Newspaper Page Text
Request By Chamber
To Get County Study
By JAY JORDAN
News Editor
The Forsyth County Board of Com
missioners will decide later if it will pay
most of the salary for an executive
director for the Cumming-Forsyth
County Chamber of Commerce.
The commissioners decided to consti
tute themselves as a committee of the
whole and study chamber President
Charles Welch’s request at their regu
lar meeting Tuesday, May 26.
Welch told the commissioners the
Cumming City Council had voted to pay
10 percent of the salary if they would
pay the rest. An executive director’s
salary might range between $15,000 and
$25,000 annually, Welch said.
Welch said he did not have the time to
do the job himself and could not ask a
volunteer to do it. The chamber had
relied on pledges to pay a director once,
“but they were easy to get and hard to
Forsyth Presents Resolutions
Seeking State Representative
Forsyth County leaders presented
resolutions asking tor a separate Gen
eral Assembly representative, and that
the county be kept a part of the Ninth
Congressional District to a Gainesville
public hearing May 26.
Forsyth County Board of Commis
sioners Chairman Bill Barnett read into
the record resolutions from the com
missioners, the City of Cumming and
the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber
of Commerce asking that Forsyth
County be given its own representative
in the General Assembly. Ben Jordan,
chairman of the county Republican
Party, read a similar resolution, too.
Chairman Barnett also presented a
resolution from the commissioners
asking that Forsyth County be kept part
of the ninth district.
The hearing was the 10th of a series of
12 on reapportionment by the Georgia
Senate and House committees on reap
portionment. By law, the General As
Hospital Room Rate
Hike Approved Here
By LANE GARDNER CAMP
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County Hospital will be
increasing its room rates and various
other service rates effective July 1.
The hospital authority voted to imple
ment the increases after learning at
their meeting last week that Blue
Cross/Blue Shield had approved the
rate hikes.
Hospital Administrator Joe Brandon
noted that, even with the increases, the
local hospital’s rates will still be below
or equal to other area hospitals.
The last time the hospital put into
effect a room rate increase was Jan. 1
of this year with other service rates
having last been raised Feb. 15, 1980,
according to Joyce Lindsey, the hospi
tal’s financial officer.
Rate increases are as follows:
• Private room, $99, to be increased
$7 (seven percent) from $92.
• Semi-private room (with bath), $94,
to be increased $7 (seven percent) from
SB7.
|Hf fi| ' PM> r # $
There were hoops and hollers at the Forsyth County High School stadium last
Friday night when almost 300 seniors were officially pronounced 1981 graduates.
In attendance for the ceremony was a full to overflowing stadium full of friends
and relatives. Presenting diplomas to the graduates was high school principal
Johnny Otts. Superintendent B.M. “Bud” Amsler called each graduate’s name as
Otts individually congratulated them. There were 53 honor graduates included in
W FOBSYTH MtlMfg
A llli county IV Ci W 9
VOLUME LXXII—NUMBER 22
collect,” he said. Without city and
county help, the chamber would not be
able to find someone to run the cham
ber’s operations on a day-to-day basis.
Several of the commissioners agreed
on the need for an executive director.
Commission Chairman Bill Barnett
said having a paid executive director
was “just as important as having a
sewer line or a water line or anything
else.”
Commissioner Donald Glover said
the county needed some one to deal with
new industries to help screen out ones
which might not be in the best interests
of the county. Welch concurred and said
Harry Dell, the chamber’s former exec
utive director, had done a good job at
this.
Welch also stressed that while an
executive director’s salary would cost
money, the county would gain from it
through new industry and an increased
sembly must adjust the boundaries of
the Senate, House and congressional
districts to conform with the results of
the 1980 census. The hearings are a
prelude to a special session of the
General Assembly in August which will
approve a plan. Sen. Perry Hudson and
Rep. Joe Mack Wilson, chairmen of the
committees, said the hearings would be
held in each congressional district to
give interested people a chance to ex
press opinions.
Several hundred people from all over
the district filled the State Court room
in the Hall County Courthouse.
The county’s, Cumming’s and the
chamber’s resolutions were all very
similar in wording. They began by
praising the current representatives,
Joe T. Wood, Bobby Lawson and Jerry
Jackson. But, they all said the county
has grown so much that it needs its own
member of the state House of Rep
resentatives to adequately represent it.
