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VOLUME LXXV—NUMBER 58
Sewer limits mar business growth
By Doug AHinger
Th« Sunday Htwt
When it comes to certain kinds of
commercial growth, namely devel
opments that need more sewer serv
ice than an average household, the
City of Cumming is between a rock
and a hard place.
At its meeting Tuesday night, the
City Council had to tell a man who
wants to build a Burger King at
Highways 20 and 9 that he is probably
going to have to wait a couple years.
Since February, when the city was
ordered by the Environmental Pro
tection Division (EPD) of the state
Department of Natural Resources to
Good morning, Forsyth
Good morning! Today is Sunday, Sept. 23. The
weather forecast calls for mostly sunny with a
high in the mid 80s. Tonight fair and cool. It’ll
be a perfect weekend to let the Sunday News be
your companion.
Hustling to pay
The approaching deadline to pay delinquent
property taxes before publication of names
appears to be providing some incentive for
taxpayers to settle outstanding bills. In the past
week, the tax office collected $40,397 in late 1983
bills and $47,063 for years prior to 1963.
Page 3A
- - - -
Joys of mushrooms
Americans are rediscovering the joys of cook
ing with mushrooms, the oft-misunderstood
little delicacy. There are bold mushroom hunt
ers and the wiser, more cautious mushroom
hunters. Read about them and see some good
recipes.
Food, Page 7 A
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Them dawgs
You’ll find them in just about every profession
and every section in Forsyth County. They
represent an institution with 200 years of his
tory and many are at the top of their field. Who
are they? University of Georgia graduates,
that's who.
Sunday in Forsyth
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Emmy night
The Emmy award will be presented for the 36th
year tonight as the Television Academy contin
ued its recent practice of saluting the family of
television both in front of the cameras ami
behind it. Tom Selleck is the host of this year’s
event.
TV Focus, inside
Forsyth County News
restrict new sewer hookups to five
residences per month, the City Coun
cil has had to put several potential
developers on hold.
“I have to apologize for the city for
not having space in our sewer treat
ment facilities for Burger King and
many other people who want to start
business in Cumming,” said Cum
ming Mayor Ford Gravitt at the last
City Council meeting.
“We would like to see Burger King
here; on the other hand, I would hate
to see the city be fined SIO,OOO per day
for doing it,” Gravitt said, in re
sponse to a request from Bill Wilson
to tie on the burger franchise.
After 14 months of violations of
RIGHT NUMBER
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Cumming business a hit
with historic phone booths
BUSINESS, 2B
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1984—CUMMING, GA. 30130—82 PAGES 4 SECTIONS
Easement
acquired
for project
Forsyth County has received an
othfer of the easements necessary to
begin a $470,000 water-sewer project
in the McFarland Road area.
The easement was granted last
week by U.S. Industries, allowing
for construction of a sewer line tun
nel under Georgia 400.
At present, a 24-ineh sewer line
extends 11,000 feet up Big Creek
from the Forsyth-Fulton County
boundary.
The line serves U.S. Industries
and Kenco Industries and plans are
to extend it 1,300 feet to Georgia 400,
where construction of the tunnel will
begin.
According to Hensley-Schmidt,
Inc., consulting engineers for the
Forsyth County Water and Sewer
age Authority, getting the line under
the highway is “vital” to industrial
development on the west side of the
Georgia 400 corridor.
More good news regarding the
proposed tunnel came Monday,
when it was learned the Appalachian
Regional Commission (ARC) had
approved a $137,500 matching grant
to extend a 24-inch sewer line 4,000
feet from the end of the tunnel.
This should provide another boost
to development on the 400 corridor’s
west side.
The tunnel is among three con
struction j bs funded by another
ARC grant awarded last summer.
The $235,000 grant was matched
by local developers, providing the
remaining funding necessary to be
gin the jobs, at a total project cost of
$470,000.
Other jobs to be funded by the
$470,000 include 5,300 feet of sewer
line on the east side of the Georgia
400 corridor and 4,000 feet of water
main along McFarland and McGin
nis Ferry roads.
Prior to beginning the total pro
ject, the county needs another ease
ment from the McFarland estate,
which is asking that an old section of
McFarland Road be closed.
The road once turned toward the
southeast and ended at Old Alpha
retta Road, but now follows more of
a southward path, ending at McGin
nis Ferry Road.
Emory Lipscomb, attorney for the
water and sewerage authority, says
the McFarlands are asking that the
old southeast section of the road be
closed at the point where it leaves
their property.
The county has issued a quit claim
deed on the old southeast road, but
according to Public Works Director
Dale Bryant, the deed does not ter
minate any public easements or
rights to use the road.
Therefore, in order to officially
close the road, other procedures are
required.
Lipscomb said Friday the matter
had been turned over to County
Attorney Woody Jordan, to see what
the oounty’s next step should be.
monthly average effluent limitations
of the Environmental Protection Di
vision, EPD Director Leonard Led
better issued a consent order
restricting any addition of customers
to the city’s sewer system.
As long as the city maintains pro
gress in trying to make its system
more efficient, looks for a way to
expand the system, and follows the
restrictions in the consent order,
Cumming is safe from having to pay
a fine of up to SIO,OOO per day, accord
ing to Alan Hallum, director of the
EPD Water Quality Control enforce
ment division.
