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Juvenile Crime Upml Percent In Forsyth BY JAY JORDAN News Editor Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department records show there has been a 61 percent increase in the number of juvenile ar rests in the first five months of 1980 over the last five months of 1979. But this may not mean there is any great wave of juvenile crime. Sheriff Wesley Walraven attributed the increase in arrests to several causes, but said, “I think the major reason is we have more stringent investigations.” The sheriff added a lower legal drinking age and the in creased mobility given to teenagers by cars have contrib uted to the problem of juvenile crime. Larry Petty, Forsyth County’s juvenile worker for the Blueridge Judicial Circuit, said while there are a few repeat juvenile offenders, “the majority are basically pretty good kids who just made a mistake. They’ve learned a lesson Partnership Of Talents By LANE GARDNER CAMP Staff Writer Tony and Ann Hamilton of Cumming first formed a partnership twenty-six years ago when they were mar ried. Today, though, their partnership is more than that of man and wife. They are also now combining their ef forts in the creation of a unique craft: wood carved and hand-painted butterflies. The merger of their respective talents (Tony does the carving and Ann does the painting) came about in an unexpected way. Ann, who had studied at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and had dabbled in art off and on for many years, finally got into some serious painting about ten years ago. Calling herself a nature painter, Ann says that rather than painting scenes (like her well-noted artist brother, John Kollack), “I paint the things people step on,” like mushrooms, flowers and butterflies. One day, Tony, an active businessman in Atlanta, who Ann says had looked for a hobby all his life, took up wood carving. One subject he eventually chose to carve was a butterfly from one of Ann’s paintings. When Ann saw what he had done, she begged to be able to paint it. The result was a narrowed-bodied insect with four beautifully hand-colored wings all made out of wood. From there on out, it was a winning combination of talents. The Hamiltons’ butterfly interpretations are now available as sculptures and on pins, plaques, hair picks and jewelry boxes. Ann says of their joint craft, “It’s great to have some thing to say to your husband after raising four kids.” Now they spend much of their time working on the but Board Of Education To View Budget At Its Next Meeting The Forsyth County Board of Educa tion will consider its budget for the 1980-81 school year at its monthly meet ing on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m., according to Superintendent Robert B. Otwell. A tentative budget, which was made public by the school system last week, suggests that in order to operate the Forsyth County School System as an ongoing concern, close to S2O-million will be needed. Donnie Rockmore, school system bookkeeper, explained that the esti J.; v \aß ■ i I -4 Mm *7 | |f JH :S| ;£W fJH IMP f 'jwK BB mSi « i V .«c M . V.. M ■ Jr*‘ “■ m. -fc '- - ■£ » 7 ;;' vSj .’-■ ’iHB Pocket Weather With cooler weather setting in, those Forsyth County students wbo must wait oo a bua for their ride to school, are having to draw a little warmer. From left, Nsncy Shirley and Teresa Shirley (who «ay they are not slaters), tuck their hands in the pockets of their Jackets as they wait for their bos oo highway It, sooth of Cam ming. Nancy is in the tenth grade and Teresa is in the seventh. (News staff photo by Lane Gardner Camp.) Till 1 FORSYTH lIPflTg A nil COUNTY IV Cl WW 9 VOLUME LXXI—NUMBER 40 mated total payments of $19,537,604.91 includes the school system’s building fund which stands at $7,186,662.32. Provided the budget is approved and a millage rate is set at Wednesday night’s meeting, the budget will then be sent to the state for approval. The 1979-80 school budget called for a total of $17,259,301.11 in total payments, meaning an increase this year of just under $2.5-million. The reason for the increase in antic ipated expenditures is mainly due to raises in the salaries of school system from it.” Peer pressure, home and family problems, and a ?