Cost of health care going up Friday for a half million Georgians

6/30/2005
Associated Press


ATLANTA (AP) — The cost of health care for more than a half million Georgians will surge sharply upward Friday when new rules for the state health benefit plan take effect, among them a surcharge for smokers and a whopping $100 copayment for certain types of drugs.

State officials argue the aggressive cost-cutting rules for the State Health Benefit Plan are necessary to offset a projected $446 million deficit. The plan covers some 650,000 state employees, teachers, their dependents and retirees.

State employees, many drawn to low-paying government jobs at a time health benefits were good, say it's another in a series of pocketbook blows that weakens their morale and exposes them to new health risks by forcing them to choose cheaper drugs that may not be as effective.

Members of the plan are being hit with a triple whammy of premium increases, surcharges and hikes in their required copayments.

For the state's most popular health care plan, the preferred provider option, premiums are rising an average 9.5 percent. For an individual, the cost will increase from $64.96 per month to $71.14. Family coverage will increase from $198.32 monthly to $217.16.

Smokers will be hit with a $40 per month surcharge, and there will be an extra $30 per month fee for any member of the plan whose working spouse could qualify for benefits under his or her private employer's plan but chooses to enroll in the state plan.

And then there are the new copayments for drugs, designed to steer employees to the less expensive generic equivalents.

For generic drugs, the copayment remains $10. For the state's preferred list of brand drugs, the copayment is increasing from $25 last year to $30 effective Friday. For nonpreferred brand drugs — among them widely advertised products such as Zoloft and Zyrtec — the copayment will be $100.

Last year, nonpreferred brand drugs cost $40 for basic plan members while those in another level of membership benefits paid 20 percent of the cost, up to $100, for nonpreferred brand drugs.

Raymond Wozniak, 57, a Department of Corrections employee in Atlanta, said he won't be affected by the smoking or spouse surcharges but fears the increased cost of copayments.

``As a former nurse, I can say that generic drugs could vary as much as 10 percent in strength from brand name drugs. That's one reason they're cheaper. When we're being forced to take generic drugs because of our increasing personal budget pinch, we're playing roulette with our health,'' he said.

Pat Pickett, 54, a school librarian in Berrien County undergoing treatment for cancer, said her brand name medicine costs $235 a month and fears there may not be a generic substitute for it.

The new $100 copay ``could really hurt a lot of people,'' she said.

Too, Pickett said she fears teachers will find their 2 percent raises this year more than eaten up by increased health care costs, and that paraprofessionals will simply leave the classroom.

``They make such a small salary now. One reason we can get such qualified people is for the health care. Now they may start looking other places,'' she said.

State Rep. Mickey Channell, D-Greensboro, who also will feel the pinch because he is a member of the state health plan, says it's a hard issue.

``I certainly wish some of the things we're quite so onerous. It's going to work a hardship on certain state employees. But where we find ourselves as a state is that the cost of medical inflation goes up faster than the normal rate of inflation. Financially, we've just got to deal with it. We don't have a choice,'' he said.

Channell's already gotten his doctor to give him a new prescription for cholesterol. One he previously was taking, heavily advertised on television, would have cost him a $100 copayment.

The Department of Community Health oversees the state plan. Commissioner Tim Burgess said that with double-digit inflation rates in the cost of health care, ``these benefit changes as well as increases in premiums and copays are necessary to maintain the financial viability of the plan for future years.''

Smith removes judge request

A May letter to Gov. Perdue noted that the state senator would be eligible for a new post in October

06/30/05
By Diane Wagner/Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


State Sen. Preston Smith said Wednesday he expects to run for a third term in 2006, despite a May 10 letter to the governor in which he expressed interest in a judicial appointment.

The Rome Republican said his missive to Gov. Sonny Perdue was meant to provide “context” for a meeting he was seeking to discuss his future. Perdue encouraged him to remain in the Georgia General Assembly, Smith said.

“As a result of our conversation, I’m comfortable that I’m in the right place right now,” he said.

“The issue went away within a couple of days of handing him that letter.”

The letter was obtained from the governor’s office under the Georgia Open Records Act. In it Smith, an attorney, noted that he would be eligible in October for one of two vacancies on the State Board of Workers Compensation. The three directors serve as appellate administrative law judges.

“As you know from our discussion last year, I view my time in the legislature as somewhat limited,” Smith wrote. “And although I have truly appreciated the honor of serving, I have begun evaluating the best way for me to continue serving in a more stable environment.”

He also mentioned a new Superior Court judgeship in the Cherokee Judicial District that he could fill if he moved to Bartow or Gordon county. Smith sponsored a Senate bill similar to the House bill that created the seat during the 2005 session.

On Wednesday Smith said his talks with Perdue last year, and in May, stemmed from frustration with partisan politics and the difficulty of balancing his legislative duties with his full-time legal career.

“I wanted to seek advice from the governor because he’s had experience,” Smith said. “He encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing. He felt I was important in the legislature as someone that people from both parties sought counsel from.”

Perdue’s spokesman Shane Hix said a decision on the Workers Comp judgeships could come as early as this week. Hix was unable to provide the short list of candidates late Wednesday but said he does not think Smith was considered.

“I think the governor really likes him where he is,” Hix said.

The Judicial Nominating Committee will likely meet later this summer to recommend candidates to the Cherokee Circuit bench, he said

Smith has risen quickly within the party ranks, becoming a floor leader for the governor during his freshman year as senator. He was highly visible this session, pushing through a tort reform package and serving as an officer of several powerful committees. However, he shied away from seeking a leadership position when the Republicans gained a majority in the Senate.

“I decided it didn’t fit me,” Smith said. “I’m not comfortable with being a partisan leader because I don’t always follow the line. I base my decisions on what people in my district would want.”

Although he has been named as a possible candidate for attorney general or lieutenant governor, Smith said he is interested in the judicial branch of government. His letter to Perdue mentions preparations for a future on the Georgia Court of Appeals or Supreme Court.

For the time being, however, Smith said he wants to continue his work in the legislature.

“The letter was never about stopping in the middle of the term, but more about the future,” he said. “My expectation is that I will complete this term and run for re-election.”

SEN. SMITH’S LETTER TO GOV. PERDUE

The following is the text of a letter Sen. Preston Smith sent to Gov. Sonny Perdue on May 10.

Dear Governor Perdue:

I wanted to express my appreciation for another successful year of your administration. It has been a great honor to serve with you and I look forward to many other opportunities to work together.

I am writing to express my interest in an appointment to a judgeship for which I would become eligible to serve on, or after, October 29th of this year. There are two vacancies which are coming available this year as Directors on the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, who serve as appellate administrative law judges. Their four year terms are scheduled to expire this year and, as I understand it, the statute calls for them to continue serving until they are reappointed or replaced with a successor.

As you know from our discussion last year, I view my time in the legislature as somewhat limited. And although I have truly appreciated the honor of serving, I have begun evaluating the best way for me to continue serving in a more stable environment. As you know, balancing legislative responsibilities with a separate full-time career is difficult. I would love to have an opportunity some day to serve as an appellate judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals or Supreme Court and I know that judicial experience would help to prepare me. Staying close to home as a Superior Court Judge in the Rome Judicial Circuit would be a most attractive option and I expect that one of those positions will open up within the next few years.

However, in the interim, the best alternative may be serving as a Director on the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. There is also a Superior Court Judgeship which has just been created for the Cherokee Judicial District (covering the Bartow and Gordon county portion of my Senate district) for which I believe I would be eligible in October if I moved my residence from Floyd County.

I would very much like to discuss this possibility and seek your advice and appointment to this position. Thank you again for all that you have done to lead our great state. I recognize how busy you are, but if you have a few minutes to speak with me about this I would sincerely appreciate it.

Sincerely, Preston W. Smith

State’s smoking starts Friday

While some exemptions will exist, most businesses will be entirely “no smoking.”

06/30/05
By Alan Riquelmy/Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

Ashtrays line the counter of the Huddle House on U.S. 411. On Friday, they should all be empty.

The reason for their disappearance is a state law that creates numerous restrictions on smoking. Taking effect Friday, the law restricts lighting up in most public buildings with only a few exceptions.

“On July 1, we become smoke free,” said Huddle House general manager Lynne Walker. “I believe people are still going to come here, and it’s motivated a lot of us to quit smoking.”

Huddle House is just one of many establishments affected by the new law, which also includes bowling alleys, pool halls and enclosed places of employment, said Assistant City Attorney David Smith.

The ban is just fine with John Matthews, who shared a meal with Richard RuBright at Rome’s Huddle House Wednesday. Both are nonsmokers.

“I love it,” Matthews said. “We’re sitting here trying to eat, and I hate the smell of smoke. I don’t think I should have to breathe other people’s smoke while I eat.”

RuBright said he neither favored nor opposed the smoking ban, though he added that if the state imposed the law, alternatives should be provided.

Jerry Watwood, who was smoking Wednesday at the Huddle House, said he won’t be returning to the establishment if he can’t light up.

Several exemptions to the ban do exist. Private residences, hotel rooms, retail tobacco stores, long-term care facilities, outdoor areas in places of employment, smoking areas in international airports, manufacturers, importers or wholesalers of tobacco products, private and semiprivate rooms in health care facilities, bars and restaurants that only allow those older than 17 and convention meeting rooms, as long as specific requirements are met.

Most businesses such as restaurants, though, fall squarely in the “no smoking” category.

“We’re just going to comply with the rules,” said Charnae Knight, public relations specialist with Waffle House. “We’ve already informed our staff of the new law. This is nothing new to us. We don’t feel that it will affect our business.”

Sean McCooey, co-owner of Jefferson’s, predicted his business won’t be affected negatively from the smoking ban.

Jefferson’s is currently non-smoking through the day, changing to smoking at 8 p.m.

A city of Rome ordinance requires businesses to designate themselves smoking, nonsmoking or dual. Jefferson’s chose to switch back and forth each day — a change that stops come Friday.

“Now, we’re just going to cut it out completely,” McCooey said. “We have so many families that still come in at night. I’m not going to prohibit somebody from coming in.”

Jefferson’s could conceivably be a smoking business if only those 17 and older were allowed inside and it had the proper signage.

Smith said he expects the legality of switching from a nonsmoking to a smoking establishment during certain times of the day to be decided by the courts.

“Personally, I don’t think that’s what the law intended, but I don’t think it would prohibit it,” Smith said. “I am sure there would be some debate about that issue.”

While some portions of Rome’s smoking ordinance effectively become void Friday, such as businesses declaring themselves smoking or nonsmoking, other parts stay intact. Smokers must still remain at least 25 feet from a public entrance to a nonsmoking building.

Romans agree with president

Bush: U.S. should stay in Iraq until country stabilized

06/29/05
From staff, AP reports

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — As President George W. Bush tried to reassure the nation about the United States’ role in Iraq on Tuesday, his comments fell on the appreciative ears of a number of Floyd County’s military families.

During his speech, the President said that setting a timetable for leaving Iraq would send the wrong message to the American and Iraqi troops and the insurgents. “We will stay in the fight until the fight is won,” he said to a resounding applause.

