Newspaper Page Text
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Batteries stolen from
Forsyth cell towers
By Alexander Popp
apopp@forsythnews.com ' :
Forsyth County and City of Cumming
authorities are currently looking for sus
pects they say are responsible for the
theft of valuable battery back-ups from
several cell phone towers in Forsyth
County. :
According to two incident reports
from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s
Office and one report from the
Cumming police report, 12 batteries val
ued at nearly S4OO a piece were stolen
from three T-Mobile cell phone towers
on Sanders Road, Buford Highway and
Peachtree Parkway.
The reports said that at around mid
night on Feb. 22 and 23, a T-Mobile
employee was alerted via email that the
power boxes on the towers had been
opened.
The employee states in the reports
that, upon visiting each of the towers he
City Council approves
fairground arena study
Expansion of popular facility a possibility
By Kelly Whitmire
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
One of the biggest parts of the
Cumming Fairgrounds could soon be
expanded.
At a work session on Tuesday, the
Cumming City Council voted unani
mously to move ahead with a study
looking at expansion of the fairgrounds
covered arena as part of a list of poten
tial city SPLOST VIII projects.
“It would be on the Tolbert Street
side,” said Fairgrounds Administrator
Dave Horton. “It would go back and
extend the roof back anywhere from 100
to 150 feet. It would give us more seat
ing on the floor.”
SPLOST was first approved in
Forsyth County in 1987 and has been
continued six times since. SPLOST VII
will likely be decided by voters this
year. ;
In the past, the construction of the
new jail, courthouse and parking decks
in downtown Cumming, new fire sta
tions and fire trucks, road widening and
infrastructure improvements and pur
chasing land for county parts has been
undertaken with SPLOST funding.
Horton said moving ahead with the
FROM 1A
But when the flu season
rolled through Georgia along
with most of the country, Ryan
began to get sicker and sicker.
He said that each day he felt
weaker and weaker and that
nothing seemed to help.
“I didn’t know then what was
underneath it all,” Ryan Smith
said. “One day, I got up for
work and I couldn’t walk from
my front door to my car.”
Ryan Smith said that after
realizing how bad he felt, he
drove himself to Northside
Hospital Forsyth and was
quickly rushed into the inten
sive care unit.
“By the time I got there I
could-not-get-out-of the—ecarl
- my legs could not work, 1
couldn’t breathe, I mean I liter
ally felt like I was going to stop
breathing,” he said.
He said his doctors in the
intensive care unit discovered
that an infection had attacked
his heart and that its function
was quickly slipping. He said
that the infection had gone sep
tic and had spread throughout
his body.
" “The last thing I remember
from that day is the nurse ask
ing me for my phone and asking
what was [Hillary’s] number. 1
heard her telling Hillary that,
‘you better get here, because we
are about to put him on life sup
port,”” he said.
After nine days in the inten
sive care unit and the progres
sive care unit, Hillary and Ryan
Smith were faced with several
hard choices of how to proceed.
Ryan was out of immediate
danger, but he had still suffered
a serious attack on his body,
that had left his heart weak and
functioning at about 10 percent
of its normal function.
Ryan Smith said that the doc
tors and nurses.never said it
observed that the padlocks had been
broken off of the tower’s power boxes
and four batteries had been stolen from
each tower. :
The reports said that each of the tow
ers had gates protecting them and none
of them showed any sign of a forced
entry.
In the report covering the tower on
Sanders Road, Cumming Police Officer
Holbrook said, “There are several cell
towers and buildings for different com
panies within the gate. All the different
personnel and contractors can gain
access this way and [the T-Mobile
employee] thinks that is the way the sus
pects gained entry.”
This incident is currently under inves
tigation by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s
Office and the Cumming Police
Department.
study would help the city with negotia
tions.
“This is just kind of an initial proposal
for architectural services related to the
conception of design and budget esti
mating this project, so [the city has]
some real numbers to take back to
SPLOST negotiations,” he said.
If approved, Horton said, the project
would involve grading land, moving
water lines and utilities and construction
costs.
He said the facility is currently at max
capacity for graduation ceremonies for
Forsyth Central High School, the only
school to use the facility for graduation,
but expansion could make it a suitable
facility for all high school graduations.
“Right now, for the Central gradua
tions, we have 3,081 seats in the bleach
ers. That’s counting handicap spaces,”
Horton said. “We put on the floor about
2,600 chairs.” : .
Horton said an extra hundred feet
would mean 600 to 900 more people
could attend events. He was also
opposed to potentially closing in the
arena, saying it would limit what could
be held at the facility.
openly, but he was looking at
long road to recovery.
