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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- ' MF ~ " * T— ■- O' # wk J I 4WM <■.... .4»M Mi 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 MIKL 1 v I ■ U Jif jf' 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