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VOLUME LXXII NUMBER 2
Barnett To Head
Commissioners
BY JIM COSE Y
Editor
The Forsyth County Commissioners
held their first meeting of the new year
last Monday and elected officers for the
coming year. As is usually the case at
thi« first meeting, this election was not
without incident.
Bill Barnett, who has been on the
commission for two years, was named
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Talmadge Speaks
Senator Herman Talmadge spoke to the Chamber of Commerce annual meeting
last Saturday night at the Otwell Middle School. Pictured at the head table is outgo
ing Chamber president Loyd Pendley.
Hang Khomeini
From Scaffold
BY JIM COSE Y
“If I had my way I’d hang Khomeini
from the highest scaffold in Forsyth
County.”
These were the words of Sen. Herman
Talmadge as he spoke Saturday night
to the annual meeting of the Forsyth-
Cumming Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Talmadge told the 200 plus in at
tendance that even though the United
States is presently under some of the
darkest clouds ever that there is always
a ray of sunshine.
Sen. Talmadge said that recent in
cidents in Iran have made the
American people more united than
ever, especially since World War n. He
also said it has brought about a
stronger spirit of patriotism.
In discussing the present situation in
Iran, Sen. Talmadge added, “We must
think of the hostages first. I don’t know
what the President is doing now but it
won’t be long before he’s going to have
to take some sort of overt action. We’re
dealing with a crazy man in Kho
meini.”
Sen. Talmadge spoke just a few short
minutes, then opened the floor to ques
tions and answers.
One question concerned the U.S.
military strength. Sen. Talmadge said
that the Soviets are spending 15 per
cent of the national gross product on
military strength while the U.S. is only
spending five per cent. “The Soviets
have got more of everything than we
have in the military area. It’s frighten
ing. We’ve got to rebuild. We’ve got to
let people know that we’ll protect our
own,” he added.
The senior senator from Georgia was
asked what would happen if America
committed itself to war in the next few
months. Could we hold our own?
He replied, “Sen. Sam Nunn is more
frightened than I am. The Soviets and
us have enough nuclear missiles to
destroy civilization. God forbid we ever
come to that. Some 50 to 100 million peo
ple could be destroyed in the United
States in just a few minutes. It’s so hor
rible I don’t even want to contemplate
the outcome. The Soviet Union has
shown that they’re not hesitant to act.
This has been proved by their interven
tion into Afghanistan.”
Another question centered around the
FORSYTH IVtIUfC
A IIL COUNTY liCiwV 9
the new chairman. But, it took some 20
minutes for this to become official.
The nominating among the commis
sioners opened when Commissioner
Garland Barron nominated Barnett for
the chairman. Leroy Hubbard then
nominated James Harrington for a se
cond term. The chairman called for the
vote and it was Barron and Harrison
Tallant for Barnett and Hubbard for
energy crisis. Sen. Talmadge said there
are only two alternatives, “Send troops
into the OPEC countries and take the oil
or go bankrupt. Or we can develop an
alternative source of energy, mainly
alcohol.”
Sen. Talmadge made an analogy,
“There probably used to be some old
Forsyth Countians who made moon
shine around here. If their old Model T
would run out of gas they’d just pour in
a little moonshine and go down to the
gas station.”
The senator said that alcohol is the
only alternative for the near future and
said that America could grow and
manufacture their own energy without
having to go to other nations.
BY JIM COSEY
Looking back over statistics for 1979, Cumming Police Chief Gabe Dukas
finds that the majority of crime in the city has dropped with the exception of
one area, drug abuse.
Chief Dukas keeps intricate records and charts showing the rise and fall of
various reports of criminal activity in the city of Cumming.
“The one concern we should all be involved in is drugs,” Chief Dukas em
phasized. “We’re finding more and more people driving erradically and not
just from the effects of alcohol. There seems to be more marijuana and
various pills around now than ever before. Too often now we’re finding
'One Drug Abuser
Is A Problem 9
teenagers and young adults with drugs and we didn’t see that several years
ago,” Dukas added.
He said that in the bigger cities the usage of drugs seems to be going down,
but that outlying areas such as Forsyth County is just now feeling the effects
of more drug usage.
Chief Dukas pointed out, “Parents need to become more aware of their
youngsters. It’s not just kids that are involved. It seems that more adults
have a liberal vein of drug usage today. It’s really a bigger problem that we
thought”
He said his department, along with county and state agencies, are paying
more attention to the problem now. “We’re looking out for it more. We’d like
Harrington. Harrington said, “We. have
to have a majority vote and I abstain
from voting.”
County Attorney Woody Jordaij was
asked for a ruling and he said that you
must have a majority of votes ca§t not
counting abstaining voted. “You i&ve a
majority of votes cast, 2-1,” *afdan
stated. */,
Jordan added that if there is more
than one nominee a person may vote for
or against himself. Harrington then
said, “In that case, I’ll vote for m self
and Bill will vote for himself.” f*
The vote was called again apd
Tallant, Barron and Barnett vjbted f> r
Barnett and Hubbard and
voted for Harrington. Barnett wits
declared chairman. A
Commissioner Barnett theii swapped
places with Harrington to taxe over the
chairman’s seat to conduct the rest of
the meeting.
Commissioner Barron' wjks
nominated and voted in|as vice chair
man and Tallant won the seat of
secretary-treasurer when Chairman
Barnett broke a tie vote.
In other first of the year action, the
board voted to retain the services of,the
law firm of VanderHoff and Jordan as
county attorneys. All were for this with
the exception of Commissioner Barron
who voted no.
