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Tis the season to be joHy ... and decorate your home
or boat with the spirit, and colors, of Christmas. Larry
and Beverly Garmon’s home on Canton Highway is a
bright beacon of joy for many travelers on land, while
Roy and Ruth Bridgeman's colorful houseboat has
becorne an annual treat for those around Lake Lanier.
“Just making people happy” is the reason the Garmons
Story Contest Winner
The Gift Of Friendship On Christmas Eve
By TINA AMARO
First Place Winner
The subway car screeched to a halt,
and an unusually cheerful voiced
piped: “Eighty-second Street, Jackson
Heights, and Merry Christmas, every
one.”
Wrapping my scarf around my neck,
j stared at the happy faces glowing
under the subway lights. Women and
children clung to colorfully wrapped
boxes tied with shiny ribbons. Men
chatted merrily, exchanging holiday
greetings. The festive scene was unlike
the usual somber subway rides. Tonight
was Christmas Eve, and the air was
electric. For everyone, that is, but me.
* This was my first Christmas alone in
New York City. Moving from California
required leaving my family and
friends. I had moved several months
earlier; a young woman curious about
IfIVVTI FORSYTH MiHItC
A nil county IV LW 9
Christmas In Lanierland
the “Big City.”
It promised to be an exciting life, but
it was sometimes a lonely one, and
making friends was not easy. I had
hoped to spend the holidays with an
other young woman in my apartment
budding, but she had unexpectedly
been called home. Now having no other
friends nearby, I could not avbid spend
ing Christmas alone.
As happy spirits were rising all
around me, I felt more and more home
sick.
“This is supposed to be a family
celebration,” I kept telling myself.
“How can I celebrate Christmas with
out my family? ’’All I could think of was
the empty room waiting for me; the
television set my only companionship.
I slushed through the build-up of stow
cm the elevated platform and trudged
down the icy steps leading to the street
VOLUME LXXIV—NUMBER SI
On Land....
...On Water
go to the trouble, and expense, of surrounding their
home with lights and decorations, adding a new feature
each Christmas season The Bridgemans enjoy
“spreading a little Christmas cheer around” by taking
their lighted boat out at night, paying visits to their lake
neighbors. (News Staff Photos by Greg Little)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1983 CUMMING, GA. 30130
below. Strings of twinkling lights criss
crossed overhead along the avenue,
forming arches of stars against the
dark night. From the little shops lining
the street, the sound of Christmas car
ols floated through the air. I tucked my
head under the hood of my coat to block
out the sights and sounds around me.
They only made me more homesick.
Light flurries of snow swirled against
me as I quickened my pace. I would
soon be home. As I crossed the street, I
saw the big church on the comer. It was
aglow with lots of candles burning
brightly inside. A life-size creche stood
on the lawn with Mary and Joseph
looking down at the Christ Child in the
manger. A lighted sign next to it read:
“Please join us for midnight mass on
Christmas Eve.”
A tear slipped down my cheek Mid
night mass was a tradition in our family
Less Than 5 Percent
Appeal Assessment
By CHUCK THOMPSON
News Editor
Some 500 people have appealed their property as
sessments following completion this year of the first
county-wide revaluation since 1973.
Commissioner Jack Shoemake said last week the
revaluation increased the 1983 tax digest as a whole by
21 percent. Increases as high as 300 percent were
recorded in some properties.
Hearings on the 500 appeals began Dec. 12 and could
run into February, according to Tax Assessor James
Payne.
If 5 percent of the county’s property owners had
appealed their assessments, the state would have
rejected the ‘B3 digest and reverted the county back to
its ‘B2 digest.
City Keeps Same Tax Rate
As In Last Year’s Budget
Growth in the Forsyth County tax digest has allowed
the city of Cumming to fund an 11.9 percent budget
increase at last year’s mill rate.
The tax digest has experienced larger than normal
growth this year due to a county-wide revaluation of
property. As a Whole, property values in the county
increased by 21 percent.
In its regular meeting last Tuesday, the city council
set its mil! rate at 6.0, the same as last year.
The city’s 1984 budget amounts to $794,800, which is
$84,800 (11.9 percent) higher than last year.
Mayor Ford Gravitt said the council’s objective this
year was to provide an increase of around 10 percent in
the budgets of the five city departments.
Appropriations in the city’s ‘B4 budget are as follows:
police department, $253,000, an increase of $23,000 (10
percent); administration, $183,000, an increase of
$18,000.(10.9 percent); recreation and parks depart
ment, SIBO,BOO, an increase of $17,200 (10.5 percent);
Legislative
Forum Set
Here Jan. 7
Forsyth Countians wishing to ask
questions or make comments about the
1984 general assembly session can do so
at the annual pre-legislative forum Jan.
7.
The forum is sponsored by the Cum
ming-Forsyth County Chamber of Com
merce.
State Rep. Bill Barnett and Sen. Na
than Deal are scheduled to appear at
the forum.
Chamber Director Mac Berston says
he hopes Sen. Haskew Brantley will
also be able to attend.
