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Forsyth CountvNews
(XVI—NUMBER 17
TSew study may lead to mining ordinance
By Chuck Thompson
News Editor
Topics ranging from geology to
roads have been addressed in a re
cent study on mining in Forsyth
County, with a new county mining
ordinance expected about a month
from now.
A progress report on the study,
conducted by Georgia Mountains
APDC, was presented to the board of
commissioners in its regular meeting
Monday night.
$413,929 available
for school project
By Laura McCullough
Copy Editor
If there is a problem with asbes
tos in Forsyth County schools a state
grant has provided sufficient funds to
take care of the removal.
The Forsyth County School System
has been allotted $413,929 for the
removal of this fiber, according to
reports by the Georgia Department of
Education.
Forsyth Superintendent Robert Ot
well noted that this is only the maxi
mum amount the county is able to
apply for and may not receive nor
need the entire amount.
Some $lO million in General Obliga
tion Bonds have been budgeted by the
Georgia General Assembly to help
finance an asbestos removal/contain
ment/restoration program through
out the state.
“The grants are set up on a match
ing basis according to the size of the
Bill passes House to name Neville bridge
By Chuck Thompson
News Editor
A bill renaming the Six-Mile Creek
Bridge in honor of the late Judge
Richard B. Neville has cleared one of
the major hurdles necessary to be
come law.
Introduced by State Rep. Bill Bar
nett, of Cumming, the bill was ap
proved by the Georgia House of
Representatives Friday.
Neville passed away April 10, 1984
after serving seven years as a supe
Tech’s Curry speaks to club
Georgia Institute of Technology Coach Bill Curry, right, is shown
talking with Bob Calvert, following a talk Curry gave at a dinner
meeting here last week. Curry, once a professional football player
and college star, spoke to members of the Rotary Club of Forsyth
County at Best Western Lanier Lodge last Thursday at noon. (News
staff photo by Eddie Stowe.)
Map shows homes near proposed quarry
Arguing that a rock quarry on
Lower Creighton Road would have a
tremendous impact, residents have
compiled a map showing hundreds of
homes within a two-mile radius of the
proposed quarry site.
Larry Roberts, spokesman for the
residents, says copies of the map
have been given to members of the
Cherokee County Appeals Board,
which is still deliberating on the issue
of a zoning variance for the quarry.
The variance, sought by Vulcan
The study was recommended last
spring by an environmental review
committee appointed to consider the
issuance of a permit to Threatt Broth
ers for operation of a sand mine in
northeast Forsyth County.
During a hearing on the permit, a
representative for Threatt Brothers
made the committee aware of a
quartzite vein extending from north
Forsyth County to Roswell. Quartzite
is a rock that can be crushed into
sand.
The thickness of the vein is said to
school system and how much is
needed to be removed,” said Otwell.
Asbestos is a problem which has
plagued many schools systems
throughout the state. The fiborous
mineral is commonly used in fire
proofing, electrical insulation.
The state Board of Education will
require local school systems to de
velop a plan for identifing, removing
or containing asbestos found in public
school buildings.
The policy, adopted by the board at
its February meeting, makes local
boards of education responsible for
“taking every reasonable action nec
essary to provide for the inspection of
buildings, sampling and analyzing of
suspected material, warning and no
tification to those affected, proper
and complete records and corrective
action when asbestos is found.”
Otwell said Forsyth schools are “in
the stages of checking into the prob
lem to see if there is any asbestos in
rior court judge in Forsyth County.
One public facility in Forsyth
County already has been named in
memory of Neville.
On Dec. 20, the board of commis
sioners voted to dedicate the law
library in the courthouse to the late
judge.
Two other bills introduced by Bar
nett have received House approval.
These would: (1) provide a referen
dum on increasing the school tax
exemption in Forsyth County from
SIO,OOO to $15,000; and (2) provide for
Materials, was considered in a hear
ing conducted by the appeals board
Dec. 3.
It is only one of the permits the firm
must have to use an 88-acre site it
purchased last year for quarrying
operations. Other permits must be
acquired from the state Environmen
tal Protection Division.
