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Wal-Mart foes: We quit
If there’s one thing I’ve learned...it’s that you can’t fight city hall. - Georgianne Bearden
BY WILL DAVIS
AND GINA HERRING
It’s over. Opponents of the Wal-Mart
Supercenter said Monday they’ve called
off their two-year legal fight, clearing
the way for the retail giant to build its
new store in Forsyth without delay.
After spending 22 months in state and
federal courts trying to keep a Wal-Mart
Supercenter out of their neighborhood,
seven Indian Springs Drive residents
say they’ve dropped all their suits and
are giving up the fight.
“We agreed to dismiss everything,” said
Georgianne Bearden, a leading member
of the Supercenter opponents. “Some you
win and some you lose.”
Informed of the decision, property own
ers whose sale to Wal-Mart has been
tied up in the legal delays said they are
too jaded to believe it.
“We’ve heard this before,” said Walter
Kyte, one of seven property owners with
land under contract to Wal-Mart. “I’m
not going to get real excited until I see a
closing statement.”
Kyte and others said they had not
heard from their attorney yet.
But Bearden said they agreed last
week to drop their federal lawsuits, and
they filed paperwork at 4:30 p.m. on
Monday afternoon dismissing their suit
in superior court.
So the legal battle ended where it
began two years ago, in superior court.
Opponents had sued the city and Wal-
Mart in superior court before moving it
to federal court. The plaintiffs have
argued that the city and Wal-Mart made
a back-room deal to bring a giant
Supercenter to their historic neighbor
hood. They said the deal violated their
due process rights and that the city
See WAL-MART page 14A
Support for city pool helped sweep in new council,
hut don’t expect to dive in here this summer
Inside
Hubbard
queen
crowned
Annual elebration
starts Wednesday
See Page 14A
Sports
See TD Club
fund-raisers
BY WILL DAVIS
This may be the last
long, hot summer in
Forsyth without a public
pool. Maybe.
Three new council
members and a new
mayor took office in
January all promising
support for a new or re
opened pool during the
2007 campaign. But four
months into the new
year, the council hasn’t
decided how to proceed.
The only thing that’s for
sure is that there will be
no pool this summer.
That makes this the
fourth summer since the
city closed its Country
Club Road pool that city
residents will be without
a cheap place to cool
down from the Georgia
heat.
Mayor Tye Howard
said council member
Rosemary Walker, chair
of the city’s recreation
committee, is working to
find out what it would
take to re-open the pool
at the city park on
Country Club Road. The
city opted not to re-open
the facility in 2004 due
to major leaks. A year
earlier, the city had also
shut down its Kynette
Park pool for similar
reasons.
Council member Mike
Dodd said most cities
have shuttered public
pools because of the
costs and liability
involved with them, and
because more people
have pools at home.
But the city has
$300,000 coming over
the next six years for
recreation in the new 1-
percent sales tax that
took effect Jan. 1. The
city could use that
money to renovate the
pool(s) or build a new
one. Council member
Desi Hansford said he
wants the city to finish
its research into the
existing pools first. If a
new one is needed, he
said the city then needs
to determine which
would be the best site.
Dodd said he has no
problem with using the
$300,000 to build a new
pool at the city park. He
said he doesn’t think the
old pool is fixable. But
he said the city needs to
do sewer improvements
in the park area before
it builds a new pool, so
it doesn’t run into the
same problems it did
with the old one.
The city may also have
to ask the county to give
it back some land for a
pool. In 1983, the city
turned recreation over
completely to the county,
deeding it several fields
at the Country Club
See POOL page 7A
The old city pool at the Country Club Road park has sat unused for four years now, but newly
elected council members have said they want to re-open a city pool. (Photo/Will Davis)
Beloved creation of late High Falls man
See page 1B
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Thieves sold
sub for scrap
Ernie Godfrey of High Falls used to explore his
pond in the submarine he constructed.
BY GINA HERRING
It may not have been 20,000 leagues
under the sea, but it was one High Falls
man’s dream. And now it’s nothing more
than a pile of scrap metal.
In February, Ernie Godfrey’s family
realized his prized possession, a 17,000
pound submarine he built with own
hands, had been stolen.
Last week Brian Williamson, 31,
turned himself in and Walter Thompson,
20, is expected to soon for the theft of the
submarine, says Inv. Allen Henderson
with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The two have been charged with felony
theft.
Ernie Godfrey, who passed away in
December 2004, built the submarine to
use in his pond. It was a fully function
ing submarine, says his son Shane
Godfrey of Talking Rock, Ga. Shane says
See SUB page 11A
Goddard:
Marshall
blocking
vital anti
terror bill
The former com
mander of Warner
Robins Air Force
Base told Monroe
County Republicans
last week that he’s
ready to give middle
Georgia a conserva
tive voice in
Congress sorely
missing in current
Rep. Jim Marshall
(D-Macon).
Rick Goddard
brought his cam
paign for Congress
to Forsyth last
Tuesday, speaking to
about 30 locals at
the Monroe County
GOP meeting at This
Little Piggy BBQ.
Goddard said Marshall, the current representative
from the 8th Congressional District, performs a crafty
See GODDARD page 7A
Rick Goddard in Forsyth last week.
Steppin’ out
Part-time Reporter staffer Shannon Patrick, a senior at Mary
Persons, was among hundreds of juniors and seniors all
dressed up for the 2008 MP prom held Saturday at the Macon
City Audortium. Shannon’s date, Aaron Purser, goes to Monroe
Academy. For more prom pictures, see the MP Prom photo
gallery atwww.mymcr.net. (Photo/Gina Herring)