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County Approves Southern Monorail Bonds
By CHUCK THOMPSON
News Editor
A total of $l.B million in industrial
development revenue bonds was ap
proved by the Forsyth County Commis
sion Monday night to finance the
relocation of Southern Monorail Com
pany to Forsyth County.
Approval of the bonds was given the
company by the Forsyth County Devel
opment Authority last Thursday night.
Southern Monorail Company, which
manufactures bridge cranes, will use
the $l.B million to finance the construc
tion of a new 87,000-square-foot man
Martin Marietta Suit
Dismissal Is Denied
By CHUCK THOMPSON
News Editor
A motion to dismiss a suit against
Forsyth County officials, brought by
Martin Marietta Corporation and
Woodland Equities, Inc., has been den
ied by Superior Court Judge Robert
Scoggins.
The motion to dismiss was filed by
Forsyth County Attorney Lynwood Jor
dan. Scoggins also has denied motions
to dismiss the board of commissioners
as defendants in the suit and to allow
landowners Nancy Crosswell and Ed
Wright to intervene on behalf of the
defendants.
Both Crosswell and Wright own prop
erty adjacent to 833 acres on which
Martin Marietta is seeking to operate a
rock quarry.
The suit was filed Nov. 24 in Forsyth
County Superior Court, and charges the
county’s Environmental Review Ordi
nance and two zoning amendments
IT’S A MIRACLE THAT WE’RE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
Albert, Glen, Jane and Clyde celebrate after 31-year separation
Separated 31 Years, They Reunite
By GREG LITTLE
Staff Writer
“It’s a dream come true,” said
Glen Stevens, of Cumming, after he
and his two brothers were reunited
last Thursday with their sister after
31 years of separation.
Glen and his two brothers, Albert
Morris and Clyde Morris of Canton,
traveled to Atlanta airport Thursday
afternoon for the happy reunion with
their sister Barbara Ann Stevens,
now named Jane Christine Walsh.
It was April, 1952, when “hard
ship” caused their parents to place
Glen and four of his five brothers
and sisters in St. Joseph’s Home, an
orphanage in Erie, Pa. At the time,
Clyde was nine years old, Albert was
seven, Glen was three, Barbara Ann
Kenco Puts Emphasis On Quality And Safety
By CHUCK THOMPSON
News Editor
Once all the finishing touches are
added,, the new location of Kenco Alloy
and Chemical Company, in south For
syth County, will be one of the most
attractive buildings in the area.
In the words of Company President
Ken Barry, the new building is a “re
flection of how we do business.”
Barry says his company must “look,
Jeff Swanger Is
Champion... Page 1-B
mfin FORSYTH IffflWiVC
IXI Jb county mm Em ww 9
VOLUME LXXIV—NUMBER 7
ufacturing plant at the intersection of
Georgia 400 and McFarland Road.
It was the first time the commission
ers were called upon to approve a bond
resolution for a prospective industry.
Development Authority Chairman
Wayne Maffett said new laws now re
quire the commissioners to approve the
bonds.
(See separate story on Southern Mo
norail on Page 2-A.)
In other action during the county’s
regular meeting Monday evening, com
missioners decided Forsyth Countians
would have a chance to express opin
approved by the board of commission
ers in 1981 are unconstitutional. One of
the amendments prohibits quarrying
operations except upon issuance of an
environmental development permit.
The other amendment removed mining
and quarrying operations from Agricul
ture zonings.
The ordinance and amendments were
what former Planning Director Lanier
Bannister relied on, when he denied
Martin Marietta’s application for a
building permit Oct. 20,1982. Bannister
told the company it would first have to
undergo an environmental review and
have its property rezoned from A (Agri
culture) to MINE (Mining).
The suit calls for mandamus action
requiring the planning director to issue
a building permit to Martin Marietta
for an office structure. That structure
would serve as the office for the compa
ny’s proposed quarrying operation in
south Forsyth County.
was two and Mary Ann was one.
Though details of the period are
sketchy at best, it is believed that
the other child, Donald Leroy Mor
ris, age six, was sent to Arkansas to
live with his uncle.
Barbara Ann was adopted in May,
1952, and was given the name Jane
Christine Walsh by her new parents.
Records show that Mary Ann also
was adopted from the orphanage.
