Joyce Clark Strange, age 84, of Cornelia, Georgia passed away on Tuesday, June 4, 2019.
Mrs. Strange was born on December 12, 1934 in Habersham County, Georgia to the late Clarence and Clara Clark. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Jewell Strange; son, Bruce Strange; sisters, Dorothy Stroud, Alice Hannon; brother, JR Clark. Mrs. Strange was a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. Joyce, known as Granny was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Survivors include her daughter, Debra and Richard Armour; sons, Rick Strange; David and Melody Strange, brother-in-law, Gene and Doris Strange, all of Cornelia; 7 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-granddaughters on the way.
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, June 6, 2019 at Whitfield Funeral Home, South Chapel Rev. Greg Purcell officiating. Interment will follow in the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at the funeral home.
There’s been no measurable rain in northeast Georgia since May 11, but it looks like that’s about to change.
The National Weather Service says isolated showers and thunderstorms may develop through the nighttime hours Tuesday. The main threats will be gusty winds, locally heavy downpours, and cloud-to-ground lightning.
Scattered to numerous thunderstorms are expected to develop across the region Wednesday afternoon. Some storms may produce large hail and damaging wind.
Rainy weekend
Forecasters say an active pattern will set up across the region Friday through the weekend. With plenty of shower and thunderstorm coverage each day, some areas may receive periods of heavy rain that could lead to an elevated threat for localized flash flooding.
A visually impressive but ultimately cheesy sequel that makes the same mistake of focusing more on special effects than an actual story.
Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga star as an ex-couple who are scientists who study gigantic monsters known as Titans who roam the planet. Yes, that does include Godzilla as well. How could it not?
They introduce a device that is capable of emitting frequencies so loud that apparently other dormant creatures can hear it and, yes, they awaken and it isn’t long before all hell breaks loose.
The movie likes to be the Avengers of all the Godzilla monsters coming together to either work with the beast or fight it. Mostly the latter because if they didn’t, we wouldn’t get any kind of story and we would be denied seeing one special effects sequence after another.
Other supporting characters do show up such as Bradley Whitfield and Ken Watanabe as fellow scientists who want to study the creatures and O’Shea Jackson as a soldier whose only purpose is to hunt down as many creatures as possible. Too bad their characters aren’t given anything more substantial to do.
The sequences of monsters coming together to have their battle royales can be mindless fun, but the rest of the movie doesn’t really create characters that we care about or are in any way memorable.
Not to mention, this movie is just nothing more than a setup for an inevitable sequel and who knows how much more devastation Godzilla can cause before it gets old?
If you like old-fashioned mayhem with cutting edge special effects on a Friday night, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth. For everyone else, it’s just another dumbed down creature feature.
Grade: C+
(Rated PG-13 for sequences of monster action violence and destruction, and for some language.)
Here’s the latest arrest report from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
DISCLAIMER
The arrest records available through this website are public information. Any indication of an arrest does not mean the individual identified has been convicted of a crime. All persons arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
(Cleveland)- The City of Cleveland is looking at utilizing a new state law that will allow the use of traffic monitoring cameras in school zones to help reduce the number of speeding violations and make the area safer for students.
Cleveland Police Chief John Foster presented the results of a recent traffic study to the city council at Monday’s meeting. The speed study was conducted in front of Jack P. Nix Elementary School, where during school zone traffic hours the speed limit is 25 mph, and Foster said the results were eye-opening.
The study was conducted by RedSpeed Georgia and Chief Foster said the one day study counted a total of 8,800 vehicles that traveled the road between the hours of 6 AM and 4 PM. From that total, just over 800 speeding violations occurred. Foster said if they do agree to work with RedSpeed for the monitoring service there would be no cost to the city to set the system up, RedSpeed will take a percent of the fines assessed.
Also if the service is put into place the chief said they will ticket only the more serious violators, those exceeding the speed limit by more than 20 miles per hour. ” It is serious and it is meant to get peoples attention and there will be signs that will be put up, there will be camera’s on poles on each side of the school zone, ” said Foster ” there will be flashing lights there will be signs saying their speed is being checked by camera so not a surprise, it’s not I Gotha kind of thing it’s to get your attention and slow down.”
