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Tentative Plan Shows
Local Representative
By JAY JORDAN
News Editor
Forsyth County has received its own
General Assembly representative in a
tenative plan drawn up by the state
House Reapportionment Committee
staff.
The tenative district -*• “something to
play around with,” said Rep. Bobby
Lawson would comprise Forsyth
County and the Lathemtown and Hol
brook Campground areas of Cherokee
County. No exact description of the
City Water System
Additions Approved
The Cumming City Council last week
authorized Mayor Ford Gravitt to sign
contracts for additions to the city water
system to be built next fall.
The council also learned work is
substantially complete on a two-year
project to improve the water system. A
single payment of $53,000 remains to be
made after the contractor fixes a water
meter and repairs some backfill in
Deerwood Subdivision.
Jerry Spencer of Southern Engi
neering explained the new project will
consist of a 12-inch water line running
south down U.S. Highway 19 from the
city water works to the Tyson Foods
poultry plant on West Maple Street.
This line will provide additional capac
ity and reliability to service a Tyson’s
expansion and other future customers.
The new project also will involve
building a smaller line on Castleberry
and Piney Grove roads to improve
service and supply the Cumming-For
syth County Water and Sewerage Au
thority.
Plans have been completed and all
necessary permits have been secured,
Spencer said. The project should be
ready to advertise for bids in August or
September. A contract should be
awarded in September and work should
actually start in October.
The estimated cost is $522,000. Some
$200,000 will be a state grant and the
rest will be a loan from the federal
Farmers Home Administration. The
0 -
HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IS HAROLD HAMMONTREE
...standing are assistant principals Rick Case and Dennis Moore
‘Fuel Fund ’ Aided 7 Families
Seven checks totaling more than S3OO
have assisted needy families in the
Forsyth County area during the past six
months— thanks to contributions made
to the Forsyth Fuel Fund.
The fund was established in January,
with accounts opened at The Bank of
Cumming and The Forsyth County
Bank. Since January, contributions
made to the accounts enabled fuel bills
to be paid for families that might not
otherwise would have had heat during
the cold winter months.
Three checks were written to differ
ent families during the month of Feb
ruary to pay fuel bills. The three checks
totaled more than S2OO.
Since that time, four more checks
have been written directly to fuel com
T"IE COUNTY NEWS
VOLUME LXXII—NUMBER 25
boundaries are known to exist, but the
only existing map, a small one with
thick lines, shows a boundary running
north from the Fulton County line
through Lathemtown to Georgia High
way 369. About 3,000 people live in that
area, according to the 1980 census.
Rep. Joe T. Wood of Gainesville, the
senior member of the Forsyth and Hall
counties delegation, said, “I think there
is a good chance this plan or one similar
to it will be accepted with some modifi
cations” in the special reapportionment
grant has been “verbally committed to
accompany that FmHA loan so there
won’t be any problem there,” Mayor
Gravitt said. Spencer said FmHA has
asked the city to fill out a pre-applica
tion for a loan, which nearly guarantees
acceptance of the actual application,
Spencer said.
The project, which the city is fin
ishing now, should be complete by July
30, Spencer said.
By the fall of 1980, the city water
filtering plant had been expanded, and
a raw water intake had been built on
Lake Lanier. A line had been built to
connect it with the filter plant.
This spring, a concrete block building
was built at the water intake, the roof
on the filter plant was repaired, and a
six-inch water line was built on Pirkle
wood Road.
Spencer said final cost estimates
were being drawn up. After the final
$53,000 payment is made, the city can
expect a reimbursement from the state
of 822,000 to pay for the work on Pirkle
wood Circle, he said. The final payment
will not be made until all work is
complete.
Spencer praised the work of water
system supervisor Carroll Buice and
his staff at the filter plant. “It’s a tip
top facility and Carroll is working hard
to keep it that way,” he said.
The council also discusssed holding
an open house at the filter plant when
the work is completed.
panies to help the needy families.
