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VOL Z_a.>rt ‘U il —NUMBER 100 North Fulton residents protest landfill site By Tom McLaughlin Stall writer After presiding over a four-hour meeting attended by more than 900 people, and an swering question upon question put forward by those opposing a 476-acre landfill in North Fulton County, Harold Reheis offered little hope for those speaking against the facility. “I will say that this landfill site is very much like a lot of other landfill sites that we have permitted,” he said. The meeting Thursday was the first of two scheduled to be held by the state Environ mental Protection Division as a result of fierce opposition to the landfill site, which Turnout seen low at vote on water By Kathey Pruitt Staff writer Holiday preparations may take pre cedence over ballot casting Tuesday when a sales tax-for-water proposal goes before county voters. Officials at the Forsyth County Vot er Registrar’s office say they expect a low voter turnout for the Dec. 15 refer endum, which will decide the fate of a 1 percent sales tax increase to fund $22 million in water and sewer expansions. Normally, about 35 percent of the county’s 13,340 voters go to the polls for a special election such as this, ac cording to Registrar Melvin Stancil. But because of the proximity to Christmas and a degree of voter un awareness on the issue, Stancil said the turnout could be substantially less. “We’re not expecting many peo ple,” he said. “We haven’t heard vot ers saying too much about the election.” Forsyth County’s 11 polling places will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday. The unofficial outcome of the election will be announced later that evening, and the official totals sent for certification to the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday, ac cording to tabulation manager Donna Parrish. Since the referendum is a county wide vote, city and county residents wanting to vote yes or no on the pack age must have registered at the court house before Nov. 12, according to staffers at the county registrar’s of fice. If the sales tax passes, custom ers in Forsyth County stores will pay an additional penny on the dollar be ginning April 1, making the total sales tax rise from 4 to 5 percent. The in crease can last for a maximum of five years, but under state law would be retired sooner if $22 million is collect ed before the allotted time has expired. A $14.4 million chunk of the tax rev enue from the joint city/county pack age would go to a new Forsyth County water system that would run two loops of main water lines around the county service area. Tap-on fees charged developers and residents who choose to tie onto the beginnings of the system would pay for installation of lines along roads not accessed by the trunk lines. Over the five-year period, county officials say, water will be available to all areas of the county as other lines branch on the trunk line system. The $7.6 million share that would go Please see VOTE, page 2A Legislative outlook Dealing with AIDS, domed stadium proposal , Sunshine Law changes are on general assembly s agenda By Lindsey Kelly Staff writer When the Georgia legislature reconvenes in January for the 1988 session, its members will be faced with dealing with the toughest public issue of our time: acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). An omnibus bill expected to include provi sions on mandatory AIDS testing and crimi nal penalties for knowingly transmitting the disease is scheduled to be presented to the house during the first week of the session which begins on Jan. 11. End a Piggle steps to the front for Lady Dogs IB Forsyth Countv News < V| would replace the Morgan Falls landfill in Sandy Springs. The meetings offer an opportunity for res idents to speak to the state officials, who can decide to deny the permit for environ mental reasons. The next meeting is sched uled for Dec. 17 at 7:30 at Milton High School in Alpharetta. District 10 State Representative Bill Bar nett, who spoke against the landfill, said it looked as though the EPD was looking fa vorably upon the chosen dump site. “I could tell by the way they talked they seemed to be satisfied by the site,” he said. “I just hope we made some kind of impres sion on them.” Residents of North Fulton came out in force to oppose the landfill, Wm&fr ! ™wsm ' id Staff Photos Kathey Pruitt Clarie Hathcock and family wade through a sea of green pines in search of the perfect tree By Kathey Pruitt Staff writer Early letters to Santa written by local Christmas tree farmers probably asked for rain. But despite two years of drought that have been the bane of all farmers, those nuturing evergreens for the Christmas season say their losses won’t cause a shortage of locally-grown Christmas trees. You-cut farms, 5A “It slowed down the growth, but we didn’t lose any trees except for a few seedlings that hadn’t established their root system yet,” said Alta Davis, who with her husband owns a 12-acre select-and-cut Christmas tree farm off Ga. 53 just inside Dawson County. “We didn’t lose any big ones.” The less-than-normal rainfall will translate into less profit for tree farmers, however. “It’s hurt growth approximately a foot a year,” said Lloyd Boling who manages Suwanee Tree Farm in Shakerag. “But it hasn’t hurt business, just knocked us out of money. We’d have made at least $3 more on each tree if it grew as it usually would.” Demand for live trees is strong, especially at cut-your-own farms where families armed with bow saws and a mental image of the perfect Please see TREES, page 2A The General Health subcommittee of the House Health and Ecology Committee is formulating that package based on recom mendations gleaned from several AIDS task forces following a series of public hear ings conducted statewide by the subcom mittee this past year. The chair of that subcommittee, Rep. George Hooks (D) of Americus, said that though all the exact provisions of the bill have not yet been worked out, the measure will definitely call for mandatory AIDS test ing of certain groups deemed to be at high risk for the deadly disease. