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Forsyth County News
VOLUME LXXVII—NUMBER 96
■l y
Local shoppers brave elements after Thanksgiving
Forsyth County Bank
merger set for Dec. 15
By Gary Tanner
Staff Writer
A proposed merger of Forsyth
County Bank with First National
Bank of Atlanta will become a reality
this month, according to Charles In
gram, president of the local bank.
“The merger is scheduled to be
come final on Dec. 15,” Ingram said
Monday.
Though signs in front of the three
bank branches will eventually
change, the biggest difference in For
syth County Bank will not be readily
apparent on the surface.
Appreciably deeper pockets will be
the most significant change when the
merger is complete, Ingram said.
“With the tremendous growth in
Forsyth County in building activity
over the past two years, our customer
loan to deposit ratio has been up,” he
said.
When Forsyth County Bank joins
its more than $95 million in assets
with First Atlanta, it will have assets
of more than sls billion to draw from,
Ingram said. “That’s virtually an
Walraven status in limbo
By Molly Read
Staff Writer
District Attorney Rafe Banks said
Friday he “couldn’t wait forever” to
officially notify the governor of the
indictment of Sheriff Wesley Walra
ven an action would could lead to
Walraven’s removal from office until
his trial.
Banks had agreed to withhold noti
fication of the governor until a motion
to quash the indictments had been
heard, but a date for hearing the
motion has not yet been set.
Walraven continues to serve as
sheriff, despite several criminal in
dictments brought against him by a
county grand jury last month.
Wairaven was indicted Nov. 7 on
charges of fixing felony cases, seve
ral counts of ticket-fixing, perjury
and violation of his oath of office.
Walraven’s lawyer, John Nuckolls,
filed a motion to quash the indict
ments immediately after they were
brought against his client.
The motion was first heard by
Diverse stories emerge from rape
By Molly Read
Staff writer
Two extremely different accounts
of what happened during the early
hours of July 30 emerged Monday in
the trial of Keith Kickery, 21, and
Carlton Moore, 17, two men charged
with repeatedly raping a 16-year-old
girl they met at a park near Buford
Dam.
Assistant District Attorney Russ
McClelland told jurors that the two
men abducted the young woman in
her own car, repeatedly raped and
sodomized her in Forsyth County and
other areas where they drove early
that morning, including South Caro
lina.
While on the road later that morn
ing, the men forced their victim to
ride in the backseat of her own car,
naked. Around 11 a.m. the morning of
July 30, when the men were driving
TREE CHOICE
Tips for picking
the perfect tree
for yule season
Page 3A
Staff Photo Kathryn L. Babb
unlimited supply of money,” he said.
Other than strengthening its finan
cial condition, Forsyth County Bank
customers “will hardly notice any
changes” when the locations become
First Atlanta branches, said Ingram.
The First Atlanta name printed on
bank statements would probably be
the first changes notifed by custom
ers, Ingram said. Other changes,
such as adding First Atlanta signs
will come “over a period of time.”
Preliminary dicussions of a merger
began in June of this year, Ingram
said. When the deal is completed, it
will mark the end of 22 years of
operation by the local bank under the
name Forsyth County Bank. “The
personnel and service will not
change,” Ingram said.
Forsyth County Bank currently has
three offices. The main office is lo
cated at the comer of Old Buford
Road and Maple Street on the square
in Cumming. Other offices are lo
cated in Merchants Square shopping
center and on McFarland Road near
Alpharetta. The bank opened its
doors in September, 1964.
Judge George Culpepper, who has
retired from the Macon Superior
Court Circuit, on the Monday follow
ing the Friday the indictments were
brought. After Nuckolls began intro
ducing points he had not included in
his original motion to quash, Culpep
per suggested that the attorney take
more time to prepare his case, and
mentioned that the first week of De
cember might be a good time to
resume the hearing.
However, on Friday of last week,
Banks said he still had not received a
revised motion to quash from Nuck
olls, and added that although he had
initially agreed to delay calling the
governor, he “couldn’t wait forever.”
