NW GEORGIA’S PREMIER FEATURE READER / FEBRUARY 2009
HARBIN FAMILYVALUES
M AG A Z I N E
THE UNCUT HISTORY BEHIND NORTHWEST GEORGIA’S ‘FIRST FAMILY OF MEDICINE’—STRAIGHT FROM THE MOUTHS OF THOSE WHO HELPED SHAPE IT
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. . . a Tradition of Caring since 1908
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Caring for Northwest Georgia has been our mission for generations with more than 140 physicians & 32 medical specialties and services including full-service radiology and laboratory. Harbin Clinic provides the care and compassion patients need. Harbin is Georgia’s largest physician-owned multi-specialty group.
Harbin Clinic 1825 Martha Berry Blvd., Rome
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vinividivici FEBRUARY2009
DEPARTMENTS +features
16 BUSINESS BUZZ
Under new ownership, a former Broad Street boutique receives one fierce Third Avenue makeover
20 HEARTWARMER
Sunkissed Acres provides a peaceful respite for the area’s abandoned and abused animals
28 LOCAL ARTS
“Psychobilly” trio Atomic Boogie hits 2009 running with a new album and road itinerary
34 NWGA SCRAPBOOK
Ellen Wilson, Part II: A look back at the Rome native and former first lady’s time in the White House
+++COLUMNS 50 THE ROOD REVIEW
Eastwood and a strong cast of newbies scorch the screen in an Oscar-snubbed, must-see gem
54 BETWEEN THE LINES V3’s own “Sporty Spice”, Ian Griffin, tells us how to go about beating those post-pigskin blues
56 CENTS & SENSIBILITY
42 COVER FEATURE
In the lore of Northwest Georgia medicine, the name Harbin is perhaps the region’s most iconic. Now, experience the rich history of “The Clinic” as relayed by those who lived it. Image courtesy of Brenda Bowen and Robin Hice.
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Financial advisor extraordinaire, Chris Wilson, outlines how to properly milk a sagging economy
58 WOMEN IN MIND
When it comes to nixing STD’s, Dr. Leigh Barrell discusses why there’s no time for embarrassment
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EDITOR’S NOTE —January 30, 2009—
For all our many faults, man’s panging desire to nurture is, perhaps, the one selfless quality that outshines his countless shortcomings in one fell swoop. This is not a thematic issue, but as a handful of the features published hereafter crossed my desk, I felt compelled to pen a few quick words on our better nature. People, I mean—and the good in us people like myself don’t highlight nearly as often as we should. (Sometimes I fear it’s because we know full well that we’re not contributing enough love to this world ourselves.) To start, longtime staff writer Cody Eirman’s piece on Summerville animal rescue outfit, Sunkissed Acres (see Kissed by an Angel, pg. 20), is a tear-jerking tribute to those who work so tirelessly to safeguard the most vulnerable among us. Particularly heartwrenching, I found, was the manner in which, despite having long been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of creatures under her care, owner/operator Lori Yonts-Rosser refuses to allow the negligence of her fellow Northwest Georgians to deter her life’s mission. Another fantastic testament to the human spirit arrives this month in the form of newcomer Tricia Steele’s cover story and Harbin Clinic retrospective, Band of Brothers (see pg. 42). Here, we find an in-depth tale of triumph with respect to a family whose members have played the role of regional “nurturers” across a multi-generational span, leaving their mark upon the world of medicine not only with regard to our own friends and neighbors, but upon the minds of forwardthinking physicians across the U.S. V3 Magazine is proud to lend its pages to showcasing these exemplary citizens, and we sincerely hope that atop your enjoyment of sharing in their stories, the time taken to do so will inspire you to join them—in one form or another—in their efforts. Neal Howard, Editor-In-Chief
M AG A Z I N E NW GEORGIA’S PREMIER FEATURE READER / FEBRUARY 2009
HARBIN FAMILYVALUES
M AG A Z I N E
THE UNCUT HISTORY BEHIND NORTHWEST GEORGIA’S ‘FIRST FAMILY OF MEDICINE’—STRAIGHT FROM THE MOUTHS OF THOSE WHO HELPED SHAPE IT
$4.00
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF + PRODUCTION MANAGER + ART&DESIGN neal howard STAFF WRITERS anna armas, will seifert, reagen lowrey, matt rood, brian gilton, carolyn grindrod, cody eirman, tricia steele CONTRIBUTING WRITERS brian foster, chris wilson, leigh barrell PHOTOGRAPHY sabrina wilson ADDITIONAL A&D jeremy hulsey, collin vaughn CHIEF OF ADVERTISING + OFFICE SALES DIRECTOR ian griffin CHIEF SALES REPRESENTATIVE jeff miller ORIGINAL AD DESIGN anthony barba, ian griffin LEAD MANAGEMENT + MARKETING/PROMOTIONS anthony barba PUBLISHER v3 publications, llc CONTACT one west fourth avenue, rome, ga 30161/ phone: 706.235.0748 email: v3mag@bellsouth.net
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What can Natural Hormone Therapy do for me? Hormone therapy has helped thousands of men and women achieve the natural healthy balance of hormones their bodies need to maintain optimum well-being. What is Natural Hormone Therapy? Hormonal therapy is the most convenient and effective method of hormone replacement available. It has been fully researched and documented in medical journals since 1939. It involves a simple and painless insertion of a bio-equivalent hormone pellet under the skin. Once inserted, a steady dose of hormone flows into the bloodstream whenever the body needs it. This allows the body to control the release of the hormone just as it did when you were younger. Why is this Natural Method more effective than synthetics? With synthetics you have a spike effect throughout the day. This simply means that it has an up and down effect throughout the day. With the Natural method, it is a steady flow with your body throughout the day. It gives your body more when needed. Stress and exercise require more testosterone naturally. The pellets provide this increase as your body did when you were young. What are the Hormone Pellets made from? Hormone pellets are compounded to the highest industry standards. They use the best quality soy and yam ingredients available, and are formulated to replicate human hormones. No synthetics, just natural, biologically equivalent hormones. Why do men need Hormones? Hormonal needs for men have received national media attention. There are only few treatment options available, which can be expensive, and require daily consumption and in many cases, need to be carefully timed with their partner’s desire for sexual activity and pleasure. With our system, there are no patches, no creams, no pills, no injections. It can last from 4 to 6 months. Every man experiences a gradual decline in hormone production as he ages. Beginning at age 30, his body manufactures less and less testosterone. Most men lose 1-2 percent per year until somewhere between 40 and 50 years of age, his testosterone levels drop dramatically and signal the onset of andropause— the medical term for the male equivalent of menopause.
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ciao bella 16
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fledgling businesswoman lee ann dempsey gives a former broad street gift shop one fierce third avenue makeover text by reagen lowrey photos by sabrina wilson When the last of Lee Ann Dempsey’s children left for college, the Cedartown native found herself in a rather “lost” state. Despite working 60 hours per week at her husband’s insurance agency in Rome, as well as working to complete her MBA at Berry College, there was still a huge, gaping hole to fill. So when the Broad Street-based retailer known as Bella Luna wound up on the market last April, Dempsey leaped at the opportunity. Matter of fact, the 46-year-old go-getter purchased the business over lunch mere days after discovering it was for sale, and just two months later leased a new space on Third Avenue. After an additional month of family-run renovations to the former restaurant, alongside husband David and their two children, Mark, 21, and Tiffany, 20, a new Bella Luna emerged with not only an attractive new storefront, but a slew of new merchandise. “I just took [the business], revamped it with a bit of capital, and added a lot of tender love and care,” Dempsey explains. Clad in a black and white plaid jacket, she glides the floor around Bella Luna’s gift-packed downstairs section. “I greatly underestimated Rome’s need for a shop like this, but we have actually tripled our anticipated goals so far.” Dempsey’s vision for Bella Luna, since re-opening last July, brings to Rome a new full-service gift shop somewhat different than the store’s previous Broad Street location. She continues to carry party invitations and “pick-me-up gifts”, just as the store’s former owner did, but has expanded her merchandising lines to include a larger selection of gifts for every occasion, as well as having created a one-stop shop for bridal registration. “I really wanted a way to connect with people my kids’ ages, and I thought this was a fun way to do it,” says Dempsey. “Plus, you always have people getting married, so I knew [that portion] would be vital to
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this type of business.” In the midst of the post-holiday sale season, Dempsey completed renovations to the new bridal area located on Bella Luna’s second level. The “bridal loft” is outfitted with large, comfortable sofas and a coffee table, designed to help brides relax as they make important decisions like selecting wedding invitations or planning their gift registries. The remaining loft area houses bridal registry samples including fine china, crystal, flatware and casual dinnerware. Brides can select from floor-to-ceiling displays stocked with such popular lines as Haviland, Gorham, Vietri and Waterford. Once made, the brides’ selections are displayed as place settings on individual café tables, making it easy for gift givers to peruse for the perfect present. In addition, Dempsey says that gift givers can simply call the store and her staff will assist them in gift purchasing over the telephone. Staffers will match each brides’ needs from individual registries to the caller’s criteria. Additional services include gift wrapping and the assurance that gifts are delivered to the bride or groom whenever
survey company to help determine the retail needs of Northwest Georgia. She discovered that there were consistent requests for a “Wyatt’s-type store”—one offering superior customer service for both gift recipients and purchasers—and while she admits that she is
necessary. “We want to be known as [the place where people say] ‘You can get it at Bella Luna,’ ” Dempsey says candidly, brushing back her short, sandy hair with bright pink fingernails. “We want to be known as a place where we don’t just provide good service, but excellent service.” When conceptualizing the business plan for her new endeavor, Dempsey hired a
appointment with her personally, whereupon she will happily assist in decision-making and locating additional products when desired. “If a bride comes here looking for something I don’t have, then I will find a way to provide it,” Dempsey says, making her way down the staircase from the bridal loft. “I don’t want to talk a bride into something else. I understand that this is the most important day of her life
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and the most exciting time in the world for her, so whatever she wants, we will do it.” But while Dempsey certainly loves the bridal portion of her business, it is really only 50 percent of what the new Bella Luna has to offer. Dempsey’s incarnation carries an
“i don’t want to talk a bride into something else. i understand that this is the most important day of her life...so whatever she wants, we’ll do it.” not yet up to that level yet, the motive behind Bella Luna’s own bridal service is to offer the same quality once found at the former Broad Street mainstay. Only, according to Dempsey, she decided to take her customer service even one step further. Brides may also schedule an
array of gifts for all ages, ranging from baby books to college sorority items and holiday accessories. She is also expanding her line of stationery and note cards, which are to be housed in the back of the store near the register. She plans to add embossers and personalized stamps in accompaniment, among other items that are difficult to find elsewhere locally. For everyday gifts, her current bestsellers are the American Mats, Archipelago soy-based bath products, and Mariposa handmade tableware, the latter of which includes a line of attractive serving pieces made from recycled aluminum. She also carries more universal home décor items, such as lamps and accent tables. Dempsey maintains that Bella Luna is, for her, a learning experience, and adds that she is enjoying it every step of the way. Her first Christmas season was a huge success, despite the unstable economic climate. Thus far, she says her biggest error has actually been remaining too conservative in her stock, and confesses that she has sometimes found herself running out of products faster than she can keep them in. “I feel really positive about the store,” Dempsey says, now seated at a small table in Bella Luna’s navy and gold-clad “invitation room”. “I have always had this flair for the creative. I love it here and I love what I do.” Now that the newly established businesswoman has her feet wet with six months experience, she lies in wait for what is sure to be one busy spring/summer wedding season, with new brides and new ceremonies to accommodate. “My husband says I am the best kept secret in Rome right now,” she says, smiling as she takes a sip from her Diet Coke. “But now we have gotten our act completely together and we are ready for the masses.” VVV
The time-honored relationship between horse and man is an ancient one dating back thousands of years. Humanity owes much of its
success to horses, from the mighty cavalry steed to the swaybacked plow mare, to every little girl who’s ever fallen in love with one or begged a pony for Christmas. But as our destinies have intertwined, the idyllic vision of the wild stallion and his herd flashing across the open plain—a culture-transcendent symbol of freedom, beauty and power—has, over the centuries, been shackled by the highly structured lifestyles of men. Domesticated, fenced in, tamed to the point of dependence upon a human paycheck, history has by and large seen the horse taking the short end. And in an economy where many rural Americans are struggling to provide for their own children, more still are finding themselves faced with the threat of criminal prosecution for animal cruelty. In times like these, even rescue operations like Sunkissed Acres suddenly find themselves in a very tight predicament.
