Tort reform likely front-burner issue in general assembly
Funeral home remains fixture
after nearly century of service
County approves grant to teach seniors AI tech
By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The Forsyth County Commission approved a grant Aug. 6 to fund classes to educate elderly residents about AI technology.
A $10,000 OpenAI grant will be distributed through the AARP’s Older Adults Technology Service division to fund five programs for the county’s Senior Services Department, according to county documents. The programs will help elderly adults learn more about artificial intelligence technology. Open AI is an artificial intelligence research organization based in San Francisco and the creator of the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
The grant funding also will be used to improve Wi-Fi at Sexton Hall, a lifeenrichment facility in Cumming.
The county’s Senior Services Department was chosen for the grant because it previously has offered programs to educate elderly adults about AI, said Russell Brown, Forsyth County Department of Communications director. The department is a provider of the AARP’s Senior Planet Program, which teaches older adults about technology.
The department already offers technology information courses,
See AI, Page 13
From left, Joey Wallace, office manager, and Jack Allen, director of operations and former owner, stand outside Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory in Cumming. Royston Ingram founded the funeral home in 1928. See story page 6
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POLICE BLOTTER
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Man arrested on DUI and drug charges
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — An Alpharetta man was arrested July 21 on DUI and drug charges after deputies said they smelled marijuana coming from his vehicle.
A deputy detected an “extreme odor” of marijuana after pulling behind a vehicle on Ga. 400, according to a Forsyth County sheriff’s office report. When a deputy pulled over the vehicle, they noticed the driver’s eyes were bloodshot and asked him to step out.
A deputy began an impaired driving investigation and determined the driver was unable to drive safely, according to police documents.
The driver was arrested on a felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance charge as well as misdemeanor possession of drug related objects and driving while under the influence of drug charges.
During a search of the vehicle, deputies allegedly found a marijuana cigar, THC vaporizer, small pipe and less than 1 ounce of marijuana, according to the report.
The vaporizer was classified as a Schedule I substance.
$3k in equipment reported stolen
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Logging equipment was reported stolen July 22 from a Coal Mountain storage building.
The equipment’s owner said a door to the building was left open.
A wood splitter, generator and pressure washer on Dahlonega High -
way were stolen, according to a Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office report. The wood splitter is equipped with a trailer hitch.
Deputies could not identify any tire marks in the area belonging to a vehicle used in the theft. The owner said he and his employees did not see any suspicious vehicles.
The owner also said he did not suspect any of his employees of the theft.
The equipment is valued at a total of $2,894.
The investigation is ongoing.
Domestic dispute call ends in arrest
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies arrested a Cumming man on an assault charge on July 23 after a domestic dispute was reported.
A woman told deputies a man she was sharing a residence with threw her onto a bed and choked her until she lost consciousness, according to a Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office report.
Deputies charged the man with felony aggravated assault by hands, fists or feet.
The woman said she had been arguing with the man, who she said was drunk.
Deputies watched a video taken by the woman on her phone.
The recording’s video went black, but the audio captured the man’s mother yelling for him to get off of the woman, according to the report.
The man told deputies he had only pushed the woman.
Authorities arrested the man on an assault charge.
EDITOR’S NOTE
If you want to talk to someone about the violence in your life or in the life of someone you know, please call Georgia’s 24-Hour Statewide Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-33-HAVEN (1-800-334-2836).
Woman with dementia scammed out of money
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A phone scammer defrauded an Alpharetta woman diagnosed with dementia out of $15,000 on July 29.
About 5:20 p.m., police were dispatched to a home after the woman’s husband reported his wife was missing and couldn’t be reached by phone, according to an Alpharetta police report.
The husband told police his wife had a history of being deceived by scammers.
Officers searched for the woman’s vehicle and were beginning a process to track her cell phone when she arrived back at the home. She was still on the phone with the scammer.
An officer took the phone, identified himself and asked whom he was speaking with.
A man on the phone identified himself as Kevin and claimed he was with PayPal. The call originated from a number with area code 706, which covers an area outside of Metro Atlanta.
Kevin was upset the police had been called and refused to answer questions before hanging up.
The woman told police she already had sent $15,000 to the scammer.
She said she had been contacted via text claiming her PayPal account had been mistakenly credited with $15,000. A person claiming to be a PayPal representative had asked her to return the money.
The woman withdrew the money from her bank account, converted it to Bitcoin at a package store and sent the digital currency to the scammer.
Examining the phone, police found that the woman had received multiple fraud detection warnings from her bank throughout the day.
While looking at her phone, police noticed she had installed remote access and Bitcoin apps.
Police also noticed she had emails from her bank notifying her that her passwords had been changed.
Police contacted her bank, which froze her online banking accounts.
HAYDEN SUMLIN/PROVIDED
Milton Community Burger closed its doors after just over one year of operations at Market District Crabapple. A letter from the owner, Single Barrel Hospitality, says other locations in Alpharetta, Canton and Forsyth County remain open.
Crabapple’s Community Burger closes
By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com
MILTON, Ga. —Milton Community Burger off Heritage Walk closed its doors Aug. 5.
A letter from ownership posted on the front door announced the decision.
Community Burger continues to offer its handcrafted burgers, sides and cocktails at its flagship location on Reformation Parkway in Canton.