Nuckolls said Monday that he was
planning to file a revised motion later
in the day, but that he didn’t know
when the motion could be heard.
The earliest date the Walraven
case could be heard would be during
the trial week of February 16, accord
ing to the district attorney’s office.
back past the park, the girl jumped
from her own car while they were
driving it between 20 and 40 miles per
hour, McClelland said.
Attorney Jane Kent Plaginos, who
is representing Kickery, told a very
different tale. She said the two sus
pects were invited to join a party that
four high schoolers, one of them the
alleged victim, were having at Bu
ford Dam. The girl was later driving
to Cumming with the two suspects,
when she had a wreck.
Plaginos said the girl was upset
over the damage to the car, because
she knew she would be in trouble for
it. After riding around some more,
the two men decided to take the girl
back to the park, because she didn’t
seem fit to drive home. When they
reached the park, “she jumps out of
the car and yells, ‘rape,’” Plaginos
said. “One of the defendants sees
what she’s going to do blame them
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1986—CUMMING, GA. 30130—32 PAGES 4 SECTIONS
Local shoppers hit the stores
By Gary Tanner
Staff writer
With Thanksgiving gone, it is the traditional
time for people to turn their attentions to that
annual chore called Christmas shopping.
It started the day after Thanksgiving and will
build to a crescendo just before Dec. 25. Shoppers
will crowd retail outlets and streets across the
land in search of special gifts for those who made
the gift list.
Forsyth County is no exception in that the
annual Christmas push has begun and local mer
chants say they expect the volume of business to
increase right up until Christmas eve.
“It always starts the day after Thanksgiving,”
■ t
Moving in
Forsyth Countians have waited a
long time for the new health
center to open. Employees
Lynda Cowart and Annie Carder
(above) along with others,
moved box after box into the
new building on Hwy. 20 last
week. Administrator Dot
Thomas, (right) checks out the
phone system. The health de
partment reopened Monday and
dedication ceremonies are set
for Friday at 10 a.m., followed by
an open house.
City offers reward for vandal
By Molly Read
Staff writer
The Cumming Police Department is offering a SI,OOO
reward for information leading to the arrest and convic
tion of a suspect who has vandalized the area with a
pellet or 88-type of gun.
Police Chief Ricky Padgett said that 18 cases of
vandalism which could have been caused by such a gun
were reported this weekend in Cumming. Among the
targets of the vandal were five cars at Andean Motors
for the condition of the car,” so the
two men drove off with her vehicle.
Carlton Moore’s defense attorney
Martin Findley chose not to make an
opening statement Monday.
McClelland said he would present
evidence to the jury that proved both
Kickery and Moore worked at Burger
King for a very brief time before the
abduction. He conceded that the four
high school kids who had come to
Buford Dam that night were “drink
ing ... and swimming in what could be
considered less than normal bathing
attire.” He also said that the four had
a bottle of rum to share, but that “the
victim in this case didn’t have much,
if any, to drink.”
McClelland said that Kickery and
Moore drove the victim to an area
behind the fruit stand next to Peoples
Bank in Forsyth, where she was
raped, and then drove to other areas,
where “she was raped repeatedly,
+MEgLIi
says K mart manager Joe Young of the Christmas
shopping season.
Traditionally, the Friday after Thanksgiving is
the busiest shopping day nationwide. Locally,
Nov. 28 generally brought favorable results for
local businesses, but reactions were mixed.
Both Young and Wal-Mart manager Chuck
Eckelberry reported having “good” days last
Friday at the county’s two largest national retail
ers.
“That’s usually a good day, but not so much with
us,” said Jim Grogan, owner of the Classic Shop
on Atlanta Highway in Cumming. Martin Byrd
well of Lanier Electronics in Merchants Square
agreed that Nov. 28 was not an especially busy day
in his store. Ditto, for Video Comer in Merchant’s
m"' Jm
and (forced to have) oral and anal
sex five or six times by each.”
The state’s attorney added that the
jury would see the victim’s tom pan
ties which were found in the car
which the two rapists escaped with,
and “you will see some words and
drawings on the car that will show
you their intent and their state of
mind at the time.”