The city council requested that Foster obtain some additional information about the services provided by RedSpeed before they decide the direction they will take.
Jacquelyn Louise “Jackie” Spodick Hutchins, age 72 of Cornelia, Georgia passed away on Thursday, May 09, 2019.
Born in West Palm Beach, Florida on June 5, 1947, she was a daughter of the late Arthur Jacob Spodick & Ethel Louise Flack Spodick. Jackie was a title insurance agent for over 25 years in South, Florida before her retirement and was married to the love of her life, Bernard F. Hutchins for 53 years.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother, Louis F. Spodick.
Survivors include her loving husband, Bernard F. Hutchins of Cornelia, GA; daughter, Lisa L. Kraft of Jensen Beach, FL; grandchildren, Michael Kraft of Stuart, FL, Hailey Kraft of Jensen Beach, FL; great-grandchildren, Eliza & Theo; brother, Jeff A. Spodick of Port St. Lucie, FL; best friend & Sister-In-Christ, Judy McKenna of Cornelia, GA; niece & husband, Jenni & Nick Palm of Flagstaff, AZ.
Mrs. Hutchins wishes were to be cremated and a private interment of her remains to be held at a later time in the Hillside Gardens in Clarkesville, Georgia.
Shown, from left, are junior Tyrus Tilley and seventh-grader Teryk Tilley, both of Tallulah Falls and senior Darren Fortner of Mt. Airy, members of the Tallulah Falls School Pit Vipers competition barbecue team. The team finished third overall at the recent Smokin’ Bike Fest in Peachtree City. (Tallulah Falls School)
The Pit Vipers of Tallulah Falls School are now ranked No. 11 in the state among 45 backyard competition barbecue teams. Three members of the team traveled to Peachtree City for the first-ever Smokin’ Bike Fest, held May 31-June 1, finishing third overall in the combination road bike race and barbecue event. Individual awards of sixth in People’s Choice Pork, sixth in Pork Ribs and fourth in Chicken contributed to the overall ranking, according to club advisor/coach Tom Tilley.
“Ultimately, senior Darren Fortner of Mt. Airy, junior Tyrus Tilley and seventh-grader Teryk Tilley, both of Tallulah Falls, were up to the task,” Tilley said. “The Vipers finished with an amazing third-place overall.”
More than 3,000 people sampled offerings from the state’s top pro and amateur KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society) and GBC (Georgia Barbecue Championship) teams assembled for the overnight event, Tilley said.
“We competed with the best pro and amateur teams in the state of Georgia in this event,” Tilley said. “The competition was strong; almost every team in the amateur division had previously won a KCBS/GBC Grand Championship. The Vipers have only been smoking for 13 months. I am so proud of these kids.”
Club members will attend barbecue school in late June with the next KCBS competition set for Aug. 2 on Lake Lanier.
Firefighters were called back to the scene of a house fire in White County this afternoon after it rekindled.
White County and City of Cleveland firefighters were dispatched to a single wide mobile home at 15 Bell Shadows Drive around 3 p.m. Wednesday. When they arrived, there was smoke coming from the residence, says White County Public Safety spokesperson Ana Newberry. Upon further investigation, firefighters found that the ceiling in the kitchen was smoldering. They used about 250 gallons of water to extinguish the fire.
Newberry says no one was in the home at the time. The renters were displaced by the initial fire on Tuesday. County and city firefighters responded to that fire as well. When they arrived at the scene Tuesday, they found a well-involved porch fire spreading to the interior of the structure. They extinguished the flames after gaining entry into the home. The Lee Arrendale Fire Brigade helped overhaul the residence once the fire was out.
The home sustained heavy smoke and water damage. Firefighters removed two live pets from the residence on Tuesday and returned them to their owners. The Red Cross is assisting the family with lodging.
White County Fire investigator Jason Reed is working to determine what caused Tuesday’s fire.