Chef Todd Hogan’s Single Barrel Hospitality owns Milton Community Burger and the Canton location.
Shane Clements, director of operations at Single Barrel Hospitality, penned a letter explaining the decision to close.
“Unfortunately, we have chosen a strategic realignment within the brand due to economic challenges,” Clements wrote. “Despite our best efforts and the dedication of our team, continuing operations at this location has become unsustainable.”
Milton Community Burger opened last summer, leasing space on the first floor at 3100 Heritage Walk. While many tenants remain at the mixed-use development, Milton Community Burger
is not the first to shut its doors.
The letter goes on to say other locations at The Mill at Etowah in Canton, Branch & Barrel Avalon and Branchwater Vickey Village will remain open and offer the same dining experience synonymous with Community Burger.
For any guests with unexpired gift cards, Clements encourages them to go to the Canton location.
“Since opening the Milton location, Community Burger Milton has been proud to serve the community with our fast casual dining experience,” he wrote. “We are immensely grateful to out loyal customers, dedicated staff and supportive community for their unwavering patronage and enthusiasm during this time.”
Greg Swayne, co-owner of Market District Crabapple, told Appen Media that his team was surprised by the announcement. Moving forward, Swayne said he expects ebbs and flows at Market District Crabapple with a dynamic market affecting restaurants across Metro Atlanta.
Single Barrel Hospitality’s Hogan said they’re simply consolidating brands in a challenging economy.
Tort reform likely front-burner issue for 2025 General Assembly
By DAVE WILLIAMS Capitol Beat
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp has made tort reform the main theme of his annual August address to Georgia political and business leaders two years running.
But his Aug. 7 speech at this year’s Georgia Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Congressional Luncheon had a different ring to it than the 2023 version.
Kemp followed up last year’s pledge to make tort reform a top priority by essentially pulling out the rug on the issue when he addressed the chamber again at the beginning of this year’s General Assembly session. He said significant tort reform would require more than one year.
Toward that end, lawmakers passed a Kemp-backed bill this year directing the state insurance department to gather data on legal trends affecting premiums and prepare a report by Nov. 1.
“The governor very smartly decided to take a step back and look at the data,” said Nancy Palmer, vice president of government affairs for the Georgia Chamber. “Lawsuit reform is a huge wide-ranging topic. We’re talking
about the entirety of the civil justice system.”
Tort reform has been a goal of Georgia Republicans and their allies in the business community for decades. But the most significant reform legislation to make it through the General Assembly came way back in 2005, a bill that imposed a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits.
The cap immediately came under fire in the form of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. The Georgia Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and threw out the cap in 2010.
Calls for tort reform have come like clockwork virtually every year since, with Republican lawmakers and conservative policy groups warning that huge jury verdicts from frivolous lawsuits are hurting job creation by forcing companies to close their doors.
“I hear stories every week from business owners who can’t get insurance or can’t afford it,” said Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues. “There’s got to be more balance.”
Palmer said improving access to insurance is just as important to businesses as the premiums they have to pay for coverage.
“We have insurers who are leaving the marketplace,” she said. “What we want is for businesses not only to pay lower rates but to have more choices. … There should be more competition in this marketplace.”
Opposition to tort reform has come from trial lawyers and legislative Democrats, who have argued that Georgians injured by medical malpractice or faulty products deserve access to a legal remedy.
“Constitutionally, people have a right to their day in court, and appellate courts in Georgia have been protective of that,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Oliver suggested that Republicans have been unsuccessful thus far in passing major tort reforms because many past governors and legislative leaders – including Republicans – have been lawyers who understand the complexities of the issue.
“What’s unique about this time is (neither) the governor, lieutenant governor, nor (House) speaker are law -
yers,” she said. “It makes it easier for them to say they’re for tort reform.”
One reform Republicans are expected to pursue in 2025 is in the area of premises liability. Business owners have long complained about being drawn into lawsuits after injuries or deaths occur on their properties that are not their fault and, in many cases, occur at night when the business is closed.
“When someone shows up and decides to commit a crime on your property without your permission, how much do you have to do to prevent that?” Wingfield said. “That ought to be a common-sense place to start.”
Two bills pertaining to the premises liability issue were before the General Assembly this year, but neither passed.
Palmer said the chamber is looking to Kemp for direction on which tort reforms lawmakers should pursue in 2025. Next year begins a new two-year term in the legislature, so whatever is considered has to start from scratch.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Johns Creek artist guild expands reach
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The artist guild at the Art Center, formerly known at the Johns Creek Art Center, welcomed visitors to its reception at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse Aug. 6.
The show “Autumnal Equinox,” on display until Oct. 31, features around 25 pieces from a dozen artists in the guild.
Guild President Monika Mittal said she chose the venue to widen the group’s reach but also to allow for bigger pieces. The courthouse walls easily accommodate 6-foot-high paintings.
Among the small crowd was Janice Rinaldo, recreation program coordinator for Gwinnett County. She told Appen Media she previously saw the guild’s work at an exhibition at Emory Johns Creek Hospital.
“I was like, ‘This is great art.’ I was like, ‘I got to get a hold of the guild and see if they want to come do something over here,’” Rinaldo said. “It finally came to fruition a year later.”