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issed k byan text by cody eirman photos by sabrina wilson
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On a chilly January morning in the foothills of Summerville, Ga., the claystained earth is pocked and cross- hatched by hoofprints that shimmer with a light frost.
Twenty-nine elderly equines doze on their feet in small groups, strapped with well-worn blankets to protect from the icy winter night. Deer graze silently among them, springing nimbly over a nearby fence at the sound of a twig’s snap underfoot. The pastures of Sunkissed Acres, a registered 501c3 animal rescue and retirement farm, are as chock full of life stories as grandpa’s front porch on a late summer afternoon. Some of the animals have been retired here, but most were abandoned or rescued from financially strained domestic lives in some of Northwest Georgia’s poorest, most rural areas. Lori Yonts-Rosser, spokeswoman and guardian angel to these discarded creatures, has dedicated her life to a burning passion for animals. Now in her fifties, Lori cares for 33 horses and an ever-changing number of cats and dogs, as well as the occasional foster child. To say that organizations such as Sunkissed Acres are hurting in the current economic climate is a gross understatement. “The facility is meant to be used, and there can be a million reasons why people from all walks of life might need our services,” says
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Yonts-Rosser. “But with the economy right now, we’re not just struggling; it’s going to wipe us out completely.” Sunkissed was established in 2004, when Lori, a native of sparsely populated western Canada, grounded her empty-nesting, cross-continental trek on a farm outside of Summerville. Compelled by the area’s need for animal rescue and retirement, and supported by the property’s owner—also an extremely passionate animal advocate—she opened their pastures to those in need of a safe haven and established it as a non-profit. The original concept focused on horse retirement, after Yonts-Rosser nearly lost her own horse to an all too common scam. Sunkissed Angel, the faithful mount of Lori’s equestrian daughter, was growing too old for eventing. “I felt guilty because she was alone while the others were showing, so I put her in a retirement home. I did all the right things. I went there, checked the other horses out; they were fat and happy. There were even little curtains on the stalls. It was ideal, so I signed her over to them.” Lori called on her Angel the first two weekends and was assured that she was settling in well enough, if only looking a bit
down. She thought surely if there was a problem they would call a vet. After all, she had paid for retirement. But on the third weekend, she phoned again, only to be informed that her horse had curiously “passed away.” “I bought her back that weekend at an auction,” Yonts-Rosser laments. “They had no idea I worked for the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).” Years earlier, back in Canada, Lori’s passion for animals had led her to become an animal inspections officer. “It’s a bit of multicultural policing. Canada being a culturally diverse country, we had a lot of East Indians and Native Americans, and many laws do not apply on reserves. I went to various shelters and worked alongside other inspectors, learning how to deal with people and the different issues that could come up.” Lori was an inspector for 10 years, and part of the job included inspecting auctions. Remarkably, just after “losing” Angel, she found her registered in the weekend auction as 20 years junior her actual age. “I knew how terrifying it was for my horse to go into this ring, although she was obedient, and I think I terrified the kid out of riding her because I was so upset. So, I walked into the ring with my horse, bawling hysterically, and I told the story of how I believed she got into the auction; how the person who consigned her was not only lying about ownership, but also about her age.” The auctioneers, aghast at the sight of the furious stranger weeping in the middle of the ring with an audience staring in quiet shock, asked rather reluctantly, “Does anybody dare bid on this horse?” No one answered. Lori bought her back for one dollar.
The animals that populate Sunkissed Acres come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are crippled
with special needs; some abandoned; some rescued from the woods like stray dogs; some are legitimate, paid retirees. There are a few who are still apt to be of active service, and they spend much of their time away from the property assisting in therapeutic riding. Yet, all 29 who currently live here have one
glaring thing in common: They are elderly, past their primes, and no longer suited for an active lifestyle. “There’s nothing wrong with having a pet horse,” Lori admits. “They mow the lawn, fertilize; they’re good watchdogs and good company. But most people want [a horse]
could, and there are some that I do because of people’s [financial] situations,” Lori admits. She adds that most who call looking to retire a horse for free have already replaced it with a younger one, and are either unable or unwilling to support both. “When they call to dump the old one instead of the young one, I like to tell them they’re selling the wrong horse. We owe it to our animals to provide for them in their old age.” The retirement fee is generally $2,000 per year, and payment is required upfront to avoid drive-by abandonment. Very few in the Northwest Georgia area can afford to pay, which Lori understands. “If I had to give somebody $2,000 today to retire my horse, I couldn’t necessarily do it. But I wouldn’t buy myself a second horse, either.” Often, horses often arrive hundreds of pounds underweight. Their owners insist that they’ve tried everything, but when she gives them her special weight-gain recipe, they’re not even willing to try it. “Unfortunately,” Lori sighs, “almost 99 percent of the cases that involve animals and lack of adequate care involve children, as well. I have literally been given children.” However, she is quick to point out, “Most people…are not
“...Most people want [a horse]
they can ride or do something with. Nobody retires an animal who’s still showing and happy and healthy. That’s not what’s here.” they can ride or do something with. Nobody retires an animal who’s still showing and happy and healthy. That’s not what’s here.” Of those who have been abandoned, an unfortunate few have, quite simply, been left tied to the gate waiting for Lori to return home. “When the very first horse was abandoned here, I was furious,” she says. “The old man had actually told somebody he was going to bring her, and what he didn’t realize was that [the person had died and] I never was informed. I came home one day and there was this really old, sadly crippled animal tied to my gate. He saw nothing wrong with it. He was bringing her to the retirement farm, wasn’t he? Darling is still just as crippled today, and she’s one of my favorites. She’s 42 years old.” Despite undeniable correlations between lowincome regions and the lack of education that leads to neglect, it is important to note a distinction between those persons who have a genuine need to seek retirement/rescue and those who abuse it—those who, despite their economic or social status, refuse to educate themselves on responsibility for aging animals. These who buck the system are the same who show up at any given animal shelter every six months, to the minute, with a new litter to dump off because they won’t spay or neuter their pets. To hear Yonts-Rosser tell it, these grossly neglible people are, quite literally, breaking the charity bank for everyone. “I don’t retire horses for free. I would if I
intentionally cruel. They may get rude, but many will hand over the horse or dog anyway. Cruelty happens all the time, but I honestly believe that most people do not set out to do it on purpose.” One of the first abandoned souls to come to Sunkissed Acres was a little horse from down the street that kept reappearing day after day. According to Yonts-Rosser, the owner sent her grandkids out repeatedly to retrieve her. “She was so desperately lonely, and ancient, with an open wound masked by long fur. She couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag, so how she got out of her fence and into mine [each day] I’ll never know. She was just coming here to eat and keep company with other old horses.” Eventually, the little horse was turned over to Lori, only to lay down and die three days later. She had finally come home to a place where she felt safe, where she could finally rest her sweet bones while the other horses watched over her.
With the likes of Angel and Darling, among Sunkissed Acres’ “lifers” is a little hinny (mule) named Heart. Her
sufferings, while unintended by those who bear responsibility for them, amount to one of the worst cases of cruelty Lori has ever witnessed. Heart was found in James H. (Sloppy) Floyd State Park in the swelter of summer, not to mention during one of the hottest
“When they call to dump the old one instead of the young one, I like to tell them they’re selling the wrong horse.”