McClelland also said that crime lab
reports prove there was semen pre
sent in the victim’s genital and anal
area.
Plaginos maintained that the two
men and the girl had just stopped
near the fruit stand, “to go to the
bathroom.”
She also said that the party of four
had been skinny dipping in the lake
that night, and that at one point, some
members of the party had gone to buy
See RAPE, page 2A
TOP DOGS
Bulldogs victors
over Roswell
in 400 tournament
Pag* IB
which had windshields shattered, and big plate glass
windows at Billy Howell Ford-Mercury showroom which
were also broken.
The county has also seen an excessive amount of
vandalism during the past two weeks. Last weekend, two
cars parked at Tri-County Plaza ended up with broken
windows.
No arrests in the vandalism cases had been made by
either city or county officials as of Monday. However,
Padgett said, “we have some pretty good leads.”
Decoration
competition
is under way
Have you often thought at
Christinas that your house was by
far the prettiest on the block?
Well, now’s the time to prove it
The Norton Agency and toe For
syth County News are cospon
soring an outdoors decoration
contest for the Christmas season.
First prize in each of three cat
egories private home, business
and industry, and religious organi
zations will be a new 35mmca
mera. Runners-up in each group
will receive special Christmas
decorations.
The competition sponsored by
the local real estate agency and
newspaper is designed to add to
the area’s Christmas spirit and at
trial
Square and Parsons Ace Hardware in Lanier
Village.
Eckelberry offered a plausible explanation as to
why the day after Thanksgiving was good for
some and not for others by noting a situation in his
store.
“People seem to be concentrating on toys just
after Thanksgiving,” he said. “They wait until
closer to Christmas to buy other things.”
Though the day after Thanksgiving drew mixed
reviews locally, a random poll of retailers in
Forsyth County brought favorable responses for
the holiday shopping season as a whole.
“The day after Thanksgiving and the day before
See SHOPPERS, page 3A
Staff Photos Kathrvn L. Babb
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Developers
sue county
over water
By Molly Read
Staff writer
A suit brought by local developers
against several Forsyth County offi
cials is asking for almost $1.5 million
in damages and for the way to be
cleared to provide water for a county
subdivision.
Developers Cathryn and David
Greer and William Gonzalez, asso
ciates of Solid Investments and Solid
Rock Enterprises corporations, are
suing County Planning Director Ste
vie Mills, County Administrator
Ralph Roberts, and all the county
commissioners for prohibiting devel
opment of the “Post Creek” subdivi
sion which was to be built along Ga.
371.
The plaintiffs say they were plan
ning a 22-lot subdivision for 31.14
acres rezoned from agricultural to
resdential by county commissioners
on May 27. The commissioners put a
stipulation on the rezoning which
demanded that the developers tie on
to county water lines when they are
extended to that area, and then deed
the lines to the county.
However, whether that stipulation
prohibits Greer from buying water
from the city of Cumming, which has
a six-inch line running close to the
subdivision, is the crux of the dis
agreement.
The county maintains that if Greer
does tap on to the city line, he would
still have to be a county customer a
proposal that hasn’t pleased city offi
cials, who insist that if Greer uses a
city line, he should also be a city
water customer.
In a costly attempt to try and
remedy the situation, county com
missioners offered to run a line from
Cherokee County, providing Greer
pay $50,000 of the costs of laying the
line. Greer turned down the offer,
which was made last month.
The county, in turn, has refused to
record the plats of Greer’s subdivi
sion which reflect the rezoning. Be
cause the plats weren’t recorded, the
defendants say they were unable to
close on the 22 lots in their proposed
Post Creek Estates, which resulted in
heavy financial losses.
A motion on the portion of the suit
which asks that the county be forced
See SUIT, page 2A
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the same time provide for commu
nity participation in a fun event.
To enter toe competition, simply
complete the entry form on page 2
and mail it to the Forsyth County
News, P.O. Box 21®, Cumming,
Ga. 30136.
35 CENTS