The courthouse, off West Crogan Street in Lawrenceville, has rotating art shows on a quarterly basis.
Mittal has also been working to pull in more diverse groups of people to the guild. The group has nearly 40 members from varied backgrounds, ethnicities and ages.
Mittal’s 21-year-old daughter has a macrame piece in the show, and not far from it, is a quilt made by an 80-year-old artist.
The diversity carries through to the work.
Guild member Afreen Khundmiri had two pieces in the show, one of
which represented her perspective as someone with dyslexia. She painted the dress she wore, Rumi poetry in Farsi.
“I want to convey the message … women, period, are multitaskers,” Khundmiri said. “They can do anything and everything. They don’t need
a language. They just need a love language.”
Khundmiri said her love language is food, showing photos she took of her husband’s dishes.
Another artist in the show, Greg Barnum, had some landscape paintings as well as abstract work.
Barnum, who joined the guild a couple of years ago, said the group allows him to sell his work but also to support the Art Center. He began attending classes there about a decade ago.
“The Art Center is not going to work without people supporting it out of the goodness of their hearts,” he said.
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Afreen Khundmiri, member of the Art Center’s artist guild, describes her paintings to guests at the group’s reception at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville Aug. 6. The show “Autumnal Equinox” is on display until Oct. 31.
6 | Forsyth Herald | August 15, 2024
Funeral home remains fixture after nearly century of service
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
CUMMING, Ga. — Jack Allen, director of operations and former owner of Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory, said his neighbors used to give him a hard time about his line of work.
Until someone they knew suddenly died of a heart attack.
“Once they come here and see what you do, then they go, ‘Whoa. Thank you so much. We had no clue what all you do,’” said Allen, sitting across from Joey Wallace, Ingram’s office manager. Allen endearingly referred to the more soft-spoken Wallace as his “second wife” because of his aptitude in keeping him organized, like finding a contract from four years ago at the drop of a hat. The pair have been working together for two decades.
“You don’t know what the funeral business is like until you deal with one,” Allen said.
Allen took ownership of Ingram in 2004, after its founders ran it for nearly 80 years. Royston Ingram founded the business in 1928, and his three sons took it over in the ’70s.
Allen said the Ingram brothers, George and Robert, mulled over the decision to sell for quite a while. They wanted to sell to an individual, rather than a corporation.
The negotiation with Allen lasted two years.
“We paid it off, and we did pretty well,” Allen said.
Ingram, one of three funeral businesses in Forsyth County, handles about 800 services a year. Sixty percent of those are cremations, a more affordable, convenient option than a burial.
“I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t have a [crematory] now,” Allen said.
When he got started in the funeral
business, there were only two crematories in the state.
History in the walls
The building, some 18,000 square feet, has a life of its own, housing both the Ingram’s former home and funeral business. Walking in, living quarters were on the left, a fireplace still there, separated by the main hall which was once a driveway. To the right was the funeral home, the old brick painted white.
The A-frame of the Ingram home can still be seen at a certain angle from outside.
In a tour, Wallace said the founder would walk through a tunnel under the building to go to work, bypassing visitations. Royston’s children would also use it as a place to roller skate.
Today, the basement, what Allen refers to as the “bowels,” serves as storage
space, filled with items like caskets and embalming machines.
The crematory is down there, too, open to the outside. It was being repaired — a machine that burns bodies at around 1,700 degrees, over an average of three hours, requires regular maintenance.
Wallace, a Forsyth County native, recalled his grandmother passing away in the ’90s and the showroom, a state requirement for funeral homes, as being downstairs.
Now, it’s closer to the main entrance.
A casket made of premier mahogany with a champagne velvet interior, priced at nearly $10,000, lays against the back wall under a sign that read, “Tell the Story. Remember the Life.” A wall of urns, vault samples and flag cases are on display in the showroom as well.
Funeral homes must also have a
chapel. Ingram’s has a capacity of around 230 people, with more space across the business’ three visitation rooms, two that can be partitioned in half.
While more than half the business is cremations, there are still several full-time embalmers. One wheels a body into the “catch-all” room from the embalming room that houses his workstation. Bodies in the catch-all area are ready to be placed in the casket, then transported for visitation.
Wallace said embalmers must go through 18 months of training and serve at a funeral home under an apprenticeship.
In another room, bodies are prepared by beauticians and hairdressers. Ingram keeps a list of recommendations in case families don’t have their own.
Lifelong career
Allen has as much experience in the funeral business as one could have, coming from his own family’s firm which serviced 1,700 funerals a year across four locations in Atlanta.
His great-grandfather Hyatt M. Patterson started the business in 1880, eventually passing it down to Allen’s grandfather, then his father Dan Allen, and after he died, Allen’s mother, Lee Patterson Allen.
A refurbished horse-drawn hearse, at the end of the main hall, is said to have been in Allen’s family. Black-and-white photos and illustrations of the Patterson business hang nearby.
A May 1945 issue of The Southern Funeral Director details the funeral arrangements of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose embalming was performed by Fred Patterson, Allen’s grandfather. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs.
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Caskets of different material are on display in the showroom, which also features a wall of urns, vaults and flag cases for veterans.