Those who sought assistance were
screened by the sisters, Sister June
Racicot, Sister Kathryn Cliatt and Sis
ter Jean Cassidy, at The Place in Cum
ming. The sisters agreed to handle the
accounty after the Forsyth County Ro
tary Club took on the project as a
community service plan.
Generous contributions from people
in the community enabled both banks to
maintain the accounts during the colder
months. The sisters checked the bal
ances, interviewed families who sought
help, then wrote checks to the fuel
companies.
Now that the cold weather has come
and gone, the accounts at the banks
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1981 CUMMING, GA. 30130
session of the General Assembly which
begins Aug. 24.
But in Cherokee County, Rep. Bill
Hasty said, “It’s a long way from being
settled yet, so don’t have people go
jumping to conclusions.” The prospect
of seeing a comer of Cherokee County
carved off to make a state House dis
trict for Forsyth County is not at all
popular, he said.
Rep. Jerry Jackson of Gainesville
summed up Forsyth County’s feeling
when he said, “I think they deserve
their own representative because of the
growth and because they need their
representative close at hand.”
Hasty explained, “The people I’ve
heard talk about it (the reapportion
ment plan) don’t like it at all. How
would you like it if they came and cut up
a section of Forsyth County?”
Hasty said he and Rep. Wendell An
derson were not told of the committee
meeting where the plan was unveiled.
They had their own meeting scheduled
for June 30 where they intend to protest,
he said. “To split the county, the people
would be against that. ... I can assure
you it is not over by a long shot.”
Forsyth County Democratic Party
Chairman Horace Trammell defended
the plan.
The University of Georgia is acting as
the committee staff and actually drew
up the plan, Trammell explained. The
plan is logical, he said. Cherokee
County and Forsyth County share the
same court system. That part of Chero
kee County is on the Cumming tele
phone exchange.
Cherokee County will get to keep its
two-man House delegation, too, he said.
Dawson and Hall counties have been
joined in a district, and they, too, share
courts. They are more compatible, he
said.
Trammell thinks Cherokee County
would eventually come around and
accept the plan as the best possible one.
In Forsyth County, the plan has gen
erally been received favorably. County
Commission Chairman Bill Barnett
likes it and so does Republican Party
Chairman Ben Jordan.
The drive to give Forsyth County its
own General Assembly representative
in Atlanta goes back several years.
Jackson said he is now fulfilling cam-
Continued on Page 2A
Hammontree Gets Approval
As High School Principal
By LANE GARDNER CAMP
Staff Writer
Harold Hammontree was officially
approved as the new principal for For
syth County High School when the For
syth County Board of Education met
last week.
Principal at Otwell Middle School for
the last five years, Hammontree will
assume his new duties July 1.
He has been with the Forsyth County
School System for 13 years and in
education for 19 years.
Johnny Otts, principal at the high
school since 1972, has been named di
rector of secondary education effective
July 1.
The board has been looking to fill the
position of principal since April. Ham
montree is their apparent choice after
first having looked at candidates out
side the system.
The board also approved two assis
tant principals for the high school to
work with Hammontree. They are Rick
Case, currently assistant principal at
Otwell Middle School, and Dennis
Moore, currently assistant principal at
the high school.
Because Hammontree, Case and
have all but been depleted but re
main open for contributions.
The balance at one bank this month
was $8.93 and the balance at another
bank was $8.67. The money left in the
two banks will keep the accounts open,
and contributions are still being ac
cepted.
The board of directors of the Rotary
Club of Forsyth County has agreed to
keep the community service project
going for another year, with hopes of
building the accounts so money will be
available when it is needed.
Rotary Club directors recently dis
cussed making a sizable contribution to
the accounts, and at the same time,
challenging other civic clubs in the
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July Fourth Parade Entry
Deadline Fast Approaching
BY SCOTT VAUGHAN
Staff Writer
With less than two weeks until For
syth County’s 24th annual A. G. (Glenn)
Thomas Memorial Parade and festivi
ties, the Cumming City Park has re
ported that participants for this year’s
parade are down from years past.