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The vet had seen the hinny the night before, and had recommended that she be put down, saying, “Lori, listen to her heart.” They thought it was a murmur, most likely fatal. “Her heart was just pounding, and I started to cry because it seemed so unfair. So I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to make arrangements with the backhoe and you can come and mercifully end her life. But until then, I’m going to bathe her and feed her and I’m going to make her feel beautiful.’ ” Strangely enough, the backhoe could not be made available for several days. Thus, the euthanization was repeatedly postponed. “In the next few days it had turned cool out,” Yonts-Rosser recalls. “I noticed her heartbeat was considerably lower. The forecast said it was going be cool all week, in the 60s and 70s, so I phoned the vet and said, ‘I’m going to give this girl some medicine. She was out walking around, trying to eat, and she was talking to me. She doesn’t want to die.’ ” The vet soon came to the farm for a follow-up exam, and no sign whatsoever of a heart murmur remained.
While many creatures at Sunkissed are available for adoption, lifers like Heart require sponsorship to keep their care up to snuff. Most animal rights
Heart, the rescue hinny, is but one of the many abandoned or abused animals who’ve been given a second chance at life via the efforts of Yonts-Rosser and Sunkissed Acres.
weeks—high-90s in the afternoon, suffocating humidity—of that year. Lori received a call that there was an animal in the state park being eaten by dogs. “There is no way that I believe somebody could do this intentionally,” she says. “What I believe is that this animal was seized to save her from starvation and tied up for grass.” The hinny, unable to walk because she had foundered, was fastened with a nylon rope that had become tangled around her legs. She
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collapsed, and in her struggles to right herself had peeled all the skin and hair from her legs. Raw flesh exposed, she lay there exhausted, deprived of shade or water. “Well, to say that the maggots made themselves at home was an understatement,” says Yonts-Rosser. “It took us four hours to pull them out by the handful. They had engulfed her. They were going to eat her before she was even gone, and a couple of domesticated dogs joined the feast, gnawing her legs.”
and rescue organizations nationwide struggle with financing even in the best of economies, and most comport that there simply isn’t enough money circulating right now to save every life. Lori relies heavily on out-of-town volunteers and donations from surrounding communities. She also runs a thrift shop in downtown Summerville called the Hoof and Woof, a real asset to the community not only with regard to helping her own operation, but also by way of splitting its profits with other local charity organizations. Of course, Lori can’t keep the store open all week because she’s needed on the farm, and reliable volunteers are hard to come by. Yet, credit must be paid to those who have been gracious enough to contribute to Sunkissed’s humane vision over the years. The organization’s first barn, for instance, which recently burned down, was better known as “Mia’s Barn”. Mia is Lori’s personal horse, one who also serves in therapeutic riding. Yonts-Rosser built Mia’s Barn with the proceeds she garnered from leasing out the mare for several years. The Chronicles Barn, or COTH Barn, was built with the assistance of an organization called the Chronicle of the Horse (ChronofHorse. com). Without the continued generosity of COTH members across the U.S. and Canada, Sunkissed would not be in operation to this day. “The Chronicles barn was built entirely
“I truly believe that anyone who
by women volunteers, from the wiring to the water lines—women who didn’t know how to hold a hammer,” Lori says. To name another, the isolation facility, to known as the “Bird Pen”, was built piece-by-piece at the hands of the ever-generous Bird family of Canton, Ga. Then, of course, there is the “Fay Barn”. “The whole farm was named by the people most important to it. I suppose one day we’ll have to have a whole lot of names on it—or I keep hoping.” Sunkissed Acres is always happy to help a responsible family adopt its animals, and the adoption rate here is substantial, because most people see that the adoptees have lived on a farm and, therefore, get along with other animals. However, seeking to complete an adoption isn’t the facility’s primary agenda. Volunteers, individual horse sponsorships and the donation of funds, supplies, and thrift store items are what Sunkissed needs most pressingly. “I truly believe that anybody who enjoys horses in any way owes it to support rescues, because they are the reason that we are here,” Yonts-Rosser pleads. “Some people don’t agree with that, but...my own horse fell into rescue. It can happen to anyone.” More than once, families have arrived at Sunkissed to adopt a horse, only to find that
enjoys horses in any way owes it to support rescues... Some people don’t agree with that, but...my own horse fell into rescue. It can happen to anyone.” their own, perhaps sold years before, had ended up there. In fact, most horses don’t travel very far. Concerning the adoption rates and support of most animal facilities, Lori points out that the lion’s share of educated people, including President Barack Obama, will take a rescue animal before they will promote a breeder. “Remember ostriches and emus and pot-bellied pigs? All of them were fads. Now look, they’re running loose—literally—because not enough people will adopt. Pot-bellied pigs are abandoned all over.” To add insult to injury, the price of feed has double in the last year, so many cannot afford to feed their horses. Yet, they can’t sell them either. These silent victims are all over
the Internet, ready to be given away, because there isn’t a viable avenue. “What’s going to happen?” Lori wonders aloud. “I’m at my capacity. We registered for 20 horses and I haven’t had 20 in years. That would feel like a holiday!” A friendly, three-legged calico cat winds between her ankles and meows to be let out into the frigid night air. In the distance, wild deer are silhouetted against the pasture by starlight. “Man has made such a mess of nature in his effort to control it all,” Yonts-Rosser sighs. “We’re not prepared to share—at least if [we’re the ones who have to sacrifice.] If it’s nature that has to give it up, that’s fine. But not us, not ourselves.” VVV
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Event Tickets: $35 Event Ticket Plus Special Dinner after the event at Coosa Country Club - $100
MASSEY’S The Diamond Store vini vidi vici / v3 magazine
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SUN
C H I L D R E N OF THE
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INSPIRED BY−BUT NOT BEHOLDEN TO−SOUNDS FROM THE MEMPHIS LABEL THAT BROUGHT US ELVIS, ROY ORBISON AND THE LIKE, NORTHWEST GEORGIA’S REIGNING “PSYCHOBILLY” KINGS, ATOMIC BOOGIE, LOOK TO HIT THE TOUR ROAD RUNNING IN 2009 TEXT BYBRIANGILTON
PHOTOS BYSABRINAWILSON
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on a frigid friday night in mid
and down the East Coast and, hopefully, further still.” “We recently played one of the best shows we’ve ever played at the Masquerade in Atlanta,” bassist Chad Vaillancourt, the youngest of Boogie’s three core members, chimes in. “It was packed, about 300 people. After the record is released, we expect to play more shows of this size.” And though the crowd inside Tom Place’s, at least on this particular evening, is certainly well-below 300, that doesn’t seem to bother this band of Spartans one iota. “Remember, God loves you if you dance!” Barton belts into the microphone, right before leading the band with a raucous count-off into a barnburning rockabilly number that, this time, finds Vaillancourt showing the audience his vocal chops. Normally, it is Barton who plays the role of frontman, but not on this tune. Teeth gritted and eyebrows raised, Vaillancourt fires his fingers up and down the neck of his contrabass (a.k.a., standup), which he plays exclusively with Boogie, slapping his thumbs against the board to create a secondary percussive effect that lends itself well to filling space amongst the three-piece arrangement. “The ‘pop and click’ of the stand-up is crucial to our sound,” Barton says, looking gratefully toward Vaillancourt. “It just works for the rockabilly feel, as does the hollow body Gretsch (guitar).” Barton refers to his instrument of choice—one you’re likely to see many a rockabilly guitarist play, including Brian Setzer of the genre’s biggest anachronistic success, Stray Cats. “The standup, combined with the twang of the hollow body, makes for a comfortable but powerful base, with just enough space in between so the sound isn’t muddied up.” Powerful indeed. As the band charges on with the night’s setlist—transitioning from a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Mean Eyed Cat” to some California surf tune that sounds as if it were plucked straight from a Tarantino film soundtrack—drummer Steve Duncan enters into an abbreviated solo just after Vaillancourt steps down from the convex side of his overturned contrabass, which, just moments before, he had been standing atop while playing. Duncan, a Rome native and the oldest of the Atomic three, has been playing blues drums since the late 1960s, at which time he began jamming and hanging out in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park with Southern rock legends from The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. “Anybody on California record labels or out
january, the crowd inside a cartersville biker dive, tom’s place, is one of scant but attentive Southern listeners. This spot is also one of Atomic Boogie’s standard stops—an intimate atmosphere, drawing only as many ears as the genres of rockabilly and blues compel, and regular business assumes. Both persuasions of audience member are represented here tonight as the regulars shake their baby fat out on the dance floor; the die-hard rockabilly and blues fans sit in the back sipping beers with a grin, cigarette smoke collecting in their beards. “We’ve got a little bit of everything between those two genres in our sound,” says Atomic Boogie lead vocalist and guitarist, John Barton. “Blues and rockabilly are our base, but we also have bits of psychobilly, swing, country, surf, and Southern rock in there...with a touch of hillbilly, as well.” Psychobilly, Barton explains, is less a derivative of rockabilly than it is a combination of the traditional style with the modernity of punk rock—a “jacked up” ’50s vibe, if you will. But all genre distinctions aside, the foundation of the band is one based less on explanation than action. “We’re a bar band,” Barton says. “We’re all about the good time. Our live performance reflects more than anything else who we are.” It was suitable, then, that Atomic Boogie’s first album, Live, Loud, and Loaded, released in January 2004, was recorded entirely live
at a bar. Although this debut has seen little mainstream success—“Which is no surprise,” John admits, “because this style of music has only a strong underground following”—it did enjoy considerable airtime on two of Atlanta’s independent FM stations, WRFG 89.3 and WRAS 88.5, the latter of which broadcasts from the campus of Georgia State University. But even more suitable for their signature sound—and more suitably recorded for that matter—is Boogie’s newest album, Slung A Rod (slang for rupturing a car engine), which is in the final phase of production and slated for release this spring. “This is the album we always wanted to make,” Barton says. Since the band’s inception five years ago, they have evolved through various lineup changes, including attempts to add a saxophonist and keyboardist, as well as the exchange of a few drummers. Then, of course, there is the tirelessly obligatory search for an authentic sound. But having finally found the right combo of members, and having explored the necessary styles to realize their own songwriting potential, in October 2008 the band finally felt themselves stable enough to start laying down some studio tracks. “We’re in a transitional period right now,” Barton says. “This new album, combined with our refined songs and line-up, will get us back on the road, promoting it up
1.16.09. ATOMIC BOOGIE live at Tom’s Place, Cartersville, Ga. photo by Cody Eirman 30
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of Macon all basically hung out together.... Greg and Duane [Allman] were really nice guys,” Duncan smiles to himself. He resumes with a laugh, “Ever since those days, I’ve been playing with whoever, whenever...for a lot of years now.” “Steve is one of the best shuffle drummers around,” Barton notes, humbled by both his bandmates’ respective talents. “And Chad, I’ve been writing songs with him for years now. When we first met, I used to call him my son. Now I just call him my brother.” As a unified group, Atomic Boogie entered Straight Up Sound studios in Nashville last October to begin recording Slung A Rod, and completed the album in only two days. “We prepared before we went in,” Barton says, “and had been preparing for months, actually, arranging all of our material. We knocked it out quick.” As a result, the band recorded all of the music live—that is, all at once on an analog tape—then converted the tape to digital. For the album, Boogie was also fortunate enough to employ the musicianship of saxophonist Jimmy Hall (of ’70s Southern rock outfit, Wet Willie) for a handful of sessions, as well as Johnny Neal, the vetted keyboardist best known for his work with Government Mule and the Dickey Betts Band. In fact, the B3 Hammond organ Neal used on Rod’s slow blues number, “King Catfish”, originally belonged to Greg Allman. “Supposedly, it’s the one he used on ‘Whipping Post’, ” Vaillancourt prides. Yet, despite these two special guests,
have chosen—drawing drunks to the dance floor like cattle to a bell—are, by and large, unmistakable. They rip through two of their own rockabilly numbers, then launch, without so much as a nod, into Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Drinkin’ Wine”. The run is followed by a hastened version of Roy Orbison’s “Mean Woman Blues”. According to Duncan, the covers featured in their nightly repertoire—some of which they perform “...for the first time, on the spot, at the gig”—are not selected simply for their accessibility, but also for the band’s sincere adulation of the rock and roll tradition from whence they came. “Everything I love about music comes from this,” Barton says, pointing to a Sun Records emblem tattooed on his right shoulder. The Memphis record label, which lasted from 1951 until it merged into Sun International Corporation in 1969, recorded black (and black-inspired) music in the South when only a brave few would. Enlisting future legends like Elvis, Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, Sun was the breeding ground for rock and roll’s earliest sounds, including rockabilly.