See INGRAM, Page 7
Ingram:
“Fred W. Patterson, owner and manager of H.M. Patterson & Son, was at home in Atlanta smoking a leisurely after-dinner cigar when his phone rang at 7:40 p.m.,” Managing Editor Beth J. Herzog writes. “It was THE CALL, probably the biggest and most important ever experienced by a contemporary funeral director.”
Allen recalled seeing his first dead body at 12 years old.
“My dad didn’t want me to sit at home, not have anything to do, so he sent me down there to work,” Allen said.
Death became less of a shock for Allen. But, he has never really been “spooked,” though he said being in any funeral home at night can be strange, with creaks and pops and the sounds of doors closing. Allen said the sounds are usually explainable.
“You know people talk about ghosts and all this stuff,” he said. “I haven’t seen one in 40 years.”
Allen said he did not intend to go into the family business, with a dream to do advertising work for Coca-Cola. He described the strained dynamics of the family affair and the little money his three brothers were making with their embalming license.
But he stayed, with not much of a choice because of the few jobs available in the early ’80s. When his father died, he helped his mother grow H.M. Patterson & Son dramatically.
“I was 26 years old, in charge of four funeral homes with 80 employees, doing $3 million a year revenue,” Allen said.
Allen’s family sold the business and began consulting work with funeral homes that were struggling. Tired of constant travel, they sought Ingram.
Big growth
Before Allen bought Ingram, it had serviced around 300 funerals a year — a respectable number considering most mom ’n’ pops average about a third of that.
The increase can be attributed to the county’s population growth, of more than 100,000 people since the early 2000s. Allen said many transplants are older, folks who didn’t want to leave after visiting their kids and grandkids.
“To me, it ended up being more like a retirement community, which, because of that, probably added to our growth,” Allen said. “We got so big so fast that it was hard to handle some days.”
It was especially hard to handle during the COVID-19 pandemic, which added around 100 funerals a year at Ingram. It became too much for Allen, leading him to sell off to Park Lawn Corporation in 2021, which owns nearly 170 funeral homes across the country.
“It was killing me, and it was killing all of us actually,” Allen said. “...Some of the firms had so many deaths that they had to rent
refrigerator trucks just to keep the bodies in until they could do something with them.”
During that time, the Ingram staff had to adapt to ever-changing guidelines, from no funerals at all to conducting them with a 20-person maximum.
“Those parts made it very unusual, having the supplies dealing with the huge volume,” Allen said. “It was very trying times.”
New owner
Allen said he sometimes wishes he would have kept Ingram, with all the extra hoops the company has to jump through. The bureaucracy.
But, much of the stress has been lifted, from retaining increasingly expensive health insurance for employees to navigating legal issues.
“I knew that they would have more stability with a corporation in the long run,” Allen said.
Park Lawn has an on-call legal department when Allen is having trouble determining who has the legal authority over a deceased person. He said he deals with attorneys more than he’d like.
“[The body is] just like the property of an estate, who has the legal right to it” Allen said. “If we don’t do it right, we get sued.”
Legal issues have led to Ingram holding bodies for months. But bodies aren’t like stacking wood, he said.
“It’s a body that is deteriorating,” Allen said. “You have to do something with it.”
Allen said he has had to get court orders, usually a quick procedure because the issue at hand is “cut and dried” — often a fight between exes.
A caring staff
Wallace, who started his career in insurance, said he finds his job of two decades rewarding.
“Joey knows a lot more of the families than I do, being born and raised here,” Allen chimed in. “So, it’s somebody at his church. It’s a preacher he knew. It’s one of his best friend’s parents. There’s a connection, always, with these guys, and so to them, it’s personal.”
Most of the staff are local to Forsyth County. One funeral director has been with Ingram for nearly 40 years.
Allen attributes the success of Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory to the staff’s level of care, which involves customizing services.
“If somebody wants to bring their HarleyDavidson motorcycle in here … they bring it in,” Allen said.
He said if it’s not illegal, staff will do it — except for drinking because it’s a liability, though he’ll allow a toast behind closed doors.
Customization also means being mindful of religious tradition.
“We can have a Greek Orthodox — which sounds funny in Forsyth County, but there’s quite a few Greek Orthodox people here — a Muslim, Indian, Asian and a Baptist [service] in the same week,” Allen said.
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Settling an estate
USA
What if you didn’t have a Trust and now the executors are settling an estate — but the decedent owes money. What can the creditors take and what is reserved for the inheritors? There is no easy answer, and a variety of federal and state laws apply.
To start with, retirement accounts that qualify under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act are generally protected from creditors, bankruptcy and civil lawsuits. But they’re vulnerable to ex-spouses and the IRS — in the form of child support, federal income tax debts, criminal fines and penalties, or civil or criminal judgments. Some states shield IRAs in nearly all instances, while others offer only limited protection.
IRAs and 401(k) plans may be protected from creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. If you declare bankruptcy, your IRA assets are usually safeguarded and cannot be seized. Depending on state law, your IRA assets may be protected from other creditors, but rules vary.
Beneficiaries of IRAs aren’t always afforded the
same creditor protection as the original account owner.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an inherited IRA for a non-spouse beneficiary is no longer protected from creditors’ claims when the beneficiary files for bankruptcy. Spouses can roll over inherited IRA assets into their own accounts, but non-spouse beneficiaries cannot commingle inherited IRA assets with their own retirement assets.
