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Forsyth CountvNews J Your "Hometown Paper" Since 1908 > Vol. 95, No. 48 Hospital eyes more operating rooms By Harris Blackwood Community Editor Northside Hospital Forsyth has applied to state regulators for permission to con struct a S3B million expansion to the operat ing rooms, a spokesman confirmed Monday. If approved, the hospital would double its current operating room space, said spokesman George h ey. "The expansion will include four operat ing rooms which would be totally dedicated to inpatient surgery.” said Ivey, who said that the procedures would include any con ventional invasive surgery where the abdomen or chest cavity is open. The rooms would also be utilized for major orthopedic surgery, such as a hip or knee replacement. Presently, the hospital has three operat- Downhill racers [/▼Jr & Photos/David McGregor Above, Boy Scouts from Troop 62 watch a warmup race at the group’s Pinewood Derby race finals last weekend at Cumming First United Methodist Church. Below, Cub Scouts Nathaniel Fasnacht and Jeffery Bernard watch the finals. Winners will proceed to the district competition at Coal Mountain Elementary School. wk " y J m I KA/ Attorney General won’t investigate activist’s charge against Forsyth By Todd Truelove Staff Writer The state Attorney General's Office has refused to investigate a complaint filed by ethics activist George Anderson dealing with fees charged by the Forsyth County gov ernment for accessing county records, saying it doesn’t understand the problem. Anderson, a Rome ethics consult ant who has been working for a local Missed paper policy: For a replacement paper, call 8 a m. - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9 a m. -1 p.m. on Sunday - (770) 887-3126. Copyright C 2004 fortyth County New* l 594 0400 ing rooms within its first floor surgical suite. The rooms are utilized for a combina tion of inpatient and outpatient surgeries. In addition, a room that has been used for non-sterile procedures is being converted into a full operating room. The cost of that conversion was estimat ed at SIOO,OOO. which did not require state approval. The application for the four new rooms was submitted Friday to the Division of Health Planning of the Georgia Department of Community Health. It will be reviewed by a panel which renders decision on new or expanded major medical facilities w ithin the state. The hospital is in the midst of a $23 mil lion expansion of the emergency depart ment and diagnostic facilities within the government “oversight" group, dis puted fees assessed in a letter he received from Jarrard and Davis, a law firm that represents the county. “I am unable to tell from your let ter ... the subject of dispute." Senior Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Allen wrote in a March 12 response to Anderson. Earlier this month, Anderson appeared before the Board of Commissioners and notified commis sion members of the request to the INDEX Abby 8A Classifieds Deaths 2A Events 4A Horoscope 8A 15.................................... 38 Opinion IDA Sports IB WEDNESDAY March 24, 2004 Advice Dear Abby dishes out good advice. PageSA hospital. The construction includes a new two story 42,(MX)-square-foot emergency facility and a 12.500-square-foot expansion of radi ological services, which includes CAT Scan, MRI, ultra sound, nuclear imaging, mammography, bone density scans, inter ventional radiology, teleradiology and con ventional X-ray services. Ivey said that the additional operating room space would be constructed on the first floor near the present operating area. Northside Hospital Forsyth opened its doors in 1999 as Baptist Medical Center. At that time, the hospital was under the ownership of the Georgia Baptist Healthcare System, which later sold the facility to Northside, which operates a flag ship hospital in Sandy Springs and a second community hospital in Canton. Attorney General’s Office. He said he had been illegally charged by the attorneys. Georgia law allows local munici palities to charge fees for copying records and for staff time required to gather documents to comply with open record requests. Though the law firm’s Feb. 19 response to Anderson includes a request for S4OO before it would See ACTIVIST, Page 2A County plans to build new public safety complex Mold invades fire headquarters By Todd Truelove Staff Writer The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners Monday directed staff to begin planning a new com plex that will house operations of the Fire Department including administrative headquarters. In addition, the new facility could include other public safety depart ments such as 911 communications and a training center, according to Fire Chief Danny Bowman. "It will be Fire Station 12, Fire Headquarters, the Fire Prevention Bureau, a multi-use public safety training facility, E9ll and the Emergency Operations Center.” the fire chief said, adding the building would be good for 50 years. Bowman said the new facility would be called the Forsyth County Public Safety Complex. County staff asked commission ers to consider building the new facility after an independent contrac tor. while inspecting the fire head quarters, discovered mold at the facility located off of Settendown 2-year-old runs into moving pickup truck DFCS investigating child endangerment By Nicole Green Staff Writer A small child ran into Kelly Mill Road Friday night and struck the side of a pickup truck, sustaining minor injuries, according to the Cumming Police Department. Austin Cain, 2. strayed from the yard of 506 Kelly Mill Rd. at 7:50 p.m. The child ran into the side of a westbound truck driven by Miguel Infante. “It scared the driver to death. He didn't know what he had hit, and then he looked back and saw a small child bouncing off the road.” police department assistant chief Maj. Gene Sams said Monday. Cain received only visible injuries, a Georgia State Patrol oper ator said. The child’s parents imme diately transported the victim to Northside Forsyth Hospital for treat- Opinion Columnist Bill Shipp says Geoigia Democrats clipping liberal wing. PagelOA l Photo/Audra Perry An expansion of the emergency room at Northside Hospital Forsyth is under construction and sched uled to be opening soon. Partty Cloudy High in the mid-60s. Low in the high 30s. SPORTS, IB Forsyth baseball heads for home Bowman Road in north Forsyth. “We found mold in the roof rafters and in some of the sheet rock on the west side of the building.” said Bowman. "You don’t play with mold.” While construe- tion costs of a new facility are not yet known. County Administrator Stevie Mills reported to the board that the cost to remove the mold is estimated at around $4 million Mills and other administrative staff, including Assistant Administrator Dane Perry, recommended building a new facili ty- Bowman, in an interview after the meeting, said the complex would be built on county-owned property eliminating additional costs to pur chase land. He said there are two optional See FIRE, Page 2A ment. When the Cumming police arrived, the child had already been removed from the scene of the acci dent. Cain was in stable condition at Scottish Rite hospital as of Tuesday. The Department of Family and Children’s Services received tempo rary custody of Cain on Friday night, director Alvin Fowler said DFCS will determine who will gain custody of the child. DFCS continues to investigate the incident. The driver will not be charged, according to GSP. A child endangerment bill slated to be signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue could put a new spin on incidents such as these. Under the bill that passed the state House of Representatives on Friday, parents can be prosecuted for See CHILD, Page 2A LAKE LANIER LEVELS Date Level March 19 1069.89 ft March 20 10694)8 ft 2 Mwchii ; March 22 1069.91 ft VFull 1071 TMHF *