“I hope they’ll be out of there as soon as they can be, but not until things are more stabilized over there,” said Rome’s John William Davis. “I agree with what the president said; we don’t want to see those young people’s lives wasted because we pulled out too soon.”

Davis’ son, John Robert Davis, was medically discharged from the Marines in February after spending much of his time in Afghanistan. His nephew, Rockmart’s Clay Osborne, with the Army’s First Infantry, is currently in Baghdad.

Debora Boyer of Cave Spring, whose husband, Army Staff Sgt. Phillip Boyer, has been in Iraq since September, also agreed with Bush’s call to stay the course. “I think this sent a good message to my husband and other troops, and those of us at home,” Boyer said. “If we want to have freedom here, it takes people like my husband and the other men and women to fight over there.”

Davis, who served in the Air Force from 1972-76, said a timetable is not needed in Iraq. “What the president is doing is best for the conflict,” he said. “I think a lot of people see the news reporting young men and women being killed, and so they’re thinking more with their hearts than their minds.”

The problem, he said, is the situation changes daily because of the number of insurgents moving into Iraq from other countries, making it impossible to set a pull-out date. “Just like President Bush said, when you set a date, the enemy simply waits you out. If we don’t stop it there, they’ll be knocking on our doors again,” Davis said.

Boyer said a timetable can’t be set for establishing the Iraqi government. “You can’t set a time frame on training the Iraqi soldiers, at least in my opinion. We need to stay need to stay where we’re needed until they get their government ready to take over,” she said.

President Bush on Tuesday appealed for the nation’s patience for difficult and dangerous work ahead in Iraq, rejecting calls either for a timetable for withdrawal or sending more troops to battle the enemy.

“Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight,” Bush said. “And sending more Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever.”

He also said Iraqis must be reassured that “America will not leave before the job is done.”

In an evening address from an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq, Bush acknowledged the toll of the 27-month-old war. At the same time, he aimed to convince skeptical Americans that his “clear path forward” to victory needs only time — not any changes — to be successful.

“Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real,” Bush said.

Bush said he knows Americans are questioning whether the heavy sacrifices in Iraq — more than 1,700 Americans dead — are worth it. “It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country,” he said.

He announced new steps the military is taking to prepare Iraqi security forces to take over the anti-insurgency battle: conducting operations together with Iraqi units, embedding U.S. transition teams inside Iraqi units and intensive management training inside the Iraqi Defense and Interior ministries.

“As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga, said after visiting Guantanamo Bay and attending a Saturday funeral for a Georgia soldier killed in Iraq, he feels the U.S. must stay the course. “What we’re doing in Iraq is right. It’s not only right morally, but it’s right for the future of peace and freedom and democracy,” Isakson said.

Bush said Iraq has become the central front in the war on terror. Fighters have been captured from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and other nations, he said.

He described the insurgents in raw terms, calling them “ruthless killers” who commit “savage acts of violence” on innocents. He said the terrorists will not shake U.S. resolve in Iraq or elsewhere. “The terrorists do not understand America. The American people do not falter under threat — and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins.”

“The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of Sept. 11 — if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like bin Laden.” He referred to fugitive terror leaders Osama bin Laden, whom the United States holds responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks; and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian responsible for scores of attacks in Iraq.

“For the sake of our nation’s security, this will not happen on my watch,” Bush said.

The speech was a tricky balancing act for the president, believed necessary by White House advisers who have seen dozens of deadly insurgent attacks each day eat into Americans’ support for the war — and for the president — and increase discomfort among even Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Democrats and other critics said the country needs more specifics.

“We just don’t have a clue what the criteria for success is,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Vietnam combat veteran. “People are still willing to give the president time if he would just level with them. ... You can’t just present a rosy scenario as if everything is going to be alright.”

But Bush said that significant progress has been made, while much work remains. “The new Iraqi security forces are proving their courage every day,” Bush said. He said more than 2,000 have been killed.

Bush said setting a timetable for withdrawing 135,000 American troops would be “a serious mistake” that could demoralize Iraqis and American troops and embolden the enemy. He also rejected calls by some to send more troops to Iraq, saying it could discourage Iraqis from moving as quickly as possible to take over the security of their country.

Instead, he argued for maintaining his present three-pronged strategy: hunting down insurgents, equipping Iraqi security forces to take over the anti-insurgency fight and helping Iraqi political leaders in the transition to a permanent democratic government.

Supreme Court strikes down Ten Commandments

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott speaks near a granite slab bearing the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds in Austin, Texas in this Oct. 12, 2004 file photo. (AP)

06/27/05
Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) — A split Supreme Court struck down Ten Commandments displays in courthouses Monday, ruling that two exhibits in Kentucky cross the line between separation of church and state because they promote a religious message.

City seeks a parking solution

06/26/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Drive down Broad Street on any given weekday, and you’ll be hard pressed to find an empty space right where you want it.

That doesn’t mean spaces aren’t available, according to a $15,000 study by Walker Parking Consultants. As long as there isn’t a special event going on, you just have to be willing to walk.

“The study says that most of the time there’s enough spaces, but they’re not where people want to park, and they’re not free,” said City Manager John Bennett. “We’ve got enough spaces, but the way they’re managed, people don’t want to use them.”

Downtown has 337 on-street parking spaces, with 246 of them on Broad Street. Those spaces are free for two hours during the day, while the 705 spaces in both the Fourth Avenue parking deck and Law Enforcement deck cost $3 Monday to Friday.

That translates to some 2,700 downtown employees in addition to numerous shoppers fighting for two-hour, free parking during the week.

“We don’t have 2,700 free parking spaces for employees plus parking for the public, especially when special events are going on,” said Ann Arnold, Rome’s Downtown Development Authority director.

Around 2,000 spaces exist across downtown when private and public lots are included, as well as on-street parking.

Parking meters aren’t the answer, Arnold said, since downtown businesses must compete with strip centers and Mount Berry Square — stores with free parking.

“Am I going to choose to go downtown and pay?” Arnold questioned. “Probably not. It’s certainly not that way in Atlanta, but you know what? We’re not Atlanta.”

Bennett doesn’t oppose meters, though he emphasized that downtown business owners need a say in the matter.

Arnold said she believes it’s the government’s responsibility to provide public parking, though it falls on business owners to tell their employees not to park on Broad Street.

“If you go to Wal-Mart, employees don’t park in the best spaces. They park along the edges. We really need to look to the property and business owners to encourage their employees to park away from the primary parking spaces.”

The search for (free) downtown parking

A city ordinance states a two-hour parking limit exists downtown from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, though Saturday parking is enforced only twice a month.

Moving a car from one spot to another won’t evade a ticket. Rome law is specific, noting the two-hour limit doesn’t have to be consecutive.

According to Arnold, parking enforcement officer Luke Motes can’t tell when a vehicle has left and returned. However, the city has occasionally voided tickets when someone explains they left downtown and returned.

“That’s probably one of the only flaws in the program — not knowing when they came and went,” Arnold said. “We have to rely on the public for their honesty. In the case of an error on our part, we’re certainly going to void a ticket.”

First Avenue and Riverside Parkway form the west and east boundaries of downtown, respectively. The Oostanaula River forms the north boundary, and the south boundary falls on First Street.

The city manages three lots — the Midtown Transit Station, its annex behind The Harvest Moon Café and the First Baptist Church parking lot. Spaces can be leased for $20 each month.

City-managed lots, as well as two-hour on-street parking, are patrolled by Motes.

Parking at the county’s Fourth Avenue parking deck and Law Enforcement deck — 705 spaces — is available for $23 each month.

The Forum civic center also leases 12 of its 148 spaces. The lot is supposed to be enforced by guard gates, though the gates are usually unused — and parking is free — because of mechanical problems.

Parking in the lot is $2 per hour or $5 per day. Spaces at The Forum cost $23 monthly to rent.

While the leased parking lots are reserved for paying customers, Arnold advised downtown visitors to use the areas after workers go home for the day and on weekends, when they aren’t being used. “After hours, anybody can park there,” she said.

Downtown parking problems aren’t limited to Rome. Athens-Clarke County has its own share of difficulties, having just more than 100,000 people living in the consolidated municipality.

“Our problem is that The University of Georgia is adjacent to downtown,” said Sandi Turner, public information officer.

The city’s downtown spaces are metered, though parking officers patrol the area as well. The one- and two-hour limits are enforced Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The concept, Turner said, is to free up spaces for new cars throughout the day. The government prohibits putting more change in a meter after your time is up and will issue a ticket if you’re caught by an officer.

Penalties range from $3 to $5.

A public parking deck does sit downtown, though only the first hour is free.

“There’s not enough parking downtown,” Turner said. “They’re talking about building another deck, but even then that deck will fill immediately and we’ll need another. The thing people complain the most about is parking.”

Valdosta, a city of some 43,000, also has a parking problem — or at least the belief that there’s one.

“In any community, there’s always a parking perception problem,” said Niki Knox, Main Street director for Valdosta.

Valdosta’s downtown has two-hour, on-street parking from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, though unlike Rome a car may leave and return without receiving a ticket.

A lone parking officer patrols downtown, much like Rome, ticketing cars that exceed the two-hour limit.

“You have to do what works for your community,” Knox said. “What works in one community may not work for another. We’re about making people aware of where parking is and where they need to go.”

Many questions, some answers

Informing locals and visitors alike about where parking is available in downtown Rome is one fix that city and county officials are examining.

Rome and Floyd County are poised to split a $26,250 contract for an exterior signage system design and wayfinding master plan.

In other words, it is a study that will detail what kind of signs should exist downtown and where they should be.

“If you’re new to the community, and you’ve got to buy a tag, where do you go?” County Manager Kevin Poe rhetorically questioned. “The signs would let people know what building’s what.”

Bennett noted several county buildings are spread across downtown. The County Administration Building, which houses Poe’s office, the county finance department and the public defender’s office, is in the old courthouse on Fourth Avenue. The new courthouse next to The Forum contains magistrate and superior courts. The historic courthouse, just next door, holds the tax assessor’s office as well as Floyd County Commission chambers.

“It’s intended to define the buildings,” Bennett said of future signage. “Where the county is now (on East Fourth Avenue), some people still call it the old post office. It’s really the County Administration Building. We’ve got the same problem with the Carnegie Building. You say the old library, local people know what you’re talking about.”

Signs for drivers are also in the plan. When motorists enter downtown, signs would direct them to government buildings and available parking.

Once someone has parked, additional signs would help the pedestrian find a destination.

The signs could help increase parking deck usage. Poe said he sometimes rides through the decks during downtown events and has never seen them full.

But is downtown’s parking problem caused by people not fully using the decks, pedestrians not willing to walk the distance? Or is there just not enough parking?

“In the study, it says we’ve got to look at more parking,” Poe said. “It could be a deck, it could be a pedestrian bridge.”

The city hopes to build a pedestrian bridge connecting The Forum with West Third Street. Bids for the proposal should go out within two weeks.

“I think that would help,” Poe said of the various proposals. “I don’t think it’ll help people that don’t want to walk. I don’t think it’s a solution, but it would help.”

