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FCHS girls are champions of Route 400 tournament-IB Forsyth County News LXXVIII —NUMBER 97 " * !' ' r~’~ r ~ r<r ~ r ' - *’ iyuail wSj : - : fly *; jß^\^ ~gsrr* §• O’ Christmas tree ... It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Forsyth County. The stores are busier, tree lots are being set up. and decorations are going 'Ud ,j rhr*fyfear'the county has its own Christmas tree in front of the courthouse. Dwayne Martin hangs the star Friday afternoon in preparation for Saturday's “Lighting of the Christ mas Tree.” Combined church choirs performed on the court house steps as spectators braved rainy weather to sing in the holidays. Saturday celebrations will continue until Christmas, with varied entertainment beginning at 6 p.m. in front of the courthouse. -2 hearings scheduled Forsyth gets By Tom McLaughlin Staff writer Forsyth County residents are going to be giv en an opportunity to raise a stink over the land fill the Fulton County Commission wants to bring to their southwestern border. The landfill, approved by the commission in January, would affect more Forsyth County residents than Fulton residents, according to state Rep. Bill Barnett and a leader of the group opposing it. “It will actually be on Fulton soil, but will probably affect Forsyth County as much or Bell South puts eyes on the road The wife’has just called with a grocery list so the new car phone is at your ear, held with your chin, and you’re taking notes when you spot an unfortu nate soul on the side of the road having car prob lems. Hang up on the wife; it’s time to play Good Samaritan. Bell South Mobility, the car phone company, has recently begun a campaign to enlist the drivers in metropolitan Atlanta who own cellular phones to call police and inform them when they see drunk drivers or roadside emergencies. The president of Bell South Mobility, R.L. Tons feldt, outlined the program in a letter to Forsyth County Sheriff Wesley Walraven. “As a cellular telephone user, you have a unique opportunity to help keep the Atlanta Metro highways safe by using your mobile phone to report accidents, drunk drivers, fires, or any other emergencies,” the letter said. “And,” it continued, “it is an opportunity to help solve a serious problem. The Georgia State Patrol reported that over 14,000 traffic accidents were alco hol-related in 1986. Further, they estimate that only one out of every 2,000 drunk drivers is ever appre hended. In that light, Bell South Mobility has worked with public safety organizations and various local civic groups to develop a program that asks all cellu lar to be “Good Samaritans.” In hiy.etter Tonsfeldt even goes so far as to list ways to spot drunk drivers. It seems that a car with Please see PHONES, page 2A WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1987-CUMMING, GA. 30130 chance to speak on Fulton landfill more,” said Jessie Phillips, a North Fulton resi dent and the vice president of Sanity Inc., a group that has been fighting the landfill for two years. “If the people over there don’t make a stand they’re probably going to smell the garbage.” “There are more residents in Forsyth County who will be closer to the landfill than Fulton County,” Barnett said. “Our main problem with it is that they want to put it right on our border without giving us much say in it.” The proposed landfill was approved by the Fulton County Commission pending state ap proval. It would be located on 476 acres of Ful- CHRISTMAS COLORS There's enough red and green to rival the efforts of any Christmas decorator, but instead of plastic or silk, the trimmings inside Forsyth County High School’s greenhouse are real. And they’ll be gone before Christmas. Jimmy Samples (left), advis er John Joyner, David Anderson and other members of ;\M*> ' & ss£ ■i'-Ll jwH 56b 'liSritr , ’ i }t- v*’-. fgipMjM.- : « Rflsß|4M<*-*s||ssP§r** jet gssfe»dßcWl^ | ton County land behind the McFarland 9000 In dustrial Complex in Forsyth and would run for 5,000 feet north and south along Highway 9 and Francis Road. Ironically, the Forsyth County Commission approved a county landfill to be placed in the northwest corner of this county, bordering Cherokee. “We’ve got a sort of double standard type thing. I personally don’t think you should force something like this on someone else.” Barnett said. “There’s a lot of public resentment and opposition to every one (landfill) you put in.” Barnett said he had been working with fellow the Future Farmers of America club at the school are growing and selling poinsettias as a Christmas money raising project. The holiday spirit struck customers ear ly, as all 650 of the $5 plants were sold by Thanksgiving. More photos, page 3A 36 PAGES 4 SECTIONS