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Christmas tasty with great holiday recipes —ID Forsyth County News '.XVIII —NUMBER 99 ii:s rges against Williams dismissed By Lindsey Kelly Staff writer The unlawful assembly charges against the Rev. Hosea Williams and four other defendants were nullified by a State Court judge Monday on the grounds that the accusations against the five were not specific enough. State Court Judge Clyde J. Gober Jr. stated in an order issued Monday that the form the state solicitor had used in issuing the charges did not give the defendants sufficient notice as to exactly how they had violated the state statute against obstructing a highway. The other defendants affected by Gober’s order were Williams’ daugh ter Elizabeth Williams Omilami, his son Torrey Kenydita Smith, William Henry Hollis Jr. and Eric Dale Terrell. The five were among eight arrested on Feb. 9 for protesting a broadcast of the Oprah Winfrey show held in For syth County for the show’s exclusion of guests from outside the county. Wil liams and his followers contended their exclusion was racially motivated. Of the three other defendants, For est Sawyer Jr. and Larry Platt pled guilty Friday to a lessor charge of pe destrian in the roadway. The two men received suspended sentences on the condition that they not participate in demonstrations in the county for one year. The Rev. C.T. Vivian pled guilty in Superior Court last month to a misde meanor charge of obstructing an offi cer, receiving a year’s probation, a $250 fine and 100 hours of community service. Vivian had originally been charged with felony obstruction oi an officer. Gober’s quashing of the remaining five cases does leave the solicitor the discretion of reissuing the charges, but State Solicitor Terry Stringer said Please see WILLIAMS, page 2A Chamber pares applications to three names By Lindsey Kelly Staff writer The search for another executive director of the Cum ming/Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce appears to be nearing an end. Chamber president Roger Crow said Friday that the search has been narrowed to' ee candidates, all “with good credentials.” Crow said he expects the field will be narrowed possibly by the end of this week to the point “where we can make somebody an offer.” At this same time last year, the chamber was searching for a replacement for Mac Berston, who resigned from the director’s job in December 1986. Berston’s replacement, Mark Jennette, resigned in September over differences in opinion between himself and other chamber officials as to how the organization’s finances should be handled. Jennette held the post for approximately six months. Crow said the chamber had received a “number” of resumes for the job, and said he did not feel the controver sy surrounding Jennette’s leaving had an adverse effect on the search. Of the three finalists, Crow said “some are local and some are from out-of-town.” In addition to possibly having a new director soon, new officers for the chamber will be announced at the organi zation’s meeting later this month. President-elect Dana Miles is expected to take over for Crow. Miles is an attor ney with the local firm of Lipscomb, Johnson, Miles and Ashway. The other positions to be filled vice president for economic development, vice president for community de velopment, vice president for membership, and secre tary-treasurer will be chosen by a nominations com mittee. The candidates for the offices are chosen from among members of the board of directors. New board members beginning terms in 1988 are: Lou ise Lauthain of Phillips and Brooks manufacturing com pany, Ricky Noles of Ricky Noles State Farm Insurance, and George Bagley Jr. of Lanier Golf Club and Coal Mountain Egg Farm. Steffan Thomas of Stefco Inc., and Phil Maffett of At lanta Millworks Ltd. will begin second terms in 1988. Both were appointed this year to fill the unexpired terms of members who resigned. Members rotating off the board are: Stevie Mills of the county planning and zoning department, Ann Gibson with Martin-Marietta, and Dana Miles. The chamber’s annual banquet will be Jan. 29 at the Atlanta Athletic Club on Peachtree Parkway. The guest speaker will be Ninth District Congressman Ed Jenkins. Tickets for the banquet will go on sale soon, Crow said. Some 400 people are expected to attend. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1987 -CUMMING, GA. 30)30 lUfiin£_ Staff Photo Kathryn L. Babb Rick Hemingway of Lanier Electronics exposes the circuitry of a VCR in for repair Complex VCR can be expensive little toy By Lindsey Kelly Staff writer See if this sounds familiar. You’ve gotten all settled into your favorite chair. You’ve got the tape in the VCR it’s that movie you’ve been just dying to see and everything’s all set to go. So you hit the remote control and get. . . nothing, not even a peep. Welcome to reality. In an age of television and video addiction, video cassette recorders have proved to be a wonderful inventfim. But they are also delicate and complex pieces of machinery, a fact which many VCR owners seem to find out the hard way. An even more sobering point is that repair bills for this nifty little gadget can start, at least in the local market, at around SSO, and that’s just for labor. ■Jfefc . - Jgj Beautiful ballerina Genny Green practices her moves in preparation this weekend’s performance of The Nutcracker by the Lanier Civic Ballet Compa ny. Genny plays the lead role of Clara' in the traditional Christmas program. For more about The Nutcracker, as well as photos of local dancers practicing the ballet, see page BA. So if you’re thinking about giving a VCR as a Christmas gift this year, either to yourself or to someone else, you might want to arm your self with some basic facts about this modem technological wonder before making that sev eral hundred dollar investment. First of all, before you get excited about dis covering that some models of VCRs now sell for as little as S2OO, some local VCR repair people advise that you remember the adage, t “you get what you pay for.” “A lot of people think you can pay S2OO and get a good VCR, and it’s just not true,” said Tony Rice, service manager for Pruitt’s Fur niture, T.V. and Applicances. Rick Hemingway, service manager for La nier Electronics, offered a similar assessment of lower priced models. “The S2OO one are probably going to give you nothing but prob Sun Photo Kathryn L. Babb lems,” he said. “We see a lot of those in the shops.” Hemingway and Rice agreed that consum ers should stick to name-brand models and be willing to pay around S3OO, a figure which seems to be about the median price on the current market for machines with basic re cord and play capability and