Newspaper Page Text
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k-FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1987
WILLIAMS Continued from front
Monday afternoon that he had not had
time to make a decision.
Stringer said he had not expected
the charges to be nullified and had not
learned of the judge’s order until after
lunch Monday. “I need time to think
about what’s best for Forsyth Coun
ty,” he said. The solicitor added he
would likely make a decision in a cou
ple of days.
The five cases had been scheduled
to go to trial on Tuesday.
Gober’s order was issued in re
sponse to an special objection filed by
defense attorney Michael R. Haupt
man which alleged that the state had
failed to “sufficiently set forth the
charges against the accused
citizens.”
The objection was based on use of
the word “or” in the state’s drawing
UN /VT E R Continued from front
$450,” said Commissioner Charles
Welch.
Developers will still be assessed the
planned SSOO per acre impact fee.
Those fees will provide much of the
money needed to run feeder lines
down roads not reached by the trunk
lines, commissioners said.
Cumming officials, also present at
the joint city/county public hearing,
said they will consider and likely im
plement lower fees for residents who
hook on as water mains are being
installed.
The issue of reduced tap-on costs
surfaced in the middle of what was
already a heated discussion over the
merits of a proposed $22 million water
and sewer system local officials have
been working on since February.
Under the proposal, sales tax reve
nue collected over a maximum five
year period would be divided between
city and county, with the $14.4 million
county share financing the installa
tion of two loops of eight- and 12-inch
water lines. City monies, according to
officials, would be used to pay for in
creased water pumping and storage
capability and expanded sewer
facilities.
But at least one resident main
tained during Monday’s meeting that
officials failed to explain proposed
sewer improvements. Larry Webb
pointed to what he called discrepan
cies in legal advertisements and a
public relations brochure promoting
the sales tax vote.
The brochure, Webb charged, men
tioned only water lines and distribu
tion facilities as the result of a pro
sales tax vote. A legal advertisement,
however, noted that part of the reve
nue would fund sewer improvements.
“If the money is going to be used for
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of the accusations, specifically that
the state had accused the defendants
of creating an unreasonable inconve
nience or hazard, failing to move or
refusing to move the obstruction after
having been asked to move by official
request or order of a police officer.
In his order, Gober offered the state
a lesson in semantics saying that,
“While it is possible to accuse a defen
dant of violating a law in more than
one way or manner, the State should
use the conjunctive form. The dis
junctive form used here does not put
the Defendant on sufficient notice of
the way and manner in which he vio
lated the statute.”
Gober declined to discuss his deci
sion Monday, issuing a “no com
ment” statement via his secretary.
water, that’s fine, but if part of it’s
going to be used for sewer for the city
of Cumming, the people ought to be
told,” Webb said. “That’s changing
horses in the middle of the stream.”
Noting that all mentions of the sales
tax vote have included both water and
sewer improvements, city officials
bucked against charges that they had
not clearly delineated where sales tax
revenue would be spent.
Approximately $1.5 million will go
to provide sewer service to city resi
dents who are not now on Cumming’s
waste water disposal system, City
Manager Gerald Blackburn said last
week. The largest concentration of
homes without public sewer are on the
city’s north side, according to
Blackburn.
County monies will finance no sew
er facilities, according to officials.
Officials stressed that residents
who want to continue using their wells
will not be forced to tie onto the city or
county water system. Community wa
ter systems, installed by developers
in the absence of public water facili
ties, also will be allowed to continue
independent operation, officials said.
City and county officials closed the
hour and a half meeting by explaining
the need for a comprehensive water
system. An in-ground water table that
is consistently dropping due to
drought has caused many local wells
to dry up, officials said.
No sizeable water allocations are
available from the Etowah River.
Even if the county could secure such
allocations, they could be used only
for the northwestern comer, which is
in the Etowah basin, according to lo
cal officials and planners at the Geor
gia Mountains Planning and Develop
ment Commission.
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’B7 was a bad year for growing hay
Local hay loss for ’B7
expected to equal ’B6
By Tom McLaughlin
Staff writer
Officials with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture predict that requests
from local farmers for federal help in
buying winter feed to replace grain
lost due to drought could equal or ex
ceed the number made during last
year’s catastrophic dry period.
“Forty-four have applied this
year,” Jimmy Wilcox, the Forsyth
County director of the Department of
Agriculture said. “We accepted 129
applications last year. Out of the 44
applications we’ve received so far, 15
to 20 percent did not sign up last year.
Based on what I see, the number of
applicants could be a little bit more
this year.”
Sign-up for the emergency feed pro
gram was begun late this year due to a
lack of publicity and officials are wor
ried that some farmers may not find
out about the signup until it is too late.
“We started taking applications in
August of last year, but this year we
didn’t start taking applications until
the latter part of November, so farm
ers only have from Nov. 18 to Dec. 31
to sign up,” said Wilcox, “The publici
ty statewide didn’t start as early this
year, and that has a lot to do with it.”
Wilcox said good rains in June had
misled farmers and Department of
Agriculture officials.
“After June’s rain, people didn’t
know it would be this dry, they were
waiting on the rain,” he said.
Wilcox said that this year’s situa
tion was somewhat different than last
year’s.