(Cleveland)- A Georgia Department of Corrections officer is facing charges of theft by taking and violation of his oath of office, after he was arrested May 28th.
Cleveland Police say 24-year old Levis Jehu Franklin, of Morganton, Ga. is accused of taking old water meters from the City of Cleveland Shop and selling them for scrap metal.
Franklin was working as a corrections officer with the Colwell Correctional Center supervising an inmate work detail in the city of Cleveland.
According to Cleveland Police Chief John Foster, he was contacted on May 23 by an official with the Cleveland City Shop about a theft. According to Foster, an inmate had advised an employee at the city shop that Franklin was placing the old water meters in 5-gallon buckets and placing them in the Department of Corrections van.
Chief Foster followed the inmate van, in an unmarked car back to the correctional center in Blairsville. There Foster observed Officer Franklin escort the inmates back into the facility, exit the building, get into his personal vehicle and pull up to the City of Cleveland inmate van. He then allegedly removed the buckets of meters and placed them in the trunk of his vehicle. Franklin then got back in his vehicle and drove back to the employee parking lot.
Foster says he then exited the vehicle and entered the building with the other correctional officers.
Franklin was arrested Tuesday, May 28, by investigators with the Office of Professional Standards, Criminal Investigation Division for the Georgia Department of Corrections, when he arrived for work at the corrections facility.
He was transported to Cleveland where he was booked into the White County Detention Center. Franklin is being held on a $10,000 bond.
What a season for Alex McFarlane! The prime-time talent out of Habersham Central, who is a strong Miami commit, was taken by the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon in the 25th round of the MLB Draft, going 755th overall.
While the right-hander was ranked as the 115th overall player in the draft, most teams let him go due to his strong commitment to the University of Miami.
Paul Alfred Beck, age 57 of Clarkesville, Georgia passed away on Tuesday, June 04, 2019.
A celebration of life service to honor Paul will be held at 2:00 p.m. Monday, June 10, 2019 at Hillside Memorial Chapel with Rev. John DuBois officiating.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:00 p.m. until the service hour on Monday.
There are so many Bible verses on strength. None of them recommend I lean on my own strength and I am so glad. Over and over I read:
The Lord is my strength and my song. (Exodus 15:2)
Seek the Lord and his strength. (I Chronicles 16:11)
The joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)
But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. (Psalm 22:19) NIV
God is our refuge and strength. (Psalm 46:1)
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10B)
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6)
Whew! I’m grateful for a strong God who cares about me. There are so many days when I’ve just been tired – bone-weary tired – and my strength is depleted. Yet I have experienced moments of supernatural strength or balance from out of the blue. Mom’s legs sometimes turn to jelly and falter, but I haven’t dropped her. She’s even pushed away from me, and, thanks be to God, I was able to maneuver an arm behind her to catch her. I wish I had bubble wrap to protect her whenever I have to move her. I know how fragile she is and how human I am. I am always grateful for a safe transfer.
On the days when she is far from us, it is particularly difficult to rouse her to an understanding of walking or sitting safely down into her chair. On those days, I feel like I make a request for safety with every step. Each day I pray that food is safely swallowed and not aspirated. I also pray that germs stay out of her system. One day, when the Lord is ready to take her home, I pray for a sweet, painless passing from this world into the next.
I know how much Mom’s caregiving is bathed in prayer by the people who love her. There are prayers for the others who have to care for her, too – Dad, Amy, Clara, Laverne, and Jean. I pray for strength, both physical and emotional, for all of us.
I continually pray for those of you who are caregiving and read this article each week. May the Lord give you strength in your individual circumstances. Although I do not know you, He does know everything about you and is ready to sustain you and give you strength, too.
Dawson County alum (Class of 2016) Tucker Maxwell, one of UGA’s finest stars this year on the diamond, was taken Wednesday afternoon in the 22nd round (660th overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Maxwell just wrapped up his junior 2019 campaign batting .251 with 13 HR and 39 RBI. He stole 21 bases, had 34 walks, and scored 45 runs.