Vets ask for VA hospital

Rep. Phil Gingrey’s office expects a decision in the next few weeks.

06/26/05
By Bucky Chapman, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Doug Miller, who is holding a photograph of himself taken while he was in the Navy, is trying to get a VA hospital in Rome. Ryan Smith / Rome News-Tribune
For Doug Miller, a trip to the doctor’s office is definitely no drive down the block.

That’s why the 82-year-old World War II veteran who lives in West Rome was one of about 1,500 vets to petition U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, for a Veterans Administration hospital in Rome.

Miller, a diabetic, said a local veterans hospital would reduce the burden of traveling to out-of-town clinics, which can become discouraging and result in patients skipping treatments.

“It makes me a nervous wreck trying to get up there,” he said. “You just can’t get up one day and go over there and it be that easy.”

Miller said he goes to a clinic in Chattanooga, rather than brave Atlanta traffic. “If there was one in Rome, I could just zip in and out,” he added.

Gingrey said he is pushing for the new clinic because veterans need it.

“Older veterans are having an extremely hard time getting access to clinics,” said Gingrey. “It becomes almost impossible.”

The lawmaker added a local clinic could help veterans see a regular doctor. “A lot of the time … you don’t know who is going to be there, and they need to see a familiar face,” he said.

According to the congressman’s office, the approximately 60,000 veterans in Northwest Georgia travel to clinics in Atlanta, Alabama and Tennessee.

Most of those clinics are at capacity, said Becky Ruby, communications director for the congressman’s Washington office. “This will make a more feasible option for them,” she said.

Gingrey’s office said a report from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., should decide in a couple of weeks if Rome will get a VA clinic.

Currently there are no locations planned for a VA facility, or the cost of such, but the congressman’s office believes Rome’s medical community will be supportive in its beginning.

Scorned woman, 78, accused of killing beau, 85, at senior home

06/24/05
Associated Press


ATLANTA (AP) — A 78-year-old woman reportedly scorned by her 85-year-old boyfriend is accused of shooting the man to death as he was reading a newspaper at a senior citizens' home.

Lena Driskell reportedly was angry that her yearlong romance with Herman Winslow was coming to an end. Investigators said Winslow had found another companion.

So on June 10, Driskell — wearing a hairnet, stockings, bathrobe and slippers — walked with a gun to the lobby of Hightower Manor, a public-assisted complex for seniors and the disabled. She found Winslow sitting on a couch reading a newspaper, pressed a gun to his forehead and fired twice, police said.

When officers arrived, she turned toward them and waved the gun, her finger still on the trigger, police Lt. Doug Little said.

Little said she ranted, ``I did it, and I'd do it again.''

Deputy uses stun gun on intoxicated 13-year-old girl at hospital, officials say

06/24/05
Associated Press


BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — A deputy used a stun gun to control an intoxicated 13-year-old girl who kicked and scratched two nurses at a hospital, officials said.

April Rene Burleson, who is 4-foot-9 and weighs 90 pounds, had a blood alcohol level of 0.175 percent and was under the influence of marijuana and the prescription drug Xanax, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

``You have to understand, she was lashing out, kicking and scratching,'' sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi said. ``She was acting like an adult who needed to be restrained. Just because she's 13 doesn't mean she can't harm somebody.''

Burleson was picked up on a loitering charge while walking on the street before dawn Thursday. She was first brought to her mother, who agreed to have the girl medically cleared at Lee Memorial Hospital before being processed.

According to sheriff's reports, Burleson was combative with Deputy Chad Edwards before they reached the hospital, then screamed at the hospital staff and injured the nurses and Edwards.

Burleson was shocked with a Taser stun gun in the chest, then held in restraints during her exam, deputies said.

The teen was charged with loitering, disorderly public intoxication, battery and resisting an officer.

The safety of stun guns, used by more than 6,000 law enforcement agencies worldwide, have been the subject of national debate. Amnesty International found 13 Taser-related deaths in the United States and Canada in the first three months of 2005, compared with six during the same period last year.

Arizona-based Taser International says studies show the weapons are safe.

City asks about W. 3rd details

06/24/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


The city of Rome must know what will fill a redeveloped West Third Street before any land swap occurs.

“No land would change hands until they could present their side of the equation,” City Manager John Bennett said at Thursday’s meeting of the West Third/Barron Stadium Committee. “We’re not about to enter into an agreement unless we’ve got a bird in hand. It’s just not going to work that way.”

The committee met for the first time to discuss specifics of local developers Doc Kibler and Delos H. “Dee” Yancey’s plan to transform West Third into a multi-use area with retail, residences and medical offices.

Barron Stadium and the Rome-Floyd Tennis Center, on West Third Street across from the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority, would be relocated near State Mutual Stadium and Riverside Parkway under the proposal.

Committee members toured West Third facilities Thursday, returning to City Hall afterward to discuss the nuts and bolts of a possible land swap.

“The recreation offices certainly have to be relocated,” Bennett said. “Maintenance and fuel must be moved, maybe to the Public Works camp. I don’t have a way to pay for any of this.”

A proposed $4 million sports complex that would have replaced substandard Recreation Authority offices was part of a special purpose, local option sales tax package that voters rejected Tuesday.

How to pay for the demolition, construction and relocation of existing government-owned facilities is still in the air. Bennett said funds could conceivably come from the city’s general fund over a period of time, grants through the local tennis association or the redevelopment powers the city gained in Tuesday’s vote that killed the proposed SPLOST.

A redeveloped West Third is expected to produce $60 million to $100 million in taxable property.

“I think we’re looking at all the options,” Bennett said.

The difference in the cost of the land as well as financial help from the developers could be one revenue source. The land Barron Stadium, Memorial Gymnasium and the tennis courts sit on is worth $4,125,000. According to Bennett, the developers’ land near State Mutual Stadium is worth $350,000 per acre — or $4,900,000 for some 14 acres, which is about what would be swapped.

According to Bennett, the law requires that the city must get an equal or greater value in any land swap.

Committee chairman and Rome City Commissioner Wright Bagby Jr. suggested the city get an appraisal on Kibler and Yancey’s land, since one hasn’t occurred yet. The appraisal will take three to six weeks.

A joint parking agreement between the city, Floyd County and Rome Braves as well as the ownership of West Third parking decks are other issues that need fleshing out.

“We want to do it right,” Bennett said. The committee expects to receive the plans after the July Fourth holiday.

Bridge plans on the table

Previous bids have come in over budget.

06/24/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


The on-again, off-again pedestrian bridge across the Oostanaula River is again on the drawing board.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has approved plans for the bridge, which the city is expected to receive today. Assistant City Manager Jim Dixon said the city will likely seek bids on the project within two weeks. Previous bids have come in over budget.

In March, the DOT removed $1.2 million slated for the bridge’s construction, stating little progress had been made since the money was awarded in 1999.

Rome’s David Doss, chairman of the State Transportation Board, said if developers Doc Kibler and Delos H. “Dee” Yancey’s plan to develop West Third Street comes to fruition, he would reinstate the money.

“That’s in my hands, and my position hasn’t changed,” Doss said. “If you’ve got a riverwalk on one side and a West Third Street development on the other side, bingo, you have a reason for a pedestrian bridge.”

DOT has allocated $450,000 toward a riverwalk on the southeast side of the Oostanaula River. A master plan for the riverwalk is under way.

High court: Cities may seize homes for economic development

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.

Writing for the court, Justice John Paul Stevens said local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community. States are within their rights to pass additional laws restricting condemnations if residents are overly burdened, he said.

``The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including — but by no means limited to — new jobs and increased tax revenue,'' Stevens wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

``It is not for the courts to oversee the choice of the boundary line nor to sit in review on the size of a particular project area,'' he said.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a key swing vote on many cases before the court, issued a stinging dissent. She argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers.

Connecticut residents involved in the lawsuit expressed dismay and pledged to keep fighting.

``It's a little shocking to believe you can lose your home in this country,'' said resident Bill Von Winkle, who said he would refuse to leave his home, even if bulldozers showed up. ``I won't be going anywhere. Not my house. This is definitely not the last word.''

Scott Bullock, an attorney for the Institute for Justice representing the families, added: ``A narrow majority of the court simply got the law wrong today and our Constitution and country will suffer as a result.''

At issue was the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property through eminent domain if the land is for ``public use.''

Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn., filed suit after city officials announced plans to raze their homes for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices.

New London officials countered that the private development plans served a public purpose of boosting economic growth that outweighed the homeowners' property rights, even if the area wasn't blighted.

``We're pleased,'' attorney Edward O'Connell, who represents New London Development Corporation, said in response to the ruling.

The lower courts had been divided on the issue, with many allowing a taking only if it eliminates blight.

``Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random,'' O'Connor wrote. ``The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.''

She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Nationwide, more than 10,000 properties were threatened or condemned in recent years, according to the Institute for Justice, a Washington public interest law firm representing the New London homeowners.

New London, a town of less than 26,000, once was a center of the whaling industry and later became a manufacturing hub. More recently the city has suffered the kind of economic woes afflicting urban areas across the country, with losses of residents and jobs.

The New London neighborhood that will be swept away includes Victorian-era houses and small businesses that in some instances have been owned by several generations of families. Among the New London residents in the case is a couple in their 80s who have lived in the same home for more than 50 years.

City officials envision a commercial development that would attract tourists to the Thames riverfront, complementing an adjoining Pfizer Corp. research center and a proposed Coast Guard museum.

New London was backed in its appeal by the National League of Cities, which argued that a city's eminent domain power was critical to spurring urban renewal with development projects such Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Kansas City's Kansas Speedway.

Under the ruling, residents still will be entitled to ``just compensation'' for their homes as provided under the Fifth Amendment. However, Kelo and the other homeowners had refused to move at any price, calling it an unjustified taking of their property.

The case was one of six resolved by justices on Thursday. Still pending at the high court are cases dealing with the constitutionality of government Ten Commandments displays and the liability of Internet file-sharing services for clients' illegal swapping of copyrighted songs and movies. The Supreme Court next meets on Monday.

The case is Kelo et al v. City of New London, 04-108.

Gingrey votes for Constitutional Amendment to Protect our Flag

06/22/05
Press Release


WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Phil Gingrey today voted to pass H.J. Res. 10, which proposes an amendment to the Constitution that would authorize Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.

"Our flag deserves to be respected and protected because it is more than just star-studded fabric - it is the symbol of democracy," said Gingrey. "In 1989, a U.S. Supreme Court decision nullified the flag-protection laws of 48 states. This legislation puts that protection back in place. Our flag represents the history, culture, and ideology of democracy for the world. Millions of Americans throughout our nation's history died defending our flag and the ideals it represents. To burn a flag is to disrespect America and disrespect democracy."

In order to be enacted into law, H.J. Res. 10 will also have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, and then ratified by three-fourths of America's state legislatures.

"Today, all 50 states have passed resolutions requesting Congress to approve a constitutional amendment that would ban flag burning," said Gingrey. "There is overwhelming support for protecting this American symbol, and I hope our colleagues in the Senate will heed the will of the people and pass H.J. Res. 10."