Because the site lies on the For
syth-Cherokee County line, the
quarry has been opposed by residents
in both counties.
INtIM TODAY
‘Granny’ Wallis has
hung up her ladel
at Cumming Elementary
SEE M«l 8A
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1985—CUMMING, GA. 30130 <
range from 50-75 feet to as much as 1,-
000 feet in areas now covered by Lake
Lanier.
Following the hearing, the commit
tee recommended to the commission
ers that a study be conducted by
GMAPDC on mining in Forsyth
County.
According to a report from the
committee, Forsyth County faces an
“impending dangerous situation,
both with regard to sand and rock.”
The report went on to request an
“immediate study, with possible im
the local schools.” If removal is
needed it will be conducted while
students are out for summer vaca
tion. No plan of inspection or removal
has been implemented.
“We just haven’t gotten that far
into the situation yet,” Otwell said.
“We are working on what we have to
do and need to do at this time.”
The state policy requires that the
state school superintendent with as
sistance from tiie Division of Public
Health, Georgia Department of Hu
man Resources, develop and imple
ment a statewide program for
asbestos removal and or containment
and subsequent restoration of build
ings to a usable condition.
Forsyth is one of 11 school systems
that have already been allotted funds
for asbestos removal. Otwell said
these school systems are the ones
that applied for the money as soon as
it became available. He put in For
syth’s application in January.
cancellation of titles on junk auto
mobiles.
The proposed school tax exemption
would apply to persons 62 or over,
with an annual income of no more
than SB,OOO.
House and Senate approval has
been granted to three additional local
bills. These would: (1) change terms
of the Forsyth County Superior
Court; (2) make state court terms the
same as those for superior court; and
(3) continue a law allowing Forsyth
Countians to elect members of the
Trammell sues Turner;
Turner files counterclaim
Forsyth County bail bondsman Ho
race Trammell has filed a libel and
slander suit against Carl Turner, and
Turner in return, has filed a coun
terclaim against Horce Trammell.
Trammell filed his suit in Forsyth
County Superior Court last Thursday,
and Turner’s counterclaim was filed
Monday.
Turner, who has made efforts to
have an investigation brought against
Sheriff Wesley Walraven, made
statements to the press in January,
charging Trammell with violation of
the law in connection with accusa
tions against the sheriff.
The complaint filed by Trammell
charges these statements were false
and “defaming.” His complaint re
See map on Page 8-A
Roberts says around 300 residents
have signed a petition asking the
appeals board not to grant the vari
ance.
In addition to the petition, residents
have written letters, placed anti
quarry signs in their community and
most recently, sent copies of the
residential map to members of the
appeals board.
The map was compiled by Robert
GOING CAMPING
, *
Thousands flock to
Lanier’s shoreline .',
each year just to 1
pitch a tent
SUNDAY LIFE
'
-V-' " ’• mV. • ■- /' 'V '.IW* >£&& - ' m;,,..-.. ..
position of controls based upon eco
nomic needs, including quotas.”
Progress of the study was dis
cussed in Monday night’s commission
meeting by Dale Yeager, formerly
with GMAPDC and now serving as a
consultant.
Ms. Yeager said topics addressed
in the study included Forsyth Coun
ty’s geology, possible future mining
activity and impact on communities,
including soil erosion and roads.
Roads, she added, have been found
to be one of the “major negative
**■' 51 1
i mm Wfl llllr fmd £& j
What are these kids waving at? See Page 6-A for answer
local board of education, rather than
have them appointed by the grand
jury.
Prently, superior court terms begin
on the fourth Mondays of March and
July and the second Monday of No
vember. Those terms would be
changed to the second Mondays of
March, July and November. Terms of
the Cherokee-Forsyth County State
Court would be the same as new
superior court terms.
In other action last week, House
members approved the following bills
ads, “...Turner intentionally and ma
liciously published and spoke a false,
slanderous, libelous and defamatory
statement in Forsyth County about
plaintiff, stating that plaintiff (Tram
mell) had violated Georgia and Fed
eral Law by accepting radios in
exchange for fixing criminal cases.”