Clyde and Albert remained in St.
Joseph’s for some six years, and
were then sent to the Harbor Creek
Home for Boys until they were re
leased to their mother, Zelpha Lee
Stevens. Glen stayed in the orpha
nage until he was 18, when he was
rereleased to his father, Roy Glen
Stevens, Sr.
act and be professional,” primarily
because of the customers it serves.
Among those customers are IBM and
Honeywell.
Kenco specializes in chemicals for
the electronics industry, which are used
in soldering, cleaning and coating of
printed circuits and printed wiring as
semblies. It also manufactures electro
nic testing instruments.
“We have a number of things here
Solesbee Is
•Slick’... See
Page 4-A
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1983 CUMMING, GA. 30130
ions on the proposed use of the 1983
revenue sharing budget.
A public hearing was held last month
on the use of $234,251 appropriated to
the county, but no one attended the
meeting. Commissioners then decided
to use the funds for water line exten
sions and road maintenance and im
provements. Residents can now
express thoughts on the use of the
money for those purposes during a
hearing at the courthouse next month.
The 1983 revenue sharing budget con
sists of $36,848 carried over from last
year. Of the budgeted amount, $121,000
Because the suit calls for action by
the planning director, Jordan con
tended the commissioners should not be
involved in the case. Attorneys for the
plaintiffs, however, argued that the
planning director was under the admin
istration of the commissioners and that
the county commission should be main
tained as a defendant.
In a recent court hearing, Jordan said
based on a ruling in a September 1981
case, Village Centers vs. DeKalb
County, the plaintiffs had waited too
long to file suit.
In that case, the defendant filed for a
rezoning, which was denied by the
DeKalb County Board of Commission
ers. About one and a half years later,
the defendant filed suit on the grounds
that his zoning was unconstitutional.
“The court held that the filing of a
rezoning application before the board of
commissioners is a prerequisite to
Continued on Page 3A
The boys stayed in contact with
one another as they were growing up
and each tried to locate his lost
sisters when he was released from
the orphanage. But because Penn
sylvania is a “locked state,” the
adoption agencies were unable to
help them in their search.
“Being a locked state means when
a child is adopted, and the parents
sign the release forms, the child is
legally dead to them and vice-versa.
They have no idea of who is adopting
the child or where they live. A new
birth certificate is issued and the
child assumes a new identity. The
old identity is kept in a locked file
and it takes life or death circum
stances and a court injunction to
have that information released,”
which may seem strict to some peo
ple,” Barry says. One of those “things"
includes a company dress code. Outside
of the company’s image, Barry also
focuses on “safety, accuracy and
housekeeping.” Kenco will employ a
safety director, who will administer a
“very tight safety program.” Employ
ees also will undergo training courses,
among which will be industrial house
keeping.
D
is proposed for water line extensions
and $150,099 for road improvements.
The total budget amounts to $271,099
including the carry-over.
The county’s search for a new park
site was discussed and commissioners
are now seeking state funds for acquisi
tion of land in south Forsyth. The board
agreed to provide matching funds for
land acquisition, if and when it received
a grant from the Georgia Department
of Natural Resources.
In other action, a low bid of $32,263.77
for a new asphalt distributor was ac
cepted by the board from Burch-Lowe,
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[ FORSYTH UNEMPLOYMENT DURING 1982
said Jane. “So my brothers were
never able to get that information to
track me down.”
Not knowingly, anyway.
When Jane was 14, she spent some
time with her adoptive mother’s
cousin in nearby Edinborough.
While there, a friend of the cousin
came to visit, bringing his foster son
along with him. And while the two
older friends talked, the two teen
agers played together. Years later,
Jane was to discover that that new
found friend was her real brother,
Glen.
“My mother’s cousin realized that
we were brother and sister, and
talked to my mother about it. They
decided not to tell me at the time,
Continued on Page 3A
Barry stresses Kenco will not man
ufacture any chemicals. Once most
individuals hear the word “chemical,”
he says, they picture a large factory
with smokestacks. What the company
does do is buy and mix chemicals into
various products, which are packaged
into five-gallon pails or 55-gallon drums
for shipment.
“There’s no heat or pressure involved
in the mixing,” Barry says.
Ronnie Jackson Is
New Coach... Page 1-B
32 PAGES, 3 SECTIONS—3S CENTS
Inc., of Mableton.