**co nomic situation contribute to juvenile crime, iid. Walraven went on to stress juvenile crime a very small percentage of the young people of tjjßjea." Most youngsters are “hard working, church goingftflwho suffer for the actions of a criminal minority. . Walraven said about 50 percent of all juvenile is are for burglary and related charges. About 25 percent involve drugs in some way, the same amount concern runaways, drunkennt ■ wother miscellaneous charges. In the past, juvenile burglary was often or as the sheriff said, “kick the door down candy and run with it. ” ® Now, though, youthful burglars are or the dollar,” are being more selective, the sheriff® The primary reason may be to finance Wal ■ w M Kg! 1 . ■ TONY AND ANN HAMILTON ... holding same of their butterfly creations terflies and consulting on upcoming arts and crafts shows where they exhibit their creations. For a year-and-a-half, the Hamiltons even had a gal lery in Helen, called Kleine Ecke Galerie (Little Comer Gallery), which featured their buttefflies. v, v The way the Hamiltons work is that Tony first does the carving from bass wood. (The smaller butterflies are in three pieces: two wings and a body; while the larger butterflies are in four pieces: four wings and a body.) After carving, Tony then jessos the pieces and sands them down. Ann then takes the pieces and paints them Continued on Page 2A employees, says Superintendent Ot well. The 1979-80 millage rate for school operations was 17.24, which was 13.81 mills for maintenance and operation costs and 3.43 mills on school bonds. This year’s expected increase in the millage rate will be the first such in two years. The 79-80 millage rate for school operations was a decrease from the 17.62 in 1978-79. Superintendent Otwell and Mrs. Rockmore have been holding work ses sions on the budget in the last several weeks. Southern Bell Telephone and Tele graph Co. recently proposed a major overhaul in the way it prices service? and products offered to the company’s 1.8 million Georgia customers. In what he described as the "new reality” of the 1980 s, Southern Bell Georgia Vice President S.E. Jennette Jr. said the restructuring of the compa ny’s pricing structure would reduce some rates, increase others, redesign the revenue contribution made by many services and, overall, generate $100.7 million in new revenue. Jennette empahsized that the total increase would be about 12 percent over today’s rates and that the total re quest made to the Georgia Public Serv ice Commission is in compliance with the president’s wage and price guidelines. The actual needs of the company are $l4B million but were re duced to $100.7 million to comply with the guidelines. “We are facing the new reality of competition, deregulation and unre lenting inflation,” Jennette said. “What we have proposed today faces up to those facts in the most sincere and realistic way we know how.” WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER*. IMS— CUMMING, GA. 30130 Southern Bell Asking PSC For A 12 Percent Increase raven explained. Local youngsters are not supporting hab its, but are trying to fit in with their friends, he said. There is a noticeable trend among teenagers away from drugs to alcohol, the sheriff said. This is probably because it is easier to get and has laxer legal penalties for misuse. The sheriff said he didn’t know what effect the recently raised drinking age would have on the trend. Also, there is a gradual increase in the number of female offenders, both adult and juvenile, Walraven said. Recently, a 15 and 16 year-old boy and girl were arrested in connection with 15 burglaries, the sheriff said. In another example of juvenile crime, eight juveniles, in cluding a female, were arrested last spring and charged with being involved in drug sales. This cleared up 35 un solved thefts on the records, Walraven said. Juvenile law is unique, Walraven explained. Anyone under the age of 17 is a juvenile by law and if he commits major crimes will be treated as a juvenile. Hospital Rate Hike Expected Jan. 1 The Forsyth County Hospital Author ’ ity will likely go up on its room charges and intensive care and nursery rates beginning Jan. 1,1981. The increases, which were approved by the Forsyth County Hospital Author ity at its meeting on Sept. 25, will be submitted to Blue Cross/Blue Shield by *WfO,yided Blue Cross/Blue Shield ap pffbvei the increases, which Hospital puntroAer Terry Grizzard feels certain they wifi do, the new rates will go into effect the first of the year. Grizzard believes the raised prices will be approved because, he says, “We’re still well below competing hos pitals:” : The authority agreed to all rate in creases sujbmitted by Grizzard except for an increase in emergency room services. Authority members could not several stated that the nOflKil’s emergency room is the only area orthehospital they ever hear complaints about. Those rate increases that were ap proved by the authority are as follows: • Private room, $92, to be increased sl2 (15 percent) from SBO. • Semi-private room, SB2 and SB7, to be increased sl2 (17 percent and 16 per cent ) from S7O and $75. • Intensive Care, $225, to be in creased $25 (12 percent) from S2OO. • Nursery, $35, to be increased sls (75 percent) from S2O. Grizzard stated that these increases are appropriate because of the hospi tal’s ‘‘new, well equipped, well staffed” facilities. (The hospital