v3 magazine may 2012

Northwest Georgia’s Premier Feature Reader / May 2012

MAGA Z I N E

$4.00

Gordon Goes

LinearEquipped with the latest in cancer-

killing hardware, Gordon Hospital’s Radiation Therapy Center will look

to keep patients closer to home and clinging tighter to hope

2 vini vidi vici / v3 magazine

GARDEN GIFTS&for your family & friends

440 Broad StreetRome, GA 30161

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vini vidi vici / v3 magazine 5

VirginsSaints & Angels

V3MAG.COMMAY2012

26 We Believe You Can FlyBrian Foster isn't the type to risk his life for a shot at YouTube glory. So how is it that the flight junkies at Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding convinced him to leap off a cliff?

14 No Quit in ShiflettFor 6-year-old Camden Shiflett, seizures are a fact of life. But with the help of Lieberman Family Chiropractic, the future is looking brighter for Lindale's can-do kid

32 Gordon Flashes ForwardWith the construction of the all-new Gordon Hospital Radiation Therapy Center well underway, cancer patients across Gordon County are gearing up for war on their turf

38 Home School RocksAll Mike and Pam Finnegan wanted was a more wholesome schooling environment for their kids. Now Providence Prep is putting the lesson planner in God's hands

Columns+Opinions

Features+Faces

20 Cents & SensibilityHello, anyone home? As if Georgia lawmakers hadn't already done enough this session to shame our fine state, it appears they may deprive low-income of telephone service as well

36 Trends & TraditionsSure, living in a small town can be a bit daunting every now and again, but when the going gets toughest, take a quick glance behind you to see who's rallying in your corner

pg.

26

Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding’s

Clifton Bryan(above) takes V3 ’fraidy cat Brian

Foster on the ride of his life

V3MAG

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Center is one such story, as the facility will aim to provide

hundreds of patients in Gordon County the cutting-edge cancer treatments they are currently traveling out of town to receive. Also featured are stories on a young man overcoming physical hurdles with chiropractic care; a look at the newest player in local private education, Providence Academy; and a chronicle of V3 writer Brian Foster’s and photographer Derek Bell’s leap from Lookout Mountain on a hang-glider.

It’s always easier to do what seems to make things better at the moment, but if everyone gave in to that notion all the time, we sure

wouldn’t accomplish much. Knowing the adjustments we made as a family to put my wife through her schooling, I can certainly sympathize with all the different scenarios other families have dealt with in order to better their futures, and we as a company salute their willingness to give up immediate comforts in their pursuit of the greater good. Congrats to all of our Northwest Georgia graduates, and whether you’re off to college in the fall or starting an all-new career, keep aiming for the sky in all that you do.

i n order to achieve one’s goals in life, a person must be willing to sacrifice some of the things that matter most. And with May being a month of commencement ceremonies and “forks in the road” for young graduates across Northwest Georgia, many are feeling the sweet satisfaction of

finishing school while balancing the anxiety that comes with beginning a new and exciting stage of their lives.

One such scholar just happens to be very dear to me: my wife, Ashley. The road to her degree in diagnostic medical sonography has been long, stress filled and, in the end, extremely rewarding. Her sacrifices came in the form of giving up time with her children and little old me—though she may argue that, at times, it was a welcome reprieve.

We enjoyed her when she wasn’t working without pay or studying for tests, but those times were few and far between. It was a test for us all, actually, but we couldn’t be prouder of what she has accomplished. Her success is something she can be immensely proud of, as well as the gratification of knowing that she will be contributing greatly to the financial future of our family.

I’d say that’s well worth the hard work.This May issue of V3 Magazine is full of similar

triumphs that are the direct derivatives of hard work and great sacrifice. Our cover feature on Gordon Hospital’s new Radiation Technology Ian Griffin,

Managing Partner/PresidentEDITOR-IN-CHIEF +

PRODUCTION MANAGER + ART&DESIGN

neal howard

STAFF WRITERSanna armas, matt rood,

brian foster, j. bryant steele, dianna edwards, holly lynch,

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PHOTOGRAPHYderek bell, MFA

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PUBLISHERv3 publications, llc

CONTACTone west fourth avenue,

rome, ga 30161 phone: 706.235.0748

email: [email protected]

v3magazine.com

Northwest Georgia’s Premier Feature Reader / May 2012

MAGA Z I N E

$4.00

Gordon Goes

LinearEquipped with the latest in cancer-

killing hardware, Gordon Hospital’s Radiation Technology Center is looking to keep patients closer to

home and clinging tighter to hope

MAGA Z I N E

Ian Griffin, Managing Partner


Neal Howard, Creative Partner/Editor-in-Chief

publishers’note

SSA003_Makeover_V3_Final.indd 1 4/24/12 2:19 PM


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Shaken, Yet Not

Stirred

Text by Nicole Nesmith Photos by Derek Bell

vini vidi vici / v3 magazine 15 vini vidi vici / v3 magazine 15

Shaken, Yet Not

StirredFor 6-year-old Camden Shiflett, the youngest son of Pepperell High head football coach Jeff Shiflett, epileptic seizures are a fact of life. But with the help of Lieberman Family Chiropractic and a support system rife with people who refuse to let his quality of life suffer, one remarkably resilient kid is fast becoming a symbol of hope for an entire community


L ooking at Camden Shiflett, it would be easy to pigeonhole him as a typical first-grade boy.

