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VOLUME LXXVII—NUMBER 64
Meanwhile, down on the farm
Profits dry up
By Chuck Thompson
N*wt Editor
From com to cattle, there appears to be no
segment of agriculture in Forsyth County that
hasn’t been affected by the drought of 1986.
Local grazing and hay pastures have been de
clared an 83 percent loss, row crop and orchard
production is down and more than a quarter of a
million chickens have died.
The serious farming losses in Forsyth and
Georgia’s 158 other counties led UJS. Secretary of
Agriculture Richard Lyng on Thursday to declare
all of the state an agricultural disaster area. This
will make farmers eligible for emergency loans,
cost-share feed programs and emergency feed
assistance programs.
While waiting for news of federal assistance,
Georgia livestock producers got a helping hand
from farmers in other states, who donated much
needed hay for feeding cattle. The hay was shipped
to Georgia and distributed at various locations,
where producers waited in line to pick it up.
In order to verify that they were involved with
livestock and needed hay, producers were required
to bring letters of verification from the Extension
Service, the Soil Conservation Service, or the Agri
cultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.
Clark Beusse, with the Forsyth County Extension
Service, said that some 115 verification letters had
been written here.
Donated hay has come from several states, in
cluding Oregon, Nebraska, Illinois and Texas,
aceoitung to Extension Agent Hugh McMillian.
One of Ote distribution points has been the Farm
ers Market, where five Forsyth County livestock
producers were able to get hay Thursday night.
McMillian said another six carloads of hay from
Nebraska should be arriving in Georgia by train
this week.
Instead of waiting for hay to come to them,
several livestock producers in Forsyth County have
boarded trucks and headed for northern states.
Beusse said the Extension Service has a list of
farmers in states such as Kentucky that have hay
for sale.
“With the rains we’ve received, I’m hoping (lo
cal) farmers will be able to get another cutting of
hay,’’ he said. “If we only depend on hay from the
north there won't be enough to go around.”
Only one-third of the livestock producers who
traveled to Gainesville two weeks ago were able to
get hay after waiting in line, Beusse said. And, those
Health Dept, dedication is postponed
By Laura McCullough
Managing Editor
Dedication of the new health department has
been postponed because the building is not ready
to be occupied, according to local health officials.
The facility on Ga. 20 was supposed to be
officially dedicated on Friday morning, however,
the Forsyth County Board of Health met Wednes
day evening and voted to request that the cere
mony be delayed. Members were not even aware
Child support unit out to get dads who don’t pay
By Molly Read
Staff writer
On Tuesday, a mother of two who works a 40-hour-a
--week factory job during the day, a 20-hour-a-week
maintenance job at night and 16 hours at a restaurant on
the weekends, finally had the chance to face the father of
her children in court. For years, he’d failed to come
through on his S2O-a-week child support payments. The
mother was left to provide alone. Still, she had managed
to never draw a dime of welfare.
“She’s the type of person who really needs the help,”
said Miriam Bryant, the assistant district attorney in
charge of child support recovery. “She’s doing every
thing she can to support herself and her children and still
stay off the public rolls.”
As it ended up, the father’s child support payments
were raised from S2O to $l5O a week and he was ordered
to recompensate the mother for $620 of overdue pay
ments. “She was actually owed much more than that,”
Bryant said, “but she was trying to be realistic about
what she could get.”
The Tuesday case is just one of many successes the
local child support recovery unit has seen lately. During
the past fiscal year the office, headquartered in the
Butler building on Dahlonega Street, collected over $715,-
199 in support payments for the five-county region it
serves, a substantial increase over the amounts collected
in past years. Most of these funds went to the Blue Ridge
Judicial Circuit region, which includes Forsyth and
Cherokee County. The other counties covered by the unit
are Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin.
There are many reasons for the rise in collections.
“Our caseload has increased dramatically as more and
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who did get hay were limited to $1 bales, j
Beusse said tiie Extension
producers about hay such as"s
mixture erf com and chicken litter. Although it
doesn’t sound appetizing, he said the com/lit
ter mixture has been tested and used for a
number of years.
Another alternative is feeding cows with a
low quality hay and supplementing it with
protein blocks or liquid protein.
“What we’re trying to do is help farmers
make some drought management decisions,”
Beusse said.
As part of this effort, the local Extension
Service has put together a package of infor
mation on heat and drought stress as it
relates to livestock production. Producers
may pick up one of the packages at the
Cumming Extension office and talk with an
Extension agent about their particular needs.