recently com pleted a major renovation and expan sion project.) While these rates will likely go up, the hospital’s fees for “ultra sound” have gone down “overall about 20 per cent” as of Oct. 1, according to Griz zard. This decrease has been brought about because of the purchase of an ul tra sound machine by Dr. Olaf Alvig for use in the hospital. Rather than having medical personnel from outside the hospital perform this service, it is now being provided by Dr. Alvig at the hospital. This is saving patients money, says Grizzard. Jennette stated that unregulated competition in both the long distance and equipment markets continues to reduce the support made to basic resi dence service. “Inflation has conspired to drive up the prices of everything we use,” he said. “We have only had one rate increase in four years, and our rates today reflect the cost of doing business in 1978. During the period since then, inflation has roared along with the cumulative effect of about 25 Approximately $20,000 Is Taken From Cannongate Safe The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Depart ment is investigating a break-in and burglary at Cannongate Golf Club, where an estimated $20,000 in cash and checks was taken from a safe, accord ing to Sgt. J.C. Adams. - Sgt. Adams said thieves entered the buidfing by sawing a hole in the roof. “They went down into the room were the safe was kept, opened the safe and took the money from a small metal 30 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS—2S CENTS Mi . ' iSHp,:' Taking Her Turn When the Forsyth County chapter of the American Association of Retired People (AARP) challenged the Gainesville chapter to a host of games at Cumming City Park on Friday, Oct. 3, it was Gainesville that came out on top. According to Dave Horton, special activities director at the park, the win was determined by a “last hand of bridge.” After about four hours of playing everything from Scrabble and Rook to ping pong and lawn darts, the final score was Gainesville, 3,250 and For syth, 2,630. Shown above, Ruby Deen Crider of Cumming wi»lm« her move in a dominoes challenge. See more photos on page 2-A. (News staff photo by Lane Gardner Camp.) percent, yet our prices have remianed the same. That’s an impossible situa tion.” While the price of home phone serv ice in Atlanta would increase from $11.85 a month to $14.85, Jennette said that a special set of reduced rates would be offered in the form of Mea sured Service. “These lower rates for residence and business service will give our customers a choice for the first time in the prices they pay for box,” he said. The investigator said nothing else was reported missing. He said the theft occurred sometime during the night on Sept. 21 and was re ported the next day. “It was the first time money had been left in the safe,” he added. Sgt. Adams said evidence was gath ered at the scene and the investigation is still under way. The sheriff said he has a special cell for juveniles, sepa rate from the rest of the prisoners. Juveniles are never held over 12 hours, but are released to their parents or sent to the youth detention center in Gainesville. This past summer, Petty said he was swamped with work in what was normally a slow time of the year. As the county grows, the sheriff said, juvenile problems will increase. Walraven wants to add a special juvenile investigator to his staff to deal with juvenile crime. His regular three investigators handle every other crime in the county and now have no time to do anything except make an arrest and move on to something else, he explained. “A juvenile investigator would give us the opportunity to work with kids and identify families with problems...We want to get to the root of the problem,” Walraven said. Walraven hopes his juvenile investigator could prevent crimes before they happen. service. “Rates for a single business line in Atlanta would increase from $33.10 to $39.20. “Residence Rates for the Cumming area will increase from $7.90 to $8.90. “Single line business rates for Cum ming will increase from $16.75 to $19.25. However, we hope to also ask for a siz able reduction in the band mileage cur rently being paid by Cumming subscribers. In Cumming, we presently have five mileage bands and we hope to be able to reduce this to one. “Supplemental services,” Jennette continued, “such as business switch boards, key systems, Touchtone and Trimline sets, among numerous other items, will be increased in price. Addi tionally, service connnections charges those charges paid only by individu als installing new or transferring phones will be increased so that those customers who create the cost pay for it.” Describing the other price changes to the PSC, Jennette said, “We are posi tioning ourselves so that various seg ments of our product and service lines Continued on Page 2A