Energetic? Check. Baseball fan? Check. Begs to turn on the TV set when

there’s company in the room? Check. Most would presume this

precocious, slightly shy 6-year-old to be as carefree and healthy as the lion’s share of his peers, and to this his family would say, Well, of course he is. But Camden is different. Camden has epileptic seizures. They are short-lived, typically lasting no more than 30 or 40 seconds, and they often occur early in the day or just before bed. It

kitchen, peeking his head around the corner from time to time to eavesdrop on what the adults are saying about him. His father, Pepperell High head football coach Jeff Shiflett, and

mother Janie, also an educator in the Pepperell school district, both smile in amusement at their son’s respectfully quiet nature.

Though Camden was diagnosed with epilepsy at just 18 months, it was clear to the Shifletts that something

wasn’t right from the get-go. Strange facial expressions, oddly puckering lips, disturbing gasps, unorthodox movements they couldn’t quite identify—these were early signs pointing a much larger problem at hand. “We honestly thought it was congestion and drainage,” Jeff says. “We knew it wasn’t normal, though.”

It is now clear that the cute kid with a missing front tooth wasn’t always this attentive. Soon after being diagnosed in 2009, Camden became very ill. A string of seizures was triggered by the medication he had

used to be the case, though, that one small seizure would knock him out of commission for an entire day, and at an age when he is only beginning to truly experience life.

At his home in Lindale, Camden shuffles anxiously in and out of the


been prescribed; then he was given more medication. He spent 10 days in a scary hospital bed, his demeanor resembling what his mother can only compare to a “zombie.” “He was taking several medications to control the seizures,” Jeff adds, “and he was just so overmedicated that he couldn’t even function. He was there, but not there at the same time. It’s hard to see the quality of life for your child suffer.”

Although initially skeptical of the idea, the Shifletts were told by a family member they should seek chiropractic care from Lieberman Family Chiropractic, P.C., located at 421 Broad Street in Rome. A nephew of Jeff’s, as story goes, once had an asthma problem; an asthma problem so bad that it only took minutes of hard play to render

him incapacitated by coughing. But after only a few visits to Lieberman’s practice, Avery’s lungs began to function normally and he no longer suffered from asthmatic symptoms. “So, we decided to give it a try,” Janie says.

Showing up for his first Lieberman appointment, Camden was at a very low point in his health. He was so medicated, he could not walk on his own. His eyes rolled, his head cocked to the side, he drooled. He looked like a completely disabled child and, at that point, he was. He was not experiencing

life like a normal 4 year old should. Brain surgery was being considered in hopes that it would help with the seizures, but the situation was grim. The Shifletts languished in despair.

After Camden’s first adjustment, however, the Shiflett family began

witnessing immediate changes. Dr. Brian Lieberman explained to Janie that the top bone in Camden’s neck was completely subluxated (i.e. an out-of-place bone in the

spinal column was placing pressure on his nervous system) and that it could be the cause of Camden’s seizures. He made no promises, but told Jeff and Janie he would check Camden three times a week and adjust when necessary. The innate intelligence in the body, Lieberman said, would heal

“He was taking several medications to control the seizures, and he was

just so overmedicated that he couldn’t even function ... It’s hard to see the quality of life for your child suffer.”

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him. Dr. Brian continues to check Camden one to two times a week, only adjusting his atlas bone when subluxated. The change in Camden seen since has been nothing short of miraculous.

For the first time since Camden’s diagnosis, the Shifletts feel like they have a degree of control over their son’s well-being. That control is manifested through consistency, whether it involves a weekly chiropractic meeting, maintaining a healthy diet, or making sure to get eight full hours of sleep each night.

As far as the Shifletts are concerned, the change they’ve witnessed in their youngest son is enough to place great personal stock into the power of chiropractic care. Sure, Camden’s speech is still a bit delayed, which may or may not be a byproduct of the epilepsy, but he has treaded through the treacherous world of kindergarten and has emerged with flying colors.

“Seizures in general are just misunderstood,” says Jeff. “I had an

uncle that had them but I had never been around them [until Camden], so this was eye-opening for me.”

In an effort to raise epilepsy awareness, eldest son Corey recently presented a PowerPoint seminar on the condition at Pepperell High School. He called on fellow students to donate their own money toward its research and eradication. All told, he brought in approximately $600, which was then donated to the Georgia Epilepsy Foundation. At press time, Corey’s presentation was still proudly featured on the school’s website, pepperellhigh.com.

“It’s important to talk about the disorder,” Janie says. “I think there is the general misconception that people…who have seizures just aren’t normal, and yet they are. They just have seizures every now and then; they’re just like us. There’s no reason not to think so.”

In the Shifletts’ small-town microcosm of Lindale, ‘normal’ means being able to play football and

baseball with reckless abandon, to run around wildly and act like a typically carefree kid. Questions still surface as to whether Camden will be able to experience the everyman rites of passage children his age should—sleepovers that last until the break of dawn, earning his driver’s license at 16, et cetera—but with the help of Lieberman Family Chiropractic, his prospects are appearing far brighter.

Back at the Shiflett household, Janie teases her football coach husband about his love of baseball. Young Camden at last stops fumbling with the TV set and bursts out the front door. Mom follows and watches as he haphazardly throws his baseball in the air, runs it down, and lets it land softly in the center of his mitt.

