About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2018)
OUR REGION Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com ®he®ttncs gainesvilletimes com Sunday, November 25, 2018 DAHLONEGA Substance abuse center to help teen boys BY NICK WATSON nwatson@ gainesvilletimes.com The broken arm from a skateboard acci dent, the first hit of morphine or Oxycontin. As Avery Nix works as the lead outreach for a new recovery center targeting sub stance abuse in adolescent boys, he has pon dered how his own story may have changed. “When this came up, that was one of the first things that came to my head was: I won der what this would have looked like if I was 16,17 years old. I wonder what could have happened if I found something like this. Could it alter the course? Would it have bro ken up the cycle a little earlier?” Nix asked. Nix, who has shared his recovery journey with the Partnership for a Drug Free Hall and was featured in The Times’ podcast “Back to Life,” is now working as the mar keting coordinator for the Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents in Dahlonega. Eagle Overlook Recovery became opera tional in September and hosted its grand opening Oct. 12. On more than 50 acres nestled just over the Hall County line, it’s a no-cellphone, no distraction residential center for boys ages 13-17. Nix said the primary focus is sub stance abuse disorders while specializing in co-occurring disorders like depression and anxiety. While his business card says marketing, Nix will also be able to lend a hand with the boys who enroll in the program. “One really cool aspect about working with adolescents is that I am able to reach them on a level of ‘I know exactly where you’re coming from.’ I’ve been there. I’ve walked in similar issues,” Nix said. Nix’s story started at 12 when he broke his arm and the rush he got from the mor phine. At 15, that same rush came from his first dose of Oxycontin, a brand name of the opioid oxycodone. Years later, he would be revived after multiple hits of naloxone, the opioid over dose antidote. Nix’s family was told he wouldn’t survive. Now approaching his fourth year clean, Nix still has a hand in the newly minted Jef frey Dallas Gay Jr. Recovery Center, named after the Gainesville man who died in 2012. “Avery is a wonderful addition to Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents, not only as our marketing coordinator, but as an inspiration to adolescents who are just begin ning their recovery process,” said Eagle ■ Please see CENTER, 4C AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Avery Nix, marketing coordinator at Eagle Overlook Recovery for Adolescents, speaks during an interview in Dahlonega on Thursday, Nov. 15. It’s ‘Christmas every day’ in downtown Dahlonega , B rO^T , n jjjl if r | J it / ^ Itml I5*» f FI Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Christmas decorations cover Dahlonega’s Tasting Room’s storefront during Dahlonega’s Old Fashioned Christmas on Saturday, Nov. 24. Local businesses, residents take in festive holiday spirit Rose DiMattio, left, holds her dog, Moo, while she takes a sniff of Santa in Dahlonega. Storefronts are decorated with Christmas decorations during Dahlonega’s Old Fashioned Christmas. BY AMBER TYNER atyner@gainesvilletimes. com Nestled in the Northeast Georgia mountains, the city of Dahlonega brings in visitors year-round who are looking for a home town feel. “I think people say that we’re 60 percent Mayberry and 40 percent Asheville,” said Jan Har ris, Downtown Develop ment Authority director and Main Street program manager for Dahlonega. “Everybody’s very friendly and welcoming, and it’s not put on. I think it’s marvelously catching. ” The small town has developed this reputation in part because of its his toric square. “It’s easy for us to market just an authentic square that’s got this down town feel out of a Norman Rockwell picture,” said Robb Nichols, president of the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber and Visi tors Bureau. “It’s got a lot of wonderful things down there.” And it’s this square that especially attracts people during the holidays when the city turns into a Christ mas wonderland. The day after Thanks giving, Dahlonega offi cially begins festivities for its Old Fashioned Christmas. In addition to the lights strung all throughout the square, the city has activi ties from carriage rides and visits with Santa to live entertainment. “Really what we’re try ing to do is have a lot of things for people to do,” Harris said. “It’s just lots of fun stuff that happens.” She described the event as a “labor of love.” “The community, the downtown, really has ownership of it,” she said. “City staff and volun teers have been working together. There’s so much that goes into it.” Angelia Wilson, the overall chair of Dahlone ga’s Old Fashioned Christmas, echoed Har ris’ sentiment, saying the locals use the recurring event to put a spotlight on the small town charms, grandparents especially. “For all of those folks, depending