“This year we got the good rains in
June but the other growing months
were below normal. Last year was
pretty well dry until we started get
ting good rain in September, October
and November,” he said. “Those
rains didn’t do the corn or other feed
grains any good because they were al
ready mature. The fall rains helped
the pastures some but the grass
doesn’t grow in fall like it does in the
summer months.”
Wilcox said that while the rainfall
came at different times, both years
were comparable.
“One year was about as bad as the
other,” he said. “What it boils down to
is that we got ample rainfall during a
growing month this year, and that
was good. But, we didn’t get the fall
rain that helped us last year.”
Wilcox said guidelines for receiving
help in purchasing extra animal feed,
which includes feed grains and hay,
were basically the same in 1987 as
they were last year.
“When a person signs up he gets
what he’s entitled to,” he said.
Farmers who have suffered more
than a 40 percent feed loss due to
drought conditions are eligible to ap
ply for the Department of Agricul
ture’s emergency feed program.
They are responsible for up to 50 per
cent of the cost of the feed, which can
not exceed 5 cents per pound on feed
grain equivalent.
“If the farmer pays 15 cents a pound
for feed we’ll only pay a nickel of that,
so a farmer can’t benefit by buying
higher priced feed,” Wilcox said.
GMAPDC
ing about separate counties,” Dayton
said.
Two additions to the responsibilities
of GMAPDC came about between 1968
and 1970 when the commission be
came involved in the Resource Con
servation and Development Project,
which Dayton said was principally a
project targeted at the conservation
of natural resources. Erosion preven
tion on roadsides is an example of the
work the commission does through its
involvment with this project.
The other major project was the es
tablishment of the Criminal Justice
Planning Organization. Dayton said
the organization provides technical
assistance for the proper enforce
ment of the law.
“We assist in training law enforce
ment personnel and help in compiling
job applications and things of that na
ture,” he said.
Through the 19705, GMAPDC was
involved in development of human re
sources planning, involving especial
ly child development and aid to the
elderly. Their child development cen
ter was a forerunner of child care
centers.
“It provides preschool training,
health and dental screening,” he said.
“It has taken the place of what before
would have been babysitting.”
GMAPDC was also responsible for
comprehensive programs for senior
citizens in its area.
“We arrange for hot lunches for the
elderly through meals on wheels, we
provide transportation and operate
senior centers. We also provide civil
legal assistance with our own law
yers,” Dayton said.
The GMAPDC also provides a se
nior employment program that seeks
to find jobs for those over 55 and
RSVP, the Retired Senior Volunteer
Program.
“We recruit and train senior citi
zens to do volunteer work,” Dayton
said. “We have 525 volunteers now.”
The GMAPDC also finds itself act
ing as an ombudsman, a problem
solver, in disputes involving nursing
homes and personal care homes,
which Dayton described as a smaller,
less institutional, setting for the elder
ly than an actual nursing home.
Dayton said that the commission
had grown since the early ’Bos princi
pally because of the influence of Pres
ident Ronald Reagan.
“With the move to the right in con
gress, our agency has grown,” he
said. “Reagan came to office with the
goal of making the federal govern
ment less bulky. The result has been
more money for state agencies.”
One of the big changes instituted un
der Reagan, according to Dayton,
was the governments allowing busi
nesses and educational facilities to
have job training and providing fund
ing for it.
“One example of this would be the
summer youth employment pro
gram,” he said. “It gives kids jobs
during the summer as a way to keep
them in school.”
Even with the GMAPDC’s expan
sion as an agency from two functions
in 1965 to 45 today, Dayton said that
comprehensive planning for orga
nized community growth continues to
be the most important.
“Planning is our most important
service,” he said. “It doesn’t get the
headlines, the grants we bring in get
the headlines, but land use planning
provides for logical zoning and the
proper use of county facilities the
number of schools, or how many jail
cells, or how much guttering will be
needed. It gives the local government
a way to plan for the future.”
Dayton said when Georgia stopped
making planning grants in 1983 it was
a big mistake.
“I think in the end that will be a
mistake,” he said. “Governments
ought to be encouraged to plan for the
future, it’s important to plan your
space.”
Dayton said what he has seen in the
past and predicts for the future is un
precedented change in the Georgia
Mountains region.
“What I’ve seen in the last 25 years
is unprecedented change,” he said.
“This area has changed from a rather
sleepy rural area to a partially urban
area and will change to an area that is
totally urban in the next decade.
“We will see more growth as the
area in the state of Georgia with the
highest growth desirability. The rate
of change should continue at a rapid
pace. It is a challenge for the future to
properly guide that development in
order that it not destroy the great nat
ural beauty and living circumstances
that we have in the area.”
Wreck kills one
A one car accident on Highway 400
Saturday night claimed the life of a 39-
year-old Dahlonega man.
Phillip Almon Hussey 111 was driv
ing his pickup truck north when he
lost control of his vehicle and it over
turned, according to a press release
issued by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s
Department. Hussey was thrown
from the truck and died instantly, the
release said.
Hussey became the seventeenth
person to die on the roads in Forsyth
County in 1987. The accident is under
investigation by the Georgia State Pa
trol and sheriff’s department
investigators.