This is a far cry from the drugged little boy he was two years ago, with little hope for a normal future, and each time he makes a catch the onset of his next seizure seems a little further away. Each time there is a seizure, perhaps it will be his last. VVV


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Century, the telephone was emerging as a necessity. But now there are lots of cell phones and Internet telephony users. Land-line service

is not where the money is for telecom providers. They want out of the requirement.

There are consequences to this, but state lawmakers either don’t understand them or they aren’t taking time to pay attention. Maybe the FCC will.

For starters, there is no quantifiable study on a how a cellular network

would perform under any kind of stress. Service can go down temporarily, even when carriers are just upgrading their networks. Cellular service was miserable in the hours after the terrorist

attacks of 9/11, for instance. The vast land-line network, however, is as solid as Fort Knox (up to the point where a tree falls onto the telephone line leading to your house).

Second, cellular, broadband, et cetera, don’t reach rural areas. The “universal service” motto has become

Alargely overlooked action in this year’s General Assembly session was the removal of the requirement that AT&T provide

land-line dial tone service within its traditional franchise territory to any home or business that wants it. The repeal will have no immediate effect because the Federal Communications Commission still requires AT&T and others, like Verizon, to provide land-line service, but the land-line carriers have already petitioned the FCC to drop the requirement as well.

Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin preceded Georgia in dropping the land-line requirement, and similar proposals are pending in several other states. Why?

Here’s an acronym for the long-time

tech geeks out there: POTS. I love it because it doesn’t stand for anything high-tech. It just means “plain old telephone service.” Once upon a time the Bell system slung around mottos like “universal service” and “spirit of service.” The mission was based on the belief that plain old telephone service—long before cell phones, long before satellites, long before broadband—

should be available to all who were willing to pay for it. (And, it should be noted, for decades the government mandate was that profitable businesses, heavy users of long distance, should subsidize basic residential service by way of inflated rates.)

Like the automobile in the early 20th

Can You HearUs Now...?

Cents & Sensibilitywith J. Bryant Steele

When Georgia lawmakers help deprive low-income people our modern-day must-haves, perhaps they should give their consciences a call. You know, just to see if anyone is home

...There is no quantifiable study on how a cellular network would perform under any kind of stress ... Cellular service was miserable in the hours after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, for instance. The vast land-line network, however is as solid as Fort Knox.


Us Now...?

more akin to “damn the service, where’s the money?”

Third, POTS is vital to low-income people. Or, even if you can afford broadband, there is the question of whether you should be forced to pay for more than you need. Maybe you only use the Internet on your home computer for e-mail, not for streaming video or photos of your distant cousin’s new grandbabies. In your case, dial-up access works just fine.

Here’s a modest proposal for the FCC and lawmakers in states where the land-line repeal is under consideration: The overall best interest would be better served by considering the public safety and consumer aspects

of curtailing land-line requirements. There should be a policy that no matter where you live, you will have access to affordable, basic telephone service. The telecom carriers would prefer that you have access only to what they want to sell, at a higher price.

Other General Assembly actions were more high-profile, notably the reform of the criminal justice system. Under the new law, nonviolent offenders on drug and property charges can be sentenced to alternative programs instead of prison. Among numerous reasons, this is good for society in that nonviolent offenders might actually be diverted from future crimes, since jail is often just a continuing education course.

But it makes financial sense, as well.

It costs $3 million a day to operate the Georgia Department of Corrections. That figure was projected to rise by $264 million over the next five years. And just where is that money supposed to come from, exactly?

The state’s tax code was also revamped. As complex and important as such legislation is, it sailed rather smoothly through the legislature without much time for review. The long-term impact on businesses and citizens will have to be sorted out, but there are a few things lawmakers are patting themselves on the back over. There are new tax exemptions for many sectors of the state economy, tax cuts for married couples, and the elimination of the “birthday tax” (that irritating annual levy on car tags).

Other action under the Dome: Georgians will get to vote in November


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on whether the state can sponsor charter schools. There’s a likelihood that advocates will just see the words “charter schools” on the ballot and punch yes, without asking themselves if they really want the state to take over local school policy.

Georgia’s Open Records Act was overhauled, making it easier for the public to keep track of what elected officials are up to. It’s an improvement, but the overhaul could have done more. And speaking of transparency in government, once again the legislature failed to take any action whatsoever on ethics reform.

In a state that’s still slow on job recovery, the legislature cut unemployment benefits. And the Department of Labor’s budget was slashed.

Next year’s legislative session could be frustrating for citizens who prefer bipartisanship and civil discourse. Voters will elect lawmakers in November based on legislative districts redrawn last year, designed to give Republicans a super majority in both chambers and the ability to override any opposition votes. Georgia, once again, will be a one-party state.

Speaking of bipartisanship and civil discourse, nationally known journalist and political commentator Cokie Roberts

spoke at Berry College in late March. She decried the lack of civility and compromise in national politics today, and cited these times as the most divisive since before the Civil War. Other commentators have echoed the sentiment that, at a time when we need a holistic approach to economic recovery, current politics is a stumbling block.

