About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 2011)
THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 22. 2011 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 17A You never outgrow the need for vaccines National Adult Immunization Awareness Week is Sept. 18-24 School bus misses part of route Friday Transportation director details rigorous precautions, safeguards to keep students safe Submitted by Georgia Department of Public Health Vaccines aren’t just for kids, adults need protection too! Sept. 18 kicked off National Adult Immunization Awareness Week and the Georgia Department of Public Health reminds Georgians that you never outgrow the need for vac cines. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show adults remain largely unvaccinated against preventable infectious illness es. In fact, survey results from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases suggest that doctor/patient communica tion challenges may be at least part of the problem. The survey reported one in five adults believe vaccines are optional Sat., Sept. 10 -2&7:30p.m. Ozark Jubilee Thur. Sept. 15 - 7:30 p.m. Athens Guitar Trio for healthy adults and 19 per cent of those surveyed believe vaccination is generally not rec ommended for adults except for influenza or travel-related vac cines. “Roughly 95 percent of the 50,000 Americans who die every year from vaccine-pre ventable diseases are adults,” said Dr. Anil T. Mangla, Georgia Department of Public Health. “By not getting vacci nated as recommended, adults are leaving themselves need lessly vulnerable to illness and potentially spreading vaccine- preventable diseases such as pertussis (whooping cough) to their friends, family and col leagues.” In 2010, 247 pertussis cases were reported to Georgia’s Department of Public Health, with adults accounting for 22 percent of cases. In Georgia in 2010, 61.8 percent of adults 65 years and older received an annual seasonal influenza vac cination. There were nine deaths in Georgia among adults in 2010 from seasonal influenza. In 2010, 64.4 percent of adults in Georgia, 65 years and older have received the pneumococ cal vaccination within their life time. The Healthy People 2020 goal for pneumococcal and sea sonal influenza vaccination is 90 percent. National Adult Immunization Awareness Week is recognized to promote among adults that they are never too old for their shots. Safe and effective vaccines are available to protect adults and children alike against potentially life- threatening diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, meningo coccal disease, hepatitis A, hep atitis B, shingles, measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox). Many adults are unaware of the potential risks of vaccine- preventable disease, the need for booster doses or the avail ability of new vaccines. So this September, talk to your health care provider or visit your pub lic health department and find out if you’re current on your immunization recommenda tions and get immunized today. The Georgia Department of Public Health encourages all Georgians to protect their friends, family and themselves from vaccine-preventable dis eases by getting vaccinated. For more information on immu nization, visit http://health.state. ga.us/pro- grams/immunization DiPuma elected president NW Ga. Fire Investigators Tue., Sept. 20 - 7:30 p.m. Gleb Ivanov, Pianist Sun., Sept. 25 - 3 p.m. The Blessed Blend ralany Pcrlonmnj Arts Reinhardt University Campus 7300 Reinhardt Circle Waleska, GA Box Office: 770.720.9167 Tickets: www.reinhardt.tix.com The Northwest Georgia Fire Investigators Association elected officers for the 2011- 12 term on Wednesday, Sept. 14. Pickens resident Tom DiPuma of the State Farm Special Investigative Unit was elected president after serving the past year as vice president. He will also serve as the North West District vice president on the board of the Georgia Fire n\ orth Weddings, Airport Service, rUeorgia Anniversaries, Limousine Special Occasions Office: 770-735-2685 • Cell: 770-893-7306 northgalimo@yahoo.com Ben Mock, Pastor Tony Ramirez, Associate Pastor David Holmes, Music Minister 1036 N. Main Jasper, GA 30143 706.692.6315 www.nntzionjasper.org Investigators Association. Shane Daniel, Cherokee County Fire and Explosion investigator, was elected vice president. Rob Roehl, also of the State Farm Special Investigative Unit, will serve as secretary and Whitfield County Assistant Fire Chief Ron Ownby will continue his role as the chapter’s treasurer. The Northwest Georgia Fire Investigators Association is a district chapter of the Georgia Fire Investigators Association and sub chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators. The dis trict is made up of Polk, Floyd, Bartow, Cherokee, Pickens, Gordon, Chattooga, Gilmer, Fannin, Murray, Whitfield, Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties. Some of the group’s objec tives are to unite for mutual benefit by providing for the exchange of technical informa tion and developments, to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies and asso ciates to further fire prevention and the suppression of crime and to encourage professional standards of conduct among arson investigators. Please contact Tom DiPuma at 770-421-3093 for informa tion. Pickens County Coin Collector’s Club Meets the 1 st & 3 rd Tuesday of each month at 5 pm at the Dean Center, Amicalola E.M.C 515 at Camp Road Jasper, GA Call Butch 770-324-8724 Happening at: EVENTS Canton Theatre 171 East Main St. Canton, GA Presents... With Special Guests: THE KINGSMEN QUARTET SHADY GROVE and THE DAVID RIGHT TRIO SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 th 7:00 PM Children 6 and under FREE TICKETS: Cash & check: 678-861-4559 Online with a credit card at shadygrove.tix.com By Dan Pool, editor dpool@pickensprogress.com As the school system contin ues to hear from parents angry over new centralized bus stops, a mistake by a substitute driver Friday