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^Reporter
November 30, 2016
Opinion
Declare among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard;
publish, and conceal not;
Jeremiah 50:2
On the Porch
Best stadium
in Georgia
BY WILL DAVIS
publisher@myrncr.net
A mong the many records the Mary
Persons football team has set this year,
consecutive home games may be one.
Through last Friday, the Bulldogs
hosted five straight games at Dan
Pitts Stadium, two to end the regular season fol
lowed by three straight home
playoff contests. I’m not sure
that’s happened before. MP
historian Bobby Melton could
probably tell us. And it would’ve
been six straight home games,
but we lost the coin flip with
Carters ville.
Every team thinks its home
football stadium is special.
Heck, Bibb and Houston coun
ty high schools just wish they
HAD a home stadium. But The Pitt, as it’s become
known, is unique for a very simple reason: The
stands are very close to the field.
Our Round 2 opponent Heritage High School,
upon arriving at The Pitt for the first time,
Tweeted out a photo of the stadium and described
it as “intimate”. I think that’s the right word.
Forsyth barber and football stadium expert. Lee
Smith notes that most high schools have an oval
track separating the stands from the field. It’s
hard to get excited about the game when you feel
like you’re watching it from a different zip code.
Mary Persons started playing football at the
stadium location before it had a track team. And
when it started competing in track, it opted wisely
to build one separate from the football stadium.
They chose well. It’s a good example of when
small-town-doing-it-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it
was probably smart.
I’m told that FPD football coach Greg Moore has
asked locals how he can replicate what MP has
at that private school’s stadium in Macon. The
answer is simple: “Blow up your track.”
As Smith points out, fans can hear what coaches
are saying from the stands (not always a good
thing for younger ears) and feel the earth shake
when two players collide.
During Friday’s incredible game, which really
defies description, MP fans were the loudest I’ve
heard them in my nine years here. Alas, when
Blessed Trinity’s Army-bound placekicker lined
up for a gimme field goal with 7 seconds left, I
thought it might be better if we weren’t so close
to see this debacle. I was taping the kick with my
iPhone from beneath the goal posts. As the ball
neared the uprights, I simply hit stop, eager to
get to my truck and forget what I had seen. Right
at the end of the video, you begin to hear screams
from the kids nearby on the hill. They could see
what I could’ve seen if I wasn’t moping and looking
at the ground: The ball had sailed wide right.
Many of our 8,000 Reporter fans on Facebook
were anxiously waiting to hear how the wild, see
saw game had ended. All I could post was: “I can’t
believe what I just saw. MP wins 28-27.”
“So you’re going to make us get the paper to find
out?!?” demanded my friend and new subscriber
B.J. Fair.
Ha. When I finally composed myself I tried to
report what I had seen.
This week, Smith Googled the Cartersville sta
dium where we’ll play Friday and found that the
powerhouse Hurricanes indeed have an ugly oval
track separating their football field from their
stands.
Nobody gives MP much of a chance on Friday
night. I don’t give us much of a chance. But I also
predicted that Blessed Trinity would make that
field goal. And I predicted that Hillary Clinton
would be our next president. Often wrong, never in
doubt. Whatever happens, I already know this: We
definitely have a better stadium. Stupid coin flip.
www.mymcr.net
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Cheryl S. Williams, secretary-treasurer
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
See it? Eye chart doesn’t hurt
To the editor:
I t is easy to criticize some
one else on the Vent
when you are anonymous.
However, when you back
it up with facts and sign
your name, it is a different story.
Everybody at the MP football
games is aware that I meet with
the referees before the game,
smile when I show them an
eye chart, and kid around with
them. They are always amused
and most put on a little act that
mimics a search for eyeglasses
or tapping the ground with a
cane to find their way to the
field. Everybody, including the
refs, has a good laugh before the
game. Maybe the anonymous
Vent stalker does not get there
early enough to see the good-
natured banter.
Good referees benefit from feed
back during the game. The game
against Heritage on Nov. 18,
illustrates this. After their QB
threw three straight incomple
tions, it was suddenly 4th and
8-1/2 to go. That’s right, Heritage
gained real estate on incomplete
passes. A little reminder from the
crowd had the back judge slyly
nudging the ball
back toward the
correct line of
scrimmage with
his foot. I have
never heard vul
gar or derogatory
language used
toward the refs
at a MP game,
but their judg
ment (and eye
sight) is called
into question by
the crowd when
appropriate. Bad calls
»n
mm
however
infrequent, have been met with
protests from the crowd since
football was invented. What’s
next? Are we going to be taken
to task for cheering a MP touch
down? After all, doesn’t that
hurt the feelings of the guy on
the other team that missed the
tackle and allowed us to score?
At the North Clayton playoff
game on Nov. 11, players on both
sides became a little chippy in
the fourth quarter. Personal foul
flags could have been thrown at
both teams and those aggravat
ing off-setting penalties declared.
Instead, the head referee stopped
MP fan John Ricketson and his famous eyechart.
then calmly called them back
together for an old-fashioned
“talking to”. The applause from
the MP crowd was for the integri
ty and good judgment used by the
officiating crew to defuse the situ
ation. If a ref is so unprofessional
that he can be swayed to make
bad calls just because the crowd
points out an error, methinks his
skin is too thin to be an official
and it is long past his retirement
date.
John Ricketson
Forsyth
On Georgia Politics
Tax credits may help hospitals
S ylvester — in
here, a couple of senior
citizens lift small hand
weights. In there, car-
dio machines idle until
the next users arrive. In the
extra-wide hallway connecting
them, a stairstep sits off to the
side. The lone sign that this phys
ical therapy department used to
be an operating room is
the thick red line of tile
just in front of the double
doors that no longer fly
open for inbound stretch
ers.