• Semi-private room (without bath),
SB9, to be increased $7 (eight percent)
from SB2.
• Intensive care room, $250, to be
increased $25 (10 percent) from $225.
New rates for various services will be
as follows:
• Operating room for a major opera
tion: $l4O for the first hour and S6O for
each additional Ms hour.
• Recovery room: $35 for the first
hour and sl2 for each additional Vz
hour.
• Labor room: $25 for the first hour
and $lO for each additional Vz hour.
There is a maximum charge of $145.
• Delivery room: $l3O.
• Emergency room fee: S2O for zero to
60 minutes and $9 for each additional Ms
hour. (There has been no increase in
the additional %-hour charge.)
• Emergency room physician’s fee:
$25. Sutures will cost $25 for the first
four and $4 for each additional one.
• Minor surgery: $95 for the first hour
and S3O for each additional Vz hour.
(These rates are unchanged.)
Seniors Celebrate Graduation
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1911 CUMMING, GA. 30130
tax base. He said the benefits an exec
utive director would far outweigh the
costs.
Welch, who is also a city councilman,
agreed to supply some information
on the effects of industry on the tax
base, and said the city council would be
glad to meet with the commissioners to
discuss an executive director’s salary.
At the end of the meeting, Commis
sioner David Gilbert brought up that
many people were concerned about the
dangers of the intersection at Georgia
highways 369 and 400. Discussion re
vealed there have been 26 wrecks and
two deaths at the corner since Highway
400 was opened.
County Administrator Donald Major
said he had asked the state Department
of Transportation to improve the safety
of the comer. DOT had replied materi
als had been requisitioned to change the
Continued on Page 2A
All the resolutions asked that Forsyth
County be made part of a legislative
district that included itself and some
other area it could out vote.
The Republican resolution was simi
lar. It, too, mentioned a rapidly in
creasing population and asked f'r a
separate representative for the county.
The Republicans also asked that For
syth County dominate a separate dis
trict.
Just a few hours before the Gaines
ville hearing, the county commission
ers approved a resolution by
Commissioner Leroy Hubbard asking
that Forsyth County stay in the Ninth
Congressional District. This resolution
said Forsyth County is predominantly
rural and derives many benefits from
the federal Applachian Regional Com
mission. Further, it said, Forsyth
County is part of the poultry-raising
capital of the world.
Putting Forsyth County in a congres
sional district dominated by metropol
itan counties closer to Atlanta “would
be disruptive to the citizens of Forsyth
County and would impede their ability
to receive congressional representation
consistent with their needs,” the resolu
tion read.
Throughout most of the hearing,
speakers from various groups in the
district read short statements into the
record.
Sammy Smith, an aide to ninth dis
trict congressman Ed Jenkins, read a
letter from his boss.
Jenkins wrote he wished the bounda
ries of the district could stay as they
are, but realized they had to change.
He said he knew the committees
would receive considerable pressure
from many sources to redraw the
boundaries “to best serve the political
interests of incumbents or potential
candidates.” Jenkins went on to ask the
committees to resist this pressure and
to draw district boundaries “that are in
the best interest of the people of the
state, rather than the political interests
of myself and other incumbents, or of
potential candidates.”
Besides Jordan, two other Forsyth
County Republicans testified.
Bruce McCaskill said he wanted the
county to have its own legislator. Then
he aroused a brief flurry of criticism
when he asked the assembled lawmak-
Continued on Page 2A
the class of 1981 with Dina Echols and Rhonda Satterfield serving as the
valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. Also in attendance for the ceremony
were members of the Forsyth County Board of Education: Chairman Edsel Orr,
Vice-chairman Harold Glover, Arthur Wright, Ron Wood and Crafton Day. (News
staff photo by Lane Gardner Camp)
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GUY WALDRIP SERVES AS THE CARETAKER
...at Swiss Air, a private vacation retreat on Lake Lanier in Forsyth County
Swiss Air's Flower Collection
A Monument To *Mr . Charlie 9
By LANE GARDNER CAMP
Staff Writer
There are a lot of enjoyable vocations
to be had in Forsyth County, but proba
bly no resident labors in a more beauti
ful environment than 70-year-old Guy
Waldrip.
