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i—FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1988
Forsvth County News
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(Established 1908)
Forsyth County News
121 Dahionega Street
Cumming, Georgia 30130
Telephone BB7-3126
USPS 205-540
NORMAN BAGGS
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Published Sundays and Wednesdays by Forsyth County News Company, Second
class postage paid at post office in Cumming, Ga. Subscription rate tor Forsyth
and adjacent counties, $15.60 pef year; other Georgia counties and out of state
subscriptions are S2O 80 per year. Advertising rates and deadlines available upon
request. Postmaster: Send address changes to Forsyth County News/P 0 Box
210, Cumming, Ga 30130
Opinion
Making steady ‘progress’
When the history of Forsyth
County in the 20th Century is writ
ten, scholars will undoubtedly look
back on 1987 as one of the most
pivotal in the development of the
county.
In this special issue devoted to
the progress being made in the
community, it is essential that we
capture in brief form the high
lights of changes in the past year.
‘“Progress” is an arbitrary word
and one difficult to define with ex
acting terms. One man’s progress
is often another’s unwelcome
change. And yet most of the coun
ty’s residents would agree with us
that these examples of activity in
the county certainly qualify to be
considered as progressive:
• Improved city/county/cham
ber of commerce cooperation
The necessity of putting forth a
unified community front in the
face of an onslaught of negative
publicity surrounding the civil
rights marches brought local offi
cials together in a spirit of cooper
ation unseen for many years. Old
wounds were allowed to heal, old
hatchets finally buried, and the en
tire community benefited as a
result.
• Passage of a sales tax for wa
ter/sewer No single event is
likely to have as much impact on
the immediate future of the county
as the approval of a local option
sales tax last December, with
funds designated for water and
sewer projects in the city and
county.
Street talk
What is the most progressive thing about Forsyth County?
E'
Stacey Posey: The growth and number of
people who are coming into the county.
HARRIET HOUSTON
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
• Approval of plans for a new
high school The need for a new
high school in the county has been
obvious for years, and school offi
cials have found a realistic way to
meet the demands of growth with
a reasonable expenditure of tax
money. Creating a combination
high school and junior high, which
will only serve as a combined
school for a year or two, allows the
school system to plan for future
growth and to establish a con
struction timetable for the next
several years.
• Exploration of alternative
revenue sources While the sell
ing of alcoholic beverages in the
city of Cumming may not please
all of the residents of the commu
nity, the fact that the local voters
approved the package sale of alco
hol as well as by-the-drink con
sumption proves a willingness to
explore alternative revenue
sources which can help to defray
taxes and provide needed ser
vices.
• Opening of a new county
landfill County officials finally
resolved a long-standing problem
when the new county landfill
opened in the Hightower area.
There are many, many other ex
amples of progressive activity un
der way which will eventually ben
efit every resident of the Forsyth
County area. On every front com
munity leaders are being chal
lenged to meet the demands of
growth, and are responding com
petently and responsibly.
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Lisa Ferguson: The industrial parks.
Forsyth County keeps moving on
Progress means different things to differ
ent people. The dictionary says it means
“moving forward, onward; improvement”.
To some that is a contradictory definition.
Moving onward does not always signify im
provement. Moving onward can mean just
rolling over whatever’s there, for the sake of
progress!
For as long as I have lived here, and for a
good while before that, Forsyth County has
been progressing. There’s hardly any way to
keep from it, whether we like it or not, and
there are plenty of folks who don’t like it.
Unfortunately there really isn’t any way to
keep standing still these days. If we’re lucky
maybe progress won’t wipe out all the really
good things about life here in our part of the
world.
Driving home today to write this column, I
was more aware than usual of the changes
progress has brought to us here. More traffic,
more stores, more people. More jobs, more
products, more volunteers. You see, to me,
progress is like a lot of other things. It can be
what you make it, to a certain extent. If our
government, our educators, our business
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A new face in the nursery window
Standing at the nursery window, tiptoeing
to see around the comers of a baby blanket
tucked snugly beneath his newborn chin, I
couldn’t help but think about the day they
brought his daddy home from the hospital.
