Newspaper Page Text
BROUNCARE VS OBAMACARE
Rep Paul Broun plans to introduce his own health care reform bill:
Page 6A
REGION PLAY BEGINS
The Commerce Tigers will open region ploy
Friday night with Athens Academy: Page 1B
Vol. 134
No. 33
16 Pages
2 Sections
50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875
Sides Close Oil Hospital Sale
Agreement Could Go To
Attorney General This Week
creek don’t rise, maybe by
Commerce
Political Fomm
Set Oct. 16
The Commerce Area
Business Association
and the Jackson County
Farm Bureau will hold a
political forum Tuesday
Oct. 20, for candidates
running for city council
and school board seats in
Commerce. The election
is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The event will be held at
7 p.m. at the Commerce
Civic Center. Greg Pittman
of the Farm Bureau will
moderate the forum.
The two groups invite
citizens to submit ques
tions. To ask one or all
candidates a question,
submit it in writing via
email to mark@main-
streetnews.com or pres
ent it to CABA no later
than its noon meeting
Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Questions will be
screened by a CABA panel
and presented in advance
to the candidates.
The following candi
dates have qualified:
For mayor pro tem,
Keith Burchett and
Sammy Thomason; for
Ward 1, Archie D. Chaney
Please Turn to Page 3A
msm
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1
Sunny: Low, 54; high, 70;
0% chance rain
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
Mostly cloudy: Low, 57; high,
72; 20% chance rain
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3
’■ , V-'
Partly cloudy: Low, 51; high,
75; 20% chance rain
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4
Partly cloudy: Low, 53; high,
75; 20% chance rain
Precipitation this month
7.65 inches
Precipitation This Year
38.75 Inches
INDEX
Births 3B
Church News 4B
Classified Ads 6-8B
Calendar 3A
Crime News 6A
News Roundup 2A
Obituaries 5B
Opinions 4A
School News 8A
Sports 1-2B
Social News 3B
4 8 7 9 1 4 1 4 1 " g
By Mark Beardsley
If the process for sell
ing BJC Medical Center
to Tennessee-based
Restoration Healthcare
goes as scheduled, Georgia
Attorney General Thurbert
Baker will hold a public
hearing on the subject Nov.
16.
That’s by no means a
sure thing, but the process
grinds slowly forward and
could be completed by the
end of the year.
“God willing and the
the end of the year we can
get things done,’’ observed
Charles Blair, chairman of
the BJC Medical Center
Authority.
Blair updated the author
ity on the progress of the
sale during the authority’s
14-minute monthly meeting
Monday afternoon.
“We hope that we’re going
to be in a position to file
with the attorney gen
eral this week,’’ said Blair.
“Everything should be
about finished.’’
The “file’’ is 2,500-pages
of exhibits and attachments
that includes a “final’’ draft
of the agreement between
BJC and Restoration
Healthcare.
Baker has already set the
tentative date for the hear
ing, which will be held at East
By Mark Beardsley
The Commerce Down
town Development
Authority (DDA) hopes to
fill the vacancy created by
the resignation of execu
tive director Hasco Craver
by the end of the year.
Meeting last Wednesday
for the first time since
Craver left to join the
Northeast Georgia
Development Center, the
DDA focused on moving
forward.
“We can all recognize
what a difference he made
for our board and how in
the past couple of years
the downtown has taken
off,’’ commented chair
man Clark Hill.
Hill named members
Claudine Smith, Tricia
Massey and David Sanders
to a committee to screen
applicants for Craver’s job
and for an open position
on the board.
Before he left, Craver
posted the job opening
and a job description on
several websites.
“I think with this econo
my, we’ll get some really
good candidates,’’ Hill pre
dicted. He also suggested
that the DDA needs an
“interim" executive direc-
Jackson Comprehensive
High School.
Assuming Baker approves
the arrangement, the two
sides will sign the final ver
sion of the agreement, after
which Baker will have 30
days to approve or reject it,
according to Blair.
“We’re getting down to
what we hope will be the
Please Turn to Page 3A
tor.
At the suggestion of
Massey, the group agreed
to ask Craver to submit
to an “exit interview"
to advise the DDA on
improvements it might
need to make.
Craver, said Hill, was “so
organized" that the DDA
should be able to function
smoothly until a successor
is hired.
“All of the events are
organized by the four
points of Main Street," he
noted. “Every event has a
file folder."
Upcoming events
include the rescheduled
“movie in the park" Oct.
16 and the Downtown
Trick-Or-Treat Oct. 30.