on their age, I’d say the older people love to bring the grandkids and they love it for them selves,” Wilson said. “I have heard that they are very proud of their little small town. So they like to show it off. That’s what they like most about it.” Harris said the kids get involved, too, with a chil dren’s ornament tree. “There’s a little table, and kids can make orna ments, and they can hang them themselves or they can have other people hang them a little higher up,” she said. “And then they can come visit their tree and can point out their ornaments. So they contribute to the look of our Christmas town. ” ■ Please see XMAS, 3C Lieutenant governor’s election result challenged BY CHEVEL JOHNSON Associated Press A nonprofit group and three Georgia voters are challenging the results of the lieutenant governor’s election, arguing that there may have been tens of thousands of votes never recorded in the race. The Coalition for Good Governance alleges that an accurate result in the Nov. 6 election can’t be determined because of flaws and malfunctions in the electronic voting system, accord ing to a lawsuit filed Friday in Fulton County Superior Court. The conduct of the election “was so defective and marred by material irregularities as to place in doubt the result of the election under Georgia law. This court should therefore declare the contested election invalid and set the date for a second election between the same candidates,” the lawsuit states. It said the large difference in votes for all other statewide races and the low reported participation rate in the lieutenant governor’s race also are factors in the lawsuit, which names Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden and the Election Boards of Fulton, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties as defendants. Crit tenden’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The declared winner was Geoff Duncan, who had 1,951,738 votes to Sarah Riggs Amico’s 1,828,566. The suit seeks a new election for the office and asks that it be conducted on paper ballots read by optical scanners. “Citizens must not permit flawed elections to stand,” said Bruce Brown, an Atlanta-based attorney representing the plaintiffs. “Otherwise our democratic process fails. Until Georgia election officials commit to conduct fair and verifi able elections, the courts must intervene on behalf of Georgia voters. We look forward to a prompt resolution to this case and a new election conducted in a responsible and legal manner.” The lawsuit notes the lieutenant governor’s race reported only 3,780,034 votes, while every other statewide race tally exceeded 3.843 million votes. The plaintiffs allege that “this high under-vote rate is a likely result of the touchscreen voting system malfunctions, and that the un-auditable system does not ■ Please see CHALLENGE, 4C Woman endures ongoing battle with genetic lung cancer BY MELANIE RUBERTI Associated Press For most of her life, Pamela Smallwood of Newnan, 56, said she knew her chances were high for developing lung cancer. Her mom died from the dis ease at age 55; her dad passed away from lung cancer when he 50 years old. But when Smallwood got ill in early 2017, cancer was the last thing on her mind. “I had a lot of pain and pres sure that started out slowly. It progressed to sharp pains in the left side of my chest,” Smallwood said. “At first I was on zithromax or ‘z packs.’ But then I went to the doctor and had an X-ray. They found a big tumor in my upper left lung.” After further testing and a biopsy, an oncologist diag nosed Smallwood with stage 3B adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer in March 2017. “I freaked out. My life flashed before my eyes,” Smallwood remembered. “You go into denial first. Then I thought of my husband, chil dren and grandbaby and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to fight this and stay positive.’” Smallwood’s cancer was related to genetics. But according to Dr. Min- ish Patel, there are other fac tors that increase a person’s risk for lung cancer. Smoking cigarettes and secondhand cigarette smoke exposure tops that list. “It increases a person’s risk 20-fold, compared to non- smokers,” Patel said. “Other risk factors include radiation exposure, alcohol, family his tory and environmental toxin exposure, such as asbestos, radon and metals.” Patel specializes in hema tology and medical oncology at Piedmont Newnan hospital. He also treated Smallwood, she said. “I knew I had to be strong and put my life in the Lord’s hands. But Dr. Patel did so much for me. He basically saved my life,” Smallwood said. According to Patel, approxi mately 235,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. Close to 155,000 people die annually from the disease, making it the leading cancer- related death, Patel said. Men are more afflicted with lung cancer than women, he added. Lung cancer is most com monly seen in people age 65 or older, unless a person carries a genetic mutation for the dis ease, like Smallwood.