“this is what we love to do. whether there is a
market for it or not, nothing is going to change that.” Atomic Boogie wanted the album to reflect as candidly as possible the organic nature of their flagship live performances. Barton opted not to overdub rhythm guitar tracks behind his solos on any of Rod’s cuts, and Chad, who must amplify his contrabass live to overcome the sheer volume of the drums, instead chose to record in the manner he would ideally play—acoustic. “We didn’t want an overly homogenized sound,” Duncan says. “You wouldn’t get that from us live... We’ve got a pretty big sound for a three-piece as it is, and we’d rather have the songs speak for themselves.” And do they ever. Back at the Tom’s Place gig, the band’s original compositions are easy to distinguish because the covers they
“This is the music that I love,” Barton says. “Hell, it’s all I know how to play. It’s these artists—and the entire feel of the early Sun Records sound—that I try to incorporate into Atomic Boogie.” But, Barton again emphasizes, the band’s focus is on original music. “We don’t try to emulate that sound, though; we don’t try to recreate it. We try to feel it when we play. It’s a feel, not a conscious action.” Each member, in their own generational right, brings a distinct sound to Boogie’s collective pallet. Whereas Vaillancourt brings a more modernized vivacity to the band’s overall look and sound (though “he writes some of the band’s most traditional rockabilly tunes,” says Barton), Duncan contributes
(from left) bassist CHAD VAILLANCOURT, guitarist/ lead vocalist JOHN BARTON, drummer STEVE DUNCAN
an improvisational element to the fold that, otherwise, wouldn’t be present in their live shows. “I used to play in a jam band,” Duncan admits, “and it was fun, but it gets old… I like having [original songs] more worked out, more set in stone. But we won’t purposefully avoid a jam. If it happens—and it always does—we’ll just ride the wave together and hang on.” Toward the end of their second set in Cartersville, amidst an earnest blues jam, Barton and Vaillancourt come within inches of one another and trade instruments—guitar for bass, and vice versa—without missing a beat. There is no disruption to the tune whatsoever. And while not as technically proficient as the other on either musician’s newly substituted gear, both smile broadly, entertaining the crowd that screams and rollicks as Duncan, seated behind the drums, manages to keep it all in time. “This is what we love to do,” Barton says, following the show. “Whether there’s a market for it or not, nothing is going to change that.” Atomic Boogie is scheduled to play Rome’s 400 Block on Feb. 7 and 20, in addition to back-to-back nights at Johnny MacCrackens in Marietta on Feb. 27 and 28. And if you do in fact make it out, don’t forget to boogie. VVV
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M rs. WilsonTakes the
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Brian Foster
photos courtesy of The Library of Congress
&The RomeAreaHistoryMuseum
During her brief 17 months in the White House, from 1913 to the summer of 1914, first lady and Rome native Ellen Axson Wilson accomplished a great deal. “[She] set the precedent for
first ladies to use their influence in causes of human need,” writes Ellen Wilson biographer Francis W. Saunders.
From housing reform to workplace improvements, Ellen, Woodrow Wilson’s first wife, embarked on an agenda entirely apart from her husband’s, something previous first ladies had often shied away from. She was also, up to that time in our nation’s history, the only first lady to have a career unto her own and separate from any responsibility that she may have had as the President’s wife.
From an early age, Ellen was recognized as a skilled artist. And though her duties as first lady,
wife and mother of three kept her from devoting much time to painting while a resident of Washington, Ellen’s talent was showcased in exhibitions across the nation nonetheless. vini vidi vici / v3 magazine
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worthy. She was able to usher into the discussion problems that well-to-do citizens characteristically turned a blind eye to, or possibly never even knew existed, despite occurring mere blocks from their own homes. “Washington gossips soon purred that no one could move in polite society who could not talk about alley slums,” Saunders wrote. Wilson and the Civic Federation soon began leading tours through the local slums alongside Congressmen, in addition to hosting tea parties geared toward informing the nation’s leaders of the dire need for housing reform. A committee, comprised of some of Washington’s most influential leaders and charitable organizations, was soon established and began to lobby Congress, and a draft of the “Alley Bill” was introduced to Congress in late spring, 1913. In August 1914, both the Senate and the House of Representatives would pass the Slum Clearance Bill, bearing the name “Ellen Wilson’s Bill”, and heretofore set in motion steps designed to improve the living conditions for thousands of Washington D.C.’s poor.
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The tour included a visit to a home for the mentally ill, as well as a drive through some of the most deplorable alleyways and apartment buildings in the District. Discrimination and unwritten Jim Crow edicts had isolated much of D.C.’s African-American and immigrant populations to these poverty stricken areas. Apathetic slumlords ignored housing codes, leaving many residents without running water or plumbing. Though a supporter of her husband’s segregationist platform, Mrs. Wilson was shocked by the conditions in which many of Washington’s citizens were living, and henceforth sought to radically improve the housing situation. At first, Mrs. Wilson kept her identity hidden from the slum residents with whom she spoke. Word soon spread, however, that it was in fact the first lady who had been touring the area, and before she knew it, the cause was receiving the attention it needed. First lady historian, Betty Boyd Caroli, recounts that “a White House maid, well acquainted with the poverty of the capitol’s black neighborhoods, went home after meeting Ellen Wilson for the first time and told her daughter that she thought they had ‘an angel in the White House—she’s talking about helping the poor and improving housing.’ ” In becoming a chairwoman for the National Civic Federation and focusing her work with the housing committee, Ellen wisely used her name and stature to lend influence to a cause that she felt incredibly
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irst Lady Wilson’s initial F foray into public policy was
, historians attest, her role in the creation of the Slum Clearance Bill, or as it has often been called, the “Ellen Wilson Bill”. Just blocks from the Capitol building sat some of Washington D.C.’s most derelict slums, allies and tenement housings. Mrs. Wilson was made aware of these squalid living conditions after speaking with Charlotte Hopkins, a social activist and leader of the National Civic Federation’s women’s division in the city. Two weeks after moving into the White House in March of 1913, the first lady ventured out to tour some of these areas under the guidance of Hopkins.
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Ellen Wilson’s civicmindedness did not begin with her taking up residence in the White House, but years prior, long
before simply stating her name could incite change. Growing up as the daughter of a Presbyterian minister in Rome, charity and goodwill were no doubt a centrifugal part of her upbringing, and even while studying at the Art Students League in New York City, Woodrow Wilson’s then fiancé, Ellen Axson, had devoted much of her time to volunteering at a missionary school and doing work with the city’s poor. Her charitable and philanthropic work in Washington, however, would become her true passion. Not only did she work on improving the living conditions of the poor, she was also a proponent of the reconditioning of the workplace environment in government facilities throughout the city. A born artist, Ellen displayed her skill at the easel as a young Georgia peach. Under the tutelage of the Rome Female College’s Helen Fairchild, Ellen evolved her portfolio as a talented freehand drawer and painter. She later received a bronze medal from the Paris International Exposition and received commissions for crayon portraits. As a student at the renowned Art Students League from 1884 to 1885, Ellen studied under, and won the praise of, some of the era’s finest painters. Robert Vonnoh, an influential American impressionist and lifelong friend/
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artistic mentor, was a devoted instructor of Ellen’s during her time with the Art Students League. In the two decades following her studies in New York, Ellen had focused much of her attention to raising her three daughters, as well as helping Woodrow advance his academic and political pursuits. Her art would only occasionally find its place amidst
ì
ì of paintings in traveling art exhibits at Princeton’s newest art gallery. Eventually, some of the landscapes produced during her time there would find their way to the walls of the White House. And during trips to Italy in 1904 and England in 1907, Ellen studied the work of many famous Italian and Roman artists, as well as those of her contemporaries.