The Supreme Court’s decision highlights the importance of beneficiary designations for each of your retirement accounts. For situations where creditor protection is a primary concern and ERISA protection isn’t available, using trusts as beneficiaries is a popular option. If your children are listed as beneficiaries and have financial issues, divorce, disability or face debt collectors, you can go the route of a trust, which may offer more protection. Talk to a professional about trusts that
can protect loved ones. There are many complex rules and regulations, and only a professional can help you decide what is right for you. The point is that whether you are planning your Trust, Will, planning to inherit or serving as an executor or Trustee, you can’t assume anything — work with an Expert attorney!
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Workshops:
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• How do I avoid losing everything to nursing home costs?
• How can my family avoid probate?
HOLLY GEERDES
OPINION
GET OUTSIDE, GEORGIA!
At Moccasin Creek, age has its privileges
This time last week, you’ll recall, we were in the midst of grandkids. It was much fun! We even took them fishing, she and I did, leading our entourage down to a nearby stream. Fish were caught – many fish. Snakes were spotted too.
The kids, it turns out, are much more adept at spotting water snakes than are those of us of more advanced age. They have sharper eyes, perhaps?
Anyway, how did that go? Well, I kind of like seeing the snakes, but she is less enthusiastic. As in:
“Mimi! Look at that snake!”
And she replies, “I think it’s time we move.”
Anyway, we fished and skipped rocks and looked for snakes and climbed in and out of the creek, oh, about 150 times the kiddos made all that in-andouting look easy, hopping without misstep or pause from rock to rock and flying through the air as they did so.
She and I moved a little bit more deliberately and maybe, as the afternoon progressed, a little bit more slowly too?
Later, back home, the kids were still all energy and excitement. We, however, were (as my granddad used to say) feeling it in the knees.
Yeah. It must be that age thing I keep hearing about.
But aging isn’t all bad. For example, they say that wisdom comes with it. It has seemed to me that I’m a little wiser lately. Don’t you think?
Mostly, though (and as someone near and dear to me once put it) aging sure as heck beats the alternative.
Another eventual advantage of aging is the senior discount at the Golden Corral. I do dearly love their bourbon chicken, and now and then I just have to go get some. When I do, thanks to my maturity and wisdom, it costs me less to do so than it used to. Yay for me.
I get the same kind of age…uh, wisdom-based special treatment at the local thrift store.
At the thrift store? You bet. She got me hooked on “thrifting,” as she calls it, not long after we met. Now I can hardly pass one up, especially when it happens to be Senior Discount Day. I think I’m secretly hoping I’ll walk in and there will be a box of classic handmade English bamboo fly rods labelled “Fishing Poles $1 Each.” I shall buy them all…but since it’ll be Senior Discount Day I won’t pay nearly what I would have if I was still a young whippersnapper and less
wise. See? All you have to do is look for the silver linings.
One of the best things about this age thing, though, awaits those of a fishing bent just a few miles up the road at Moccasin Creek State Park. It’s the seniors-and-kiddos section of Moccasin Creek, a trout stream which flows through the park next to the park’s campground.
It’s a stream where age (I mean WISDOM!) is a plus!
Moccasin Creek State Park is a 32-acre park is located in northeast Georgia’s Rabun County on Georgia 197. It nestles up next to Lake Burton, and it is right across the creek from the Burton Fish Hatchery. The park offers a range of things to do too. Right there at the park is a playground where the kids can work off some energy. If you’re feeling more ambitious, you’ll find some good hiking, too, including a good trail that takes you to Hemlock Falls. The trailhead is marked by a prominent inscribed boulder. With a total in-andout length of about 2 miles, it’s a great hike to do with the kids.
Or maybe you prefer the water. Moccasin Creek State Park offers easy access to the lake, thanks to a boat ramp and dock. Don’t have a boat? Kayaks, paddleboards and canoes can be rented at the park during the warmer parts of the year.
There’s camping, too, with more than 50 tent, trailer and RV campsites. All have water and 30-amp electrical service – and (yes!) the camping is discounted for those 62 years old or older. See? Age is looking better all the time. But make your reservations early as this park is often completely booked.
During your visit, you’ll want to
cross the creek and visit the Lake Burton Trout Hatchery. It’s open from 8 till 4:30 weekdays and from 10 till 3 on weekends and holidays.
But what about that fishing?
The section of Moccasin Creek through the state park is open only to seniors age 65 or older and to kids age 11 or younger, as well as to those with disabilities. This special-regulation water starts on the downstream end near the lake at a sign marking the “approximate normal pool level of Lake Burton” on the downstream end. From there, it extends upstream under Georgia Highway 197 to the diversion dam which feeds water into the Burton Trout Hatchery.
Aha! So we who are steeped in wisdom (as well as those who are still too young to worry about such things) have our own special piece of trout stream heaven? You bet we do!
Access to this stretch of the creek is easy, even though no wading is allowed. Fishing platforms put you in good positions to cast to some of the best holding water. Creekside access is good away from the platforms, too, and a trail on the state park side provide additional fairly easy bank access to further expand the possibilities.