programming features. Of course, if you’re looking for some extra features, such as 12-month program ming capability, you can find those models running somewhere between S7OO and SBOO. The philosophy of purchasing a cheaper, and theoretically less reliable, machine with the idea of just getting it fixed if it breaks could end up costing you more in the long run considering the average price of repairs. Please see VCRs, page 3A GMAPDC celebrates 25th year of service By Tom McLaughlin Staff writer The Georgia Mountains Area Planning and De velopment Commission celebrates 25 years of ser vice Dec. 10 with a look into the past and a eye toward the future. According to Executive Director Dr. Sam Day ton, The GMAPDC was created in 1962, one of a series of planning and development commissions appearing in the state during the late 50’s and early 60’s. The commission had economic development as its underlying interest. “Georgia’s economy was terribly depressed in the 1950’5,” Dayton said. “Consequently there was an interest in 1959 and 1960 within the General As sembly to create one group to serve all of the local governments in the state by providing technical assistance to counties to provide for economic development.” “This agency belongs to the local people,” he said. “If you look at the way we created our gov ernment in the 1700’s, you’ll see that it was set up on federal, state and local levels. The state and federal governments have an abundance of profes sional personnel, while on the local level there are only a few. All of the persons in this administration are local people, the local cities and counties make the appointments.” The APDC’s are also unlike state and local gov ernments because they have no authority to govern through taxation or use of police authority. “Our thing is not to govern, it is to assist in gov erning,” Dayton said. The first actual planning and development com mission in the state was formed in Rome in 1960 the Coosa Valley Planning and Development Com mission and others soon followed. “By 1967, there were APDC’s statewide, and by ’65,80 percent were organized,” Dayton said. “The model was taking place very quickly.” Georgia’s APDC’s were the first example of a functional consolidation of service in state govern ment, and when the nation saw its success other states followed Georgia’s lead. “There are now 3,000 counties nationwide that are members of planning and development ser vices,” Dayton said. “It was Georgia’s invention and the nation saw it, the nation liked it and the nation has followed it. My state leads the nation in something truly progressive and I’m proud of that.” The goal of each of the planning and develop ment commissions was and is to help the govern ments they serve to acquire the funding needed to build or install schools, water and sewer facilities, streets and highways, airports, libraries and in dustrial parks. Anything that would enhance de 44 PAGES, 4 SECTIONS County offers water incentive Early tap-ons get cost break By Kathey Pruitt Staff writer If voters approve a 1 percent sales tax increase to fund countywide water, the first customers to tie onto the new lines will pay about half the normal tap-on costs. Forsyth County commissioners inter rupted a public hearing on the water sys tem Monday night to approve a $250 tap-on fee for county water customers who access new water lines as the pipes are being put in the ground. Normal tap-on fees are $450 and $550, including deposit. Commissioners said that if the sales tax passes Dec. 15, the reduced fees would at tract more customers in less time for the 200 miles of water lines. To take advantage of the lower fee, customers must tie onto the lines while equipment is at the installa tion site and the ditch for the water line is open. The low fee incentive faced opposition from some of the 30-plus crowd of county residents who met at the courthouse to dis cuss the pros and cons of a public water system. “You said that you’re going to use money from tap-on fees to pay for smaller lines going out into the neighborhoods,” said one resident who declined to be identified. “But if you cut the proceeds in half, you’re going to be slicing the money you say you’re go ing to use for future water lines.” Commissioners defended the $250 fee, saying hook up costs are cheapest as water mains are being installed. “The percentage of the $250 fee that goes back into the system is much greater than what you’d get out of $450 when you consid er that after the line has been installed, you have to send a crew back out, reopen the ditch and then tie in the meter to get the Please see WATER, page 2A “It was Georgia’s invention and the nation saw it, the nation liked it and the nation has followed it. My state leads the nation in something tru'y progressive and I’m proud of that.” Dr. Sam Dayton velopment and aid the economy, Dayton said. Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt said that the GMAPDC had helped the city and the area to ob tain needed funds for growth. “Their contributions have greatly helped the city of Cumming,” Gravitt said. “They have been a tremendous help to all of the people in our area who have received grants and loans. Gravitt pointed out as particularly important grants obtained by GMAPDC to expand the city’s water and sewer system and a matching grant it received in 1971 to help build the city park. The GMAPDC gains funding for its service ar eas, which include 51 total units of government, 13 counties and 38 cities, from federal, state and local monies, as well as some private donations. “Federal and state agencies use GMAPDC as their operating arm,” Dayton said. GMAPDC bylaws state that each county com mission and each city which serves as a county seat can appoint a member to the commission board. Adding in three minority representatives, the total board comes to 29 members. Dayton said the board acts as his superior. “I answer directly to the board, and act to carry out their budget. I have sort of a city or county manager’s job in a kind af super county,” he said. The Georgia Mountains Planning and Develop ment Commission has undergone many changes since its origin in 1962, with probably the most sig nificant coming in the governorship of Jimmy Carter. “As governor, Jimmy Carter reorganized state government,” Dayton said. “He wanted reason ably uniform substate quarters.” Carter designated the 13 counties that now form the GMAPDC and these same designations are now used by government agencies such as the de partment of labor and the department of natural resources in their compilation of statistics. “He established the way we compile statistics, the way we refer to ourselves when we’re not talk- Please see GMAPDC, page 2A 35 CENTS