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MARCH 14 - MARCH 20, 2018
TIMES-HERALD
calendar of events inside
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your weekly connection to local news & entertainment
➤ page 4
Hollywood helps local kids club ➤ page 3
‘Culture of trust’ key in school safety BY REBECCA LEFTWICH
becky@newnan.com Strong personal connections, regular interaction w it h students and reinforcing the “see somet h i ng , say some t h i n g ” r u le m ay h ave played a part in de-escalating several incidents i nvolv i ng t h reats to Coweta County schools last week. In the case of a 17-yearold Ea st Coweta H ig h School st udent whose loade d 9 m m g u n wa s taken from him without i ncident T hu r sd ay by Principal Steve Allen and school resource officers, a deliberate attempt over time to build a school climate of trust was a key element , accord i ng to Coweta County Superintendent of Schools Steve Barker. “As a principal, Steve builds relationships with students,” Barker said. “In a school that size, you’d be surprised how many kids he knows by name. In his announcements each day, he talks
SAFETY, page 2
PHOTO BY BETH NEELY
Newnan Police Chief D.L. “Buster” Meadows, Coweta County Superintendent of Schools Steve Barker and Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager discuss school safety procedures and plans after a rash of threats and arrests last week.
The fight of her life
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Gina Beldon recuperates at home from her recent surgery surrounded by her five children. From left are Buck, 6; Brock, 11; Beau, 14; Bryce, 3; and Brandi Blaze, 10.
Sharpsburg mother of five battles against rare disorder BY MELANIE RUBERTI
melanie@newnan.com Forty-year-old Gina Beldon is racing against the clock in hopes of beating an infection that is ravaging her body. It’s a ‘competition’ the once healthy, athletic and fit mother of five would have easily won four years ago. But a dangerous combination of rare yeast strains and the bacterium Clostridium difficile, or C. difficile, has invaded her bloodstream, leaving Gina weak and in chronic pain. “I just want to be ‘Gina’ aga i n - t he mom , t he wife and friend,” she said through tears. “But my body won’t allow it. I’m literally fighting for my life.” T h e i n fe c t i on s a re becoming resistant to antibiotics and other medications - and are slowly eating away her internal organs. “I have nothing left inside to lose - except my life,” Gina said. The Sharpsburg woman’s condition is so rare, it has no name - and doctors
are not sure how to treat it.
A MEDICAL MYSTERY
To fully comprehend the extent of Gina’s illness, one must turn back the hands of time to the year 2014. By all accounts, the miraculous birth of Gina’s you ngest son Br yce should have been a joyful occasion. Almost three years earlier, Gina and her husband Todd decided they were done having children. The Sharpsburg woman had tubal ligation, also known as “having your tubes tied.” Accord i n g to Gi n a , instead of cauterizing her fallopian tubes, her physician placed metal clamps on them. Two years later, searing abdominal pain sent Gina to the emergency room, where doctors discovered she suffered a tubal rupture. The metal clamp had wedged itself between her stomach and uterus. “They weren’t sure how
I was even alive at that point,” Gina remembered. “Then they told me I also had high levels of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) in my system.” Gi n a wa s preg n a nt , which meant surgery to remove the metal clamp was not an option. After a difficult pregnancy, Gina delivered a healthy baby boy and physicians took out the clamp. Despite the operation, harmful bacteria took over Gina’s body. In order to treat the ongoing infection , doctors pu mped the mother of five full of antibiotics. Accord i n g to Gi n a , those medications caused dangerous strains of yeast to grow throughout her body and eventually enter her bloodstream. “No one could figure out why my body was holding onto the infection, so they just kept throwing medications at me,” Gina said. “But it was really just like putting band-aids on the
BELDON, page 2
PHOTO BY WINSTON SKINNER
Sarita Workman, left, manager of the store at the local Salvation Army Service Center, gives a report to members of the local advisory council. At right is Heather Creech, center director, who told the council about an anonymous $10,000 gift.
Salvation Army receives $10,000 to help with homeless needs BY W. WINSTON SKINNER winston@newnan.com The Salvation Army has received an anonymous $10,000 donation to help Coweta’s homeless. Heather Creech, director of the Army’s Newnan Service Center, talked about the gift – and the opportunity it presents – at the local Salvation Army Advisory Council meeting on Thursday. Council members said they hope the gift is just the beginning of real, significant help in addressi n g h om ele s s n e s s i n Coweta County. Creech told the council she is scheduled to meet with David Gregory, executive director of One Roof Ecumenical Outreach, this week. One Roof has taken the lead on helping the home-
less locally – largely by providing housing at an extended stay motel. “We know the homeless situation is a huge problem,” longtime council member Bette Hickman said during the meeting in the boardroom at Charter Bank at Calumet. The donor, a Coweta resident, repor tedly made the contribution after reading about the homelessness problem in the local area – in articles in The Newnan Times-Herald. The donor “believes in the Salvation Army,” Hickman observed. Council members discussed some of the complexities of helping the homeless, continuing a conversation that began at the previous meeting on Feb. 1.
Members of the advisory council expressed hope that a way could be found to use the donated funds to augment One Roof’s efforts. Hope was also expressed that local citizens might contribute to expand the effort – and to continue it once the $10,000 is spent. Hickman said she saw the gift as “seed money” for something ongoing. “We’re all trying to figure it out,” she said. “This anonymous donor i s rea l ly g iv i ng u s a beginning.” Contributions to help with the project can be sent to Salvation Army, 670 Jefferson St., Newnan, GA 30263. T he memo l i ne on checks should read “Homeless.”