I must have wandered over to the bassinet
a hundred times that night, checking to make
sure the newborn who had come to share our
house was doing OK.
Mom’s return from the hospital was excit
ing enough, but this new brother she had
brought home with her was something else,
something new and exciting in a household
with but one child for nearly nine years.
Standing there looking through the nursery
window at my brother’s first bom child, I
couldn’t help but look back, and wonder
where the time went.
He just got married no, I guess it’s been
more than a year now, closer to two. But
wasn’t he just in college? No, he’s been work
ing for a while.
And when did momma and daddy get old
enough to be smiling at their newborn grand
son?
Looking through that nursery window, I
wondered how soon it would be before this
child was grown, and looking back himself to
see when the days had turned into years.
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C.P. Jones: Industrial development. For
future growth and industrial development
the most important thing is to improve wa
ter and sewers.
Joyce
Jordan
Columnist
community and plain folks like many of us
are, will work TOGETHER, we can turn
some of the disadvantages of growth and pro
gress to advantages. I see more cooperation
in many places than I did when I cam here in
1967. In the midst of all this progress, I do see
some improvement.
At the same time, I share the opinion of
many people here that we are getting bigger
and busier than many of us want to! When
something like that happens, we have at least
two choices: we can move, or we can stay and
make the best of it. If we intend to stay and
make the best of it, we need to preserve the
things about our home that mean a lot to us.
Norman
Baggs
Publisher & Editor
Already, eight hours of his new life had
passed him by, as he slept in peace in the
modern hospital nursery, oblivious of the
world around him, except for the occasional
crying of another nearby newborn.
Eight hours had passed while he slept, and
soon it would be eight more, with nothing in
his world but sleep and peace and periodic
feeding.
Too soon the time will slip away, and before
we know it he’ll be crawling and talking and
walking and doing all those things that babies
do, and by which we measure their growth.
Looking through that nursery window he
was only eight hours old, and now he has al
ready put three days on the calendar, while
the brother standing beside me and looking
I ' '
Matthew Ledbetter: The water.
0
/
I think about all the people I know here who
really care about their family and friends,
their churches and their jobs. Being friendly
and helpful day by day is their way of life,
and I think that will be preserved. I think of
the many volunteers we have, and the good
work they do that often goes unsung, and I
hope and trust that will continue. I think of
newcomers who become involved in the com
munity, and of those who were born and
raised here working alongside them, all for
the common good.
So far, I think we have handled progress
well, and haven’t let it “manhandle” us too
badly. I know one thing: there are more peo
ple involved in and interested in what’s going
on here in their county than ever before. Now
if we can just harness all this energy, pull
together, and work for the good of all, our
grandchildren will appreciate it. You see how
confident I am that this is such a good place
to live and work. I am counting on my grand
children staying here! And I believe that
hinges on how well we handle progress. Mov
ing forward and onward is inevitable. Carry
ing with us the things that give life its re
deeming qualities is vital.
down with all the pride of a new father is
starting the last year of his first quarter
century.
This was supposed to be a going away col
umn, a chance to say thanks to the people of
Forsyth County for their support and friend
ship, and their patronage of this newspaper
for the past three years.
But the wanderings of a nomadic newspa
perman seemed to lose their importance as I
looked through that nursery window Satur
day, one eye cast toward the future, the other
looking back to the past.
Besides, what better parting gift to offer
than a chance to share the joy of a child’s
birth.
Uncles are supposed to be wise and sage
oracles of information to whom struggling
nephews can turn for support and advice. So
what eternal truths are there for a restless
writer driven by challenge and change to
share with a squirming, red-faced child, now
just three days old?
Just one: Beware all instruments used to
measure time, for they will lie to you and
steal from you, so that one day you’ll look
around and find yourself all grown up, before
you’re supposed to be.
Just ask your dad. He knows.
1l , jmi ®
Don Loedding: The growth and redirecting
of the Corps of Engineers in the managing
of the lake; and also the liquor vote as far
as creating a proper environment