The company promised delivery of
the new distributor in 10-12 months. The
only other bid offered on the distributor
was from Reynolds Equipment Com
pany, which offered a bid of $34,631.83.
A creek in central Forsyth County,
which is being used as a boundary line
for one of the county’s five new election
districts, was given a name by the
commission Monday night. County At
torney Woody Jordan said the creek
runs under Georgia 20 west, and into
Cheatham Creek. The commission
voted to name the creek Mountain
CHART SHOWS HOW UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
...went from 9 percent to 6.5 percent last year
Unemployment Has
Had Its Ups, Downs
Unemployment in Forsyth County
during 1982 showed zig-zag movement
with the year’s Hgh recordbd in the
beginning month at 9 percent.
Following that January high, unem
ployment began a steady decline during
the next three months and reached the
year’s low of 4.9 percent in April. Job
lessness in the county throughout the
year averaged 6.1 percent and ended
the year, again on the increase, at 6.5
percent.
With the rise in joblessness during
December, 1982, Forsyth County
ranked number eight in the Atlanta
Regional Commission Area’s 15-county
metro area. Counties with a smaller
percentage of workers without jobs in
December were Cherokee, with an un
employment rate of 6.2 percent; Cobb,
5.2 percent; DeKalb, 5.8 percent;
Fayette, 4.6 percent; Gwinnett, 5.6 per
Volunteers Are Scarce
For Landfill Committee
The Forsyth County Board of Com
missioners is having difficulty finding
volunteers to serve on a proposed sani
tary landfill task force committee. The
commission had planned to name ap
pointments to the committee Monday
night, but the size of the task force is
still below the desired 10 members
sought by the county.
The committee is supposed to help
with the review and selection of a new
landfill site in Forsyth County. Each of
the five commissioners had hoped to
appoint two individuals from his dis
Kenco’s Forsyth County plant, lo
cated off McFarland Road, features a
brick finish and a one-acre pond behind
the building.
“All that’s going in the pond are bass
and bluegill,” Barry said, noting some
had feared the pond would be used for
the dumping of unwanted chemicals.
The company is moving to Forsyth
County from the Chicago area, where it
began in 1963. The Chicago operation,
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Creek, because of its location near
Sawnee Mountain.
The county is being required by fed
eral law to realign the five districts
from which the board of commissioners
and board of education members are
elected. Natural land characteristics
such as creeks and roads are being used
as boundaries for the new districts.
In other business, the commission
voted to accept a low bid from Sissan
Realty and Timber Company, to ap
praise land in Forsyth County for the
tax assessor’s office. Sissan offered the
commission a low bid of SB,OOO.
cent; and Rockdale, 5.7 percent.
The highest rate of unemployment
during December in the 15-county area
was recorded in Butts County at 9.8
percent. Newton County followed close
behind with an unemployment rate of
9.0 percent.
On the whole during December,
metro Atlanta, with a jobless rate of 6.5
percent, had the lowest unemployment
rate of the six metropolitan areas in the
state.
Unemployment percentages in For
syth County on a month-by-month basis
during 1982 are as follows:
January, 9.0 percent; February, 6.8
percent; March, 5.8 percent; April, 4.9
percent; May, 5.6 percent; June, 6.2
percent; July, 5.9 percent; August, 5.2
percent; September, 6.1 percent; Octo
ber, 6.5 percent; November, 6.0 per
cent; and December, 6.5 percent.
trict to the task force.
So far, only Post 1 Commissioner
Jack Shoemake has named his two
appointments: Harry Dell and Michael
Gravitt. In Monday night’s meeting,
Commissioner David Gilbert named
Cloyce Stanford, Commissioner Mar
cus Whitmire named Morris Collins and
Commission Chairman Donald Glover
named W. D. Power.
According to a tentative schedule, the
first meeting of the task force was set
for Thursday, Feb. 17, followed by
another meeting Monday, Feb. 21.
according to the company president,
will be shut down altogether.
Barry began Kenco at age 25. Prior to
that, he was employed by a company in
a similar type business, but says that
company’s philosophy was inconsistent
with his.
“I decided to pursue the old Ameri
can dream. My wife took the orders and
I mixed and delivered the chemicals."
Continued on Page 5A