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Blind veterans complete
Appalachian Trail hike
with 60-foot rappel
By Jeff Gill
FCN regional staff :
After 74 miles of hik
ing the Appalachian Trail
the past few days, what
was another 60 feet down
a sheer, wet cliff deep in
the Lumpkin County
woods?
Apparently not a lot of
trouble for seven blind
American and British vet
erans, who rappelled the
daunting piece of rock at
Camp Frank D. Merrill
on Wednesday, June 6.
Army Rangers prepared
the men for the descent
and a group waited for
them at the bottom, but
otherwise, the veterans
made the drop in abetit a
minute — one carrying
an American flag and
another, a British flag, on
either side.
Applause from a large
group of spectators,
including family, and a
three-member U.S. Coast
Guard Pipe Band playing
bagpipes greeted the vet
erans as their boots hit the
ground.
“It brought back some
memories,” said Daniel
Wallace, who suffered
blindness after a 2003
suicide car bomb attack
in Iraq.
Wallace, a Camp
Members 8 ; _
of Blind ’ o "
Appalachian
Trail tackle the : ,
60-foot rappel- ? ol w
ling course at i, :
Camp Frank D. : )
Merrill on
Wednesday.
(&, R p p oy :
- YL TR |
] s ! ¥ T a P N & ik
City Council approves members
of new fair advisory board
By Brian Paglia
bpaglia@forsythnews.com
The first members of the Cumming
Country Fair & Festival’s new board
were named Tuesday at a Cumming
City Council work session.
Council members voted 4-0, with
Councilman Lewis Ledbetter absent, to
install the 14-member board that will
give non-binding recommendations
about the fair and its events to the city
council.
Michelle Daniels, director of tourism
with the Cumming-Forsyth County
Chamber of Commerce, was approved,
4-0, as interim president, while longtime
county activist Mary Helen McGruder
was approved, 4-0, as interim secretary.
The board replaces its previous itera
tion, the Fair Authority, which was cre
ated in 2013 as a means to promote and
operate the fairgrounds. It had an eight
member board, and it was seen as a
more effective method for managing the
fairgrounds, particularly since it could
sign multi-year agreements, while the
city could only sign agreements of up to
a year.
But the authority ended in controver
sy. There was criticism of its power and
make-up. Ownership of the fairgrounds
had been transferred to the authority in
2015, and so it could override the coun
cil’s plans for the fairgrounds.
Meanwhile, membership of the authori
ty included several former elected offi
has rappelled many times
— sighted and blind.
“That.thing is slick,
though,” said Steve
Baskis, who lost his eye
sight after being wounded
by an improvised explo
sive device in Iraq in May
2008. “I’'ve been on it
before, but it seemed real
slick today.”
Wednesday’s rappel
wrapped up a journey that
began Friday, June 1, as
the veterans hiked
Georgia sections of the
Appalachian Trail, which
extends from Dawson
County to Maine, with
the help of sighted guides.
Operation Peer Support
— a program run by the
Blinded .Veterans
Association — sponsored
the trip, which could be
the first of several hikes.
“The blinded veterans
will complete sections of
the trail over time, around
specific dates to memori
alize great military
accomplishments that
represent the freedom
gained by overcoming
our adversaries,” accord
ing to the Blind
Appalachian Trail web
site.
The June 6 completion
was significant in that it
coincided with the 74th
anniversary of D-Day, the
Alltied invasion of
cials who were perceived by some to be
attempting to maintain control of the:
fairgrounds after several fell in their re
election bids. It was later revealed that
the authority had never been used for its
intended purpose to sign multi-year
agreements Or even met.
So the new city council, with new
Mayor Troy Brumbalow and
Councilmen Chad Crane and Jason
Evans in office, dissolved the authority
by a unanimous vote this past January.
Ownership of the fairgrounds was
returned to the city, and Brumbalow
tasked the council with finding as many
as 20 members to serve on a new board
that would provide recommendations on
the fair and its events. -
All previous members of the authority
were asked to serve on the new board.
Former Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, former
City Administrator Gerald Blackburn,
former Councilman John D. Pugh and
Councilman Lewis Ledbetter declined,
while former Assistant City
Administrator Steve Bennett and former
Councilmen Quincy Holton, Ralph
Perry and Rupert Sexton accepted.
They’ll join Daniels, McGruder,
Catherine Amos, Connie May, Shakeeb
Ali, Carrie Patterson, Russ Sorrells, Eric
Bennett, Kelly Lamb and Julie Tressler.
“I think it’'s a great make-up,”
Brumbalow said, “and I think they’ll be
a valuable asset to the city going for
ward.” o
Normandy, France, in
World War 11. It was
meant to symbolize Army
Rangers scaling the cliffs
at Normandy to destroy
German gun emplace
ments. : |
“We wouldn’t be doing
this if it wasn’t for our
forefathers in World War
II,” Wallace said. “We
wanted to remember that
and pay tribute to them.”
The expedition has Hall
County ties, as Joe
Amerling, a Gainesville
Police Department retir
ee, helped caordinate the
effort.
“Eight months of plan
ning went without a
hitch,” said. “We
moved every night, set up
camp every night. We had
guy who got a (knee)
injury on day one, but he
stayed (for the duration).
We had a great trip, and it
was flawless.”
Amerling got involved
with the effort through
Wallace, a longtime
friend and former fellow
Army Ranger.
“They started out want
ing to do the whole trail,”
he said in an interview
last week at a social gath
ering for the group at his
Murrayville home. “We
cut it down to Georgia, to'
‘what we could support.””
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: Scott Rogers FCN regional staff
Blind Appalachian Trail members Colin Penaluna, right, hugs Daniel Wallace
Wednesday at Camp Frank D. Merrill following a successful rappel off a
60-foot cliff. The Blind Appalachian Trail is run by the Blinded Veterans
Association Operation Peer Support to get visually impaired veterans of
various abilities out to experience the Appalachian Trail.
The veterans come
from around the county
— none locally.
“We've all have lived
through some traumatic
change, and we are con
tinuing to live through it,”
Baskis said last week. “I
think hiking the trail
demonstrates our willing
ness to strive to do hard
and ambitious things. We
haven’t lost our vision,
just our sight.”
Kelly Wallace, Daniel’s
wife, was one of the fami
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Q u EREDI INI ON
ly members eagerly
awaiting loved ones com
pleting the trek.
“I think it’s awesome,”
she said. “(Daniel) amaz
es me, really. He does
every day.”
Friend Victoria Doucet,
whose husband helped set
up camp and prepare
meals along the hike,
said, ‘““This (event) is very
admirable, very impres
sive. Disability doesn’t
(deter them).”
At the bottom of the
: Bu‘nldi Grow, Vum & ‘
'
e
Watchon
ForsythNews.com/
L ey
cliff, the men finished the
hike exchanging hugs and
getting embraces from
family and other support
ers. Smiles were all
around.
Overall, Wallace said,
“It was an outstanding
experience. I think one of
the biggest things I pulled
from this was the camara
derie. :
“It was a personal jour
ney ... but it wound up
being a collective jour
ney, as well.”
3A