Roberts also told several humorous anecdotes from her moments with powerful, influential political figures, who, as it turns out, often have feet of


clay. But perhaps the funniest moment wasn’t scripted. Before Roberts took the podium, Berry President Stephen Briggs stressed to the audience to turn off their cell phones. A few minutes into Roberts’ presentation, sure

enough, a cell phone rang.The audience didn’t have to look far

to find the offender. It was Roberts herself.

Finally, this is a centennial year for many events. We all know the Titanic sank 100 years ago. Baseball fans know Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red

Sox, is celebrating its 100th season (remarkable in a time when pro sports franchises look to tear down and replace sports arenas, like the Georgia Dome, that aren’t even a third that age).

But did you know the Oreo cookie is 100 years old this year? Modern marketing types talk about giving consumers choice, and what better example of choice than the Oreo? You can debate whether to eat it whole or slide it open and eat the crème filling first. You can dunk it in milk or coffee. You can crumble it into your ice cream. And you don’t

even have to read a four-page manual to figure out your choices. You can bet no consultants were involved when the Oreo was created. VVV

J. Bryant Steele is an award-winning business journalist and feature writer based in Rome.

...What better example of choice than the Oreo? You can debate whether to eat it whole or slide it open and eat the créme filling first. You can dunk it in milk or coffee ... And you don't even have to read a four-page manual to figure out your choices.

Steele’s Biz Bits


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I am no wallflower, folks, but neither I am an extreme-sports buff. I prefer a good book to a near-death experience, and I don't often risk my life for a momentary endorphin rush. That being said, if the flight junkies at Chattanooga's LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN HANG GLIDING can convince me to cast my body off a mountaintop, odds are the payoff is looking pretty sweet

ONaWING& aPRAYER

Te x t b y B R I A N F O S T E R++TextbyNEALHOWARDP h o t o s b y D E R E K B E L L

JJ


Jumping off a cliff is not something I decide upon at a moment’s notice. I frequented Little River Canyon growing up, as well

as a few anonymous rock quarries around Rome and Athens, but never did I jump willy-nilly. I have a healthy fear of heights, and it was only after a few visits to these kinds of places that I managed to gather both the courage and stupidity needed to disregard my being’s most basic biological urge: to survive.

Peer pressure is a hell of thing. But the thrill of taking a big leap

and living to tell about it is sometimes enough to throw caution to the wind, and it was reliving this highly addictive, signature rush that would ultimately allow me to hurl my body off of Lookout Mountain—attached to a stranger, some aluminum, and one very thin strip of fabric.

The fact that I failed to thoroughly research hang gliding before I agreed to try it only added to my natural tension—tension that had lasted for a number of weeks prior. I had known for over a

month that I was going to hang glide for the first time at Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding, yet my initial fear wouldn’t allow me to perform even the most basic of Internet searches on either the sport itself or the people to whom I would be entrusting my life. Honestly, I was afraid of the fate I might meet.

Would I be killed? Would I plummet to the Earth and end up in a body cast? Best case scenario, would I become addicted to the adrenaline?

I chose to go into the experience totally ignorant of the odds I was facing.

For weeks I joked about having to wear adult diapers for the trip, and when I first pulled up to the designated “scenic highway” location and saw

what I saw, I almost turned around to pick up a pack of Depends. Groups of people with giant wings attached to their backs were queued up to “take-off,” and before I had even spoken to anyone I had witnessed at least three people awkwardly run down a ramp and straight off a sheer cliff, 1,000 feet above the valley floor below. But that awkwardness, that of being an ungainly human

If Kit hadn't found me when he did, I would've happily gotten back in my car and...happily made my way back down the mountain. "Honestly, I am pretty nervous," I told him. "Standing on ladders makes my knees shake. I don't think I can run off a cliff.


ill-fitted with wings, did not last long. Each person who launched quickly morphed into a graceful bird. Smooth and calm, they sailed aloft on a pillow of winds, only to become a speck soon lost over the horizon.

“Well isn’t that pretty,” I thought. “But there is no way I’m doing that. No F’ing way!”

Then arrived Kit, one of Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding’s super-mellow instructors. If Kit hadn’t found me when he did, I would’ve

gotten back in my car and enjoyed the view from the road as I happily made my way back down the mountain. “Honestly, I am pretty nervous,” I told him. “Standing on ladders makes my knees shake. I don’t think I can run off of a cliff.”

“Wait, is this your first time? ‘Cause if it is, you will definitely not be doing this today,” Kit laughed. He pointed to what looked like a small airstrip at the bottom of the valley below. There, the hang gliders I had seen launching

earlier were now landing. “You see those small planes there?”

Kit asked rhetorically. “They will be the ones taking you into the air.” Just as he pointed, one of those small planes hurtled down the pasture and, within seconds, was swiftly climbing through the air with hang glider in-tow.

“This is what I’m going to be doing?” I wondered aloud. “No need to awkwardly run off of a mountain? No chance of tripping and rolling off a cliff?”

If Kit hadn't found me when he did, I would've happily gotten back in my car and...happily made my way back down the mountain. "Honestly, I am pretty nervous," I told him. "Standing on ladders makes my knees shake. I don't think I can run off a cliff.

Had I dedicated just a couple minutes to reading their website before I arrived that morning, I would have known that, no, in fact, I would not be jumping off any cliffs—although, for the record, I had been completely prepared to do just that (wink, wink).