Wilson’s paintings Mrs. “show her to be a real lover of
nature and the possessor of a fine faculty for interpreting it.”
— TheNew York Times, February 1913
this busy schedule. But in the opening years of the 20th century, the prolific artist in her re-emerged, and during her husband’s tenure as president at Princeton University, Ellen again found time to dust off her canvases and resume work on many personal studies in landscape and portraiture. Much of her material was derived from photographs and the circulation 38
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The first half of 1913 was an extremely hurried time for Mrs. Wilson, not to mention amazingly productive. Before moving into the White House and devoting much of her time to the protocol that such a post requires, and before working countless hours on housing reform, Ellen was busy showcasing a new series of landscape paintings. In February of that year, a month before Woodrow Wilson’s
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inauguration, 50 of her original oil landscapes were displayed in a one-woman show for the Arts and Crafts Guild of Philadelphia, the largest ever showcase of her work. A review of the show in the New York Times signified her talent: “Mrs. Wilson’s paintings show her to be a real lover of nature and the possessor of a fine faculty for interpreting it.” Between 1905 and 1911, Ellen spent five summers at the Lyme Summer School for Art in Old Lyme, Conn., producing enough work for numerous exhibitions. In addition to the Guild in Philadelphia, from 1911 to1913 her work found a home in the National Academy of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the John Herron Art Institute of Indianapolis, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the MacBeth Gallery in New York. Summer 1913 was spent with her daughters in Cornish, N.H., a town recognized as home by many influential names in America’s growing impressionism and realism movements. Upon Ellen’s merit as an artist, she was welcomed into this community with open arms. There, the first lady and her daughters sat for their own portraits, and participated in many of the conversations then pertinent to the art world—specifically the development of a
ĂŹ ĂŹ
“governmental bureau of art to purchase works of art, award prizes and encourage artists in every way�, though Ellen believed that it would be years until such a body would be established. The combination of natural talent and a famous name proved to be somewhat lucrative for Ellen when it came to the sale of her paintings. Her landscapes were being purchased for hundreds of dollars each, earning her a couple thousand dollars in just a few years. None of this money was pocketed, however. Instead, all proceeds from her art sales were donated in the form of a scholarship to the Martha Berry School in Rome, which had formed an institution for girls in 1909. With a promising career as an exhibition artist going full throttle just as she entered the White House, Ellen had gone about making the proper arrangements to set up a personal studio in her new residence. During renovations to the White House in the summer of 1913, a painting studio equipped with a skylight had been installed. The room didn’t get much use, though. Washington was a busy place, full of meetings, dinners and other presidential functions. Her daughters, Jessie and Eleanor, were both married in White House ceremonies during the fall, drawing much of her attention away from her artwork. Yet, that same year, Ellen found an artistic outlet in planning what is now known as the White House Rose Garden, right outside the residence’s West Wing. With the help of landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, Mrs. Wilson left her creative mark on the grounds of the White House. Much of the Rose Garden, particularly the east side, retains the same design to this day.
ĂŹĂŹ ĂŹ
Aug. 6, 1914 with her husband, the President, by her side. Frances Saunders would later write that Woodrow, who was said to have sobbed like a child, cried out, “Oh my God, what am I to do?� A service in the East Room of the White House, attended by members of Congress and the President’s Cabinet, was held four days later on the 10th. Soon after, Ellen’s
proceeded on to her final resting place atop Myrtle Hill. Though her life in the White House spanned only a brief period, Ellen Wilson’s legacy would carry on through the later works of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson, on to Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton. Her impassioned philanthropic rhetoric and staunch independence were very
...Ellen Wilson’s legacy would carry on through the work of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson,
on to Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton. Her impassioned philanthropic rhetoric and staunch independence were very much representative of the social activism and burgeoning feminism of her era
...
casket was on a train back to Rome, where she was to be laid to rest. Her funeral took place on the 11th, whereupon thousands of her fellow Romans and other well-wishers paid their respects as the maudlin procession made its way down Broad Street, then
much representative of the social activism and burgeoning feminism of her era, and she was successful in instilling this attitude among more traditional takes on who the First Lady “should be�, exactly. Of course, she did so with a little artistic flair. VVV
Ellen Wilson had begun to show signs of fatigue and illness during her summer in New Hampshire, and her busy
schedule upon returning to Washington only compounded her sickness. After the weddings of Jessie and Eleanor, Ellen removed herself from her more public role and activities as first lady. The “active participation in the philanthropic movements which have commanded much of her attention since she came to Washington,� a press release from the Wilsons’ physician stated, was the primary catalyst for her fatigue. But, as it was soon learned in spring of 1914, Ellen was suffering from Bright’s Disease, a condition effecting the function of the kidneys, and by late July, she had fallen gravely ill. Rome’s one and only native first lady, Ellen Axson Wilson, died in the White House on
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Call it what you will—medical arts complex, multispecialty group, professional association. But, in truth, the success of rome’s own Harbin Clinic is more fundamentally rooted in an idea that has managed to stand the test of time.
Built at the hands of family and friends, it’s clear when speaking with those who have since held the reins that this thing Robert and Will Harbin started had a life and vision of its own right from the start. Though uncertain at times, the clinic has managed to survive two wars, the Great Depression, the death of its founders, an ever-morphing medical scene, and even a recasting of its corporate structure—all by holding firm to the belief that bringing big-time medicine to small-town life can make an incredible impact. text by tricia
steele. photos courtesy of robin hice
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BAND OF BROTHERS
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DR.WYLIE REEDERHARBIN
HARBIN HOSPITAL1908
When Wylie Reeder Harbin moved from South Carolina to Calhoun in the 1870s— ostensibly to get away from malaria—he likely did not foresee the sort of family tradition he was meant to father. A member of the South Carolina Cavalry, he was taken prisoner in Farmville, Va. on the Saturday before Lee’s surrender and remained there until news reached the prison. After he was released, he walked over 350 miles back to his curiously named hometown, Fairplay, before eventually marrying Mary Stokes Shelor and moving the family to Gordon County, Ga. There, he practiced medicine until 1900, and his two sons, William and Robert, moved to Rome and set up their own practices after receiving top-tier doctoral training at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital Medical College. After a short stint as acting assistant surgeon in the Army during the Spanish American War, “Dr. Will” would return to Rome after the war to rejoin his big brother in medicine. From the second floor of their 206 Broad Street locale, prospective patients could be heard calling from the sidewalk to see if a doctor was in before walking up the stairs. Dr. Peter Gilbert, Will’s grandson and a veritable walking book of the family’s extensive history, recalls the stories he heard while visiting his grandparents at their Third Avenue abode. “My grandfather started the Harbin Hospital in 1908 right across from the Presbyterian Church [with] two buggies,” says Gilbert, “each with a pair of horses and waiting drivers, ready to race the doctors to the home of patients in need of attention.”
Peter’s Father, Dr. Warren Gilbert, had interned with William Harbin’s son, Lester, in New York. He met and soon married his Mary Harbin, and moved to Rome in the 1930s to work alongside his former classmate, as well as to eventually grow his own family of future physicians. “It’s sort of funny how that happens,” Peter Gilbert says of his own decision to become a doctor. “People would ask me when I was younger, and I just wasn’t interested. In fact, I majored in history in school, but took all the
It was, in the end, organic chemistry that forced him to choose. “That’s sort of where you decide if you’re going to read Russian history or get on the ball.” His mother, Mary Harbin Gilbert, wrote a collection of biographies and short stories about family life from her own childhood. One such story, “Life at 309 East Third Street,” relays an earlier rendering of what her beloved son would, too, later experience. From the “grandstand seat on the porch banisters,” she watched “events that sometimes produced bedlam”—music practice, children at play, and receptions for high-profile artists and musicians, including John Phillip Sousa in 1924. She writes that there were always fresh vegetables and fruits arriving “as payment for medical services.” “…The progress of the Hospital and the
“There were 17 of us up at granny’s house—in and out—and everyone was working, and everyone was always talking about [practicing medicine]. i guess it’s like baseball or anything else; that’s just what they did and what they talked about.” other stuff (pre-med courses), too.” Though he reportedly “didn’t understand much of it,” it indeed felt natural to the thirdgeneration doctor. “There were 17 of us up at granny’s house—in and out—and everyone was working, and everyone was always talking about [practicing medicine]. I guess it’s like baseball or anything else; that’s just what they did and what they talked about.”