In a related matter,
Hill reported that the
DDA received a letter
from the Department of
Community Affairs, prais
ing the “thorough report"
Craver filed of the DDA’s
2009 activities and con
gratulating the DDA for
“meeting all four points
successfully." The letter
said the DDA “surpassed"
the DCA’s expectations
for the year.
Cont. on Page 3A
Jason Wolfe
accepts his
daily dose of
methadone from
Sarah Power, a
licensed prac
tical nurse at
the Robert W.
Dail Memorial
Treatment
Center. Dosages
are carefully
monitored and
adjusted to
match the
patient’s toler
ance for opiates.
Offering Hope
Methadone Treatment Center Gives
Addicts A Chance To Resume Normal Lives
By Mark Beardsley
Jason Wolfe, who grew up in Commerce but now
lives in Toccoa, first came to the Robert W. Dail
Memorial Treatment Center on Hospital Road think
ing he’d get cheap methadone to support his addic
tion to prescription pain medications.
Clean for two years now, he gives God and the
treatment center equal credit for helping him put his
life back together.
Wolfe, 29, is one of about 240 drug addicts in the
clinic’s treatment program, many of whom show up
every day for a carefully monitored dose of metha
done that keeps their physiological need for opiates
at bay for 24 hours, enabling them to work their way
back to normal lives.
September was National Recovery Month, but cen
ters like the Dail Memorial Treatment Center remain
largely stereotyped as places where addicts get a sub
stitute for heroin or other opiates.
For Wolfe, the clinic has been a godsend.
“I got clean, I got to be able to see my life, to see
where I was messing up," he says. “They set up a
treatment plan with you, you define the goals you
want to reach and you work toward that the whole
time you’re here."
For Wolfe, the goals include repairing his relation
ship with his estranged wife, and he believes that his
treatment at Dail Memorial will make that possible.
Wolfe has a long history of drug abuse that started
with marijuana and alcohol, included some cocaine
and eventually led to prescription medications after
he was put on pain morphine and Lortab for pain
from a broken leg.
Twenty-nine-year old “John" has a similar story. He’s
been in treatment for eight months after coming to
the center because his addiction to prescription medi
cations was affecting his ability as a father.
“I got to the point where I wasn’t being the father I
needed to be," he said.
His abuse of pain medications started after a motor
vehicle wreck when he was prescribed Vicodin.
When the doctor took him off Vicodin in nine
months, “it was like a slap in the face to my body," he
said. “They don’t tell you when they give you medi
cine for nine months it’s going to be hard to get off
of it. Your body goes through a horrific change. It’s
hard, very hard."
That led him to buy pills on the street. Eventually,
Please Turn to Page 5A
o
How Does
Methadone
Work?
Methadone was
developed in the 1940s
as a painkiller substi
tute for morphine.
"Opioids" act in the
brain on pain, mood
and other emotions.
Heroin, Demerol,
OxyContin and Vicodin
are opioids.
So is Methadone,
but during the 1960s
doctors learned that
if administered in a
"maintenance dose"
as part of a recovery
program, methadone
helps restore more
normal brain function.
Properly administered,
it does not make a per
son feel drugged or
high, and it takes away
the craving for other
drugs for 24 hours.
Methadone treat
ment for opioid addic
tion has been likened
to taking insulin to
treat diabetes. While
some addicts can
eventually cease taking
methadone success
fully, the longer a per
son stays in treatment,
the greater the chance
for a successful recov
ery, according to the
Addiction Treatment
Forum.
Methadone treat
ment costs $13 per
day.
Taste Of Jackson Is
Thursday At Civic Center
The annual Taste of Jackson and Business Showcase
will be held Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Commerce
Civic Center.
The Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce has
added food cooking demonstrations, a children’s cook
ing area, and a dessert-cooking contest that is open to
the public. Vendors will give away specialty items and a
“taste” of their cuisine.
A number of door prizes will be given away.
This event has been moved up to the first Thursday in
October rather than the first Thursday in November as it
has been in the past, due to the many holiday conflicts
with the November date.
There is a $10 admission fee. The tickets are on sale at
the chamber in Jefferson and will also be available at the
door the evening of the event. A ticket buys entry into the
showcase, a chance to win door prizes, a taste from all
the food vendors, a chance to view the food demonstra
tions, access to the children’s section, an event tote bag
and a chance at the grand prize.
Visit www.jacksoncountyga.com for more information.
DDA Hopes To
Hire Director
By End Of Year