Timothy Wayne Fauber, age 55 of Cornelia passed away on Thursday, June 6, 2019, following his battle with cancer.
Mr. Fauber was born August 15th, 1963 in Spencer , West Virginia to the late Franklin and Betty Fauber. In addtion to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Thomas Coleman. Mr. Fauber was employed with Georgia Mechanical until he became disabled and prior had been with A & A Electric . He was of the Baptist Faith.
Survivors include.; his loving wife, Deanna Wilson. Cornelia, GA ; daughter, Madison Fauber; son; Luke Fauber, Cornelia, GA; step- sons; Jacob Wilson and wife Andrea, Mt. Airy , GA, Taylor Wilson, Clarkesville, Ga , Noah Wilson, Cornelia, Ga; sisters; Debbie Fields, Ramona Rowley. Carolyn Brown, Shelia Miller, and Mary West, all of West Virginia, Linda McBride and Rosemary Webb, both of TN, and Deborah Bernstein, Germany; brothers, Robert , David, and Greg Fauber, all of West Virginia, and Wayne Fauber of TN.
Memorial Services will be held at 4 PM, Monday, June 10, 2017 at the Whitfield Funeral Home, North Chapel, Demorest, GA, with the Rev. Robert Nix officiating.
The family will receive friends from 2 PM until 3:45 pm on Monday, prior to the memorial service.
Tony Roger Sullivan, age 60, of Mt. Airy, Georgia, passed away Saturday, June 8, 2019.
Born in Habersham County to the late Roy and Icie Myers Sullivan. Tony was employed with Tencate and was of the Baptist faith. Mr. Sullivan enjoyed spending time with his loving family.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Jerry Sullivan.
Surviving are his loving wife, Melanie Ansley Sullivan of Mt. Airy; daughter, Haley Sullivan of Dahlonega; son and daughter-in-law, Andy & Chelsea Sullivan of Braselton; brother, Jim Sullivan of Cornelia; nieces, nephews and cousins also survive. Tony was looking forward to the birth of his first grand-daughter, Carson Claire Sullivan, expected to arrive in October of this year.
Funeral services are scheduled for 2 pm, Tuesday, June 11, 2019, from the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin and Stewart Funeral Home with Rev. Trent Smith officiating. Interment will follow in Yonah Memorial Gardens.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 4-8 pm on Monday.
Flowers are accepted or donations may be made to the Habersham County Veterans Wall of Honor.
A year ago, a resident of a Central Georgia nursing home climbed out of the window of her room and wandered off.
The staff at Pinehill Nursing Center in Byromville realized she was gone and launched a search. The woman had been reported to be delusional and refusing to take some of her prescribed medicine.
Thirty minutes later, two nursing aides spotted her on railroad tracks about a mile away. And they could hear a train approaching.
The patient was rescued before the train got there, but it was a very close call. “If it had been another minute, the resident would have been hit by the train,’’ a nursing aide told investigators.
The railroad near-accident was cited in a U.S. Senate report on nursing home care unveiled Monday. The Senate report showed that Pinehill Nursing Center is among the 88 nursing homes nationally under the “Special Focus Facility’’ (SFF) program.
The patient’s act of fleeing the facility, known in medical industry terminology as an “elopement,” wasn’t the only problem cited by regulators in a December inspection report at Pinehill.
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services inspection report detailed a September sexual assault by a male patient who had severe cognitive impairment against a female patient who was also described as severely cognitively impaired and as nonverbal. “She is unable to make decisions about sexual participation,’’ the inspection report said, citing a medical staff member.
Pinehill did not immediately take steps to prevent female patients from suffering such assaults, the CMS report said. The alleged assailant was transferred to a mental health facility but later returned to Pinehill.
Conditions in the facility were a problem as well. There was a “strong odor of urine that permeated throughout the building,’’ according to the December inspection report. Bathroom floors were soaked with urine, and in places, the vinyl had bubbled up.
Nursing aides reported they lacked training in key aspects of patient care.