Southern Baptists end eight-year boycott of Walt Disney

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Southern Baptists ended an eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for violating ``moral righteousness and traditional family values'' in a vote on the final day of the faith's annual convention Wednesday.

``We believe for the boycott to be effective, it had to have a beginning and an ending,'' said Gene Mims, chairman of the SBC committee that put the Disney resolution before about 11,000 delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention.

At the SBC's 1997 convention in Dallas, a resolution was passed calling for Southern Baptists to refrain from patronizing Disney theme parks and Disney products, mainly because of the entertainment company's decision to give benefits to companions of gay employees.

``We felt like it was time to end it. We're hopeful Disney will do what the resolution calls for,'' Mims added.

Tuesday's resolution states Disney should serve ``families of America by providing only those products that affirm traditional family values.''

Southern Baptists should also continue to monitor the ``products and policies of the Disney Company,'' according to the resolution, which also urged members to ``practice continued discernment regarding all entertainment products from all sources.''

Disney officials in California did not immediately have a comment.

Redevelopment powers OK’d

The city has no immediate plans to use its new ability to sell bonds based on future tax revenue.

06/22/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


A number of ideas jumped into Mayor Ronnie Wallace’s head when he learned the city got its redevelopment powers in Tuesday’s referendum.

“Certainly, South Rome comes to mind,” Wallace said. “Certainly, the Barron Stadium project comes to mind, if that comes through. We’re appreciative that it has passed.”

The redevelopment powers initiative, which gives the city of Rome the power to create tax allocation districts, was passed by Rome voters 1,226 to 1,085, a 53 percent to 47 percent margin.

Unincorporated Floyd County voters and Cave Spring did not vote on the issue.

“Any time you’ve got legislation giving powers to government, there’s always reservations,” Wallace said of the outcome. “I don’t know that that’s completely unexpected given the issue.”

A TAD is a designated area slated for redevelopment, such as South Rome. For example, the city could create a TAD inside a portion of South Rome, and the future property taxes of the district would then be determined.

Rome is in the process of redeveloping South Rome. A master plan has already been created, which includes details on park and road improvements, among other upgrades.

The Barron Stadium property is another likely candidate for redevelopment. Local developers have proposed relocating Barron Stadium near State Mutual Stadium. West Third would change into a multi-use area with retail space, residences and medical offices.

The city would sell bonds based off future tax revenue, which could then be used for infrastructure improvements.

Rome would continue to collect existing property tax from the district while it paid off its bond debt. Once the debt is paid, the city would have redevelopment in a once-stagnant or declining area as well as increased tax revenue.

“It’s a method for us to finance development,” City Manager John Bennett said. “We felt like it was a good idea. I think we’ve gained another tool to use.”

Bennett said the city has no immediate plans for using its new powers.

The city would need a commitment from a private developer before creating a TAD, Bennett said, and it wouldn’t jump into a redevelopment project without careful consideration.

“It means more for Rome overall, for the city itself,” said Karen Moore, executive director of the South Rome Redevelopment Corp.

Moore noted that she has only been in the community for a short time — starting her job June 1 — though she believes the redevelopment powers will create real opportunities.

“I assure you that the South Rome Redevelopment board feels that what’s good for Rome is good for South Rome,” Moore said.

Commissioner Doss: Ban gaming machines

A new city noise ordinance is also discussed at a Public Safety Committee meeting.

06/22/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Rome City Commissioner Jamie Doss said he would like to see a ban on gaming machines in the city.

He broached the subject at Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, asking Assistant City Attorney David Smith to research the possibility of a citywide prohibition.

“I think there’s quite a bit of abuse,” Doss said after the meeting. “It’s a silent problem.”

Gaming machines are legal in Georgia as long as they require a level of skill to play, cannot depict playing cards and can never pay out money.

Some city officials are concerned the laws aren’t always followed. City Manager John Bennett said he was told of four locations where money was paid out, though three were in the county.

Deputy Police Chief Lonzo Roberson said the difficulty of catching illegal activity makes prosecution nearly impossible.

Typically, the operator of an illegal machine must trust a player before cash is paid out, Roberson said.

“If you beat the computer, you win,” Roberson added, “but what do you win?”

The law allows payouts of free plays and merchandise, including gift certificates, though a payout can’t exceed $5 for a single play and items such as lottery tickets, alcohol, guns or tobacco can’t be awarded.

Doss said he fears gamblers are drawn to the machines and lose money.

Smith said he hoped he would return to July’s meeting with information on the legality of banning the machines in the city.

In other matters, Smith presented a rough draft of a new noise ordinance for the city. The current ordinance fits on one page; the proposed ordinance is eight pages and provides details and definitions of what constitutes a noise violation.

It also states exemptions for levels of noise, which include the normal operation of schools and governmental maintenance.

“There’s always an exception to the rule,” Smith said.

Lottery sales bring in more money than expected

06/21/05
Associated Press


ATLANTA (AP) — Lottery sales for the fiscal year that ends this month will bring in more money than expected, which will mean more money for Georgia education programs, lottery officials said.

Lottery sales for the fiscal year that ends June 30 will total about $2.9 billion in revenue, which is $400 million more than projected, Georgia Lottery Corp. Chief Executive Officer Margaret DeFrancisco said Monday.

Lottery officials expect to give more than $800 million for education programs such as the state's HOPE scholarship and a pre-kindergarten fund. That is up from $782 million given last year.

``The year started slow, but because of our new games we've really covered a lot of ground,'' said Barbara Dooley, chairwoman of the Lottery Corp. board.

State lawmakers have been watching lottery revenues closely because declining sales could lead to cutbacks in education. Officials had counted on receiving only $777 million for the scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs for the year. But the additional $23 million means the HOPE scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs will not face funding cuts.

Sales were down during the first half of the fiscal year. But officials credit record-breaking sales from January through March for the turnaround. In particular, they cited a new $100 Million Cash Spectacular game that began in February for boosting ticket sales.

The state Legislature created the lottery in 1992 to raise money for the HOPE scholarship for college students and a free pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-old children.

Killen found guilty for 1964 killings

06/21/05
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) — An 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman was convicted of manslaughter Tuesday in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers — exactly 41 years after they disappeared.

The jury of nine whites and three blacks reached the verdict on their second day of deliberations, rejecting murder charges against Edgar Ray Killen.

Killen showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He was comforted by his wife as he sat in his wheelchair, wearing an oxygen tube. Heavily armed police formed a barrier outside a side door to the courthouse and jurors were loaded into two waiting vans and driven away.

Civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were ambushed on June 21, 1964. Their bodies were found 44 days later buried in an earthen dam. They had been beaten and shot.

The notorious case inspired the 1988 film ``Mississippi Burning.''

Prosecutors had asked the jury to send a message to the rest of the world that Mississippi has changed and is committed to bringing to justice those who killed to preserve segregation in the 1960s. They said the evidence was clear that Killen organized the attack on the three victims.

Killen's lawyers conceded he was in the Klan but said that did not make him guilty of murder. They pointed out that prosecutors offered no witnesses or evidence that put Killen at the scene of the crime. Killen did not take the stand, but has long claimed that he was at a wake at a funeral home when the victims were killed.

Killen, a part-time preacher and sawmill operator, was tried in 1967 on federal charges of violating the victims' civil rights. But the all-white jury deadlocked, with one juror saying she could not convict a preacher. Seven others were convicted, but none served more than six years.

Killen is only person ever brought up on murder charges in the case by the state of Mississippi.

Sales tax eyed for upgrades

Rome wants the proposed SPLOST to pay for work on a wastewater plant and downtown landmarks.

06/20/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


If Tuesday’s special purpose, local option sales tax vote passes, it will provide funds for Rome’s wastewater treatment plant and will also pay to replace windows in City Hall, remove mold from the Carnegie building and refurbish the Clock Tower.

The Black’s Bluff wastewater treatment plant requires a roofed storage building for sludge as well as a new press, said City Manager John Bennett.

“It’s a major component to the wastewater treatment process,” Bennett said.

A total of $1.9 million is allocated for the treatment plant from the proposed $36.5 million, 30-month, 1-cent sales tax. The city is also slated to get $1.6 million for repairs to the Clock Tower, City Hall and the Carnegie building.

The current two-year SPLOST ends Sept. 30. If Tuesday’s vote passes, the 1-cent sales tax will continue uninterrupted, keeping a sales tax rate of 7 percent.

Currently, the treatment facility has a storage facility for sludge — solids left over from sewage — though it lacks a roof. A covered building will keep the sludge dry, which is needed to improve the treatment process.

The press squeezes water out of sludge — another method of drying the solid sewage.

The two upgrades included in Tuesday’s SPLOST vote were removed from the existing 1-cent tax when it went to a vote two years ago, Bennett said. Rome had hoped for $20 million two years ago, though it only received $8 million for the treatment plant in that SPLOST vote.

The reduced money meant something had to wait, and that turned out to be the new press and roofed storage building.

The upgrades will increase the wet-weather capacity of the treatment plant, Bennett said.

Wet weather brings more water into the sewage system. Any water that enters a sewer pipe must be treated as sewage, said Leigh Ross, Rome’s water and sewer director.

That’s not a problem on a dry day when normally 10 million gallons flow through the treatment plant. When it’s wet, though, 50 million gallons can come through the plant, which is only capable of handling 24 million gallons.

The current upgrades will raise the plant’s capacity to 54 million gallons a day at a cost of $32.5 million. The existing SPLOST covers a little more than $8 million of that figure. The rest comes from bonds.

Rome also has a total of $1.6 million slated for repairs to the Clock Tower, City Hall and the Carnegie building. City Hall needs its restrooms renovated and its windows replaced, Bennett said, adding that the repairs went above and beyond typical maintenance.

Usual maintenance is not eligible as a SPLOST project.

“We’re talking about totally replacing some windows,” Bennett said. “In the case of the Carnegie building, the mold situation is not a typical issue.”

According to Purchasing Director Bill Gilliland, water seeps into the building and causes mold.

Repairs on the Clock Tower include replacing old mortar, painting the wood at the top and installing new railings.

If the SPLOST fails, the city will have to borrow the money for the treatment plant and facility repairs or postpone them for a few years, Bennett said.

---

SPLOST AGREEMENT

30-month collection, $36.5 million

* Cave Spring fire station, $950,000

* Loan payoff for Ga. 140/53 tract and new industrial park, $3 million

* Partial funding for U.S. 411 right of way, $3 million

* Huffaker Road improvements, $4.7 million

* Burnett Ferry Road sidewalks, $1 million

* Engineering for Armuchee-area bridge over Oostanaula River, $850,000

* Fast-tracking Turner McCall Boulevard bridge widening, $2 million

* Improvements at six city intersections, $1 million

* Chulio Road/411 intersection improvement, $400,000

* Old Dalton Road improvements, $4.5 million

* Shannon Park improvements, $700,000

* Cave Spring Community Center, $775,000

* Rome-Floyd sports center, $4 million

* North Floyd Park, $1.8 million

* Midway Park, $1.8 million

* East Main Community Center, $2.2 million

* Clock Tower, City Hall, Carnegie Building renovation, $1.6 million

* Wastewater treatment plant upgrades, $1.9 million

* E-911 phone system replacement, $325,000

Former clerk gets 3 years

Staci Mechelle Chaffin pleaded guilty last month to embezzling more than $54,000 in county funds

06/17/05
By Lauren Gregory, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Staci Mechelle Chaffin had requested intensive probation rather than prison time.
Floyd County Superior Court Judge F. Larry Salmon had barely gotten the terms of Staci Mechelle Chaffin’s sentence out of his mouth Thursday morning when the former Probate Court clerk began crying at the thought of three years in prison followed by seven years probation.