For the last 13 years, Waldrip has
been employed to maintain the grounds
and gardens of Swiss Air, a vacation
retreat on Lake Lanier that belongs to
the family of the now deceased Charles
L. Davidson Sr. of Lithonia.
Not really a gardener, Waldrip pre
fers to call himself a caretaker of the
almost 12 acres of property that in
cludes two houses and a sizeable collec
tion of flowering plants on a hillside
overlooking the lake.
All over the hill and other parts of the
property grow petunias, geraniums,
iris, roses, marigolds and begonias. But
the plants most evident are the 800
rhododendron and 1,000 azaleas.
Waldrip says the last week in April is
usually the “peak” time for the blooms
when r they are their healthiest and
most colorful. The hillside is like an
artist’s palette with all the soft and rich
shades of red, pink, purple, orange and
yellow.
Swiss Air, however, is not just a hill
side of beautiful flowers; it is also a
34 PAGES, 3 SECTIONS—2S CENTS
botanist’s/horticulturist’s paradise.
Bruce Hancock, a grower from Social
Circle who recently visited Swiss Air,
says the grounds contain one of the
largest collections of large flowering
azaleas in the south.
And, for a private garden, Hancock
notes that Swiss Air contains “an exten
sive collection” of Japanese Satsuki.
For those more flower minded, Han
cock can rattle off other of the garden’s
unique qualities.
Both Hancock and Waldrip were as
sociated with Charles L. Davidson Sr.,
known affectionately as “Mr. Charlie,”
when he first began planning and lay
ing out the garden about 12 years ago.
Besides flowers, Swiss Air also boasts
fruit trees, a fern bed, a greenhouse,
and several varieties of figs and
grapes.
One part of the gardens Waldrip
especially likes is the underground
sprinkler system. Before it was in
stalled, he said it used to take forever to
water everything.
Waldrip is quick to point out that he
hasn’t been the only one to tend to
Swiss Air through the years. He says
he’s had the help of his brother, E.C.,
and brother-in-law, Dewey Mathis.
Even though he’s been fooling with
Swiss Air’s plants for about a dozen
Cumming Youth Is Killed
In Automobile Accident
A 19-year-old Cumming youth was
killed in an automobile accident in
Forsyth County last Monday, according
to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Depart
ment.
Sheriff Wesley Walraven said Andy
Carnes became the county’s sixth traf
fic fatality of the year when he died of
injuries sustained in an accident that
occurred at the intersection of Georgia
Forest Park Man Is First
To Drown Here This Year
Forsyth County recorded its first
drowning of the year on Saturday, May
30, at approximately 1 p.m., according
to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Depart
ment.
Authorities identified the victim as
Calvin P. Austin, age 53, of a Forest
Park address.
Officers said Austin was attempting
years, Waldrip still has trouble remem
bering the names of everything be
cause there are so many varieties. He
said he’s mainly just spent his time
caring for the plants.
Asked where he acquired his garden
ing skills, the former feedmill worker
said, “Mr. Charlie helped me to learn.”
According to Waldrip, Mr. Charlie
“just loved nature” and especially
Swiss Air. “He stayed all he could,”
noted Waldrip’s sister-in-law, Martha
Waldrip.
Story has it that Mr. Charlie named
the property as he did because he said
the air felt like the air in Switzerland.
"If there’s any stirring at all, you can
feel it on this hill,” explained Mrs.
Waldrip.
Swiss Air and its garden was a pas
sion for Mr. Charlie, but it was far from
his only love and his only concern. In
fact, eight years before his death in 1980
at the age of 79, friends wrote and
compiled a book about his event-filled
life entitled, “Charlie’s World.”
Davidson is remembered in the book
by his friends as a successful business
man, loyal friend, sincere Christian and
active community member.
Those who contributed to the book in
his honor are numerous clergymen,
Continued on Page 2A
400 and Georgia 369.
The youth was a passenger in a
vehicle that wrecked Monday evening,
the sheriff said.
He was transferred to Piedmont Hos
pital where he died at approximately
10:30 p.m. Monday, the sheriff added.
State troopers and sheriff’s deputies
are continuing the investigation into the
accident, Sheriff Walraven added.
to swim across a cove at Tidwell Park
when he apparently got cramps in his
legs and went under the water.
A nearby boat picked up the victim
and bystanders performed CPR to no
avail, the sheriff said. Austin was pro
nounced dead on arrival at Forsyth
County Hospital.