Deal represents the northern two
thirds of Forsyth County, while Brant
ley represents the southern third.
Berston says the forum gives resi
dents a good opportunity to find out
what their legislators plan to do. In
addition, he says, people have a chance
to suggest legislation they’d like to see
passed in the ‘B4 session.
The forum will begin at 10 a.m. in the
Jury Assembly Room, located on the
second floor of Forsyth County Court
house.
that we never missed. We always went
to church together on Christmas Eve.
To go without them would only add to
the pain I already felt. Why, I thought,
do I have to be alone and 4,000 miles
away from my home this night?
Inside the entranceway to my build
ing, I fumbled for my keys. Then I
heard it. A soft, vaguely familiar voice
singing: “Joy to the world the Lord is
come...” I stopped and looked around.
No one was there. I looked curiously.
“...Let earth receive her king...” I
poked my head out to the street. No one.
I looked at the intercom unit at my
right, and then I understood. Coming
from the speaker was the voice. Of
course! It belonged to Mrs. Julia on the
sixth floor. She was a hearty soul, who
loved to stop residents in the lobby to
chat endlessly. She did that to me often.
Telling me more than twice, more than I
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ik “ It/
TO BE AT FORUM
...Barnett (top)
and Deal (bottom)
wanted to know, about her herb garden
and Felix, her housecat. She was a kind
woman, bringing me soup when she
found out I had the flu.
I knew she was lonely, but I just did
not have the time to listen to her non
stop chatter. Now I could picture sitting
on the wooden stool next to the voice
box in her kitchen, her wiry, silver hair
touseled into a bun atop her head,
singing to her neighbors as they came
home.
As I listened, my body lightened. Her
voice rang out: “...Let ev’ry heart
prepare him r00m...” The words awak
ened me like a splash of cold water on
my face. “Prepare him room.”
Why, this is what Christmas is about,
I thought, preparing him room in my
heart. My mind raced back over the
last few weeks. Had I prepared him
room? No, I had not. I had been too
Had that occurred, the state would have factored the
‘B2 digest by 25 percent, making the overall increase 4
percent higher than the ‘B3 digest.
Payne said last week the 500 appeals do not consti
tute 5 percent of all taxpayers. He said it would have
taken around 900 appeals to reject the ‘B3 digest.
The deadline for filing appeals ended Nov. 28 for
residents of the county and nine days later for non
residents.
“Anyone who has written a letter of appeal, but has
not come into the.office to talk with us, can still do so
before we talk to the board of equalization,” Payne
says. “This applies to appeals by letter only.”
Payne says his office had no choice but to do the
revaluation, even though it meant a substantial in-
Continued on Page 3A
street department, $170,000, an increase of $20,000 (13-3
percent); and fire department, SB,OOO, an increase of
$6,600 (471 percent).
City accountant John Leßoy is preparing the water
and sewer department’s 1984 budget, which should be
completed by the council’s Jan. 17 regular meeting.
The water and sewer department finances its own
budget through revenues. Its 1983 budget was $675,000.
In other business at last Tuesday’s meeting, council
members took the following actions:
Voted to seek assistance from the Georgia Moun
tains Area Planning and Development Commission
(GMAPDC) in updating the city’s zoning regulations.
Approved another request to GMAPDC for recom
mendations regarding traffic problems around the
square. Councilman Rupert Sexton said two possibili
ties for alleviating those problems are left turn lanes or
one-way streets.
3 Killed;
11 Injured
In Accidents
One person was killed and 11 others
were injured in three traffic accidents
here last week, while a separate acci
dent in central Florida claimed the life
of two Forsyth County men.
A Forsyth County woman was killed
and her grandson seriously injured
early Thursday morning when she
pulled into the path of a tractor-trailer
on Georgia 369.
A 1970 Ford Maverick driven by Lil
lian Kight Westbrooks, age 64, was
struck on the driver’s side, pushed 132
feet and over a 15-foot embankment.
Trooper Ron Daniel said Ms. West
brooks was attempting to make a left
turn from Raines Road, just east of Six
Mile Creek, and apparently was killed
instantly in the collision.
Her grandson, 16-year-old Louis B.
Marsengill, a passenger in the car, was
listed Friday in fair condition at North
east Georgia Medical Center.
The driver of the truck, James Leon
ard Burgess, age 32, of Columbus, was
Continued on Page 3A
busy missing my family and friends.
And in my loneliness I had closed my
heart as tight as a clenched fist. To
really celebrate Christmas meant I
would have to open my heart, then I
could make room for others. Maybe
Christmas would not have to be lonely
after all.
Leaning against the intercom box, I
drank in Mrs. Julia’s radiant voice.
“We wish you a Merry Christinas...”
she sang loudly. I pressed my finger on
the button next to 6-B.
“Mrs. Julia,” I said, “This is Tina
Amaro down in 2-C.” “Merry
Christmas, Tina,” she chimed back to
me.
“Mrs. Julia, “ I said as a smile
crossed my face, “How would you like
to go to midnight mass with me to
night?”