Chaffin, who pleaded guilty last month to embezzling more than $54,000 in county funds, had requested intensive probation rather than jail time because, according to defense attorney Wade C. Hoyt III, her thefts were a “one-time deviation” for the single mother and “trusted employee.”

A 46-count indictment was drawn up against the 30-year-old Armuchee resident last November, charging her with cashing bad personal checks through her office in Probate Court between September 1998 and March 2004.

She pleaded guilty to the charges — 37 counts of theft by taking, seven counts of theft by deception, one count of violation of oath of public office and one count of damaging, destroying and secreting property to defraud — at a May 6 hearing. At that point her family had already paid full restitution to the county, according to Hoyt.

Hoyt, who said he was “terribly disappointed” about the outcome of Thursday’s hearing, hopes the restitution payment — for which Chaffin plans to reimburse her family — and the fact that her crimes were nonviolent will reduce the amount of time she actually has to spend behind bars.

Although Chaffin was ordered to serve three years, Hoyt said, it is possible for the Department of Corrections to release her after just one.

Hoyt lobbied hard Thursday for the lightest sentence possible, calling two witnesses to the stand to confirm that Chaffin was able to find employment after the county terminated her and has expressed sincere remorse for her actions.

Salmon, however, chose to follow the state’s recommendation for jail time, reasoning, “We are not dealing with a violent offense. But we are dealing with public funds.”

Hal Goldin, the assistant district attorney assigned to the case, said the prosecution’s recommendation stemmed from knowledge that Chaffin’s actions were repeated during a period of years and involved a large amount of money. “This wasn’t just one isolated theft,” Goldin said.

District Attorney Leigh Patterson agreed. “She was employed in a position of trust at the Floyd County Probate Court,” Patterson said. “She violated that trust, and the court handed down an appropriate sentence to deal with it.”

RDC against proposed landfill

BFI Waste Systems Inc. has planned a landfill on the old PAGA Mine in Emerson.

06/17/05
By Dick Pettys, Associated Press Writer

A 10-county organization registered its objection Thursday to a proposed regional landfill near the Etowah River upstream of Rome.

The Coosa Valley Regional Development Center board unanimously approved a finding that the planned BFI Waste Systems Inc. landfill on the old PAGA Mine in Emerson is not in the best interests of the region or the state. The organization is made up of city and county governments in Floyd, Bartow, Gordon, Polk, Walker, Catoosa, Haralson, Paulding, Chattooga and Dade.

Emerson, population 1,100, is south of Lake Allatoona in Bartow County. BFI is seeking annexation into the city after officials in Bartow and Cartersville rejected the company’s plans to accept as much as 3,000 tons of garbage a day from at least five counties.

Emerson Mayor Henry Jordan said the city council is waiting for a Georgia Environmental Protection Division report before making a decision. The city stands to net at least $1 million a year in host fees, along with an industrial park, sports facilities and free garbage service, from the deal.

“The RDC finding will have some bearing, sure, because they represent a lot of people,” Jordan said. “Also, we’re listening to our county commissioner. But the EPD will be our final source.”

RDC concerns

David Howerin, planning director for the RDC, said a state map indicates much of the 1,326-acre site is in an area highly susceptible to groundwater pollution. Another map, drawn by the EPD in 1990, tags the property as unsuitable for a landfill without extensive engineering.

“We also received pretty strong comments from other entities about this,” RDC planner Dean Clemmer said.

The Rome and Floyd County commissions expressed “serious concerns” about the impact on the downstream water resources. Bartow County’s sole commissioner, Clarence Brown, submitted a four-page objection to the water threat, the estimated 125 transfer trucks a day and the site’s proximity to the Etowah Valley Historic District containing prehistoric Indian mounds.

The City of Cartersville, the Paulding County Board of Commissioners and — in what several RDC board members called a surprise — Cobb County echoed Brown’s comments.

“Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this entire project is that ... (d)espite overwhelming disapproval from the citizenry, the mayor and city council of Emerson continue to move ahead with this project,” Brown wrote. “In this they have been assisted by BFI Inc., which has hired and is paying for ‘outside’ city attorneys to represent the city of Emerson in this matter.”

Studying the impact

Local residents have been battling the plan for months, and the proposed method of annexation has been legally tailored to require approval of only 60 percent of the affected property owners, instead of the 100 percent standard. Charges of collusion have flown at city council meetings, heightened by the discovery that the EPD withdrew a “wellhead protection area” designation from the site and initially considered basing its permit decision on studies by BFI engineers.

Jordan said the issue “has been blown way out of proportion.” The EPD has hired its own engineer to review the BFI report, he said, and the city only accepted help with attorneys fees because it doesn’t have the financial resources to handle such a complex zoning matter.

“I’ve made the statement, and every one of the council members has said, that no way would we go along with it if it would hurt people,” Jordan said. “BFI is pushing for it and they’re going to do what they can, but the higher-ups (in EPD) are going to have to show us it will work before it would be approved.”

The state Historic Preservation Division also submitted comments saying further study may be needed to assess the effect on archaeological assets. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services sought more information regarding potential impacts on threatened species and said a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit could be required.

How do you feel about being downstream from this proposed dump site?

Runaway bride makes deal with media company

ATLANTA (AP) — Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks has made a deal with a media company that is now pitching a movie to networks.

ReganMedia, a New York multimedia company, has ``acquired all media rights to the life stories'' of Wilbanks and her fiance, John Mason.

The company did not say whether any money had changed hands.

``I am looking forward to developing the scripted project with Wilbanks and Mason,'' President Judith Regan said in a statement. ``Theirs is an unexpected and compelling story of love and forgiveness that has certainly taught me a thing or two.''

But news of the deal annoyed officials who spent thousands of dollars searching for her.

``It's disturbing to me on a personal basis that she's willing to profit from this, but there's nothing I can do about it legally,'' Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ``There was no condition of probation that could have prevented it.''

Duluth Mayor Shirley Fanning Lasseter, whose city spent nearly $43,000 to search for her, also expressed disapproval.

``You want something printable?'' she asked a reporter. ``I think it's a shame that anybody could profit from this.''

Also, Wilbanks, who had been avoiding reporters, spoke Sunday with Katie Couric, host of NBC's ``Today'' show.

Asked about the NBC interview, Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain, said Wilbanks should do ``whatever she needs to do'' to profit from her notoriety.

``She lost her job. She's got bills to pay,'' Sartain told The Times of Gainesville. ``I think she has been so tortured by the media and some of the other wackos in the public.''

Wilbanks repaid Duluth $13,249 of what it cost to search for her. And she has pledged to pay the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department $2,550 for overtime.

Wilbanks, a nurse, disappeared from her Duluth home on April 26, four days before she was to have been married at a high-profile ceremony with 600 guests and 28 attendants. She took a bus to Las Vegas and then Albuquerque, N.M. She initially claimed she was abducted and sexually assaulted, but later recanted and said she fled because of unspecified personal issues days before the wedding.

Earlier this month, Wilbanks pleaded no contest to a felony count of making a false statement to police and received probation and community service.

Family members say she has been receiving psychiatric treatment at an unspecified facility.

Law change sparks sales

State now allows sparklers, pops

06/16/05
By Lauren Gregory/Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Luis Gil browses through the fireworks available at the Super Kmart Center on Hicks Drive on Wednesday. Ryan Smith/RN-T
Your Fourth of July party doesn’t have to be completely lacking in razzle-dazzle this year.

Although firecrackers and flying fireworks such as bottle rockets are still illegal in Georgia, a recent state law change permits the purchase and use of sparklers and snap pops.

“As far as fireworks there has been no change — any projectile or anything that explodes is illegal,” explained Lonzo Roberson, Rome’s deputy police chief. “But basic sparklers and the snaps are okay.”

Also legal, according to the new law, are “snake and glow worms” and “trick noise makers which include paper streamers, party poppers, string poppers, snappers and drop pops.”

The materials cannot be sold to those younger than 18 and cannot be used indoors, the law states. Violations are punishable by fines of as much as $100.

Local retailers are well aware of the limitations of the statute, which stipulates specific cutoffs for the amount of chemical compound allowed in each item. Police have inspected all merchandise displayed for sale in Rome, said Roberson, ensuring that each item is square with the law.

“The only thing we’re able to sell is sparklers,” concluded Steve Burkhalter, operations manager at Super Kmart Center on Hicks Drive. “There are different kinds of sparklers, but they are all sparklers.”

Legal fireworks are those that can’t shoot up into the air, said Jeff McMullins, co-manager of the West Rome Wal-Mart on Redmond Circle. “Everything we’re selling sits on the ground.”

Depending on size and variety of the products, he said, prices can range from less than $20 to around $50.

McMullins expects the fireworks, which he began stocking two weeks ago, will become increasingly trendy as the holiday approaches and as customers realize the new law is in place.

“Most people still don’t know they’re legal,” he said. “We get a lot of questions from customers. But slowly, the sales have been increasing as people have been picking up on it.”

If they do become popular enough to sell out, McMullins said, the store would probably stock more to meet demand.

Sales already “seem to be pretty good” at Kmart, Burkhalter said. “We’ve been very pleased with the movement.”

At the East Rome Wal-Mart on U.S. 411 as well, “people are excited about it,” said Assistant Manager Bert Parker. “We won’t have any left by the time Fourth of July comes around.”

Boards still mixed on merger

Paying for the completion of the school-consolidation study continues to fuel debate.

06/16/05
By Marc Dadigan/Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Local school board members aren’t quite sure what to make of the Floyd County Commission’s request that they weigh in on whether to continue a school consolidation feasibility study.

Some said consolidation is solely a commission issue, while others said they’d be willing to offer their insight. Still others wondered if the commission isn’t just passing along the political buck to the school boards.

“I’m kind of lost. I’m not sure what they’re wanting from us that we haven’t already said,” said Rome Board Vice Chairman Jim Greer.

The commission decided Tuesday to postpone a vote on continuing the study to ask the Floyd County and Rome school boards if they think it will produce information they can use even if a merger doesn’t happen. County Commission Chairman Chuck Hufstetler said Wednesday he plans to draft letters to the boards with City Manager Kevin Poe this morning.

Commissioners are debating whether to continue the $168,200 study after the $25,000 first phase concluded 52 “key actors” in the community doubted voters would ever approve a school merger referendum.

The Rome-Floyd County Consolidation Task Force, however, recommended the commission fund the study to gather information on how a merged school system would operate.

Rome school board member Gene Clark said he would like to see the study completed and suggested the school boards could help shape the direction of the next phases.