Trammell seeks a judgement for
damages, “in an amount to be deter
mined by the enlightened conscience
of a jury based upon evidence pre
sented them for actual damages,
punative damages....”
In Turner’s counterclaim, he den
ies Trammell’s complaint and says in
his own suit he, “did not cause to be
published any false, slanderous,
liableness or defamatory statements
and Wanda Turner, who traveled
local roads and made a record of
homes, Roberts says.
It shows 98 homes within a one-mile
radius of the proposed quarry site,
and 374 homes within a two-mile
radius.
The majority of these homes 213
are located in Forsyth County,
compared to 161 in Cherokee County,
the map says.
Arguing that the quarry even
though it presently exists as only a
impacts” of mining.
Also addressed in the study are
mining’s positive aspects, including
jobs, contributions to communities
and the opportunity to preserve open
space through reclamation of land
when mining is completed.
Another topic addressed in the
study is state and federal controls.
Ms. Yeager said federal controls
primarily involving mining employ
ees, while state controls focus more
on mining itself.
Among the state controls she
and resolutions:
• Senate Bill 82 The proposed
education reform bill of Governor Joe
Frank Harris. Barnett said around
120 amendments to the bill were
approved by House members. A six
member House-Senate conference
committee will now have to work out
any differences. Barnett says the
major change by House members
involved legislative oversight of
funds for education. He says the
Senate version of the bill gave a lot
more authority on how education
imputing the good name or reputation
of the plaintiff.”
Turner told the Forsyth County
News he welcomed the chance to get
into court. “I’m not going to let him
drop this. I’m going to have my day in
court.”
In Turner’s counterclaim, he
charges Trammell, “did accost and
assault” him in the Forsyth County
Courthouse. He says he caused
Turner to suffer great bodily injury,
causing him “much humiliation and
embarrassment, from which he suf
fers, suffered and will continue to
suffer.”
Turner asks for: trial by jury on all
issues, that the defendant (Tram
mell) have judgement against Turner
proposal already is having an
effect on the surrounding area, Rob
erts says he’s being forced to sell two
homes next to the proposed quarry
site for 40 percent less than market
value.
Fearing what might be the effect of
the quarry should it become a reality,
residents are gearing up to file suit if
a variance is granted to Vulcan
Materials by the appeals board.
Roberts says residents will hold a
planning session Saturday, March 9
Star ril'/W
Elp» 4m,
named Monday night are the Surface
Mining Act of 1968, the Blasting Stan
dards Act of 1978 and truck weight
controls imposed by the Georgia De
partment of Transportation.
One thing not receiving much atten
tion in state and federal regulations,
she said, is noise levels at mining
operations. This could possibly be
addressed in a local ordinance.
In preparation for development of
an ordinance, Ms. Yeager said
GMAPDC has looked at how mining
Continued on Page 8A
funds would be spent to the State
Board of Education. Barnett points
out, however, that legislators are the
ones who must be responsible to the
people and worry about taxes, and
therefore should have some say on
how things are done.
• H.B. 170 Authorizes local gov
ernments to call a referendum on the
question of whether or not a one-cent
sales tax should be imposed for the
purpose of constructing public facili
ties like courthouses and jails. The
tax would be limited to a duration of
five years.
in the sum of $250,000 as special
damages and $250,000 in punitive
damages.”
He also asks that Trammell’s com
plaint be dismissed and that all costs
including the attorney fees be paid by
Trammell.
Turner says in his defense that,
“one cannot liable or slander another
if his statements or publications are
true. Defendant shows that any
statement or publication attributed to
him is true.”
Turner, who has been in prison on
charges of receiving stolen property,
has been in a halfway house since last
fall, spending his days in the Forsyth
County area, and his nights in the
halfway house.
at Harvester House Restaurant to
discuss taking legal action if the
appeals board ruling “doesn’t protect
our interests.”
The restaurant, located on Georgia
20 in the Free Home community, was
the site of an earlier residents’ meet
ing last year.
Roberts says the March 9 planning
session will begin at 11 a.m., and that
all interested residents are invited to
attend and sign a petition opposing
the variance.
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