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VI 'III —NUMBER 98
Vanderhoff
wins seat
on council
by 12 votes
By Gary Tanner
Staff writer
Out of the pack of four emerged
two. And when the votes were
counted, attorney Ken Vanderhoff
had edged retired home economist
Zelma Bannister by 12 votes in the
Cumming municipal election.
Vanderhoff got 224 votes to Bannis
ter’s 212 on a cold, rainy day that saw
69 percent of the city’s registered
voters battle the elements to cast
ballots.
The two emerged as the leaders in
the crowded race for the Post 5 Coun
cil seat, vacated when Charles Welch
resigned to run for the county com
mission.
Robert Robertson got 56 votes in
the race, while Joe Brandon garnered
five. All four of the other council seats
were unc ..tested, as was the may
oral race.
The incumbents being re-elected
were Rupert Sexton in Post 1, Quincy
Holton in Post 2, Lewis Ledbetter in
Post 3 and Ralph Perry in Post 4.
Mayor Ford Gravitt was also re
turned to office for another term.
After the election, Vanderhoff said
he was happy with the results, how
ever precarious.
“I would like to thank everyone
that came and voted,” Vanderhoff
said. “I would also like to compliment
the other candidates on a very posi
tive and competitive campaign. I
think everyone ran their campaigns
well and that was indicative of the
people who ran."
Outside of the Post 5 race, the most
interesting aspect of the otherwise
uncontested ballot was the turnout on
a miserable day.
“It was very surprising,” said city
clerk Estelene Stanford. Of the 718
registered voters, 499 turned out to
cast ballots. “It was a real good
turnout,” she said.
In the voting, Gravitt got 430 votes
in the mayoral race.
Voting for the council seats went as
follows: Sexton got 403 votes, Holton
received 398 votes, Ledbetter got 398
votes and Perry took 396 votes.
“(Cumming police chief) Ricky
Padgett predicted it would be decided
by 10 votes,” said Vanderhoff. “He
wasn’t far off.”
Vanderhoff listed as some goals for
his term in office more open council
meetings and meeting agendas pub
lished in the newspaper prior to the
meetings. He also expressed an inter
est in zoning issues.
County employees question 4 non-merit’ hirings
By Molly Read
Staff writer
In 1976, Forsyth County residents voted to
establish a Civil Service system which would
assist the county in choosing qualified employ
ees, and protect those employees from politi
cally motivated firings and other injustices.
In 1978, the structure of that employee merit
system was approved by the Georgia General
Assembly.
In 1981, the merit system went into effect in
Forsyth County. It provided a well-defined list
of government positions, the qualifications
needed to meet those positions, and the salaries
of those positions.
The Civil Service System was meant to offer
fairness to county employees, and efficiency to
county taxpayers. But county officials have
recently chipped away at the Civil Service by
trying to changing its scope and in some cases
ignoring its existence.
Several people have recently been hired for
county government positions with the express
understanding that they were not merit em
ployees, and that they would not be protected
by the Civil Service rules.
According to other county employees, these
new non-merit workers are also getting paid
more than merit system employees in compa
rable positions.
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Staff Photo - Kathryn L. Babb
Joyce Jordan and Phil Castleberry work at the station
WHNE ... on the AM dial
Station celebrating 25th year
By Laura McCullough __
Managing editor
So you think Cumming is getting too big for its
britches, huh?
You say you’re tired of hearing about growth and
development, increased crime and projected popula
tion figures. What’s that? You say you’ll scream at
the next person who says Forsyth County is becom
ming part of suburban Atlanta.
Well then, sit back, relax, take a load off your feet
and tune in to 1170 on the AM dial. Listen real good
and get an extra large dose of hometown. There,
Cumming’s not so big after all, is it?
Where else but WHNE can you sing along with
Joyce Jordan when she takes the alto part of a good ol’
gospel favorite? There’s no other place you can sell
turnip greens, ceramic whatnots and even market a
pig or two over the airwaves. And what better way to
wish aunt Ethel a happy birthday, hear a cut from a
local gospel group and pick up on the area’s news and
views to boot.
“What happens to my job secu
rity if the next person (elected)
who comes in doesn’t like me for
some reason?”