“It’s evident the public doesn’t want one school system,” he said. “I’d like for the study to look at the services that you could combine and perhaps save some money. We as a board could decide what questions we want to ask.”

Greer, who’s also a member of the task force’s education subcommittee, said he has previously told the commissioners that the schools would use whatever valuable information the study provides.

“This has been discussed four or five times in the last two years, and both board of education members (on the subcommittee) have stated they would use information from the study,” he said.

David Johnson, a Floyd County school board member, added that it would be hard to know to what degree the schools could use the study before its completed.

Though he has yet to see the commission’s letter, Floyd County Schools Superintendent Kelly Henson said it isn’t the school board’s responsibility to offer its take on the study.

“It’s a commission issue, and it’s not a school board issue,” he said. “I don’t feel at this point we would respond substantially in any way beyond that.”

It could take some time for the boards to even address the letter, as the two chairs would have to receive the correspondence and disclose it at a board meeting before taking any action, likely at a later meeting.

Floyd County board member Teresa Lumsden said she’d need more information before crafting a response.

“What the study has told us so far wasn’t new, and the information has been really vague,” she said. “But I think the systems work well together, and we’d be open to any new ideas.”

The two school systems currently cooperate to provide a number of services.

Floyd County offers driver’s education for Rome students while Rome provides summer school for some Floyd County students, for example.

What do you want to read?

What topics would you like us to cover more or less of in the Rome News-Tribune? What is your favorite section? If you could create a new section what would it be?

W. Third plans unveiled

06/15/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

Two local developers want to put downtown’s focus on Rome’s rivers.

Their method — the redevelopment of West Third Street into a multi-use area with retail spaces, residences, medical offices and greenspace.

Doc Kibler and Delos H. “Dee” Yancey III, leaders of the private investor group Northwest GA LLC, presented their plan Tuesday to the Rome City Commission.

Under the plan, seven buildings would sit on approximately 14 acres and collectively provide more than 900,000 square feet of structures and parking areas.

“We want to take this asset and dust some of the dust off it and put a little polish on it,” Yancey said. “If we do it right, that’s what will happen here.”

Kibler echoed the sentiment, saying that the Barron Stadium area is the heart of Rome. “All we want to do is help Rome expand its borders. We want to move that heart to the center of the river.”

Key to the plan is the relocation of the stadium to land next to State Mutual Stadium and the nearby Rome-Floyd Tennis Center to Riverside Parkway near the Georgia Department of Labor office.

Who would pay for the relocation has not been determined, but city officials have indicated earlier that the developers should share that expense.

Tuesday’s discussions, though, focused on what could be done on West Third Street on the land mostly owned by the city.

Five of the buildings would sit on property currently owned by the city. Two properties — slated for medical use — are owned by Floyd Medical Center and Harbin Clinic.

The development would occur in three stages. The first stage would include a centrally located, 180,000-square-foot condominium building with a parking deck on four floors. Some 35 condos and 500 parking spaces would be available.

The first phase also includes a proposed cancer center on North Fourth Avenue, a 60,000-square-foot medical office building just south of FMC and a 50,000-square-foot financial/professional services building with 66 parking spaces at the corner of West Third Street and Second Avenue.

The second stage includes a 70-room hotel on two levels with 36 condo units on three floors, as well as a 300-space parking deck. The building would sit on the levee side of West Third Street and have a connection with the proposed pedestrian bridge from the hotel to The Forum’s parking lot.

“Since I’ve lived in Rome, I’ve heard people say, ‘I wish we had a killer hotel downtown!’” Kibler said.

Kibler said he’d like construction on the hotel to begin in late 2006.

The final stage includes a four-floor, 75,000-square-foot structure slated for office use on Second Avenue. An L-shaped retail, professional and residential structure would sit at the corner of West Third Street and North Fourth Avenue.

Greenspace would flow throughout the development.

“Do we have folks interested?” Kibler asked. “Yes. We’ve got one thing to decide — does the city of Rome want to do something?”

Mayor Ronnie Wallace appointed a special committee to examine the proposal, saying the city needs to review its benefits and determine if the plan is in the citizens’ best interests.

“The equation continues,” Wallace said. “The symbol we’re looking for in that equation is an equal sign or a plus sign.”

Commission members Bill Fricks, Norman Skidmore and Wright Bagby Jr. will serve on the committee. They are expected to make a recommendation to the full commission within 60 days.

Parking deck repairs may be on the way

A Floyd County grand jury report cites concerns about the stairway and the structure’s safety.

06/14/05
By Diane Wagner, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


A portion of stairs shows signs of rust on the second level of the parking garage next to the Law Enforcement Center. D. Patrick Harding / RN-T
The parking deck at the Rome-Floyd County Law Enforcement Center is due for an inspection and a new set of stairs, but officials said the structure is not dangerous.

“It looks worse than it is,” County Manager Kevin Poe said.

Cost estimates are still being gathered, but funding for work on the parking deck will likely appear in the 2006 budget.

Members of the Floyd County grand jury toured the deck March 11, and their report filed at the end of April indicated several areas of concern. In addition to recommending new stairs and security cameras, the 23 citizen-inspectors questioned the safety of the building.

“The parking garage is constructed of reinforced concrete panels that are joined by a black substance. Several of the joints have opened up, creating gaps and voids,” the presentments read. “One of the panels was seen moving two to three inches when cars were passing over the joint.”

Poe said the precast beams are purposely separated by a flexible compound to allow for natural “give.” The construction technique is common in shopping malls and bridges.

“We had a structural engineer look at it, and he said it does need to be inspected periodically,” Poe said. “But he also said there was nothing obviously wrong with it.”

The rusting rear stairwell will be added to the county’s list of capital improvement projects.

The parking deck opened in 1998 as part of the $10.76 million Law Enforcement Center. Voters approved the funding through a special purpose, local option sales tax collection that started in 1996.

The warranty on the 7-year-old staircase has expired, and the county has little recourse but to pay for the replacement. Poe said it is difficult to assign blame for the rusting, which only recently appeared.

Poe said the steel staircase was not properly coated.

“They may not have realized the stairs would be open to the weather. It’s in the shade, so it stays a little damp,” he said.

The grand jury also recommended more security cameras at the structure. Poe said cameras are needed at several county facilities, but many other items carry a higher funding priority.

Do you think that this will be benefitial to you, and to the county?

Schools to put grades online

Beginning next school year, Floyd County parents can use iParent to track their kids' progress.

06/14/05
By Marc Dadigan, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Disappointing report cards might not mysteriously disappear as frequently from Floyd County mailboxes this fall.

Instead of waiting every nine weeks, parents will be able to check their children’s grades whenever they want with the click of a mouse using a new program the Floyd County schools expect to have in place by August.

Called iParent, the program will allow parents to log on to the Internet for updates on their children’s academic progress.

“I think as the children get into the older grades, sometimes parent participation drops off,” said David Snow, technology director. “This allows parents to see how the kids are doing and to stay in contact with teachers.”

The grades for all students in grades 6-12 should be online this fall, accessible from a link on the system’s Web site (www.floydboe.net) Snow said.

Teachers will input grades from tests, homework and quizzes, and parents should be able to see those same grades at their home computer in a day or so, Snow said.

“The more parents are informed, the better,” he said.

A survey Snow conducted three years ago showed 67 percent of parents have Internet access at home, and iParent can also be accessed from computers at work or the library, Snow said.

Reaction to iParent, of course, is mixed among students.

“Until report cards come out, grades should be our business,” said Joel Parker, a rising junior at Pepperell High School. “They’re being overprotective.”

Kayla Lemming’s eyes widened upon learning of the prospect of iParent.

“Whoa,” said the rising freshman at Pepperell. “I guess if I was making good grades, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but if I was making bad grades, I wouldn’t like it.”

Parents, however, seem supportive of the program.

“I think it’s a great idea. Sometimes kids forget to let you know these things,” said Donna Storey, whose daughter, Katlyn, 14, attends Armuchee High School.

Katlyn groaned at the first mention of iParent but said she could find it useful as well.

“At least I’ll be able to know how I’m doing. Sometimes teachers don’t let you know,” she said.

As for her mother having the capabilities to regularly check on her progress, Katlyn shrugged, “She’ll find out one way or another.”

How do you feel about students' grades being online?

Dixon suit settled for $130,000

School system to pay girl who accused Dixon of rape

06/14/05
By Marc Dadigan, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


The young woman who accused former Pepperell student Marcus Dixon of raping her on school grounds will receive $130,000 in a settlement to a lawsuit she filed against Floyd County Schools in August 2003.

The settlement was released Monday by school system attorney Stewart Duggan.

The original suit asked for $5 million as well as punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and compensation for the victim’s medical and psychological treatment.

The Georgia School Board Association, the insurer of the school system, will pay the $130,000, according to the settlement.

In the suit, the woman’s parents alleged the school system failed to properly punish Dixon for prior sexual offenses, creating an unreasonable risk for the then-15-year-old that resulted in her “eventual sexual assault.”

One of those alleged offenses resulted in a sexual battery charge stemming from an accusation that Dixon forced his hand down a 14-year-old’s track shorts in 2002. The case was never prosecuted.

Dixon, who as an 18-year-old student in February 2003 had sex with a 15-year-old classmate in a Pepperell High trailer, was acquitted the following May of forcible rape, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and sexual battery. But he was convicted of statutory rape and aggravated child molestation.

The aggravated child molestation conviction carried a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years.

But Dixon was released from prison in May 2004 after winning a Georgia Supreme Court appeal of that conviction.

Dixon is currently enrolled on a full athletic scholarship at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

His football scholarship to Vanderbilt University was rescinded in 2003 after charges against him surfaced.

How do you feel about this?

Division grows in stem cell debate

06/13/05
Craig Gilbert/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


WASHINGTON — One senator last week called it a ``great national debate.''

The battle over embryonic stem cell research may not rank with Iraq or the economy as a burning public concern. But it is fast becoming a fixture of the budget and culture wars in Washington and state capitals across the country. Soon it may produce the first veto of the Bush presidency. It's likely to play a role in the 2006 congressional campaigns, and it provides a clear fault line in Wisconsin's hotly contested race for governor next year.

``I think it's a dramatic issue,'' Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a big advocate of stem cell research, said in an interview Friday.

One political drama is playing out in the states, which are heading down divergent paths, in some cases boosting the research and in others reining it in.

The other drama is playing out in Washington, where President Bush, citing ``grave moral issues,'' has all but guaranteed a veto of a bill passed by the House last month to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The bill has a very real shot of passing the Senate, where it enjoys majority support.

The new stem cell lines funded under the bill would come from ``surplus'' frozen embryos at fertility clinics, produced by in vitro fertilization. Bush opposes such funding, because the embryos are destroyed when the stem cells are extracted.

``This bill would take us across a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life,'' Bush said last month.

But polls suggest that many Americans view the matter differently. Democrats are so convinced Bush is on the wrong side of the issue they have launched an Internet campaign against House Republicans who opposed the recent bill, and are touting stem-cell research as a ``wedge'' issue that pits ``mainstream'' voters against an out-of-step conservative minority.

``This unites the Democratic base and divides the Republican base. That makes it a wedge issue,'' says Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, who worked for John Kerry during last year's presidential campaign.

