"Declare among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard;
- . .
- - -- - - - - -
publish, and conceal not." - Jeremiah 50:2
OUT
Continued from Front
Ambrose said the loss of
volunteers has meant almost
all county house res lately
end up as total losses.
fWe ll save the chimn,
deadpanned Ambrose.
Commissioners also
parted ways with re
department training o icer
Trey Piper in the shake up.
Perry, who had served
as re/EMS chief since
September 2017, was noti-
ed by county manager Jim
Hedges upon arriving to
work on Thursday that he
could either resign or be
red Sources within the
county government said
Perry intends to resign
but had yet to submit his
resignation by presstirne on
Monday. Perry also stepped
down from his position of
county Emergency Manage-
ment Agency (EMA) direc
tor, a job he has held for a
decade. Perry s re chief pay
was about $55,000 per year
and the EMA job paid about
$10,000 more. Sources say
the county has offered Perry
two months of pay as a
severance package.
Perry told the Reporter
on Monday: I can say it
was a shock and I had no
warning. But, when you re
an appointed of cial the
Board can make a change
whenever they want.
They ve decided to move in
a different direction. I wish
everyone well.
The decision came less
than 48 hours after commis-
sioners held a closed meet-
ing to discuss personnel on
Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Perry was recently cleared
of wrongdoing in an inde-
pendent re investigation
report conducted by Evans
based rm Excellence
Exceeded after two elderly
residents died in a house re
on Strickland Loop on Aug.
17. Following the fatalities,
several witnesses had pri-
vately complained to county
manager Jim Hedges and
a couple of commissioners
that it took 14 minutes from
the time of Perry s initial
arrival to pull the couple
out of the re. Both District
2 commissioner Eddie
Rowland and Emami said
the ensuing query into the
Strickland Loop re had
nothing to do with Perry s
ring. However, Emami
said after commissioners
began to look more closely
into Perry s department,
they learned that the chief
had lOSt the con dence of a
p
number of subordinates.
Perry s exit also comes less
than a month before the
county is expected to debut
its new re headquarters
on Juliette Road Perry had
been a major part of the
design process since being
promoted to chief.
In Perry s stead, commis-
sioners promoted longtime
re ghter/ paramedic
Jason Lott as interim re/
EMS chief. The county has
already begun a search for
Perry s replacement, and
Lott, who has worked for
Monroe County for more
than 20 years, con rmed
Monday that he has applied
for the permanent job.
Rowland said commission-
ers have not yet decided on
whether to ll the EMA po-
sition with a new re/EMS
chief hire or whether to hire
a separate EMA director.
With Monroe County s
re chief position once
again vacant, Rowland
and Emami each said they
would consider consolidat-
ing re departments with
the City of Forsyth if the
move could save both sides
money. Rowland said he d
had one-on-one discussions
about it with city leaders
but said nothing formal had
ever been proposed. He
added that he d seen similar
situations where a county
re department took over
a city one but did not know
of an instance when a city
re department took over a
county one. -
Ambrose said he favors
contracting out the ambu-
lance service and letting the
ing.
Perry s stint as a-county
department head will per-
haps best be remembered
for his witty social media
posts, especially during
inclement weather. Perry s
last post as EMA director
came on Nov. 15 when he
warned Monroe County
drivers of wet conditions
on local interstates that he
dubbed the I-75 and I-475
Slip-N Slide.
Perry is the second
county department head
to resign under re since
Hedges took over as county
manager in October 2018.
Hedges also gave longtime
county zoning of cer and
former county manager
Anita Buice the option of
resigning or being red in
April 2019. It was Buice who
recommended ring Perry s
predecessor Donny Mercer
in June 2017 and hiring
Perry several months later.
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Publication No. USPS 997-840
OTIS
EDITORIALS
AA
PEACH STATE POLITICS by Kyle Wingfield
Appreciate it while it's there
Don t it always seem to years the emotionally So we count
ourselves
go, that you don t know dif cult stage. I remem- lucky not only to be
in this
what you ve got til it s ber one of my old pastors sweet spot, but
to be aware
gone? . describing once how his that we re in it.
No, Joni Mitchell, it own preteen son would And we know not
don t. Not always. still hold his hand while everyone gets to be so
For a walking in pub- lucky. We know there Can
couple of lic, and how he be heartbreak and loss
years now, knew those days within these very years,
my wife were numbered. or before a child or parent
and I have At the time, can even reach them. We
occupied a I understood know heartbreak and loss
sweet spot what he meant can come anytirhe. We
in the life of on an intellec- can t take for granted that
our family tual basis. But our current trajectory will
Our boys as my older son, continue.
will turn then my only In many ways, that
11 and 8 one, was still knowledge informs my
in the rst just a toddler, work Statistics are an ag-
part of next ,w his observation regation of ersonal sto-
year. We re WW didn t have all fies, and glogmy statistics
Past the the emotional about children struggling
physically resonance it at SChOOl or with mental
di iwlt stage with them: does now illness, about parents
They can feed and enter- '11. -. .- 581; a c J -7 1-- -r
tain themselves if they parents. All four of them a job, about grandparents
wake up earlier than us are still relatively young struggling to nd
qual
on a Saturday morning, and healthy. They re still ity care, represent a
lot of
and playing with them no unquestionably the ones personal stories that
could
longer requires us to crawl helping us with child- have turned out better.
on all fours pushing a toy care, with advice and not Finding ways to help .
train or race car across a the ones being helped. people live happier
stories
hard oor. ' But we ve already is important to me.