A county employee
The new non-merit employees are not mem
bers of the exclusive “management team,”
comprised of people who hold supervisory
positions in the county government, such as the
county administrator and the planning direc
tor.
Commissioners denied knowing anything
about the recently hired non-merit employees
at a Monday night meeting with members of
the Civil Service and Employee Advisory
Boards.
But the unauthorized hirings are just the
latest in a series of steps taken by county
officials to weaken the Civil Service System.
First there was the establishment of a county
“management team,” a group of county em
ployees with supervisory positions who would
serve, “at the pleasure of die board of commis
sioners,” who would not be protected by by the
merit system, and who could be fired for any
Christmas cookbook
Inside
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1986—CUMMING, GA. 30130—72 PAGES 3 SECTIONS
Forsyth County may have grown up a bit in the past
25 years, but WHNE is much the same as it was when
Cecil Merritt aired the first broadcast on Oct. 13,1961.
“It’s (the station) quaint and folksy. It’s small
town. I’ve been here 15 years and frankly that’s why
I’ve stayed,” said Jordan, an air personality (she
hates the term disc jockey) who has the mid-morning
shift.
Fifteen years ago party line, swap shop, the obitu
aries and the hospital report were as much a part of
WHNE programming as they are now. The music has
changed a little. Back then country was country and
gospel was gospel. It’s sometimes hard to tell a
difference now, but the radio station still offers a
large helping of each.
The small town appeal is apparently what’s keeping
the old listeners and converting new ones from the
powerful FM airwaves. People like to know who they
are listening to, says Jordan, and when she or Darris
Brock, news director, or Julie Sanders, program
See WHNE, page 2A
reason, at any time.
The constitutionality of the management
team was challenged by Tim Sweeney, an
Atlanta attorney who was recently consulted
by the Forsyth Civil Service Board. Sweeney
advised the board that all government employ
ees, whether they were in supervisory positions
or not, were subject to and protected by the
Civil Service System.
On Nov. 11, commissioners proposed 14
amendments to the Civil Service System which
would practically nullify the powers of the Civil
Service Board, which now makes decisions on
various employee matters. After an unex
pected crowd of employees showed up at the
meeting, commissioners said they needed
more time to discuss the amendments before
acting.
Although county commissioners are plowing
ahead with plans to change the Act by what
they call “home rule,” the state’s legislative
counsel has advised commissioners that they
do not have the right to change the Civil Service
Act by a vote from the board. It can only be
changed by an act of legislature, according to
the Georgia’s Deputy Legislative Counsel,
Martin Wilson.
Commissioners, however, are convinced
they can circumvent the legislative process,
and insist that County Attorney Bob Stubbs
knows that the “home rule” changes would be
Two convicted
on rape charges
By Molly Read
Staff writer
Two Massachusetts men were con
victed Wednesday of raping a 16-
year-old girl they abducted from a
park near Buford Dam in July.
Keith Kickery, 21, and Carlton
Moore, 17, will be sentenced on Dec.
18 for their crimes in Forsyth County.
The two men are also expected to
stand trial in Gwinnett County next
month on charges of kidnapping and
auto theft.
The pair has also been indicted in
Massachusetts for the brutal rape of
another 16-year-old girl on July 4.
The victim of the Forsyth rape,
and the 16-year-old from Massachu
setts, testified against the two sus
pects in their trial last week.
Prosecuting attorney Russ McClel
land used the testimony of the Massa
chusetts woman, who said Kickery
and Moore repeatedly raped and beat
her before leaving her tied to a tree,
as evidence of the suspects’ state of
mind when they fled to Georgia, and
to show similar patterns in the way
the two men accosted their victims.
Kickery and Moore had been in
Georgia about three weeks before
they met a party of four teenagers
from Stone Mountain who were
camping out at the Lower Overlook
Park, near Buford Dam, the night of
July 29.
After joining the party and drinking
about a half-gallon of rum with the
teens, the suspects took off with their
victim in her car, stopped and raped
her behind a fruit stand on Atlanta
Road, then drove with her to South
Carolina, repeatedly raping her, try-
School suit starts Monday
By Molly Read
Staff writer
A $2.5 million suit filed by a former
high school teacher against Forsyth
County school officials wall be heard
Monday in the U.S. District Court in
Gainesville.