Even some critics of expanded funding concede they are on the political defensive.

``A lot of people have been convinced that stem-cell research is going to bring cures in the near future and that somehow the pro-life movement and religious conservatives in general are standing in the way. That's a perception problem that we recognize,'' says Doug Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee, who complains that the coverage has been one-sided and celebrity-driven, the potential of the research oversold, and the debate caricatured as ``science vs. religion.''

The issue before Congress is not what research should be allowed but what research should get federal funds.

Bush initiated federal funding of research on human embryonic stem cells, valued by scientists because they can develop into the body's different cell types. The work has been touted as a potential key to fighting diseases such as Parkinson's, ALS and diabetes.

But Bush also drew a sharp line in 2001, allowing federal funds for existing stem cell lines but banning funds for new embryonic stem cell lines created thereafter, saying it was improper to use public money to ``destroy life.''

Now many researchers and patients' advocates want those limits relaxed.

Researchers slam funding limits At a Senate hearing last week, the University of Wisconsin's Su-Chun Zhang and other leading researchers made the case for extending federal funding to more stem cell lines, saying the current rules create ``enormous waste'' by forcing labs to separate their work on the stem cell lines approved for federal funding from their work on new lines that aren't.

``That logistically is a nightmare,'' said John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins University, who along with the University of Wisconsin's James Thomson was a pioneer in isolating human embryonic stem cells.

``The number of lines is simply not sufficient,'' said Zhang. Currently there are 22 cell lines available, and researchers complain those are compromised by the use of animal cells to sustain them.

Lawrence Goldstein of the University of California at San Diego told senators that scientists were ``working with one hand tied behind their back.''

Johnson, of the abortion opposition group, contends that funding should go to research (such as on adult stem cells) that doesn't destroy embryos. He also asserts that expanded funding is a steppingstone toward cloning and other ``brave new world'' technologies.

Fifty House Republicans broke with the GOP majority to vote for expanded funding last month.

Lawmakers who support more funding, both Democrats and Republicans, believe public sentiment is inexorably shifting their way. They argue that the embryos at issue would otherwise be discarded. ``I think a vast majority want this research to go forward,'' said Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who opposes abortion and who organized last week's hearing and opposes Bush on the issue.

Wisconsin's Sen. Herb Kohl, top Democrat on Smith's Senate Aging Committee, said it ``was only a matter of time'' before the limits were lifted by Congress.

Meanwhile, the stem cell debate has blossomed in the states, where the number of bills in circulation ``has grown enormously,'' said Alissa Johnson of the National Conference of State Legislatures, ``running the spectrum'' from research bans to big state funding initiatives.

California, New Jersey and Massachusetts have launched plans to spend state money on research that the federal government won't fund. Nebraska, on the other hand, has in recent years prohibited state funds for embryonic stem cell research.

What's emerging is a patchwork, where some conservative states such as South Dakota and Louisiana have explicit bans on certain activity and some liberal states on the coasts are using their own budgets to attract the bio-tech industry and accelerate the research.

Next year's governor's race in Wisconsin should offer a vivid choice on the issue. Doyle is a big promoter of more embryonic stem cell funding, a booster of bio-tech development in the state, and a sharp critic of the Bush position.

``I think it's really an example of where you can have a very extreme part of the Republican Party driving the agenda far away from where most people in the country are,'' said Doyle, who said his GOP opponents in the governor's race, by opposing federal funding, ``would be terrible most importantly for finding cures for illness we've long thought to be incurable ... and terrible for the economy of this state.''

Green Bay Congressman Mark Green and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker are the two GOP contenders. Green voted last month against funding new stem cell lines, citing the same objections as Bush did to the destruction of human embryos. Green did not return a call seeking comment.

Green campaign aide Mark Graul, when asked about a recent proposal by some GOP lawmakers in Madison to ban the use of state resources and employees in research that destroys human embryos, said Green had not studied it or taken a position on it.

Partisans in the stem cell debate argue over the meaning of polls on the issue. But according to a non-partisan Gallup survey last month, about four in 10 Americans agree with Bush's position. A little more than half disagree and want the limits on federal funding either eased or removed entirely.

About six in 10 people said research using stem cells obtained from human embryos is ``morally acceptable,'' while one in three said it wasn't.

``I think public opinion favors stem cell research on balance,'' says John Green, a University of Akron political scientist and expert on religion and politics. In that sense, he says, the issue may work for Democrats the way gay marriage works for Republicans, by cutting into the other party's support base.

How do you feel about stem cell research?

Merger study, rec funds on county agenda

06/13/05
By Diane Wagner, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

The Floyd County Commission is expected to decide Tuesday whether to continue a $168,200 feasibility study on consolidating the city and county school systems.

The caucus session starts at noon, with the regular meeting set for 2 p.m. in the Historic Floyd County Courthouse.

Consultants determined in the $25,000 first phase of the study there is little community support for the merger. However, members of the Rome-Floyd County Consolidation Task Force recommended completing the study because it could provide valuable information.

Commissioners also are scheduled to discuss a proposed audit of the nonprofit Citizens for Better Parks, Inc.

As the private fund-raising arm of the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority, the organization’s balance statements were filed with the county but did not undergo complete review. Questions have recently arisen about possible co-mingling of CFBP and Recreation Authority assets.

County Manager Kevin Poe said the outside auditing firm of Reed, Martin and Slickman would reconstruct the group’s records since its inception in 1985 and prepare a report.

“Hopefully, this will allow us to clear the air,” Commission Chairman Chuck Hufstetler said.

Also on the commission’s agenda are funding requests for two operations that some officials said are not local responsibilities.

Superior Court Administrator Phil Hart is seeking at least $2,500 a month to pay contract attorneys representing indigent defendants. The cases were already in the court system when the new Public Defender’s Office took over the duty in January.

Poe said the county has provided $60,000 this year for the old cases, in addition to funding the Public Defender program required by state law.

“The state legislature said it wouldn’t cost us any more, but it’s costing us a fortune,” Hufstetler complained in the agenda-setting session on Thursday.

Commissioners also will decide whether to allocate as much as $10,000 for Hope Ministry’s community re-entry program for parolees and probationers.

County Attorney Tommy Manning said the funding could be challenged because assisting former inmates is typically a state function. However, Hufstetler and Commissioners John Mayes and Garry Fricks say the lack of a support system can create local problems.

“There are other things we’re doing now that, according to the constitution, are state functions,” Hufstetler said. “Like indigent defense.”

Chief Magistrate Judge Chris Mathis also is scheduled to speak about the court’s workload and staffing level. Mathis sought another clerk and part-time judge during January budget talks, but commissioners asked him to resubmit the request after the first quarter.


How do you feel about this? Will it be good for Floyd County? Will it help our school systems?

Perdue wants to stop providing Viagra to the poor

06/08/05
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgians who can't afford Viagra should not receive it, said Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Georgia taxpayers spent more than $250,000 for 1,534 Medicaid recipients to receive erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis between April 2004 and last month, and the governor wants it to stop.

Five of the recipients were registered sex offenders. The state Department of Community Health released the numbers this week amid a nationwide controversy over sex offenders receiving the drugs through Medicaid.

The state already has decided to stop providing the drugs to sex offenders, but Perdue and other officials say the drugs should not be provided to any of the 1.5 million Georgians on Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to the poor and disabled.

``It is my belief that filling prescriptions for these types of medications is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money,'' Perdue said in a Tuesday letter to Georgia's congressmen. ``Impotence drugs should be categorized with drugs for fertility, smoking, weight loss and other 'lifestyle drugs' that are not required to be covered by Medicaid.''

Georgia's Medicaid program pays for the drugs because of a 1998 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision that Medicaid should pay for the drugs when doctors say they are needed, said state Department of Community Health Commissioner Tim Burgess.

However, Gary Karr, a spokesman for the federal agency, said states are allowed to define ``medically necessary.'' Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin do not pay for the drugs, he said, but the drugs will be available to treat pulmonary hypertension.

``Once you decide something is medically necessary, you have to cover it,'' Karr said, adding that in fiscal 2005 states spent $38 million of the collective $295 billion Medicaid dollars on erectile dysfunction drugs.

One health care professional said the governor's decision is ``irresponsible and shows little regard for the impact on people and their relationships.''

Many Medicaid patients receive the drugs because erectile dysfunction is a symptom of serious health problems, such as spinal cord injuries, said Mark Johnson, director of advocacy for the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a catastrophic care hospital.

Drug manufacturers also are watching the issue closely.

Clint Austin, a Georgia-based lobbyist for Pfizer, which makes Viagra, said economically disadvantaged patients should not be denied the drugs because the state Department of Community Health determines who will receive the drugs and how much the state will pay for them.

``Erectile dysfunction often results from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other serious diseases,'' Austin said. ``We think it is a wise policy to cover all the serious symptoms of people suffering from disease. Erectile dysfunction is a serious and life-altering symptom of disease. We think we should treat the entire patient.''

One of Perdue's advisers, however, said the issue comes down to money.

Cuts are imminent in Medicaid funding, which forces government officials to scrutinize all expenditures, so erectile dysfunction drugs should not be a top priority, said Patricia Nobbie, public policy director for the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, an advisory group.

``Medicaid dollars are in demand for people with disabilities,'' Nobbie said. ``Maybe we need to think about the Medicaid priorities for those most in need.''

Will this affect you? How do you feel about this idea?

City hears about tax districts

The city’s June 21 vote will include a measure about Tax Allocation Districts.

06/07/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


The Rome City Commission wouldn’t be required to create a Tax Allocation District if voters give it that power June 21, though it would be a good tool to have.

Commissioners heard that message from Gary Mongeon at their Monday meeting. Mongeon, executive director of the Marietta Redevelopment Corp., explained how TADs work before the commission unanimously adopted a resolution encouraging Romans to give it redevelopment powers.

“You’re not committed to any project,” Mongeon said. “You don’t have to use the power, but at least you have that in your tool box.”

Romans will vote June 21 on giving the city the power to create TADs. If approved, the city could then designate an area slated for redevelopment and issue bonds based on future tax revenue gained from the redeveloped area.

Money gained from issuing the bonds could be used for infrastructure improvements to assist private developers.

The proposed West Third Street development and South Rome are two areas that could benefit from TADs, said City Manager John Bennett.

Two years after Cobb County residents gave their county redevelopment powers, Marietta is very close to having its first bond issue, Mongeon said. It hopes to borrow $8 million through bonds in order to facilitate the construction of a $130 million project.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Mongeon said. “Like anything else, the devil’s in the details. It can be a good plan. It can be a bad plan.”

Redevelopment plans must have public hearings, Mongeon said, and he advised commissioners to have a public process that evaluates the plan.

In other matters, the commission unanimously approved amending its franchise agreement with Georgia Power.

According to Mayor Ronnie Wallace, the amendment will clarify who is responsible for paying utility relocation costs depending on the situation — a change that could stop court action about past disagreements from happening again.