Pinehill
And in their December report, the inspectors said 27 residents of the 102-bed Pinehill facility were found to be at potential risk of becoming involved in sexual behavior or being targets of sexual abuse, and 32 were found to be potentially at risk for elopement, wandering or increased agitation.
Facilities in the SFF program “substantially fail” to meet the required care standards and resident protections afforded by the Medicare and Medicaid programs, said the U.S. Senate report, released this past Monday.
But the Senate report also noted that of the nation’s more than 15,700 nursing homes, less than 0.6 percent (a maximum of 88 facilities) are selected for the SFF program, which requires that they receive more frequent inspections and heightened monitoring.
About 400 more nursing homes technically qualify for SFF status because they are identified as having a “persistent record of poor care,” but they are not in the program and not getting the extra scrutiny because of limited resources at CMS, the Senate report said. Before Monday, those “candidates’’ were not publicly disclosed.
“As a result, individuals and families making decisions about nursing home care for themselves or for a loved one are unlikely to be aware of these candidates,’’ the Senate report said.
Casey
Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators, Democrat Robert Casey and Republican Pat Toomey, released the list of “candidate’’ facilities in the report Monday.
Toomey
The two “believe that the list of SFF candidates is information that must be publicly available to individuals and families seeking nursing care for their loved ones,’’ the report said. Their goal, it said, is to provide families “with the transparency and information they deserve when choosing a home in which to entrust the care of a loved one.’’
Nine Georgia nursing homes are on the list as “candidates’’ for SFF status.
They are East Lake Arbor in Decatur; Pleasant View Nursing Center in Metter; Westminster Commons in Atlanta; Brentwood Health and Rehabilitation in Waynesboro; PruittHealth in Blue Ridge: Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation; LaGrange Health and Rehab; Windermere Health and Rehabilitation Center in Augusta; and Clinch Healthcare Center in Homerville.
Kathy Floyd, executive director of the Georgia Council on Aging, said Friday, “thee facilities on the larger list have a ‘persistent record of poor care’ and should be publicized. More transparency for consumers is rarely a bad idea.’’
Feds blame budget restraints
The federal report said Pinehill Nursing Center was twice placed on “Immediate Jeopardy’’ status in December. That means that regulators perceive that the health and safety of patients are at risk of serious harm. Immediate jeopardy also conveys a warning to a facility of a potential cutoff of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement unless the problems cited are resolved. Officials with Pinehill said Friday that its jeopardy status was later lifted.
Pinehill Nursing Center is owned by a private company and managed by Beacon Health Management, which manages 16 other facilities in Georgia.
Tammy Royal, senior vice president for operations at Beacon, told GHN on Friday that her company took over the management of many troubled nursing homes in 2016.
She said care at Pinehill has improved. Almost all department managers have been replaced, and Pinehill has a new administrator. The Byromville facility now “is in full compliance’’ with the state, Royal said.
Royal declined to comment on the sexual assault and railroad incidents.
Clinch Healthcare
“We realize we’re on Special Focus Facility [status],’’ she said. “We see it as an opportunity for improvement. We’re going to continue to succeed and meet the needs of residents at all our centers.’’
Royal said two other Beacon-managed facilities, Pleasant View and Clinch Healthcare, are listed as SFF candidates, but that the former has passed the inspection protocol.
About 1.3 million Americans are nursing home residents.
Budget cuts appear to be contributing to the problem by reducing money available for the focused inspections, the Associated Press reported.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma, in a May letter to Sen. Casey, said the total number of Special Focus Facility slots and candidates nationally “are based on the availability of federal resources.’’
Verma
Verma’s letter pointed to sequestration, a system of automatic budget cuts imposed in 2013 at the federal level. She said that in 2010, there were 167 SFF slots and 835 candidates for the SFF program. “In 2014, federal budget reductions, as part of sequestration, led to a reduction in the number of slots nationally to 88, and the candidates were reduced to 440,’’ her letter continued. “The number of slots and fàcilities on the candidate list has remained unchanged since 2014, with sequestration still in place.’’