“We’ll sit down one-to-one, look at their
of the ceremony until reading about it in The
Forsyth County News. On Thursday county ad
ministrator Ralph Roberts cancelled the event.
“We didn’t think it would be proper to have a
dedication unless the building is ready to move in
to,” said board member Gabe Dukas. “It seems
only reasonable to want to show off the building
and take people on a tour through it.”
Dukas said he wasn’t surprised at the scheduled
dedication because he thought the building was
ready. He was surprised that the local health
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more people found out about us,” Bryant said. She
estimates that her department now has over 2,000 “obli
gated cases,” in which a court order for payment has
been issued. Several thousand other cases representing
at least one and usually more than one child are in the
works.
“It’s a multi-million dollar problem in every county we
work,” the attorney said. Recovery agent Carol Homiller
confirmed that outstanding support payments total up to
some hefty figures. “The money we’ve already collected
may sound great,” she said, “But it’s only about half of
what we have court orders to get.”
Recovery office employees may modestly make their
success sound like a good day fishing, a meager catch
considering all in the ocean but there’s no denying the
department has done a good job reeling in delinquent
payments.
In May, the local unit came in second in the state for
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 1986—CUMMING, GA. 30130—88 PAGES 3 SECTIONS
The Kirbys are feeding their cattle six bales of hay a day
Miriam Bryant estimates
the child support recovery
office now has over 2,000
obligate cases in which a
court order has been is
sued. Several thousand
other cases representing
at least one and usually
more than one child are in
the works.
Bryant
situation and try to help them with it,” Beusse
said. ' JH
To find out where they can acquire donate!?
hay, producers can call the “Hay Hotline” toll
free at 1-800-282-5852.
Meanwhile, producers are selling cows in
large numbers, causing livestock sale bams
to be “flooded all over Georgia,” Beusse said.
About two weeks ago a sale bam in Car
tersville was so full of producers selling cows
that some had to be turned away.
A Disaster Assessment Report prepared by
local officials said cattle are being sold at
“three times the normal rate due to feed
losses.”
Individuals contributing to the July 25 re
port included McMillian; J.T. Coots, with the
Forsyth County SCS; Jim Wilcox, Forsyth
County ASCS; and Joe N. Wang, Farmers
Home Administration.
See DROUGHT, Page 2A
department and board of health members had not
be notified of the ceremony. Chairman of the
board, Shannon Mize, could not be reached for
comment.
The new building is at least a month, and maybe
longer, from being opened. Blinds for the windows
have still not be put up and 11 stations are without
any communications because an intercom system
for the building was deleted from the original
construction contract. There are no telephone
jacks in those areas.
collecting more money per case, and collection is no easy
task in a field where finding a father could mean a lot
more than making a few phone calls. One employee in
the recovery office has a full-time job just trying to track
down the deserting dads, who often seem to make a full
time effort of dodging the recovery department. “We
have people who are masters at that,” Homiller said.
“They move around constantly and deliberately.”
Once a truant parent has been brought to court and
ordered to pay, the state has a number of tactics it can
use to make sure that the money owed comes through,
from garnishment of property to wage assignments,
arrangements where child support funds are taken
directly out of an employee’s paycheck. Employers are
required, by law, to carry out wage assignments if an
employee requests it. That way, the employee doesn’t
have a chance to spend the support money on other
things, and the employer doesn’t have to worry about one
of his workers having to take time off for trials on failure
to-pay charges.
The unit is also able to put liens on a person’s property
if they fail to pay the support that’s due. “We did take a
truck in lieu of child support one time, and sold the truck
to make the support payments,” Bryant said, but added
that such extreme measures aren’t usually taken by the
unit.
Often, when paternity is an issue in a child support
recovery case, the collection department will compare
blood tests from the father and child as evidence. The
test documents over 100 genetic factors in the possible
father’s blood, and is considered to be correct in pinpoint
ing paternity 99.4 percent of the time.
Whether they’re dealing with a paternity issue or a
payment recovery case, “The courts prefer to keep the
ELECTION ’B6
Three seeking
school board seat
answer questions
Page 3A
General primary
to decide BOE,
commission posts
By Chuck Thompson
News Editor
Anxious spectators keeping
watch in smoke-filled rooms.
The hum of a computer figuring
precinct totals.
Politicians waiting with their note
pads to record the latest results.
The sights and sounds of election
night will fill the courthouse Tuesday,
as voters decide which Republicans
and Democrats will take on the op
posing party in November.
Voting in this year’s general pri
mary will begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday
and end at 7 p.m. in all of the county’s
11 precincts.