Nursing School was a focal point in our lives, and we all shared Father’s and Uncle Bob’s pride in attempting to maintain this institution through a war and a depression,” she continues, “I was delighted when Mother issued an ultimatum that operations were not to be discussed at dinner time.” There was much to be discussed, however. The Third Street building had
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DR.WILLIAM P.HARBIN PONDERS HOW TO
GO ABOUT TACKLING AN ABNORMALLY LARGE OVARIAN CYST
marketing director Brenda Bowen, had become so large that the woman was forced to roll it in a wheelbarrow for weeks before seeking treatment. “I absolutely love that picture. You can see the shock and curiosity on the doctors’ faces and the determination to get it right.” Between the 12-bed hospital and patients’ homes, the Harbin boys went about treating everything from smallpox to diphtheria, to typhoid and pellagra, tuberculosis and diabetes. In 1919, a new “state of the art”, four-story fireproof building was erected next to have individuals to the original hospital at a who were trained at bellevue and cost of only harvard...was sort of extraordinary.” $90,000. The original facility was refashioned into a nurses’ nearby spring while the surgery was being dormitory for the training program that had performed on the kitchen table.” been established in 1911. “Where they got Another successful surgery involved the money, I don’t know. How they paid it the removal of a farmhand’s ovarian cyst. back, I don’t know. It’s just incredible,” Dr. The growth, according to Harbin Clinic housed Georgia’s first X-ray equipment, served as the location of Floyd County’s first Cesarean section, and as early as 1919, boasted radiation treatment for cancer patients. Gilbert’s mother writes of a trip to “the Pocket, when Father, accompanied by two graduate nurses from the hospital, was summoned to amputate a man’s leg.” She contends that “neighbors from miles around had gathered to observe this procedure through the windows while Mother, William, and Lester calmly spread a picnic lunch at a
“There are families in medicine all over... but for a little town like rome, ga.,
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Gilbert muses, shaking his head. After a crucial piece of legislation, the Bolton Act, made its way down the pipe in 1943, an increase in public funding for nursing education and public hospitals would leave Harbin Hospital at a crossroads. With an expansion of Floyd Hospital to 120 beds, and the advent of locally funded public nursing education, the decision was made in 1948 to transform Harbin Hospital into a medical clinic, where physicians would see and treat those in need of care on an outpatient basis—i.e., no overnight stays—in a wing adjacent to the growing county hospital. And so, Doctors Robert, Will, Lester and Tom Harbin, George B. Smith, Warren Gilbert, Ed Bosworth, C.J Wyatt and Robert J. Black set out on a new course, one designed to establish the clinic as a specialties resource. The new Second Avenue clinic would build atop its tradition of great technology and complete diagnostic/treatment facilities including radiology, enlarged laboratories, X-ray and electrocardiographic equipment, and would
continue to grow until the purchase of its current property from the Berry Schools in the late ,60s. Dr. Ken Davis, current Harbin CEO, reflects on the uniqueness of the clinic’s origin, drawing particular attention to the Harbins’ atypical education. “There are families in medicine all over… [But] for a little town like Rome, Ga., to have individuals who were trained at Bellevue and Harvard, and hospitals in New York and St. Louis, was sort of extraordinary. It’s incredible that in the 1920s [there were a handful of Ivy League] trained physicians in a little town of a couple thousand people.” Dr. Gilbert responds, “You’re absolutely right. For some reason, this little neck of the woods was fostering this excellence. In my mother’s book here, there are letters of accommodation throughout, so it’s clear they were trying their very best to do well.” One such letter is from Dr. Charles Roberts of the Chandler Building in Atlanta, who wrote about the “nucleus of a wonderful institution” he had observed during a visit in 1920. Roberts proclaims, rather prophetically, “I believe your foundation is right, that your organization is being perfected in the proper way, and I can predict for you a brilliant future”—an understatement akin to telling
by Banny and the staff, or recruitment being taken over by the Clinic and the board. “That was a tough time,” Davis admits. “We now function—although there are remnants of the medical arts—as a multispecialty group. What I do now is so much easier than what those guys had to do [when] every day was a battle for independence.” Also under Banny’s tenure, the Clinic instituted a program of internal quality review–one of the first of its kind in the industry, whereupon physicians became responsible to one another based on feedback from patients and observations made by colleagues. Bannester’s successor, Dr. Paul Ferguson, recalls what happened as a result: “We had several long conversations with some physicians, on occasions, either about behavior or quality of practice. We’d ask for change, and if they didn’t, then it was suggested that they retire. We converted to a more formalized process in the ’90s, but then it was Bannester and the vice president having heart-to-heart conversations.” And while it would later become an industry trend, it seemed clear at the time that the Clinic’s success in treating patients would no doubt depend on this deep-seated commitment to personal accountability. Ferguson was the first non-Harbin doc
an adolescent Steve Jobs that his computer tinkering might just work out someday. After the death of its founders, William’s son, Bannester “Banny” Harbin, took over the administration of the clinic. Gilbert reveals the difficult nature of this transition: “William and Mr. Bowen ran this place with a hard, emphatic, oligarchic style, so Banny was in this role where there was a board, but no one was used to listening to a board make decisions.” Under his watch, however, the number of physicians grew steadily from just under 20 to well over 40, and all that growth didn’t manifest itself without some growing pains. Gilbert describes it as “a decade of trying to figure out how to hold this thing together.” Davis interjects, telling the story of Banny’s first hire—an administrator who centralized the purchase of trash can liners for every office. “Well, apparently, that afternoon Banny started getting calls from all these doctors asking, ‘Who gave this guy the authority to purchase trash can liners?!’ So, that sort of shows what Banny was going through.” One can imagine what a huge change it must have been to move from complaints about trash can liners to allowing contracts and malpractice insurance to be negotiated
Memories fade...
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HARBINSCHOOL
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to man the ship, although he had lived with Bannester during medical school. “We had gone our separate ways prior to graduation, but we kept up with each other through the years,” says Ferguson. “I had gone into academic medicine and was living in Pennsylvania, but I decided to move back to Georgia and, in our [family] Christmas card, told Banny and his wife.” Shortly after mailing the card, Ferguson received a phone call urging him to look into Rome. A position as part-time neurosurgeon posed a great opportunity, so Ferguson left his post at Penn State University’s Geisinger Medical Center and moved to Northwest Georgia in 1976. “I like to think we established modern-day neurosurgery in Rome,” he remarks with a sense of pride. The Harbin Clinic continued to add physicians at a slow but steady rate, most of whom were specialists. Of course, there were a few primary care physicians—be they family practice, internist or pediatrician—yet the clinic fundamentally defined itself as a resource for other area physicians. And the hospitals weren’t without gratitude, adding operating and non-operating equipment as needed. Ferguson would later earn his post as president in 1990, in what Dr. Davis dubs “a key time” in the story of Harbin. “Not all the history is wonderful,” Davis acknowledges. “It was a time where we had lost our vision a little bit.” Dissention among the ranks had grown and they were, quite honestly, “close to splitting apart; there were doctors actually talking about leaving. What they wanted and what others doctors wanted wasn’t the same.” Today, both Davis and Gilbert attribute the continued success of the Clinic to Ferguson’s leadership in those incredibly trying times. “I think this clinic, as it exists today, would not be here [if not for Ferguson’s prudence],” says Davis. “I think there would be several splintered groups. Paul kept us together, until we finally got everyone singing the same song again and with the same vision about what this clinic should be.”
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With respect to his success, Ferguson is far more humble. “Well, we managed to hold most folks together,” he says. “We did lose some physicians, including in my own specialty, and that was pretty traumatic… But [the decisions made] were good for the clinic as a whole, not just one particular department.” The ’90s were an interesting time in medicine. Between hospital expansion and the advent of managed care, it was clear to
says Ferguson. “And all that would require a great deal of capital and a great deal of expertise—which we didn’t have.” Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) was a big buzz term at the time, and so Ferguson and the team formed one of their own in the early ’90s along with Floyd Medical Center. They very quickly realized, though, that such a relationship wasn’t going to work, particularly with regard to the different philosophies of a hospital versus a multispecialty clinic. And so, growing ever more bold, Harbin soon affiliated itself with PhyCor, a physician management company
“...One of the reasons this organization has been so successful came from the original founders, who made
the...decision they were not going to get rich off the backs of other doctors...”
Ferguson that the Harbin team would have to change its “way of doing things in response to this overall concept of managed care coming down the pipe, not only from the government but from the insurance companies.” Until then, the clinic had really operated as a collection of physicians practicing individually under the namesake of “The Harbin Clinic”. There was no sharing of office personnel except, Ferguson notes, in “few and far between” instances. However, in the early part of that decade, the newly appointed president managed to bring the physicians to agree to surrender administrative decisions to the board of directors. “It was a big step,” Ferguson admits. “They were giving up a lot of freedom and a lot of autonomy.” In exchange, the Clinic was able to branch into new technologies at a more rapid rate, including MRI scanning equipment, a centralized lab and radiology infrastructure, and eventually a foray into new specialties such as gastroneurology and endoscopic procedures. “Those changes—the concept of centralization to gain economies of scale, to gain efficiency, to save money—began to change the nature of the Clinic itself,” Ferguson says. “We wanted to better serve the patient and work towards better quality as the guiding factors of the clinic [moving] forward.” Yet, the corporate structure wasn’t complete in its evolution. After the transition from privately owned stalwart to professional association, “We knew [we needed to expand not only our] services, but also physicians,”
out of Nashville, Tenn., as a way to access capital in order to expand and develop. From 1996 to 2000, the Harbin brand made its way to Cartersville, Cedartown and other Northwest Georgia cities, growing to well over 100 physicians and garnering revenue that justified a return to private ownership. It is here that they remain, now the largest physician-owned multispecialty clinic in Georgia, and one of the largest in all of the Southeast. With growing laboratory and radiological resources, in addition to one of the most successful implementations of electronic medical records in the country, Harbin Clinic is, so to speak, the cream of the crop. Weekly conferences allow tough patient cases to be tackled by teams of experts, and the institution’s aforementioned multimillion dollar medical record/information technology department have brought scores of innovative techniques and medicines to the region in the form of drug and treatment trials. In tandem with ever-growing research capacities, it is clear that being off the urban grid won’t keep this team from pursuing the industry forefront, including the assurance that personalized (DNA-based) medicine is, indeed, “in the works.” Davis, for one, insists, “I think one of the reasons this organization has been successful came from the original founders, who made the obvious decision that they were not going to get rich off the backs of other doctors; that they were going to allow great physicians to come into this town and buy into this clinic, to be a part of shaping it.” VVV
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THEROODREVIEW withMATTROOD
Eastwood’s “Gran” Finale:
A cast of young newcomers, coupled with classic Clint, make for a bang-up combo in Gran Torino To quote the great american pianist oscar levant: “I have no troubles with my enemies. but my goddamn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night.” In my lifetime, I have insulted seven family members, 13 children, four fellow groomsmen, a handful of retail salesman, and 35 priests. I have had over 354 goldfish die mysteriously. I have been thrown out of eight bars, 12 churches, three gentleman’s clubs (which I had no business being in), seven séances, one camping trip, 12 PTO meetings (which I had no business being in) and 14 Dollar Generals. I am also now a Class 3 felon and can never hold public office… And most of this occurred after watching Clint Eastwood’s latest screen gem. Gran Torino is a fantastic “man movie”, in both premise and concept. Most people will blow it off as another shoot-’em-up from “The Man with No Name”, which is unfortunate because every father should watch Torino with his son no later than puberty. On a personal level, I learned how to reverse 14 years worth of lazy parenting in over two hours of Eastwood being Eastwood, and for me, more than a few dormant questions were answered and greatly appreciated. The film kicks off with the introduction of aging Korean War vet Walt Kowalksi (Eastwood), whose wife has recently passed away, leaving him virtually alone. Despite his sons’ attempts to relocate or even get
to know him, Walt refuses to move out of a once well-kept neighborhood now being occupied by foreigners—primarily a Hmong family that escaped brutal Vietnam after America’s exit. Old and bitter Walt despises anyone not like himself, except a few old geezers and one hateful barber (wonderfully played by The Drew Carrey Show’s John Carroll Lynch). But through many trials and tribulations, in time Walt befriends his next-door neighbors, the
are, overall, a tad sloppy; though the gang kids seem believable enough, and Grandma (Chee Thao) executes the best onscreen relationship opposite Eastwood since Morgan Freeman in Unforgiven. Neither Ahney Her (as Thao’s sister Sue) nor Vang are ready for a major starring role, but they certainly have potential. Christopher Carley (Father Janovich) brings some pretty healthy acting chops to the table, but he looks too much like Howdy Doody for a reasonable person to believe any parent would let him baptize their child—a sentiment shared by Walt. As for the remainder of the cast, by and by they were pretty inconsequential, which, oddly enough, helps in establishing the isolation Walt feels in the shadow of the outside world. What’s more interesting than the
Gran torino is a fantastic “man Movie”, in both premise and concept... on a personal level, i learned how one might go about reversing 14 years worth of lazy parenting in a little over two hours of eastwood being eastwood...
