
souvenirs.
Other places to intercept the
Appalachian Trail in Georgia are
at Tesnatee Gap and Hog Pen Gap
on Hwy. 348 Richard Russell
the clinic. “It will evaluate panic,
social phobia, post-traumatic
stress, obsessive-compulsive, gen
eral anxiety and major depressive
disorders.”
The screening will include a
video, questionnaire and a confi
dential interview with a mental
health professional. Referrals will
be made as necessary.
“We all have stress,” said
Kurth. “It’s what keeps us alive.
You wake up and you have to
decide what to make your children
for breakfast, what to wear, which
route to take to work. It’s all a
form of stress. This is the good
stress.
“Distress, however, is not good
stress. It can stem from death in
the family, divorce, financial prob
lems —a lot of people lead lives
in distress.”
Photo/Bill Vanderford
Though quite rugged in many places, the Appalachian Trail is
always a thing of beauty during the spring of each year here in
the Peach State.
Scenic Highway l2 miles
northwest of Helen, Unicoi Gap
on Hwy. 75, 10 miles north of
Helen, or Dicks Creek Gap on
Hwy. 76, 18 miles west of
Clayton. Short day trips from any
of these convenient crossings of
the trail can be very invigorating
and educational. The real beauty
Celebrated
occasions
RAGE4B M
According to Kurth,
panic/anxiety is not something
we’re born with. It is a learned
behavior, usually from the parents
or someone they admired.
“Take, for example, my own
fear of heights,” Kurth offered. “If
I look over the edge, I’m sure I’m
going to be sucked over, that
something is going to make me
fall. This came from my mother.
Every time I got near the edge of
something, she’d yell out, ‘Look
Out! Look out! Look out! You’re
going to fall.’ It was almost like a
post-hypnotic suggestion done
consciously. And then 1 saw a
friend fall out of the tree and he
broke his arm.”
Through a process called
desensitization, the person is guid-
See ANXIETY, Page2B
Format change
has listeners
‘shopping’ for
a new station
By Cheryl Rhodes
Features Writer
The wailin’ is rising and
they don’t mean Waylon.
Since local radio station
WMLB/AM 1170 was pur
chased by Atlanta radio entre
preneur Billy Corey and its
format changed a few weeks
ago from folksy Americana to
what former fans call “another
worn out oldies station,” the
guest book page on the sta
tion’s Web site has been
buzzing.
“I was so excited to discov
er WMLB’s Americana format
when I moved to Georgia from
Los Angeles three and a half
years ago,” says Laura Tyler
See WMLB, Page 2B
O'-WI
Photo/Tom Brooks
Loyal listeners are turning
a deaf ear to the new for
mat at WMLB in Cumming.
One of the most missed
features is the “Swap
Shop.”
of the Appalachian National
Scenic Trail, however, is the con
stantly changing, but magnificent,
bounty of nature that is revealed
to those who take the time to tra
verse this phenomenal wilderness
path. No classroom or TV show
See DM/£, Page 2B