Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8A
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Thursday, December 18,2003
I Inside Forsyth
■Mi WMB C .J Z ’ I V-W4
BRINGING GOVERNMENT CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE
Forsyth County employee and his family need your help
Greg Wallace, an employ
ee in the Forsyth County
Planning Department, and his
wife finally received some
good news last week. Their
11-year-old son Josh needs a
bone marrow transplant and
on Friday, Dec. 12, the
Wallaces learned that Josh’s
sister 13-year-old Jesi is a per
fect match.
“That’s real good news
Greg said. “That increases his
odds."
The “odds” Greg is talking
about are the odds his son will
wage a successful battle
against leukemia.
Josh was first diagnosed
with the illness in July 1999.
For three years he has had to
endure painful chemotherapy.
But then, the disease appeared
to be in remission and Josh
was allowed to stop taking the
Mailroom receives prestigious certification from Xerox
Xerox Services has
awarded its prestigious
Operational Excellence
(OpX) Site Certification to
the mailroom and copy cen
ter it operates for the Forsyth
County Government.
The OpX process assesses
various Xerox sites against
rigorous criteria and estab
lishes the groundwork for
continuous improvement of
Keep Forsyth County Beautiful
members received a National
Award from Keep America
Beautiful on Wednesday, Dec.
3, in Washington, D.C. Pictured
from left, Rhonda O’Connor,
chairperson elect of KFCB,
Jennifer Szabo, executive direc
tor of KFCB, John Bridgeland,
special assistant to President
Bush and director of the USA
Freedom Corp., Ray Empson,
president of Keep America
Beautiful, and Pat Plant, chair
person of KFCB.
Photo/Submitted
Adelphia to resume broadcasting BOC meetings
Adelphia Cable Television
will resume broadcasting the
Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners meetings
starting Thursday. Dec. 18. at
9 p.m. on Channel 4.
"This is a tremendous serv
ice that Adelphia will provide
for the citizens of Forsyth
County," Public Information
Officer Bill Johnson said
Monday. "Gen. Manager Bill
Smith and his staff are to be
CH2M Hill employees donate bikes, helmets
Forsyth County children
will be getting an unexpected
Christmas gift this year,
thanks to the kindness and
generosity of the employees
of CH2M Hill, a global engi
neering consulting firm that
has contracted with Forsyth
County on a number of proj-
A weekly feature page of the Forsyth County News with material provided by the Forsyth County public information office.
treatment.
Sadly, on Nov. 24, Josh
suffered a relapse and had to
begin taking the treatment all
over again.
After a brief stay in the
hospital, the youngster
returned home last week.
How long he stays home
depends on how well he
responds to the treatment that
makes him very ill.
Josh will have the trans
plant in March.
Meanwhile, the Wallaces
are trying to stay positive.
Plans to celebrate the
Christmas holiday are moving
forward.
The Wallace home is now
ready for Christmas. Greg’s
brothers, Todd and Jason, put
the tree up after Josh suffered
his relapse.
Greg and Josh had already
the value that Xerox delivers
to its clients.
“OpX is an auditing
process that helps us main
tain the highest level of serv
ice to our customers,” said
Denise Oglesby, client
account manager for Xerox.
“It’s something that every
office has to do, and it is a
very big accomplishment to
get it done.”
KFCB members receive national award
tat L. . K&ssffir IS 11
H I » -1 • ; ‘ »
wk ia, ■■■l i- • k ' i
>Mr . ' J J Is* 3 !
rai l
W ML- HB »
mmmHi ■ mww»- ". ’** ■ ~S
I
m nA AdUI
a r
commended."
Regular meetings of the
Board of Commissioners are
typically scheduled on the sec
ond and fourth Monday of
each month at 5 p.m. in the
County Administration
Building, 110 East Main St. in
Cumming.
County officials have con
tracted with a local video pro
duction company, Talking
Rock Productions, to film the
ects.
As part of their annual
Bike Drive, CH2M Hill
employees have made per
sonal contributions totaling
$75,000 since the drive start
ed in 1999 and have distrib
uted more than 1,500 brand
new bicycles and safety hel-
decorated the outside of the
Wallace home.
“We need to stay as posi
tive as we can to keep his spir
its up,” Greg Wallace said
Friday. “That goes a long way
toward helping him recover.”
But there is something else
Greg and his family would
like everyone to do for them
and that is to remember them
in their prayers.
“The thing our family
needs most is your prayers,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Greg is miss
ing time from work so he can
be with his son and the med
ical bills are starting to mount.