“As we change, we make
do, and we make
things fit in differ
ent areas,” says Kim
Gilman, chief execu
tive of the Phoebe
Worth Medical
Center in this town
of 6,200 halfway between Albany
and Tift-on. “Some more funds would
make it more efficient.”
Funds have been hard to find at
this rural hospital, like others across
the state. Medicaid expansion, long
off the table in Georgia, was set for
serious consideration in 2017 — until
Donald Trump’s election threw the
future of Obamacare into doubt.
States may get more flexibility for
Medicaid funding, but no one is sure
yet. For now, there is promise in the
form of a new state tax credit for
rural health providers billed as the
first of its kind in the U.S.
“It truly is a lifeline,” Gilman says.
The credit is the brainchild of state
Rep. Geoff Duncan, R-Cumming,
who modeled it after Georgia’s exist
ing tax-credit scholarship program.
Donors to eligible rural hospitals can
file for a credit on their state income
taxes (individual or corporate).
Legislators approved it late in the
2016 session, putting $50 million in
the pot for next year, $60
million for 2018 and $70
million for 2019.
The credit is worth only
70 percent of the donation
— the scholarship credit
is dollar-for-dollar — so no
one knows what to expect
when it goes live Jan.
1. But officials at four
rural hospitals I vis
ited during a South
Georgia swing this
month expressed hope
it will help them bridge a very pre
carious financial gap.
The economics of health care is bro
ken, and nowhere is this more evi
dent than in rural hospitals. Phoebe
Worth reports providing more than
$8.4 million in charity and indigent
care last year, plus almost triple that
amount in uncompensated Medicare
and Medicaid services. The new
private plans on the Obamacare
exchanges have hardly helped: Most
carry such high deductibles that nei
ther patients nor hospitals get paid.
It’s a familiar story in rural
Georgia. The new tax credit could
provide a huge shot in the arm. If
all the credits are claimed, almost
$260 million in donations will flow to
about four dozen hospitals.
Building upgrades and new equip
ment could be in the offing. So could
new services that have high upfront
costs but would be profitable once
established, sustaining themselves
and cross-subsidizing other, loss
making services. That could include
telemedicine technology that allows
patients to see specialists from cities
such as Atlanta without traveling too
far from home.
‘It wouldn’t take much (upfront
investment) and would still be cost-
effective,” says Michael Hester, CEO
of Liberty Regional Medical Center
in Hinesville.
But even those kinds of invest
ments are difficult for hospitals to
make when they’re bleeding money
on each patient. At Phoebe Worth,
a new floor for the emergency room
cost $50,000; the hospital needed
two years to scrounge up the money.
“Squeezing quarters out of pennies,”
the hospital’s chief financial officer,
Candace Guamieri, calls it.
The state needs a broader overhaul
of health care (hint, hint, aspiring
governors). This new tax credit may
be rural hospitals’ best bet for surviv
ing until that happens.
Kyle Wingfield writes for The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the
Monroe County Reporter and other
newspapers. Reach him and read
more at www.bit.ly/KyleWingfield.
Hello From High Falls
Get ready for High Falls Christmas
BY MARGARET SIGRETTO
mjpegss@att. net
I was amazed at the number
of people that turned out for
Josh Purdy and his staff at
the Park for the Halloween
Festival.
There were 850 people
including 350 children! A
tremendous success. Josh
did admit there were some
parking issues for a minute
but all turned out to be
great fun for the kids, lots
of treats, costumes, and of
course a “spooky” hike down
to the bottom of the falls. If
you didn’t make it this year,
plan to take the kids next year and
expect a lot of fun.
It’s not too early to make your
plans for the “Christmas at High
Falls Program” on Dec. 9-10.
Search for clues of Santa’s visit as
you take a short walk to see the
tallest waterfall south of Atlanta,
then on to enjoy hot chocolate and
cookies with a special guest. You
are encouraged to dress in your
favorite PJ’s and bring the whole
family for this unusual Christmas
event.
Pre-registration is required
through High Falls State Park’s
Facebook page. Registration is
needed for children only and at this
time tickets are available for Dec.
9 only (kids under 1 are
free). Enjoy hot chocolate
and cookies with a spe
cial guest. Come in your
favorite Christmas PJ’s,
bring the whole family to
this special event. Space
is limited so be sure and
register. The event will
be from 5 p.m. until 7:30
p.m. on Dec. 9 and on
Saturday Dec. 10. Tickets are $6.50
each and are required for children
only between 1-12 yrs. Call the
park for more info.
As you know already, the Sunoco
service station and convenience
store has opened and seems to be
doing well and probably old news
also is the bar and grill to be open
ing sometime around Jan. 3 at the
same place it was before (at the
motel). High Falls is taking on a
new face and although we have
some that wonder if it’s a good
thing, we can hope these will be
positive changes.
High Falls State Park was
awarded the extremely presti
gious ‘Most Outstanding Park
Operation Award” at the recent
2016 Manager’s Conference.
Congratulations to Josh Purdy and
his team at the park.
Hope all of you got out to vote. I
for one am eternally grateful it is
over.
Thanksgiving is here and it is
beginning to actually feel like Fall.
It feels wonderful to have some cool
days for a change, just have to keep
praying for rain.
Until next time remember:
“Challenges are what make life
interesting, overcoming them is
what makes life meaningful.”
Margaret Sigretto writes about
High Falls for the Reporter. Email
her your story ideas at mjpegss@att.
net.