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Lor family, who are being threatened by a violent Hmong gang looking to recruit their youngest boy, Thao (newcomer Bee Vang). Having taken it upon himself to teach Thao “the man code”, and feeling some sense of responsibility for the boy’s outcome, Walt becomes angry; then becomes Eastwood; and from there forward things get a little violent. To star in Torino’s lead roles, Eastwood selected a cast of virtual unknowns—which is effective in terms of immersion, but not so stellar in actual talent. The Hmong actors
enjoyable—albeit highly predictable—plot, however, is the manner in which Eastwood draws an audience to identify with this outwardly racist old man. Somehow you begin to understand more and more how he’s just trying to reason with a changing world, like so many elderly family members of all races and origins. His racial slurs and overall bigotry are hard to stomach, but it becomes apparent during the course of the film that they aren’t expressed with any true malicious intent. Instead, Walt is making an
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empathetically ignorant attempt to express his guarded reactions in the face of social progress. Change is a’comin’; the borders have been broken; the railroads are breaching the horizon—a common Western sentiment seen in earlier films like Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch and Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Torino is, essentially, a modern-day Western, even incorporating a contemporary version of the poor peasants once harassed by brutal outlaws. Now, enter the man with a heart of gold who can’t be intimidated or controlled, and justice soon ensues at a price. Though it would’ve been interesting to see the role with an African-American cast as Walt, perhaps Richard Roundtree or Jim Brown, this is one of Eastwood’s best in a long line of fantastic roles. It is a genre
Change is a’comin’; the borders have been broken; the railroads are breaching the horizon... Now enter the man with a heart of gold who can’t be intimidated or controlled, and justice soon ensues at a price. missed—the tough guy who frightens the bullies away with little more than a smirk and spit of tobacco. Similar to the car that shares its name, Gran Torino is a classic that will stand the test of time. Despite the fresh actors, there really isn’t anything negative to say about it, except that it’s probably not a good date movie. But for father/son viewers the world over, it should be taken in with a six-pack of beer and a faulty carburetor. There’s even a great scene where Eastwood berates his own real-life son, Scott Eastwood (who appears in a small role as Sue’s date, Trey), for being a coward, then sends the boy running with his tail between his legs. To reiterate, Torino is a man movie through and through, and one that Eastwood has stated will be his last. Sadly, I’d have to agree with the timing, but it’s one hell of a ride that should find a place in every guy’s DVD collection some day. VVV
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BETWEENTHELINES withIANGRIFFIN
Hoop Therapy:
Beating the post-pigskin blues with a hot dose of NCAA roundball On saturday, jan. 24, i awoke in a way that has become fairly common in my household. it always starts like so: off—way, way off— somewhere in my subconscious brain, i hear the distant sound of my son Grady’s voice saying “nose”, followed by the sensation of a slippery little finger inserting itself into my left nostril. Remaining calm in the face of my wife I assure you, it’s not the most pleasant way to start the day, but it’s hard to get mad when the first thing you see is an adorable little face bursting with excitement to see you awake. While this particular morning had all the attributes of a normal Saturday at the Griffins’—“bite-bites” (i.e., any kind of solid food) and a diaper filled with goodies, to name a couple—something important was missing that my foggy head couldn’t quite put a finger on. It didn’t dawn on me, until the dishes were done and my little partner and I had settled in on the couch for a rousing Bob the Builder, that the missing ingredient was college football. Minutes later, my wife enters the room (she had “sleep-in” privileges that day) with the bubbliest, warmest smile I’ve seen on her face in months. And not too long after, my 7year-old daughter, Marley finally poses the question: “Why aren’t you watching football, Daddy?” At that moment, it officially dawns on me that once the Super Bowl is over the next Sunday, there won’t be any real football for six-plus months!
and children, I quietly collect my thoughts, set my son in front of his toy box, pat little Marley on the head softly, kiss my wife on the cheek, then proceed to lie down for a much needed nap. As luck would have it, the funk I was in wasn’t an easy one to shake. I (re)awoke in one of the worst moods I’d been in for months, one of those where you know damn well you shouldn’t be around any living, breathing being because it would be unjust to subject them to your grouchiness. January
smile and an air of contentment that wasn’t present the previous a.m. Seems I had come to terms with my loss, and was mentally prepared for a “new day”… Oh, and did I mention it’s basketball season?! Though I have undoubtedly made the transition a little slower this year, I am now fully invested in what is shaping up to be another great season of NCAA roundball on Division I campuses across the nation. Don’t get me wrong, I have watched plenty of basketball thus far, but right about now we are in the thick of conference play, and this is the time when men begin separating themselves from the boys. Last month, I stated in this column last month that it appeared, from the outside looking in, to be the North Carolina Tar Heels and everyone else. Yet, since then, the Heels have shown some chinks in their armor by losing two consecutive
24, 2009—my day of mourning for the end of another glorious season. The next day, however, was completely different—no finger up the nostril, no bleak feelings of emptiness. All in all, I felt quite refreshed. I went about my routine with a big
home games to conference foes Boston College and Wake Forest. And while they may manage to lose a few more along the way, even if the Heels don’t bring home a conference championship—not a prediction, by the way—they still will remain the
...Right about now we are in the thick of conference play, and this is the time when the men begin separating themselves from the boys... And while they may manage to lose a few more along the way, even if the [tar] heels don’t bring home a conference championship...They still will remain the most dangerous team in the country come tournament time.
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most dangerous team in the country come tournament time. With that said, there are plenty of teams out there that have a chance to claim the ultimate crown, and I can now say that several have honed their chops enough to give UNC all they can handle. Oklahoma, Pitt, Connecticut, Wake Forest, Duke, Texas and many more could all make runs to the Final Four, but the team that has impressed me the most lately is Rick Patino’s Louisville Cardinals squad. Everyone knows that Patino has the ability to coach his kids at a championship level (e.g., mid-’90s Kentucky), so these guys will be ready to play in March without question, and coming out of the Big East they will certainly be battletested. With wins over Pitt (#1 at the time) and Syracuse, they should be a lock for the tournament, and as an added bonus, the remainder of their schedule stacks up well. Wins over UConn and Marquette could put the Cardinals in line for a #2 or #3 seed in the Big Dance, which always helps. For all of you SEC hoopsters, I’m sure you noticed the absence of a certain team from my list of contenders. But before you try to cast the first stone, hear me out when
P
I say that it isn’t entirely impossible for an SEC team to make a solid run, just highly unlikely. Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi State—all have a good chance to make the tournament. The problem is that not one of those teams is dominant enough to put together a six-game run versus the nation’s best. Sorry. With a player the caliber of Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks, the Wildcats certainly could make a run. The problem they’ll inevitably run into, though, is one of depth. Big man Patrick Patterson would have to shoulder too much of the load in the paint to propel the Wildcats much further than the Sweet 16. Looking further south, Florida has the perimeter game to beat anybody—if their hot. Their own lack of depth, as well as size and experience inside, leaves them susceptible to lose as early as the first round, I’d bet. And it’s pretty much the same story for any of the other “contenders” the SEC may have to offer. (There’s always next year, SEC fans…and there’s always football.) Unlike football, however, the NCAA basketball season is a marathon race, and inevitably some of the teams that have
started strong will collapse as others rise to the occasion. The only thing guaranteed is the fact that marquee match-ups are on cue every week, and over the course of the next month, some of the best clashes of the season will take place. Some of these include the two meetings between arch rivals Duke and North Carolina, two between Kentucky and Florida, a late season showdown that takes the defending NCAA National Champion Kansas Jayhawks to Norman, Okla. to face the Sooners, and many others in both the Big East and Pac 10. With a mandatory bid granted the winners of each conference tournament, as usual, there will be plenty of excitement and no shortage of great hardcourt action in ’09, with every game becoming a factor in determining who will reach the field of 64. From the mid-majors to the power conferences, what makes college hoops such a good time is that no matter what two teams take the court, it’s anybody’s ballgame. Until the dust clears and my true love returns, I guess I’ll consider this time of year “basketball therapy”. If that placebo doesn’t work, I’ll make it a point to seek the help of a trained professional. VVV
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Cave Spring, GA 30124 www.thepeddlercavespring.com vini vidi vici / v3 magazine
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CENTS&SENSIBILITY withCHRISWILSON
Little Ways You Might Improve Your Financial Life: Some things to think
about this year—and every year This is the year! yes,you
that specific debt against your potential income growth rate and your potential investment returns over the term of the debt. If the interest rate on that debt looks like it will outpace your income growth and investment returns, then you should really think about paying that debt down fast, because you can’t afford that interest rate. Of course, paying off your debts, paying down balances and restricting new debts all works toward improving your FICO score, another tool you can use in pursuit of financial freedom (talking “good” debts).