A fund has been estab
lished for their son at the
Main Street Bank on Hwy. 9
(Across from Andean
Chevrolet). It is the Josh
Wallace Benefit Fund.
Account associates Sheryl
Heller and Tory Quinton
processes about 3,000 pieces
of mail daily for the county’s
mailroom and copy center.
They also process water
bills each month and main
tain approximately 65 of the
county's copiers among
other responsibilities.
OpX helps Xerox assess
and improve operations at
meetings. The unedited tapes
will be delivered to Adelphia
each Tuesday for broadcast on
Thursday evenings.
"This board has worked
diligently to make county gov
ernment more open and acces
sible to the residents of
Forsyth County," Johnson
said. "Just this year, county
Officials launched an informa
tive new Web site that features
frequent news updates from
mets. Forsyth County this
year is the recipient of five
new bikes and helmets.
CH2M Hill is an employ
ee-owned company with
10,000 employees staffing 42
offices worldwide.
A spokesperson for the
company said the Bike Drive
' ' -.vAl
' I
Photo/Submitted
Josh Wallace (left) hanging out with friends Cody Pilcher (center) and Jesse Pilcher
on a trip last summer to the U.S. Army Ranger Training Camp near Dahlonega.
the client’s site.
It provides Xerox Site
Teams (Xerox employees
working at client sites) a
framework to seek and
implement ways to get the
job done more effectively for
each client.
The program was modeled
after a proven process devel
oped over a period of 20
years by the Xerox Global
many departments of govern
ment.
This board also has rein
stated public forums at all reg
ular meetings to give our citi
zens a chance to be heard. And
county officials are near an
agreement with Adelphia to
provide more government
based and community-based
television programming on
channel 4 next year, at least on
an experimental basis."
is one of the programs that
lets their employees give
back to the communities
where they live, work and
play.
In 2003, Fortune
Magazine recognized CH2M
Hill as one of the “100 Best
Companies to Work For.”
Purchasing organization to
improve the quality, cost and
delivery performance of its
suppliers.
The aim is to provide
those same benefits to our
managed services clients.
Through the OpX
process, Xerox site teams
challenge themselves to
improve performance with
higher standards, tougher
On the calendar
• Dec. 22: Water and Sewer Meeting, noon, County
Administration Building, 110 E. Main St., Cumming
• Dec. 22: Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting, 5
p.m. Commissioners Meeting Room, Administration
Building, 110E. Main St., Suite 220, Cumming.
• Dec. 24 and 25: Christmas holiday. All Forsyth County
offices will be closed on Wednesday, Dec. 24 and Thursday,
Dec. 25 for the Christmas holiday. They will reopen at their
regular time on Friday, Dec. 26.
• Dec. 30: Planning Commission meeting, 6:30 p.m.,
County Administration Building, HOE. Main St.,
Cumming.
• Jan. 1: New Year’s Day. All Forsyth County offices will
be closed. They will reopen at their regular time on Friday
Jan. 2.
• Jan. 5: BOC called meeting/work session, sp.m.
County Administration Building, HOE. Main St. Cumming.
• Jan. 12: BOC regular meeting, sp.m. County
Administration Building, 110 E. Main St. Cumming.
• Jan 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, all Forsyth County
offices will be closed. They will reopen at their regular time
on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
Ask your county government
QUESTION: The judge ordered the defendant to pay
restitution to me, but so far I haven’t received anything.
What do I do?
ANSWER: If the case was a felony please call the
Georgia Probation Department at (770) 781-2170 and
Georgia Probation Management if the case was a misde
meanor at (770) 844-6902. Ask to speak to the probation offi
cer that is assigned to the case. The probation officer should
be able to assist you.
Give us your thoughts
“Inside Forsyth a minute to let us know.
County” is a weekly look You may contact the
at your county government Office of Public
provided by the Forsyth Information:
County Office of Public By mail
Information and the Q I ( l °yir?r in
_ , _ St., Suite 210, Cumming,
Forsyth County News. The GA 30040
goal of this page is to help
inform and educate resi- By. telephone
auu cuuvatc icm (770) j
dents about what s going
on with county govern- By fax
ment. (770)781-2199
If you’ve got an opinion B y email
about our page, please take brjohnson@forsythco.com
goals and stronger partner
ships with our clients.
In short, Operational
Excellence Site Certification
is a highly effective, proactive
approach to assessing key
aspects of Xerox operations
and to continually improve
the processes used to provide
excellent services to our
clients.