The commission also heard from community activist Teresa Watson, who shared concern about how she believed Assistant City Attorney Andy Davis handled an open-records request about land at Ga. 53 and Ga. 140 considered for industrial use. Davis also serves as attorney for the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority

Davis, blinking often, watched Watson silently as she spoke. Watson claimed Davis told her he could retrieve the documents she wanted at a cost of $200 per hour.

“Mr. Davis is in a much better position to interpret law better than I do,” Wallace said.

Meth sting suspects get 1st day in court

49 convenience store clerks and 16 corporations are accused of knowingly selling meth ingredients.

06/07/05
By Lauren Gregory, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


Suspects, arrested after allegedly selling over-the-counter drugs they knew were going to be used to make methamphetamines, walk into federal court Monday. Ryan Smith / Rome News-Tribune
It was standing room only — even for attorneys — in U.S. Magistrate Court on Monday during an all-day marathon of first appearance and arraignment hearings in a case government officials have dubbed “Operation Meth Merchant.”

Forty-nine convenience store clerks and 16 corporations were indicted Friday in the case, in which defense attorneys suggest that investigators targeted immigrant merchants. Many of those arrested are natives of India.

During an 18-month investigation, federal investigators say they found convenience store employees in Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Walker and Whitfield counties selling over-the-counter methamphetamine ingredients knowing they would be used to make the drug.

Five clerks were still at large Monday evening, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Tarvin, although suspect Ashley Knight of Menlo is scheduled to turn herself in to authorities on Wednesday.

More than 20 of the 44 defendants were granted bonds ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. The others will reappear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter Johnson today for detention hearings.

Among those who appeared were Silver Creek Mini Mart employee Nilesh Ramanbhai Patel, who was granted a $10,000 bond, and Coastal Food Mart employee Pravinkumar H. Patel, who did not receive a bond.

Hordes of relatives and friends of the accused attended the hearings, some whispering while seated on benches, others listening from among the spectators standing in the back.

Although Tarvin, lead prosecutor in the case, has produced a pile of affidavits confirming that all the defendants speak English, a translator was on hand Monday to assist those who spoke Hindi and Gujrati.

Language skills will eventually become a major issue in the case, according to defense attorney Ken Poston. “These defendants represent a wide spectrum of language abilities,” said Poston, who is representing Mohammed Ahmed of Ringgold, one of those using the translator Monday.

While the defendants may have sufficient skills to operate a cash register, he explained, many may not be able to understand Southern slang.

“In some cases,” he said, “legal amounts of certain substances were sold. But then (the government) had (an undercover agent) to mumble or state, ‘I’m going to make meth.’ I know people from here (in Georgia) that wouldn’t necessarily know what that means or what implications it would have.”

Atlanta attorney Steven Sadow, who is representing six different defendants, said he plans to investigate whether government officials singled out Indians in Operation Meth Merchant.

“I want to know why they went after the Indians to begin with,” he said, explaining that he plans to file a motion to dismiss all charges based on selective prosecution.

Defendant Ahmed’s wife, Hajira Ahmed, said she, too, believes charges in the case stem from stereotyping and generalization. “I’m thinking this is happening for the name only,” she said.

Rome resident Devin Desai, who attended Monday’s hearing in support of friends, worries about the case’s impact on the local Indian community — specifically, how it is perceived as a whole by outsiders.

Since the news broke, Desai said, he has been asked twice by white strangers whether he was involved in Friday’s busts. “They just generalize the people,” he said. “There could be a hate crime. Somebody could think ... I’m in it, too.”

How do you feel about this? Do you think more needs to be done?

City wants redevelopment power

Voters wil decide this issue June 21, in addition to the sales-tax question.

06/06/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

The Rome City Commission plans to give its opinion on how you should vote June 21.

And, no, it’s not about a special purpose sales tax.

Romans will have the choice in just more than two weeks to give their city the power to create Tax Allocation Districts — a second question on the ballot along with a 1-cent sales tax proposal.

The commission is scheduled to adopt a resolution at its 6:30 p.m. meeting today encouraging city residents to pass the measure.

“It gives the city another mechanism to encourage redevelopment or development, which expands the tax base,” said Assistant City Manager Jim Dixon. “The TAD gives us another method of financing redevelopment.”

The vote, if it passes, will give the city redevelopment powers, which include creating TADs and issuing bonds specifically for redeveloping areas.

A TAD could be one method the city would use to finance infrastructure improvements on West Third Street, though a special district wouldn’t be limited to the proposal to relocate Barron Stadium and surrounding facilities near State Mutual Stadium. City Manager John Bennett said South Rome would also be a likely candidate for a TAD.

To create a TAD, the city would designate an area slated for redevelopment — for example, a section of South Rome. The developer would determine how much more money in property taxes the city would get from the redevelopment.

“Say the value of the property generates $50,000 per year in taxes,” Bennett said. “The redevelopment would increase that to $400,000 per year — that’s $350,000 in new taxes gained.”

Rome would issue bonds that it would pay off throughout several years with the extra revenue gained from increased property taxes.

The money gained from issuing the bonds could be used for the construction of a parking deck, improving streets or building a recreation facility, among other improvements.

“There’s some support for improving the quality of life of the community,” Dixon said. “This is a method of doing that without having to raise taxes to do it.”

In other matters, the commission is scheduled to vote on a contract with Johnson Controls to conduct a baseline survey of city water meters.

The survey is the next step in determining if the city will replace all of its water meters with ones that would transmit their information via radio waves instead of having an operator read them manually.

According to Bennett, the company will test 2 percent to 3 percent of city meters to estimate how much water use goes unaccounted for.

The city will decide in about three months whether to continue the program.

How do you feel about this? Will you vote for or against it?

Panel against rezoning of 411

06/03/05
By Alan Riquelmy, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer


The Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission unanimously recommended denial Thursday of a proposal to rezone land across from Wal-Mart on U.S. 411.

Several nearby residents appeared before the commission to oppose the request by Bob Ledbetter, who wants to build a strip mall at the intersection of Callier Springs Road and the highway.

Ledbetter wants to rezone the 14-acre parcel to community commercial from suburban residential.

Some neighbors think that will hurt their property values.

"I bought my home as shelter for my children and as an investment," said Mardi Haynes Jackson. "Honestly, it's my only investment. I don't think too many people will be knocking on my door asking to buy my home that's next to a shopping center."

Ledbetter said he has met with several area residents and is willing to work with the neighborhood on the project.

"Given its location, we feel the property is warranted for quality retail development, which we believe we can deliver," he said. "We're here to be good neighbors and work with the neighborhood as best we can."

Those who spoke against the development cited noise, trash and crime as reasons the commission should vote for denial.

Elaine Beeman said the Chulio Hills area has been rural since the 1960s. A retail business, she said, would draw shoplifters and burglars.

"We fear that criminals will want to enter our homes," she said. "And what about the safety of our children that play outside daily?"

Commissioners Irwin Bagwell and Jarrell Cagle said they would consider approval if an improved site plan that addressed residents' concerns can be created. Chairman Brian Hampton, though, said the location of the U.S. 411 corridor doesn't necessarily mean all commercial requests should gain approval.

"It's tempting to look at Wal-Mart and the corridor," Hampton said, "but this request would be a big step in writing the death sentence for established residential neighborhoods."

The Floyd County Commission is expected to vote on the rezoning at its June 28 meeting.

"Just like any other recommendation, we'll look at it strongly to see what the questions and concerns are," said County Commissioner Garry Fricks. "I read the minutes, and I read the comments. We usually stand by with their decision," he said of the planning commission.

Feds raid convenience stores in meth investigation

RN-T Staff Report

DALTON - A federal meth sting carried out this morning in Northwest Georgia yielded 24 individual arrests, 49 indictments and involved 16 corporation that own convenience stores.

The offenders were charged with selling ephedrine or other substances to suspects who they knew were using the items to make methamphetamines, officials said this afternoon at a news conference at the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office.

Operation Meth Merchants included the counties of Floyd, Gordon, Dade, Chattooga, Walker, Murray and Whitfield.
Two Floyd County convenience stores were searched this morning - the Coastal gas station on Turner McCall Boulevard and the Silver Creek Mini-Mart on the Rockmart Highway south of Rome.
Law enforcement agencies raided five businesses in Walker County Friday morning.

The businesses raided in Walker included Ross' Thriftway on LaFayette Road; Jiffy Mart on Mission Ridge Road; Famous Market on Chattanooga Valley Road; Rossville Smoke Shop/Tobacco Outlet on Chickamauga Avenue and the Tobacco Mart on North Main Street in LaFayette.

City sees plan for stadium

Cost for sports complex would exceed $10 million.

By Alan Riquelmy
Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer

A new Barron Stadium near State Mutual Stadium would be bigger, better and surrounded by other recreation facilities if a plan presented to the Rome City Commission Wednesday becomes reality.

Commission members saw architectural drawings for the Barron Stadium, John Maddox Track sports complex for the first time at a called commission meeting. The facilities, which would include the relocated football stadium, track, gymnastics center, recreation authority offices and other buildings, would cost $10,736,200, according to the estimates of Rome architect Mike Page, P&C Design Build.

"We've been trying to establish what can fit and how we can make it work all together,? Page said. "We've been trying to gather as much information as we've been able to gather."

The relocation of Barron Stadium and other sports facilities is part of a proposal by James N. "Doc" Kibler and Delos H. "Dee" Yancey, who have suggested changing West Third Street, where Barron Stadium and the Rome-Floyd Tennis Center now sit, into a multi-use development with residences and retail stores.

The information Page's office gathered shaped the renderings, which depict a gymnastics center nestled next to the stadium. Currently, Barron Stadium has 5,700 bench seats. The new facility is slated to have 6,300 seats.

The field would be compatible for football, soccer, and track and field events.

A Miracle Field, a smaller baseball field for special needs children, would rest just north of the stadium. Page said the Atlanta Braves would donate half of the $250,000 needed for its construction.

"We've got two out-parcels for future development," Page said, indicating two pieces of land just south of the sports complex. "It all kind of fits."

The two-story, 38,000 square-foot gymnastics center would have racquetball courts, a concessions area, exercise machines and an upper-story walking area, where parents could look down to keep an eye on their children.

Parking for the facilities would be shared with State Mutual Stadium?s existing parking, if an agreement is worked out with the Rome Braves.

"We're talking about using brick and colors of a similar nature as State Mutual Stadium"Page said. "This is not State Mutual Stadium, so we're not trying to mimic it."

The Rome-Floyd Tennis Center, expanded to 33 from 16 courts, would be built on Riverside Parkway between the state Department of Family and Children Services and the Rome Senior Center. None of the courts would be covered.

"This is a step," Mayor Ronnie Wallace said of Wednesday's presentation. "Not a final step, but a step."

Funding for the $4 million gymnastics center and offices is slated to come from a $36.5 million special purpose, local option sales tax up for vote June 21.

Money for the relocation of Barron Stadium, track and tennis courts is expected to come from Kibler and Yancey, although those details have not been worked out, City Manager John Bennett said.

He expects a formal presentation from the developers within a month.

"We're still in the negotiations with them on whether or not we can make this thing work financially," Bennett said. "(Wednesday's meeting) gets us past the point of wondering what could be out there."

How do you feel about this possibility in Rome?