Polling places for each precinct
will be as follows:
Big Creek, Big Creek Elementary
School on Ga. 141; Brandywine, Bran
dywine Clubhouse on McFarland
Road; Chattahoochee, Chattahoo
chee Clubhouse on Shady Grove
Road;
Chestatee, Chestatee Elementary
School on Ga. 306; Coal Mountain,
North Forsyth Junior High School off
Ga. 369; Crossroads, Lanierland Mu-
JgifrjSiifk on Jot ‘Em Down Road;
*ti§jj|rnlng, Forsyth County Court
house; Mashbum, Mashbum El
ementary School on Samples Road;
Matt, Fire Station Number 3 on
Bramblett Road;
Midway, Midway ball field on Ga.
371; and Sawnee, Sawnee Elemen
tary School on Ga. 20 west.
The area within 250 feet of all
polling places will be off limits to
individuals soliciting votes, distribut
ing campaign literature or soliciting
signatures for petitions.
The deadline for registering to vote
in Tuesday’s primary was July 14.
At the close of registration, there
were 13,368 Forsyth citizens eligible
Voting is countywide
Forsyth Countians participating
in Tuesday’s general primary will
be voting on four local offices up
for election this year Posts 1
and 3 of the county commission
and school board Posts 1 and 2.
Persons elected to these posi
tions will represent their partic
ular “post” also known as a
“district” on the school board
or county commission.
There are a total of five posts, or
to participate in that election.
The number of eligible voters in
each precinct is as follows:
Big Creek, 1,203; Brandywine, 869;
Chattahoochee, 1,317; Chestatee,
1,615; Coal Mountain, 871; Cross
roads, 644; Cumming, 2,853; Mash
bum, 667; Matt, 730; Midway, 837;
and Sawnee, 1,762.
Due to a lack of opposition from the
Republican Party, three local elec
tions will be decided in the primary
or, if it is necessary, a Sept. 2 run-off.
These are Posts 1 and 3 on the
county commission and Post 2 on the
board of education.
In the Post 1 race, incumbent Dem
ocrat Jack Shoemake faces Charles
Welch, who resigned this year from
the Cumming City Council to become
a commission candidate.
Welch’s resignation marked the
end of 14 years as a city official.
Shoemake, who defeated Welch in a
run-off four years ago, is seeking a
second term on the commission.
The Post 3 race features four Dem
ocratic candidates: Michael Bennett,
Walter Brown, Billy Evans and Ker
mit Karr.
Three candidates Dennis Ander
son, Mayford Barrett and Jimmy
Hamrick will be seeking school
board Post 2.
Johnny Stone, the incumbent in
school board Post 1, is running unop
posed this year.
In state races, incumbent Demo
crat Bill Barnett will face Jim Otwell
in the race for District 10 of the
Georgia House.
The winner will go up against Re
publican Bill Brown in the general
election.
State Senate races involving For
syth County include District 49,
See PRIMARY, Page 2A
districts, in Forsyth County, and
those not up for election this year
will be up for election in 1988.
The persons who represent these
districts are elected on a county
wide basis and not just by the
people in a particular district.
Therefore, every voter going to
the polls Tuesday is eligible to vote
on the county commission and
school board races.
child support recovery cases civil instead of criminal,”
Bryant said. “The reason for that is, if a criminal fails to
pay and is sent to jail for it for a year, then his ability to
pay child support would be completely wiped out.”
Originally, the child support recovery units around the
county were designed for repayment of government
funds which had been issued mainly in the form of Aid to
Dependent Children (AFDC). But the scope of the
recovery units have since broadened to include assis
tance to parents with custody in the form of back-owed
funds and consistent payments for the children until they
are legally adults.
Recently, a statewide citizen support recovery group
has joined forces with the government offices in trying to
recover payments. Children Against Deadbeat Dads, or
CADD, has yet to see a chapter formed in Forsyth, but
Hall County started a local CADD chapter just last week.
Shirley McMahan, leader of the Gainesville-based
chapter and mother of two, said one of the motivating
factors for her involvement in the organization was the
fact that her ex-husband, who lives in Denver, Colo, has
just bought a new mobile home and drives around in a
Lincoln Continental and has yet to pay her any child
support for the more than 10 years since they’ve been
separated. McMahan says that members of the Gaines
ville chapter will start out studying various legal aspects
of child support recovery, to find out what they are
entitled to receive, by law, from the fathers of their
children.
Citizens, judges and other members of the legal
profession have started to realize what a serious problem
a lack of child support can be, which may account for
See COLLECT, Page 2A
35 CENTS