Fall sports preview Sponsored section ►►PAGE 15
Sept. 11 tribute
Roswell, Rotary mark day with service ►►PAGE 10
Fulton school changes this year
17th annual Touch-A-Truck Climb aboard your favorite vehicle ►►PAGE 25
Less students, teachers ►►PAGE 28
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Alpharetta-Roswell
REVUE NEWS
August 20, 2015 | revueandnews.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 33, No. 34
2015 FREEDOM MELA »
Celebrating Indian Independence Day Atlanta’s Indian community meets at Newtown Park for celebration By HATCHER HURD hatcher@appenmediagroup.com
HATCHER HURD/STAFF
An Indian girl in traditional costume leads her state’s delegation in the opening parade of the Freedom Mela. This is the Indian community’s celebration of independence from Great Britain in 1947.
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – The colors of the day Saturday, Aug. 15, at Johns Creek’s Newtown Park were orange, white and green, the colors of the Indian flag. The reason: to celebrate Aug. 15, the 69th anniversary of Indian Independence Day, commemorating the nation’s independence from the British Empire. This was the first time the entire Atlanta Indian community decided to celebrate together in one place and host a huge celebration from 3 to 9 p.m. The Freedom Mela (Cel-
ebration) event was sponsored by several of Atlanta’s IndianAmerican organizations. India is composed of 29 states, each with its own language. Yet in 1947, all of these diverse cultures banded together to form one nation. This past weekend, American Indians gathered to celebrate their diversity and their unity with a nod to the United States where they now make their home. “This is the first time the Indian community has come together in Atlanta as one group,” said one of the organizers.
See CELEBRATION, Page 27
Vaccination rate in schools remains high Religious objection waiver forms seldom used By CANDY WAYLOCK candy@appenmediagroup.com FULTON, COUNTY — Parents in Fulton County schools can rest assured the child sitting next to their child in the classroom and cafeteria this year is likely vaccinated from the host
of childhood diseases that pose a public health threat. Fulton’s vaccination is just over 98 percent, which mirrors the statewide compliance rate of 98.3 percent for public schoolchildren. “Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect children and adults against many common infectious diseases,” said Nancy Nydam, media relations manager for the Georgia Department of Public Health. “Vaccines are safe, and scientists continually work to
make sure they become even safer.” She added that although many childhood diseases, including mumps and measles, have been eradicated or reduced in the United States, these diseases still exist in other parts of the world. International travel can easily bring those diseases into the U.S. “For example, measles is not very common in the United States due to vaccination, but the disease is brought into the United States by unvaccinated
travelers who are infected abroad. After reaching this country, measles can spread quickly among unvaccinated people as we saw with the Disneyland outbreak late last year,” said Nydam, pointing to a late-winter outbreak in California which spread measles across the country. As a result of the outbreak, California passed a law removing religious exemptions from vaccinations, and now joins Mississippi as the only two states which require proof of
vaccinations for public-school enrollment. In Georgia, parents still have the right to waive vaccinations for their public schoolchildren for medical or religious reasons. This year, however, the GDPH required parents to file a notarized Affidavit of Religious Objection to Immunization (DPH Form 2208) with their school. The new requirement simply puts the same
See VACCINATION, Page 33
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