Stiff Photos Kathryn L. Babb Rep. Luther Colbert, the chairman of the Natu ral Resources Committee in the House, and a North Fulton legislator, to introduce legislation that would require any landfill to be set back from an adjoining county line up to a half mile. The representatives also wanf to look at options for resource recovery, a method of incinerating garbage in such a way that it gives off steam, a resource that could then be utilized. Barnett said Fulton County had not put forth enough effort in finding alternatives to the land fill. Please see LANDFILL, page 2A Staff Photo Kathryn L. Babb County’s ’B7 sales keep pace By Lindsey Kelly Staff writer Though some local merchants re ported record sales over the tradition al Christmas shopping kickoff week end, economic forecasters predict that a “cautious” mood among shop pers this year will likely keep 1987 from being a bell-ringer for retailers. Mike Montgomery, general manag er of Parsons department store in Cumming described the after- Thanksgiving sales at his store as “excellent,” though not any stronger than last year. “We couldn’t be more pleased,” Montgomery said. “Sales were about the same as last year, which we were pleased with that. We expected them to be about the same, or if anything a little less because of people being wor ried about the economy. We’re very cautiously optimistic about the economy.” Kmart’s Cumming location chalked up record sales over the weekend, ac cording to operations assistant Jerry Tuggle. “We had a 10 percent increase in sales over last year,” Tuggle said. “Everyday after-Thanksgiving has been a plus for us.” A similar assessment was offered for weekend business at Gainesville’s newly renovated Lakeshore Mall. The mall’s general manager Gary Larson said he could describe sales with just one word, “great.” “It’s hard to tell at this point, but 1 would say it’s just upwards from here,” Larson said. At least in the Cumming stores, part of the brisk after-Thanksgiving busi ness could be attributed to promo tions. Tuggle said his store ran sever al sales, including offering a 70 percent discount on jewelry. Parsons ran a 40 percent off coupon promotion for any item in the store. These retailers said they have not seen any major runs on particular items, thus far. Tuggle said the big sellers right now seem to be smaller “gift items” such as jewelry and small appliances. Larson said “big ticket’ items seem to be moving at about the same pace as the less expen sive gift choices. But despite the early optimisim lo cally, long-range forecasts suggest Christmas 1987 may turn out to be just a mediocre one for retailers. “It’s neither a good nor bad Christ mas,” said Donald Rataczak, direc tor of the Economic Forecasting Cen ter at Georgia State University. Rataczak said over-all sales in and around the metro Atlanta area seem to indicate a certain amount of cau tion on the part of the buyers due to the current uncertainty about the state of the economy. “It’s a nail-biting Christmas for re tailers. Consumer enthusiasm isn’t there. Nothing is really jumping off the shelves. They (retailers) have to decide whether to wait and see if there’s going to be a last minute surge or go ahead and offer promotions to get sales up. Of course anytime you do a promotion, you’re losing part of your profits.” Liquor petition response slowing By Tom McLaughlin * Staff writer The momentum of the petition being circulated to gain signatures to hold a countywide referendum on the sale of alcoholic beverages has slowed to a trickle, according to the president of the group responsible for its origin. “I think we’re in a slower mode than we were,” said Douglas K. Smith, the president of Forward Forsyth Inc., a group of businessmen who began circulating the petition in October. “I have no finai count, but I think we’re still about 1,000 signatures shy. Smith attributes the slow down to not being able to contact registered county voters due to inconsisten cies in voter mailing list. “Basically, why we’re slowed down is there are still over 2,000 people who haven’t gotten them (the mail ing with enclosed petition) yet,” he said. Despite the problems. Smith remains optimistic that Forward Forsyth will obtain the 4,669 signatures to force the referendum. “We’re not happy with the time it’s taking to do this, but it’s working,” he said. Smith said that the group’s strategy now was geared toward finding the addresses of those whose mailings were returned. “We’re making a major effort to locate the ones we haven’t been able to reach yet,” he said. “No one that has received them has acted disinterested. Of the doz en or so that I’ve reached, I’ve gotten most of them back within a matter of a few days.” Please see LIQUOR, page 2A 35 CENTS