Former social studies teacher
Sandra Perry is suing members of
the county’s board of education, su
perintendent Robert Otwell, high
school principal Harold Hammontree
and former assistant principal Sam
Cole for violating her freedom of
speech.
Perry claims in the suit, filed May
8, that the defendants refused to
renew her teaching contract because
of a letter she wrote to the editor of
the Forsyth County News, which was
published in the March 9 issue.
In the letter, Perry stated that
valid. The county’s reason for wanting to skirt
the General Assembly may be because mem
bers of the legislature don’t think too highly of
the commissioners’ proposed amendments.
Tenth District Representative Bill Barnett
said, “They wanted us, (General Assembly
members) to make some of these changes last
year, and we wouldn’t go along with it ... I’m
very hesitant to amend something that the
people have voted in by referendum.”
Civil Service Board Chairwoman Julianne
Boling has presented commissioners with a list
of all the county employees which states who is
and is not covered by die merit system.
Earlier last week, County Administrator
Ralph Roberts refused to furnish that same list
for public perusal, saying that the county’s
personnel matters were confidential.
Roberts did estimate that around 20 employ
ees, not including the management team, had
been hired with the understanding that they
were not covered by the Civil Service rules.
“About 99 percent of the people in the road
department want to know why the last people
hired don’t belong to the Civil Service ... and
you’re paying them more,” a member of the
Employee Advisory Board told commissioners
Monday. An estimated 10 or 12 people in the
road department are not considered to be merit
See CIVIL, page 2A
ing to sodomize her, forcing her to
have oral sex with them, and making
her ride naked in the back of her own
car as they drove down 1-85 “in broad
daylight,” McClelland said.
At one point, Kickery fell asleep
and Moore offered to drive the victim
back to Buford Dam. As they came
close to the park, Kickery woke up,
said he wanted to go to Atlanta, and
“she realized it was now or never,”
the assistant district attorney told the
jury. The girl jumped from her own
car, which was going faster than 20
miles per hour.
Kickery’s defense attorney Jane
Plaginos tried to convince the jury
that the victim had offered the two
men a ride home when she ran off the
road, got upset over the damage done
to her father’s car, and that the two
men tried to calm her down by driv
ing around for a few hours before
returning to the park. When they
neared the park, “she jumps out of
the car and yells, ‘rape’... and one of
the defendants sees what she’s going
to do ... blame them for the condition
of the car,” Plaginos reasoned. The
men were upset, so they stole the car.
Florida State Trooper Andrew Dula
testified to finding Kickery and
Moore asleep in the stolen car,
parked in-a rest area west of Talla
hassee on July 31. Dula described the
car as “drivable,” but “sort of tra
shy” and said that the two men were
both wearing bathing suits then. Ju
rors observed photos of the obscene
graffitti that covered the interior of
the car, when it was found in Florida.
Connie Pickens, a forensic serolog-
See RAPE, page 2A
parents were trying to push their
children through school without mak
ing them learn by blaming teachers
every time a student failed. The
school system, in turn, is bowing to
parental pressures by lowering edu
cational standards in the county, she
claimed in the letter. Perry called the
resulting degradation of the schools,
“a crime against the children.”
The teacher said that Hammontree
told her not to publish the letter,
saying, “We can deal with the prob
lems of our school without involving
the public,” and then telling her that,
“contracts are up for renewal in the
fall.”
Perry taught courses in U.S. his
tory and literature at the high school.
Before moving to Forsyth County last
year, she taught introductory law at
South Florida University.
Landfill
future
remains
undecided
The fate of the Forsyth County
landfill was still up in the air
Friday afternoon. <
A hearing of an appeal of the
Hightower landfill permit brought
by members of the Etowah Con
cerned Citizens group against Dr.
Leonard Ledbetter, director of the
state Department of Natural Re
sources started early Wednesday
and was still under way late Fri
day.
No ruling on the matter is ex
pected until next week, at the
earliest. '
The Etowah Concerned Citizens
maintained that the DNR did not
have sufficient information about
the Hightower site when they is
sued a landfill permit. They also
claim that runoff from toe landfill
could pollute the the Etowah
River, which supplies drinking
water to Cherokee County.
35 CENTS