News and Features

Morgan Memorial Hospital gross patient revenue was $136,000 over their budget in February and $717,000 over budget for the year, Judy Gilbert, treasurer, reported to the Hospital Authority at their March meeting last week. Gilbert said that no numbers were out of line. The hospital recently outsourced collections and billing to HMR, which was not budgeted for this year.

She also reported the hospital saw a net gain of $37,000 in the month of February.

The Hospital Authori

Senator Faye Smith (D-25) was back in the chamber Monday after suffering from a brain aneurysm earlier this month. Though she has been recovering over the past month, she missed only a few days of the legislative session.

When asked if Smith’s health was back to normal, Mary Whiting, Smith’s assistant, said, "We hope."

Smith spent most of the month at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and was initially in intensive care. Whiting reported earlier in the month that Smit

Staff Writer

Rutledge city officials are hoping they have devised a way to keep the city’s lone officer on the beat.

Following a special called meeting Monday afternoon, Mayor Bill Spann introduced his final recommendations to amending the city’s struggling police budget in an effort to provide a fourth year of service for the Rutledge Police Department and its sole employee Chief Roy Eitneier.

Despite the recommendations, Spann called the proposed move a "temporary solution".

An Athens area physician was convicted of two counts of tax evasion last Thursday.

Dr. Bradford G. Brown, whose practice includes an office on North Second Street in Madison, was indicted last May for charges of "willingly attempting to evade and defeat a large part of his income tax". Brown was convicted for failing to pay some $500,000 in back taxes owed during 1994 and 1995. According to reports, Brown failed to deposit approximately $1.5 million in medical receipts received thro

Staff Writer

The Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau has been keeping themselves busy as was explained in a recent report given by CVB Executive Director Marguerite Copelan to the Morgan County Board of Commissioners and the Madison City Council.

The Welcome Center received some 42,000 visitors during 2002, a figure that represents a six percent increase from the previous year, according to the report. When asked, Copelan said that those numbers continue to rise.

"Winter was a litt

A small group of Comprehensive Plan Committee Members reviewed the latest reports detailing the progress of both the Economic Development plan and the Morgan County GreenPrint plans.

The reports were presented by representatives of Robert and Company, a group based out of Atlanta that provides planning services, and who are heading up the compilation of the Morgan County Comprehensive Plan.

Data for an early draft of the Economic Development plan was taken from the Department of Community A