“They didn’t want to put in an
internal defibrillator, because of
how young he is,” said Hillary
Smith, explaining the options
the doctors laid out for them in
his last days in.the hospital.
She said that doctors wanted
Ryan to recover on his own, and
avoid a serious surgery. :
“That’s when they suggested
the Life Vest,” she said.
Hillary explained that before
leaving the hospital, Ryan was
fitted for a piece of non-intru
sive medical technology that he
would wear for the next three
months, called a Life Vest. She
said that the Life Vest serves the
dual function of alerting them
when Ryan’s heart acts irregu
larly and if it were to ever stop
beating, the vest will shock his
heart;-and-alert- 911 -of -his situa- -
tion and GPS location.
She said that they almost
walked, out of the hospital with
out the Life Vest after their
insurance denied a claim to
cover the device, but after a
last-minute donation from the
Northside Hospital Forsyth they
were able to take the vest.
“We were quoted one quote
of $3,500 a month and another
for $175 a day for the vest ... so
we almost left without it. Then
our nurse for the day came in
and said that she had gone and
talked to her boss, and the hos
pital was going to pick up the
first month of it,” she said.
Even with the first month
paid for by the hospital, Hillary
said they were still pressed to
cover the $3,500 for the
remaining two months. She
said that Ryan was still too
weak to work, so she decided to
tumn to the community for help.
Hillary started a page on
GoFundme.com, called Ryan’s
Life Vest, and posted a plea on
the local Facebook group,
Focus on Forsyth, explaining
their problems and asking the
community for support.
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Alexander Popp Forsyth County News
Hillary and Ryan Smith, recent residents of Forsyth County pose for a picture at Haw
Creek Park. Ryan Smith is fighting an iliness after an infection caused his heart to only
function at 10 percent. :
“Never in my life did I think
that I'd have to start a
GoFundMe page. But I said
let’s just see, we have nothing
and nowhere to turn to, if we
don’t get help, this is going
back at the end of February,”
Hillary said.
Both Hillary and Ryan said
“that they were shocked by how
quickly donations started pour
ing into their page, and how
open the community was to
helping them out.
“Immediately people from
the county started donating, we
were blown away by how many
people were commenting and
donating,” she said. A
She said that a week after
they posted on Facebook, they
were contacted by a group in
Forsyth called the Forsyth
County Jeepers, who had seen
their story and wanted to help
CUMMING EVENTS
The Forsyth County Animal
Shelter will be providing animal
adoptions at Beaver Toyota on the sec
ond Saturday of the month beginning
March 10. The events will be held at
the dealership, 1875 Buford Highway
in Cumming, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
For more information, call (678) 965-
7185 or visit www.forsythco.com/ani
malshelter.
Career Coach coming to the
Cumming Library from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. March 20.The mobile career
coach will help you search and apply
for jobs online, create resumes and
cover letters, take career surveys and
assessments, and learn and practice
workforce skills. The library is at 585
Dahlonega Road.
United Way of Forsyth County and
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide are
teaming up to provide free income tax
preparation to assist low to moderate
income families (those earning
$54,000 or less with no age require- |
ments) and those individuals 60 years
and older in Forsyth, Dawson and sur
rounding counties. AARP Foundation
Tax-Aide volunteers are trained in fil
ing certain tax forms and schedules,
including form 1040. This service will
be available in Forsyth County through
April 14, with sites at United Way of -
Forsyth County at 240 Elm Street by
appointment only; and a walk-in site at
Central Park at 2300 Keith Bridge Road
on Tuesday and Wednesday. To sched-.
ule an appointment at the United Way
location call (770) 844-9691. ‘
CHURCH EVENTS
Cumming First United Methodist
Church at 770 Canton Hwy., invites all
to join us for our 8:45 and 11 a.m. tradi
tional worship services and our 9:51
contemporary worship service on
Sunday mornings. For more informa
tion concerning services or upcoming
events, visit www.cfumcga.com or call
(770) 887-2900.
Pleasant Grove United Methodist
Church of Cumming will have the follow
ing Holy week activities:
Palm Sunday service: 11 a.m. March 25;
Holy Thursday service: 7 p.m. March 29;
Good Friday service: 7 p.m. March 30;
Easter Sunrise service: 7 a.m. April 1;
Easter Celebration seryice: 11 a.m. April 1.
For more information, call (678) 758-
7870.
Highlands Church at 433 Canton Road,
Building 400, Cumming, would love to
invite you to join us for our Sunday wor
ship services at 9:30 and 11 a.m. For
more information concerning services or
upcoming events please visit www.high
landschurch.tv.