Commissioner Hubbard reported to
the board that he attended a meeting of
the Building and Zoning office last week
at which time they voted to hire an ad
ditional employee, which is not in the
department’s budget. Hubbard said he
told the board he was against this ac
tion and that he would report the action
to the commissioners. “There’s no need
to have a budget if you’re not going to
follow it,” Hubbard replied.
Tallant pointed out that this would
put the zoning office some SIO,OOO over
their budget for 1980.
Following the discussion Harrington
made a motion that the building and
zoning office turn over all funds to the
county treasurer by the 10th of each
month, as required by law. Tallant then
made a motion that passed stating the
commissioners hold a meeting to try
and work out this problem.
Probate Judge Joyce Hawkins ap
peared before the board requesting that
the county take over the payroll of an
employee in her office that has
previously been paid under a federal
program which will run out Jan. 26.
“We will be down to one employee and
we just can’t operate that way. It’s not
in the budget, although I did make the
original request but it was cut back,”
Mrs. Hawkins said.
Tallant made a motion to put this off
until they could meet with Mrs.
Hawkins to find out the work load in the
office and find out just how much the
employee is really needed.
Chairman Barnett appointed a com
mittee of Harrington and Tallant to
work with Mrs. Hawkins and make
recommendations to the commis
sioners.
Drug Abuse Is On The Rise
According To Police Records
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1980 CUMMING. GA. 30130
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Getting ready for the ice that is sure to come in January is
the Calendar Girl for January, Kelly Eason. Kelly is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bart Eason, Rt. 9’ Cumming and is
a senior at Forsyth County High School. She was captain of
the varsity football cheerleaders and a member of the
Fabulous Flashes Majorette Corps. Kelly is also a member of
Forsyth May Get Legislator
After 1980 Census Taken
BY CATHY PUCKETT
Staff Writer
Senator Howard T. Overby made a
speech recently in Gainesville and call
ed attention to the fact Forsyth County
might get their own legislative delega
tion due to increased population which
will be decided after the ! 980 census.
Presently Forsyth and Hall County
to talk with anyone who wants to discuss the problem. We can prevent
massive problems by working together,” Chief Dukas said.
Dukas stated that his department is not after busts. “If we get an incident
reported of drug usage among kids we get with the parents and talk about it.
We’re not after putting kids in jail but want to help them. We work very close
with school officials,” he added.
Dukas said that people can’t bury their heads in the sand and say it doesn’t
exist. “There is a problem locally. Even if we have just one drug abuser, it is
a problem. They like company. On the most part, it’s the non-school persons
who are involved in pushing drugs. If we need to hold public meetings to
Hiapngg this problem, then let’s do it. Jail is not the answer for youngsters in
volved with drugs, they need help, and we’re here to help them,” he ended.
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In looking over other statistics for 1979, Chief Dukas pointed out that the
biggest jump in activity inside the city was in thefts. The report of thefts
more than doubled in 1979 as compared to 1978, statistics show. This includes
shoplifting, theft from autos, hub caps and thefts from auto.
Burglaries in Cumming were slightly down in 1979 with only 18 being
reported for the year. Chief Dukas pointed out that most of these thefts in
volved some sort of domestic type incidents.
Accidents in the city were reduced in 1979, according to reports. There
were 197 accidents reported in 1979 with 40 of these in local parking lots.
Thirty six of the accidents werq one car incidents. There were 41 reported in
juries with one fatality during the year. In 1978 there were 225 aocidents.
“It’s nice to see the accident rate going down. I think it’s because people are
driving more carefully,” Dukas added.
The chief said that one of the most effective programs his department car
ries on throughout the year is the resident check. “We had about 140 resident
checks during the year and the program is very effective. While people were
away from their homes we didn’t have one incident reported. It’s one of the
better programs we have,” Dukas said.
Miss January
the Senior Beta Club and Future Business Leaders of
America. She has a younger brother, Keith. Miss January
plans to attend Georgia Southern College and study business
education. The calendar girl is a monthly feature sponsored
by The Forsyth County News.
are represented in the Georgia House of
Representatives by Joe T. Wood, Jerry
Jackson, and Bobby Lawson.
Forsyth County had their own local
representative up until 14 years ago,
when the state changed from a county
unit or county-delegation, to a district
type reapportionment method based on
population.
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24 PAGES. 2 SECTIONS
Local government officials feel if
Forsyth County doesn’t have large
enough population figures to warrant a
county citizen to be elected as a local
legislator, speculation is that Forsyth
County would be joined with probably a
county smaller than Hall County,
perhaps Dawson County for a one
representative two-county area.
Rep. Wood visited Forsyth County
recently for a public meeting to discuss
upcoming legislation in the Georgia
General Assembly. “Representatives
will be elected this year for a two year
term. They will reapportion the
districts during 1981 and 1982. If the cen
sus shows Forsyth County has enough
residents to warrant their own
representative, this will be done during
the reapportionment,” Rep. Wood said.
Rep. Jackson added that the area
representatives are in favor of the
measure. “People in Forsyth County
want their own representative, and
we’re all for it.”
While some citizens might feel it
would be good to have their own
representative, County Commission
Chairman James Harrington was quick
to comment on the “excellent”
representation Forsyth County has
received from the area represen
tatives.
Harrington said if the population
figures show large enough growth in the
county it won’t be a choice of whether
we want or don’t want our own
representative, it will become fact.
Harrington again noted that for several
years Reps. Wood, Jackson and Lawson
have given the county, “the most ex
cellent representation” possible.
Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt said
he had heard rumors that Forsyth
County might be eligible to have its own
representative, and said it would he
based “on the influx of people moving
in the area.” Gravitt said he had also
heard that Forsyth County might be
joined with Dawson County in a new
legislative delegation district.