For my first experience hang gliding, I was to perform what is known as an aerotow. The small planes that Kit had pointed out to me in the valley were, in fact, ultra-light aircraft. Ultra-light is a very apt description. At first glance, I would characterize them as the “mopeds of flight.” But they are very safe crafts, as it turns out, at least in the manner in which they were being used. The purpose of an aerotow is to lift a hang glider into the air by towing it behind one of these ultra-lights. At a certain altitude, the hang glider releases the pull-cable and begins its free flight.

Sounds crazy at first, but after watching a few take off with gliders in tow, I was convinced that it was the sanest way to jumpstart a hang-gliding career. Nervousness became excitement as I hopped into the car for the brief drive down Lookout Mountain to the field house and landing strip below.

LMHG is considered one of the top—if not the top— hang gliding schools in the country. Set on the Cumberland Plateau, Lookout Mountain is prime hang-gliding real estate. The unique ridge-and-valley system contains long, uncharacteristically linear mountains, separated by flat valleys that provide gliders the perfect terrain to take off and land. LMHG first set up shop in 1978, and has since catered to novice flyers and the most experienced of hang gliders alike. Their instructors have logged thousands upon thousands of flights without ever

losing passion for the sport. A long time ago, they too took to the skies for the first time, and that experience has never left them.

It was something that I thought about as I spoke to Clifton Bryan, my tandem instructor for the afternoon. Would this turn into a lifelong passion for me? I was soon to find out.

“You’ll absolutely love it,” Clifton said. He tells me has worked as a certified instructor in at least a dozen

states. “It doesn’t get old. I have been doing this for years. Not a bad gig.”

After a quick video highlighting the basics of tandem flight—holding on to your instructor, how to turn when piloting, et al—I was ready to suit up. It was all very rapid fire, yet very simple. I stepped into my full body harness, outfitted myself with a helmet and glasses, and in no time Clifton was rigging me to the hang glider. The glider itself doesn’t look like much, but it is actually stronger than most small

aircraft in terms of its capacity to withstand gravitational forces.

As Clifton explained the features of the aircraft to which he had dedicated so much of his life, any sense of nervousness that I had felt previously dissipated. With my harness still unattached, I placed

my arm around Clifton and held tight to his harness with both hands. We did a quick rundown of turning techniques. When he decides to steer the hang glider to the right, he moves his hips and legs to the right; when moving left, he does the opposite. In flight, I was to move my body in-sync with his so that he could successfully steer the glider. And before I knew it, the ultra-light was firing its engine. We began a swift trip down the grass runway. The craft was shaking, its


LMHG tandem instructor,CLIFTON BRYAN


Continued on pg. 42

wheels were bouncing, and within a matter of seconds we were airborne.

All went silent.It is hard to describe the feeling

of finding oneself hundreds of feet above the ground and not encased by a fuselage. As we steadily rose, I felt no sense of fear or despair. Instead, a blanket of calm draped over me. Every worry in the world seemed to disappear. I felt myself smiling as I surveyed the landscape of ridges and pastureland. Everything looked so small, even the once-imposing cliffs of Lookout Mountain.

I was enjoying the experience so much I had forgotten to engage Clifton on the details of our flight. After a couple minutes, though, we began what was one of the oddest conversations I’ve ever had. It wasn’t the content that was weird, but the setting.

“So how are you enjoying your weekend in Chattanooga?” Clifton asked over the rushing wind.

“Well,” I piped up, as if nothing were

unusual about staring down Lookout Mountain some 800 feet below, “we missed the Lookouts game last night. It was sold out. My friends and I went over to Hill City Pizza for some drinks, and I played the worst game of pool in my life. I really like North Chattanooga, in particular.”

“Yeah, it’s a great part of town,” he barked. “I went to high school there.”

Our conversation on the magic of Chattanooga lasted for what seemed a few minutes, until I finally came to and realized that I was FLYING. “What is this? What is that? Oh man, how high are we right now? Hey Clifton, how fast are we going?”

The veteran flight-master thoroughly answered all of my pithy schoolboy questions, amazing me with each new detail. He then began to discuss the science of hang gliding. “You see those cumulus clouds (filling the valley)? Those are thermals. They signal areas of thermal lift.” As he explained the rise and eventual condensation of moisture that had

created them, long-buried lessons from my eighth-grade Earth Sciences class suddenly began to surface from the depths of my mind.

Essentially, hang gliders rise and fall based upon thermal lift. This lift develops as the sun’s rays heat the ground in an uneven distribution and, in turn, heats the air, which then rises in columns and cools to form cumulus clouds. Cumulus clouds often form in rows when a steady ground wind is present, producing “cloud streets.” When a solid number of cumulus clouds are present, hang gliders can spin this natural lift to their advantage and coast from thermal to thermal. Gliders can often stay in the air for hours, I was told, rising thousands of feet in the air and soaring effortlessly for hundreds of miles.

My trip, though not as vertical or horizontal as most, was no less incredible. I didn’t expect it to be as calming and as informative as it was.

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big bang


big bang

gordon hospital radiation therapy center


c ranes silhouetted against a blazing blue sky are what motorists traveling down Red Bud Road in

Calhoun, Ga. will see over the course of the next few months. Construction on the new Gordon Hospital Radiation Therapy Center (RTC) is underway and will be fully operational by the end of 2012.