What swims in the creek? The big draw is the trout, of course, and the folks at the adjoining Burton Trout Hatchery regularly stock catchable-sized trout there. You’ll probably see some of these fish holding in the current near the fishing platforms…but remember that if you can see them, they can see you too. They may be harder to fool than you’d think!
What should you use when fishing the special section of Moccasin Creek?
One good bet is worms – nightcrawlers or super jumpers or whatever your favorite flavor happens to be. Another is eggs (the kind you find in jars in the fishing department of your favorite bigbox retailer, those so-called “fish eggs” of various colors). Regular-style pink or orange fish eggs are the choice of many, but others swear by different colors (you hear chartreuse mentioned quite often) or by those which are seasoned with a hint of garlic.
Another good bet can be a flashy inline spinning lure such as a Roostertail or Mepps Spinner. Fish these on a light line. If you’re fly fishing, try a Y2K, a 3-D Sucker Spawn, or a San Juan Worm. A bright streamer (that is, some sort of minnow imitation) may work for fly fishers too.
In addition to trout, you’ll see sunfish in the creek. You may catch a few of those too. All are fun!
If you don’t fall into the age brackets that let you fish the special regulations water, there’s still fishing awaiting you at Moccasin Creek State Park. You can fish the nearby lake, for example, or you can go upstream above the diversion dam and fish for trout there. Just remember that within the special regs section, you’ve got to be 65 or older, 11 or younger, or disabled.
The next time you’re looking for something to do with the grandkids, or the next time you want to really convince yourself that the aging thing isn’t all bad, take a look at Moccasin Creek State Park. It’s made to order for making memories – and you just might take home a nice trout or two as well. We had a good time at Moccasin Creek. And (despite the name) we didn’t see a single snake!
STEVE HUDSON Columnist
PHOTOS BY: STEVE HUDSON/APPEN MEDIA
Fishing takes place from the creek’s bank at Moccasin Creek. In the background, across the creek, is the Burton Trout Hatchery.
An inscribed boulder marks the start of the Hemlock Falls Trail.
Be curious, not judgmental, again
RAY APPEN Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com
The parking in Blowingrock was insane; there was none.
Blowingrock is a small Western North Carolina town near Boone - the home of Appalachian State University, and within a mile or two of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s about five hours from Atlanta, a couple hours from Charlotte, and about an hour from Ashville. That is, Blowingrock is a destination for city folks - not unlike 30-A (in the Florida panhandle) is for many, but with the Parkway and a number of relatively unspoiled national forests instead of an ocean.
It is a hiking mecca with temperate weather, mountain views, to die-for golf courses, and - in theory - a slower, healthier pace of life.
Fulltime population of the town hovers somewhere around 1,500 people. The seasonal population swells to, depending on where you source the data, somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000. The number of hotel rooms and seasonal “housing units” - which would include condos and Air B&B-type of accommodations is estimated at around 500-600. If you do the math, that ratio of visitors to accommodations is, well, “tight.” The town has a number of restaurants, as well as outfitters, and boutique stores. It is quaint, very quaint - as beautiful and idyllic as any that I have encountered - ever. We were there for the first time recently for a wedding.
But the waiting lines had waiting lines and parking, well, don’t get me started. Ok, get me started.
Finding a parking space - or a table at a restaurant - in Blowingrock reminds me of those places where you pan for gold or dig for rubies. It’s not that there isn’t actually some gold or some rubies to be found, it is that the odds of finding any are no-bueno - as in extremely unlikely.
On the first night there we spent about three hours searching for a parking space and a restaurant that was not full. We heard “you can wait at the bar for someone to leave” almost everywhere we went. The one time that we actually did wait at the bar, we finally gave up after over an hour waiting for someone to leave, and in the face of not so polite competition for the couple potential future open spaces at the bar.
We finally decided to just try to go to the market - like a downtown mini grocery store - instead of a restaurant and make sandwiches back at our hotel. I thought that I spotted an open parking space and pulled in. Nope. What I had seen for an open parking space was instead, a highly polished, black, probably 2023 or ’24 Suburban that was parked exactly in the middle of two parking spaces. Seriously. It was breathtakingly bad and disrespectful beyond imagination. I turned to Christina and said that I would bet dollars to donuts that the Suburban has a Fulton County tag. Sure enough, as we double parked waiting for a space to open up, two men came out of the market, got into the Suburban and drove off - with their Georgia Fulton county license tag and all.
Yep, it is really really hard for me to be curious, not judgmental all the time, but I am trying. That Suburban about did me in. I don’t know why I had this expectation that in this tiny town in western North Carolina that people would be, what, less selfish, less in a hurry, more plain old decent. I suppose that there could have been some good reason they parked in the middle of two parking spaces other than just not wanting any other cars close to theirs or that they were simply one of those folks who think that they are in some way better than everyone else for some twisted delusional myopic reason. Anyway, if you are at a redlight in Alpharetta next week and you get honked at for not immediately preceding at the green light, look in the rear-view mirror and see if it’s not a shiny black suburban behind you. Kidding! No I’m not.
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census needs your help
Pollinators play important roles in biodiversity, crop production, and even the economy.