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1987-CUMMING, GA. 30130-84 PAGES 3 SECTIONS though only three people from Forsyth County voiced their opposition. Residents were angry not just because they felt the landfill would contaminate water in the area, but also because many believe that Fulton County is incapable of properly maintaining the facility. “Fulton County, by your own records, is one of the worst, if not the worst county in the state at maintaining a landfill,” said one of the 34 people who signed up to speak. He told members of the state environmental protection division, “Fulton County has shown total disregard for your office. Can you make them operate it correctly?” Reheis, deputy director of the state Envi ronmental Protection Division, responded The tree’s the thing this season Familes forsake artificial for the real thing Robert Hoffman secures his family’s pick for the drive home Under the proposed bill, male and female prostitutes would have to submit to blood tests if they are convicted or plead no con test to prositution charges. The same would hold true for those convicted of drug charges who show signs of intravenous drug abuse. The bill would also allow for the test ing of state prison inmates both when they enter and are released from state prison facilities. Though blood and organ donors are not in themselves considered to be a high risk cat egory, Hooks said all donors of all bodily fluids as well as all organ donors would be to the resident that the EPD was confident it could make Fulton County operate the landfill properly, if a permit was approved. Reheis was later asked by resident Bob Smith if he would agree that Fulton Coun ty’s operation of its last landfill, at Morgan Falls, was poor and miserable. “I wouldn’t say miserable but I will say poor,” he responded. Reheis then stated that when a landfill is poorly operated, starting over at another sight is one way to remedy the problems caused by poor operation. Fulton County management of landfill fa cilities was but one of many questions raised at the meeting. Also brought to the attention of the EPD tested if the proposed bill is passed. Other provisions Hooks said will definite ly be included in the bill are those making it a criminal offense for an AIDS victim to knowingly transmit the disease as well as the establishment of civil remedies for peo ple who have been intentionally infected. Hooks said he also expects the bill to pro vide “some type of provision” for the legal exchange of information about an AIDS car rier within the medical community and the public health sector. Such a provision would likely make it legal for a doctor or a mental health professional to tell another health was the possible contamination of the many wells in the area and the entire Little River basin; the possible leakage of poisonous methane gas; the danger of wild animals and dogs which could converge on the most ly unfenced dump site; the depletion of property values and the destruction of a sce nic wilderness area. The contamination of water in the area was the topic most discussed. The EPD told the audience that monitoring wells would be placed on the site as one of the restrictions imposed on Fulton County. These wells would be used to test and document the quality of the ground water in the area. Please see LANDFILL, page 3A January marches rumored Williams, Barrett may demonstrate By Tom McLaughlin Staff writer As January approaches, rumors have be gun to spread of a reenactment of last year’s brotherhood march through For syth County, or, perhaps a white power ral ly at the courthouse. So far those rumors remain just that, rumors. Last year, a Jan. 14 march in the county turned violent when pro-white demonstra tors threw rocks and bottles at the Rev. Hosea Williams and those with him. A sec ond march was held the next week, and over 20,000 demonstrators converged on the county along with scores of media members from all over the world. Barbara Morgan, spokesperson for Gov ernor Joe Frank Harris, said it was almost too early to comment on a possible repeat of last years activities. “There is no need to worry about some thing that seems to be evolving at the hands of the media,” she said. “The governor would encourage everyone to keep their at tention on the biracial committee report and hope for the peace, progress and unity that members of that committee sat around a table and worked to accomplish.” Morgan said that the community and its leaders had made great strides in the last year and that the emphasis should be on the positive and not the negative. “There is no need to go overreacting or getting up in arms,” she said. “We need just to work toward cohesiveness in our community.” The two major organizers of previous demonstrations in Forsyth County, Rich ard Barrett of the Forsyth County Defense League and civil rights activist Williams, have announced plans to hold some type of event in January. Williams said he has cho sen Jan. 16 as the day he will hold a “nonvi olent demonstration.” “I am planning to conduct a nonviolent demonstration of some religious magni tude to celebrate our first anniversary of our brotherhood march in commemoration of the life of the late Martin Luther King Jr.,” he said. “We will seek the participa tion of the religious community, the busi ness community and the government com munity. I hope that all those good white folks projected on the Oprah Winfrey show will be present to show there are good white folks in Forsyth County.” Barrett said that he has tentatively scheduled a Jan. 23 date to hold a march of his own to the Forsyth County Courthouse, where he plans to conduct a rally. “I would be willing to say that all sys tems are go for Jan. 23 but I’m respectful enough of the law that I certainly don’t want to usurp the county before they have a Please see JANUARY, page 2A professional that a patient has the virus. Hooks added that it is possible that such legal protection could be extended to allow health professionals to alert law enforce ment authorities that a patient is infected with AIDS if that patient is deemed to be dangerous to the community. But he emphasized that any measure re garding the release of medical information about an AIDS victim would be limited and would not allow for the general release of that information “on the street.” Please see LEGISLATURE, page 12A 35 CENTS