Gordon’s oncology team is one backed by expertise and accolades. Their radiology department has been recognized by the American College of Radiology as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence since 2007, and recently the hospital received a gold seal of accreditation from that same organization. With a board-certified medical oncologist, board-certified cancer surgeon, and board-certified radiation therapist already on staff, the RTC at Gordon Hospital will further assist its specialists in pinpoint and execute the best available treatment plan for each patient’s specific diagnosis. Until now, what Gordon hasn’t been able to offer is localized radiation treatment.

“Sixty percent of all cancer patients

must receive radiation treatment,” says Gordon’s director of oncology services, Lanell Jacobs. “The cancer patients here in Gordon County currently must travel to Cartersville, Rome, Chattanooga, Dalton or Atlanta in order to receive radiation therapy. Some cancers, such as breast cancer, can require up to five treatments a week, so that is a lot of time on the road in one week for anyone—much less a cancer patient.”

Last year alone, cancer patients in Gordon County whose treatments required radiation made a combined 3,000 trips to receive the care they needed. These types of daunting statistics were the driving force behind the countless hours and impassioned effort put forth in order to bring the Gordon RTC to fruition. “Patients will no longer have to travel out of town for their appointments, which are usually daily and go on for weeks on end,” says Pete Weber, president and CEO of Gordon Hospital. “It is a hardship for patients and the families who have to take them back and forth for these appointments. Plus, the patients are sick and don’t

feel like making a long drive every day. Now they won’t have to.”

The technological foundation of the new facility will arrive in the form of a linear accelerator. This cutting-edge machine has the ability to attack extremely precise tumor areas with radiation while sparing healthy tissue from exposure. With this technology in place, thousands of Gordon County residents will be able to better fight their diagnoses in their own backyard.

Construction on the site began in February 2012 and is moving at a rapid pace. Materials for the vault designed to house the linear accelerator weigh in at a staggering 6.1 million pounds. It is imperative to the health of the patients, staff and community that the radiation used to treat the cancer is contained within the vault, and achieving that containment requires a considerable amount of concrete and steel.

“...The patients are sick and don’t feel like making

a long drive every day. Now they won’t have to.”


The process of being granted approval to construct such a facility requires some heavy lifting of its own—in a bureaucratic sense, of course—and earning permission from the state (a.k.a., a “certificate of need”) was a tedious process. In 2007, however, the hospital was certified by the American College of Surgeons commission on cancer. Once a certified cancer center, Gordon recognized that it would need a treatment center to administer radiation as well. “The process of putting together our certificate of need started in 2007 and was just granted last year,” Jacobs explains. “Along with the application that we submitted to the state, we must submit all the details concerning the need in the community, including the volume of cancer patients in the community and whether or not that supports the requested facility. It is a very detailed process and…it is really a testament to the dedication this hospital has to the community.”

Also being housed in the new building will be an extensive support-services infrastructure, designed to better guide patients through their treatment experiences from an emotional perspective. These services include “nurse navigators”, dieticians, awareness groups and more. The added office space courtesy of the RTC will allow these services to expand their roles and become more vital players in the recovery process.

According to Jacobs, the collective growth of these support services, accompanied by the integration of the RTC’s cutting-edge technology, was a top priority from day one of the planning phase. “We are putting this building together with a phase-two capability, in order to insure that we can house additional equipment and the staff needed to operate it when the time comes to purchase it,” he says. “Our linear accelerator is state of the art, but we know advancements will be made and we want to be prepared for that when the time comes.”

From blueprint to completion, the Gordon Hospital Radiation Treatment Center project will have taken approximately five years to become a reality. As a result, thousands of yet-to-be-diagnosed patients will receive the best available care without having to travel far out of their way. This feedback comes from support groups run by Lanell Jacobs and the many dedicated staff members that mediate such sessions.

Through the medium of support groups hosted by Jacobs and his staff, cancer survivors from across Gordon County have united to say how much they would have benefited from the opportunity to be treated so much closer to home.

“We hope to treat our first patients in November of this year,” says an inspired Jacobs. “We know how excited our community is about this facility due to the support they have shown throughout this process, and we share every bit of that enthusiasm.” VVV


know about that, too. And it’s okay. Everyone in a small town has bad days, but we accept that about one another

because we know that anything we say about a person that is less than flattering (“bless their hearts”) can also be said about ourselves. As I have written in previous columns, when we shine a light on our successes, we invite the same light to shine on our failures. In a small town, there are plenty of people willing to hold the light.

There’s a line in an old John Mellencamp (neé Cougar) song that I loved as a teenager, but it means so much more to me now. In “Small Town” the lyrics say, “No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from...” What’s great about a small town is that you

will never forget who you are or where you’re from. People in a small town won’t let you. They know your flaws, your failures, your momma, your kids, and your high-school GPA. In a small town, people know, at least in terms of facts and figures, your business. They

The cocktail napkins in current rotation on my bar at home are printed with the saying: “The nice part of living in a small

town is that when I don’t know what I’m doing, someone else does.”

It’s true and comforting, really. In a small town, someone always knows what’s going on in your world, even when you don’t. Sometimes your kin know your business. Sometimes it’s your friends. Sometimes it’s people you don’t know at all.

And here’s why that small-town tree of knowledge is so important: You need those people. You need those folks who know your business and talk about you (“bless your heart”), because they will praise you when you’ve earned it and dress you down when you need it. You need to know that when you are doing well,

your friends, family, colleagues, will ALL know about it.