A 2014 economic impact study by University of Georgia experts determined that the annual value of pollination to Georgia is over $360 million. What’s even better is that the services pollinators provide are free.
Pollination is key to seed production, and without pollinators like hummingbirds, bees, ants, butterflies, wasps, and many others, our favorite fruits and vegetables would never make it to our tables.
Pollinators are also key to the survival of wild plant species, help to control pests that destroy agricultural crops, and help in decomposition, which is extremely important in crop production.
Although wasps, ants, and bees don’t yield warm and fuzzy feelings for most people, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Pollinator populations are decreasing. Not only in population, but also in diversity. Research from UGA is helping to identify not only the reasons behind the decline, but also what homeowners can do to help them.
Back in 2019 Becky Griffin, Community & School Garden Coordinator for Center for Urban Agriculture created the Great Georgia Pollinator Census a citizens Science initiative. According to Becky there were three goals for the project.
1. To create sustainable pollinator habitat by educating gardeners about using plants that provide nutrition for our pollinators while handling our summer droughts and do not have disease or pest insect pressure.
2. To increase the entomological literacy of our citizens. As I mentioned to one teacher, we want students to go from “oooo, it’s a bug” to “look at the tarsal claw on that bee!”
3. To generate useful data about our pollinator populations, so we can begin to spot trends and see how pollinator populations are affected by weather and how honeybees influence native bee populations.
The first pollinator census held in 2019 had over 4,000 participants in
134 of Georgia’s 159 counties. From that impressive beginning it has grown to become The Great Southeast Pollinator Census covering the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida.
The 2024 Great Southeast Pollinator Census will be held this year on August 23rd and 24th. The actual census only takes 15 minutes. This is a wonderful way to help the pollinators and to help ourselves, who depend on pollinators to help produce our food. If you would like to participate, please go to the website at https://gsepc.org/.
There you will find everything
you need to know about counting, insect identification and all the forms for the count. Invite your friends, children, grandchildren and make it a party!
Happy gardening!
North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
About the author
This week’s “Garden Buzz” guest columnist is Judy Peacock, a master gardener for fourteen years. Judy is a member of the North Fulton County Master Gardeners. Judy graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Art Education. She is an avid gardener and is developing a pollinator garden, a stumpery, a perennial garden, and a vegetable garden on her seven and a half acres in Ellijay.
JUDY PEACOCK Guest Columnist
JUDY PEACOCK/APPEN MEDIA
Gulf fritillary butterflies hover on bee balm.
Gen. Jack Singlaub, a military legend with ties to Georgia (Pt. 1)
Maj. Gen. John K. (Jack) Singlaub is a name associated with daring covert assignments and lasting contributions to our country.
Singlaub, who died in 2022 at age 100, was a fighting man’s soldier. He took part in highrisk clandestine operations from World War ll in Europe and the Far East to Korea to Vietnam and spent a vital portion of his career in Georgia. He was part of a small group of gallant men who served in the precursor to the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He was also a family man who famously clashed with President Jimmy Carter. He retired in 1978 after 35 years of service but continued to be an active champion for democracy. Here is Part 1 of his amazing story. Part 2 will focus on his Georgia experience.
John Kirk (Jack) Singlaub was born in 1921 in the small town of Independence in eastern California. The town was 2 miles from what began as the U.S. Army Camp Independence, founded in 1862 and abandoned in 1877, and is currently part of an Indian reservation. Situated near the Sierra Nevada mountains, the area is favored by hikers which included Jack Singlaub when he was a youth. He and some friends tested themselves by seeing how many days they could hike with what they carried in their backpacks.
His family settled in Los Angeles where in 1939 Jack enrolled in the ROTC program at UCLA. In 1943 at the height of World War ll, he left the university early to receive a commission as an infantry Second Lieutenant in the Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt had established the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to operate behind enemy lines. Jack was
“Major” Jack Singlaub, right, turns his back to Japanese junior soldiers while awaiting a senior Japanese officer to discuss the release of nearly 400 American, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war on Hainan Island in 1945. Capt. Singlaub posed as a major to radiate more authority over a touchy situation.
recruited to become an officer in the OSS, the precursor of the modern CIA and Army Special Forces (nicknamed Green Berets). As part of Operation Jedburgh, Jack’s first covert mission was to parachute behind German lines to help the French Resistance prepare for the Allied invasion of the Mediterranean coast following the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Jack was wounded in one operation by a sniper’s bullet to his face. In response Jack emptied two machine gun magazines into the German hiding place, ending the threat.
Operation Jedburgh consisted of three-man teams of specially trained American, British, French, Belgian and Dutch commandos. They parachuted at night into occupied France, Belgium and the Netherlands to coordinate airdrops of arms and supplies and to support local partisans.
In early 1945 when on home leave, Jack married Mary Osborne, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant JG. They had three children before divorcing in 1990, including Mary Ann Singlaub, whom I interviewed extensively for this column. In 1992 Jack married Joan Lafferty from Tennessee, with whom he lived until his death.
Jack also served in the Pacific conflict. In September 1945, soon after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, he volunteered to help rescue American, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war held in a Japanese prison camp on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. It was feared that the POWs would be executed in retribution for the atomic
bombs. As part of an elite eight-man team, Singlaub parachuted onto the island and convinced a high-ranking Japanese officer that Japan had just surrendered, thus saving the lives of nearly 400 tortured and emaciated POWs.