caused a portion of one route to be missed entirely in an area where some of the more vocal critics live. Transportation Director Bruce Godfrey said part of one route in the Whitestone area was skipped by the driver, leaving potentially nine students seek ing other ways to campuses last Friday. The exact count of how many were stranded wasn’t known as some were being taken to school that day by par ents anyway. But Godfrey defended the bus system and its employees, noting that over the past years, stops may have been missed occasionally but none that affected more than two or three students and these were rare occurrences. Missing nine stu dents is probably the biggest mistakes in many years, he said. He said three or four parents called and most went ahead and transported their children to school. All students were brought to campus without the bus returning. He said it was hard to estimate how long it would have taken the bus to cir cle back around as it was unclear when the substitute driver realized they had missed part of the route. The mistake was due to the confusing label ing of the road known variously as Old Highway 5 and Ellijay Highway as well as one com pletely missing road sign he said. However, Godfrey was quick to state that on a daily basis, the bus system achieves a great rate of getting students to school and back home on a timely schedule and with a great safety record. He acknowledged that with issues like Friday’s, “nothing’s perfect.” But he said dedicated employees, rigorous training and extensive operating guide lines insure an efficient and safe system that handles hundreds of student passengers each school day. If parents or the public think school buses are like they were in the old days, where the driver took off and did their best, they may be surprised by the technol ogy that now tracks and records each day’s commute and offers instant feedback from techni cians and supervisors at the cen tral bus garage. Godfrey said each driver is required to go through a pre drive and post-drive checklist everyday, much like an airline pilot, and if anything fails tech nicians either perform quick work or a substitute bus is used. Two technicians are on call every time the buses are on the road. Godfrey said they general ly send a replacement bus any time it’s quicker to re-load stu dents than to make a quick fix. In addition to the techni cians, the route supervisor is monitoring drivers with radio communication and taking calls on three lines from parents seek ing instant information on spe cific routes. Godfrey said the student code of conduct requires stu dents to be at the stop five min utes early and gives drivers a five-minute grace period once they have established a regular stop time. He said the first few weeks may see stop times fluc tuate but by the time the school year is rolling, it’s rare that a bus doesn’t get to a set stop within this ten minute window. He said parents are asked to call and find out where the bus is if it’s more than ten minutes late but many are calling any time it’s more than five minutes behind schedule. Telephone communicating with the transportation system does present some challenge with the new centralized stops. With students not waiting on the bus at home, who calls and when if a bus is late? Godfrey noted that the “par ent responsibility zone” covers the time before the bus arrives and asks parents to work out a plan with their students and other parents who use the same stop on what to do if a bus is late. He said this parent coopera tion at stops is developing this year as evidenced by the fact that fewer parents are parked at each stop now that the new sys tem has been in place for sever al weeks. He said in some places there used to be a dozen cars with students waiting on the buses and now there are only two or three. He encouraged parents to continue this cooperative approach to plan for inclement weather situation at stops. He said it’s hard for him to offer a plan of what students at central stops should do if a bus is not there on time. He said ide ally someone will have a cell phone and can call transporta tion at (706)253-1727 to see the whereabouts of the bus. If a student’s house is near the central stop, one student can run back home to report the missing bus while others wait on the bus to show up and let the driver know that one student has gone to call. “Parents need to work this out,” he said. “They need to think ahead of time how to han dle this.” But, Godfrey said late buses are something that “doesn’t hap pen very often” and it’s espe cially rare to see one more than ten minutes late. As for keeping check on the drivers, Godfrey said each bus is equipped with three cameras on board and a GPS system that tracks route, speed and can tell when a driver touches the brakes. “These cameras can be a dri ver’s best friend or worst enemy,” he said. Though he said 95 percent of the time, when someone has questioned a dri ver’s actions, the camera has supported that the driver was correct in their actions. Rockin’ students at Hill City Third grade students in Mrs. Youngblood's room at Hill City Elementary have been working hard to learn about rocks and minerals. The chil dren have learned that all rocks are made from different types of minerals. They have also learned about the Moh’s hard ness scale and how to conduct streak tests on their own. The children conducted streak tests to deter mine which minerals were in the rocks they brought from their own backyards. As a final art project, the children made pet rocks that resemble lady bugs, the class theme this year. The children will be going to the Tellus Museum in October. Great job students! 0RENASANT TWdueedl ami Directed, bq Russ GoJJbreafk M.usLa Dbeetkyn bq Tkelma (Baq) Cagle The WistotlealTate Gym, October 13, 14S 15*7 p.m. Jld tickets are $15 - On sate now at tRgmsant Hank:Jasper, NoCtywood JX Nair Studio & Jasper Drugs Qenerat Admission by Date www.NGActinscompany.com