can make 2009 the year you alter your financial life for a better financial future. Let’s look at some steps you might think of taking with the goal of financial freedom in mind. No, we’re not talking about those ridiculously obvious steps the usual articles recommend, like “write your goals down” and “set a budget”. Let’s go past the clichés and get into the real issues. Look at your income source, your expenses and your debt. How do you earn income? If you earn it from one source, is there effectively a ceiling on it, or is there real potential for your income to rise in the next few years? Now look at your core living expenses, the ones you can’t avoid (such as a mortgage payment, car payment, etc.). Can any core expenses be reduced? Investing aside, you position yourself to gain ground financially when income rises, debt diminishes and expenses stay (relatively) the same. Maybe you should pay your debt first, maybe not. If you are a business owner or a professional, for example, you’ll likely always have some debt. Your ultimate goal should be to build wealth, and you can plan to build wealth and minimize debt at the same time. Some debt is “good” debt. A debt is “good” if it brings you income. If you buy a rental property, you’re paying a mortgage, but that’s considered a “good” debt because you’re getting passive income from the rent payments. Credit cards are “bad” debts. If you’ll be carrying a debt for a while, put it to a test. Weigh the interest rate on
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Implement or refine an investment strategy. You can’t refrain from investing, even when the bears are out. You’re not going to retire on the relatively small elective deferrals from your paycheck; you’re going retire on the interest that those accumulated assets earn over time, plus the power of compounding. Investing can also potentially bring you passive income. Consistent investing, this year and in years to come, has the potential to help you improve your financial life. Manage the money you make on your way to financial freedom. It’s amusing: all these Internet gurus tell you they have a method to make you “financially free” or “debt free”, but few tell you how to manage the money you make. Their not-so-subtle message seems to be “succeed and live lavishly”—if you make it financially, you’ve earned the freedom to blow it all on cars, boats and luxuries. This is a classic nouveau riche mistake. If you simply accumulate unmanaged assets,
you have money just sitting there open to risk—inflation risk, market risk, even legal risks. Don’t forget taxes—while not technically a “risk”, they are a threat to your money. The greater your wealth, the more long-range potential you have to accomplish some profound things—provided your wealth is directed. If you want to build more wealth this year or in the near future, don’t neglect the risk management strategy that could be instrumental in helping you retain it. Your after-tax return matters even more than your investment return, so risk management should be part of your overall financial picture. Request professional guidance for the wealth you are growing. A good financial advisor will really help to educate you about the principles of wealth building. You can draw on that professional knowledge and guidance this year, and for years to come. VVV Chris Wilson is a representative with Investment Professionals, Inc. and may be reached at 706-236-3536 or chris.wilson@invpro.com. These are the views of Peter Montoya Inc., not the named Representative nor Broker/Dealer, and should not be construed as investment advice. Neither the named Representative nor Broker/Dealer gives tax or legal advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If other expert assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. Please consult your Financial Advisor for further information. The person sending this is an employee of Investment Professionals, Inc., Member FINRA and SIPC. Please note this individual does not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult your lawyer or CPA for assistance. This is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell securities. The products offered are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency of the U.S., a bank, or an affiliate of a bank. Products are subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of principal amount invested.
the down side of sex and syphilis can be transmitted through contact with areas not covered by a condom. You should see a doctor immediately if you have pelvic or abdominal pain with vaginal discharge. Some other symptoms include fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes, itching, painful sores, abdominal bleeding, and pain with urination.
Y
ou may think you know everything there is to know about protecting yourself from sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s). Well, the truth is the number of people affected by STD’s is on the rise, and young people are being affected more than ever. STD’s are diseases that you get by having sex and are the most common infectious diseases in the United States. You contract them by having sexual contact (vaginal, oral and anal) and with someone who already has an STD. STD’s can be caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites. While some STD’s can be treated and cured and will go away completely, other STD’s can’t be cured, their symptoms can only be managed. STD’s can affect both your physical health and emotional health. A few STD’s can also put our life in danger, especially if they are not treated. The only way to know if you have an STD is to be tested. Although there are sometimes symptoms, it is common to not have any symptoms, especially in the early stages. By the time symptoms do show up, the infection can be advanced. When STD’s are not treated early, they can cause serious problems like infertility (not being able to get pregnant). Some STD’s can also be passed to a baby during pregnancy or birth. If you have had or are having sex, it is important for you to see your doctor to get tested. Remember, you may not recognize STD symptoms. If you think you have an STD, it is important to tell your partner as soon as possible so they can be treated. They can give it back to you after you are treated or pass it to someone else. Condoms provide good protection against STD’s, but are not perfect. They can prevent gonorrhea, Chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and HIV. However, they don’t provide complete protection against all STD’s. Some STD’s like herpes, HPV 58
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If you are sexually active or have even had sex only once, you need to get checked. Many STD’s do not have any symptoms but can cause infertility (making you unable to have a baby) and other serious illnesses, even before you learn about healthy choices and how to protect yourself in the future. Don’t be embarrassed to discuss personal questions about sex and STD’s with your doctor. It is what we are here for. If you are worried about your doctor telling your parents that you are having sex and may have an STD, ask about the confidentiality (privacy) policy before you begin. In many states, doctors can’t share information about your reproductive health with anyone else without your permission, unless they think you have been taken advantage of or sexually abused. Remember, if you think you have an STD, make an appointment with your doctor right away. Follow your doctor’s instructions and finish all the medicine. Even if the symptoms go away, you still need to finish taking all medicines prescribed. Avoid sexual activity until both you and your partner have been treated. Get a follow up test to make sure the infection is gone (for those STD’s that can be cured). Also, remember viral STD’s like HPV, HSV, HIV and Hepatitis are not curable and can be transmitted even if you don’t have symptoms. VVV
Biography Originally from Atlanta, Dr. Leigh Barrell did her undergraduate work at Berry College, medical school at Medical College of Georgia with a residency at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta. Dr. Barrell is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and has practiced in Rome since 1998. She opened Rome Women’s Health Center in October 2007 and resides in Rome with her husband Kevin and 7 year old daughter, Katie.
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Food
&Fitness
With Travis Martin, Thrive Weight Loss and Chrissy Hughes, Rome Athletic Club
Have you given up your resolution? The majority of you already have! But why? We see it each and every year. So many hopefully people join Rome Athletic Club and Thrive Weightloss during the month of January and by now most of you have fallen off the fitness and nutrition wagon. It is tragic in our eyes but we also understand how difficult it is. Let’s address some of the issues you may have faced during your struggle of getting back into shape or losing some weight and see if we can’t get you motivated to try again!
You joined the gym and walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes every day for 2 weeks and didn’t lose a single pound? Now that is indeed frustrating! But why and how come this happened? Lots of people start their exercise regime by walking. It’s a great way to get started. However, sometimes when you start a new exercise program you find that you are hungrier throughout the day and so you may find yourself eating more. Nutrition is a very important element to your weight loss program. So make sure you are watching what you eat and if nothing more just watch those portion sizes and you will see the fat melt right off you!
You started Thrive Weightloss and lost a ton of weight your first 2 weeks and suddenly it seems your weight loss has become frustratingly slower? Nothing is more exciting than joining a weight loss program that works! And especially in this day and age of instant gratification. Within the first two weeks of any nutrition weight loss program you will always lose the most amount
of weight. The majority of it is all water. Your body is holding on to not only a lot of fat but also a lot of toxins. Processed foods, fast foods and sugar are all considered toxins in the body and attribute to a lot of water retention. When you start eating correctly and drinking lots of water, you start flushing your body of these toxins thus resulting in great numbers on the scale. The numbers slow down when the weight loss is actually fat loss. But that is exactly where you want to be! So hang in there, and just remember 2 pounds of weight loss is the equivalent to a 7500 calorie deficit for the week — which is phenomenal!
You began your exercise program and now your knees hurt? Many times people start a exercise program with such great enthusiasm that they ultimately end up hurting themselves. Also, remember your body needs strength training to help ease the pressure of your body weight off your knees. Remember this — for every pound of weight loss, it is equivalent to 4 pounds of pressure off your knees. So talk to a trainer to see how best to fit strength training into your exercise program. We, at Rome Athletic Club and Thrive Weightloss, understand the frustrations and road blocks associated with weight loss and want to help you in any way that we possibly can. So do not be afraid to ask your questions, that is what we are here for.! And just remember here is no doubt that Exercise and Nutrition works when it comes to weight loss. It has truly withstood the test of time!
Thrive! Weight Loss
Rome Athletic Club
14 John Davenport Drive Rome, GA 30165 (706) 235-0720 www.thriveweightloss.com Travis@thriveweightloss.com
10 John Davenport Drive Rome, GA 30165 (706) 295-3678 www.romeathleticlub.com www.operationrac.com Chrissy@romeathleticclub.com
Rome Athletic Club Held a weight loss contest over the holidays to keep its members challenged and accountable. The winner?
Nick Filletti
Won $140 with a weight loss of 22 pounds which equaled 9% of his bodyweight! Other losers include: Brian D’Herde (-17.6lbs, 8.2%) Jessie Green (-10.4lbs, 6.6%) Michelle Dates (-20.2lbs, 4.9%) Congratulations to them all! Our latest weight loss contest has already begun and the winner will win $260. Stay tuned or better yet … come join the fun!
Rome Athletic Club has a new website with all the latest specials, events and membership information you need to become a member of Rome’s Best Fitness Facility. Check it out!
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