I love that when something—even something tiny—is written about me in our local paper, I will receive several copies of the article in my mailbox. Attached are sweet notes on monogrammed stationery, from ladies at my church and co-workers at my office. I know that my clients, and future clients, will know all about

a wonderful touch or funny story from one of my events, even before I’ve told the story. I know they will know, because a small town is its own network.

When something has gone slightly amiss, I realize that people will often

Trends & Traditionswith Holly Lynch

I Cannot Forget Where It Is That I Come From

...When we shine a light on our successes, we invite the same light to shine on our failures. In a small town, there are plenty of people willing to hold the light.

Life in a small town may feel a bit stifling from time to time, but when the going gets toughest, look to see who,s in your corner


may not have it 100 percent right 99 percent of the time, but they know you.

And that’s a good thing.Calling other business owners in

town, I introduce myself by name. Typically, before I can finish the sentence that contains the name and description of my business, I have already been asked if I’m the one who “did” so-and-so’s wedding. I love it. Because now we are connected. Far deeper than LinkedIn or Facebook or a Twitter message, I have made a connection to this person.

Even if their next sentence is I hated that color scheme or Boy, it was hot at

that one, I am at least aware that they already know what business I’m in. They may not know anything about my personality or my dreams, but they know my business (and therefore my passion). And all I did was give my name.

I do want to go where everybody knows my name.

Ego? Maybe? Feeling like I belong to something bigger than myself? Certainly.

Call it the Cheers bar, call it an ,80s anthem, call it Lake Wobegon. But count me in.

In a small town, people will care about what you care about,

simply because you’re in the same community, simply because of who you are and your relationship to them. For example, several years ago at a wedding, the visiting minister thought the school chapel at which the ceremony was being held would have a full staff capable of providing communion elements. Instead, on a rainy Friday night after a long rehearsal, I found myself making calls to my own church to find wafers, as well as a call to a local jewelry and gift store for a small silver plate and cup. Within two phone calls and

Continued on pg. 45


The origins of Rome’s newest school, Providence Preparatory Academy, can be understood simply by reading its name. After

all, it was providence which led Mike and Pam Finnegan to return to Floyd County and begin laying the foundation for this unique preparatory academy, and it was providence which has allowed it to thrive. “When we realized that we were being called to

do this,” says Mike, “we knew that it was going to get done; we just didn’t know how it was going to get done. To say that I had a new understanding of what faith meant would be a total understatement. I have a completely new definition of what it means to have faith. God took care of all our needs throughout this whole year.”

Based upon the University Model School system, Providence Prep is a non-traditional Christian school that incorporates aspects of both the

traditional private and public school models, as well that of homeschooling. Students attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, allowing them to spend a majority of their time with their parents, who act as co-teachers and lesson coaches the remaining days of the week.

“The University Model system prepares a student for college,” Pam explains. “The student is allowed to make that natural adjustment. When a child is young, in first and second

DivineLESSONS FROM THE

All Mike and Pam Finnegan wanted was a better-rounded, more wholesome environment through which their kids could maximize their educations. But as they have come to find out, via the upstart of their innovative new home school/traditional school combo venture, a.k.a. PROVIDENCE PREPARATORY ACADEMY, they aren’t the only ones in search of a Christ-centered alternative to Rome’s public and private schools

TEXT BY BRIAN FOSTERPHOTOS BY DEREK BELL


grade, they spend the majority of their time with a parent. And as the child gets older, the parent’s role in teaching…all of the subjects becomes less and less. It is a kind of funnel effect. Whereas students in traditional schools start in kindergarten and go for six to eight hours a day and go through 12th grade spending six to eight hours a day with a teacher in a school setting, we start small and get bigger. And by the time they reach the 12th grade with us, it will be a lot like being in college.”

The Finnegans understand that many parents are seeking alternatives to traditional schooling and homeschooling. Traditional education, as exhibited by some of today’s public and private schools, leave many parents feeling too far removed from their children’s day-to-day learning and activities, while homeschooling often leaves parents saddled with the overwhelming—and sometimes unattainable—responsibility of providing their child a rich, thorough education.

Mike and Pam Finnegan were once wedged between these two modes of education themselves, before they

found an alluring alternative in the University Model School approach. Both graduates of Berry College, they had tried homeschooling and traditional schools while raising their two children in Acworth, Ga. Then they discovered Cornerstone Prep, a UMS school of over 350 students K through 12. It was here that the seeds for Providence Prep were sown. “Cornerstone is what made me start to think [starting a UMS school] was a good idea. It was just an answer to the needs of our family and an answer to our prayers. We said to each other that there has to be something else out there … I knew that I wasn’t the only mom who had homeschooled her child and become frustrated, yet I didn’t want to have them go back to being in the traditional school system.

“There has got to be something in the middle, I thought. What inspired us to start Providence was that we knew what this type of system had done for us as a family, how it had changed everything and made everything so much better and easier.”

According to the Finnegans, Cornerstone had allowed them to again be the central influence in their

children’s lives, while at the same time providing them the structure and learning assistance many homeschooling environments cannot feasibly maintain. Today, that is exactly what they are doing for others via Providence Prep. The school is looking for precisely the type of parent that yearns to take a more active role in their children’s education, while also allowing Providence’s experienced instructors to help blaze the trail.