Episcopal Church of the Holy
Spirit invites all to join us for Sunday
worship services at 8:30 and 10:45 a.m.
with Sunday school classes for all ages
between the services at 9:30
a.m. Nursery is provided, as well as cof
fee hour and fellowship following each
service. Also, please join us for morning
prayer at 10 a.m. onTuesdays, contem
plative prayer at noon on Wednesdays,
Bible study 10:30 a.m. onThursdays fol
lowed by Holy Eucharist at noon. For
more information, visit www.ecohs.
out. She said that the Jeepers
were able to spread the mes
sage to their network of follow
ers, and within a week they had
raised more than $2,000 for the
family.
According to Bob Evans, a
leader of the Forsyth County
Jeepers group, they saw
Hillary’s post on Facebook and
knew it was a cause they could
get behind.
“After we met this couple, we
more or less fell in love with
them. They are just down to
earth people who are having a
really hard time,” Evans said.
Evans said that they went
beyond simply raising money
for the family, inviting the
Smith family to meetings and
events, and helping them out in
other ways like throwing a
birthday party for the Smiths’
SEFTAR L F RAL
Forsyth County Senior Center
presents a care/caregiver support
group. The topics include coping with
grief, ways to maintain care for self,
ways to manage care for others and
setting up a healthy support system.
This group is designed to give you
practical skills that can be used imme
diately as well as a support system
from others who are experiencing sim
ilar life struggles. The group is held
from 1-2 p.m. the first and third
Wednesday of every month at North
Corners Parkway, Cumming. For more
information, call (770) 781-2178.
Age Well Forsyth events: Bingois at
Sexton Hall every third Friday. The
location is the newly renovated Sexton
Hall Senior Center on Sharon Road.
The game is $lO to play, with food at
6:30 p.m. and game at 7:30 p.m. sharp.
The more that play, the larger the cash
prizes. If the games go well, we will
continue to play in the new year.
Upcoming trips include: Ireland and
Scotland: April 22-May 4, 2018 $4,399
double occupancy; Iceland: November
4-10, 2018 $3,599, double occupancy.
For more information, visit agewellfor
syth.org or call Linda at (404) 245-
7949. - : :
Sawnee Association of the Arts
meets at 6 p.m. the fourth Monday of
each month. Anyone interested in the
arts program is welcome to attend. For
more information call Charlotte
Gardner.at (770) 889-1072. The meet
ing is held at the United Way Building
on 240 Ellm Street in Cumming.
net or call the church at (770) 887-8190.
The church is at 724 Pilgrim Mill Road in
Cumming.
The Vine Community Church wel- .
comes guests to Sunday Services at 9
a.m. and 10:45 am. We are located at
4655 Bethelview Road. For more infor
mation, visit our website at www. ¢
thevinecc.com, email info@thevinecom
munitychurch.com or call (678) 990-9395.
Trinity Presbyterian Church is having
the following events during Lent and
Easter:
-March 30- Good Friday Communion and
service at 7 p.m.
-March 31- Community Children
Resurrection Easter Egg Hunt at 11a.m.
There will be refreshments, games, tell
ing of the Resurrection story and
Resurrections rolls.
-April 1 - Easter Sunday: 9:30 a.m. Son
Rise Breakfast and 11: a.m. Easter
Sunday Service with Communion.
Intergenerational Sunday School is each
Sunday at 10 a.m.
Trinity is in the Free Home community on
Trinity Church Road which runs between
Arbor Hill Road and Hwy. 372 about 2
miles from Creekview High School.
Grief Share, a grief recovery support = °
group, will be starting a new 13-week
session at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 10. Anyone
experiencing the loss of a loved one is
welcome to join. Class is free, but there
is a sls book fee. For further informa
tion or to register, call (770) 781-5433, or
visit northlanier.org. North Lanier
Baptist Church is at 829 Atlanta Hwy.,
Cumming.
“It’s just been overwhelming,
people we don’t know helping
us out so much,” Hillary said.
“I have never seen people
like this in my life. I was the
associate pastor at a Baptist
church where I’m from and we
probably had 700 members. As
wonderful as I still think that
church is I have never seen
people like these people in
Cumming,” Ryan said. “They
don’t even know me.” .
Today, Ryan said that he has
good days and bad days, but
overall he feels like he is on the
mend.
~ Hillary said that until he has
recovered, they feel better
knowing that his heart is cov
ered by the Life Vest, and their
family is covered by the com
munity.