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SEE PAGE IB SEE PAGE 10A Wrestling Tigers Get Head Start On Next Season Candidates For BOC Chair Spar Over Debt From Reservoir Vol. 133 No. 19 22 Pages 3 Sections Wednesday JUNE 25, 2008 mainstreetnews.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Management Stands Behind Former Surgeon The management of BJC Medical Center stands firm ly behind its former general surgeon in the wake of his resignation and a malpractice lawsuit. Dr. Keith Ash submitted his resignation from the medical center staff June 9; the next day the hospital was served with a malpractice lawsuit filed by four of Ash’s former patients. The issue came up at Monday’s meeting of the BJC Medical Center Authority the board that manages the medi cal center. “It was just bad timing that he resigned on Monday and we were served notice of the suit on Tuesday,’’ commented Jim Yarborough, CEO of the medical center. According to Yarborough, officials had known for some time that Ash wanted to relo cate to a larger community where he could be part of a group. At BJC, he was a sole practitioner, subject to being on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Yarborough called the alle gations against the hospital “without merit,’’ and said the authority’s attorney “is per plexed about how they (the Please Turn to Page 3A THURSDAY FRIDAY Partly cloudy: Isolated T-storms: Low, 70; high, 95; Low, 70; high, 93; 10% chance rain 30% chance rain SATURDAY SUNDAY Isolated T-storms: Scattered T-storms: Low, 69; high, 91; Low, 69; high, 88; 30% chance rain 40% chance rain Reservoir Levels Commerce: 699.5 (1.9 feet above full) Bear Creek: 694.84 (.16 feet below full) Rainfall this month 2.1 inches Rainfall This Year 23.2 Inches INDEX Births 7B Church News 4B Classified Ads 1-4C Calendar 3A Crime News 8-9A News Roundup 2A Obituaries 5B Opinions 4-5 A Political Forum . . 1OA & 3B Sports 1-2B Social News 7-8B CONTACT US Phone: 706-335-2927 FAX: 70G3 87-5435 E-mail: news@mainstreetnews.com ma rk@ma i n streetnews. com brandon@mainstreetnews.com teresa@mainstreetnews.com Mail: P.O. Box 459, Commerce, GA, 30529 First Farmers' Market The first City to City Farmers’ Market opened last Saturday with nine vendors and scores of customers. Most of the vendors sold out of their produce, including Melanie Freedman, foreground, who sold more than 90 pounds — all that she had — of yellow squash and zuc chini squash. The market will be in Commerce the next two Saturdays, June 28 and July 5, after which it will be in Commerce the first and third Saturdays and in Jefferson the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. Special Blood Drive On July 3 To Honor Nicholson's Todd Booth By Mark Beardsley Having received in excess of 30 pints during a battle with a can cer-related disease, Todd Booth of Nicholson knows the importance of donating blood. So do his church and friends, and as Booth receives what may be a life-saving transplant of bone marrow Thursday July 3, they’ll be holding a blood drive in his honor at New Hope Baptist Church. The American Red Cross blood drive, set from 2:00 p.m. to 8 p.m., has two purposes. One is to honor Booth while helping the Red Cross meet its blood needs. The other is to raise awareness of the National Bone Marrow Registry that helped Booth find a donor. Diagnosed in May 2007 with myelodysplasia — a disease that will lead to leukemia — Booth’s best hope for remission is the transplant of the blood-producing marrow to replace his bone mar row. In the yearlong fight, Booth, 44, has learned a lot about blood and bone marrow. His road to a bone marrow transplant began when Booth saw Dr. Neel in Commerce to find out why he had a shortness of breath, and the cardiologist dis covered that his hemoglobin was exceptionally low. “He basically said, ‘I don’t know, it could be in the leukemia family,”’ recalled Booth. “That was ‘‘That was like dropping a bomb on me. To be honest, I thought it had a lot to do with my heart.” — Todd Booth like dropping a bomb on me. To be honest, I thought it had a lot to do with my heart.’’ His treatment took him to the Georgia Cancer Center in Athens, where he got his first transfusion of two units of blood and his first diagnosis. He began taking some of the target-specific chemotherapy drugs and getting two units of blood every other week, and platelets as frequently as weekly. After two rounds of chemotherapy, he started main taining his blood level. “In August, I was doing great,’’ he remembered. By Thanksgiving, however, blood levels were falling again, and doctors at the Georgia Cancer Center decided it was time to get a second opinion, so Booth went to the Dekalb Medical Center for another bone marrow biopsy. “The doctor said we needed to look at a transplant,’’ Booth said. Many of his friends asked if they could be tested for a match. His pastor, the Rev. Mike Stowers, contacted the Red Cross, which For information on bone mar row transplants, go to www. marrow.org For information on donating blood, go to www.givelife.org got a grant to do some screening. They scheduled the blood drive and added the screening. “They will just test people with a mouth swab and see if they’re interested in donating bone mar row,’’ said Stowers, who added that there is no charge for the screening. “We hope to have at least 50 people,’’ said Stowers. “Of that, I would expect 35 to be able to donate. I’d like to shoot for a hun dred. You don’t have to be able to donate blood to be a bone marrow donor, and people could make a donation to the Red Cross or sign up for the bone marrow registry.’’ New Hope Baptist Church is located at 211 Stapler Drive, at the corner of U.S. 441 and Old Kings Bridge Road a mile south of Benton Elementary School. Booth will enter the hospital Thursday to begin chemotherapy. Essentially, the process destroys his bone marrow to prepare him for its replacement. He’s been walking daily to build up stamina. Booth operates Auto Paint Specialty, on the Commerce Road in Athens. The family also owns the Carquest stores in Commerce and Jefferson. Music, Food To Highlight City Lights Festival Sat. Road Race, Farmers Market, Car Show, Food, Arts & Crafts, Games, Music & Fireworks Offered Hundreds of people are expect ed in downtown Commerce Saturday for a festival that promises to offer something for everyone. A farmer’s market and road race will kick off the City Lights Downtown Festival at 7:00 and 8:00 Saturday, while a pre Fourth of July fireworks exhibition at dusk will end it. In between, visitors will find a car show, food, arts and crafts booths, music, games and other entertainment all day long. The first event — the Star Chase 5K Road Race—will start and end at Willoughby Park on Clayton Street, a new venue. Most of the race will be along Broad and Elm streets downtown. “The public needs to recognize that there may be a delay in traffic for half an hour Saturday morning along that route,’’ advises Hasco Craver, execu tive director of the Downtown Development Authority, which hosts the festival. Everything else takes place in or adjacent to Spencer Park, located on South Elm Street. More than 30 booths are due to be open by 8:00 a.m„ offering all sorts of food from barbe cue to Jamaican, from funnel cakes to snow cones, not to mention oil paintings, purses and pocketbooks, hand-blown glass, wooden objects, baskets, potted plants and plant contain ers. There will be an “animal encounters’’ exhibit as part of a “kids’ zone’’ in the city park ing lot across Pine Street from Spencer Park. The number of food booths was trimmed back this year in recognition of what’s already available in the downtown. Festival Schedule 7:00 - farmers' market 8:00 - road race 8:00 - booths open 10:00 - car show 1 1:00 - music begins Dusk - fireworks Music Schedule 1 1:00 - The Solstice Sisters 12:15 - Peter Aland and Some Good 1:30 - Curley Maple 2:45- 16 Tons 4:00 - The Healers 6:00 - Fatback Deluxe 8:00 - Tommy Crain and the Crosstown All stars “We’ve got three restaurants now,’’ Craver noted. “People are going to want to drop in for food and for air conditioning during the festival.’’ Music begins at 11:00. Groups to be featured include The Solstice Sisters, Athens, a folk, country bluegrass band; Peter Aland and Some Good, Athens, an acoustic jazz band; Curley Maple, Athens, featur ing bluegrass/Americana music; 16 Tons, Athens, a bluegrass group; The Healers, Athens, a traditional blues band; Fatback Deluxe, Atlanta, an acoustic blues band; and Tommy Crain and The Crosstown Allstars, an Atlanta band that plays the blues and classic Southern Rock. The car show will take up all parking spaces on South Broad and South Elm streets from Central Avenue to below Spencer Park, Craver notes. “We have plenty of off-street parking. Look for the signs,’’ he advises. Fhe Fun Of Science Ruhani Gilanie Qadri, 12, stirs a chemical mixture as “Mad Scientist” Nina Kirkpatrick adds chemicals to a potion whose ultimate reaction will produce a foamy “elephant’s tooth- brush.’The science program was part of last Thursday’s Story Hour program at the Commerce Public Library. This Thursday, juggler Ron Anglin will perform at 2:00.