A mere two years after hatching the idea together, Providence has gone from being a thought in the back of Mike and Pam’s minds to sitting on the cusp of concluding its first school year this May. Host facility Chapel Hill United Methodist Church is currently home to 21 students (including two of the Finnegans’ own children) placed in grades K through 7, and Providence plans to continue its rapid growth by way of yearly expansion into a K through 12 preparatory academy. The school now offers only Tuesday and Thursday classes for elementary and middle school-aged students, but as soon as their enrollment extends to high school-aged pupils, the Finnegans say they will offer classes on


a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for grades 9 through 12. Older students will spend more time in the classroom, as the curriculum becomes more in-depth and challenging. Parents will gradually relinquish their roles, co-teaching the more specialized coursework and taking on a new, multi-pronged primary role as motivator-coach.

The curriculum taught at Providence is Christian-based, as the school’s mission statement is “to join families in educating college-worthy character witnesses for Christ. We use nationally recognized curriculum, both home school and traditional school. When we can find a good Christian curriculum, we will start there. The way we narrow it down is we look at how it will ultimately work in our unique setting. There is some really good traditional school curriculum that just doesn’t lend itself well to a parent teaching lessons at home, and there are certain ones that worked out great for our situation and worked out

well for parents. Most of what we use is Christian based.”

Providence offers core classes in math, science, English and social studies, just the same as traditional programs do, as well as electives like art. The seven instructors currently on staff take it as a personal charge to try and incorporate into their own lesson plans not only what they have outlined themselves, but also what students are learning in other classroom settings—something traditional schools often fail to do.

Along with the help of board members Priscilla Tunnell and Peggy

Decker, the Finnegans of Providence Preparatory Academy have given themselves over to God’s divine providence, working tirelessly to give fellow parents the same alternative they so desperately sought years ago. The result is one year in the annals, with many more likely to come. VVV

For more on Providence Preparatory Academy, a

5013c non-profit school, please visit providenceprep.org. For further info regarding University Model Schools, please visit naums.net

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Only in mid flight, when Clifton said, “Now you can let go and grab a hold of the bar,” did I start to ask myself, “Should I be up here doing this?”

For a couple of minutes Clifton allowed me—with full confidence, I might add—to control his hang glider. The craft was much more sensitive to manned control than I had previously thought. I over-steered in the early going, sharply banking the glider, but I soon picked up on the basics.

Before I knew it, we were swiftly descending as the thermals began to

dissipate. Hugging the treetops along the bank of a valley brook, we quickly buzzed past the landing strip, cut back at a tight angle, then dropped in for a butter-soft landing. All told, I was in the air for about 10 minutes; a heavenly, heart-swelling 10 minutes. What I thought would be an afternoon of rattling, shaking, girlish screams and shuttered eyes had been anything but.

I gave Clifton a huge hug, thanking him over and over again. A tear of may have even been shed. It is probably something elated strangers do to him

a dozen times per day, but for the thermal-wrangling vets at Lookout Mountain hang gliding, it’s just another day flying with the birds.

When I had met Kit earlier that day, he had, in a way, prophesized my post-flight emotions. The cynic in me had shrugged off what I presumed to be some kind of transcendental hippie-speak when I heard him say, “Hang gliding is the greatest experience in the world. It completely transformed my outlook on life, how I saw others and their worldviews.” But I can now fully grasp what he was trying to tell me.

I have already booked another trip for this summer. My hope is that on my second run I will reach this amazing, Kit-like state of nirvana. I won’t lie, though: I still have some issues with running off a cliff. VVV

For more on Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding's daylong courses in hang-gliding basics, or to check out other longer-term packages, visit hanglide.com or call 1.800.688.5637

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15 minutes, the visiting minister’s dilemma was solved—all because I knew the assisting parties’ business (and cell phone numbers) and they knew mine. They cared about my client’s wedding, almost as much as I did.

The downside, of course, to living in a small town is the same as its converse: Everyone knows your business. I hear young people say this most frequently as a negative attribute to small-town life. But is it really all that bad? I have an acquaintance who is going through a divorce. Yes, I know a few unsavory details about the situation, but is that really all bad? I’m sure some of those unsavory details are entirely untrue, and I’m smart enough to know that everything I hear may not be true. But, because I know what she is going through, I have prayed for her and her marriage. I have been a little friendlier when I’ve bumped into her at the grocery store, just so she knows that she has a support system in this town, even if it may not feel that way to her right this minute. I know that when I was going through a divorce, the smiles from strangers (who probably knew my business) were comforting.

With the prevalence of social media, the small-town ideal is even better now. Yes, because of Facebook, I know more about what’s going on in my community. I don’t sit in front of my computer stalking my neighbors, but because my neighbors are online too, I have connected with their lives. When we see each other in the neigborhood, our friendship is easy and comfortable.

I love that I live in a town where I can find what I need quickly, the waitress at my favorite restaurant knows my usual dish, and a walk down Broad Street is a reunion with friends along the journey. To paraphrase Mr. Mellencamp, be yourself in this small town, and people will love you for being who you want to be. VVV

Holly Lynch is owner of and managing coordinator for The Season Special Events Planning at 250 Broad Street in Rome.

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h e r i t

joy nwadike

patients closer