In a 2012 interview with the Defense Media Network, when asked for his most satisfying experience in World War ll, Singlaub replied “picking up those prisoners, bringing hope to them and getting out was a great way to finish a war…here was a real humanitarian achievement for our side.”
Singlaub served as Chief of the Military Liaison Mission to Mukden (now Shenyang), Manchuria, from 1946 to 1948 where he conducted intelligence operations for the CIA. In 1948, when Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army overtook the area during the prolonged Civil War against Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, the American team was evacuated by U.S. Marines by plane while under artillery attack. Jack’s pregnant wife Mary had been evacuated by a troop ship a few weeks earlier.
Singlaub served two combat tours during the Korean War where he took part in various secret operations. He served as deputy chief of the CIA mission in Korea and later as an Army battalion commander where he received a Silver Star for valor in battle.
General Singlaub’s experiences in Georgia were no less significant and noteworthy than his early years. More about that in an upcoming column.
Jack Singlaub in his Operation Jedburgh gear. Operation Jedburgh was a covert operation where three-man teams of specially trained soldiers parachuted at night into occupied France, Belgium and the Netherlands to thwart German military operations. The operation was one of Singlaub’s first after enlisting in the Army.
Bob is director emeritus of the Milton Historical Society and a Member of the City of Alpharetta Historic Preservation Commission. You can email him at bobmey@bellsouth.net. Bob welcomes suggestions for future columns about local history.
BOB MEYERS Columnist
WASHINGTON POST OBITUARY Maj. Gen. Jack Singlaub died at age 100 in January 2022.
GENERAL SINGLAUB PRIVATE COLLECTION
GENERAL SINGLAUB PRIVATE COLLECTION
OPINION: PAST TENSE
Austin Elementary could have been Spirit of ’76 Elementary
The story of Nettie Southern Austin, the namesake of Austin Elementary School, has been told in this column before. However, I was surprised to read about other names suggested for the Dunwoody elementary school before it opened in September 1975.
The March 27, 1975, edition of the Atlanta Journal featured an article, “DeKalb officially picks names for two new schools,” listing other names being considered for the school. Students, teachers and local citizens submitted ideas. The other DeKalb County school receiving an official name was Stone Mill Elementary School.
One of the suggestions for the school which became Austin Elementary was Chester, honoring the former owner of the property. Harry M. and Mildred Chester lived where the school was built, next to neighbor T. K. Peters. The former Peters home is now part of Dunwoody Nature Center. Across Roberts Drive lived the Swancey family in the old home that still
stands. Harry M. Chester was personnel administrator for the Georgia Health Department.
C.L. Harper School was also on the list of recommended names. Harper was a former DeKalb County Schools assistant superintendent. Former DeKalb County Schools Assistant Superintendent Sam Moss was also suggested. The superintendent of DeKalb County schools, Jim Cherry, already had a school named
for him on Hermance Drive in Brookhaven. Apple’s Way School was suggested, perhaps because there were still farms and fruit groves in Dunwoody.
With the bicentennial coming up the following year, Liberty School and Spirit of ’76 are not surprising suggestions. Although Spirit of ’76 Elementary School is a bit of a tongue twister. We Believe was also suggested, which needs clarification.
The final name suggested but not
chosen was Roberts Drive School. Since Roberts Drive is named for the 40-year engineer of the Roswell Railroad, the school would also have been named for engineer Ike Roberts.
One name not mentioned in the Atlanta Journal article is recorded in an oral history of several Dunwoody citizens in 1994, Elizabeth Davis School. Davis was a teacher and principal of Dunwoody School.
The name chosen in 1975 was Austin Elementary, honoring teacher and principal Nettie Southern Austin. Austin was born in Dunwoody in 1882 and attended teacher training at the State Normal School in Athens, Georgia.
She was honored by former students and the Dunwoody community in 1949. A surprise garden party was held at Boxwood Farms, which is now Donaldson-Bannister Farm. (Atlanta Constitution, “Teacher of 46 years gets surprise fete of lifetime,” May 18, 1949)
Award-winning author Valerie Biggerstaff is a longtime columnist for Appen Media and the Dunwoody Crier. She lives in Atlanta. You can email Valerie at pasttensega@gmail.com or visit her website at pasttensega.com.
Continued from Page 1
lectures, groups and workshops, some national and state award winning, he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the department provided online programming while senior centers were closed. That work online earned staff the 2020 Georgia Recreation and Park Association Outstanding Program award.
Technology classes offered this
summer cover topics such as understanding smartphones, using Android tablets, searching for jobs using digital tools, recognizing AI and using the music streaming app Spotify.
To learn more, visit forsythco.com/ senior-services.
AUSTIN FAMILY PHOTO
Nettie Austin and her students gather in front of the Dunwoody School in the 1940s.
VALERIE BIGGERSTAFF Columnist
JON WILCOX/APPEN MEDIA
The Forsyth County Commission convenes for the Aug. 6 work session at the Forsyth County Courthouse. Commissioners approved a $10,000 grant from OpenAI to teach older adults about artificial intelligence technology.
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