To be on the safe side, the City
Council forwarded Wilson’s request
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Nola B. Strickland gets a colorful
welcome every time she steps out her
front door on Hendricks Road, Route
By Doug Allinger
The Sunday Nawt
With a little more than six weeks remain
ing before Forsyth County voters decide In
the Nov. 6 General Election between three
candidates for the office of sheriff, cam
paigning so far has been relatively low-key.
The options for what many consider to be
one of the most powerful positions in county
government are incumbent Sheriff Wesley
Walraven, former Forsyth Sheriff’s deputy
James Harvey, and Jerry Heard, a former
Cumming Police sergeant.
Walraven, running for his third consec
utive term as sheriff, emerged from the
Aug. 14 Democratic Primary with 67.8
percent of the 5,890 votes cast for the three
candidates in the Democratic race.
Gamering an almost identical percent
age of Republican Primary votes, former
Forsyth investigator Harvey received 67.8
percent of 348 votes cast for the two GOP
primary contenders.
Heard, running as an Independent, will
have to wait until November to gauge his
support.
Although the campaigns have been rela
tively quiet, events in the preceding months
have not been. If there is any potential for
fireworks, they are likely to be sparked by
friction between former deputy Harvey and
Sheriff Walraven.
Independent candidate Heard said he is
trying hard to remain outside the contest
between Harvey and Walraven. “I am
running for the office. I am not running
against Walraven or Harvey,” Heard said.
Over the past several weeks, the News
has interviewed the candidates on issues
they feel are relevant to the upcoming
election. Following are excerpts from the
interviews.
Jerry Heard
“Law enforcement has been hurt in gen
eral by some of the indictments and investi
gations of sheriffs across the state, but I
for a sewer tap to the EPD for review,
along with the stipulation that the tap
not be approved unless the consent
order is lifted, a possibility all con
cerned view as remote.
Even if the Burger King tap is
approved, however, there remain at
least three years of what many feel
will be near stagnation of commer
cial development.
“If we don’t do something fast,
progress is going to stop. We don’t
have much commercial progress
now, and I don’t see things getting
much better for a couple years,” said
Mike Corley, a broker with
ter Realty, specializing in local com
mercial real estate.
Sheriff candidates air views
3, in Cumming. A bed of impatiens
provides that color and they’ll be
there until the first frost, she says, in
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Jerry Heard
feel the image of sheriffs is improving,”
Heard said.
‘‘The most important thing is to convince
the voters it is time for a change, that there
needs to be an effort to rebuild trust in law
enforcement.” he said. “I have spent five
and a half years with the Cumming Police
Department, most of that time under Chief
Gabe Dukas, who provided us with excel
lent training, and also Chief Padgett.”
Heard said he ranks drug and alcohol
abuse, especially among Forsyth teens, as
(Hie of the most important issues facing the
county’s law enforcement agencies.
“If there is one case of drug abuse in our
schools, I feel that is too many. The prob
lem needs to be attacked both from the
standpoint of educating our young people
as to what drugs, both alcohol and other
drugs, can do to their lives, and from the
standpoint of getting tough with the people
who are trying to bring it in here.”
“I think I am well qualified from my
experience as a sergeant with the Cum
ming Police and as an investigator with the
Cumming Police. I know Forsyth County,”
“That is not to say we are not
having developers interested and
even buying in the area. They are
buying in spite of the fact that they
will have to wait to build,” Corley
said, adding that the lack of readily
available sewer hookups is hurting
those who are selling land more than
the buyers.
“I just sold a tract across from
Shoney’s at $5,000 less an acre than if
sewer had been available. The owner
had originally thought sewer would
be available, but when he learned it
wasn’t, the buyer had leverage to pull
the price down,” Corley said.
Bobby Wallace, developer of Cum
ming Industrial Park on Old Buford
Suit photo Johnny Solooboo
Color her world
NECTARINES
Layered cookie bar
makes a tempting treat
PAGE6A
the springtime, the space is occupied
by tulips and daffodils and other early
bloomers.
Jim Harvey
Heard said.
Heard said his campaign strategy has
mainly consisted of contacting people per
sonally.
“I ran as an Independent because it gave
me more exposure and longer to prepare
before the election. Also, I knew that with
three Democrats and two Republicans in
the primary, I wouldn’t have to split a
primary vote,” Heard said.
James Harvey
“People can tell by looking at me that I
am not a politician. I am not running on
politics, but on my experience six years
of hard work in the Forsyth Sheriff’s De
partment, doing everything from patrolling
to investigating,” Harvey said.
“I know there are problems at the sher
iff’s department, and I want to work on the
morale. I think this is something Wesley
Walraven is insensitive to. There has been
more than 88 turnovers in personnel since
he took office in 1977.”
“If your deputies have a low morale, it •
can affect the kind of service they give the
See CANDIDATES, Page 12A
Road, said the sewer stoppage hasn’t
put a crimp on his development. He
added, however, that it limits the
kinds and sizes of businesses he can
court.
“I’ve been lucky that most of the
people interested in the park have not
had that big a need for sewer. But if
someone came in and needed water
for manufacturing, cooling, or for
large restroom facilities, sewer
would be very important to them,” he
said.
Mac Berston, executive director of
the Cumming/Forsyth County Cham
ber of Commerce, said changing
See SEWER, Page I2A
Wesley Walraven
35 CENTS