Those younger, more de watched our grandparents, I m also the kind of
per-
manding days are (mostly) all eight of them, grow son who makes plansz'
who
fond memories now. But older and less self su i- writes down budgets,
who
at the time, as another cient toward the end of sets goals, who saves and
saying goes, the years were their lives. We have seen invests for the
future. But
short but the days could be aging. We know a pleasant I ve learned the
one thing
awfully long. youthfulness whether that you shouldn t plan for,
On the other hand, we our children s, our parents that you shouldn t
reserve
haven t yet experienced the or our own won t last for tomorrow, is
gratitude.
crackup of their teenage forever. I m not arguing for
2019, 20,20I7, 2016 winner: EdilOllOl Page excellence
2019, ZOIB winner: Best Headline Writing
20I9 winner: Best Community Servrce
20W winner: Best layout and Desrgn
10W winner: Best Serious Column Don Daniel
instant grati cation. They
may begin with the same
rst few letters, but there s
a world of difference
between gratitude and
grati cation. And, being
human, we get them back-
ward far too often.
Putting off a small
pleasure today for some-
thing more meaningful
or satisfying tomorrow
is a sound approach, but
we must make time to be
thankful here and now.
Yet, how often do we do
the opposite?
I realize the start of this
piece might have sounded
like bragging about my
own self-awareness, but
I m far from perfect here.
Too often, as a future-ori-
ented optimist, I m $11th
of our sins co much from
tomorrow that I don t
notice all the good already
around me. Others, drawn
toward nostalgia, can
be equally blind to the
present as they pine for
yesteryear.
If nothing else, be thank-
ful this week for an annual
occasion to know what
we ve got, before it s gone.
The president and CEO
of the Georgia Public
Policy Foundation, Kyle
Wing eld s column runs in
papers around the state of
Georgia.
county just handle re ght-
BACK N FORTH by gill Weaver
Famin celebrates Thanksgiving Miracle
t s been a hellacious week
It s not my.desire to write col-
umns about personal tragedies,
but this one is more like a miracle
than a tragedy. If you care to know
what happened, feel free to read on.
If not, have a wonderful Thanksgiv-
ing.
Molly, our pregnant 39 year-old
daughter, was admitted into the
Atlanta Medical Center on Tuesday,
Nov. 12', as there were signs labor
might be starting. It never did until
Saturday, when all hell broke loose.
She suffered what s called a placental
abruption. It s rare. It s when essen-
tial parts of the pregnant mother s
body get torn during childbirth, the
baby s life is in danger and massive
bleeding occurs in the mother. Doc-
tors don t know why it occurs and
they cannot prevent it. Thank God
Molly was in a hospital that recog-
nized it quickly and had the medical
professionals on hand to deal with it.
The baby was removed as quickly
as possible by emergency C-section. '
Although she spent a few nights in
the NICU, she s been discharged and
is at home with her father, sisters and
grandparents. She is doing just ne.
Back in the QR, they worked to
save Molly s life. She d
lost virtually all of her
blood. Her organs were
shutting down. They
1.
. was pretty much herself again
smiling, talking and communicating
with the many nurses and doctors
who checked on her.
As her slow recovery continues,
the remaining major issue is her
heart, and that s a big one. It has
some reduced function, which we
hope will be only temporary. She
will be medicated for it, and in many
other cases patients have seen their
heart function return to normal.
But it will be a slow go. She was
moved Monday from the ICU to the
cardiac unit, where she
'will remain for some days.
Though she s not going
means her daughters in-
started transfusions. cluding little Anna can
Over the course of the visit her.
week she was given r
more than 20 units of This saga hasn t ended,
blood as they wanted but with Thanksgiv-
her kidneys and lungs,ing at hand we certainly
and everything else " have plenty for which
not to mention her to be thankful this year,
heart to get going such as the doctors and
again. nurses who saved our
daughter s life; other
It worked. The doctors and nurses who
blood they had pumped in was
slowly removed with several days
of dialysis. Her own blood started
being produced again, her organs
started functioning again. By the
eighth day (this past Sunday), she
saved our granddaughter s life; the
NICU nurses who cared for Anna;
, the kidney doctor, liver doctor, lung
doctor, heart doctor, blood doctor,
OBGYN doctor, the trauma room
doctors and nurses; the midwives;
Sisters Mary Michael, 9, right, and Sally, 7, newbaby sister.
home quite yet, the move
thedialysis technician; the nurse
who pumped air into the baby s
lungs until she started breathing on
her own.
There are so many others to thank,
like the husband who was so alone
and scared as his wife was suddenly
whisked away from him and into an
operating room; paternal grandpar-
ents who cared for the sisters; the
caring brother and brother-.in law;
and Molly s godfather, the uncle
who ew in from Colorado to help
however he could. And, of course
- and especially -- Molly s mOther.
My God what a blessing she is and
what comfort she has provided to
everyone.
This isn t the only time we ve been
showered with such overwhelming
kindness just before Thanksgiving.
The last time, 16 years ago, also came
after a medical emergency that didn t
end so well. This time, like that time,
we once again are in the debt of
others who have given so much. Our
bank of thanks runs dry, but not
our hearts. It was said in 2003, and
it will be said again this time, that to
so many people who helped in ways
large and small, we offer our heart-
felt thanks for all the giving.
Bill Weaver lives in northern Mon-
roe County. He can be reached via
email at billweaver81 1@gmail.com.