This is the first year the park has
Moore were originally named to serve
as principals at the county’s three ju
nior high schools, the board must now
look to find principals for those schools.
Hammontree had been scheduled to
go to North Forsyth Junior High School.
Case was to become principal at Otwell
Junior High School (The school will no
longer be known as Otwell Middle.) and
Moore was to assume the principalship
at South Forsyth Junior High School.
Forsyth School Supt. B.M. “Bud”
Amsler referred to Hammontree, Case
and Moore as a “team” administrative
effort at the high school.
In other business, the board heard
updates on the three new schools cur
rently under construction in the county.
Supt. Amsler reported that “everything
looks to be pretty well on track” at Coal
Mountain Elementary.
Commenting on the progress at the
North and South Forsyth Junior High
Schools, Amsler said things weren’t
moving as fast as had been expected.
While an end-of-June completion date
had been suggested by the architect, he
said it now looked like it will be mid-
July before work is completed.
The board also acted on two propo-
community to make an equal contribu
tion.
Individual contributions also are be
ing solicited.
Distribution of the money this winter
will again be done by the sisters at The
Place. The Place is an interdenomina
tional organization that is supported by
eight churches in Forsyth County.
Any amount of money contributed to
this cause may be sent to either bank in
care of the “Forsyth Fuel Fund.”
Addresses of the banks are as fol
lows: Bank of Cumming, 201 W. Main
Street, Cumming, Ga. 30130; Forsyth
County Bank, 106 W. Maple Street,
Cumming, Ga. 30130. Please specify
Fuel Fund.
32 PAGES, 3 SECTIONS—2S CENTS
JULY FOURTH PARADE ROUTE WILL BE DIFFERENT
...red line show where parade begins and ends
coordinated all the activities, including
the parade. The Cumming-Forsyth
County Chamber of Commerce has
sponsored the parade in the past.
Steve Bennett, who is coordinating
the parade for the park, said Monday
that entrants seem to be down over the
previous years. Bennett also said the
deadline for entering the parade is
sals which had been presented at the
May board meeting. Chairman Edsel
Orr had appointed committees to study
the matters and report back.
The board voted to include an approx
imate 827,000 in the coming year’s
budget in order to set up a reading lab
and math lab in each of the county’s two
new junior high schools.
Only board member Ron Wood voted
Continued on Page 2A
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Wetting A Line And Feet, Too
Jason Tinsley and Terry Hawkins last week found a way to beat the heat and have
a little fun at the same time. The two boys, both of the Midway area, found
the locals' favorite pasttime, wetting a line and their feet at the same time.
Although the weather was hot and the fish weren’t biting very good, the boys
waited patiently, like any good fisherman would do. Did they have any luck?
Photographer Lane Gardner Camp waited for a while along with the boys. See
Page 2-A for their results.
Tuesday, June 30,1981 at 5 p.m.
There will be a meeting of the For
syth County Steam Engine Association
in the parking lot of the Forsyth County
Jail on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Bennett
said the purpose of the meeting is to
coordinate the lineup of the engines
prior to the fourth.
The parade will be taking a different
route this year. Bennett said the parade
will form out of the jail parking lot and
then proceed to the square.
The parade will take a left on Maple
Street and then turn right on Industrial
Drive around the courthouse. The pa
rade formation will then turn right on
Main Street and continue in front of the
Cumming Convalescent Home and
through town until it veers to the left on
Pilgrim Mill Road. The parade will end
at the Cumming City Park. (See Map)
Bennett said Monday that the grand
marshalls for this year’s parade will be
former government officials, who have
not been named by the park.
Immediately following the parade,
the Forsyth County- Lions’ Club will be
holding its annual chicken barbecue
dinner on the courthouse square. The
club will begin serving plates immedi-
Continued on Page 2A