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• Abby 9a • Classifieds 10A • Opinion 4A • Sports 7 a 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. Forsyth Count vNevvs H ——=■" 1 I ' -f t j ppgfc. I w» jjjfg I I *■— ... > wwm « m a j 1 fJMJI J ■■P Wfcl nanRRHMA || JT' r%* * ijSj ■ ju. L*-r"^T 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