She added that consumers and other stakeholders can learn about quality-of-care issues in nursing homes by viewing the Nursing Home Compare website, which lists survey results and rates the comparative quality of facilities through a system of 0 to 5 stars.
“In addition to survey oversight, CMS has made great strides to improve the accuracy of data on Nursing Home Compare, including moving to new, more reliable sources for obtaining staffing and resident census data, as well as including more claims-based quality measures.’’
An article by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News said Casey and Toomey noted that the star rating system and the Nursing Home Compare website don’t clearly reveal which facilities are in SFF — and don’t identify candidate facilities at all — and they said the star ratings don’t necessarily align with overall performance.
The criticism follows a report from the Center for Medicare Advocacy that criticized Nursing Home Compare for leaving some information about civil financial penalties off of its public site, McKnight’s reported.
9 out of 88 Special Focus Facilities in the U.S. are located in Georgia.
The Georgia Health Care Association (GHCA), a trade group representing nursing homes, said it supports “making relevant, transparent information available to families and consumers so they can make informed care decisions for their loved ones. As always, we are dedicated to supporting our members in their efforts to make quality improvements and have been in contact with the centers listed in the report.’’
The potential Special Focus Facilities (SFF) listed in the report represent less than 2.5 percent of long-term care centers in Georgia, which is below the national average, said Devon Barill of the Health Care Association.
One factor that may lower the scores of some facilities is the measurement of staffing levels, she said. Georgia nursing homes “are challenged to meet staffing requirements due to a general shortage of direct care workforce, which is in great part correlated to inadequate Medicaid funding.’’
GHCA, she said, recommends that families take the following steps in choosing a nursing home:
Consumers should review information about survey/inspection results, staffing levels and clinical outcomes. All of this information is available through the CMS Nursing Home Compare website.
It’s critical to visit the center in person at a few different times of day.
Talk with other people or families who know residents in the center.
Understand what type of residents and conditions the center specializes in, so you can be sure it’s the right fit for your needs.
Learn about the physician services and other available services, such as transportation back and forth to the hospital for someone who needs radiation or chemotherapy.
Understand the survey process – it is a snapshot of a particular time or situation and may not reflect the most comprehensive picture of the care that is currently being provided.
Bryan Turk, age 49, of Habersham County, passed away on Sunday, June 9, 2019.
Born in Demorest, Georgia on November 17, 1969 to Bobby Frank Turk and the late Ollie “Jean” Taylor Turk. Mr. Turk was a truck driver with Waste Management. He enjoyed skiing, hunting and fishing. Mr. Turk was a member of Cornelia United Methodist Church.
In addition to his mother, he was preceded in death by his brother, Bradley Martin Turk.
In addition to his father, survivors also include his wife, Jennifer Skinner Turk of Habersham County; sons, John Bryan Tristan Turk of Mt. Airy and James Daniel Skinner of Toccoa; daughters, Carol Jean “C.J.” Turk of Martin and Alisha Brooke Thompson of Toccoa; numerous other relatives and friends.
Memorial services are scheduled for 3 pm, Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at Antioch Baptist Church with Rev. Chris Webb officiating.
The family will receive friends from 2 pm until the service hour on Tuesday at the church.
Flowers are accepted or donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 22478, Oklahoma City, OK 73123.
Here’s the latest arrest report from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
DISCLAIMER
The arrest records available through this website are public information. Any indication of an arrest does not mean the individual identified has been convicted of a crime. All persons arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Today (June 10) is the last day to vote for inductees into the BLITZ HALL OF FAME. Currently, there are 120 former high school athletes in the BLITZ Hall of Fame. It’s now time to enshrine a new crop of talent.
Vote as OFTEN as you’d like (unlimited) for your favorite nominees in football, softball, volleyball, cross-country, boys and girls basketball, wrestling, baseball, boys and girls soccer, tennis, golf, and track & field. Top vote-getters will be inducted, as well as some with the Producer’s Pass if we feel they were more than worthy but weren’t backed with the votes.
